So I've finally typed up my journal entries from Egypt as "blog posts" under the dates and times I actually wrote them -- so if you're interested, scroll down...
Still really happy to be home, and sifting through the photos. Lots of photos.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
safe at home
Just a quick note to say that we're home and safe - we didn't have internet access in Egypt, so apologies for the lack of posts. Trying desperately to stay awake for a few more hours so that we can start working through the jet lag. :)
homeward bound
Had a nice last day in Luxor -- boat into town, walked around Television street for a while looking at the fake shops and knock-off merchandise, and then had a fantastic early dinner at Sofra. Three young traveller couples there, all of us with the Egypt LP. Ordered too much food -- again -- but really nice. Back at the hotel we toyed with the idea of having a shisha at the Sundowner, but we got spooked. It just didn't feel right. Guess we should have had one at Sofra. Sundowner overcharged us for drinks; imagine what they would have done for a shisha?
Packed everything and ordered a taxi for the next morning -- which consisted of having the bellman call a taxi from outside, who drove in and negotiated with us. (Same old story -- there's an accepted price, but the driver started high and only came down when we argued a bit). He gave us his card and told us to call him. We told him to be there at 6am. There was some back and forth about this, but we thought we'd got it sorted.
In the morning we checked out (I knew we'd get dinged for that minibar stuff we didn't let them replace on that first morning -- but we disputed it and didn't end up paying) and had a quick breakfast at the buffet. Then we went out front to leave.
5:58 - no taxi
5:59 - we ask the front desk to call the taxi. They call, twice -- no answer.
6:00 - we storm down the driveway and re-negotiate with the first driver we find. grrr.
6:15 - we arrive at Luxor Airport
We go inside the terminal where three guards were standing next to a metal detector and x-ray machine, both of which were turned off. A fourth man, behind the glass, who in theory would monitor the x-ray machine was sleeping, smooshed against the glass.
One said, "Do you have a ticket?" When I said yes, he said "I want to see it." So I dug out the e-mail (it's not like I had a hard ticket), which he glanced at, and then waived us through. Since the scanner was turned off, we hesitated, and started to wheel my bag through the metal detector. The guards said, "No, no, through the machine." I wasn't about to step through the gate without my bag going first, so I pointed out that everything was turned off. So they shouted at the sleeping guard, who slowly woke up, and turned on the machine. We stood there, waiting, wondering how exactly this was secure. But eventually we were able to load the bags onto the x-ray and step through the metal detector.
Then to check-in, where there seemed to be a lot of typing -- and the clerk was a hunt-and-peck typist. But we weren't in a hurry and he did give us the Egypt exit forms to fill out. Then to the next security checkpoint, which again was switched off. The belt wasn't moving, but the guy wanted us to walk through and didn't understand why we hesitated. Awesome! Finally that came online, and we could go through. Then into the domestic departure lounge, which didn't have many shops but at least was priced in Egyptian pounds.
Eventually our gate opened and we got on a bus to take us to the plane. We had exit row seats to Cairo -- nice -- but I don't think EgyptAir bothered with a safety demonstration.
Cairo airport was nothing special; had to go through the emigration process which took an absurdly long time and had highlights like the officer sending and receiving text messages while processing forms. Cool! Very little Egyptian stuff in the airport shops, which surprised me. But they did have food, at least.
Flight to Barcelona was tedious; already feeling tired of travel.
Arrived at the schmancy new T1 and found the spot where the hotel busses go. At first glance, the Hotel Tryp was a dud, sitting in an older industrial park next to a Volkswagen office. But it was beautiful and very stylish inside. The shuttles were really useful too -- running every 20 minutes to the train station and airport, which meant we could check in, dump our stuff, and head back into town. A nice lady at the Renfe train station showed us that you could save money by getting a T-10 ticket rather than two round-trip tickets. Nice!
Spent the late afternoon/ early evening wandering around Barcelona looking at buildings in L'Eixample and trying to find a grocery store. Found one, eventually, but couldn't find what we were looking for. Again, we have completely failed to buy anything for anyone. Oops. Not that we bought much for ourselves, mind you. We bought nothing in Egypt that we didn't eat or drink -- in large part because I was tired of the constant hassle.
Walking around Barcelona we kept thinking how lovely it was not to be harassed at every street corner, every time we stopped, etc. And how clean it all was. And did I mention we brushed our teeth with tap water?
Back to the hotel at sunset, and then we just hung out, drank cheap Sidre, and snacked on cheese, tomatoes, potato "tortilla", and crackers.
Set alarms for 3:30 to make sure we caught the 4:00 shuttle; we were out of the room at 3:58 and right on time. Sadness: the lovely shops at the airport were still shut -- one downside of an early morning flight! But time passed and we're now halfway through our flight to Amsterdam. Happy to be homeward bound!
Packed everything and ordered a taxi for the next morning -- which consisted of having the bellman call a taxi from outside, who drove in and negotiated with us. (Same old story -- there's an accepted price, but the driver started high and only came down when we argued a bit). He gave us his card and told us to call him. We told him to be there at 6am. There was some back and forth about this, but we thought we'd got it sorted.
In the morning we checked out (I knew we'd get dinged for that minibar stuff we didn't let them replace on that first morning -- but we disputed it and didn't end up paying) and had a quick breakfast at the buffet. Then we went out front to leave.
5:58 - no taxi
5:59 - we ask the front desk to call the taxi. They call, twice -- no answer.
6:00 - we storm down the driveway and re-negotiate with the first driver we find. grrr.
6:15 - we arrive at Luxor Airport
We go inside the terminal where three guards were standing next to a metal detector and x-ray machine, both of which were turned off. A fourth man, behind the glass, who in theory would monitor the x-ray machine was sleeping, smooshed against the glass.
One said, "Do you have a ticket?" When I said yes, he said "I want to see it." So I dug out the e-mail (it's not like I had a hard ticket), which he glanced at, and then waived us through. Since the scanner was turned off, we hesitated, and started to wheel my bag through the metal detector. The guards said, "No, no, through the machine." I wasn't about to step through the gate without my bag going first, so I pointed out that everything was turned off. So they shouted at the sleeping guard, who slowly woke up, and turned on the machine. We stood there, waiting, wondering how exactly this was secure. But eventually we were able to load the bags onto the x-ray and step through the metal detector.
Then to check-in, where there seemed to be a lot of typing -- and the clerk was a hunt-and-peck typist. But we weren't in a hurry and he did give us the Egypt exit forms to fill out. Then to the next security checkpoint, which again was switched off. The belt wasn't moving, but the guy wanted us to walk through and didn't understand why we hesitated. Awesome! Finally that came online, and we could go through. Then into the domestic departure lounge, which didn't have many shops but at least was priced in Egyptian pounds.
Eventually our gate opened and we got on a bus to take us to the plane. We had exit row seats to Cairo -- nice -- but I don't think EgyptAir bothered with a safety demonstration.
Cairo airport was nothing special; had to go through the emigration process which took an absurdly long time and had highlights like the officer sending and receiving text messages while processing forms. Cool! Very little Egyptian stuff in the airport shops, which surprised me. But they did have food, at least.
Flight to Barcelona was tedious; already feeling tired of travel.
Arrived at the schmancy new T1 and found the spot where the hotel busses go. At first glance, the Hotel Tryp was a dud, sitting in an older industrial park next to a Volkswagen office. But it was beautiful and very stylish inside. The shuttles were really useful too -- running every 20 minutes to the train station and airport, which meant we could check in, dump our stuff, and head back into town. A nice lady at the Renfe train station showed us that you could save money by getting a T-10 ticket rather than two round-trip tickets. Nice!
Spent the late afternoon/ early evening wandering around Barcelona looking at buildings in L'Eixample and trying to find a grocery store. Found one, eventually, but couldn't find what we were looking for. Again, we have completely failed to buy anything for anyone. Oops. Not that we bought much for ourselves, mind you. We bought nothing in Egypt that we didn't eat or drink -- in large part because I was tired of the constant hassle.
Walking around Barcelona we kept thinking how lovely it was not to be harassed at every street corner, every time we stopped, etc. And how clean it all was. And did I mention we brushed our teeth with tap water?
Back to the hotel at sunset, and then we just hung out, drank cheap Sidre, and snacked on cheese, tomatoes, potato "tortilla", and crackers.
Set alarms for 3:30 to make sure we caught the 4:00 shuttle; we were out of the room at 3:58 and right on time. Sadness: the lovely shops at the airport were still shut -- one downside of an early morning flight! But time passed and we're now halfway through our flight to Amsterdam. Happy to be homeward bound!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Karnak
On Tuesday afternoon we took the 3:00 boat into town fora visit. It's lovely on the boat -- takes a long time to go upstream, which means where was plenty of time to eavesdrop on our fellow passengers. Lots of package tour Brits -- proof that Egypt is the new Spain -- Costa del Nile? They were complaining about the food, the price of beer in the hotel, etc. I mean, food and drink is always overpriced at a hotel. But anyway. Also the number of times we heard people talking about going into town for "a McDonald's" made me cringe.
Arrived in town and went to Luxor Temple. Really had to fend off the guides and the guards who point at something really obvious, say "sphinx", and then want a tip. The temple, however, was very cool -- the columns were amazing, especially the "bunch of papyrus" ones. Some beautiful carvings -- lots of "fertile" Osiris in, umm, full bloom. Very hard to process that one of these areas was built by Alexander... and depicted him as pharaoh. Still hard to get my mind around that. I mean, the pharaohs seem almost mythical, but Alexander? Wow.
Did a little walking around Luxor afterwards, ran across the sanitized tourist bazaar but couldn't face it. I mean, there's just nothing I want. I can imagine getting caught up in it all and buying statuettes, papyrus paintings, etc. But I don't want any of those things, really. I do regret not getting the Tut-mask toenail clippers, however. ;)
Then over to the Winter Palace, where we used their exquisite bathrooms and walked around their pretty gardens before catching the shuttle bus back toward Karnak. We asked the driver to let us out in the village, and looked at a couple of places before choosing Nefertari for dinner. We met the owner, a kind man who had studied in Walthamstow and had a shop in Bristol. Wil's tummy had been bothering him again, so we asked if he could just have some rice and steamed veg -- simple. I had some mezze: babaganoush, tabbouleh, and falafel. When it came it was perfect -- lovely fresh, clean food. Very nice -- best falafel ever.
We finished, paid, and went down to the road just in time to flag down the shuttle back to the hotel. Perfect! Then an early night.
Yesterday we got up at 5:30, and were out the door before 6 to go to Karnak. Perfect timing. Other than the fact that the guards made us do a big loop past an empty set of stores to get to the ticket booth (rather than walking 100 feet past the guards directly to the booth), it was perfect. Hardly any people, no one trying to be our guide, lovely pink sunrise. Glorious. We wandered around for a coule of hours -- the hypostyle hall was amazing -- so many pillars! It's all a bit overwhelming -- I keep feeling like I'm in a movie set, which is ridiculous, but... Really liked Hatchepsut's obelisks, the "botanical garden" reliefs, the massive pylon gates. One enterprising guard had moved the "area closed - no entry" sign but pulled the metal gates across the opening. When we got close, he noisily moved the gates and kept telling us it was okay. But we didn't want the hassle. Around 8:30 we walked back to the hotel, where we had breakfast and then hung out by the pool.
In the early evening we took the shuttle -- getting dropped off at Karnak and then feeling silly because it was so close -- but as Wil said, it will have given the package tourists something to talk about. Had dinner at Nefertari again, which somehow wasn't as nice. Don't know why. Then walked from there to Karnak temple, where we bought the Very Expensive tickets to the Sound & Light show. 100 LE! It was very different than the one at Giza. In this one you walked from place to place in the temple and learned different things along the way. Kinda cool to walk around with the temple lit up like that. It ended in the seats overlooking the sacred lake, which was a bit of an anticlimax. Still, nice. And very different from the one at the pyramids. Then home, where we stayed up late and finished the bourbon.
Today (8/6) is our last full day here, and we've done everything we wanted to do. So we slept in, had a late breakfast, and have been swimming and lazing ever since. At 3 we'll take te boat into town and wander a bit before having a late lunch / early dinner at Sofra, before going home to the hotel to prep for the next 2 days of travel.
At breakfast we were surprised to see a bunch of people we heard talking about how they were leaving yesterday. Apparently their charter flight had been cancelled, stranding a bunch of the package tourists for an extra night. We want to ask for details but don't want to talk to anyone. Happy that we're on a scheduled flight!
Arrived in town and went to Luxor Temple. Really had to fend off the guides and the guards who point at something really obvious, say "sphinx", and then want a tip. The temple, however, was very cool -- the columns were amazing, especially the "bunch of papyrus" ones. Some beautiful carvings -- lots of "fertile" Osiris in, umm, full bloom. Very hard to process that one of these areas was built by Alexander... and depicted him as pharaoh. Still hard to get my mind around that. I mean, the pharaohs seem almost mythical, but Alexander? Wow.
Did a little walking around Luxor afterwards, ran across the sanitized tourist bazaar but couldn't face it. I mean, there's just nothing I want. I can imagine getting caught up in it all and buying statuettes, papyrus paintings, etc. But I don't want any of those things, really. I do regret not getting the Tut-mask toenail clippers, however. ;)
Then over to the Winter Palace, where we used their exquisite bathrooms and walked around their pretty gardens before catching the shuttle bus back toward Karnak. We asked the driver to let us out in the village, and looked at a couple of places before choosing Nefertari for dinner. We met the owner, a kind man who had studied in Walthamstow and had a shop in Bristol. Wil's tummy had been bothering him again, so we asked if he could just have some rice and steamed veg -- simple. I had some mezze: babaganoush, tabbouleh, and falafel. When it came it was perfect -- lovely fresh, clean food. Very nice -- best falafel ever.
We finished, paid, and went down to the road just in time to flag down the shuttle back to the hotel. Perfect! Then an early night.
Yesterday we got up at 5:30, and were out the door before 6 to go to Karnak. Perfect timing. Other than the fact that the guards made us do a big loop past an empty set of stores to get to the ticket booth (rather than walking 100 feet past the guards directly to the booth), it was perfect. Hardly any people, no one trying to be our guide, lovely pink sunrise. Glorious. We wandered around for a coule of hours -- the hypostyle hall was amazing -- so many pillars! It's all a bit overwhelming -- I keep feeling like I'm in a movie set, which is ridiculous, but... Really liked Hatchepsut's obelisks, the "botanical garden" reliefs, the massive pylon gates. One enterprising guard had moved the "area closed - no entry" sign but pulled the metal gates across the opening. When we got close, he noisily moved the gates and kept telling us it was okay. But we didn't want the hassle. Around 8:30 we walked back to the hotel, where we had breakfast and then hung out by the pool.
In the early evening we took the shuttle -- getting dropped off at Karnak and then feeling silly because it was so close -- but as Wil said, it will have given the package tourists something to talk about. Had dinner at Nefertari again, which somehow wasn't as nice. Don't know why. Then walked from there to Karnak temple, where we bought the Very Expensive tickets to the Sound & Light show. 100 LE! It was very different than the one at Giza. In this one you walked from place to place in the temple and learned different things along the way. Kinda cool to walk around with the temple lit up like that. It ended in the seats overlooking the sacred lake, which was a bit of an anticlimax. Still, nice. And very different from the one at the pyramids. Then home, where we stayed up late and finished the bourbon.
Today (8/6) is our last full day here, and we've done everything we wanted to do. So we slept in, had a late breakfast, and have been swimming and lazing ever since. At 3 we'll take te boat into town and wander a bit before having a late lunch / early dinner at Sofra, before going home to the hotel to prep for the next 2 days of travel.
At breakfast we were surprised to see a bunch of people we heard talking about how they were leaving yesterday. Apparently their charter flight had been cancelled, stranding a bunch of the package tourists for an extra night. We want to ask for details but don't want to talk to anyone. Happy that we're on a scheduled flight!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Sofitel Karnak
It's nice here -- once we got all the stuff with the room sorted, anyway.
We waited till 7:15, then went to the counter and were told our room was ready. So we got our bags and were led up to a room... that hadn't been cleaned. Um, okay... so the guy called the desk and got another room... which we went to, but it had 2 beds. We had reserved a king-size bed. So we called reception and were told they would take care of us.
90 minutes later, the two of us still reeling a bit from exhaustion, Wil called the front desk again. They seemed surprised we had an issue, and promised to send someone up to fix the problem. A few minutes later, a man came up to the room, stripped the beds, pushed them together, and remade them as one. Not exactly what we had in mind. So we decided to call the desk again. They told us that we could have a king bed at 3:00 -- normal check-in time, but we would have to leave the room we were in immediately.
So we thought about it and called them back to say that, actually, we would spend 1 night in that room and then switch the next day. Wil hung up, but 2 minutes later the phone rang -- it was Mohammed, the manager, who apologized and told us that he would have a room ready for us at 11am but he needed to have this room as it was reserved for part of a group and needed to be cleaned again. At least that was a good explanation!
So we took everything back downstairs, taking a moment to change into our swimsuits, dropped off the bags, got some towels, and went back to the pool where we slept and swam for a couple of hours. At 11:30 we went to the front desk, where Mohammed gave us our keys and told us that our things were already there. Good man!
We went to our room -- now in the Ramses wing -- and it was perfect. A couch, a balcony overlooking a grassy courtyard, and a massive king-size bed. Perfect! Really happy we stuck to our guns and got what we'd paid for. (Well, except for the picnique that was supposed to come with the room... but we're not that bothered.)
Hung out in the room for a while, then decided to go into town for some lunch. We had to take a taxi since we had supposedly missed the last shuttle (we hadn't), but we went out to the road and started bargaining. We were told a taxi would cost 25 to town, which as a ripoff, but the drivers told us it would be 40. We laughed at that. Another driver came up and said it would be 25, was always 25, but drivers would try to get 40. That's how we met Hamdi, our hard-sell taxi driver. He drove us to Sofra, the restaurant I had chosen from the LP. On the way, he convinced us to hire him for a trip to the west bank and Valley of the Kings the next morning. As his price was 50 less than the other driver had quoted us, we accepted and arranged for 7:00 the next morning.
Sofra was fantastic -- we ate upstairs on the shady roof terrace -- lots of fantastic Egyptian mezze, fabulous juice, and a leisurely lunch. Really nice place.
Then we walked around Luxor for a bit -- difficult to get a sense of where the tourist center is -- but then again we didn't go to the temple. Then we decided to take the boat back to the resort -- and (despite asking directions at the Winter Palace -- twice -- we really had a hard time finding it. It's very difficult to even hesitate on the corniche. Hesitation = touts. You want a felucca? Taxi? Carriage? Eventually we did find the dock, and spotted a westerner waiting. Success.
Came back to the hotel and rested in the room for a bit, then walked around as the sun set. Couldn't find anything to eat -- not many vegetarian choices -- but we'd had a huge lunch and decided to just skip dinner for the night.
Next morning we were up early and went to breakfast. Wil doesn't think it's as nice as at Oasis, but I think there seem to be more choices here. And the orange juice, though still not fresh, at least isn't Tang. They've got an omelette-to-order area, lots of "western" hot things, nice spreads, gorgeous tomatoes, and good bread. So it's okay, really.
Then we went over to the front entrance -- right at 7 -- to meet Hamdi. Imagine our surprise when Hamdi turned up with another driver as well and told us we'd be going with him. Nice. We figured that he'd gotten a higher amount from the other group and would have ditched us in a heartbeat. So we rather unhappily climbed in the other car. It was fine, of course. He stopped along the way for us to buy water and made sure we didn't get too fleeced. Then drove us quickly and safely to the Valley of the Kings.
I'm not sure what I expected -- but there's an attractive visitor's center and a not too chaotic ticket window. You buy a ticket that gives you entrance to 3 tombs for 60 LE. You can then buy additional entry tickets to Tutankhamun (100 LE) and Ramses VI (50 LE). We bought Tut tix and then set off. I had picked out some tombs to visit -- unfortunately 2 of my 3 were either closed or required a supplemental ticket. oh well.
We started off in Tut's tomb -- a deep, angled walkway down, then a small room. There's a red quartzite sarcophagus -- massive and perfect and beautiful -- and the outermost gilded wooden coffin (we saw the other 2 in Cairo). In a smaller case on the other side of the chamber rests his mummy, looking very frail, with spindly toes peeking out from the too-short covering. Some very nice painting on the walls -- a chubby young Tut with his wife, for example. It's one of the smallest tombs in the valley, but special because of Tut, and because the mummy is there. The tickets are overpriced at 100 LE, but it did keep the crowds down.
Tried to go to Ramses VI, but it needed an extra ticket so we decided to think about it. Moved on to Seti I. Closed. (So sad, because it had lovely crocodile and hippo paintings.) Tried some others. Ramses III? Closed. Amenhotep II? Closed. Sigh. Went to Seti II largely because it was open. Pretty paintings, nice carving (the walkway starts as carvings but then just goes on as paintings -- as if they were either running out of time or of interest. Some of the painting is really just sketches in red paint -- sometimes added to with black paint. Pretty cool. The guards in the tombs follow you around, calling out names or things in the carvings. "Cartouche. Osiris. Crocodile." and then expect a tip. This "walking wallet" thing is tiring.
Then we went "next door" to the tomb of Tawosret / Sethnakht -- a double tomb of sorts. Two big burial chambers... a little like train carriages. Really nice paintings -- have they been restored (repainted?). Lots of stars on the ceiling. Pretty.
For our final tomb we went to Ramses IX. Or was it IV? Can't remember. Big tomb, lovely painting, etc. Clearly the heat was getting to me at this point. Decided therefore to skip the Ramses VI tomb -- we had been in the Valley nearly 2 hours already.
So to the exit and the gauntlet of vendors. Everything so cheap -- but almost all of it crap. So tiresome. But it's their livelihood, I know.
Then back to the car and to Deir al-Bahri, aka the Temple of Hatshepsut. Her temple is beautiful -- looks fantastic and modern. Most of it has been rebuilt using modern stone. But there are some beautiful reliefs carved on the terraces... including the bringing of trees to her garden, a couple of which "survive" (or linger as dead stumps) near the ticket gate. Lots of annoying touts -- taking pictures of people with their camera and then refusing to return them till they are given a tip. We didn't fall for it, of course.
Super hot there, and we finished the water. As we braved the tourist gauntlet, one clever vendor had posted a large price list for his cold drinks. That's all I want, really. I'm happy to pay over the odds, but not to be fleeced all the freaking time. Really. So we bought Coke Light and water and guzzled it.
Then back in the taxi -- where the driver encouraged us to go to an alabaster factory (we said no). We didn't have time (or, by that point, ENERGY) to go to the Ramesseum, so we just went to the Colossi of Memnon to snap a couple of pictures and then headed back to the hotel.
We asked the driver to take us somewhere to buy water and soda and he stopped at a place in Karnak, not far from the hotel. We loaded up, even buying two expensive bottles of mineral water (12 LE each, when soda is only 5).
Spent the rest of the afternoon lolling by the pool and reading trashy books. I had finished "The Host", and got most of the way through the horribly written "Atlantis Code".
in the evening, we took a shuttle into town and went to the Kings Head pub. Wil had a Heineken while I made the grievous error of ordering a whisky sour. I mean, I wouldn't order that in a proper English pub, so what was I thinking? I suspect they had never made one before ... it was lemon juice (not lemonade, just sour lemon juice), and a splash of whisky. So nasty, almost undrinkable. Totally my fault.
Then a wander through Luxor and we walked home along the corniche. So many cruise ships! Moored 4 deep. Are any of them going to move? Weird. Spent the whole walk fending off taxis, carriages, and felluccas. Tiresome.
Walking through Karnak village, we stopped to buy soda. The kid tried to charge us 10 each for the soda, so we started to walk out. We quickly dropped to 10 total. Some little lad followed us for blocks and blocks, shouting "Hello! Money!" over and over. Really annoying. Then back to the hotel. Did I mention I burned my legs really badly? Idiot.
Today we slept in -- no Karnak at sunrise for us! -- had a leisurely breakfast, a splash in the pool, and now sitting on the grassy hillside overlooking the Nile. Still feels like not exactly our style, but it's nice here.
We waited till 7:15, then went to the counter and were told our room was ready. So we got our bags and were led up to a room... that hadn't been cleaned. Um, okay... so the guy called the desk and got another room... which we went to, but it had 2 beds. We had reserved a king-size bed. So we called reception and were told they would take care of us.
90 minutes later, the two of us still reeling a bit from exhaustion, Wil called the front desk again. They seemed surprised we had an issue, and promised to send someone up to fix the problem. A few minutes later, a man came up to the room, stripped the beds, pushed them together, and remade them as one. Not exactly what we had in mind. So we decided to call the desk again. They told us that we could have a king bed at 3:00 -- normal check-in time, but we would have to leave the room we were in immediately.
So we thought about it and called them back to say that, actually, we would spend 1 night in that room and then switch the next day. Wil hung up, but 2 minutes later the phone rang -- it was Mohammed, the manager, who apologized and told us that he would have a room ready for us at 11am but he needed to have this room as it was reserved for part of a group and needed to be cleaned again. At least that was a good explanation!
So we took everything back downstairs, taking a moment to change into our swimsuits, dropped off the bags, got some towels, and went back to the pool where we slept and swam for a couple of hours. At 11:30 we went to the front desk, where Mohammed gave us our keys and told us that our things were already there. Good man!
We went to our room -- now in the Ramses wing -- and it was perfect. A couch, a balcony overlooking a grassy courtyard, and a massive king-size bed. Perfect! Really happy we stuck to our guns and got what we'd paid for. (Well, except for the picnique that was supposed to come with the room... but we're not that bothered.)
Hung out in the room for a while, then decided to go into town for some lunch. We had to take a taxi since we had supposedly missed the last shuttle (we hadn't), but we went out to the road and started bargaining. We were told a taxi would cost 25 to town, which as a ripoff, but the drivers told us it would be 40. We laughed at that. Another driver came up and said it would be 25, was always 25, but drivers would try to get 40. That's how we met Hamdi, our hard-sell taxi driver. He drove us to Sofra, the restaurant I had chosen from the LP. On the way, he convinced us to hire him for a trip to the west bank and Valley of the Kings the next morning. As his price was 50 less than the other driver had quoted us, we accepted and arranged for 7:00 the next morning.
Sofra was fantastic -- we ate upstairs on the shady roof terrace -- lots of fantastic Egyptian mezze, fabulous juice, and a leisurely lunch. Really nice place.
Then we walked around Luxor for a bit -- difficult to get a sense of where the tourist center is -- but then again we didn't go to the temple. Then we decided to take the boat back to the resort -- and (despite asking directions at the Winter Palace -- twice -- we really had a hard time finding it. It's very difficult to even hesitate on the corniche. Hesitation = touts. You want a felucca? Taxi? Carriage? Eventually we did find the dock, and spotted a westerner waiting. Success.
Came back to the hotel and rested in the room for a bit, then walked around as the sun set. Couldn't find anything to eat -- not many vegetarian choices -- but we'd had a huge lunch and decided to just skip dinner for the night.
Next morning we were up early and went to breakfast. Wil doesn't think it's as nice as at Oasis, but I think there seem to be more choices here. And the orange juice, though still not fresh, at least isn't Tang. They've got an omelette-to-order area, lots of "western" hot things, nice spreads, gorgeous tomatoes, and good bread. So it's okay, really.
Then we went over to the front entrance -- right at 7 -- to meet Hamdi. Imagine our surprise when Hamdi turned up with another driver as well and told us we'd be going with him. Nice. We figured that he'd gotten a higher amount from the other group and would have ditched us in a heartbeat. So we rather unhappily climbed in the other car. It was fine, of course. He stopped along the way for us to buy water and made sure we didn't get too fleeced. Then drove us quickly and safely to the Valley of the Kings.
I'm not sure what I expected -- but there's an attractive visitor's center and a not too chaotic ticket window. You buy a ticket that gives you entrance to 3 tombs for 60 LE. You can then buy additional entry tickets to Tutankhamun (100 LE) and Ramses VI (50 LE). We bought Tut tix and then set off. I had picked out some tombs to visit -- unfortunately 2 of my 3 were either closed or required a supplemental ticket. oh well.
We started off in Tut's tomb -- a deep, angled walkway down, then a small room. There's a red quartzite sarcophagus -- massive and perfect and beautiful -- and the outermost gilded wooden coffin (we saw the other 2 in Cairo). In a smaller case on the other side of the chamber rests his mummy, looking very frail, with spindly toes peeking out from the too-short covering. Some very nice painting on the walls -- a chubby young Tut with his wife, for example. It's one of the smallest tombs in the valley, but special because of Tut, and because the mummy is there. The tickets are overpriced at 100 LE, but it did keep the crowds down.
Tried to go to Ramses VI, but it needed an extra ticket so we decided to think about it. Moved on to Seti I. Closed. (So sad, because it had lovely crocodile and hippo paintings.) Tried some others. Ramses III? Closed. Amenhotep II? Closed. Sigh. Went to Seti II largely because it was open. Pretty paintings, nice carving (the walkway starts as carvings but then just goes on as paintings -- as if they were either running out of time or of interest. Some of the painting is really just sketches in red paint -- sometimes added to with black paint. Pretty cool. The guards in the tombs follow you around, calling out names or things in the carvings. "Cartouche. Osiris. Crocodile." and then expect a tip. This "walking wallet" thing is tiring.
Then we went "next door" to the tomb of Tawosret / Sethnakht -- a double tomb of sorts. Two big burial chambers... a little like train carriages. Really nice paintings -- have they been restored (repainted?). Lots of stars on the ceiling. Pretty.
For our final tomb we went to Ramses IX. Or was it IV? Can't remember. Big tomb, lovely painting, etc. Clearly the heat was getting to me at this point. Decided therefore to skip the Ramses VI tomb -- we had been in the Valley nearly 2 hours already.
So to the exit and the gauntlet of vendors. Everything so cheap -- but almost all of it crap. So tiresome. But it's their livelihood, I know.
Then back to the car and to Deir al-Bahri, aka the Temple of Hatshepsut. Her temple is beautiful -- looks fantastic and modern. Most of it has been rebuilt using modern stone. But there are some beautiful reliefs carved on the terraces... including the bringing of trees to her garden, a couple of which "survive" (or linger as dead stumps) near the ticket gate. Lots of annoying touts -- taking pictures of people with their camera and then refusing to return them till they are given a tip. We didn't fall for it, of course.
Super hot there, and we finished the water. As we braved the tourist gauntlet, one clever vendor had posted a large price list for his cold drinks. That's all I want, really. I'm happy to pay over the odds, but not to be fleeced all the freaking time. Really. So we bought Coke Light and water and guzzled it.
Then back in the taxi -- where the driver encouraged us to go to an alabaster factory (we said no). We didn't have time (or, by that point, ENERGY) to go to the Ramesseum, so we just went to the Colossi of Memnon to snap a couple of pictures and then headed back to the hotel.
We asked the driver to take us somewhere to buy water and soda and he stopped at a place in Karnak, not far from the hotel. We loaded up, even buying two expensive bottles of mineral water (12 LE each, when soda is only 5).
Spent the rest of the afternoon lolling by the pool and reading trashy books. I had finished "The Host", and got most of the way through the horribly written "Atlantis Code".
in the evening, we took a shuttle into town and went to the Kings Head pub. Wil had a Heineken while I made the grievous error of ordering a whisky sour. I mean, I wouldn't order that in a proper English pub, so what was I thinking? I suspect they had never made one before ... it was lemon juice (not lemonade, just sour lemon juice), and a splash of whisky. So nasty, almost undrinkable. Totally my fault.
Then a wander through Luxor and we walked home along the corniche. So many cruise ships! Moored 4 deep. Are any of them going to move? Weird. Spent the whole walk fending off taxis, carriages, and felluccas. Tiresome.
Walking through Karnak village, we stopped to buy soda. The kid tried to charge us 10 each for the soda, so we started to walk out. We quickly dropped to 10 total. Some little lad followed us for blocks and blocks, shouting "Hello! Money!" over and over. Really annoying. Then back to the hotel. Did I mention I burned my legs really badly? Idiot.
Today we slept in -- no Karnak at sunrise for us! -- had a leisurely breakfast, a splash in the pool, and now sitting on the grassy hillside overlooking the Nile. Still feels like not exactly our style, but it's nice here.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
sunrise on the Nile
Sitting next to the Nile as the sun rises. Very little sleep on the "sleeping train" -- and an extra strange conglomeration of breakfast items, each individually wrapped: a croissant, a soft roll, a slice of white bread, a slice of cake, plus butter and jam and triangle cheese.
The Sofitel Karnak's system isn't online yet, so we're killing time before they can look to find our reservation. I'd like to shower and sleep sooner rather than later.
The Sofitel Karnak's system isn't online yet, so we're killing time before they can look to find our reservation. I'd like to shower and sleep sooner rather than later.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
"sleeping train"
Spent the day relaxing by the pool -- really lovely -- some sunning, some swimming. Nice.
Then at 6:30 we caught a taxi to Giza station, where we stood around on the platform for an hour before getting on the sleeper train!
Funny old train; reeks of cigarettes throughout, but each car as 10 2-person compartments where you're served a meal and then the attendant makes up your room into bunk beds. Beds comfy-ish, though the ride isn't particularly smooth. And we'll arrived at Luxor at 5am. Yikes.
Had a drink in the lounge car after dinner -- thick fog of smoke -- we were served a can of coke between us and charged for two drinks. Awesome! Glamour!
Now we try to sleep. Or at least do some reading. My handwriting is almost illegible because the car is jolting so much...
Then at 6:30 we caught a taxi to Giza station, where we stood around on the platform for an hour before getting on the sleeper train!
Funny old train; reeks of cigarettes throughout, but each car as 10 2-person compartments where you're served a meal and then the attendant makes up your room into bunk beds. Beds comfy-ish, though the ride isn't particularly smooth. And we'll arrived at Luxor at 5am. Yikes.
Had a drink in the lounge car after dinner -- thick fog of smoke -- we were served a can of coke between us and charged for two drinks. Awesome! Glamour!
Now we try to sleep. Or at least do some reading. My handwriting is almost illegible because the car is jolting so much...
Giza
Got up early -- both of us sick now :( -- and had a quick breakfast before going out to meet Alaa, our driver. Again, having the driver was fantastic: he took us to buy water ("it's very hot -- and water inside is very expensive") and then drove us to the ticket counter, waited until we went through the controls, and then drove us to the Great Pyramid. We went IN the great pyramid -- strange -- you go in and then up a very steep, small ramp, and then up a steeper but tall ramp, and then squeeze through a low doorway into the chamber... which was full of what I must assume were so-cal hippies chanting. Awesome. The best part was that they had seated themselves right in front of the door -- so you had to squeeze past them into the room. Oh, and they shushed you when you made noise. Great.
It was at that point that I realized that the pyramids are just amazing manmade structures, very old. Not spiritual beacons. Just buildings. Amazing buildings, but just buildings.
At some point they stopped and all you could hear was breathing. Then, after a few minutes they started again. That (and the fact that I was dripping with sweat in the heat) was my cue to squeeze back out past the hippies, telling the people trapped outside that there was plenty of room inside if they could just squeeze in.
Then down down down the ramps, scary scary, and back out into the fresh air. Alaa was waiting, and took us around to the smaller tombs. He told us to give the guard $1 or 5 pounds each, AFTER looking, and no more. So he convinced the guard to unlock the doors and let us in. There was some back and forth, but we did get in. Smaller tombs but more inside them -- lovely carvings, some still with paint. Really happy we had them.
Then back to the car and Alaa drove us to a panorama point and took silly pictures of us making pyramid shapes. I loved seeing police on camels. Alaa's presence kept other would-be guides and touts away, making the money completely worthwhile.
A few more stops for photos -- by the small pyramid, by the sphinx, and then we were dropped at a papyrus museum. Bless. But it wasn't a hard sell, and they showed us how they make papyrus. Pretty interesting. Of course, we didn't buy anything. Then back to the hotel, where we'll be hanging out for a few (several?) hours before catching our train to Luxor.
Pyramids: so big! Still surprising to spot them out of the corners of our eyes.
Sphinx: Alan Bennet was right -- it is like meeting a famous person and being surprised by how small they are in real life.
Alaa: marvellous. He bought me a falafel to try and then laughed when we told him we eat it at home. At one point he and I chatted while Wil was in the loo and he told me he has a family here in Cairo but another wife in South Africa. Wow! I took his picture and he said "You can e-mail it to me." Really nice man -- he kept the hassle away from us completely.
It was at that point that I realized that the pyramids are just amazing manmade structures, very old. Not spiritual beacons. Just buildings. Amazing buildings, but just buildings.
At some point they stopped and all you could hear was breathing. Then, after a few minutes they started again. That (and the fact that I was dripping with sweat in the heat) was my cue to squeeze back out past the hippies, telling the people trapped outside that there was plenty of room inside if they could just squeeze in.
Then down down down the ramps, scary scary, and back out into the fresh air. Alaa was waiting, and took us around to the smaller tombs. He told us to give the guard $1 or 5 pounds each, AFTER looking, and no more. So he convinced the guard to unlock the doors and let us in. There was some back and forth, but we did get in. Smaller tombs but more inside them -- lovely carvings, some still with paint. Really happy we had them.
Then back to the car and Alaa drove us to a panorama point and took silly pictures of us making pyramid shapes. I loved seeing police on camels. Alaa's presence kept other would-be guides and touts away, making the money completely worthwhile.
A few more stops for photos -- by the small pyramid, by the sphinx, and then we were dropped at a papyrus museum. Bless. But it wasn't a hard sell, and they showed us how they make papyrus. Pretty interesting. Of course, we didn't buy anything. Then back to the hotel, where we'll be hanging out for a few (several?) hours before catching our train to Luxor.
Pyramids: so big! Still surprising to spot them out of the corners of our eyes.
Sphinx: Alan Bennet was right -- it is like meeting a famous person and being surprised by how small they are in real life.
Alaa: marvellous. He bought me a falafel to try and then laughed when we told him we eat it at home. At one point he and I chatted while Wil was in the loo and he told me he has a family here in Cairo but another wife in South Africa. Wow! I took his picture and he said "You can e-mail it to me." Really nice man -- he kept the hassle away from us completely.
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