Right back where we started

One last overnight train from Luxor back to Cairo to spend the last few days before taking the long slog home.
The four weary travelers preparing to board the train... in this photo, I am being portrayed by Magdy Solimann, an Indian living in Luxor.

We were pleasantly surprised when we found we had accidentally purchased a "sleeper compartment" versus the bench seating we had become accustomed to. Instead of 19 other people in the car, there was just 1 girl from Singapore with the worst black lung. She hacked and wheezed all night, leaving these 3 super cheery in the morning... Looks like some of us have a case of the Munndays :(

One of the small joys of third world nations is no worries about those silly rules and regulations around safety. For example, the main Cairo train station is undergoing heavy construction... but why bother with blocking off the area... no just have people walk right through... yes of course, you might lose 1 or 2 to a falling brick or rebar, but details details...

We squared away a hotel and hit the streets, this time armed with 2 weeks of Egyptian travel experience.
Air Conditioned bus? ha never, Cab? please... we took the Metro!

Ladies, why wouldn't you buy sexy underwear from this guy?... reminds me of the model used for the scariest mannequin ever (see previous blog posting).

We became fearless crossing the street. One this particular road, there was a large exposed sewage pipe acting as a road divider... so we did what any reasonable Cairene would do... propped some broken metal fence up against the pipe, climbed up, walked the length and then jumped down into oncoming traffic, narrowly avoiding certain death.

See the big box in the center of the picture, that is a fridge being wheeled through the souq...

And if you can purchase a fridge, why not high explosives?

Temporary vegetarians

Every Egyptian city has a REAL souq, where real Egyptians shop for the essentials, bread, meat, fruit.
We were finally able to find one, no pavement, no tourists, well except us...

A few days after the big X-Mas Eve dinner, we all started having... umm stomach issues. Then we happened to learn a few disturbing things about the meat. For example, each morning outside our hostel, a shepard leads a herd of 30 goats who proceed to eat the garbage left outside...

Later the goats metamorphisize to chicken tangen... We are now all vegetarians, at least until the first In & Out burger...

They built it to look just like the one in Vegas

As mentioned earlier, we had a serious case of Over-Temple-itis, but outside of the Pyramids, the temples at Luxor are the most magnificent. We visited the Temple of Karnak, which was the holiest of holy places in ancient Egypt, Luxor Temple, modeled after a hotel in Vegas and finally the famed Valley of the Kings, where almost a 100 tombs have been found, spanning 1500 years of history.

Great Hall at Karnak...

The 2 temples (Karnak and Luxor) were linked by a 3 mile avenue lined by ram headed sphinxes, sphinxi, sphinxisesss... how does one pluralize sphinx?

A giant dung beetle, known as a scarab, was considered good luck... a giant beetle that eats shit = good luck? Crazy Egyptians...

The four of us chillin at the sacred lake of purification... in this photo, I am being portray by Frank, the Englishman from Liverpool.

Yet another statue of Ramses II at the temple of Luxor... the man never tired of building a statue of himself...

So I am right in the middle of my Crane pose, and some random Englishman mumbles to Heather... terrible shame that boy climbing all over this beautiful temple, but I guess it is his country so he can do as he pleases... Huh?!?

The sister obelsik to the one at Place de la Colonnade in Paris. After notifying the proper authorities we have seen both obelisks, we were given a lovely set of steak knives...

Yet another statue of Ramses II at the temple of Luxor... the man never tired of building a statue of himself... seriously, I could just copy and paste this line for half the photos I have taken.



Unfortunately, all photography is banned in the Valley of the Kings, but take my word for it... you seen one tomb, you have seen them all.

Nothing says X-Mas like a whirling dirvesh

We rolled into Luxor Christmas Eve night and after squaring away our hostel, we decided to check out a special X-Mas Eve show at another higher end hotel.

We were thinking of staying here, BUT for some reason, this place seemed a little off, can't really put my finger on it, just a bad feeling...

Everyone got into the Christmas spirit, including the Muslims, decorating a mosque's minaret in lights...

We put on our holiday finest and tucked into an "interesting" meal of camel and chicken tangen... we all felt a little guilty about eating something we rode and played with only days before... a terrible betrayal, which we would pay for later...

The band went on late... drummer passed out from too much camel and sheesha... deadly combination.

Party really started when the twirling dervish hit the stage... this guy spun for almost 20 mins... I got dizzy just watching him...

Papa Noel giving candy to the kids as Christmas Eve turned to Christmas Day...

Lovely feet

The boys bouyed the boat, we climbed up a sand drift, walked through some trees and BAM... freeway.
They flagged us down a mini bus and we where off again. To this bus's credit, there were only 12 people inside.
Before reaching Luxor, we stopped at a few temples, including Kom Ombo temple, dedicated to Sobek, the fertility god and Edfu temple, dedicated to Horus, the falcon god.
Truthfully, we were starting to experience temple numbness, usually brought on by visiting one too many temples in a 1 week span, but there were some cool relics.

Kom Ombo temple great hall...

Before Bansky, there was random Egyptians drawing gods on walls...

What was most amazing about the reliefs were their feet... freakishly realistic.

Sobek, the god with the head of a crocodile...

His mother Khonsu... of course, when a falcon god and a lioness god have a kid, out pops a crocdile god?

Cremonial banque (boat used to ferry the dead to the afterlife)...

In the secret perfume room, where the high priests would make perfume, using the recipes written on the walls...

Mahmoud is the coolest cat in the village

After the first night, we stopped near Said's village, where we learned that someone in the village was getting married. Maybe it was the domino beating, our love of anything Hassan put in front of us to eat, or the shine that camel took to Heather... not really sure, but we connected with the guys, so much so they actually invited us to come back the second night and attend the wedding.
This would force us to take another mini bus to Luxor, but balance a few hours of misery against a Nubian wedding?... Nubian wedding wins everytime.

Nothing but blue skies... oh and that badge on the sail... wait for it, wait for it... Che Gueverra portrait... viva la Revolucion!

More chillin photos...

In Egypt, the Nile is life... just over those trees, the desert and endless sand into Tunsia and Libya...

Before heading up to the wedding, Said treated us to a Nubian feast in his home in the village.
I apologize for not showing more of his home and village, but it was very dark (no street lamps) and very little light in his home. The meal consisted of roast chicken, potatoes, kufta (a rice and mince meat sausage), pasta, rice, foul (a bean sauce) and finally a green sauce which we could not pronounce or spell, but was deeelicious...

After dinner drinks of Karkade (a hot Hibiscus tea)...

Then we relaxed and played with Said's kids, Zennif, Zenna and Mohammed. Heather and Helen taught them never to hit on a 16...

We headed up to the wedding with Mahmoud, where the party had already started. The Nubian music (sounds very much like West Indian music), was cranked to 11 and people were laughing, mixing and of course... smoking sheesha...

Unfortunately by midnight, the bride and groom had still not arrived (we think they were in the bride's village before coming here)... we were beat and headed back to the boat.

In reflecting afterward, we all agreed, this evening and experience was magic. Said, his family, Mahmoud, Hassan, and actually the whole darn village, were incredibly hospitable and welcoming. We finally felt that we got a small taste of the "real" Egypt.