The Cube

Egypt

Egypt: Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

April 07, 2026

0 Comments

Egypt

Egypt: Luxor - The West Bank

April 05, 2026

KV2 - The tomb of Ramesses IV

Uber has no presence in Luxor. and the owner to the apartment we rented told us that drivers are expensive in Luxor so he suggested to us to get a driver through InDrive. Unlike the usual share ride, the passengers shared where they wanted to go and the prices they were willing to pay. The app would give a fare price as suggestion. The drivers would either accept or counter-offer through the app or in our case that day, the driver accepted and rang up right away to see if we wanted to go to other places. We took the 3 places on West Bank option at EGP 650. Luxor felt hotter than the rest of the places we had been and we were ready to call it a day by the second location.

Valley of the Kings

General entry (includes 3 tombs): EGP 750

Entry to the Tomb of Tutankhamun: EGP 700

Taftaf: EGP 20

After being embalmed and mummified, the New Kingdom pharaohs were transported in solemn cortege to the Valley of the Kings, hidden in a secluded wadi in the Theban hills. They were buried in rock-cut tombs, bedecked with gold and jewels, and surrounded by treasures and replicas of all they would need in the afterlife.

A pharaoh would begin to build his tomb as soon as he ascended to the throne. The Tomb was intended to preserve the royal mummy for eternity. As the power of rulers decreased, the tombs were broken into, mainly by the craftsmen who had worked in them, or by the supervisors themselves. The priests reburied the mummies in secret caches in the surrounding mountains by the end of the New Kingdom. These were not discovered until the end of the 19th century.

We chose to enter KV2 (Ramesses IV), KV8 (Merenptah) and KV11 (Ramesses III) using the general entry ticket. We also got an extra ticket to enter the Tomb of Tutankhamum. We were indecisive if we wanted to get any of the extra tickets but at the last minute, at the ticket counter we thought we would get the tickets for KV62 (Tut-Ankh-Amon).

KV2 - Ramesses IV

This tomb is closest to the entrance. Ramesses IV died before finishing it but the tomb was robbed in antiquity. It has beautifully coloured reliefs.

Detail of the solar boat from the Book of Gates, 1st Division, with a kneeling figure of the king offering Ma'at to the sun god

Horus name and cartouches flanked by solar falcons presenting jubilee festivals

KV8 - Merenptah

The second largest tomb in the valley belonged to Ramesses II's son Merenptah. It has well-preserved reliefs in the upper part of the tomb.

Sun disk containing scarab and ram-headed man

Merenptah addressing Ra-Horakhty

KV11 - Ramesses III

Ramesses III has the longest tomb and decorated with painted sunken reliefs representing various ritual texts.

KV62 - Tut-Ankh-Amon

The famous small tomb of the boy-king, Tutankhamun was only discovered in 1922. This tomb escaped the attention of tomb robbers and the majority of the treasure are not displayed in the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).

Temple of Hatshepsut
Entrance fee: EGP 440

Taftaf: EGP 20

Hatshepsut married her half-brother, Tuthmosis II. When Tuthmosis II died, the throne was passed to his son by a minor wife who became Tuthmosis III. The new king seems to be too young to take control as ruler of Egypt, and so Hatshepsut, his aunt/stepmother, became regent to govern until he was old enough to rule by himself.

The temple of Hatshepsut is somewhat different from the other temples, as it was set back in a spectacular natural amphiteatre.

Colossi of Memnon

Entrance fee: nil

These are the most visible reminder of the Temple of Amenhotep III. They are in the fields by the side of the road. It was said that back in 27 BC, the one on the right made a gentle singing noise at dawn after hit by an earthquake. The Greeks believed it to be Memnon singing for his mother Eos. The singing stopped after it was restored in AD 199 by the Roman emporer Septimus Severus.

We asked to be dropped near the boat dock and towards the evening, we tried our luck with the felucca again. Someone approached us, we agreed to a price for a felucca ride and we followed him, thinking we were walking to get on a felucca. Long story short, it turned out that the person was a middle person and he was trying to find a felucca captain. When some of the captains tried to talk to us directly, he forbade them from speaking to us. Sis and I are definitely family; in unison, we said to the middle man, "You don't even have a boat." Sounds like kindergarten level argument and much to the amusement of all the felucca captains around us as they cracked up laughing.

There wasn't much wind that day and the feluccas were not moving much. We were told that if we want, we could also rent a motorboat to pull the feluccas or just ride on a motorboat. The price point was also higher than what we expected. So we just watched the feluccas from the river bank.

Side note: How is it already April?

0 Comments

Egypt

Egypt: Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna

April 03, 2026

We splurged and got a private car with driver (EGP 4,750 for the car with driver) to get from Aswan to the accommodation in Luxor via Temple of Kom Ombo, Temple of Horus at Edfu and Temple of Khnum at Esna. Interestingly, we noticed that none of the shuttles we took include lunch break. So this round we prepared lunch to eat in the car.

Kom Ombo

Entrance fee: EGP 450 per person

Kom Ombo is situated 40 km north of Aswan, on a sandy bank where crocodiles once sunned themselves. The ancient city, Ombos has a strategic position in a sweeping bend in the Nile and an important stop on the caravan routes from Nubia to Egypt. It became even more important during Ptolemaic times and with the erection of the Temple of Kom Ombo in the 2nd century BC.

The temple is unique because it is dedicated to two different gods - the falcon headed god Haroeris (Horus the Elder) and the crocodile god Sobek. So the temple has two identical entrances, two linked hypostyle halls and twin sanctuaries.

The columns in the outer hypostyle hall has fine carvings. On the outer walls of the outer temple gallery is a carving of medical nistruments used in ancient times. In the grounds is a shrine dedicated to Hathor, a birthing house and a pool where sacred crocodiles were once kept.

A new addition to the complex is a Crocodile Museum which includes display of mummified crocodiles.

Temple of Horus at Edfu

Entrance fee: EGP 550 per person

We stupidly missed the gate to the temple and hiked up to the town area, asked around and then walked back down.

The Greeks called this Apollonopolis as the sun-god Horus-Apollo was worshipped here as this was spot believed to be where Horus won a major battle with the evil Seth to avenge his father Osiris. There are palm and flower capitals columns and walls decorated with scenes of various festivals - the mock battle commemorating the vitory of Horus over Seth and the joyful annual wedding visit of Hathor. This is a big temple with staircases sometimes leading to nowhere. There was also a room thought to be a laboratory or perfume room, with recipesfor perfumes and ointments carved into the walls.

Falcon-headed god, Horus

The sanctuary of Horus made from black granite, said to be once contained the gold statue of Horus

Temple of Khnum at Esna

Entrance fee: EGP 200 per person

Khnum is an ancient Egyptian creator god, often depicted as a ram-headed man, who was believed to mold humans from Nile clay on a potter’s wheel. Esna, lies 50 km south of Luxor and this small rural town is built over the ruins of Temple of Khnum. A tourist souq leads from the Nile to the entrance of the temple. We were dropped off at end further from the Nile and picked up from the other side.

Only the Hypostyle Hall has been excavated and its foundation level is 8 metres below that of the street. This 24 columns with richly decorated floral capitals was added by the Romans.

Side note: Yo-chi frozen wild berry yoghurt is quite tasty

0 Comments

Egypt

Egypt: Ramesses in Abu Simbel

March 31, 2026

Nubia, an ancient region in north eastern Africa, extended approximately from the Nile River valley (near the first cataract in Upper Egypt) eastward to the shores of the Red Sea, southward to about Khartoum (in Sudan now), and westward to the Libyan Desert.

Traditionally Nubia is divided into two regions. The southern portion, which extended north to the southern end of the second cataract of the Nile was known as Upper Nubia. This was called Kush (Cush) under the 18th-dynasty pharaohs of ancient Egypt and was called Ethiopia by the ancient Greeks. Lower Nubia was the northern part of the region, located between the second and the first cataract of Aswan; this was called Wawat.

To ancient Egyptians, Nubia was known as Ta-Sety, the Land of Bowmen as the Nubians were famous for their bows. The word Nubia is thought to be originated from the ancient Egyptian word nbw which means gold. Nubia was an important source of ivory, copper and gold for the Egyptians.

We organised the transport to Abu Simbel through our accommodation in Aswan. We paid EGP 1,230 per person for the bus shuttle and the call time was at around 4am in the morning. We bought our tickets online (EGP 822 per person) while queuing in line at Abu Simbel.

Temple of Ramesses II

The four seated 20 metre high colossi

The largest and most magnificent monument in Nubia is the famous Temple of Ramsesses II which was carved out of a mountain face between 1274 and 1244 BC. The rock temple was dedicated to the main gods of Upper and Lower Egypt, Amun-Ra and Ra-Harakhte but also to the deified pharaoh himself.

The temple was salvaged from Lake Nasser and the operation entailed sawing the temple into more than 1,000 transportable pieces and reassembling them at a new site 60 metres higher than the original site. The move took more than five years and the phenomenon of solar alignment was only a day different. Following the reconstruction, the dawn rays of the sun reach into the mountain to illuminate the inner sanctuary striking three statues - Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ramesses II himself. The fourth statue, Ptah, the god of the underworld is left in the dark. This solar alignment happen every year on 22 February and 22 October. The original events were on 21 February and 21 October.

Entering through the temple entrance is the Great Hypostyle Hall that is flanked by eight 10-metre high Osiride statues of the king in a double row facing eatch other against at corresponding number of square pillars.

The detailed reliefs in the temple were amazing. The northern wall is decorated with the Battle of Kadesh, in which the young Ramesses II contronted the Hittites in Syria. The southern wall are decorated with scenes of the king kneeling in front of severa gods.

The Small Temple at Abu Simbel

Next to the temple of Abu Simbel stands a smaller one dedicated to Hathor and Ramesses II's wife, Nefertari. Nefertari was the most beloved of the wives of Ramesses II. The facade of this temple is decorated with statues of himself, his wife and their children. The temple is also dedicated to goddess Hathor, representing love, beauty, music, fertility and joy.