ChinaTeacher

We all had the morning free to wander around Luxor and get our bearings. There were tons of things to do: Visit the Luxor Museum, Take a Felucca Ride, Shop in the Market, see the Temple of Luxor… and the list goes on.  What I couldn’t get over was the fact that the Temple of Luxor is located right in the middle of town! You can’t miss it if you simply walk down the Corniche alongside the Nile. At night it is lit up so most of it can easily be seen without having to pay admission.  The adjacent lands have been dug up by archeologists excavating the “Avenue of the Sphinxes“.  It is reputed that this Avenue extends all the way to Karnak which is approx. 1 kilometer away. As a result, all homes and shops which stand in their way are slated for demolition, which is something the locals are not too happy about.  Apparently the Government is not paying enough for them to move out of their homes, so many have been left quite destitute.  I think this is deplorable – I mean, such historical sites really do need to be excavated and preserved in my opinion, but the people should be more than adequately compensated for leaving their homes and having to start over again.  I have even heard rumours that some locals have discovered ancient objects, but have kept quiet about them in order to stay in their homes.  Something isn’t right here, that’s for sure!

I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but the night we docked, we were treated to some dance presentations which included “Sufi” (originally known as Whirling Dirvishes because they twirl in a circle and never lose their balance) and Egyptian Belly Dance. This was to put us in the ‘mood’, I think. Our Maitre ‘D certainly enjoyed the belly dancing a lot (as you can see from my photos!).

I haven’t said much about the ‘hassling’ one receives here in Egypt, but it makes China seem laid-back in comparison.  Luxor is now considered to be the ‘hassle capital of Egypt’. I guess it’s because they only have a limited amount of time to relieve tourists of their hard-earned cash before returning to their cruise boats.  As for me, within moments of setting foot on the promenade in Luxor, I was approached by a local who proceeded to ask the usual questions such as “what’s your name?”, followed by:  “can I show you my brother’s shop?” and so on. I kept walking away from him, saying “No thank you”.  Suddenly two police officers appeared and took him by the arm to a waiting police car. Looks like the Luxor Police are taking a strict approach in an attempt to limit the hassling of tourists. But, it’s big job.  In fact, one evening, six of us went shopping in the markets but we wound up returning to our boat angry and frustrated.  The shop keepers are all over you when you shop, to the point where you throw up your arms and run out of the stores.  You actually are afraid to show interest in anything.  In fact, I finally sat down with one young fellow and suggested he try a different tactic – when the customer actually enters the shop, open up the jewelry cases and let them browse without interference.  He tried it out on a European couple who made three purchases which brought him a very nice commission indeed!  He was very happy, and then gave me a nice deal on some silver earrings!  The big problem in Luxor is that there are far more shop keepers than there are tourists, and far more merchandise than could ever be sold in a year, that’s for sure.  Everyone is desperate to make a sale (and it shows),  with the result that most tourists actually buy less than they had planned, or nothing at all.  No one wins out in the markets of Luxor unfortunately.

Our tour leader suggested that we visit Luxor Museum during our free time, but I was hesitant – to be honest, I hate museums. Of course the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was quite the exception.  Anyway, I took his recommendation and checked out Luxor Museum. Turns out, a mummy that is suspected to be Ramses I was found in a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada and was finally returned to Egypt in 2003.  That mummy was on display at Luxor Museum in a darkened room, without most of its wrappings. It has been so well preserved that most of the body’s skin and hair is still intact. And because so much was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, many items found their way to Luxor Museum, including model boats, leather sandals, arrows and golden statutes. Now this museum is first-class, with spotlights, well labelled information, beautiful display cases and such. They also have an excellent slide show to view before entering, which provides good background about the exhibits inside. Definitely worth a visit!

Late one afternoon we headed off to KARNAK using horse-drawn carriages, riding along the banks of the Nile. Karnak was built by many pharoahs over a period of 2,100 years (with each one trying to outdo his predecessor in architectural achievement).  The sheer size of the site makes you feel that you could lose yourself inside.  Thankfully we had our very own Egyptologist to take us around to make sure we don’t miss anything important, and to provide more detailed information about the lives of the pharoahs who worshipped there.  It’s more than a temple – Karnak is a spectacular complex of 10 cathedrals, sanctuaries, temples, pillars, and obelisks dedicated to the Theban gods. No words can describe all that can be found here, or the feelings and emotions that arise.  The size of the columns and obelisks continues to astound me – I can’t figure out how they carved them and then managed to erect them into place, without the use of machinery!

And if the site of Karnak wasn’t enough, we spent our last morning at VALLEY OF THE KINGS! Rising at 5am we took a ferry side to the West Bank where we quickly mounted our DONKEYS and set off for the Valley of the Kings!  Actually, this was one of my favourite experiences.  As we rode along, we saw the sun rise, watched several hot-air balloons in the distance and of course enjoyed our donkey rides.  Unfortunately, most of my pictures turned out quite blurry, thanks to the movement of the donkeys.  But believe me, donkeys are much more comortable to ride than Camels!  There isn’t much to see above ground at the Valley of the Kings.  Corridors have been carved deep intot he valley which lead to burial chambers deep underground! The walls of the different tombs are covered in amazingly well-preserved paintings of gods and godesses of Ancient Egypt. But it is the complex hieroglyphics that continue to draw my eye. I would love to purchase a piece of stonework with such hieoglyphics on it, but haven’t had much luck to date.  Our admission entitled us to visit 3 different tombs and our guide helped us to choose three that would give us the best overall experience. She also recommended that we pay an extra admission to visit Ramses V/VI which had only recently been opened to the public – in fact, that information is not contained in any of the guidebooks yet!  This tomb was definitely the best choice, with our group being the only people present!  The guard inside even opened a gate to let us walk right up to the sarcophagus and and coffin to take a closer look, because we were such a small group!  But the arched ceiling with its perfectly preserved paintings kept us in awe. I still can’t believe I have seen so many ancient sites in their original state, that are so incredibly old!  Excavations and discoveries continue at Valley of the Kings.  I am told that in 2005 a tomb was discovered containing a perfectly preserved mummy – so the digging continues! 

On our way back, we took a bus instead of the donkeys, for obvious reasons: 1) it was 10:30 am and getting hot (50 degrees), and 2) we were a little ‘sore’ from the early morning ride. We stopped off at the workers’ village, Deir El Medina where we entered two more tombs.  Turns out, the workers built tombs for each other as well.  Most of their tombs contain only one chamber, but the wall paintings are absolutely magnificant!  It looks like they kept the best for their own tombs, rather than the pharoahs!

NEXT POST: BACK TO CAIRO!