We
arrive at 1:30 a.m., south of Cairo, about half way down Egypt's Nile,
to the famed city of Luxor. Exhausted, we check into our budget hotel
and crash out, awakening to the beeping of Darrin's watch alarm. It's
10:00 a.m., just 30 minutes before our complimentary breakfast buffet
ends, and we purposely set the alarm so we didn't miss our big meal of
the day. We quickly throw on some clothes to feast. You see, on a
budget, complimentary buffets (which are not really complimentary, as
we've paid for it in our room rate) serve as breakfast and lunch. I
have nearly finished my anti-parasitic prescription and finally have an
appetite back. One of the things I've missed most after having
traveled for so many months in non-milk consuming countries, is a big
bowl of cereal with cold milk. At this buffet, it's flowing freely.
And while the cereal is not the nice muesli that we spoiled ourselves
with in Australia, CoCo Puffs and the remaining big bowl of chocolate
milk is just what the doctor ordered.
After
preparing our bodies with fuel for the day, we pop decongestants to
equalize our ears and sinuses which are all blocked up from diving and
the flight... And head out on foot to explore this new town. It's
brutally hot, pushing the 50 degree celsius mark. The moment we step
out of the hotel, the touts swarm around us. They try to sell their
services on the streets: horse and carriage, taxi, felucca sail, day
trip to the west bank? They have it all on offer... The sales men in
their flowy robes are friendly and chatty, and it's fun talking with
them. We negotiate with a guy named Abdullah, who seems to be well
known by all the other touts. We organize our day trip to the Valley
of the Kings on the West Bank of the Nile for tomorrow morning, with a
potential felucca sunset sail tonight if the wind cooperates. We
decide to walk the 1K to the Temple of Luxor. This temple is a
magnificent work of art, and contains over 4000 years of history, built
under the leadership of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III and then
Ramesses II between 1414 and 1379 B.C. Amongst the towering remains of
this temple are long rows of Sphinxes and an obelisk, along with six
large statues of Ramsesses II. It's interesting to see the rivalry
that existed amongst successive leaders; when one supersedes the prior
one, he seeks to better the temple, leaving his mark, be it through
deeper engravings in stone, attempting to erase past engravings, as
well as erecting large statues to themselves. This temple has gone
through significant evolution from a temple of the God of Thebes,
surviving the Greeks and Romans, and later evolving into a Christian
Church and today, even containing a Muslim element. It's also
interesting to observe, on a wall, 20 meters high up, a doorway opens
to nothing. There were ruins of the original temple, fully submerged
underground at the time the second level was built, and this doorway
was thought to have been built at ground level, until the site was
excavated, and it's actually built on top of another wall. Pretty
amazing to see. A couple hours spent there, and we've sweated out our
entire water supply, so we head back to the hotel for a nap and dip in
the pool. Our hotel room may not be anything special, but we've got no
problem hanging out all afternoon in the chilly pool which is
refreshing and clean.
Rested
up, we head out to have our sunset cruise down the Nile in a felucca
(local wood sail boat), but upon arrival, we realize there's no wind.
Abdullah tries to sell us on the motor boat ride, but it's not the
"local felucca" experience that we're after, so we politely decline and
head out to the streets where we're suckered into a city ride on a
horse and carriage. We were hot and exhausted, but felt we needed to
have a look around the city, and it was only a couple of bucks, so we
hopped on... Only to find ourselves shuffled to the driver's friend's
papyrus painting and handicraft shops. We roll with the program and
use the opportunity to learn more about our driver, his family and a
bit about local traditions, Ramadan and life growing up in Luxor.
After a busy, heated day, we have a great dinner at the Oasis Cafe,
and another successful eating experience for me, yea! I think the
parasites have been killed off and it feels great to be able to eat
again!
