On the Nile

Movenpick's MS Hamees is perhaps the best appointed ship cruising the Nile. That D and I are two of only six guests on board (the other 4 are a French family), it felt like our very own with every staff and facility at our disposal. 

It's the low season because here at the height of summer in Upper Egypt, temperatures can soar to well above 40 degrees. Only two groups of people brave it: scantily clad Spaniards (escaping their own scorching summer) and heavily wrapped Koreans (who don't mind the heat but fear the tan). Our own group of two perfectly express the dichotomy of philosophies on coping with the weather. 

Our private guide, the highly learned Ahmed Elsaghir who has authored a number of books, really made sure we understand not just what the sites we visited are but also why. Like when asked why temples and tombs survive for multiple millenia yet not a single pharaonic palace has survived, his answer was the ancient Egyptians believed that earthly life is short and the afterlife is eternal and hence built tenples and tombs out of stone and palaces out of mud bricks (more about this in my next blog).

Already, halfway through the cruise, I have imbibed much knowledge and taken many photos. 

Speaking of photos, two years ago, while in Jordan, I visited Mt Nebo, said to be the place where Musa/Moses/Moshe (depending on which book you are familiar with) looked across the valley he was not to cross. One journey he did make was in a basket down the Nile in the ancient capital of Egypt, Waset (city of the sceptre), now known as Luxor that I had just visited. 

I didn't wander in the desert for forty years before heading up Mt Nebo and my journey on the great river was on a much better appointed cruise ship. 

While it was fun to recreate the great prophet's poses, it's much more meaningful to dive into a nearly 5000 year old history (of where the ancient Egyptians worship in their temples and where the Kings, Queens and nobles awaited their afterlives) and a whimsical re-enactment of a Hollywood movie from nearly 50 years.