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It was hot - crazy hot, as we craned our necks in that stock-standard-tourist manner toward the summit of the Great Pyramid of Giza. As we manouvered our instantly leathery, sandal-clad feet around enormous, steaming piles of fresh camel dung we were cajoled, proffered and offered a myriad of questionable souvenirs from enthusiastic peddlers (who seemingly outnumbered the great hoards of thirsty visitors). Camel rides, minature pyramids, teatowel-like headware, nightmare-inducing wooden cats, the list goes on...
Out of the throng, upon yet another polite refusal of a small "gift" (thankfully we'd been forewarned), one notably indignant youngster exclaimed with great gusto and enthusiasm,
"It's a SCARAB!" As obvious and persuasive as his agrument was we still heartlessly declined, as we also did to the creative chap in Luxor who proclaimed "Hey do you want to come look at my rubbish? I have lots of real crap!" and the "Please sit on my camel for free" guy from Saqqara who decided to assume ownership of Mel's arm before an impromptu tug-o-war and Gareth's witty and tenacious reply, "Hey that arm belongs to me!"
The heat intensified as we ventured south towards Aswan and the Sudanese border -
complete with personal, gun-toting security guard and military convoy. Our little Aussie Geographic thermometer was maxing out at 50 (that's 120 for our American hombres). Brief stops at the Unfinished Obelisk and the heavily fortified High Dam saw most of our travel buddies (but not us, of course) firmly glued to their airconditioned seats. Incidently, should any crazed madman penetrate the ubiquitous military strongholds and detonate explosives on the dam walls, most of Egypt would be under water in just 7 hours, drowned by the world's largest manmade lake. Sadly, over 30 of Egypt's Upper Kingdom temples met this fate because of the construction of the dam.
One such temple, and arguably the most impressive, is Abu Simbel. With international aid it was carved up and shifted, block by block, a few hundred metres to higher ground. Dedicated to the Pharaoh Rameses II and his wife Nefertari it is simply an awe-inspiring structure, hewn into the rock and shrouded with wonderous carvings and hieroglyphics.
We were mercifully able to escape the heat later that day thanks entirely to the lifeblood of Egypt - The Nile. For the next 2 days we joyously immersed ourselves in its
cool, refreshing currents whenever the roasting breeze under the shade of our felucca (a small mattressed sail boat with no motor) became too opressive. Aided by a gentle wind, our smiley Nubian crew skillfully guided our felucca drowsily downstream. When we weren't swimming we were dozing, reading, playing cards or enjoying a wonderfully simple meal of pita bread, rice and felafel. It was glorious.
Occasionally we would stop for "rest breaks" alongside sand dunes where local kids (with a penchant for pens and inquisitively following foreigners who are desperately searching for a quiet bush) would materialise out of the hazy horizon. These stops also allowed an impromptu game of 'cutting board' and 'shoe box' cricket and a very enthusiastic, at times brutal but entirely fun Egyptian vs Australian football game on the undulating sandy grass, decorated with large spatterings of "fertiliser" from the array of cows, donkeys and camels loitering about. For the record - we won!
Sadly stepping off the felucca a couple of days later into the hot sandstorm of Luxor we wanted nothing more than to go back to our life of leisure. Fortunately though, it didn't take long for us to begin
appreciating our surrounds again as we wandered through the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple (amongst others) and ditched the bus for the far more entertaining and authentic form of transport - donkeys! So much fun!
Back in Cairo we paid an all-too-short visit to the facinating Egyptian Museum. It is packed wall to wall with innumerable treasures, including Tut Ankh Amun's pure gold mask (11kg) and sarcophagus (110kg). We parted with a little extra mullah to see the Royal Mummies but the experience was priceless - to gaze upon the actual bodies of kings who lived and ruled 4500 years ago. Their hair, fingernails, toenails, perfect teeth or dental problems were all stunningly intact. Rameses II, great leader, father to 200 children, husband to Nefertari (or Nevertired), for whom the awesome Abu Simbel temple was built was our favourite. He died in his ripe old 90s and with a reasonable head of snowy white hair he looked altogether likeable - a friendly old chap.
Egypt well and truly captured our imagination. It's not a place we will forget in a hurry but by the time we left we were thoroughly exhausted - bring on
Saqqara
The oldest stone building in the world the Greek Islands!
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Andrew
non-member comment
Call those camels
I am sure the camel "Kabul" Barbara & I rode was much bigger than the ones in your photos. As always great to get your updates. Watchout though Christmas is getting closer. Cheers Andrew(Uncle)