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Published: September 3rd 2008
It has been such an eventful fortnight away that I hardly know where to start... I am now sitting at the hotel in Cairo by myself after saying goodbye to Mum this afternoon. We had a fantastic week here, lots of adventure, and lots of fun.
It started with a crash course in Cairo peak hour traffic the weekend before Ramadan. With 22 million people living in Cairo it felt like everyone was on the roads... and for everyone that tried to warn me about traffic and driving in Egypt, you did a terrible job!! I had no idea exactly how crazy it is!! Lanes are optional, as are indicators, giving way and pedestrian crossings (everyone just plays chicken with each other) but the horn is mandatory - I am hoping to get some audio of the symphony before I leave 😊
But we were up early and off to the Museum, the Pyramids and the Sphinx. It was all just so mind blowing, and photos can never really give the same feeling as being here - and of course they can't tell you exactly how hot it is either, in Cairo it is about 36 degrees, and walking
in the sun makes it seem so much hotter as well.
The Museum was amazing, and the tour that Mum and I had booked meant that we had a private guide take us through all of the Museum, explaining everything to us, and then giving us time to explore things like the mummies on our own. I couldnt believe it, we saw the mummies of Ramses II, with his hair and everything - really is was verydisturbing, all these bodies that had been dead for thousands of years and we could see their toe nails and hair... eek. We also saw all of the treasures that were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, including the funerary mask and two of his three sarcofagi...
Then on to the Pyramids and the Sphinx, where we walked around the pyramids, trying to work out exactly how on earth they would have ben constructed... we were giving the option to go inside, but as I get claustrophobic and it is supposed to be hot, dark and small in there, we decided it wouldnt be a good idea.
The next morning we were up at 3.30am to catch a flight to Luxor, where we
were met again by our tour leader and private guide who took us to Karnak and Luxor Temples. The scale of these temples is incredible. Karnak Temple was huge, we had a guide for about an hour, and then 45 minutes to wander on our own and we still didnt see it all.
There are so many common themes running through the stories of the temples and the Pharohs and the hieroglyphics, that I hope to become quite fluent in them before I leave. The Egyptians were very very superstitious people, and worshiped both the sun and the Nile as their life blood. Of course there was also a lot of bad blood between many of the Pharohs, but as our guide said, that is what happens when you marry your sisters, your brothers, uncles, aunts, fathers etc, too much family!! (And here I apologise to Sian and Tania, I know that I am not doing a good job here with my Egyptian history, but I really am trying!!).
As it was reaching 40degrees in Luxor, we followed the locals and had a siesta in the afternoon before heading out on a horse and carriage ride in the
evening. It was eye opening seeing the streets of Luxor, even being driven through the local market in the carriage, with locals being pushed left and right for us - we werent sure that we should have ben taking that sort of a route, but our guide was with us, directing the carriage, so what were we supposed to do?
That evening we went to the sound and light show at Karnak Temple. Yes, in a Temple, build thousands of years ago, considered to be so sacred there are places that only 3 or 4 men were ever allowed to enter, we had a sound a light show with voice overs from the likes of Richard Burton - there is something that does not seem right to me about that, but nonetheless, it was really quite spectacular to see the Temple at night (some parts quite eerie).
There was definitely no sleep in the next morning, as we left the hotel at 6.30am and headed for the Valley of the Kings. As the ancient egyptians believed that life followed the progression of the sun, the Valey of the Kings was built on the west bank of the Nile, where the sun sets (and the main city of Luxor is on the East, symbolizing life). It was overwhelming. We were able to go in and have a look at Tutankhamum's tomb, where his mummy is still located (it was too fragile to relocate). There was a very friendly local in there with a torch that let us shine it in to see where his neck sort of falls away from the wrappings (very eerie, and again, something seemed so wrong to me to be looking at a body that had been dead for thousands of years).
We also went in to two other tombs, Ramses I and Ramses III. It was amazing that the colours on the walls were still so clear. The winding passages, and steep drops were occassionally hard to move through, but I guess they werent really catering for the average tourist when they were built were they?
Ok, after the Valley of the Kings, we headed to Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, the Queen that had to make a deal with the priests to become Queen, as well as send her son in law away "to boarding school" and who always protrayed herself as a man in statues and paintings. The Temple is like everything else, huge and overwhelming.
That evening, our tour leader organised for us to go on a felucca ride on the Nile at sunset. Oh my, it was amazing. Luxor is so peaceful compared to Cairo, and sailing on the Nile was even more relaxing. The weather had cooled down and apart from the boat getting stuck in the reeds and needing a tow out, it was extremely peaceful.
After dinner that night, we were lucky that our tour leader took a liking to us (and who wouldnt?) and agreed to take us out for shisha, the tobacco water pipe where Mum and I shared an apple pipe 😊
That was the end of our adventure in Luxor. We then headed back to Cairo, and on to see the first Pyramid at Sakkara.
Yesterday and today we were pretty much on our own, and decided to be a bit brave and give a walk around Cairo a go... OMG!!!! We can now do anything!! It was madness, "one, two three, follow the locals, and what ever you do dont stop!!!" For some reason, we seemed to stand out, and a very nice man decided to take pity on us and help us cross one of the busiest roads and give us directions, and thank goodness he did, otherwise we could have still been standing on the side of the road, a little too scared to step out!!
This morning, we decided to brave a taxi ride, and boy was that a whole other adventure!! We went out to the grand bazaar, the Khan el khalili markets, through the crazy traffic, with our very pleasant taxi driver manouvering through with a mix of horn blasts, hand signals, close shaves and a bit of yelling at both cars and pedestrians!
After that we came back to the hotel - in the same style of course, a few close shaves, where 4 lanes become 5 which become 6, as you please, and as you can squeeze in between the car and the bus up ahead, making sure to miss the people jumping on and off the buses in the middle of the street, as the bus is moving!! (Yes, I am quite overwhelmed by the traffic here!).
Ok, I am going to stop now and try to up load some photos... Ben is arriving tomorrow morning, then we are oof to Alexandria for three days before starting our tour for 10 day.
Love to all.
Steph
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John
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OK - read the blog now - so it wasn't Ben's shadow - at least i didn't crack any 'mummy' jokes. be thankful for small mercies