.:: The Daily Cowbell ::.: Blogging the Nile

LUXOR, EGYPT – To you, the thought of eating a Big Mac for Christmas dinner is horrifying. For me, it’s the most home-like thing I’ve done in almost 6 months

Apparently, there are three McDonalds in Egypt: Cairo, Hurghada, and Luxor, where just moments ago, I indulged in two chicken Big Macs, French fries, and a Coke. While it doesn’t hold a candle to turkey, mashed potatoes, rice and beans, and some pie, it’s a meal that puts me right back at the table with my family in Kansas. *sigh* Happy.

Three Observations

1. Traveling light. As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on spending the next few days in Luxor, on the (southern) Upper Nile, so late Friday night, I took the subway to Orabi, and walked to the Turgoman bus station. I was carrying my entire suitcase/backpack, but had left most of my stuff at the Cairo guesthouse so I could travel a little lighter. This was going to be a quick jaunt ~~down~~ up the Nile, and I didn’t need any extra distractions.

My tour bus left Turgoman relatively on time, and I was off. I stared out the window, admiring the lights of the city for the first half hour, until we were officially out of Cairo. At this point, I was feeling some time with iGor and perhaps some good sleep. However, the Upper Nile Bus Company had another idea. As I was preparing myself for some rest, the driver popped in some Arabic movie (at full volume), thwarting my plan. Don’t worry, I eventually got some sleep (18 minutes) over the 8-hour trip. But the good news is that as soon as I pulled into Luxor, it was already time to start exploring!

2. Day 1: Museums, Temples, and Bikes. Once I was moved into the Sherif Hostel, I inquired the front desk about a good place nearby to rent bikes (a common way to get around this relatively small town) and was happy to learn that the hostel itself could rent me a bike. I grabbed my old, blue, almost rusty ride (with a kickin’ basket on the front) and took off to explore 3 sights for the day: the Museum of Luxor, Karnak Temple, and Luxor Temple.

I rode down Corniche el-Nill to the museum, which was a big highlight of my excursion to Luxor. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while big and containing everything, is busy, confusing, and truly, just ugly. Its polar opposite is the Luxor Musem: clean, quiet, dark (but dynamically lit), smaller, and just stunning. Some of the gorgeous artifacts included an alabaster Amenhotep III, statues from the Karnak and Luxor temples, and two mummified people (presumed to be pharaohs, but super-frightening).

Next came yet another highlight of the trip –Karnak. How does one describe a place like this? Lonely Planet says it is “a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons, and obelisks… the site measures about 1.5km by 800m [almost 300 acres], large enough to contain about 10 cathedrals… was called Ipet-Isut, meaning ‘The Most Perfect of Places.’” However, I’m a bigger fan of what writer Amelia Edwards said about it:

It is a place that as been much written about and often painted; but of which no writing and no art can convey more than dwarfed and pallid impression… The scale is too vast; the effect too tremendous; the sense of one’s own dumbness and littleness and incapacity, too complete and crushing.

Inside is the huge temple complex, Amun Temple, whose centerpiece is the Great Hypostyle Hall. How do you describe an area like this? It’s a 300-foot long forest of 134 75-foot tall columns. You’re completely dwarfed, as you are next to Hatshepsut’s equally as dominant obelisks. Passing though the eight pylons (or layers of the temple) gives you a glimpse of sacred parts of ancient Egyptian life.

After spending a few hours wandering around that area, I hopped on the bike to go grab some lunch and hopefully hit the temple of Luxor. However, my bike had different plans. Short version: the chain that connects the pedal to wheel was actually stretched (or had the bike shrunk) so much that I couldn’t pedal once without the whole thing falling apart. A few friendly Egyptians came over to help me fix it, and after some prying with the metal on their part (and baksheesh on mine), I made it safely back to my hostel… almost. Again, the chain came off a few miles down the road. This time, I’d had enough. I pulled over to another bike place to exchange my piece’o’crap, hopped on the new one, and buzzed back towards Luxor temple.

While it’s not as grand as the Karnak, the temple of Luxor was cool because it’s located right next to the Nile. My Lonely Planet: Egypt book suggested to visit in the day, but to return when the sun was setting, since the temple is lit up and the walls are subjected to shadow games from the reliefs.

Since I had my bike-issues, I missed out on the day portion, but I did get there just as the sun was setting. I investigated the line of sphinxes leading to the temple, shot pictures of Ramses II’s head, and admired the one remaining obelisk in front of the temple. (Little did I know at the time, but I’d just seen this obelisk’s brother in June when I visited the Place de la Concorde in Paris!) After some more exploring, I grabbed the bike, rode back to the hostel, and got a relatively early night of sleep.

3. Day 2: Christmas in Luxor. I like Christmas. It’s a beautiful time of the year, when family and friends are extra-important, and had I been at MAA, the day might have been a bit rough. However, being that I was where I was, I took it as an opportunity to explore the Nile’s East Bank with iGor set to Christmas music only. Take that, Scrooge Hasan al-Grinch.

The first site I got to explore was definitely the coolest: the Valley of the Kings. Carved out of steep cliffs, the 62 tombs were located here by the royals because of their isolation, easiness to guard, and direction from Thebes/Luxor (to the west, the direction of the setting sun, which symbolized afterlife). A 40LE ticket gets you into any 3 tombs… except Tutankhamun, whose final resting place costs an additional 100 LE to visit. My three picks were Ramses I (beautiful blue-painted inside, with a gigantic pink-granite sarcophagus), Ramses IV (known about since 278 BC, but just recently opened to the public), and Tuthmosis IV (built in the hills – can only enter by climbing a staircase, going over a ravine, and delving deep inside the rock).

Next was Deir al-Bahri, the temple of Hatshepsut. Lonely Planet: Egypt’s description of it is dead-on: “Rising out of the desert, in a series of terraces, the Temple of Hatshepsut merges with the sheer limestone cliffs of the eastern face of the Theban mountain as is Nature herself had built this extraordinary monument. The partly rock-cut, partly freestanding structure is one of the finest monuments in ancient Egypt…” This was one of the top 3 monuments I wanted to see before I left Kenya (Pyramids of Giza and Abu Simbel were also on the list), and standing in front of it was just mind-boggling.

The last place of exploration for the day should have been the first. The Colossi of Memnon are two 18-meter tall giants who unceasingly guard the Valley of the Kings. For years, as Ra would rise into the sky, he would heat the dew that had attached itself to the statue in the night, breaking off sand inside the effigy. The sound of the sand would actually be an audible, low, haunting noise, so it was said that the Colossi were “singing” in the morning. Because of a unnecessary “repair” made to the statues, they don’t hum anymore, but they’re still an amazing and beautiful sight.

Arriving back in Luxor, I got some lunch, walked around the town (looking for nothing in particular), talked to my family at an internet café, came back to the hostel, packed, and eventually ate supper, as stated, in McD’s. Now I’m just awaiting my train leaving in a few hours here and I’m off, back to Cairo!