egypt: aswan and abu simbel

We arrived in Aswan in the middle of the night, I didn't wake up when the boat docked. Breakfast was a buffet as usual, and as usual I overate.

I met up with my guide, then we met our first driver of the day. Our first stop of the day took us to the Aswan High Dam. To get there we had to drive over the old British dam, which has military checkpoints on each end. If it weren't for those checkpoints I would've asked to get out of the car and take a few photos. The British damn looked more majestic to me, or maybe just more photogenic.

This dam still works, and is necessary to the functioning of everything in the area, including the High Dam. The British Dam was built in 5 years, starting in 1898, and is occasionally called the Low Dam.

In 1960 construction began on a bigger dam, called the High Dam. 11 years later construction finished, and the creation of Lake Nasser began, as the area flooded due to the dam. The dam itself is 3 kilometers long, but you can't see the full length unless you go up high, with a drone or plane or helicopter. I'm pretty sure that isn't possible, due to security concerns. There is a small parking area, and an entry fee! I never did figure out what limits there were to how far I could walk on the dam, though I'm sure the area probably wasn't all that big. Certainly not the entire length of the dam, even though that would've been fun.

There is a small area in the middle of the road on the dam that has been turned into a garden.

Quite pretty, even though it doesn't really match much of the surrounding scenery. The gardner was pruning and watering while I took my photos, and the gardener even gave me a flower. Then he helped me rinse the mud off my feet.

We got back in the car and continued back in the direction from which we came. On the way back we stopped at the Soviet Egyptian friendship monument, it's hard to miss. Ive seen these kinds of monuments all over the world where the Soviet Union worked with another country to build something. More than anything, they're BIG.

I hopped out of the car, and went to walk a bit closer. The monument is at the end of a walkway in the middle of a man made pond. As I approached the walkway and realized there was a group blocking the other end, as they organized themselves to take a group photo. I wanted to slide through them, but that might've taken a while. Waiting took only a couple minutes. I got to the monument and immediately looked up. I'd say the memorial is like a really rall flower, maybe a tulip? When you look up, you see each 'petal' leaning in toward the center.

The next thing I knew, everyone in the group wanted to be in a photo with me. I haven't been in that many selfies in a while.

It was fun, and for the most part people seemed to be in a queue of sorts. As that group finally left, I asked one of their leaders to take my photo with me standing by the area that had both languages, saying what the monument was all about.

Just as that guy took my photo and walked away, another group arrived. This was a group of schoolkids, they wanted photos with me too. More fun, more selfies. One girl put my camera in her selfie stick and took a couple photos so I had a few for myself. Fun :)

How often do these groups come? Is it ever quiet at this monument? Eventually I got back to the car, and we continued driving.

The next stop was a small marina. We walked through a small gate, down to the boats. Along the way, we passed a bunch of vendors with souvenirs no one really needs. Tamar took me directly to the boat he'd already arranged, and we climbed aboard. It was a small boat with a small motor on the end. We were the only customers but it could've held another 10-15 people I think.

Our ride took us out to a small island, and on the way we went past several other small islands. The lake on which our boat was floating had been created by the dam I'd seen earlier in the day. I wonder what the landscape had been like before the flooding of the lake.

We arrived at our island and climbed off the boat. The dock was small, with a few steps to get us up to the level of most of the island. There were heaps of boats hanging around, waiting for the customers they'd dropped off before we arrived. I don't know how they kept themselves organized, so that the right one would be able to leave when they needed to leave.

Philae temple was originally in a different place. If it had stayed in its original place, it would've be covered by the water of the newly created lake. Philae Temple is like Edfu Temple in that the only fully Egyptian part of it is a small area near the front. The majority of the temple was built by the Greco Romans who wanted to rule the country way back in the day. This temple was similar to the others I'd already seen in that there was a front courtyard of sorts, as well as an area filled with columns. Unlike Edfu, there was no throne left in the holy room at the back of the temple. There was a pink granite stone, the offering table.

Philae Temple had briefly been used as a Christian Church, you can still see where the crosses were carved in a few places. I found that fascinating, as I always do when I see a mix of religions and faiths.

Off to the side of the temple was another temple. Tamar told me this was where some of the later leaders came to relax after being in the temple. It's a small temple, but is right on the edge of the island so it overlooks the water. Very nice.

We took a short break at a cafe, which had a fantastic view of the bigger temple. I bought postcards there, the price was totally reasonable.

After relaxing for a few minutes we walked back to our boat, which brought us back to the same dock we'd come from earlier. A different driver picked us up and took us back to the boat, in time for another buffet lunch. I was still eating too much, but it was all so good.

Not long after finishing lunch, I joined my guide for another afternoon tour. This time we hopped on a boat really close to our cruise boat. This boat was just like the boat we'd been on earlier in the day, in that it could've held more people than it did, and had an engine to get around. I saw something written in Arabic in one place on the boat, and asked my guide what it said. He took a look and burst out laughing. Apparently it said 'leave me alone.'

To get to where we were going, our boat went through a reserve area, which Tamar pointed out to me. He told me it is a reserve area because there are some animals here that you don't get to see in many places. These are animals that were hunted by the pharoahs when they came to this area back in the day. Some of the water was pretty shallow, and we skirted around a number of smaller islands in the river.

Our boat docked, we climbed out, and went up a set of steps to get to street level. We'd come to a Nubian village. In Egypt there are several ethnicities, basically two major groups of people. This is where you get to learn about the time when there were two kingdoms in Egypt, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The names are based on the flow of the Nile River, which means Upper Egypt is actually in the southern end of the country.

Upper Egypt/Nubia used to be a separate kingdom from Cairo/Lower Egypt. The Nubian people are quite different from Egyptians as we think of them now. Nubians speak a different language, not related to Arabic.

That being said, many have learned Arabic because they are now part of Egypt; they have also learned English because of the tourist industry.

Architecture in Nubia is different from the rest of Egypt. Everything is a LOT more colorful, and there are far fewer solid roofs. The top of many homes is vaulted in an arch shape, which helps with the crazy heat. This area gets very little rain, Tamar said it last rained in 2010. People sleep on the roof of their home, as it is cooler.

There is a belief that a mummified animal (particularly a crocodile,) will keep your home safe, so I saw a number of those over the front door of various homes. Am I the only one that finds this a little creepy?

There were a lot of market stalls set up with spices, which always look lovely. Too bad I had no desire to buy anything at the time.

While wandering around I got to watch a group of local men playing dominoes. They played quickly, playing again and again. Tamar said they play for hours, almost every day. I don't know what the women do during this time.

We went into one home and had a cup of tea. (It was good enough that I broke down and bought some for myself as we left town.) The lady who owned the home took us up to the roof, which I loved. Since it was dry, and winter, we could see over the land for quite a distance. It was neat to see all the color of the Nubian village, and the brown of the surrounding area.

We went back to the port area to get back to our boat. At the top of the steps down to the port my guide asked me if I wanted to have henna put on my hands. I've had it done before, but I figured why not do it again? Tamar chose one of the girls to do it, but they all pushed in. The next thing I knew, five women were painting henna on my hands. There was no specific design, but I laughed at the experience. They wanted to do my feet too, but I knew there was no way I'd have been able to keep it from smearing long enough to dry while looking good.

Our boat took us back to the cruise boat as the sun was starting to set, a gorgeous time of day.

After dinner that night there was another thematic party on the boat but I skipped it, I knew I'd be up early and I'm not usually a huge party person. I'm sure I wasnt the only one on the boat who was going to be awake early, I wonder how many people attended the party.

When you sign up for a tour in Egypt, there are all sorts of additional options. I turned down most of them, but one I did decide to go for was a day trip to a temple called Abu Simbel.

When I signed up for the tour I wasn't aware that I'd have to get up quite early, and have everything packed to check out before 0500. It wasn't so easy to get up at that hour, but it was worth it.

Since I was leaving the boat long before breakfast I was given a brown bag breakfast. I ate most of it during the drive to and from Abu Simbel. It wasn't nearly as good as the buffet breakfasts, which I'd gotten used to eating. The brown bag breakfast was nearly all bread in some form or another.

Tamer had organized the taxi to pick us up, and get going at that hour. It was a three hour drive through the desert. Not a particularly pretty area of the desert, mostly just flat dirt/sand. I dozed for most of the ride, as did Tamer. At one point I woke up and looked out the window and realized I was seeing part of the sunrise.

With the lack of pollution (there is nothing there, so there is nothing causing pollution,) and flat horizon, the sunrise was really pretty. I should've asked the taxi to stop so I could take a photo or two, but I did it through the window while we were still going. If this driver had done the drive before, I'm sure he'd seen plenty of others do the same thing.

Eventually we arrived. This time Tamer didn't have the ticket ahead of time, but there was no line, so it only took us a few seconds to get the ticket. When he bought the ticket he told me they don't keep extras of these in the office because not everyone takes this tour. You have to sign up for this tour a few days in advance because the road to get there takes you through some areas for which you have to have clearance. Bureaucracy at it's finest, I'm sure.

When we arrived and pulled into the parkplatz I was less than impressed. You can't see a thing worth seeing from the park platz. Instead, you follow a walking path that goes slightly down and around a corner. As you come around the corner you realize why people come to this temple, even though it's far away from everything.

Now that I know how it all works, I'd actually want to get going even earlier, to try to avoid some of the crowds. Or maybe come later in the day. I don't know if it is possible, but I'd love to try. I don't know how early the temple opens though, which probably makes a difference.

Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II, the pharoah who was totally full of himself. At least, that is my opinion. I don't know enough history to know whether he deserved to be that arrogant.

Tamer told me it took years to build Abu Simbel. They didn't have the technology we do now way back then, which makes the temple even more impressive. Ramses II built the temple to honor himself and his favourite wife, Nefertari.

This temple is different from all the temples in Egypt in that it was carved out of a mountain. Nothing was built in the sense of stacking rocks and bricks together, it was all 'scratched' out of a mountain. The engineering in the temple was incredible, as the sunrise reached to the back of the temple on Ramses birthday, every year. At least that is what I've read and been told.

As you come around the bend, you see four GIANT statues of Ramses II on the front facade of the temple. It's amazing. If I could've taken a photo without anyone else in the frame I would've done so. (This is the reason I want to go back at a different time of day, I want the 'just me' photo.)

Tamer told me what I would see inside the temple, then sent me in. Guides are not allowed inside, booo. I wandered through the main rooms, as well as each of the side rooms. Everything was covered with carvings of heiroglyphics telling stories of the pharoah's life.

One thing I noticed as being different was that of the pharoah in a kilt that looked longer than what I was used to seeing. When I asked Tamer about it afterward he said it was a picture of the pharoah in his hunting kilt.

After seeing everything I could see, I walked with Tamer to the second temple, the one dedicated to Nefertari. It's much smaller, but still really impressive. Since it is smaller, not as many people walk the distance (it isn't far, by anyone's standards!) to see it. There are four large statues of Nefertari on the front of the temple, this is where I took my 'just me and the thing behind me' photo. Yay!

Tamer wasn't allowed in this one either, booo. Since it was smaller I went through rather quickly. In the temple for Ramses, the statues are of him. In the temple for Nefertari, the statues in the interior room are of Hathor, one of the gods.

To get back to the car we walked by a museum that documented the moving of the temple. What engineers did in 5 years (with $40 million) is incredible. They sliced the temple into pieces, taking photos and numbering everything. Over time each piece was moved to a storage area, then a new mountain was carved, and everything was put back in the correct order. To be honest, I wouldn't have noticed anything if Tamer hadn't told me.

The temple(s) had to be moved because of the creation of Lake Nasser, which would've flooded and covered the temple. AMAZING.

We walked back to the park platz, where the taxi driver told Tamer we were late. (There was no specific timing that I was aware of, it was just the driver wanting to get to other business.) Tamer told him he had been hired for this trip, and to please be polite. The conversation was in Arabic of course, I didn't know until Tamer told me.

I dozed during the drive back to Aswan, it would've been hard to stay awake during the flat drive.

When we got back to the boat, Tamer and I split up. We both took our bags, but he went off to the train station, while I was driven to a hotel for the night. I liked the hotel, which was quite grand. Definitely not a place I would've picked on my own, but it was part of the tour. Just like the hotel in Cairo, the only free wifi was in the lobby, and it was awful.

I hung out in the hotel for a few hours, after which I was picked up by another guy working for the same tour company. His name was Mohammed. He took me to the marina right in front of the hotel, where we boarded a falucaa. Finally I got to ride on one of these traditional Egyptian sailboats. It was a sunset ride, very relaxing.

The man who was 'driving' the falucca had clearly spent a lot of his life on the boat. I could see big calluses on his hands and feet, and squinty eyes from all the sun. He was completely comfortable on the water, the constant change in the balance of the boat didn't bother him at all.

We didn't get lucky in terms of wind, so we didn't go very fast, or very far. That being said, it was a lovely ride. It was quiet and relaxing, and I got to see much of the sunset. I enjoyed seeing the sky changing colours against the backdrop of the city lights coming on.

We came back to the dock, and I convinced Mohammed to go for a walk with me. We walked toward the city center, first passing a small park.

There was a fountain in the park, and I thought the weather was downright amazing considering it was winter, but there weren't too many people out and about. I told Mohammed that I really like sahlab, so we sat down at a cafe overlooking this small park. I was the only female in the cafe, which I've learned is pretty typical in an Egyptian cafe that is mainly frequented by locals. The men in these cafes smoke shisha and drink really thick coffee. The sahlab I had here was the best I had during the entire trip. It was really thick, and they put sprinkles on top!! Yum.

Mohammed and I walked a little further, walking through part of the market I'd gone through with Tamer the night before.

I saw more stalls with the same goods, and many more tourists this time. I didn't see anything I wanted to buy, but I loved watching people.

Mohammed walked me back to the hotel, and I went to sleep soon enough. I had a huge room with a nice balcony, part of me wished I had been able to be there a little longer and take advantage of the luxury.

The next morning I had another brown bag breakfast, it was better than what I'd had from the ship. There was still a lot of bread, but it had a hard boiled egg and a couple pieces of fruit.

Mohammed picked me up and along with the driver took me to the airport. Security was not so fun, but easy enough. I had another easy and short flight, landing back in Cairo.

egypt: edfu and kom ombo

As I woke up the morning after Christmas, I realized we were docked in a new place, and our boat was on the end of a series of boats, so the sun was able to come into my room. Yay! I peeked outside and got to see a beautiful sunrise. I remembered hearing the night before that this new city was called Edfu.

Breakfast was another buffet, the same as the day before. I continued to eat too much, and grabbed a piece of fruit to bring with me during the day. Eric ate at the same table as well, since that was now our routine.

I met up with my guide, and we walked through two other boats to get to the bank of the river. (I still was loving the idea that I got to cruise on the river Nile, one of the most famous rivers in the world.)

Tamer has been a guide for several years, and has built up a network of people at each location he visits. When we walked off the gangplank onto the river bank, he'd already arranged our transport to the temple. Apparently the transport for tourists in Edfu is all done by horse and carriage. Not really a carriage, more like a fancy seat behind the horse. Of all the horses I saw, ours looked the best, but that's not saying much of anything. My guide told the driver not to whip the horse, that we didn't need to be going as fast as possible. (If I ever do this again, I will eat breakfast early and get off the boat as early as possible, to try to avoid the crowds.)

15-20 minutes later, we arrived at the parkplatz (for horses) next to the temple.

Tamer handed me my entry ticket and we went through security. We also had to walk through the sidewalk that goes through the area with all the vendors. I told Tamer I wanted more postcards as we left, knowing we would do the same thing as we did the day before at the Valley of the Kings.

The temple at Edfu is different fron the temples I'd seen in Luxor. Those were built by ancient Egyptians. The temple at Edfu was actually built by the Greco Romans, when they were trying to take over Egypt by being nice. That being said, the temple is still really old, and I wouln't have noticed the difference if I hadn't been told.

The front facade was HUGE, with an entryway in the middle. There were large pictures on the front facade, showing the people for whom the temple was built. After walking though the entire thing I was amazed at how small all the doorways were, for a building that was so big. As with the temple at Karnak, I really liked the giant column area.

This temple had a library room, which I loved. I was fascinated to learn that the scribes and priests were the only people who could read back then. Amazing to think that the great majority of the people had no idea what they were looking at when they saw the walls of various temples.

Not only did the scribes read and write, they could do so in a variety of languages.

Tamer pointed out to me where the treasury used to be, which also held the entry to tunnels that would let the pharoah exit the temple secretly. Too bad there were a few items of rubbish under the gate that covered this entrance. Of course there is no treasure in there anymore, but I still wish I could've seen the tunnels. I don't know what kind of condition they're in, if they're safe to go through.

The holy of holies room in this temple still has the throne, which was really cool to see. There was also a replica solar boat, which would also have been in the throne room of a temple like this one.

On both sides of the interior I found staircases, but when I got to the top of each of them I found a gate that prevented me from going any further. I wish I could've seen what was at the higher level.

Every wall of the temple, whether in the throne room or a staircase or elsewhere was covered in heiroglyphics. Tamer told me what some of them said, it's hard to remember all the gods and pharoahs and offerings. I was impressed with all the carvings, it must've taken ages to do it all.

In front of the temple, off to one side is the only truly Egyptian building of the temple: the birthing temple. This is where the queen would've given birth.

Some of the drawings on the wall show this happening. Tamer said his wife was her most beautiful when she gave birth, which I thought was really sweet.

We left the temple area, and had the same horse and driver back to the boat. As we were on the road, Tamer asked the driver to stop and get sugar cane juice, which he did. I thought it was even better than the juice we'd had in Luxor. He also asked the driver to get some of the local bread. For this, the driver lifted up the lid of the box that was also his seat. Inside the box was a box of local bread, he gave us pieces of that.

How awesome is that?!? Tamer explained to me that this type of bread is heavily subsidized by the goverment, so the driver wasn't sacrificing a great amount of money or food. Still, I loved that Tamer remembered I liked the juice and bread, and had asked the driver about it. Since I speak and understand no Arabic, I had no idea what he said to the driver, at all.

We returned to the boat, and I hung out on the sundeck for an hour until lunch. It was another buffett lunch, I continued my tradition of overeating. Yum. After lunch I forked over money to buy 24 hours of wifi. Too much money, but it was nice to be connected to the world for a little while.

After a couple hours of internet, I went back up to the sundeck and enjoyed what was left of the afternoon. The boat started to cruise south again, toward our next destination.

The boat arrived at Kom Ombo in late afternoon. The sun was starting to set, but wasn't there yet. Everyone traipsed off the boat, and walked to the temple. It was close enough that no transport was required. (If I'd thought about it, I would've preferred to walk to the morning temple in Edfu, but I'm not sure that was an option. It take a loooooooong distance for me to say 'that's too long to walk.')

The temple at Kom Ombo is completely unique in that it is a double temple. It is a temple dedicated to two gods, there is nothing like it in the rest of the country. One of the gods was the god of crocodiles (more of a local god,) and the other was Horus. This was another Greco Roman temple, but just like the one this morning, I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't been told.

I really liked the sky when we arrived, it was starting to change colour for sunset. Not too long after we arrived, the night lights for the temple came on, I wasn't a huge fan. I asked Tamer if this temple gets many visitors during the rest of the day, since the boats seem to come in late afternoon, he didn't know.

This temple wasn't as big as the morning temple. It didn't take us long to walk everywhere. I saw another area with vendors and snacks, but I wasn't able to tell if there was a town there or just the temple. There must be at least a village if there was a temple there, right?

Included in my temple ticket was entry to the mummified crocodile museum. My guide said it was the largest such museum in the middle east, I told him it was probably the largest in the world. How many mummified crocodile museums can there be? It turns out there is a separate ticket you have to have in order to take photos, Tamer went to get that for me. This photo ticket was the only ticket written entirely in Arabic that I saw during my entire tour.

In this area of Egypt it was common to pray to the god of crocodiles, since there were so many in the river. Due to this, the process of mummifying crocodiles was the thing to do; there was an official way to do it!

The museum is small, just one room. Since the practice of mummifying crocodiles goes back a long way, there aren't a lot of photos or other items to display.

In the middle of the room is a big glass case, with probably nine or ten mummified crocodiles on display. Fascinating, but sortof creepy too. I was fascinated with the scales still being in good condition. There was a glass case with a crocodile still wrapped in cloth, complete with pieces to go over the eyes.

I was inside for less than an hour, as even with me taking photos there wasn't much to see. After leaving, we walked back to the boat.

Sometime after boarding, the boat started moving south again. I felt it start to move (you can't help but hear it,) but I didn't wake up when we docked in the middle of the night.

While cruising southward we had another buffet dinner. There was a party that night in the bar, something where everyone was supposed to wear traditional Egyptian clothing. I skipped that, as it didn't even start until 2130, and I didn't have the proper clothing.

The next morning when I woke up, we were in Aswan.

egypt: luxor

My flight arrived in Luxor at 0810, not long after sunrise. I got off the plane and saw a lot of clouds and a small airport. It didn't take long for my bag to come through baggage claim, thank goodness. I took the time to watch everyone else, I'm sure the great majority of them were tourists like me. Some people bring a LOT of luggage.

My new guide and driver met me just outside the airport. We all hopped in the car and started driving, it didn't take long to get to the river, where my boat was docked. It was only about 0900 I think, and check in wasn't until 1230. Nevertheless the boat staff took my bag, so I guess this is something they deal with everyday.

All three of us got back in the car, and drove to Karnak Temple. It isn't far from Luxor, though I don't know the distance. (I should look it up.) I'm guessing it is actually in the city limits of Luxor, though who knows.

We were some of the first to arrive at the temple. I guess that's one of the benefits of being on a flight early in the morning. Since there was no place to hang out and relax, why not go to the first sight on the itinerary?

Karnak Temple is actually a complex of temples, it is BIG. The complex was built by several pharoahs, each adding his/her bit onto what was already there.

My guide told me the last pharoah lost power before finishing his bit, which was actually a good thing for today's archaeologists. Because the building wasn't finished, the 'scaffolding' was left behind. Archaeologists had wondered for years how the builders of temples and tombs had lifted the bricks and stones to such high levels, and this scaffolding gave them their answer. Oddly enough, these 'empty' and unfinished walls surround the entrance area used by tourists.

You enter the complex after walking down a short street of ram headed statues. Back in the day, this road was quite long.

Now, many of them are missing their faces or various bits and pieces. If I understand correctly, most of them weren't here to begin with, but archaeologists have decided to put them here and make this side the entry for visitors.

This small road leads to a narrow-ish entry between the two unfinished walls. After walking through, my guide pointed out the scaffolding to me. It's not scaffolding like we think of it now, it is the scaffolding they used back then.

Archaeologists are actually glad the powers that be left and quit so fast. Otherwise they wouldn't have left the scaffolding behind, and archaeologists wouldn't have known how the temples were made to be so big.

Off to one side of this entry area is a temple. It isn't big, but both sides (on the inside) are lined with large statues. One of the temples to Ramses, I think.

At the entry to another area of the complex (which I think means the entry to another temple in the complex,) are two really really big statues. I'd been in Egypt less than 24 hours, and I'd already realized I'd be seeing plenty of these really big statues. It's one of the ways the pharaohs and their courts were able to display power and wealth.

Inside this area were a lot of columns. (Another thing I'd see plenty of during my tour.) The columns had originally been covered in paint and pictures, telling stories and assuaging the gods. There is very little paint left, though there is a little in places that haven't been touched much, by people or by the weather.

While we were walking through this complex my guide told me of the French explorer who had decided to excavate this temple, to remove the sand that covered much of the area. He decided to do this by letting the water of the river flow through. Apparently he thought the water would simply go through and take just the sand with it.

Obviously (to anyone who knows physics,) this is not how it worked. When the water went through, it took the sand, but also the bottoms of all the columns. All of the columns had to be rebuilt. Silly French ;)

In one area of the complex I could see the remains of two obelisks that had originally been dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut.
They'd both been slightly destroyed because her brother was really jealous, and did his best to break everything she left behind when she died. Sibling jealousy is a theme through all of history.

I got to see the green granite door in the complex, a gate through which only the pharaoh and his head priest would've been allowed to go through.

I got to see areas that are still being excavated, although rather slowly. Ever since the revolution in 2011, money for archaeology from the government has been hit and miss. No one really knows what is still left to be found.

Eventually we left the temple complex, I bought postcards and a drink from one of the many stalls on the way out. There were a whole lot more people wandering around by this point. I already appreciated having a private tour, and not having to stick to a schedule with a large group on a bus.

We found the driver, and drove to the next sight on my itinerary: Luxor Temple. It's a lot smaller than the complex at Karnak. My guide told me this is because Karnak was used for ceremonies and such, whereas Luxor was more for 'daily life.' Well, as much as daily life was normal for pharaohs and everyone else in that level of society.

There was another security check to enter Luxor Temple. These kinds of security checks are a normal part of life in Egypt these days, there are security guards everywhere. The checks at tourist sights are more cursory in terms of how closely they look at you after you go through a metal detector. My guide told me it's mostly based on intuition, that is, how the guard feels when he looks at you.

From the entry area I could see what remained of more statues lined alongside a road coming to the temple. This is what used to be several kilometers long, and connected Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple. Now you can see modern society all around, but back in the day it must've been really impressive to see this road lined with all the statues, (of sphinxes I think,) in good condition.

The entry to Luxor Temple was my first chance to see how much Ramses II thought of himself. It's putting it mildly to say he thought very highly of himself. There were two flat walls making a narrow entrance way, on either side of the entrance was a large statue of Ramses II.

When we entered the area we came into another platz area, with more statues of Ramses II. Each statue was slightly different, and my guide told me they were to mark each year of the life of Ramses II. Kindof like having professional photos taken of you each year, I suppose. The majority of the statues were made during his lifetime!

We passed through another area filled with columns that used to be painted, and more of the ceiling of this area still stands. Looking up into the corners I could see a lot more of the original painting on the walls. In other words, there is more colour, and the design is much more clear. It's amazing to think of how long this has been in existence.

Since Alexander the Great was involved in the history of this temple, (renovations when it was still being used,) there are even a couple pictures of him!

At the back of the temple is an area that was used as a Christian church for a while. Pretty amazing, if you think about it. They used the temple while trying to hide from the people in charge who didn't approve of Christianity. It was amazing to see frescoes right next to heiroglyphics, and to know that those frescoes had been painted over other heiroglyphics. As has happened throughout history, one group of people has protected another, and we got to see what still remains.

As we were walking back toward the exit of the temple, my guide told me to look up. He pointed out a couple of windows, and a door. The door looked a little odd, since it was high up on a wall and I didn't see how it could be used. Then I looked around the rest of the building. My guide told me it was a mosque that had been built on top of part of the temple before everything it had been excavated.

At the time, the temple was half covered in sand and dirt, so it made sense to build the mosque at that level. After excavation and some restoration, a door/entry to the mosque were built on the other side, with access from the street outside.

Somehow I thought it was neat to see evidence of ancient empires building on top of each other, and accomodations being made for both.

From there we walked out the exit gate of the temple. Just across the small square outside was another mosque, impossible to miss. I could hear the noon call to prayer, and the calls from several nearby mosques as well. Since this was Saturday, there weren't many people heading for the mosque. If it had been Friday, there would've been many more people.

We got back in the car, and drove to the boat. I sat on a couch in the lobby, and waited while the desk clerk checked me in.

Ten minutes later I was all settled in, and told that lunch was down in the dining room. Lunch was a large buffet, with heaps of good food. I was in heaven. I had several different kinds of protein, veggies, and fruit. Curries, salads, roasts, etc... I went waaaay overboard, but it was all good, and none of it was processed food. Yay.

I was eating at a table by myself, and less than halfway through my meal another guy came along and asked if he could sit down. I could tell he was a native English speaker, so I figured why not. He got his food, sat down, and we started chatting. He was originally from Arizona, but is now semi retired and living in various places for three months at a time.

After lunch I didn't have any plans with my guide, so Eric and I went for a walk in Luxor. Since we were obviously foreigners, and tourists at that, there were people coming up to us pretty much all the time, trying to sell us something. It was frustrating that we couldn't say no and keep walking. These men (and they were all men,) kept telling us how cheap they could be, or how everyone did it, or anything else they thought would get us to spend money. It never worked, as neither Eric nor I had any desire to buy anything, or spend any money. Except for on drinks and snacks of course. 

At one point during this walk we went into a mosque. We attempted to go in the main entrance, before a man said we first we had to go in a different entry, so I could stay in the women's area. There was also an area to take off our shoes. I looked up as always, and really liked the ceiling in this area. I was a bit disappointed I couldn't go in the main area, I couldn't even look in through the door. Argh.

As we left the mosque and picked up our shoes, the man indicated we should pay him for doing so. Eric had kept his shoes in his hands after taking them off, so he hadn't even left them to be watched.

I gave the man 20 Egyptian pounds, which was far more than I should've given, but he said it wasn't enough. He wanted me to give 200 pounds, which was absolutely ridiculous. Why would I give that much for someone who probably didn't even glance at my shoes in the period of about five minutes I was inside? Argh. Actions like this give me such a negative impression of a place. I know times are tough, but being aggressive toward visitors most defintely won't make the situation better.

During our walk we stopped in a couple small shops to check out the snack situation, I found stuff I wanted to try. I couldn't resist trying things with American names like ho-hos and ding dongs.

They weren't American brands, but hey, why not? I also found the drink I already knew I liked, a pomegranet flavoured Schweppes.

Eventually we returned to the boat, since we were tired of being pressured to spend money despite saying multiple times to everyone that we didn't want to. Men (and it's almost always men,) say things like 'just five minutes in my shop, no pressure,' or just take a look, or I give you cheap price. When I say no thank you, or just plain no, I mean it, I'm not trying to negotiate. Argh.

After our walk both of us went up onto the top deck and relaxed on the chairs for a while.

There was a tiny, shallow pool up there, which is probably used a little more during warmer months. It was sunny though, and I really enjoyed that.

Later, around 1700, I met my guide, and we also went for a walk in town. This was his first time just walking with me, it didn't take him long to figure out that I wanted to see the city, not the tourist sights upon which most people focus. It was sooooo much easier to walk with Tamer than with Eric. Since Tamer is Egyptian, when he said no to all the vendors and touts, they listened to him and went away. It was almost relaxing!

I got to guide this walk, which I enjoyed. As we walked, when I looked down a street and it looked interesting, that's where we went. Tamer pointed out a few food places with 'traditional' food (he called it oriental,) that looked rather tasty. I got to have sugar cane juice, after watching the sugar cane itself get squashed by a machine. Yum!

At one point we were on a hunt for a drink I like, called sahlab. I'm still not sure what it is, other than it's white, sweet, and good. The first cafe we tried didn't have it, neither did the second or third. We decided to try a last cafe, and we finally had success. Yay!! We sat at a table on the street and watched people while we drank. Since this was winter in Egypt, it was cool in the evening but locals thought it was cold, which made me laugh.

We went back to the boat in time to clean up and get ready for dinner. It was a special dinner, because it was Christmas. Dinner started at 2030, and was plated; waitstaff came out with each course.

I don't remember how many courses we had, maybe four or five? The food was good, but there was one major problem: the lighting was really low, so I couldn't really see what was on each plate set in front of me. A couple times I got out my phone and used the torch (flashlight) to see my food. I understand the idea of mood lighting, but I still want to see my food, and mood lighting is openly good when you're part of a romantic couple. There were plenty of families who probably also wanted to see their food. Eric and I ate together again, we figured it's nice to eat with someone who speaks the same language.

There was a party or dance of some kind after dinner, but I was tired after getting up so early, and I'm not a late night kind of person anywho.

The next morning I got to have my first experience with the buffet breakfast on the boat. Lots of food, but not as good as the lunch buffet I'd had the day before. I had an omelette made in front of me, some fruit, some veggies, yogurt, tea, etc...

I ate again with Eric, and already both of us could tell that others on the boat thought we were a couple. Hahahaha. I grabbed an apple on the way out of the dining room, in case I somehow needed a snack during the day.

I met up with my guide and we found our driver waiting just outside the boat. He took off driving in the same direction I'd walked with my guide the night before. After a little while we drove across the river, then turned toward the right, so we were basically heading back in the direction from which we'd started, but on the other side of the river. My guide told me that this was the side of the river on which locals lived, those who don't have anything to do with tourists.

We turned onto the road that was signposted to lead to the Valley of the Kings. A very long time ago, at the beginning of the ancient Egyptian empire, the pharoahs were buried in the pyramids. After too many of those tombs were looted (everyone knew exactly where they were, it's not as if the pyramids were hidden,) the powers that be decided to change things. It was decided that pharoahs would be buried in hidden tombs, in an area not close to Cairo, not close to anywhere in particular. This is how the Valley of the Kings came about. Archaeologists have found more than 60 tombs in the area, and they think it's entirely possible that more tombs could be found in the future.

Our driver dropped us off in the parkplatz, and we walked up to the ticket area. There, my guide gave me the tickets I would need, there were two. One was a ticket that allowed me to enter three tombs of my choice, and the other was for the short 'train' ride to get to the official entrance. There was also an option for a ticket to the tomb of Tutankhamun, but I skipped that one. There would've been paint on the walls in there, but nothing else, since all the items were moved into a museum.

We walked along the path, and my guide told me a bit about the various pharoahs buried there, and showed me photos of what I would see in some of the tombs.

You're not supposed to take photos inside any of them, but some of the workers will take bribes to allow you to do so. I'm not sure how I feel about such things. If photos were allowed then you'd have to deal with people moving really slowly and spending the entire time behind the lens instead of just appreciating and absorbing what they were seeing. At the same time, I don't use flash, so I know my photos don't hurt all the paintings, The administrators of this area have to take into account that the body heat and breathing of all the visitors isn't good for the tombs, which is another reason to block photos.

People go through much more quickly (and therefore release less carbon dioxide through fewer breaths) when they aren't supposed to take photos.

The three tombs I saw were Ramses IX, Merempath, and Tutmosis III. Each had similarities and differences. To get into the tomb of Ramses IX, the ramp going down wasn't very steep. The colour of the paint on the wall had held up really well, I was very impressed. (Had I used my camera in there, I would've been inside for an hour.) This tomb wasn't very big, it didn't take me long to see.

The second tomb I visited was that of Merempath. The entry ramp to this one was much more steep, and I'm sure plenty of people slip and fall at some point. There are wooden boardwalks built for the visitors, those boardwalks were not there back when the tombs were built. The colouring inside this one wasn't as vibrant, but it was so deep, and I had to admire the engineers who designed the whole thing. This tomb was also bigger, there were more rooms to see. The main room, the one with the sarcophagus seemed really big to me. It was much larger than the sarcophagus itself.

My last tomb was the tomb of Tutmosis III. To get to the entry of this one I first had to go up an exterior ladder, probably two or three flights of stairs. The entry wouldn't have been obvious to anyone, even if you were in the know. After I got to the top of the stairs, the boardwalk heading down into the tomb was rather steep. Basically, my legs were already realizing this tomb would be more of a workout than the other tombs I'd seen.

Due to being at the back of the valley, and the challenge of the ladder outside, this tomb was better preserved than the others. It also seemed more extensive to me. I walked through at least four rooms, and went up/down a set of stairs within the tomb itself. There was paint on all the walls and ceilings, and on the surfaces of the sarcophagus as well. In this tomb there were a couple employees, both wanted tips for telling me the history my guide had already told me or allowing me to take photos. I took a few photos, but didn't pay a huge amount for it. I already knew how much Egyptians make in a monthly salary, and it didn't take me long to do the math on huge tips for these employees.

After this tomb Tamer and I walked back to the official entrance, then took the train back to the ticket area. On the way out I told Tamer I wanted some postcards, he said to walk out by myself, and he would buy them for a reasonable price. He knew that if I bought them the price quoted by the vendor would be a lot higher. I loved this plan, we used it several times during my tour.

We drove out of the valley, and around to the other side. This was the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut. She wanted to have her tomb in the valley, but that didn't work out. Apparently sexism was alive and well even back then. It also didn't help her cause that her brother hated her and did everything he could to block her plans.

The temple she built was right into the back of a mountain, and pretty impressive. I loved walking through there. There is a long approach to the temple, any visitor should be stunned. In theory, every queen or pharoah worshipped several gods, but they all had their favourites. The favourite of Hatshepsut was Hathor, the Goddess of the cow. There was an entire area of the temple dedicated to Hathor.

When Hatshepsut was building this she tried to build a tunnel that would go through all the way to the Valley of the Kings on the other side, but her brother destroyed that after she died.

Our next stop was a granite shop, basically a place where they showed me how various vases and other items weree made, then say here, take a look at my stuff and buy it if you want. They offered tea, which I turned down. I know that was probably rude, but I'm not one who moseys through shopping. I look, and I decide. I don't like sitting around drinking tea unless I'm just hanging out.

We left there, then drove to the Colossei of Memnon. My guide said that when the wind blows, you can here it whistle against them. I wasn't there during any wind, so I don't know for sure. The Colossi are two huge statues of the pharoah Amenhotep III, they stand in the Theban Necropolis. (I don't understand what this area is; that is, are there other tombs? Or something else in the area?)

We drove back to the boat, in time to take part of the buffet lunch. I always overeat at buffets, but at least this time it was all yummy food. Just like the day before I had some fish, some beef, some chicken, veggies, and fruit. Yum.

Mid afternoon, the boat started moving south on the river. Eric and I spent most of the time up on the sundeck again, this time there were a lot more people up there. We were there during the full sunset, which was lovely. I suppose they have these sunsets all the time, since it doesn't rain very often. There was tea time on the sundeck, they offered tea or coffee to anyone who wanted it, as well as pieces of shortbread, or something like that. (I just had tea.)

At 1930 an official cocktail hour started in the bar. There were alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks available, I had a couple non alcoholic drinks. Main different fruit juices, which were quite tasty, but probably loaded with sugar. Dinner that night was 'normal' so it was a buffet.

I'd love to come back to Luxor and walk through other parts of town, and see other temples in the area. I love the convenience of the cruise down the river, but I don't love being on the same general schedule as everyone else.

Read the next post to read about other parts of this boat cruise.