Unfinished Obelisk

This is a site at Aswan where the Egyptians found an unfinished Obelisk. It is unfinished because during the construction, the obelisk cracked. Obelisks have to be a single piece of uncracked granite. This would have been the world’s largest Obelisk if completed.

This time providing a tip helped all three of us. On the tour bus, they advise against tipping the people working in the monument. THIS IS VERY BAD ADVICE. For just a few dollars, you can get access to things other people are not allowed to do. If you do choose to tip the monument workers, you do so at your own risk.

The best way to get the access is to hang a few feet back from the rest of the group. One of the workers will usually try to point out a good picture spot for you. At the unfinished Obelisk, a uniformed Tourist Police Officer offered to take our picture. No one else was around so we said yes. He took two great pictures of the three of us near the Obelisk. Then things got interesting ...
- We were show a chunk of rock in granite that is used to carve the granite. We took a picture of that.
- Connor was given a chunk of the granite carving rock, and allowed to smash granite with it, for “one minute.”
- I then tipped the guard $3. He was very happy and proceeded to show us the following.
- A 200 foot well, behind the security rope used when constructing Obelisks.
- Three other Obelisk construction sites not highlighted for the public.
- A shortcut behind the security rope, saving us quite a bit of walking.
- I was so happy with him, I have him another dollar. He was surprised, commented how wonderful Americans are, and escorted us through the shortcut to the main path.

All of that for only $4 more! And on top of it all, that money really mattered to the guard. It was a win, win situation for all of us. Be a good tipper on your travels. It will make an amazing difference.