So here I write to you all from Luxor, south of Cairo, where many an ancient Egyptian has roamed. I finally have a bit of time to myself to type up all my adventures from the last three days. It's pretty much a diary for myself, so I remember what I have done out here, but if you enjoy it, all the better!
Let's start, as you do, with Day 1:
We woke up at some stupid hour (ahem 8am, ahem ahem) to catch a one-hour flight from Cairo Airport to Luxor Airport. Despite the plane ride being so short, we still got served refreshments; juices in all tropical flavours were suddenly brought out to us on your standard airplane trolley, and the amount of time it took them to serve us was the amount of time we were airborne, really. We took off, got drinks served to us 20 minutes later, took one sip, and we were told to put our seat-belts on again ready for landing. I must sound pretty simple, but I've never taken a domestic flight before.
Once we landed, a nice man in a huge van was there to greet us and take us to our 4 * hotel situated on a tiny island in the middle of the Nile river - so. amazing. The sun was shining...properly shining, not London sun shine. And it was hot! 23 degrees celcius on the 27th of December is not something I have ever experienced before. I am constantly forgetting it's winter in Egypt!
All the rooms are the corner sections in little hexagonal bungalows, with the bathroom in the corner. Such a strange idea, but it works. We asked the nice girl at the Reception desk (who randomly pointed out that she is exactly the same age as me, despite looking much older. It must have been the uniform) to book us a cab from the hotel to downtown Luxor, so we could visit the museum and the Karnak (the biggest religious building in the world, according to father, but I am yet to find out whether this is true or not), however we were unsuccessful in getting to either place on time before they closed. So, instead, we got back into the cab and ventured to see Luxor Temple by night. Some girl came up to us offering an illegal guided tour, which my incredibly un-streetwise mother decided would be a great idea. So for 50L.E. (Egyptian Pounds, equivalent to £5) we got the most ridiculously crap guided tour around the temple, full of non-existent objects being pointed out, a lot of her shouting "come on!" at us trying to rush us, and some unbelievably fictitious and misguided 'facts' on the temple.
Advice: If you want a guide, don't get one from anyone who whispers that she speaks english and had identification in your ear. They are, most probably, not to be trusted.
Anyway, she finally decided to get lost, and the padres and I were left to visit the temple on our own accord. This Temple is home to the Obelisk whose twin is in Paris' Place de la Concorde, and, if I'm to be completely honest, is pretty impressive, despite the building's small size. We were then picked up and dropped back to our hotel in the cab - for a whole days chaffeur we paid 65L.E. (£6.50!)
A hearty meal was called for in the evening, which was lucky as there was a massive buffet of multi ethnic food proudly displayed in the hotel's main restaurant - the many smells and colours made me even hungrier, leading to me, what is known in england as, massively stuffing my face. Feeling mightily ill, I retired to bed.
Day 2 was particularly exciting: a driver picked us up from our hotel at 9 frickin' 30, with a lovely guide sitting in the front seat, and whisked us off to some of the most impressive places that had come out of the work of the Ancient Egyptians. First stop was the Colossi of Memnon - two huge statues which used to sit in front a temple, but the temple was destroyed due to poor foundations. I found this quite surprising considering the Ancient Egyptians wern't half bad at making buildings last - have you seen the pyramids?
Our second stop was the Ramessum: a temple that King Ramesis II built in honour of himself. Slightly arrogant. But we enjoyed it. There was a huge 20 metre statue of himself, but in an earthquake, like, 2,000 years ago, it was destroyed.
We then proceeded to the Hatchepsut Temple which was beyond majestic. Our guide knew every little corner of the temple and explained what all of the hieroglyphics meant.
Fun Fact of the Day: On many of the ceilings in buildings of the time of the Ancient Egyptians, they painted the sky blue, with stars all over it. These stars were actually star fish, as they believed that, as the sky was blue, it was actually made of water, like the sea.
Next stop was the Valley of the Kings - very nice! We saw the tomb of Ramesis I, Ramesis IV and Ramesis IX - they liked their Ramesis in ancient times! I really recommend anyone to go there; words can't describe the amount of stories, and history and beauty and everything of these tombs well enough to manage to properly sell them to anyone. You'll just have to go and see it all for yourself! And get a guide! (Ours was amazing, so if needed, I can pass anyone her e-mail address!)
By 4 we were exhausted. Listening and taking in the history of ancient times is quite an effort, I must say! Also, even when you are inside a tomb, looking at the amazing hieroglyphs and images that have somehow lasted 3,500 years of life, there will still be people pestering you to buy their crappy pieces of Tutankhamun-shaped bits of rock, or postcards. Always. And they're quite to the point: "I want more money!" and "I am not rich enough" are common phrases to be overheard when out 'shopping'.
We had an early dinner, due to having no lunch, in the hotel's more posh restaurant. Because the conversion rate is approximately 10 to 1, nothing is really very expensive, so we took advantage. Lobster, smoked salmon and paté were coming out of our ears by the end of the night. After we all dipped into to some of dad's Basil and Ginger Creme Brulée (très posh, i know) we decided bed was calling.
An hours more work, a few hundred more words, and 20 solid minutes of dad snoring later, I decided enough was enough. Time to see what tomorrow would bring!
What tomorrow (now known to us as yesterday) brought, was a two hour visit to the Karnak Temple. It is massive, this place. We thought we would be there for an hour, tops. Anyway it totally tired us out, but the madre insisted that a trip to the city museum was not only necessary, but compulsory.
Joke of the Day (Or, the only joke I've ever been told by an Egyptian): When a man from German buys a car, they check the engine. When a man from Japan buys a car, he checks the technology. When a man from England buys a car, he checks the style. When an Egyptian man buys a car, he checks the horn.
MASSIVE. LOL. Ahem. To explain, the absolute joker's point was to draw attention to the way the people of Egypt drive. No matter how many or how few cars there are in front of them, they will beep, and beep, and beep. And beep. That's a lot of unnecessary beeping!
After the pretty interesting city museum, filled with Mummys and old tools and statues, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon of rest. What we were to do on our third evening was much better than I could have imagined. We returned back to the Karnak Temple at about 6.30pm, when it was dark, for the so-called Sound and Lights 'Spectaculars', meaning 'show'. I was wearing pretty much every layer I could think of, cos mother dearest told me it was going to be cold. It wasn't. Although it started raining a bit, which was a bit bizarre. We all gathered at the first pylons, or more commonly know to us as, the entrance of the temple, and waited until all the lights and voice recording were turned on, beginning our tour through the temple by night. Out of nowhere came the eerily old fashioned voice of Judy Dench and some other middle aged, terribly terribly, english actor whose name I'm sure my parents knew. Images of pharaohs and queens lit up against the temple walls as the story of the temple was told, using the most incredibly amount of cliches I have ever heard in a one hour tour. "THE BEGINNING IS BEYOND!" it was the most dramatic outdoor, starlit bedtime story I had ever experienced, personally.
And then I get to now. I am still in bed writing this all for you while my parents are out sipping guava juice by the palm trees. (I wish I was joking) The things I do for you all! We are off back to Cairo today for a split second, and then we are being picked up by a friend to go to their house in the desert for New Year. I'm surprised I have got any work done at all while being here considering how much has been going on! Anyway I'll speak to you all in the New Year as, in the desert, I really doubt wifi exists.
For now I gotta rush! Tata for now, lovelies! x
Let's start, as you do, with Day 1:
We woke up at some stupid hour (ahem 8am, ahem ahem) to catch a one-hour flight from Cairo Airport to Luxor Airport. Despite the plane ride being so short, we still got served refreshments; juices in all tropical flavours were suddenly brought out to us on your standard airplane trolley, and the amount of time it took them to serve us was the amount of time we were airborne, really. We took off, got drinks served to us 20 minutes later, took one sip, and we were told to put our seat-belts on again ready for landing. I must sound pretty simple, but I've never taken a domestic flight before.
Once we landed, a nice man in a huge van was there to greet us and take us to our 4 * hotel situated on a tiny island in the middle of the Nile river - so. amazing. The sun was shining...properly shining, not London sun shine. And it was hot! 23 degrees celcius on the 27th of December is not something I have ever experienced before. I am constantly forgetting it's winter in Egypt!
All the rooms are the corner sections in little hexagonal bungalows, with the bathroom in the corner. Such a strange idea, but it works. We asked the nice girl at the Reception desk (who randomly pointed out that she is exactly the same age as me, despite looking much older. It must have been the uniform) to book us a cab from the hotel to downtown Luxor, so we could visit the museum and the Karnak (the biggest religious building in the world, according to father, but I am yet to find out whether this is true or not), however we were unsuccessful in getting to either place on time before they closed. So, instead, we got back into the cab and ventured to see Luxor Temple by night. Some girl came up to us offering an illegal guided tour, which my incredibly un-streetwise mother decided would be a great idea. So for 50L.E. (Egyptian Pounds, equivalent to £5) we got the most ridiculously crap guided tour around the temple, full of non-existent objects being pointed out, a lot of her shouting "come on!" at us trying to rush us, and some unbelievably fictitious and misguided 'facts' on the temple.
Advice: If you want a guide, don't get one from anyone who whispers that she speaks english and had identification in your ear. They are, most probably, not to be trusted.
Anyway, she finally decided to get lost, and the padres and I were left to visit the temple on our own accord. This Temple is home to the Obelisk whose twin is in Paris' Place de la Concorde, and, if I'm to be completely honest, is pretty impressive, despite the building's small size. We were then picked up and dropped back to our hotel in the cab - for a whole days chaffeur we paid 65L.E. (£6.50!)
A hearty meal was called for in the evening, which was lucky as there was a massive buffet of multi ethnic food proudly displayed in the hotel's main restaurant - the many smells and colours made me even hungrier, leading to me, what is known in england as, massively stuffing my face. Feeling mightily ill, I retired to bed.
Day 2 was particularly exciting: a driver picked us up from our hotel at 9 frickin' 30, with a lovely guide sitting in the front seat, and whisked us off to some of the most impressive places that had come out of the work of the Ancient Egyptians. First stop was the Colossi of Memnon - two huge statues which used to sit in front a temple, but the temple was destroyed due to poor foundations. I found this quite surprising considering the Ancient Egyptians wern't half bad at making buildings last - have you seen the pyramids?
Our second stop was the Ramessum: a temple that King Ramesis II built in honour of himself. Slightly arrogant. But we enjoyed it. There was a huge 20 metre statue of himself, but in an earthquake, like, 2,000 years ago, it was destroyed.
We then proceeded to the Hatchepsut Temple which was beyond majestic. Our guide knew every little corner of the temple and explained what all of the hieroglyphics meant.
Fun Fact of the Day: On many of the ceilings in buildings of the time of the Ancient Egyptians, they painted the sky blue, with stars all over it. These stars were actually star fish, as they believed that, as the sky was blue, it was actually made of water, like the sea.
Next stop was the Valley of the Kings - very nice! We saw the tomb of Ramesis I, Ramesis IV and Ramesis IX - they liked their Ramesis in ancient times! I really recommend anyone to go there; words can't describe the amount of stories, and history and beauty and everything of these tombs well enough to manage to properly sell them to anyone. You'll just have to go and see it all for yourself! And get a guide! (Ours was amazing, so if needed, I can pass anyone her e-mail address!)
By 4 we were exhausted. Listening and taking in the history of ancient times is quite an effort, I must say! Also, even when you are inside a tomb, looking at the amazing hieroglyphs and images that have somehow lasted 3,500 years of life, there will still be people pestering you to buy their crappy pieces of Tutankhamun-shaped bits of rock, or postcards. Always. And they're quite to the point: "I want more money!" and "I am not rich enough" are common phrases to be overheard when out 'shopping'.
We had an early dinner, due to having no lunch, in the hotel's more posh restaurant. Because the conversion rate is approximately 10 to 1, nothing is really very expensive, so we took advantage. Lobster, smoked salmon and paté were coming out of our ears by the end of the night. After we all dipped into to some of dad's Basil and Ginger Creme Brulée (très posh, i know) we decided bed was calling.
An hours more work, a few hundred more words, and 20 solid minutes of dad snoring later, I decided enough was enough. Time to see what tomorrow would bring!
What tomorrow (now known to us as yesterday) brought, was a two hour visit to the Karnak Temple. It is massive, this place. We thought we would be there for an hour, tops. Anyway it totally tired us out, but the madre insisted that a trip to the city museum was not only necessary, but compulsory.
Joke of the Day (Or, the only joke I've ever been told by an Egyptian): When a man from German buys a car, they check the engine. When a man from Japan buys a car, he checks the technology. When a man from England buys a car, he checks the style. When an Egyptian man buys a car, he checks the horn.
MASSIVE. LOL. Ahem. To explain, the absolute joker's point was to draw attention to the way the people of Egypt drive. No matter how many or how few cars there are in front of them, they will beep, and beep, and beep. And beep. That's a lot of unnecessary beeping!
After the pretty interesting city museum, filled with Mummys and old tools and statues, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon of rest. What we were to do on our third evening was much better than I could have imagined. We returned back to the Karnak Temple at about 6.30pm, when it was dark, for the so-called Sound and Lights 'Spectaculars', meaning 'show'. I was wearing pretty much every layer I could think of, cos mother dearest told me it was going to be cold. It wasn't. Although it started raining a bit, which was a bit bizarre. We all gathered at the first pylons, or more commonly know to us as, the entrance of the temple, and waited until all the lights and voice recording were turned on, beginning our tour through the temple by night. Out of nowhere came the eerily old fashioned voice of Judy Dench and some other middle aged, terribly terribly, english actor whose name I'm sure my parents knew. Images of pharaohs and queens lit up against the temple walls as the story of the temple was told, using the most incredibly amount of cliches I have ever heard in a one hour tour. "THE BEGINNING IS BEYOND!" it was the most dramatic outdoor, starlit bedtime story I had ever experienced, personally.
And then I get to now. I am still in bed writing this all for you while my parents are out sipping guava juice by the palm trees. (I wish I was joking) The things I do for you all! We are off back to Cairo today for a split second, and then we are being picked up by a friend to go to their house in the desert for New Year. I'm surprised I have got any work done at all while being here considering how much has been going on! Anyway I'll speak to you all in the New Year as, in the desert, I really doubt wifi exists.
For now I gotta rush! Tata for now, lovelies! x
