Egypt - Day 9 - Sunday, August 9th

Corrections about yesterday's events:

Apparently, my little chicken brain could not remember everything that happened in Aswan. I was SO happy to be on a camel that I forgot what happened after that. I was reminded that we boarded our cruise ship around noon on Saturday. Basically, right after the Nubian village visit. We didn't eat on the floating restaurant that day (I can't remember when we did!) because we were treated to lunch on the boat. What an AWESOME boat it was, too! I had so much fun on it. Anyway, everything that I wrote about for Saturday actually did happen on that day. I just forgot to say that we boarded the boat. I was happy about it, John was happy about it, and Ellen was EXTREMELY HAPPY about it.



I even got to enjoy a meal where chicken was NOT the main course. It was like picking worms out of the ground! I'm really going to love this place!



OK, the first thing we did today was visit the Botanical Gardens. This time we got to ride a felucca to it, as it was on Kirchner's Island in the middle of the Nile! While we were gliding along, we were serenaded by two little boys. Sadly, they didn't sing "Farmer in the Dell" or "Old McDonald Had a Farm". Those are classics!



The island was nice. Lots of palm trees and flowers. Nothing I couldn't see if I flew to Florida. However, it was a lot of fun to see local children playing games in the park. Their kids sure do know how to have fun!

We had to get back to the boat because we were going to motor on up the Nile to our next stop: Kom Ombo. This was where the Kom Ombo Temple was as well as our docking location for the night. Since we have the entire afternoon to lounge around, I think I'll do just that.



I didn't stay out too long because I didn't want to burn. I hate it when I peel! And I didn't want the Egyptians getting any ideas!

Before I knew it, 5 PM was here. We all headed to the Kom Ombo Temple, which was right in view of our boat and within 5 minutes walking distance. It is the only double temple in Egypt, so I've been told. One side is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god (BOO!) and the one side to Horus, the falcon god (YAY!). It was nice to see Horus again. He really didn't say much at Abu Simbel. I really wish he would tell me something. But he's very tight-lipped! I hung out with him until we had to go back to the boat.



When we got back, John gave me something. He called it a galabaya. I had no idea what it was, but it looked kind of cool. I put it on. For someone who knows absolutely nothing about sewing, John did a pretty good with my "costume".



I was glad he made me a costume because there was a party where everybody dressed up. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! Here are some of the pictures that Ellen and John took of everybody in their galabayas. I'll name everybody BEFORE the picture, just in case you were wondering who was who.

Of course, Ellen and John (and me!). For humans, they didn't look half-bad:



Pam and Larry:



David and Mary:



Mary Francis and Barb:



Janice and Herb



Gretchen and Marilyn



Bob and Carol



Joyce (looking very royal!)



Ahmed and Muhammed - Our guides in authentic Egyptian, non-touristy galabayas. They told us they only wear them about once a year.



Of course, if we're going to dress up, we have to dance! And there was a lot of dancing. To my chagrin, the chicken dance was never part of the dancing festitivites. But we had fun nonetheless!

Valerie got to dance with one of the waiters:



And Lupita REALLY got down with one of the crew, too. Apparently, she knows how to belly-dance!



And Bob got to be the center of attention during a dance "competition":



I was entirely amused by the festivites! Everyone had a great time and were very exhausted when the night ended. I could've watched "Cleopatra: Part I" on our in-room TV, but I decided to sleep. I didn't even take off the galabaya. It's very comfortable. John was asleep before I closed my eyes, but I followed closely.