Day 5-6, Sailing down the Nile
So far the highlight of the trip is the two days sailing down the Nile on the fellucca. Without the help of any motorboat, the fellucca relied only on the wind or the river current to bring us downstream (but to the North) from Aswan to Kom Ombo. For two days we just relaxed on the mattress-covered deck, reading books, listening to music, chatting, playing card games (like Mafia and Last Card) and swimming in the cold waters of the Nile, which usually only Mark and I dared to swim. We had our meals either on the boat or on the riverbank, then at night we slept in our sleeping bags on the deck. If anyone needed to go to the toilet, the captain set us down on the banks where we could find a nice cozy spot in the bushes. It was the first time I ever did #2 outdoors — and twice! (OK, maybe a bit too much information there.)
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On our first night we told each other jokes and riddles and taught each other camping songs and games around a bonfire. I taught them quite a bit, like Shaggedy-shaggedy-shapopo (hahaha I swear that looks so funny written down), the L-O-V-E song which I learned in Slovenia, and that game where you pass objects around while saying " ‘This is a <stick>.’ ‘A what?’ ‘A <stick>.’…. ‘Oh, a stick." That last one was really really tricky, but everyone was quite keen anyway on getting it right, which we sort of managed after about 30 minutes or so. The night ended with just Ahmed, Tina, Mark and myself left beside the barely smoldering firewood, talking about food mostly, as both Tina and I love to cook.
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The second evening we had a small bonfire party with some singing and dancing. Apart from singing some native Egyptian or Nubian songs we each had to sing our own national anthems. I managed to finish Lupang Hinirang but until now the correct phrase in one part very close to the end still escapes me:
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"Lupa ng araw… blah blah blah… buhay ay langit sa piling mo."
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Someone help me out please. It’s a disgrace, I know.
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Day 7, Riverside temples and Luxor
We arrived early in the morning to Kom Ombo where we disembarked and visited the temple there, and then another temple about an hour away in Edfu. I don’t remember much about either though, although the temples we were visiting were progressively getting bigger. (Which made sense, because if we first saw Karnak Temple, which we had gone to this morning, then everything else would have paled in comparison.) Anyway at this point I was starting to feel some stomach problems, which was aggravated by a really really heavy lunch at KFC that afternoon when we arrived in Luxor. The rest of the day I felt more and more miserable, although I still joined the others in the market where I bought my very own sheesha. I also had dinner with everyone else although I didn’t have anything except a bottle of water.
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Day 8, Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and the Valley of the Kings
Even though I was still miserable the next morning I really didn’t want to miss this excursion to the West Bank of the Nile to see the mortuary temples and tombs of the New Kingdom Pharaohs, who had their seat of power in Thebes, now called Luxor. We woke up at 5am, boarded the van at 6am for a short 30-minute trip to the other side of the Nile where the old kings secretly had their tombs built. In the olden days people lived only on the east side of the Nile, where the sun rises, representing life, while no one lived on the western side, because it represents death and the afterlife. Hence all mortuary temples and tombs and pyramids were built on the west side (all throughout the Nile) while settlements and palaces and worshipping temples were built on the east.
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Queen Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh in Egyptian history who had to portray herself as a man to be accepted by the people, had her magnificent three-tiered mortuary temple built on the West Bank. Unfortunately she was murdered by her own son, who defaced the temple by erasing her names and ruined her images so that she would not reach the afterlife where she could possibly hunt him down. His son did the same in any other temple or structure anywhere else so you could barely find her likeness or reference anywhere, and her tomb and remains has never been found.
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After exploring the temple a few minutes we each rode a donkey this time to go to the nearby Valley of the Kings. It felt really awkward in the beginning riding the donkey because it seemed like I was too big for it. My feet were just about 20 cm off the ground. But I got used to it, and so did everybody else, so we were all trying to "race" with our donkeys towards the end, which never really ran very fast anyway.
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The Valley of the Kings is, well, a small rocky valley where the pharaohs had their tombs built. So far at least 30 (I think) tombs have been found in that small area, each with different sizes and designs, burrowing into the mountains from the slopes and then previously hidden by boulders and sand. That still didn’t save the tombs from being pillaged by robbers though over the years. Tutankhamen’s tomb is also in the area, the only one which was still intact with all its treasures inside when it was found many many years ago (notice I have no idea how many, haha). I didn’t go inside his tomb, which was tiny anyway, because we had to pay an extra 80 or 100 pounds just to get in. Ahmed recommended three tombs to visit, those of Merenptah I, Ramses I and Ramses IX. The tomb of Ramses I was also quite small and stuffy and congested with fellow tourists but the colors inside were very well preserved so it was well worth the visit.
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When we finished with the tombs it was already noon and oppressively scorching, so after a quick takeaway lunch at McDonald’s we headed back to the hotel where most of us relaxed on the rooftop pool deck. At some point the sky became overcast with a pleasant breeze so it was almost impossible not to doze off on the cabanas.
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That night we had a buffet dinner at the hotel, then headed downstairs to the in-house disco for some drinks and dancing. We watched a male Sufi dancer (a guy with a really long and colorful costume who kept spinning around with it) and a female belly dancer, who in my opinion was not very good at all. Also that night at dinner we gave Ahmed a small birthday gift — a silver and gold ring with his name in hieroglyphics. Pretty cool.
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Day 9, Temple of Karnak
We left the hotel at 8am on horse-driven carriages to see the final temple in the agenda, Karnak Temple, the biggest and grandest of them all, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The whole temple complex covered an area of 3 acres, which included a 3200 sq.m. "lake" where the priests used to purify themselves before performing rituals. Too bad it’s been ravaged by time (and vandals), but the sheer scope leaves so much room to imagine the grandeur of the place. The temple includes a magnificent hall with 134 huge (and I mean huge) pillars, all covered with carved hieroglyphs and drawings. Karnak Temple also has the tallest standing obelisk in Egypt. (I will have to check that and correct myself if I’m wrong.)
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Despite the fact that I was mighty impressed by Karnak I still felt a bit templed out, so thankfully it was the last. Tomorrow night we will be at Dahab on the Red Sea for some beaching, relaxing, snorkelling and diving. It’s also a bit sad though because our group will be splitting up after tonight. The three couples — Mark and Tina, Matt and Sharon, and San and Jemma (not Gemma) will end their tour in Cairo while Katie, Lisa and I will continue on to Dahab. We all enjoyed each other’s company, because no one was really obnoxious or annoying, as is sometimes the case in most groups. It will definitely be a sad farewell at the train station in Cairo tomorrow morning.
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Will go back to the hotel now to get a bit of rest before the long train ride.
