Creative Meanderings

April 7, 2009

When I was in high school I was at a youth retreat for church and we were talking about sunsets vs. sunrises. I was always a sunset lover because watching the sun set over the Oregon coast with a bonfire is one of my most favorite things to do in life. However, the youth pastor explained why sunrises are more beautiful as the sun comes up to start a new day and the anticipation that can be felt about what the day has to bring. While I have generally always been an optimist, this way of looking at sunrises never occurred to me. So, at that retreat I stayed up all night and watched the sun rise over the lake. Since then, I’ve seen a few sunrises, but always make a habit of doing so when on holidays. I’ve seen the sun rise over Lake Titicaca, in Angkor Wat, and now while on the Nile.
Since the day before had been so rough, I determined to start this day with a bit of hope and inspiration starting with an early rise to watch the sun come up. I loved it. It was beautiful. I also considered the significance a sun rise has in a Muslim country and wondered why people lack the ability to respect each other when we share the ability to appreciate a common sun rise on a day.

After watching the sun rise and feeling a spiritual connection to God and the world, I went back to sleep a little more peacefully before starting the day officially. 😀 We had arrived in Aswan the night before and so I was to do a half-day tour in the area. I met with Peter prepared to check out from the boat as I was to be on the sleeper train back to Cairo that night. I said my good-byes to the Ahseek family from Mauritius and was off to see Aswan.

Peter was very kind and seemed to be Ehab’s partner or something because he was very concerned about my happiness throughout the day. We started at the High Dam. Before the dam was put into place there used to be crocodiles all over in the Nile. Now, they are blocked off in the Upper Nile and Lake Nasser area. The dam was built with the help of the Russians and provides most of the electricity in the country. While the dam wasn’t that impressive when compared to the Hoover Dam or Bonneville, it was still cool to see the lake and get a bit of the history involved in the building of the dam.
From there, we moved to the docks to take a boat out to Philae Temple located on Ejerca island. The temple used to be located in another area, but when they built the dam, it was flooded and covered with water. In fact, many temples and sites were covered at this time, so that they aren’t even sure what is still there under the water. In any case, the stories of Philae temple seem to combine history, mythology and love all in one. I enjoyed the stories, but felt myself starting to really burn out from all the history filling my head….
After the temple visit I asked to use the Internet as all I really wanted to do was to connect to my world for a while. So, I went to a local cafe and spent two hours catching up on Facebook (pathetic, I know!), emails and chatting online. It was a much needed reconnect for me. On the way back to the boat where I was meant to rest before going to the train station, I stopped for another bowl of koshari! YUM!

I spent an hour resting, then went to the train station to board the sleeper train for my 12-hour ride back up to Cairo. The train ride back up was pretty uneventful. I slept on and off. Read a bit. Ate not-so-good train food.
Basqued in the happiness I felt from some news I got via email. So, my day ended with a smile.

Almost there…

-T

April 4, 2009

Somehow I had it in my head that I was riding the sleeper train all the way down to Aswan and then coming back up. So, when we arrived at Luxor station, I was noting all the people getting off the train feeling ready to get out when there was a knock on my door. I hadn’t had breakfast yet, so figured it was the guy asking if I wanted my breakfast. Instead, I saw a man with my name on a card telling me that I was to get off there. Confusion settled in as I was certain my ticket said to Aswan, but I said OK anyway.

Ehab introduced himself as my driver for the day and the manager of the Luxor/Aswan region for Ramses Tours. We set off in his car and it was necessary to hold on for my life… Ehab drove like a madman going 120kph (75mph) without ever slowing down and using his horn if anyone was in sight who might threaten a release of the gas pedal. Due to slight fatigue, hunger and shock, I was feeling pretty car sick by the time we arrived to the boat I was to sleep on for the next three nights. Luckily, Ehab was considerate enough to give me a few hours to take a nap, settle in and recoup before setting off for sightseeing in Luxor. Before he left, Ehab also suggested that I consider adding on some extra tours since I was going to be in Luxor for two full days and I should see both banks of the Nile there. It was true that I should see the sites, but I was also wanting to conserve my money a bit, so I said I would think about it.

When Ehab returned, he had brought along a female tour guide for the day. I don’t recall her name and we didn’t really connect well as I was still tired and yes, in need of coffee!!! But, she was pleasant enough. We started with the Valley of the Kings.
I saw the inside of 3 tombs – Ramses IV, one of 60-some sons of Ramses II and Ramses IX. The paintings and carvings were amazing to look at. You wouldn’t even know that they are so old because the manner in which they were painted was unique and they have been preserved so well. There were quite a few people there, so it took a bit away from the awe-factor, but I was still a little sad I couldn’t take pictures! There were many other tombs there including that of King Tut, but my guide explained it wasn’t so interesting to see since everything was taken to the Egyptian Museum anyway. I’m not sure now if that was just an excuse to appease me for the cheaper ticket or what, but truthfully I was probably satisfied enough. 😀

Somewhere on the way we stopped at an Alabaster Factory aka a shop in hopes of me buying something. I wasn’t really interested….

From there we moved to the Temple of Hatshepsut (hot-chip-soup) or Deir al-Bahri.
Now this lady had a great story as far as I’m concerned. I love it when I hear in history that a woman took over power. I’m not sure why as I’m not necessarily a feminist, but I appreciate a woman with ambition. So, Queen or rather King Hatshepsut spread a story about how she was a descendant of the Sun-god as there was no proper male heir to the throne. However, she dressed and appeared like a man to the public – which is also very interesting…. Anyway, this temple was built for her and it was spectacular. Unfortunately, much of it had been destroyed or worn away, but the statues were quite impressive here.

On the way back to the boat (only a half-day itinerary), we stopped at the Colossi Memnon, which were two massive statues showing the remains of a very large temple on the West Bank. However, without maintenance of the walls it slowly dissolved from the regular flooding of the Nile.
I had decided to just spend the afternoon chilling on the boat, using the pool and relaxing as I was starting to feel overwhelmed with information and being so alone. So, Ehab offered to give me a free city tour at night so that I wasn’t too bored on the boat. I thought that was kind of him and said sure. So, he dropped me off back at the boat where I had my lunch and then relaxed. It was much warmer in Luxor than in Cairo, so I used the pool, tried to study, read my book and just chilled out. It was good. By the time the evening came around, I was refreshed and feeling much happier!

Ehab picked me up at 6pm and again recommended that perhaps I should see the Light & Sound Show at the Karnak Temple and then we’d do the city and in the morning he’d give me half price for the East Bank tour to see Luxor Temple. Since I had already been reconsidering this option, I agreed. I mean, I was there to see stuff! So, we first stopped to see what time the show started and found we had some time, so Ehab took me on the night tour first. We had a nice conversation. Ehab pointed out how many of the buildings in the city have been destroyed for excavation by the government and then rebuilt. He seemed very concerned about the loss of culture, which was a fair point. I was able to see the local market, which looks like any other market in a non-mall culture country. The only difference is the quantity of items or number of variations offered.
From there, we walked through the touristy market, which was a typical foreigners-attraction, but they venders were entertaining as usual. Ehab bought me some bread on the way out and offered to get me a taste of local Egyptian food for after the show even though I would still have dinner on the boat. 😀

Karnak Temple is massive. The columns reach for what seems like forever in the sky. At night, this impressive feel is amplified. The show was a nice change of medium to get some history, though I only really paid attention to half of it. You listen to the story and then walk to another part of the temple to hear more and work your way through the grounds until you get to seating over the lake and the story continues. It was pretty cool, if not a little cheesey, but hey it was something different. I liked the quote, “Remember, the huge size of this temple is not based on the size of man, but was built the size of the gods!” While it would be considered quite small from a god-like perspective (I would think), it is pretty impressive from the man-size viewpoint!
After the show, Ehab met me to take me back to the boat. As soon as I got back in, they called me to eat dinner, which I didn’t want because it was so late and Ehab had bought me my first Egyptian specialty, which I fell in love with (more on that later). So, I attempted to eat a bit and then crashed into bed for the end of Day 3.

More to come…

-T