This morning we woke up to the sound of waves hitting the felucca after a carrier past by through the Nile. The morning sun was beginning to rise on our side and shine in our faces so we decided to get up, but all we wanted to do was stay. Some of the group were already up walking around and taking photos and the crew were preparing our breakfast. Ev stirred Dan to wake but he was very tired after his long evening of moon gazing. Eventually we got up and Ev had a quick bathe in the cool water to freshen up. Hoda woke up very sick this morning with a Liver infection from not drinking enough water during the day but had spoken with her mum and boyfriend who advised her to break her fast, but it’s her choice as Ramadan means a lot to her, obviously. Breakfast was lovely of crepes, jam, honey and fruit, and we shortly carried on sailing to the minivan across the river at 8:00am for our 3 hour drive. The felucca has definitely been an unexpected highlight for us on our trip, in addition to the breathtaking pyramids and tombs. We’ll never forget the sun setting over the Nile.
Luxor
The driver to Luxor didn’t really seem that long. We slept a lot of the way but we did stop at a “COFFEE CHOP” for some refreshments and a toilet stop. Dan bartered with the vendor over a bath towel, with Hoda’s help (thanks Hoda!) We ended up paying about $13AUD for it. It was a great towel, about the size of a bed sheet.
We arrived to Luxor and had free time until the afternoon so we checked into our room and freshened up and as Ev was in the shower, the power went out. Awesome! It came back on 5 minutes later, all except the a/c and we couldn’t work out how to get it back on. Once we were ready we walked down the street to get some money out and again experienced Egyptian taxi drivers at their best as we were accompanied by a kid and teenage driver in a horse and cart offering us a ride. By accompanied, we mean, they walked next to us the whole street to our hotel and we kept saying “we’re just right here”. The teenage driver first asked us if we were going somewhere, and we said “no thanks we don’t need a ride” then he said “5 pounds” without knowing our destination. We said “no thanks” but they still followed us and then said “3 pounds” and we said “no thanks”, then he said “maybe later” and we said “maybe not”. This gets really annoying after the 10th time you’re asked. Every time you walk down the street, or even step out of the hotel, every taxi beeps to check if you need their service even if they have passengers in their car and in Cairo we even saw taxis pull up on roundabouts to pick up or drop off passengers. Anyhoo, if you need money...
With cash in our pockets we went to a store to get food and drinks then took it back to the hotel hoping the power was still working. We can’t believe how lost we feel when we don’t have a fridge in the hotel. We figured out how to turn the a/c back on in the room, (we just had to flick the switch!) then went down to the restaurant a few doors up for some traditional Italian. Ev had lasagne and Dan had wurstel pizza. It was the best lasagne we’ve had. We went halves with both meals but it was too much food. We ended up taking some lasagne back to the room.
Karnak Temple
Some of the group went to see papyrus paintings and we picked them up on the way to the Karnak Temple at 3pm. The Temple was another spectacular sight of pillars and carvings. Lining the open aired city-like temple were ram gods leading to the entrance corridor and the Temple wall through to the central public square.
This city once was under water and you can see the water lines high up on pillars and the original colouring on the top parts of the pillars that were not submerged. The walls depicted many scenes of the king while he was living, during his burial and in the afterlife.
The Temple also had many rooms including the Holy of Holies where the priest would pray on behalf of the city and the King/Queen ruling at the time. As we were looking at one of the massive pillared areas, Dan made a friend. He was trying to get a photo of one of the cartouches, (a cartouche = kar-toosh is an oblong, or oval, magical rope which was drawn to contain the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that spelt out the name of a King or Queen) when one of the locals walked up and grabbed Dan’s hand and put it into one of the grooves in the pillar. He then made Dan touch his own head and chest three times and spoke in Arabic. As far Dan knew it may have been a curse but the guy assured me it was good luck. This guy obviously believed in it because it wasn’t a free service, fooled again. Doh!
Again the architecture and history that went along with it was spectacular. We wanted to stay a little longer but sunset had once again beaten us. We walked with Hoda to the gift shop and spoke more about Egyptian history. We wanted to know more about Cleopatra but Hoda said the only artefacts relating to the Pharaoh are in Alexandria. It appears Cleopatra was made more popular in the west via literature and movies.
At about 6:00pm, Hoda dropped us off at a central location near the souk market area, a pub, and a few restaurants. Some of the group headed to the pub for a much needed beer then the market but we had dinner at the restaurant with Hoda. Just before dinner arrived we heard a crowd of men walking quickly and loudly shouting down the street. Hoda explained that the men were actually in a funeral parade, on the way to the ceremony. Women are only welcome to join if they can contain their emotions.
After the comotion, we ate our dinner, since Ramadan had finished. Ev had a chicken wrap, and Dan had a beef burger and fries. We really enjoyed spending time with Hoda. After years of being a guide here in Egypt for overseas visitors, she had her first ever overseas experience in June on her own to China (and had learnt a lot of Mandarin). We swapped China stories and she asked us more about our trip so far and we asked her more about her house she is paying off so she can live on her own. As a Muslim woman usually this is unheard of, so is travelling alone, but Hoda is no ordinary woman, bless her heart. Hoda is the only female Intrepid tour guide in Egypt who travels. Most other female guides only do day tours in their city. We really admire Hoda for her choices. She said her mum really freaked out when Hoda decided to do her Masters in Egyptology to travel as a guide, but now her mum has come to accept that that’s the way she is, adventurous, determined, inquisitive and very friendly. We’ve really enjoyed Hoda’s expertise and friendship.
With a bit of free time after eating we headed down to the book store and found some great reading, and more stuff to post back home. At 7:00pm we met back with the group, but decided we wanted to see the markets as well so the group went back to the hotel and we took a walk through the markets. Compared to Cairo these markets were very tame and had some beautiful items. We ended up buying another Egyptian towel. These guys can be pretty dodgy (as we may have mentioned a billion times earlier). We found the towel we wanted but preferred a different colour with the same design. We ended up getting a different colour and different design but we liked it anyway, besides we weren’t in the mood to rummage through dozens of towels. We got our own taxi back home at 8:00pm. Hoda told us the cab would be 10EGP total and our cabbie wanted to charge us 10EGP each but we said no and walked away so he said “okay 10 pound”. For most of the drive he told us how booking things with a tour guide is bad because the tour guide takes commission... blah blah blah. He had no idea, and we’d pay Hoda a commission even if we booked her for just a one day tour. She’s been really good to have.
We got back to the hotel and Hoda was still at reception surprised we had returned so quickly. Ev stayed downstairs to use the internet while Dan went back to the room to watch some Egyptian tv. He had a couple of drinks and watched ‘Fat Albert’ and a bit of ‘Platoon’ before Princess Evy needed to go to bed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
Luxor
The driver to Luxor didn’t really seem that long. We slept a lot of the way but we did stop at a “COFFEE CHOP” for some refreshments and a toilet stop. Dan bartered with the vendor over a bath towel, with Hoda’s help (thanks Hoda!) We ended up paying about $13AUD for it. It was a great towel, about the size of a bed sheet.
We arrived to Luxor and had free time until the afternoon so we checked into our room and freshened up and as Ev was in the shower, the power went out. Awesome! It came back on 5 minutes later, all except the a/c and we couldn’t work out how to get it back on. Once we were ready we walked down the street to get some money out and again experienced Egyptian taxi drivers at their best as we were accompanied by a kid and teenage driver in a horse and cart offering us a ride. By accompanied, we mean, they walked next to us the whole street to our hotel and we kept saying “we’re just right here”. The teenage driver first asked us if we were going somewhere, and we said “no thanks we don’t need a ride” then he said “5 pounds” without knowing our destination. We said “no thanks” but they still followed us and then said “3 pounds” and we said “no thanks”, then he said “maybe later” and we said “maybe not”. This gets really annoying after the 10th time you’re asked. Every time you walk down the street, or even step out of the hotel, every taxi beeps to check if you need their service even if they have passengers in their car and in Cairo we even saw taxis pull up on roundabouts to pick up or drop off passengers. Anyhoo, if you need money...
With cash in our pockets we went to a store to get food and drinks then took it back to the hotel hoping the power was still working. We can’t believe how lost we feel when we don’t have a fridge in the hotel. We figured out how to turn the a/c back on in the room, (we just had to flick the switch!) then went down to the restaurant a few doors up for some traditional Italian. Ev had lasagne and Dan had wurstel pizza. It was the best lasagne we’ve had. We went halves with both meals but it was too much food. We ended up taking some lasagne back to the room.
Karnak Temple
Some of the group went to see papyrus paintings and we picked them up on the way to the Karnak Temple at 3pm. The Temple was another spectacular sight of pillars and carvings. Lining the open aired city-like temple were ram gods leading to the entrance corridor and the Temple wall through to the central public square.
This city once was under water and you can see the water lines high up on pillars and the original colouring on the top parts of the pillars that were not submerged. The walls depicted many scenes of the king while he was living, during his burial and in the afterlife.
The Temple also had many rooms including the Holy of Holies where the priest would pray on behalf of the city and the King/Queen ruling at the time. As we were looking at one of the massive pillared areas, Dan made a friend. He was trying to get a photo of one of the cartouches, (a cartouche = kar-toosh is an oblong, or oval, magical rope which was drawn to contain the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that spelt out the name of a King or Queen) when one of the locals walked up and grabbed Dan’s hand and put it into one of the grooves in the pillar. He then made Dan touch his own head and chest three times and spoke in Arabic. As far Dan knew it may have been a curse but the guy assured me it was good luck. This guy obviously believed in it because it wasn’t a free service, fooled again. Doh!
 |
| A cartouche of a King or Queen |
At about 6:00pm, Hoda dropped us off at a central location near the souk market area, a pub, and a few restaurants. Some of the group headed to the pub for a much needed beer then the market but we had dinner at the restaurant with Hoda. Just before dinner arrived we heard a crowd of men walking quickly and loudly shouting down the street. Hoda explained that the men were actually in a funeral parade, on the way to the ceremony. Women are only welcome to join if they can contain their emotions.
After the comotion, we ate our dinner, since Ramadan had finished. Ev had a chicken wrap, and Dan had a beef burger and fries. We really enjoyed spending time with Hoda. After years of being a guide here in Egypt for overseas visitors, she had her first ever overseas experience in June on her own to China (and had learnt a lot of Mandarin). We swapped China stories and she asked us more about our trip so far and we asked her more about her house she is paying off so she can live on her own. As a Muslim woman usually this is unheard of, so is travelling alone, but Hoda is no ordinary woman, bless her heart. Hoda is the only female Intrepid tour guide in Egypt who travels. Most other female guides only do day tours in their city. We really admire Hoda for her choices. She said her mum really freaked out when Hoda decided to do her Masters in Egyptology to travel as a guide, but now her mum has come to accept that that’s the way she is, adventurous, determined, inquisitive and very friendly. We’ve really enjoyed Hoda’s expertise and friendship.
With a bit of free time after eating we headed down to the book store and found some great reading, and more stuff to post back home. At 7:00pm we met back with the group, but decided we wanted to see the markets as well so the group went back to the hotel and we took a walk through the markets. Compared to Cairo these markets were very tame and had some beautiful items. We ended up buying another Egyptian towel. These guys can be pretty dodgy (as we may have mentioned a billion times earlier). We found the towel we wanted but preferred a different colour with the same design. We ended up getting a different colour and different design but we liked it anyway, besides we weren’t in the mood to rummage through dozens of towels. We got our own taxi back home at 8:00pm. Hoda told us the cab would be 10EGP total and our cabbie wanted to charge us 10EGP each but we said no and walked away so he said “okay 10 pound”. For most of the drive he told us how booking things with a tour guide is bad because the tour guide takes commission... blah blah blah. He had no idea, and we’d pay Hoda a commission even if we booked her for just a one day tour. She’s been really good to have.
We got back to the hotel and Hoda was still at reception surprised we had returned so quickly. Ev stayed downstairs to use the internet while Dan went back to the room to watch some Egyptian tv. He had a couple of drinks and watched ‘Fat Albert’ and a bit of ‘Platoon’ before Princess Evy needed to go to bed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-ev/collections/72157624677997272
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