Egypt: Part II.

Egyptian sunrise, as seen through train window.

The train ride to Aswan was about 12 hours long, and we arrived in the city at about 11:30 in the morning. The first thing I noticed as we stepped off the train was the heat. It was oppressive, to say the least. Though it would prove to pale in comparison to Hatshepsut’s Tomb in Luxor.

Located in southern Egypt, at the first cataract of the Nile, Aswan was formerly a border town of the ancient Egyptian empire. It now exists as a major tourist attraction, with some great museums and Egyptian ruins. Unfortunately we only had about a day to spend in the city before we headed to Luxor, and we weren’t able to see the museums, or much of the ruins. What we did do, though, was take a felucca ride on the Nile to Elephantine Island, where we explored a couple of Nubian villages, and had tea at one of the homes.

Countryside.

I couldn't really sleep on the train ride, so I took pictures instead.

Welcome to Aswan!

Crossing the Nile.

Aswan from the river.

Shoreline.

Nubian village.

Some of the locals.

Trying to find the house we were going to have tea at. We literally followed these signs around for twenty minutes.

At the "Baba Dool" Nubian house.

Nubian crafts.

A village boy showing us some of the wall decorations.

The entire house was very colorful.

Looking out from the roof of the house.

The Nile.

Sunset on the Nile.

Aswan at night.

Our accommodations, the old Horus Hotel.

Aswan markets.

The Souk.

Spices.

The next day (Sunday), we took a taxi to Luxor, which I would say was the highlight of the trip. We stayed in the esteemed Al-Salam hostel, which, though scarily cheap, was actually one of the better hostels of the trip. After dropping our bags in our room, we went to dinner at a restaurant in the main square of Luxor; right outside the Luxor Temple ruins, which we would visit later that night. I decided to order a traditional Egyptian dish: pigeon, which was actually really good. It tasted like dark turkey meat.

On the road to Luxor.

Truck full of camels. We drove behind this for about forty minutes, and it provided endless entertainment.

Locals. In the top left, you can see a part of my finger as I attempt to disguise the fact that I was taking a picture of these girls. It didn't work.

The first in my new series: 'Translation mistakes in Egypt'.

Another translation gem.

Our room at Al-Salam. We had air-conditioning, but it cost extra to use, so we opted out.

Luxor train station.

The bustling train station interior.

Another installment of 'Translation mistakes in Egypt'.

Restaurant we ate at.

Pigeon.

After dinner, we explored the beautiful Luxor Temple, which was stunning, especially lit up. If you don’t believe me, check out these pictures:

Entrance to the temple complex.

Sphinx.

The lighting was amazing.

Statue. It looks more Roman or Greek than Egyptian.

Probably a pharaoh or something.

The columns were stunning.

Profile.

I still can't believe how clear these hieroglyphics are.

The columns, especially when they were lit up, were visually overwhelming.

Very cool.

Moving deeper into the temple.

Some of the walls were still painted.

The level of detail in the hieroglyphics was extraordinary.

The weird symbol by the hawk's beak is apparently an Egyptian symbol called 'ankh', which represents eternal life.

Avenue of the Sphinxes. This used to go from the Luxor Temple all the way down to the Karnak Temple, which is a couple of miles away.

 Monday was devoted to the Karnak Temple, a massive, sprawling place, and one of the largest religious complexes on earth. Instead of taking a cab there, we questionably decided to bike. Though Luxor is no Cairo (where we were given the following instructions on how to cross the perpetually crowded streets: close your eyes, pray to Allah, and go), the streets are still full of Egyptian drivers, meaning that they’re perilous places. Consequently our fifteen minute bike ride was filled with near misses, blaring horns, and I was constantly afraid for my life. But once we arrived at the temple, it all proved to be worth it.

View from our room.

Model of what the Karnak Temple used to look like.

Walking toward the temple entrance.

Here's another part of the Avenue of Sphinxes.

Ariel map.

Statues.

More statues.

There weren't too many tourists here either, which was great for us.

Hieroglyphics and carvings.

Huge statue.

The pillars here were enormous. It must have been magnificent to see when it was first built. This was in a part of the temple known as the Great Hypostyle Hall.

Some of the undersides of the stones connecting the pillars still had paint on them.

Close-up of a pillar.

Hieroglyphics.

This was called the Sacred Lake. It's seen cleaner days.

 The pharaohs of ancient Egypt used to add on to the Karnak Temple during their reigns; with each pharaoh trying to build more impressively than the last. The temple is divided into four precincts, though only one of them, the precinct of Amun-Re, is open to the public. This turned out to be a good thing, however, because it took us several hours just to see all of that precinct, and by the time we finally finished, we were utterly exhausted.

Obelisk.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky that day.

A shaded part of the ruins, where we took a break from the sun.

Looking out on the ruins. Note how small those people in the center are compared to everything around them.

This was a cool shade of blue.

I don't know why only the blue paint remained.

More carvings. The figures to the left and right of the center figure are both Egyptian gods. The one on the left is Thoth (I think), the ibis-headed god of wisdom and the moon. The one on the right is Horus, the falcon-headed god of the king, sky, and vengeance.

This was a scarab statue that we saw people running circles around, for some reason. Still have no idea why.

After biking back to the hotel, we devoted an hour to showering and napping, before heading to the hotel lobby (a generous label), where we decided to take an afternoon felucca ride on the Nile.

Docked cruise ships. Because of the lack of tourists, we saw a lot of these.

Feluccas.

I loved watching these.

These guys definitely saw me take a picture of them.

The Nile.

Ibis. I think.

Cow.

Another Nile view.

View of an island on the river.

A man praying on the river bank.

View from our boat.

I like this one.

Banana Island.

Our felucca ride was the perfect way to spend an Egyptian afternoon. We leisurely made our way down the river, enjoying the scenic views and peaceful atmosphere, before docking at the aptly named Banana Island. Our felucca captain took us on a quick tour of the island, which ended with fresh, local bananas, as well as tea flavored with lemons picked from a nearby tree.

The local fruit.

Exploring the island.

Donkey.

Some locals.

It was a beautiful island.

Had to include this picture.

Our felucca captain explaining the local flora.

Tea and bananas, pre-consumption.

Post-consumption. Delicious.

Heading back to the felucca.

Sunset.

The Nile at dusk.

After sailing back to the east bank, we spent some time wandering around the local Souk, where we became painfully aware of the lack of tourists as we were constantly mauled by shopkeepers.

Some graffiti we saw.

The Souk.

Chickens in crates.

The next day was devoted to the monuments on the west bank of the city: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, and the Rasmesseum. There were more, the Valley of the Queens among others, but we didn’t want to cram too much into one day. Also we were in one of the hottest places on earth, and by about two in the afternoon I had sweated out half my body weight and wanted nothing more than a cold shower.

We woke up at 7am, thinking that if we could make it to the west bank relatively early, we might beat the heat. How naïve we were. It was sweltering by the time we made it to the Valley of the Kings (8:30), and it only got hotter as the day went on. But we had a great time nevertheless. The Valley of the Kings didn’t allow cameras into the site, though I managed to sneak mine in anyways. What can I say; I had a responsibility to my blog and my readers. Even though many of the tombs we wanted to see were closed for various reasons, we were still able to see some amazing things.

Walking to some tombs.

The Valley of the Kings.

The burial chamber of one of the Valley of the King tombs. Don't tell the Egyptian government I took this picture.

Tomb entrance.

Tomb decoration.

At the entrance of a tomb.

Cool hieroglyphics.

Inside of a tomb. That's the Egyptian god Horus on the right.

Tomb ceiling.

Descending into the tomb.

Another cool ceiling.

Our next stop was the Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple, or the Temple of Hatshepsut, only a short drive from the Valley of the Kings. We spent about an hour here, admiring the massive structure, before heading to our final stop in the west bank.

The temple from a distance. If it looks like we're in a desert, it's because we are. And it definitely felt like one.

I think calling this a tree is a bit generous.

Temple of Hatshepsut.

Side view.

Looking out from the temple.

Temple interior.

Paintings.

Hieroglyphics and such.

Statues in Hatshepsut's likeness (I think).

Inside the temple.

Columns and shadows.

There's literally a line between lush, Nile-fed green land, and utter desert.

Another temple picture.

A temple commissioned by the Pharaoh Ramses II, the Rasmesseum is home to a massive collapsed statue of the ruler, which inspired the poem “Ozymandias” by the English poet Percy Shelley. After spending an hour here, we returned to our hotel, and spent the rest of the day exploring Luxor, including returning to the Souk.

Cool sphinx at the entrance to the temple. Though I didn't get another picture of it, so apparently I didn't think it was that cool.

Rasmesseum.

The fallen statue of Ramses II.

Feet.

Hands.

Ramses II.

Graffiti from the 1800s. Kind of cool.

More graffiti.

Cool carvings.

See if you can spot the modern addition.

Egyptian pigeons. Similar to the one I consumed.

Luxor sunset.

Souk.

The first class staff at Al-Salam! I'm nearly positive that the man to the left lived in our lobby, as we saw him go to sleep each night on the couch that I'm sitting on.

Waiting for our train to Cairo.

At 11pm, we boarded a train for Cairo, and began the final leg of our Egyptian journey.