What about the workers

Deir El Medina was a village where the workers were allowed to live on the West bank with their families. The workers would build the Royal tombs and were taken to the valley of the kings blindfolded at night, so as not to know the location of the Royal Valley. They would work 9 days of the week and have one day off when they would be returned home by the same means. Egypt had a 10 day week. The 10th day allowed the work force time to build their own tomb. So these tombs still exist and are full of incredible detail and art. We were only allowed in two small tombs that required going down steep steps and semi kneeling inched our way into rooms. They revealed the workers and their families before the Gods. They were expert painters of the God's and thus it seemed to them that if it was good enough for a Pharaoh to be before the Gods, then it was good enough for the decent hardworking Egyptian to expec the same. Sadly no photos again. So we took a view of the village that has been partially restored and left. They were quite nice mudbrick two storey homes with several rooms including a bathroom. Certainly it would be interesting to see a real estate sell one of them.

Who built the most in ancient egypt?

If you didn't answer that with Ramses II then you haven't been listening!!! This was a mortuary temple for Ramses II and the first one we visited that had active archaeological excavation and reconstruction work occurring. There were more workers than tourists. The reconstruction is being led by Universities of Alabama and Rome. We both offered to assist but unfortunately our Southern US accent was not acceptable and our Italian was even worse! We still enjoyed seeing the temple. Ramses vision was that he wanted this temple to last a million years. Obviously he did not suffer from humility in any form. Looking out over the valley of the nobles, Anubis (the jackal) was guarding the current work site. Past the entrance and inside the open courtyard we discovered another victim of an earthquake. A 40m statue of red granite depicting ...(guess who) lay on it's back shattered. Percy Shelley wrote a poem on this statue called Ozymandias. The most significant discovery for us inside was the image of the sacred tree. It is onto the leaves that the God Toth (Ibis headed scribe) wrote the name of the Pharaoh. This tree was viewed as proof that he was Pharaoh. Sadly haven't found a tree with our names on the leaves yet... But we are still looking.

Return to tombs of other Ramses

This is an important news flash from Egypt. We wish to notify you of unexplained mutation developments in Ancient Egypt. We speculate that there must have been some massive radiation exposure to creatures that surpassed all those seen in Chernobyl etc. There is obvious evidence of this in the tombs of the Ramses III (the same warlord we saw yesterday in medinat habu). We were not allowed to take photographic evidence and so using the power of Google have taken photos from another source to prove our point. Please note that three headed snakes with legs are not walking the streets of modern Luxor (as far as we know). The variety of mutated animals and people is quite extraordinary. We also saw lion headed snakes, human headed birds, jackal headed people, ibises with hands writing and walking crocodiles.

On a more serious note, we may not have been able to see the famous blind harpist in Seti 1 tomb, but we were able to see two in Ramses3 tomb. Blind harpists were the only musicians allowed to perform in private with the Queen. No mortal man could look upon the Queen in private. Unfortunately we were unable to clarify if the harpists were deliberately blinded to take this job!

Medinet Habu

Ramses III was a person one should not cross. He had been a general and after building an Egyptian navy up and defeating the Phoenicians, he decided that this type of power was so intoxicating that he should really take over as Pharaoh. So that is what he did. With great strength and enlisting the power of the Gods (Sekmet, the lion headed goddess of war was his favorite) he set about building a temple that was just massive. This temple was quite intact and subsequently we could walk through pylons, courtyards and multiple smaller side rooms. To give an example of his cunning, he had carved on one section of wall one of his battle victory scenes where the phoenician captives are led before the pharaoh with their hands out in supplication for mercy. Rather than killing them outright, he decided to just chop off both their hands as this would lead to the soldiers being unable to fight and their home country would either have to care for them (very expensive) or kill them. There was one scene where the hands are being counted by the scribes. Obviously the concept of peace and diplomacy in his time was different to how I would have done it. Still this temple is often ignored by the tourists and subsequently it was very quiet for us to wander around.

Hatshepsuts Temple

In one of the hottest places in Egypt there lies beneath a large mountain a temple tiered like a wedding cake. This temple was built by a pharaoh who was a woman. She was probably the most successful female pharaoh and one who was clever, astute, powerful and ruled for over 20 years. This gave her time to build and create many structures. Sadly her stepson Tuthmosis 3 was kept from power by her and he took revenge when she died. Destroying all of her images and names on all of her structures that he could reach. But Hatshepsut was tricky. She had built into her temple Osiris statues with the face of Hatshepsut. Tuthmosis could not remove her face as he would be de-facing a God. Her face would continue to look out on him - and he was helpless to change it. I think the photo of a new Osiris statue only would complement her temple! Another interesting discovery in this temple was her sense of adventure. On one series of walls there is depicted her expedition to Somalia through the red sea. The local Somalis are depicted with their characteristic hair styles and there was a major trade interaction with multiple goods being exchanged. It was a document in picture form of a sense of her ability to make things happen. Personally she comes across as a very powerful and strong woman who is to be respected.

Returning to Luxor

Before I start, please pretend that this blog has been posted before the Valley of the Kings one! It was written etc beforehand, but the wifi we are on kept cutting out & thanks to blogger & apple not being logically aligned...I lost the whole @#$%^&* thing! So, bare with me please! Boy, were we glad to finally leave Abu Simbel! If you are reading this blog with a view of venturing forth to Egypt one day...TRUST ME...one night is ENOUGH! We did make use of the extra time by going to the Sound & Light show a second time, this time with the objective to listen more & not become overwhelmed by the artistry of the whole experience! Well...I tried, thats all I'll say about that!! Thanks to Egypt Air's efficiency we were delayed even longer than our self inflicted sojourn in this dead little town & when the plane finally left...we felt like cheering!! I was fortunate to have a window seat, from which I could snap a few photos of the lunar-like landscape, with tendrils of Lake Nasser making an appearance now & then. Our guide for the next few days, Moemen was at Aswan to meet us & for the next 5 hours we set forth for the west bank of Luxor! Once again, I had a great time watching real life outside the window...not managing to catch much on film though. Some of the pearls were...a very masculine truck with it's tray painted in floral designs & mud flaps in red, gold & green stripes.....tuk tuks wrapped in fabric, particularly amusing when traveling into the wind, as little balloons of fabric puff out like strange wings...the most cackle worthy though had to be something that farmers in both Australia & NZ would never do...fabric draped around the tractor cab, complete with braiding, fringe & TASSLES!!!!!!!! It was so exhausting doing all this watching that as soon as we got into our Hotel we flopped into bed. It's a tough life!

Valley of the Kings

Today we visited the Valley of the Kings where we witnessed a mountainous landscape where the slopes were similar to New Zealand mountains with two things missing (anything green and sheep). This location was special for the pharaohs of the new kingdom as it was located underneath a pyramid shaped range of mountains. As we drove into the carpark and discovered a missing ingredient in our Egyptian experiences. The tourists. There were busloads of them. We even photographed the car park in amazement!!!! You'll love the photo. After running the gauntlet of the multiple touts we got into the site properly to discover that of 62 pharaohs buried here only a few are open. There are two still missing tombs and unfortunately we didn't find them! We did try (a little). We were allowed into three tombs which were all exceptional in their wall decorations. All photographs were banned so sadly there are no photos of the incredibly skilled artisans work in these tombs that we can post for you. We have seen Ramses 1, Ramses 4 and Siptah. If we are very good, our guide will allow us time to go back and see three more tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Rameses legacy in Abu Simbel

Our friend Rameses certainly made sure that he would be remembered for all eternity! Here at the end of the (Egyptian) world, we find two more monuments extolling Rameses strength & power, but these would have to be right up there in terms of quality & preservation...thanks to thousands of years hidden in the sand! The first is a temple dedicated to the three patron gods of Egypts major cities. At its entrance are 4 colossal, 20m high statues of a seated Rameses, wearing the crown of upper & lower Egypt. Inside is a very masculine temple, with more huge statues,& the walls lined with images of his victories in battle & his faithfulness to the gods. The smaller Temple is in honor of his beloved wife Nefertari & is dedicated to my favorite; Hathor. Consequently, it is a more feminine styled temple. In it we find Hathoric square shaped columns & wonderful scenes of Nefertari giving gifts to Hathor. We were amazed at how well preserved everything was, especially given that the temples were made in the 13 century BEFORE Mary had a twinkle in her eye!! Our initial introduction to this impressive site, was last night, as it became the back drop for the Sound & Light show. It was spectacular, & not only included aspects of its Ramesean history, but also the more recent carefully engineered, removal from its original site, up a few hundred metres to its current site. Its relocation courtesy of the Dam project! The sound & light show made us all the more enthusiastic about our visit there today & we were not disappointed. We also made a startling discovery, which...now that I am making it public...may devastate the world...well, the french part of it at least. We discovered that Gustave Eiffel's tower in Paris, was NOT an original idea! Nor was it a singular unit! Because we weren't allowed to take photos, I had to whip up a very quick sketch in my pocket sketch book, to prove to you, that the Eiffel towerS (plural), used to be handed on a platter to the god anubis as sacrificial offerings!!!!! It just goes to show that very few ideas are truly original!!!!!

Ghost Town

Today's flight took us from the luxury of the Old Cataract in Aswan, to the more'family friendly' accommodation of Seti Hotel in Abu Simbel. Our arrival was one of confusion....something we are becoming familiar with...as organization isn't, well,...very well organized!!! We were told it was easy to get a shuttle from The Abu Simbel airport to the Hotel. Well, it WOULD have been easy if the buses were clearly labelled 'HOTEL SHUTTLE' or 'SETI HOTEL' or some such thing. It would also have helped if there had been a map or signpost, but no,obviously there aren't enough independent travellers who arrive in this airport to make it worth their while investing in such things!! There are herd after herd of group tours coming through, most only being here as a day trip. We had chosen to spend 2 nights here, so that we could not only see the...allegedly...impressive temples, but we also wanted to see the sound & light show, which had been recommended to us as THE one to see. I chose this hotel because the DK Egypt bk describes this Hotel as being at the foot of Rames ll, the closest hotel to the sculpture. BALDERDASH! Whoever wrote that was clearly on another planet...as a fair amount of exercise today has proven!! The Hotel is fine otherwise though, but it is woefully empty...in fact the whole town is. It is like a ghost town, as people are just not staying here they are whisked in & out without giving the locals a purpose. This Hotel has been around for a few years & looks it, and once again, regardless of how many 'stars' it rates, there appear to be more staff than guests! Very sad. (It also means that our eating options are consequently limited!!) The view out of our window, although theoretically still the Nile, is known as Lake Nasser. It is a man-made lake, born from the whole dam building exercise to control the flow of the Nile. This is where the crocs are, so we wont be swimming here! One of the sad things about 'controlling' the Nile, is that although the farmers are getting regular, irrigated water, they are NOt getting the nutrients that used to come from the yearly flood, consequently crop production is down! Where does it settle now...Sudan! Some say that in the next few years, Sudan could be the bread basket of the world...if they get their act together. We will have to wait & see!

Searching for Authenticity

Today we decided to wander the extensive market area & look for amulets & textiles. Real ones, not touristy stuff. Once again we braced ourselves to run the gauntlet of touts offering us taxi, horse & carriage & falucca rides. It is exhausting! We had a decent walk down the corniche then crossed the road & plunged into the town proper! It didn't take long to find the souk & for much of it we were clearly the only tourists around, so EVERYBODY wanted us to look in their shop! One man said, "I don't know what you want, but i got it in my shop", another tried, "please, I pay you money to look in my shop". I had a hint of the handworked textiles I was hoping to find, when I came across a dress covered in embroidery & buttons as the bedouin wear for weddings. I was told there was more...in I went, lamb that I am, & was shown a face veil, told it was antique & then had it put on me! Well it certainly had enough old dust in it to start me coughing & wheezing, but on close inspection, it may have consisted of some older components, but it certainly had very modern, plastic beads on it. It had clearly been 'reworked'! The dresses that I came across were similarly patched together. Seemingly beautiful hand embroidery , but clearly not worked on the synthetic fabric of the dresses they APPEARED to belong to. I also found examples where embroidery had clearly been cut from whence it had originated, as patterns had been cut through. As for amulets, they don't know this word here & when I explain good luck charms, they show me the mass produced eye of horus, which they expect all tourists want. To be fair, I have seen very little evidence of talisman use here in Egypt so far. The only place has been on the cabs of the horse & carriages. Perhaps they have them mass produced for their own use?? Quite different to Istanbul, where nearly every house & business had a protective eye on it somewhere. Not even in the 'local' section of the market did i have success. It was very disappointing...but not without interest. We were overwhelmed by the beautiful fruit & vege displayed & particularly enamored with the white aubergine! Lunch was at a Lonely Planet favorite, Panorama, & as we tucked into a delicious meal, we enjoyed looking at the genuine woven & beaded textiles adorning the wall. All collected over a period of years, & NOT for sale, but very authentic!!!

Sunset On The Nile

The Travel guides all insist that one must do SOMETHING to watch the sun set over the Nile whilst in Egypt! One of the recommended things to do here, is take a falucca ride around the islands. That is a VERY attractive option & one we would have been enthusiastic about, had it not been for the fact that Aswan is experiencing some very cold winds at the moment. It required bravery & multiple layers enough to sit on the promenade, as we did, & watch the sun set with an Old Cataract High Tea to finish our Christmas day! It was glorious to see the colour change the desrt landscape on the opposite bank of the nile, turning the sand a true gold. On the water, light & shadow played in a happy dance, & we saw with X-ray vision the patches used to mend a sail & then boats become silhouettes in an instant. The High Tea itself was a very expensive amusement washed down with tepid tea. Still, we had DONE something & the experience was worth it!

A Little Drop Of Red

Okay, I may not be an alcoholic, but I still acknowledge that it is a personal achievement to have gone two weeks without any red wine!!!! I made a conscious choice before leaving Australia, that I would abstain for the month that I was in Egypt. The reason is two-fold; this is an Islamic country & I am trying to be a respectful tourist &, I want to prove to myself that I am not dependent. The value of this will also be that when I resume the partaking of the occasional glass, I will value the skill of the winemaker all the more! All this abstaining however, has not been without temptations along the way. A glass of red on the Dahibeya, watching the sunset, would have been sublime, & yesterday, being Christmas, I was also tempted to pop the cork, but with a 375ml bottle of Egyptian red from our minibar costing the equivalent of $30 Australian dollars......no thanks! There has been a non-alcoholic red beverage that I have been imbibing with pleasure though....Karkada! It can be served hot, as a tea or cold & heavily laced with sugar. It is made from the Hibiscus flower, & is very good for lowering blood pressure (allegedly) & also a refreshing drink on a hot Egyptian day! It was also used to transform the naturally black Henna, used for hair & cosmetic coloring, into the red pigment that it is known for today!! We have seen baskets of the dried flowers for sale outside shops, as it is so commonly used here. It may not REALLY fill the gap as far as wine consumption is concerned...but it is a good colour!!!!!

Christmas With Isis

Before Christianity came along with Mary & her babe of hope, the Great Mother in this part of the world, was Isis. It seemed fitting that we visit her temple on the island of Philae today. Before arriving there, however, we were introduced as to why & how it came to be in it's present location on the island of Philae. In order to control the seasonal flooding from the Nile, the British built the 'old' dam, back in the 1880's, as well as expanding the network of irrigation chanels that criss cross this country. In the 1960's the 'High Dam' was built, reinforcing that control & establishing hydro electric power plants to supply electricity to the area around Aswan. For this to work, a huge area of land needed to be claimed for the construction of the dam...consequently 42 Nubian communities needed to be relocated to higher ground. As was ancient significant monuments. The Temple of Isis being recognised as the 'pearl of Egypt', was one. The sight chosen for her relocation was the small island of Philae, which we needed to reach by boat. Up until now, every vehicle we have travelled in has looked road/water-worthy. Today we stepped into a rickity & rusted bucket of a boat & set out with the engine sputtering & me looking out for crocs! Lake Nasser (as the dam lake is called) is the only remaining place in the Egyptian leg of the Nile, where crocs can be found. I was very eager to get on dry land again! We are becoming quite familiar with temple layout now & recognised the courtyards, pylons & structure of building leading to the Holy of Holies. It would have been a very pretty temple in its day, having been built over a period of 150 years, prior to 50BC. It was a place where the holy trinity of that time, Isis, Osiris & their son Horus, were worshipped. Sadly a lot of the beauty had been vandalised by the Christians years later, but there was still a seldom seen portrait of the three, showing Horus as a boy, identifiable by the lock of hair on the side of his face! Our fabulous guide, fatima, introduced us to other fascinating attributes to this site,... remains of a coptic alter & niche, when the main hipostyle hall was turned into a Coptic church dedicated to St Stephen...a text engraved by Napoleon, from the brief period when Egypt was under his grip...gouges in pillars left by pilgrims who came to Isis for healing, & believed that by making their fingers bleed on the temple she would hear their prayer...and a fabulous relief of the Nile god Hapy, hiding in a cave under a mountain. He was protected by a huge snake. And from his hands he holds two urns from which water flows. These were believed to represent the two sources of the Nile, one going south into Africa & the other going North to the mediterranean. Priests told their followers that the cave where he hid was in a nearby island, thereby making the people believe that the Nile stemmed from them, therefore they were responsible for its flow & to ensure that....more sacrifices were needed to appease Hapy, with the clever Priests getting a very nice little slice of the goods!!

A Nubian Encounter

We were warned to expect things to not always go to plan! After a blissful 5 days having everything done for us, it was a rude shock to return to the reality of being a tourist in Egypt! We had checked into our very grand hotel...where we feel woefully underdressed & completely out classed...& as our first excursion, decided to take a motorboat across to Elephantine Island. There we were looking forward to seeing the Aswan Museum, which I had read good reviews about. There was also...allegedly...two nubian villages & some ruins to explore. Having been given a map with very clear guidelines as to where the roads on the island were, off we set in our little motor boat. We had figured 3 hours would be enough time to see everything, with most of that being in the museum! Imagine how we felt then, having got off the boat, climbed the million steps to the ticket office...to be told that the museum had been closed for renovations, since 2010 & they didn't know when it would reopen! As we heard this, the corner of my eye recognized that our boat had well & truly left the jetty & wouldn't be back until 3pm! GREAT! Okay...I admit it...GRUMPY! It was very hot, there was little shade & we covered the most interesting parts of the ruins in the first 10 minutes! To fill time, we made sure that we saw every hieroglyph & relief sculpture & went to every nook & cranny that run down site could offer us!! There were some interesting features & two more Nilometers! But the REALLY interesting part came after we left the ancient temple of Khnum & wanted to go to the village. A man attached himself to us as a guide! Oh boy...we'd heard about this ploy! We tried to tell him we didn't need a guide, we just wanted to go to the Movenpick (Hotel at other end of Island...only option for reprieve from sun & a cool drink), but he insisted he would just show us the way & tell us about the island. We were stranded on this former ivory trading place for a while, so there was no choice but to let him continue with us. We refused to go into potential baksheesh extraction locations, but tried to take an interest in the two villages. In time we became VERY aware that the map we had must have been drawn by someone with a rich imagination, as reality bore no resemblance to the map AT ALL, & without that man, we would have been COMPLETEY lost! There are two Nubian Villages on this small island, separated by a lush & well laid out, fenced garden farming area. This provides them with crops for their own use. I interpreted it to be very much like the allotment sites some people have in the UK. The mud houses, although all small & mostly joined together were made unique by the paint work each family adorned their home with. There were also decorative doors, my favorite having opened out foil biscuit wrapping placed behind the metal grill work! Poverty is the key word here, but alongside it is a very strong dignity & effort to make the best of what they have. The majority of the population work in the tourist industry & return to the island in the evening or weekends. So you can imagine how heavily hit these people are with the drop in tourism. Every person we saw though, greeted us warmly & was engaged in some sort of task, whether tending a flock of goats or sorting through grains of rice. And although they are poor, I still saw satellite dishes on some of the rooves, an electric blender being fixed and smelt the wonderful fresh smell of laundry being washed...in a detergent that smelt very much like the one I use at home!!

Merry Christmas from the Old Cataract Hotel

This is the first Christmas we have had without our children. Even though Christmas is much more than a day designated on a given calender, we knew that today wasn't going to be easy! It did occur to us that the very best place to be on a day which we would rather FORGET was Christmas, is in an Islamic country. What we hadn't been aware of, is that a lot of Muslims celebrate Christ's birth too (believing him to have been a good prophet), but they celebrate on Christmas eve. We are staying in the famous Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, where Agatha Christie wrote Death On the Nile. This Hotel was built by the famous Thomas Cook, the man who really kick started Tourism in this country. It has been closed for the past three years during which time it has been renovated & re-born! To celebrate Christmas it has tastefully bedecked its public areas in wreaths & red flower arrangements, with red glass chimes hanging from the ceiling. At the entrance, they have a tree dripping in red chimes and baubles, which looks wonderful during the day & spectacular with the lights on it at night. This Hotel drips of opulence, yet across the water, out our window on the island of Elephantine, men & women live in small mud houses, closely bound together & with the tourist industry suffering a MASSIVE drop, increasingly struggling to survive! To me Christmas is about HOPE. Please join with me, & raise your glass to hope for a new beginning in a new year! Cheers!

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN VIAGRA & ITS CONSEQUENCES!!

The Temple of Kom Ombo had some rather explicit hieroglyphs & relief's about fertility & birthing! One Hieroglyph gave a recipe for the ancient Egyptian form of viagra, it is....wait for it....consuming quantities of watercress & lettuce! Apparently there was an egyptian saying that if women knew what was in the watercress they would be growing it under the bed!!!! Another hieroglyph showed the best way to give birth & the best way to breast feed! Apparently, as a method of confirming a pregnancy & foretelling the sex of a child, women would take a barley seed & a wheat seed. She would plant them both in the ground & urinate on them each day. If they started to grow, she was pregnant, if they didn't....she was not! If the barley came up first then she was pregnant with a girl, but if the wheat came up first, it was a boy. If they both came up at the same time...twins! In smaller villages some women still practice this method.

POWER TO THE PRIESTS

This morning we all made our way sluggishly to breakfast, very aware that this is the last day we will call 'Meroe' home! We had started moving before the tea was poured, & by the time we had cleaned teeth & adorned ourselves with jackets...we were at Kom Ombo. This visit was to see another temple, that of the crocodile god, Sobek. Here too we heard the story about how Sobek became a god. For years & years the people of Kom Ombo were at the mercy of the crocodiles who plagued their waters. There were many attacks & much heartache. It got so bad that a solution had to be found. The Priest came up with a brilliant idea...create a crocodile god & seek his protection, then he wont harm them anymore. And so Sobek was created. Alas, although the people worshiped, offered sacrifices & did as Sobek ordered the king....crocodiles still attacked the people!! This temple was special in that it had very good quality high relief sculptures & a lot has been well preserved. It is also the location of a lot of crocodile mummies, which I would have liked to have seen, but sadly...the croc museum wasnt open today, being Friday, the Muslim holy day. Amongst the ruins we were also introduced to the further cunning of the priests. In between the walls separating one holy of holies from another, they had created a series of corridors & tunnels, with a special echo chamber at one end. This was used specifically when the King came to pay his respects to Sobek...the priest would speak into the echo chamber in a deep voice, claiming to be the god Sobek & ordering him to do...whatever the priest wanted!! This meant that the king would emerge from the temple and would announce that he had heard the voice of Sobek etc etc etc! Very clever & powerful Priests back then!

Under A Canopy of Stars

After dining in the snug & decorative salon of the dahibeya last night, we wrapped up warm & went ashore where the crew had lit a campfire. Once again, to the beat of the drum, we clapped, danced & echoed the repeat chant as best we could. We may not have been able to see what was under our feet...very possibly a variety of cow dung pats....but we had a brilliant view of the night sky. It was so clear & the longer we stayed out there, the more stars there seemed to be. It is no wonder, that the ceilings of the ancient Egyptian tombs are often completely covered in a star pattern.It was great to see the crew enjoying themselves, this was not a performance, it was something we could see they had a lot of fun doing, & made the most of the opportunity. As time went on, the french girls sang something, & then it was expected that each nationality group contribute something. Inspite having spent a small portion of my life performing on stage, I suffer from performance anxiety! (I call it stunned-mullet syndrome!!!) I hate being put on the spot & expected to deliver, as I just freeze & cant think of ANYTHING, resulting in disappointment for those expecting & embarressment for myself! Thankfully, J1 was there & started off with a strong rendition of waltzing Matilda, which I was able to join in with the chorus...PHEW! The sound of all our voices was clear & wonderful in the night air, & with the fire, the ambience was magical. As the evening closed the shisha pipe was brought out & we left the men to relax & enjoy their smoking.

The Making of A God

This is the story of a man named Min. He was just like any other mortal man who lived in Luxor, long, long ago. One day, the men of Luxor needed to go to war, so they all left, except Min, who...one supposes, was left to protect the women. The men fought hard in battle & when the day came for them to leave the battlefield, they were fewer in number, but eager to return to their home. On arrival however, they discovered that all of their wives were rather obviously pregnant! As they had been away so long, there was only one possibility as to whom had done the deed with their wives! As you can imagine, they were furious & they sought to punish Min significantly. Min begged them to understand, that he had impregnated all of their wives for the good of the village. Believing all the men to be dead, he felt that the least he could do was ensure the future of their people! The men did not accept this as an excuse, in fact they were angered by it & decided to chop off one arm & one leg & leave him out in the desert to die. Time past, & a population of healthy babies were born. The priest in the temple were impressed by this one man's fertility, & saw a golden opportunity. They let it be known that such fertility could only be produced by a god, therefore they encouraged people to sacrifice to Min, to make shrines to him & to honor him....bringing wealth & power to themselves, the priests, in the process. That is why Min is represented as a man with one arm missing & a rather large, clearly fertile, erect penis!!

Walk Like An Egyptian

After having a thoroughly lazy day yesterday, it was perfectly reasonable to embark on a 5 km walk this morning, BEFORE we were allowed any lunch! Bedecked in a variety of sun hats borrowed from the supply on board, we expected that our desert walk would have us in the blazing sun all the time! We were wrong! We weren't expecting such pleasure as walking under the shade of thousands of date palms, on sandy tracks used by the local farmers. Again we were blown away by the lushness of the crop growth here& the clever use of irrigation channels. We saw date, mango, banana & orange trees & were introduced to a uniquely Egyptian fruit called a 'dom'. It looked like an orange that had turned very rotten, but had leathery looking skin. Apparently it has a very strong flavor & our guide didn't express any enthusiasm for this fruit. We saw nature at work wonderfully here. there is a white bird, who walks amongst the crops & animals, obviously feeding off the bugs. When asked what was the name of the bird, we were told 'farmers friend'! Our walk was over well before we expected it to be & we had another treat instore; refreshments at a traditional village cafe. This is the domain of men, where they drink coffee, smoke the narghila & solve the problems of the world. I'm not convinced they were happy with our presence, but there was no hostility. this time my wonderful Egyptian black tea had a sprig of fresh mint in it, which was delightfully refreshing. Such a fantastic walk could only be followed by an equally fantabulous egyptian lunch; falafels, hommous, salad, fuul, & the most heavenly eggplant with a relish on it that we had many happy moments trying to work out what the ingredients included. Ahhhhh, life is good & the Nile god, Hapy, continues to bless us!

Where it All Began!

Overnight we were moored near a quarry. What...did I just hear you say, "Boring!"? You are forgetting that we are in Egypt & I am yet to get bored!!!! This amazing quarry was where all the limestone blocks for the Temples in Luxor & further afield, were made & then transported down river ready for construction. It is also where obelisks like Cleopatras Needle in London, & the Obelisk in Place de Concord, Paris, were detached from the rock face! Before dinner last night, we all wrapped up warm before climbing aboard the tug boat. This took us to see the lights highlighting the chapel & shrines carved into the rock face, that we were to visit today. The thousands of workers who plied their skill here, were here for long hours & being religious people they needed shrines at which they could offer respect during the day. The main one is the Chapel of Horemhep, who was a General for Akenaton, then Tutankamun, after whom he became the 2nd King. He was well beloved of the people, which i suppose is why he is honored here. There were a few special things I learnt today; on the east bank (we were on the west, the east being unavailable for tourists)was the administration area for the site, it was here that scale models of the temples were created so that they could calculate size & number of blocks...the tools the men used were made of iron, bronze & granite, at the beginning & end of the day, each man's tools were weighed. They were only paid if their tools weighed less in the evening than they had in the morning!....I also learnt how they detached obelisks from the rock...carving man sized holes at regular intervals up either side of the planned obelisk, they then stuffed the holes with wood, and then put hot water on the wood, thus making it expand & in that expansion....CRACK. The same process was used to remove the base, but first they had to make tunnels at the outline of the base. Obelisks were always hewn from stone close to the water. they had an ingenious way of transporting them, waiting for the Nile to rise during flood. the carving wasn't started until the obelisk was lying on the ground adjacent to the base where it would stand. the whole process of creating an obelisk, including the transport took only 7 months, this had to be completed before the next lot of floods! We had a fair amount of clambering to do to see all the shrines, but were wrapt, because these places can only be accessed by water!! To get back on the boat, we literally, had to walk the plank....just as well the egyptian crew were there to help with their strong hands & senses of humor!!!

Lazy Day on The Nile

Bliss, absolute bliss. We drew our curtains back this morning on a sunrise over the still waters of the Nile. Alongside us we could finally see the herd of water buffalo tethered on the bank alongside us, whom we have heard bellowing during the night. Also the donkey, who most definitely pelts out a mighty loud braaaay! After breakfast in the sun, we had a walk along this narrow island which sits right in the middle of the Nile. The crop framing here is abundant & mango & banana thrive. Back onboard we just cruised............sigh. I finished Death on the Nile, which i have thoroughly enjoyed, and a little while later, we stopped in safe swimming water. There was a cool breeze so I declined the offer to swim, but oh-significant-one jumped right on in! It was a cool baptism by Nile, but he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Lunch & a totally lazy afternoon, waving to fishermen in little dinghies, catching glimpses of birdlife & drinking tea! This is very relaxing & I thoroughly recommend it to everyone!!!!

A Bit Of Fun

Okay, I am aware that it is only a few days until Christmas, & that for most of you, life might be a little stressed right now. Therefore, this blog is , hopefully, a bit of fun, and will...hopefully... relieve some of that stress. Look at the photos below & see if you can find; a man wearing mega headphones, a helicopter, a tank, a space ship and a rifle (you may have to turn your head upside down for this one!!). Keep in mind that these are ANCIENT hieroglyphs! Wer they gifted with visions of the future, or did they invent them themselves & we modern people just took the credit??????? Enjoy!

Temple Of Horus at Edfu

Continuing our Temple trek, it was with great pleasure that we finally reached Edfu & with it, The Temple of Horus. Why was this such a big deal?? Well, Horus was the consort of Hathor, whose Temple we visited at Dendera. Every year, the gold statue Of Hathor, would be removed from the Holy of Holies,loaded onto a special boat & taken up river to visit the statue of Horus. This is the route we have travelled over the past couple of days. On arrival in Edfu, the people would fly banners & celebrate excitedly to have their gods reunited, even for a brief time. Horus would make the same type of journey to visit Hathor each year too! We travelled to the site by horse & cart, which was an adventure in itself. Egyptian traffic lived up to its usual reputation!!!! Horus is represented by the falcon, & fortunately a couple of the original statues remain. Edfu temple is the largest intact temple, but the reliefs have been severely mutilated by the Christians, who were trying to enforce the Egyptians to stop worshipping their heathen gods! An interesting feature of this temple, is a remaining 'perfume' laboratory. This was where perfumes were made for sacrifice offerings, & on the walls are hieroglyphs giving recipes not only for fragrant perfumes, but also 'aromatherapy' healing perfumes! Apparently the perfume house, Chanel, has had some of these translated & are using these recipes????