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14, July 2004 |
Zamalek Youth Hostel, Cairo |
At the legendary holy sanctum of Amun Ra in Karnack!
So it was a little warm? Don't lose your head over it.
I am at my favorite Pharaoh's Funerary Temple. Hepsetshuit rocks.
Look at her sporting the Pharaoh's beard!
Karnack at night.
Hepsetshuit's beautiful temple.
The Nile in Luxor from the hotel room balcony.
I'm in front of King Tutankamun's tomb!
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This weekend we took a nine hour train ride down to Luxor. It was absolutely gorgeous there! I don't even know where to begin, so perhaps I should start at the beginning.
We took two cabs to dinner at Al Fee Bay, unfortunately only our cab made it there in a reasonable time. So I stood outside the restaurant trying to spot our friends. It is amazing that I can now scan an entire crowd of people and not make eye contact or specifically look at a single person. It is something that I find necessary here, because if you make eye contact with men it "invites" lots of harassment. Standing outside the restaurant in downtown Cairo, I could already hear people making comments about me in Arabic. Mostly they were just speculating my origin. It seems I do not look like a native Egyptian, go figure. Once our friends arrived we ordered dinner, and Laura ordered Pigeon. Apparently this was a mistake; they have little meat and don't taste so scrumptious. From there we went to Ramses station to find our train.
This is the first time I've sat in First Class, but in Egypt I can afford too. Though, I'll admit this first class probably wasn't like the kind they offer in the states. It was still uncomfortable - but at least I had plenty of leg room! Nine hours later, just after 7am, we reached Luxor. From there we rushed to our hotel and then rushed to meet our tour guide. He took us to the Valley of the Kings which was very pretty. To see the reliefs in the tombs, still vivid with original paint and plaster, was breathtaking. From there we went to Hepsetuhet's Funerary Temple. It is probably the most beautiful temple in Egypt (often rated as such at least). It's straight lines seem to cut into the rocky mountain behind it, providing a pleasing aesthetic. Then we moved on to the Colossi of Memnon, which weren't too exciting, but like everything in Luxor, cool.
At this point we came to a disagreement with our guide, who was under the assumption that we were going on a two day tour. We corrected him, but he didn’t seem to want to take us around in the afternoon then. So we all compromised and said we would meet up with him at seven the next morning for the rest of the sites we had paid to see.
Back at the hotel we napped, read, and lounged around the rooftop pool for a while. The view of the Nile from our rooms was spectacular. That night we met up with the people in our group who not only flew down (expensive) to Luxor but decided our 3 star hotel wasn't good enough for them and moved a mile or two down to the Sheraton. We all saw the Karnack sound and light show. It was very cool to see the light (just regular - no lasers) on the temple at night, though the narration was a little hokey. It was a really nice way to be introduced to the temple. Afterward we ate at the Sheraton. There are a surprising few number of restaurants in the city.
The next day we experienced Karnack with our tour guide Mohammed. It was amazing and huge. The pillars were breathtaking, and the sense of history I got from it all was wonderful. The best part of that tour was when I got to go into the inner chamber of Amun-Ra, the highest god in Egypt. Back in the day, only the Pharaoh and high priests had access to this chamber. It is probably one of the cooler things I've ever done, if you think about it from a historical perspective. I walked were pharaohs and priests had walked. I touched the sacred alter and did things normal ancient Egyptians would never have dared to dream about!
From there it was on to Luxor Temple, which is not as big, but still huge and beautiful. Then we walked to the Luxor Museum and the Mummy Museum. Afterwards it was back to the hotel for some lunch, some naps, and some homework. Caroline and I were sharing a room and thus a balcony when we stupidly locked ourselves out there. Fortunately Andrea and Laura were rooming in the next over, and they called someone to open our door and let us back in. That was interesting.
In the afternoon we went shopping in the local tourist bazaar there, and we did not like what we found. The men were ruder there than in Cairo! Jade was run into by some scheming adolescent boys (who were reprimanded, we saw), and that ended our dismal outing. Feeling happy hour would be nice (Where the alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks were all half off (because Muslims are not supposed to drink)!), we made our way down to the basement bar, where old American music was blasting and for a while we were the only ones there. We were satisfied with our cocktails and our "soft-tails" (as the non-alcoholic drinks are often called here) and went on upstairs for dinner.
The next morning we went back to Karnack early to explore on our own (it is huge after all). It was so wonderful, we beat the crowds of tourists and everything was at peace. It was so nice to wander around the temple by myself in quiet harmony. It is an experience that I will never forget. The temple was so beautiful and peaceful, and everything just seemed so right and spiritual in the soft morning sun.
We left Luxor at 9:30 that morning and sat on a noisy, cell phone beeping train for almost 12 hours. It was not the most fun I've had, but I got to see the fields and the workers and the donkeys, and that was great. For some reason I find the kind of fields here really soothing. Perhaps it is from living next to waves of corn for so long. I've always enjoyed looking out at these kinds of things, and the architecture of the fields here is very cool indeed. |
