A breathtaking experience in southern Egypt: A review of the Abu Simbel Temple tour.

At 3 a.m., the tour bus departed from Aswan, piercing through the darkness. As we rubbed our sleepy eyes and arrived at the edge of the desert, standing before Abu Simbel instantly woke us up. The four colossal statues of Ramses II were far larger and more vivid than any photo could capture. "Is this really carved from stone?" I thought, overwhelmed by the sheer scale. The interior of the temple was even more astonishing. Ancient murals and carvings from thousands of years ago remain remarkably intact, and the structure was designed with such precision that even the angle of sunlight hitting the walls was calculated. Particularly fascinating is the phenomenon where sunlight penetrates deep into the temple on Ramses II's birthday and coronation day every February and October. It was so mystical that I vowed to return someday to witness it firsthand. The fact that the entire temple was dismantled and relocated in the 1960s is yet another marvel. It felt like experiencing both ancient Egyptian civilization and modern engineering simultaneously.