FINDING A HUSBAND ON THE WEST BANK

Luxor, Egypt
(Wednesday, May 18^th)

Do you hear that? I think it’s a choir of angels singing. Why are they singing, you ask? Because of the breakfast buffet at the Winter Palace.

We got up and went down to breakfast early, venturing down the “forbidden hallway’—you can only walk down that hallway in the evening in proper evening attire (no casual wear)—yeah, this is a classy joint.

First, we came upon beautifully decorated public reading rooms and then turned the corner into the restaurant and… heard the angels singing. Walls and tables were covered with French pastries, cheeses, meats, every hot breakfast option available, honey fresh from the honeycomb (no lie, we watched it drip from the honeycomb into the bowl), fruits, vegetables—you name it, they probably had it. Oh, and I forgot to mention the dessert tables complete with artistic desserts covered with dramatically decorated chocolate sauce. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

(The reading room)

(The dessert table)

Unfortunately for me, with lack of sleep comes lack of appetite, so I couldn’t eat very much, but I sure did lots of looking!

We then headed outside to wait for our driver and were bombarded AGAIN by the caleche and cab drivers trying to get our attention. So much for trying to enjoy the view. Very frustrating. Our driver, Arabi, picked us up and off we went to the West Bank.

The first stop was the Valley of the Kings, where all the pharaoh’s tombs are. No cameras are allowed inside (bummer), so we don’t have any pictures to document our way, but it was pretty amazing. Only a small amount of the tombs are open on each day—you get to visit three tombs on one ticket—and two additional tombs are available every day for an extra fee—King Tut and Ramses VI—allowing you to see five tombs total.

The touts were everywhere, trying to push us to by their postcards, books, scarves, statues, getting in our way and not taking no for an answer. And the tomb guards were trying to do anything possible in order to get a little bakhsheesh (tips), like offering their flashlights (the tombs were lit, but some of the walls and sarcophagi were easier to see with help of a flashlight), offering pieces of cardboard for fans, or trying to point out different things in the tombs and give us information that may or may not have been correct. Luckily, we came prepared with our flashlight and little battery operated fans (which more than one tout tried to trade their wares for) and simply ignored them when they tried telling us information.

We started off by visiting the tomb of King Tutankhamon. The tomb itself is small and not very decorated, as it was not originally intended to by King Tut’s tomb. He died in his late teens after an accident, so they put him in his high priest’s tomb. The thing that’s most interesting in his tomb is his mummy. Tut’s mummy remains in his tomb (that’s the big draw in the first place), and it was pretty cool to see—he was definitely very young when he died.

Then we were off to Merenptah’s tomb next door. This was much deeper and much steeper into the ground, deep within the bowels of the earth. It was really neat to see all the carvings and paintings down the halls and into the tomb.

We started piggy-backing other groups entering tombs to try to fool the touts and tomb guards…it worked a little bit…And we noticed another guy doing the same thing. Haha. Our last three tombs were three different Ramses, which kept getting better and better with each tomb. First was Ramses the I, followed by Ramses the III, where Miriam collected a couple pieces of rock for her collection, and ending with Ramses V/VI, which was by far the coolest of them all. Its walls were so brightly colored, and tomb so huge, it was breathtaking. I really wanted to sneak out Miriam’s camera and snap a few illegal photos, but she was too scared to let me. Oh well!

It was really interesting how the tombs were so different—in depth, in size, in length, in colors—it would take a long time to see every tomb, and they are still discovering more tombs!

When attempting to catch the tram back to the entrance, I could not shake one of the touts no matter how hard I tried. He attached himself to me, plying me with questions about my life, trying to sell me his book about the tombs, and told me that if I ever have problems with my husband back home (I lied and said I was married), to call him and he will help me out. He even gave me his phone number. Hahaha. Mahmoud, if you’re reading this, I’ll make sure to give you a call…

After we found our driver (in a separate parking lot, sleeping, ha!), we were off to Hatshepsut’s temple (or "Hot Chicken Soup" like the Egyptians like to joke). Hatshepsut was, I believe, the only ruling queen during the ancient dynasties. She was so powerful she likened herself to a pharaoh. It was interesting seeing a temple dedicated solely to a strong, ruling woman.

(The Temple of Hatshepsut)

(The face is very feminine, yet she wears the pharoah beard and crown like a man)

(It was just a little bit hot in the desert)

(The Goddess Hathor)

We then made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two giant statues that once graced the entrance to the West Bank temples and tombs.

(I stood in between them to show just how big they are)

(A very nice Irish couple offered to take our picture, no bakhsheesh necessary! haha)

Our driver took us over to the post office for stamps and postcards (our travel agent told us the post office was the cheapest place for postcards), and THAT was a whole new experience (but there were no postcards left). It was the first time we really felt out of place. It was loud and crazy and no one believes in standing in line. And they kept staring at us like we had horns growing out of our heads. It was completely entertaining.

We then left our driver and headed out to lunch (fine dining again. McD’s), once again bombarded by extremely pushy touts. One boy in particular would not leave us alone and stood outside the window at McDonalds gesturing to us. The employees tried to make him leave. The security guard on the street physically pushed him and then stood outside the door. But he remained. I finally turned around and shooed him away from the window, which apparently made him mad because when we finally left he started shouting American curse words at us and saying we were bad tourists. I wanted to tell him to spread the word—maybe they would all leave us alone.

While at McD’s I made my absolute favorite purchase…a giant McDonald’s beach towel with pyramids and camels on it. Sweeeeet. It seemed fitting since our idea of fine dining in Egypt was going to McDonald's! Doo doo doo doo doo, I’m lovin’ it!

We then attempted to do some shopping, stopping at the Fair Trade Shop up the street, but, although the products were very pretty and handmade by local women, there was nothing that caught our fancy, and we were so annoyed (and I was getting very upset) by the pushiness of all the touts out on the streets that we decided we couldn’t handle shopping in Luxor and headed back to our hotel to relax and luxuriate next to the amazing pool. *Sigh*…lovely.

(In the middle of the pool-- the building off the to left-- is a bar! But too few people staying at the hotel meant it didn't open)

(The key to our room weighed about 500 pounds!)

(Miriam on the balcony over the lobby, looking out on the gardens)

(The hotel lobby)

We had a fabulous dinner that night at the poolside hotel restaurant, not wanting to step outside the hotel anymore (I can’t stress enough how obnoxious those men were on the streets) having Egyptian appetizers and Italian entrees. Delicious!

(Sunset from our hotel's main balcony)

(Tricia, the photographer)

(Sunset on the Nile)

(Miriam's Evita moment from the hotel's garden balcony)

(Dinner at the poolside restaurant, Il Palmetto)

(They let us play with fun hats while we waited for our food)

Then it was back up to our room to pack for our early train ride to Aswan…nervous, nervous, nervous!

Luxor is a beautiful city with so much history in it, but we couldn’t really enjoy it because we were being so horribly harassed. We couldn’t even take a walk down the Corniche el-Nile (the street along the Nile) to enjoy the sunset because we were constantly surrounded by obnoxious men. When we stood on our hotel’s main front balcony instead, they screamed, whistled, hooted, and clapped at us from the street to try to get our attention.

It’s a shame—our stay in Luxor was tainted because of the men on the streets. Someone needs to teach them that people don’t like to be harassed. We would have loved to have spent our money all over the place!

I suggest, if you ever want to travel to Luxor, come in a pack or with men at your side! Or find yourself a nice Egyptian man to walk around with you…apparently, they aren’t allowed to talk to us if we are with an Egyptian. You live and you learn!

Fingers crossed that Aswan is a little easier on us!