Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo Temple is on the riverbank of the Nile. Our cruise ship was able to dock alongside. 

Dual entrance to this completely symetrical temple is also demonstrated by the double sun disks above the lintel. The front facade, birthing room and pillars of the common open court are almost completely destroyed. You can see parts that remain in the top photo. 

Egyptian Calendar. Other engravings within the temple showed the three seasons (flooding, planting, and harvest) Also there was a list of surgical instruments presented to the God of Medicine. 

Partial ceiling showing vultures 

One side of the temple was devoted to Sobek (the crocodile god) and Horus the elder (falcon god)

An important feature of the temple still remaining is the well

Stairs going down into the well indicates that this was a nilometer. Priests used the level of the Nile to determine what taxes would be. The higher the water, the more water from the Nile for irrigation which meant good crops and therefore higher taxes. 

Mummified crocodiles on display in a small museum in the Hathor chapel. There were over 300  mummified crocodiles found buried at this temple. It is known that they also kept live crocodiles on site.

So none of these photos that I used are mine. They were all taken from the internet and I think I used all daytime pictures. When we arrived in Kom Ombo, it was already dusk and turned dark very quickly. I was having a lot of trouble with my camera. I believe now my camera's batteries were either too low or finished altogether. I won't be able to pick up "Dee's" photos from her camera until after I come back from my trip out west. I took 3 photos with my Blackberry, but they have our mugs on them, so I will not use them on my blog. 

That is the beauty of doing scrapbooks, or Memory books. You can document about your trip (or other event) without the use of ANY photos or ones that you have taken from elsewhere. I made sure I bought postcards and booklets along the way. Right now I am in a hurry to document my trip, so I have run out of time to brighten or crop or do any kind of editing to my own photographs. I remember the feeling this night of being "templed out". I hardly knew what I was taking pictures about, and with my camera not working properly, I could have cared less about taking any. I also remember walking by a fellow who was enchanting a cobra with his flute. I hesitated to take a picture, but he was surrounded by a big crowd and my group was way ahead of me and I might not get a picture anyway. Enter the internet. Other people took that photo, so I will use one of theirs in my book just to remember the incident. Other than that, my recollections include going through the gauntlet of vendors going back to the ship. They were the most aggressive of the whole trip. Usually you could walk past them with eyes down or straight ahead, showing no interest at all in their wares. These guys knew they had a very short window of opportunity to sell you something before  you disappeared inside the ship. They literally put things on top of your head, your shoulders, your back forcing you to stop to remove them. It was funny actually. "Dee" called out my name at one point to call me back for help. I had successfully run the gauntlet and was only steps away from freedom. As I was returning to help her, she used my diversion as a way to extricate herself from the group and the two of us ran for the ship, all the while they were calling out "Sooo-zan" (because that was what "dee" had called out.) I didn't ever mind the intrusions of the vendors as they were only trying to make a living. Tourism has declined so dramatically, it has affected their economy immensely.