152 | EDUCATION ASIA | THRIVE | Travel Far
Above and upon the Nile Another two experiences in Luxor that have stayed with us more vividly than almost anything else was the sunrise hot air balloon ride over the West Bank as we saw the Valley of the Kings from above and the second was a sunset sail on a felucca, the traditional wooden sailboat that has carried people along this river for centuries. Upriver to Aswan From Luxor we sailed to Aswan, past palm groves, mud-brick villages and fishermen casting their nets. Along the way we stopped at temples best reached by river: Edfu, dedicated to Horus and one of Egypt’s best- preserved, and Kom Ombo, a rare double temple at the water’s edge.
Aswan has a gentler rhythm, with the Nile running between granite boulders and golden dunes. It is the heartland of the Nubian people, whose painted houses, music and hospitality reflect a culture that has endured great change. Abu Simbel, the final morning On our final morning, we left Aswan before dawn and drove south across the desert to Abu Simbel. Ramses II built his great temple here more than three thousand years ago, its entrance guarded by four colossal statues of the king. In the 1960s, the entire temple was cut apart and rebuilt on higher ground to save it from Lake Nasser. Standing before it, you appreciate both achievements: the ancient one and the modern one.
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