Advertisement
Published: February 11th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Oemf, where to start? Since my last blog from Aswan so much has happened! I am still alive and have all my belongings.....haha.
Well, I went on a felucca trip with Captain Salahm (later I found out his is not really the captain.....), 2 australians and 2 Koreans (They left after 1 night). It was so spectacular to sail in silence on the Nile...just wonderful and it doesn't take much fantasy to really feel like an ancient Egyptian... I swam in the Nile and all thought I was crazy, but it was great after a night of shivering and sleeping in my clothes......brrrrr...We had great meals, great conversations and a lot of fun!
After 2 nights I went (by car) with Salahm to a small temple of Horemheb in Gebel El Silsila. I put a gemstone but I am not having had the ' time' to meditate on it, I will visit more places of Horemheb later....
The temple by itself was just magnificient on a very beautiful location.
From there I went with Salahm to his house in a little village some 25 km north. This experience was very intense and in a way very dualistic. I was shocked by
the filth and the poorness, it all is so very different from my own lifestyle and culture...I need to state that Mr. Salahm and family are from bedouin heritage and thus this means they still live a bit like living as nomads, but now in a house...They shared their space with chicken, goats and a goose. They were rich in a sense they have an oven and make their own bread, which was delicious.
Salahm is a weirdo, smoking pot almost all day (at times he says) and arguing a lot with his sister and wife...but I am not to judge for I do not (fullly) understand their way of socializing. He and his family own a beautiful garden where Salahm is very happy.
Me and Salahm had, from scratch when meeting in Aswan, a deep ' click' and this stayed this way and him trying to get as much money from as possible did not change that...The last night we had a very nice conversation about me starting a little travel agency and make him a manager on the spot... For sure I will be his sponsor in some way in the future for he and his family really
stole my heart.
After a good sleep (sleeping on the feluuca was a crime because there was Mark ( a really fantastic aussie bloke), who snoured very very loud, they could hear him in Cairo.....), I was taken to Edfu where I found a cheap little hostel to stay the night.
I visisted the Horus temple in the afternoon and it was just a fantastic experience. I was, merely, ALL ALONE and I had all the time and rest to ' do my things' and I felt deeply connected with the place and myself. Off course I put a gemstone (inside a wall) and I come with these words now:
So here I AM
I walked and felt the wondrous rooms.
I walked your path of many sacred moons.
And I say to You as I said to my father: All is forgiven
nothing to be re-membered, revenge to be surrendered
but the Glory of a new beginning.
Will You follow me Now
as I feel You do?
So here I AM
out of free will
with this little stone
Now connecting to You I will try to plan my trip to get to temples at times when
there are not so many tourists, but this is not easy...This brings me to to a point of saying that much has changed here over the years...It is very hard to make your own track as beause of law (following the recent and not too recent terrorists attacks) they discourage you to take buses and trains on your own. All is aimed at travelling with groups in groups, most of the time under police escort...So the consequence is that all people arrive at the same time at the sites, which I find very annoying.
Also, because of the global wars, 9/11, conflicts between west and east, people here (at least some of them) are by far not so friendly as they used to be to foreigners. At moments I even feel ridiculized and being mocked, which gives me overall a very sad feeling, especially because it is absolutely not part of my experience in travels to Egypt before let's say 1991.
It is not that I am afraid, it is not that I a not having a great time...it is just so sad to see and notice that at some places hospitality, friendlyness and curiousity have changed into suspicion and
sheer hostility.
Truly, where is this to end? What do governments and so called powerful, sensible world leaders aim for? I feel that there is so much tension building up, so much duality.
Now, some critical notes here but overall I meet very friendly people as I have a nose for them and if I come to situations where I do not feel very appreciated I just go somewhere else and I try to not be so much of an attraction.
OK, tomorrow I will (try) to get a bus to Luxor and it my plan to stay there for maybe 10 days and make it my home also to go to other places like Dendara (Hathor complex) and Abydos (Osiris) as it is not possible to go from place to place now, they (the police) just won't allow it.
This is not a bad idea at all for I love Luxor and it would be nice anyway to stay at one place for some time.....am I getting old?
Happy and heartfelt greetings,
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0249s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Spiritual and full of conscience...
Seeing you swimming in the Nile makes me glad, like swimming in the water of the Kostverlorenvaart/Kattensloot! Egypt comes alive to me more than thousand miles away. Keep on meeting the people, shy, angry or whatever. Every contact is a contribution to your paradise... Lost and found. I really admire your open mind and inquisitiveness... Hee! 4mlevenswandel.nl is alive. Because of you and you and you! Hugging from Peter