Although we could have "slept in" until 6:30, the alarm on Justin's watch went off at the same time as the day before, at 5:10, and we had a hard time getting back to sleep before 6:30. There was a breakfast buffet that almost no one was at, presumably because they were still sleeping. Most of the folks had visited all of the sites in Aswan the day before, so weren't leaving at 7:30 to go visit them, like we were. Our stop was Philae Temple, which like Abu Simbel needed to be relocated because of the building of the dam. Philae was built around 380 BC, and was supposedly one of the burying-places of Osiris, and was thus held in high reverence both by the Egyptians to the north and the Nubians to the south. It was deemed profane for any but priests to dwell there and was accordingly sequestered and denominated "the Unapproachable." At the "front" (or at least the first place we walked) there was a large courtyard with columns on either side. Past the entrance into the principal court are small temples, one of which, dedicated to Isis, Hathor, and a wide range of deities related to midwifery. The temples are covered with sculptures representing the birth of Ptolemy Philometor, under the figure of the god Horus. Also, the story of Osiris is everywhere represented on the walls of this temple.

Ehab told us all about what everything was, what it meant, what the dates were, etc., but like with Abu the day before, it was just too much information for us to comprehend in one sitting. The temperature was much better, probably in the mid-80s. We saw a couple of very tiny kitties that were hiding under some of the wood planks inside the Temple. The Temple was full of birds, so they should have more than enough to eat. Ehab indicated that the people overseeing the Temple likely take care of them as well. We saw an original kiosk, which bares little resemblance to what a kiosk means nowadays. We also saw Bes, who was the God of Fun and Music. But he looked like the Spaghetti Monster from True Detective, and Ehab mentioned that his wife mentioned that any kid seeing Bes right after being born would want to go back into the womb.

After leaving Philae, we took a small boat back to town. At the dock, there must have been close to 100 small boats sitting empty, yet another reminder of how many people would be here during "normal" times. From town, we drove back to the boat, and got there right at 10, when the boat was set to depart. There were people behind us, so we weren't particularly concerned about the boat leaving without us. There must have been other people even further behind, because the boat didn't leave until almost 10:30. Crystal took a short nap, and Justin went out on the back deck to catch up on the diary and look out at the scenery, particularly the Hyphaene palms, one of the only branching palms in existence. The banks of the river are a mixture of vibrant green and desolate yellow and brown. The water is calm as can be, so there are shadows all along the shoreline as well. In the middle of the day, the sky was washed out, but presumably in the early morning or late afternoon, the sky must provide an incredible contrast as well.

Crystal went to a cooking class at 11, and learned how to make Babaghanough and Cucherie (sp?), then got to eat it. Justin joined about 30 minutes in, for the eating. A little after noon, we stopped at Kom Ombo Temple, which was right along the East Bank of the River. The Temple complex was started around 180 BC. The complex is unique because it has a 'double' design - two temples adjoining one another. Because of that design, there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. One half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. The other half of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris (aka Horus the Elder). We spent most of our time on the Horus side (we think, not positive). Ehab told us about the medicinal tools used back during the time, and how, over time, the Eye of Horus became the Rx that we see for prescriptions nowadays. We also got to see some mummified crocodiles - you don't see that every day. After Kom Ombo we got back on the boat for lunch, and started heading down river (north) again. We had lunch with Heather and Stuart, and discussed mainly politics (go figure), regarding outsourcing and engineering and small versus big government. We also learned that Heather and Stuart's engineering company makes some pretty cool stuff.

After lunch we had several hours to ourself, so we went outside and read again, then took a nap. Just after dark, we got to Edfu, and took a carriage through town to get to the Edfu Temple. The ride through town was very interesting, getting to experience the sights, sounds, and smells, for better or for worse. One notable thing we saw was a Kuntack Fried Chicken (KBC), that had a very well done ripped-off logo. Along the way, lots of kids saw us and said hello, and seemed generally excited to see people from the USA, so perhaps our reputation is not as bad as we thought. At Edfu, the pylons generally resembled Kom Ombo, but in much better shape. It was really a shame it was dark, because we would have liked to have see it during the day. Maybe next time. Normally they light up the Temple at night with flood lights and people walk around, but tonight we had a "special treat," a sound and light show similar to what we saw at the Pyramids. It was nice enough, but the problem with that was that we spent the entire time watching the show, and didn't have any time to wander around and look at the various carved reliefs. Also, all the pictures we got showed the temple in the colors from the light show (lots of blues, greens, purples), rather than something like white or a light yellow. Oh well, again, next time we'll come at a different time of day.

On the way back, we took a different route, and seemed to be going into the middle of nowhere. A couple times, we got stuck behind a large truck, and the truck backed up into our horse (the horse was fine, but it was odd and funny at the same time). We didn't say anything on the ride back, but once we got back we told each other that we both had pangs of fear we were being taken, and then feelings of guilt that we were thinking we were being kidnapped. As it was, nothing was amiss, we just went back to the boat a different way. Back on the boat, we had dinner outside on the deck, at a table with Stuart and Heather and Dan and Kate. We talked mostly about diving and snorkeling spots, including the Maldives, Borneo, Komodo and Palau. We were again the last table to get up. The two of us then went into the bar and had a couple more drinks. It seemed really hot, but we figured that was because we were wearing long pants and shirts from dinner. Down in our room, it was warm as well, so we turned up the air conditioning and hoped it would cool down overnight.