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Published: January 10th 2007
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Sphinx Kiwi
Sphinx avenue Sphinx in Luxor Luxor
Arrived late in luxor and checked into a suitabley dodgy hotel. Went for a walk to orientate myself and quickly made myself an Egyptian friend. Alex or Ali to his egyptian friends - of which I was one (apparently) he brought me a random syrup dessert and took me to the government run papyrus shop - and because i had come without a guide everything in the shop was half price! Anyone who has ever been to an Arab country will know that any shop you ever go in to has a half price sale - for one day only of course.
Next me and my new friend went for a cup of tea at a nubian tea house. Here he told me that the favour i had agreed to preform for him - writing a letter in English for his friend in London, was actually just a ruse to get me to have tea with him. no surprises there i thought. Passed an Egyptian wedding on my convoluted trip home - all the while Ali following along and trying to convince me that he made a good egyptian boyfriend.
Now like all suitabley overpriced dodgy hotels in a Muslim
Hieroglphs
Column detail Karnak temple country, this one came complete with an early morning wake up call from the mosque across the street. After drifting back to sleep for an hour or two I recieved another early morning wake up call in the form of the cleaning girls trying to get into my room. I'm pretty sure I scared them more then they amused me.
Walked out to Karnak and a spot of ruin fossicking. Karnak being a temple complex from the days of ancient Thebes. It has a Huge pylon (gate) and an amazing hypostlyle hall which is just wall to column Hieroglyphs and pictures. There's still a huge amount of paintwork left on some of the temple buildings as well. Which given that i was getting a bit of a head ache and eyestrain just trying to take in the unpainted surfaces whold have been visionary overload back in the days.
Ran into my Egyptian friend again whilst i was on my way to the temple of Luxor had to rather "polietly" tell him i was busy being a tourist right now, and no i wouldnt be planning on joining him at his "friends wedding" that evening.
Checked out the temple of Luxor
Abu Simbal
All Fake!!! But real at the same time - it has some cool Lotus flower shaped Columns and an avenue of Sphinx's.
The next day i hired a bike and rode around the tombs on the West bank of Luxor - The rebuilt Temple of Hatshepsut i learnt later on was were Islamic militants gunned down around 60 tourists back in 97. Was surprised that there wasn't a plaque up to commemorate them.
Abu Simbal
After a train ride to Aswan and a few hours sleep i had to get up at 3am and sit in a cramped minibus fo 4 hours in Convoy on my way to Abu simbal. Nice.
Impressive statues of Ramses II and family carved into the rockface of a huge hill. Thought the hill was a bit odd looking though as a large majority of its front appeared to be uniformish blocks - Turns out the whole Temple and the smaller Temple to Hathor was shifted from a site further down the hill to save it being flooded by the river Nile when lake nasser was created. The hill front with the temple entrance was original rock but the rest of the hill was just a big concrete dome covered in rocky sand.
The marvels of modern engineering eh?
Back in the bus for another 4hours across the desert back to Aswan. Checked out the High Dam (for Walter) and the Temple of Philae - another flood water rescued temple.
Cairo
Cairo,Cairo,Cairo. Its dirty and polluted, filled with people and you need life insurance just to cross the road. However!!! It has Pryamids - which Ive crawled through, Camels - which Ive ridden, A museum - which I spent 8 hours at, Mosques, mosques and more mosques not too mention some very hospitable people and more Falafels then you could poke a stick at.
Then! on top of all that! it has an amazing amount of history just itching to be learnt about. I started my four days in Cairo by catching a bus out to the Pyramids and doing the usual tourist shenanigans - crawled through some minor royals pyramids and the 2nd biggest pyramid as well. You'd think with a million tonnes of rock on top that the inner chambers would be cool, but no, sweltering temps and a claustrophobic steep tunnel to get in and out. Got suckered into riding a camel - the guy was holding my camera
Hatshepsut Temple
Hard to believe 60 people were gunned down here back in 97. Not a plaque in site. ransom so i couldnt exactly say no. It was after all a most effective sales technique.
Next day saw me wandering around the Egyptian museum. Its quite literally filled to the brim with antiquities. I arrived shortly after opening - with all the tour groups unfortunatly, and left half an hour before closing. Wouldnt advise anyone whos going anytime soon to shell out and see the Royal mummies. Unless you are a mummy fantatist or just keen on being able to say youve seen some of the greatest Pharohs bodys then its a big rip off. The rest off the collection holds some real gems though - must obviously the treasures of Tutankamun. Which having seen them in real life are amazing! The level of detail and artistry that have gone in to decorating his two Sarcophogus' is astonishing. Bling in its purest form really.
Then i spent a leasurily day strolling around the old Islamic area of Cairo known as Khan al Khalili. Some georgeous mosques and buildings are hidden away amongst the hustle and bustle of a medievil city gone modern. Was given a very Informative tour around some of Khan al Khalili in the afternoon by a
Horned Viper
Your guess is as good as mine as to what a horned viper is. Meant to be the Cartooch for F Mr Fahd Abdelaziz. He was then kind enough to invite home to have dinner with his lovely wife and childeren who were extremly cute and entertaining.
My last day in Cairo i spent checking out the Coptic Museum - rather odd to see pictures of Mary and Jesus with Arabic writing alongside Coptic and Greek. Beautiful museum though, I found it hard to keep my eyes off the stained glass windows and geometric ceillings. Ended my day at Ibn Talun mosque - which is huge and has a wonderful spiral minaret. The mosque itself is based on Iraqi decoration and is the closest thing im going to get to this style of mosque without risking a bullet.
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