June 23
We paid our taxi driver too much money to take us to the airport and we were off. (He is a nice guy, but he also did overcharge us, like all smelly cab drivers) We got to the Cruise boat with surprising ease. The flight from Sharm to Luxor was a short 30 minutes, and once we arrived at the airport a man was waiting to drive us to the boat. We boarded and were greeted with a great fruit drink. It was a mango drink mixed with Hibiscus flower juice. (It is supposed to be great for blood pressure.) A great surprise was given to us as well. We had purchased the cheapest of all the cabins on the boat, but were magically upgraded to a suite, and not just any suite. There are two suites on the boat with a balcony, and yep, we are in one of them. Good News for us!! We had lunch, met our tour guide Jamoda (Hamuda) and went to see some sites in Luxor. It was incredibly hot, and the people here harass you to no end to purchase their trinket and bobbles. I feel bad for them, but mostly I get really, really annoyed. Kris thinks it’s cute to see me show them away in my annoyed state…
Our first stop was the Colossi of Memmon. Basically the kings would build themselves a Temple and a Tomb while they reigned. Amenhotep III was the man behind this Temple that was dismantled for parts for the use of other pharaohs later on. All that remains of the once large temple after looters and flooding are the two huge statues (colossi).
Next on the list was the valley of the Queens. Here we were a little disappointed to find that Nephetari was closed for reconstruction. but we did get to see a really old mummified fetus. There are also people in the tombs that think if they point any thing out unsolicited they are deserving of a tip. We just tell them we have no money.
Our next visit was to the Temple of Hatshepsut.
She was a lady pharaoh that Kris said had serious penis envy. She wore a false beard and dressed in man garb. She apparently was not very well liked, and for good reason. Apparently she had the architect of her temple killed when it was finished so that is would be a one of a kind. Not a good person. She was married to Tutmosis II and Tutmosis the III was her stepson who eventually married her daughter. She was supposed to share rule with Tutmosis III. She was a power monger and would let Tutmosis III son Amenhotep III rule so Tutmosis III had her killed. Tutmosis was a well like pharaoh and a good ruler. Our last stop was the Valley of the Kings. Here in the barren dessert wasteland are several tombs, some of which are still being excavated. We were able to visit three tombs, Raseses IV, Rameses IX, and Ramses IV. They were all very interesting. The big thing I came to learn was that they used a lot of color in their temples and tombs. A lot of it is gone now, but where it still remains is impressive. Don’t worry; there are money-grubbing people in here as well to point out names of people for money.
June 24, 2009
Today we were awakened at 5 am to go see the Luxor Temple and the Temple of Karnak.
Karnak was first on our list, and it was very impressive. The structure is actually several temples, as different dynasties would add to it. I also enjoyed the early hour because the sun’s unbearable heat wasn’t beating down on us. There was a room of columns that Kris really enjoyed; I think our guide said there were 134 columns there.
There is also a pool created naturally by the water table there that is considered to be sacred. We next went to the Luxor Temple, which is smaller but also neat. It is a reflection of different seasons on the Nile and a festival of sorts. We also got to see some mix of religions here. A mosque had been built on the site and still stands there today, and there are some Christian painting over the Egyptian works near the back. There is also a difference between the different dynasties that carved there. Alexander the great had some input, but it isn’t quite as nice as the Egyptian Hieroglyphs. One hieroglyph really caught our eye here. ;)
Okay so back on the boat we had just been slowly making our way south to Aswan. It is really nice to cruise on the Nile and Kris has made friends with the Captain of the boat.
He’s been wearing the captain’s hat he got in Eilat so they think he is a real Captain too. He had been having a good time sitting up there with them. He said the boat hit a dead bloated goat floating in the water. I didn’t feel a thing though. He also said they told him his wife was pretty. Some of these guys have more than one wife, poor guys I would only want one of me. We went through a lock earlier in the day that turned out to be very entertaining. As we slowed to enter the lock a bunch of peddlers came in boats to the side of the cruise ship to try and sell us stuff. (I told you it’s bad here) They would throw the stuff up to you in plastic bags and the yelling was intense! It was rather humorous. I once again feel bad for these people who are so poor and ill educated. We are extremely lucky and blessed in the United States. Still, I wont buy from them. I wonder how often it works?!?
The Nile is pretty crazy in that there is lush vegetation on the banks, but beyond the banks it is all sand with nothing at all growing. We also went under a bridge that gave us about a foot of clearance. Kris and I were standing on the top of the boat enjoying the sun setting and the workers came up and told us to sit. We could see the bridge ahead, but the distance above the boat was still hard to judge. As the bridge approached it became clear just how close we were going to come. Kris not only had to sit, but duck down. I leaned back to make sure I didn’t get my block knocked off. It was crazy!!!
We then docked at Edfu and had the experience of hearing like 15 mosques give their call to prayer all at the same time. We saw Horus’s Temple by night, which was nice because the sun wasn’t beating down on us, and gave us another view of the Temples here. This one was pretty well preserved. Kris and I really enjoyed exploring the hieroglyphics. I must say though, that the morning is still nicer as far as cooler temps are concerned. Even with the sun down it was still mighty warm outside.
June 25
I skipped breakfast today and it seemed to do my tummy good. In the morning we went to Kom Ombo Temple. This place had a pretty cool calendar and medical symbols. It also was the home of the crocodile god and the lioness goddess of war, Sechmed. They would mummify crocodiles here because they thought they would be nice to them if they deified them. They even kept them at the temple in a pool.
We sailed up the river (south) to Aswan from this point.. This afternoon we had three locations to see.
The first was the Unfinished Obelisk; basically a granite quarry that had an obelisk that had a crack in it so they stopped cutting it out.
Next we went up to the High Dam. Having come from a region where dams are all over, this was not particularly exciting, but it did make for a lot of Dam jokes.
Last on the list was the Temple of Philae. This temple was moved from its original location when the dam was built so that it wouldn’t be submerged under water. We had to take a little boat out to the island it is now on to see it. I really liked the boat ride, it was fun. Lake Nasser is clean compared to the Nile River and I was tempted to jump in on several occasions to escape the heat.
June 26, 2009
A lazy day on the Nile. We walked down to the market today in Aswan and got haggled to death by the merchants there. I didn’t buy anything. I don’t enjoy the haggling and uncertainty of the price. In the evening we went on a felucca (sailboat) ride around Elephantine Island, It was pretty and serene. There are some botanical gardens over there. It was also very hot at times. Egypt is very hot. Kris really like the sailing and was watching closely how they maneuvered and sailed there old boats around. We just got done with dinner and we are about to watch a movie from our Ipod. Tomorrow is Abu Simbel, and all I've heard is good about it so I am excited to see it.
June 27 2009
Today has been a lazy traveling day. We woke up and checked out of the cruise boat and headed toward the airport. The Movenpick took care of the cab ride, and this sweet old dude showed up to take us in a very very old car. We made it about a block away before the car quit. Kris said it was out of gas, but I think it just broke down. Anyway, he paid some other cab driver to take us with the money Movenpick had given him. Once we got into the cab the driver immediately tried to get more money out of us, telling us we needed to pay for his return trip, and that we had to pay the airport fee, and that we needed to tip him. This made Kris upset and he told him he wasn’t giving him any money. The guy dropped the return fee but still insisted on us giving him a tip and the airport fee. It is funny because the airport says on a big sign that the fee is paid by the driver. He was irate as well when we refused to tip him. Kris told him, “you don’t ask for a tip”. We especially don’t tip drivers who try and scam you, so we made a short half hour flight to Abu Simbel and a Nubian man named Mak drove us to our hotel for a high price of 50 pounds. He was nice enough though we could’ve taken the bus contrary to what he said. He also wanted us to have tea with him for some reason… I am pretty sure we are the only guests here at the Nephertari hotel, and we are in a suite because of that little factor. It is too hot outside to do much so we stayed in and watched South Park and took a nap. Kris was really nice and braved the heat to go to the store to get us some snacks to eat. Our diet today has consisted of, soda, chips and granola bars. There is not a lot here. Our hotel will have to cook special for us in the morning for breakfast, since we are the only guests. We will see the temple's light and sound show, and go again in the morning when it is not so hot, and then fly to Cairo.
