We wanted to take a tour of the Valley of the Kings so we talked with the hotel manager and a friend about doing a day tour of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of Queens, and Hatshepsut. We managed to get a student discount on our tickets even though we didnt have the proper ID. I did have an old Itasca Community College ID that worked out and Ramsey and Linds got by with old driver’s licenses. We ended up paying 150EP each which we were happy with.
After our negotiations we planned a felucca ride to Banana Island. It was a 60EP excursion and well worth the money. Our captain was a funny man with many riddles to share with us. He showed us all of his postcards ad recommendations people had written him over the years. He even had a few photo albums to share. The island did have plenty of bananas on it but there really wasn’t all too much to see. We sat and talked with a British couple at the café near the port for a while who had been in Egypt for a week or so. We had the opportunity of indulging in some free bananas, compliments of the café and were laughed at by our British friends when I put some in my bag for the ride back. Free food is the best food!
We thought we were getting heckled by some local guys on our walk back to the hotel but we noticed that they had some tourists with them. They asked where we were from and it turned out that they are American as well. Not only that, they were from Minnesota! I can’t remember which Twin City suburb they were from but it was clear from the accents that they were true Minnesotans. It was a mother and daughter duo. The daughter had been studying abroad and her Mom came for a short visit.
The most talkative and friendliest guy was a man named Mohammad who owned the shop right next to where we were sitting. He had his little brother go get some koushari, ful, and bread for us. The sun was down and we were ready to breakfast. Apparently we found out later that Mohammad was asking the Minnesota girl in Arabic if he should rip us off with the price of food, but she told him not to. Kind of messed up but I guess that’s just the Egyptian way. Everyone’s out to make a buck.
We also met an older chap from the U.K. by the name of Jim who had been to Luxor more than once and knew all of the guys we were with. He had some insight for us after telling him we were going to Jordan. He said Wadi Rum is one of the most beautiful places he had seen. He also raced one of the boys for a lock ad early won! The kid he raced was 24 and Jim was 44. He told the boy that when he turned 44, he had to race a man 24 years old.
After our dinner we wanted to go back to the hotel ad go to bed but we were flagged down by a carriage driver who told us that we could have a ride for 5EP for all three of us. We made sure he was talking EP and not USD and once he confirmed we got on for a ride. We were accompanied by his friend who was talking to us the entire time, telling us that today was a special day and that we could stop by the Egyptian Art Museum for discounts on paintings. We didn’t have any desire to even look at these paintings but we knew we wouldn’t have a choice. We went straight to the museum and had a glace around while our carriage waited outside. It was a lot of paintings we had seen before but there were so many of all different styles and sizes. I wanted to buy a few smaller paintings but the guy wouldn’t give me a good deal, although my interest wasn’t high enough to really care when he wouldn’t come down in price.
The men in the carriage weren’t too happy to see us come out empty had. I guess there wasn’t going to be any commission for them tonight. They were quiet during the ride back to the carriage park. The talkative one wanted to stop the carriage about a half mile short of where we were picked up ad collect his money but I told him he wasn’t getting paid until we got back to home base. I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised but it was really annoying when he started asking us for $5 a person. That’s the whole scam. They try and tell you the ride costs only 5, having you think they mean 5 Egyptian Pound. Once the ride is finished they slap a $5 or 5 Euro or 5 British Pound fee on you acting insulted that you thought the ride would only cost 5EP. They wanted the money before returning to where the rest of the carriages are because just down the road from them is a tourist police booth and they do not want any trouble from them. That’s why I refused to pay until the end. Once we exchanged a few friendly four lettered words, the driver ended up with the 5EP we promised and we walked off. Victory!
After that it was back to the hotel to get some sleep before the tour I the AM. Lindsey ended up not feeling well in the morning and decided not to go on the tour. We were surprised that she was willing to sacrifice 100EP to stay in bed but I guess when you’re sick you’re sick and you can’t do anything about it. Ramsey and I told our driver that we would only be a duo and he did not hesitate to get all the money we promised him. There were a total of around 20 people that was in the group with us. There were folks from all over: China, Germany, America, Japan, etc.
The Valley of Kings was amazing. It was surreal to get to see all of the ancient hieroglyphics up close. We didn’t get to see the tomb of Tutankhamun or Ramses VI. You had to pay extra for that. We got to see three tombs that were in the Valley of the Kings. It was quite impressive to see hieroglyphics up close. It had always been only books ad movies that I would see this stuff and now I could stand only inches away from it. Unfortunately pictures weren't aloud at Valley of the Kings and Queens so I had to store what we saw in the memory bank as best as I could.
The next stop was at a little alabaster shop where we were pressed to by some lamp covers and bowls but I really had no interest. It was all only stuff. We were the led to the Valley of the Queens where we got to see one tom and get a little talk on the tom of Nefertari. Apparently it cost thousands of dollars to see Nefertari’s tomb. It is the most pristine of all of the tombs between the Valley of Kings ad Valley of Queens. Our guide told us that only Chinese people pay that much to see the tomb. She didn’t know why.
After parading through all of the shop people and knickknack sellers we went to Hatshepsut. It was a beautiful fortress carved into the side of a mountain. We were there for only a little while to snap a few photos. Ramsey and I were taking pictures in front of the large statues out front and a man with a turban joined in, arms folded like the statues, for the photo shoot. Of course, he was asking for money afterwards but we paid him no attention. This is where we were acquainted with our new German friend Julia. She was on holiday from school and had bee travelling around Africa for quite some time.
We were escorted back to the hotel at the end of the trip and had a conversation with the receptionist about our journey. We were greeted by a very emotional Lindsey shortly after our arrival. She came in with tears running down her face. She had been hassled by some local men and a guy on a carriage and had had enough of the harassment. She spent a little while in the restroom calming herself down. Luckily nothing serious happened to her. I was a little worried.
We checked out of our room after that and kept our luggage in the lobby area while we went and got lunch before our bus ride to Dahab. It was a long way from Luxor but it sounded amazing and Mt. Sinai was pretty high up on my to-do list. We boarded the bus at 4pm and were set to arrive in Dahab around 10am the following morning. It was difficult to sit for that log on a bus but we did get a couple opportunities to stretch our legs, one being when the bus broke down in the middle of the night. We had to wait for an hour with 7 other tourists out on the street for the arrival of the replacement us. At least there was no ass-grabbing going on this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment