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Published: August 25th 2007
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Hi Everyone,
I've decided to do a few entries on Egypt, and one just wouldn't do our trip justice. We took the night train from Egypt to Luxor. I really enjoyed getting the train, and the trip included a meal and we slept most of the way. It was nice and cool after the heat of Cairo. We arrived early in the morning, and thanks to the Lonely Planet of the Middle East, we took their advice and stayed at the Nile Valley. In Luxor you can stay on the East bank (where the cheap hotels and where all the night life and shops are, or on the West bank where the Valley of the Kings and Queens is. The Nile Valley was on the West bank, and had vacancies. It was really nice - a swimming pool and air-conditioning and a roof-top restaurant. We really liked it there.
I really enjoyed staying in Luxor. We went on a few boat trips down the Nile on a fellucca (sort of like a long dinghy with an outboard motor). I've included a picture below. The Nile is so amazingly clean around Luxor. They don't even flush toilet paper down the
toilet. They grow baby corn and sugar cane right on the edge of the Nile and the water is so clear, it's amazing. The restaurants on the West bank are really nice, and my favourite on the West bank was outdoors (see picture). Our favourite on the East bank was right on the Nile and so relaxing.
I really loved being at the temples and the tombs. It was unfortunate to see though, how the statues have been massacred. Like at the Luxor temple, heads of statues had been hacked off. Sadder, that even today countries are refusing to give items back that had been stolen, like the head of Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone. True, some items were given as gifts to archaeologists from the Egyptian Government, but a lot has been stolen, as anyone can see when visiting the temples and tombs. Sad as well when I looked at the Sotherby's Auction House in London to see items, clearly from the tombs and temples, selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds. True, extensive damage was also done by Egyptians, but sad that such items cannot be displayed at the museums of the country where they are from.
Archeaologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, has recovered thousands of items stolen from Egypt and works tirelessly to have items returned. Like he says, he does not believe that all items should be returned but he believes that the bust of Nefertiti (now in Berlin), the Rosetta Stone (now in London) and the Zodiac ceiling from the temple of Dedera (now in the Louvre) should be, as there is evidence that these items were taken without the permission of the Egyptian Government.
Enough of that though. So, the highlights for us were definitely The Valley of the Kings and the temples, and going on fulluccas down the river Nile. And the food - it was really nice, and really cheap. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. It was a place that my Uncle Alex and his wife wanted to go to in their lifetimes but were never able to. I though of my Uncle often on my trip and wondered what he would have thought of everything, and what his favourite places would have been.
Also of interest were the shapes of the heads of some of the people in the hieroglyphics. In the past, archaeologists put it down to
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In the background you can see the Valley of the Kings, and is a typical scene on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor artistic license (as they look like alien's heads). But, looking at the mummies of kings, queens and pharaohs such as Nefertiti, they actually are the shape depicted in paintings and inscriptions. In the paintings, it shows the Egyptians giving gifts (symbolic or actual gifts of foods or jewellery) to these people. Combining this with amazing knowledge of architecture, art, mining and farming, provoked lots of late night discussions. Even when we compare the difference between two races as different as Japanese and Africans, their skull shapes do not differ all that much. Who were these people then, with different shaped skulls? It's also their facial feature that differered - their eyes are much wider, and their faces slanted out to a protruding chin. Take a look at this - I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. These people are repetitively painted and etched as heiroglyphics, and hats/crowns such as Nefertiti's appear to be to hide the shape of their heads. They look so similar to the standard picture we have of Aliens, are they really out there? As time went by, the different head and face shape slowly disappeared, such as Nefertiti's son Tutankhamen did not have such pronounced features as his mother. Freaky.........
I hope you like this entry. My next entry should be of our trip to Ireland with Mum and Trevor.
Love to you all,
Danielle.
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Tash
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So cool
Hey Danielle, Your most recent entry on your trip to Egypt was so interesting to read. I had heard that it was a really dangerous place to visit and that you had to be escorted everywhere by armed guards, but it doesn't sound that way at all from your description. I would love to go there myself one day....maybe when the kids have grown up?! Anyhow, I hope you are having a great time. Say hi to your mum and Trevor for me. Love Tasha xo