We started VERY early with a wake-up call at 4:15AM. I
dragged myself out of bed and staggered blindly down to the lobby to meet
Shaun, Sam, Aly & Jackie in catching a bus to the ferry across the river
where we would be going for a ride in a HOT AIR BALLOON! There were about 20
people on the ferry and, when the guide started telling us about safety
precautions and landing positions, one American girl piped up, “I think we’re
on the wrong boat! Aren’t we going to the Valley of the
Kings?” Turned out her boyfriend had secretly booked the ride to
surprise her…and no, he didn’t propose. It was pretty funny but I was reminded
of how glad I was that our American girls weren’t that annoying as she continued
to screech in surprise and kept interrupting the guide to the point where he
had to ask her to be quiet!
We arrived to find 6-8 balloons being inflated in the
semi-dark of the early morning. The noise and heat of the flames heating the
air was incredible, as was the number of people running around stabilizing the
balloons. I was surprised at just how big the basket was; consisting of four
compartments that each held 5 people, and a central compartment holding the
pilot and four massive gas canisters. We climbed into our compartment, the
pilot blasted hot air into the balloon, and we were off! I got a little bit of
vertigo when we went straight up and ended up quite high above the ground, but
was soon distracted by the magnificent sight of the Valley of the Kings and the
sun rising over the Nile. We dropped down a
bit and the easterly wind blew us rapidly over the city and towards the river.
We later found out that the balloons are actually not supposed to cross the
river as there are too many power lines & not enough landing sites. But we
did, and luckily couldn’t understand the pilot as he yelled into his RT to the
team below. We couldn’t use the westerly wind to push us back to the Valley
landing site as it pushed us to low down over the city, and the pilot was
trying to get permission to land near the airport. Unfortunately, the last time
a balloon went near the airport the business was shut down for 6 months, so
this was not really an option, so we aimed for some poor local farmer’s crops.
Sometimes it’s good not understanding the language! Aly looked over to Sam, who
was looking more than a little worried, and asked, “Meshi?” (okay?), to which
he replied, “Mish meshi!” (Not okay!).
Eventually we touched down illegally on a field, and the ground team scrambled
to get the basket secured after a bumpy landing on the crops. They had to pay
for the damage to the farmer’s crops, but at least we didn’t get sucked into
the exhaust of a plane!
So after an eventful but amazing ride, we met the other lazy
bums and our local guide, Ahmed, at 7:30am near the Valley
of the Kings. He told us that the valley was chosen as a burial
site on the West bank of the Nile where the
sun sets (i.e. the end of t life) as opposed to the East bank where everyone
lived (sunrise equating to the start of life). There is a natural pyramid
marking the site, chosen for the good quality limestone cliffs into which the
tombs would be dug. But before we headed in for a closer look at the tombs we
had another treat waiting. A donkey ride! And, unlike the camel ride where we
were led like sacks of potatoes, here we were in charge of our trusty steeds. I
climbed aboard my little jack, and we were off! I thought I would have a lot
less control without any stirrups and very little opportunity to use any “leg”,
but it was well trained to the bit and actually wanted to have a run! Sam &
Aly, who both could ride, took off, so I followed them and managed to get a few
good little canters in until the poor thing got too tired. We rapidly left the rest
of the group behind and rode peacefully past fields of trees, crops and
workers. Eventually we hit the main road and had a few hair-raising moments
crossing to the other side. It was great fun, and totally worth the stiff and
sore legs the next day!
We then headed to the Valley of the
Kings, where our tickets included a visit to three tombs – Rameses
I, III & IX. Ahmed explained the meanings of some of the hieroglyphics and
told us stories of the ancient gods. Such as how Set, the god of evil, killed
his brother Osirus out of jealousy, but Osirus was brought back to life by his
wife Isis after being made into the first mummy, and now lives in the
Netherworld where he is in charge of weighing a man’s heart against a feather
to decide where his soul will go. If it is light then the man goes to heaven,
but if it is heavy with his sins then he’s sent to hell.
Some of the tombs had beautiful carvings and painted walls,
all guarded by locals trying to “guide” you for a fee. Shaun foolishly took a
torch offered by a doorman, forgetting that nothing is free, and was
subsequently followed as his new guide tried to point out random things, such
as the painting with a massive erection! Trust Shaun to attract these people.
We then did the optional visit to King Tutankhamen’s tomb,
despite the relative expense for such a short visit – you can’t really go to
the Valley and not see his tomb! The tomb itself was pretty small and not
nearly as elaborately decorated as some others due to the king’s untimely
death, but it was impressive to see his mummy in the special controlled
conditions chamber within its actual tomb.
We also visited Ramses VI tomb, which had the best preserved
colour hieroglyphics in the Valley – not overly impressive until you remember
that the paintings are over 3000 years old!
Our group then split up to do some optional extras. The
American girls visited the “workers’ village” where the people who worked on
the tombs lived. These people weren’t slaves, but were “hired” to work on the
tombs, on the condition that they had to live in the nearby village for the
rest of their lives, as the location of the tombs had to remain secret. But it
was guaranteed lifetime work, which considering the current recession, can’t be
too bad.
We chose to head to Dier el-Bahri, where a temple was built
by Queen Hatshepsut (or “Hot Chicken Soup” as Ahmed described her!), the first
female pharaoh who “stole” her stepson’s throne when her husband, the pharaoh,
died. She had been ruling with him for the past few years and felt that she
could maintain the kingdom through intelligent peaceful negotiations. Many were
against it as a female could not be head of the army, and so people were afraid
it would be seen as a weakness leading to invasion. But she managed to
negotiate treaties with all her neighbours, showing what a good politician she
was. When she died her stepson took over, and out of resentment decided to
deface her temple to prevent her from getting into heaven, believing that
removing her face and name would cause both the gods and her people to forget
her. He vandalized all of her cartouches containing her name, and toppled her
statues. Luckily some of the statues survived and have been remounted outside
the temple. It was much quieter than the Valley of the
Kings, which was great as we were able to find some empty rooms
for some great pictures and quiet contemplation.
We then headed over to the Valley of the Queens,
where the pharaohs’ families were buried in over 80 tombs. Despite our guides’
lack of enthusiasm (“you’ve seen one tomb you’ve seen them all” was the
impression we got) we loved it as there were almost no other tourists and the
painted engravings on the walls of Ramses’ II sons’ tombs rivaled those of
Ramses VI. They showed the Pharaoh “introducing” his son to the god Osirus in
order for the kid to enter through the “Gates of Heaven” as a child did not
have sufficient knowledge of the gods and their ways to enter alone. There was
also a mummified foetus that had been mummified when it’s mother died. The
Egyptians believed that once a child could be felt moving then it was a person,
and so deserved a proper burial. These days women who are having trouble
conceiving will come to kiss the case “for luck”.
On the way out I was offered 3 carvings for EGP5, which then
dropped to EGP1 when I ignored him. I fell for it and made the mistake of
looking at the carvings, at which point the price changed to EGP100. I wasn’t
actually interested so offered EGP20, thinking that would be it, but he buckled
and came down to EGP30 in the end. So now I have three more rocks to carry home
– good thing I packed light!
We picked up the girls & headed over to Ahmed’s house
for an AMAZING lunch cooked by his lovely wife. After stuffing ourselves to
bursting point (again), we had a lesson in writing our names in Arabic &
hieroglyphics. It was like being in school again! I ended up ordering a small
silver cartouch for my sister’s birthday since she loves all things Egyptian.
Plus it’s a lot easier to post than a stone carving!
Finally we returned to the hotel, grabbed our beers and headed back up to the pool. We returned to find some strange towel sculptures in our rooms - these guys have a wierd sense of humour!We lazed around until dinnertime, when we caught a real live
taxi-van (1 EGP each) to Snacktime, but this time we dined in the luxury of the
top floor overlooking the Luxor temple and the Nile. After dinner the Americans headed off to the Sound
& Light Show at the Karnak temple, while
the other girls went downstairs to check their e-mails and I joined the boys in
watching the football. It was a good game, but both the guys fell asleep while
I managed to stay awake only with the help of a strong Turkish coffee. Finally the
game ended and we made our way home through the surprisingly busy streets. It
seems in this heat everyone becomes nocturnal, even little kids were awake and
playing in the park at midnight! We jumped in a taxi and Sam panicked for a
minute as he hadn’t seen Shaun climb in the front and when he asked if I’d seen
him I replied, “Oh, he just kept walking!” I pointed him out before Sam jumped
back out of the van. So gullible.
