2010.10.10We spent our last day in Egypt at Luxor. The current location of Luxor was city of Thebes in ancient Egypt. Pharaohs built temples and palaces at the East Bank of the Nile River, while dug their tombs deep in the valley of the West Bank, hoping that their priceless possessions buried with them would not be found by robbers. They badly underestimated the robbers’ skills and determination. Only a handful tombs remained intact today. One of them is Tutankhamun‘s tomb. When it was discoverd in 1922, the glorious treasures inside the tomb astounded the world.

More than sixty pharaohs’ tombs have been found in the hills of West Bank. It is called Valley of the Kings. It was the first stop of our West Bank trip in the morning. The camera was strictly forbidden, so no picture was taken inside the valley. The ticket is valid for 3 tombs, and some of the tombs require separate tickets. Our guide book marks the tombs that are worth visiting, but it is easy when you are on site. You just need to follow the longest lines. Those are the must-see for the first-time visitors. What we went to are, Romb of Ramses IV (No.2), Tomb of Horemheb (No.57) and Tomb of Ramses III (No.11). Most these tombs share similar structure, a long declining corridor leading to the burial chamber. Although the precious were all taken, some of the paintings were burned or damaged, what remain are still stunningly beautiful. Because the sunshine cannot reach the corridor wall, colors are vividly preserved. Only several colors were used in Egyptian reliefs, yellow, red, green and blue. They are the same colors used on reliefs in temples, but they disappeared overtime exposing under the sun. These dramatic structures made me wonder, if they could make my jaw drop three thousand years later, what a grand view would be when they were originally constructed. The only thing that prevented us from exploring more was the heat. It was unbearable if you were not standing in the shade. Inside the tomb was especially stifling.

We then went to Hatshepsut Temple. Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh. It’s uncommon but not unprecedented. She is considered as one of the most successful pharaohs because she brought peace and prosperity to Egypt under her reign. The wealth enabled her to construct breath-taking buildings, such as the Hypostyle Hall in Karnak and Hatshepsut Temple. What is interesting is that although here statue is presented as a male with a beard, the face is having a soft contour of a female.

If we had more days in Luxor, I’d like to come to West Bank every morning, ramble around the rubbles and ruins. But my passion could not withstand the burning sun. October marks the beginning of tourist season in Egypt. In December, the temperature at noon could drop to 80F (25C), which is more comfortable. Before leaving West Bank, we quickly stopped at Colossi of Memnon. These two colossi are faceless now damaged by the annual flood of the Nile over thousands of years, but because of their sheer size, it is still a very impressive sight and one of the most recognizable landmark of West Bank.

We rested at the hotel in the early afternoon. The last attraction we were going to visit is Luxor Temple, which is in walking distance from the hotel. We had a small meal at McDonald’s across the street of the temple. From its third floor, we had a good view of Luxor temple and the city center. We had several meals at McDonald’s in different cities in Egypt. I have to say they are the best McDonald’s I have ever been to. What you get is not something that has been pre-cooked long time ago like in the American stores. Fry’s, Fish Hamburger and Chicken Nuggets were always fresh, tender and hot, just made for you.

We entered Luxor Temple at around 4pm. Luxor Temple is connected to Karnak through an avenue of sphinxes. A gigantic pylon as its entrance features a huge obelisk and two seated colossi of Ramses. In side the temple, besides the high-rising columns, statues and squares, you can also find a mosque and Egyptian reliefs covered by Christian paintings, indicating the temple has been used for other religious purposes in its three-thousand-year of history.

We had one of the best buffet dinners at the hotel. There were many local dishes and vegetables, onion, olives, tomatoes, beans, stuffed vine leaves and cheese, simple but elegant.

2010.10.9The only reason we came to Aswan was to visit Abu Simbel. We almost excluded it from our itinerary because not only it would take one precious day from the trip but also cost us $400 more just to see it. Eventually, we arranged our plan to accommodate this visit. How could we come so far to Egypt without seeing the place that often make to the list of “things to do before you die”?

Only 30 miles from Egypt-Sudan border, Abu Simbel is located below the Tropic of Cancer. In October, the temperature can easily reach 110F (40C) at noon. To avoid the bloody heat, referred by our guide, it’s better to get there before 8am and leave by 10am. While most tourists visit Abu Simbel by bus, which is a 3-hour drive from Aswan, so they have to get up at 3am; we took flight so we could get up at 5am and I still had time to take several snaps from the balcony – the color was lovely.

The flight only took less than a hour. When the plane was approaching Abu Simbel Airport, we could see the temple up in the air. It looked like toy bricks from the air – small, elegant and sitting by itself overlooking Lake Nasser. The airport has shuttles to take visitors to the temple. Enter the main gate, skipping all the exhibits, we anxiously made a turn around the mountain, the great Abu Simbel Temple is right in front of us.

The temple was originally built by Ramses II in 13th century BC. Ramses II is one of the most achieved Pharaoh in ancient Egyptian history. Externally, he created a formidable force, won many battles against enemies of Egypt and secured Egypt’s border; internally, he ruled the country more than 60 years and lived to his 90’s, built countless temples, monuments and cities. Abu Simbel temple complex contains two temples, the Great Temple, dedicated to Gods and Ramses II himself, and a smaller temple dedicated to Goddess Hathor and Ramses II’s wife.

Both temples were buried under the sand and were rediscovered in 19th century. What is more dramatic is its relocation project conducted in 1960s. As the rising Lake Nasser threated the temple, an international team literally carved the temples out of the mountain and moved them piece by piece 65 meters higher and 200 meters back to their current location. The orientation of the temples were also restored exactly. When the Great Temple was built, two days every year, October 21 and February 21, the rays of Sun could penetrate through the long hall and illuminated statues at the back wall. Because Earth’s orientation drifted in the past 3000 years, now these two events happen on October 22 and February 20.

We saw the Temple of Hathor first and the Great Temple next. The statues that sitting in front of the Great Temple are Ramses II himself. The head of the second statue fell down in an earthquake in 27 BC. Inside, the reliefs depict the battle scenes and victories of the military campaigns. The colossi bear the Upper Egypt crown or double crown of both Upper and Lower Egypt in the hall way.

We left the temple at 10am. Airport shuttle brought us back to the airport. After another 1 hour, we were back in Aswan. It’s exactly noon. We stopped at High Dam but gave up 2 minutes later surrendering to the scorching sun. We were supposed to take the felucca to see Temple of Philae on island of Agilika, and we should have visited Aswan’s famous market, Souq, but we skipped all that and directly headed back to Luxor. In Egyptian’s word, the Nile smells differently in Aswan, unfortunately we didn’t spend anytime there. We originally thought about taking train back to Luxor, but we learnt that the train could delay a couple of hours sometimes. We took our guide’s advice and went back Luxor with their car.

Back in Luxor, I had a walk within the hotel in the afternoon. Winter Palace Hotel has two buildings, the one we lived was built later and with a lower rank; the old building, built in 1886, along the Nile bank is one of most prestigious hotels in Egypt. The 1886 Restaurant requires ties and suits to get in and other tea rooms also indicate “no casual dress” on the door. Both buildings share the garden and the swimming pool. Every Thursday night, the hotel holds the buffet dinner by the pool and presents traditional Egyptian dance as well.

2010.10.8The hotel we booked at Luxor is Winter Palace Hotel. The rate is very reasonable so we reserved 4 nights, including one that we were going to Aswan. We didn’t know the Hotel is a heritage site when we booked it, but it is hard to miss once you step in. We were shocked by the lavish garden – After the chaotic in Cairo and wildness in White Desert, this was like paradise to us.

When we woke up the next morning, we could see some hot air balloons from the balcony. Taking the balloon to see Luxor, Nile River and the West Bank from above is a popular activity.

Some visitors spend 7 days in Luxor but we really had only one and a half days. We were going to the most famous temple first in the morning – Karnak Temple. Karnak is the largest ancient religious site in the world. In Egyptian myth, it is the dwelling place of god Amon-Re, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu, the moon god. In pop culture, it appears in several movies, such as Death on the Nile, The Mummy Returns and the Transformer 2. Different from most other Egyptian temples, Karnak was developed and used over the period of thousand years by more than thirty pharaohs. Although most of the temples are ruined, roof are fallen, obelisks are broken and statues are demolished, its massive size and complexity still remind the visitors of the grandeur of its past.

The most impressive one is the Hypostyle Hall that features 134 columns in 16 rows, where the middle two rows reaches 24m (80 feet) in height.

Hypostyle Hall, Karnak Temple

Hypostyle Hall, Karnak Temple

Hypostyle Hall, Karnak Temple

Another interesting site is the granite Scarab statue, it is worshiped by ancient Egyptian as a symbol of sun god Ra.

Scarab statue, Karnak Temple

Our plan for the afternoon was to go to Aswan and stay there for the night. From Luxor to Aswan takes 3-hour drive. We didn’t book the tour through large agency, but followed the recommendation from posts on TripAdvisor and arranged the tour with a local private agent. After lunch, we met our driver and guide and set off to Aswan on a minivan.

Luxor is a small city, while the city center along the Nile River is busy, the road out of Luxor is lovely. Flowers are planted on the roadside. Soon, flowers are replaced by corn and sugar cane field. They are the major crops in Upper Egypt. (It is cotton for Lower Egypt). Our whole trip was along the Nile River. It is wide and smooth, just like Luxor, in fact I should say the city is like the river. You can easily realize how crucial that Nile is to Egyptians – all the crop fields are within the narrow band along the river. We passed villages from time to time and we saw people riding donkeys on the road.

Our first stop is Edfu. It is located almost exactly half way between Luxor and Aswan. Temple of Horus at Edfu is dedicated to god Horus, which is one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion. The temple was buried under the sand for two thousand years until 19th century. Because of that, the temple is very well preserved. Looking at its main gateway (Pylon), it is the impression that we had about Egypt from movies. Horus, who is symbolized as a falcon, is to be believed to unite the Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt kingdoms. Many carved reliefs reflect this concept.

After another hour of driving, we arrived in Temple of Kom Ombo. It is surrounded by fields of sugar cane and has a beautiful setting overlooking the Nile. The temple is dedicated to two gods, one is falcon god Harioeris, Horus the Elder; the other is crocodile god, Sobek. To me the most beautiful feature is the columns carved with the lotus of Upper Egypt and the papyrus of the Lower Egypt. Under the late afternoon sun, their light and shadow created a fascinating contrast.

Several Nile cruise ships were parked just outside the temple. The cruise trip was romanticized by countless films and novels, but we didn’t have time to do it.

By the night, we arrived in Aswan. We stayed in Philae Hotel. It is family-run and looked shabby from outside, but it was along the river and we had a room with the Nile view. The room was decorated in Egyptian styles.

2010.10.7It took us another hour driving from El Akabat to White Desert. It’s dark already but the driver didn’t turn on the light in order to save the battery for the night. The area we were going to camp was far off the road. Although rangers put stones to mark the direction, it was totally dark and I could only see some huge rocks here and there around us. It’s certainly not an issue for our driver – he was driving fast! The guide said that they could remember the direction by the shape of these rocks, but to us, they all looked similar.

We met other tour groups at the camping site. We didn’t camp together but we kept each other in sight. Once we found the pivot spot, the driver and guide started setting up the camp. They put the cushion on the ground, used the jeep as the support to setup two sides of wall with blanket. The car had two batteries to power the light. When the camp was all set, they started cooking – the driver was cooking Egyptian spiced rice and veggi stew, while our guide lit the fire to cook BBQ chicken.

We were lucky that there were no moon at the night and the only light source was from our camp. I hadn’t seen these many stars for long time, maybe the last time was at inner Mongolian grassland. I could clearly see the milky way and watch stars rising and setting over the horizon. This was the wonder we came here for. At the moment, the only thing I wanted to do was watching them … besides taking pictures. I tried to shoot star trails for several times, but my tripod was not heave enough, so after half-an-hour exposure, the star trails always got derailed. The pictures of the Milky Way were quite successful.

After taking some photos, our dinner was ready. It was the best dinner we had since we came to Egypt. The salt and spices were perfectly balanced in the rice and chickens. It’s not because we were hungry, they were delicious.

We had a choice to either sleep in the tent or under the sky. We were not that adventurous so we chose the tent. Our guide and driver did not need the tent, they got used to sleep openly in the desert, the blanket wall was enough for shielding them from the wind. At about midnight, we were woken up by the squeaky sound around the tent – we were visited by fennec foxes. In fact, they had shown up during the dinner. These animals are only a little bigger than cats. They survive in the desert by searching food at night and eating everything that are eatable. There were really not many eatable things here without human visitors.

It’s 5am in the morning when I woke up the next day. I forced myself to get up to take more photos. When the dawn broke, we for the first time saw this land and the bizarre rocks shaped by wind erosion.

After a quick breakfast, we set off at 6:30am. We stopped at several White Desert’s signature spots. One down side to go with the tour is that you have to follow their schedule not yours. We only had a few minutes to take several snaps at each place. But without the help of the dedicated driver and guide, it is impossible for average travelers to access this spectacular area – we had no idea about this place before we planned the trip. Although this place deserves more promotion, we feel lucky that we could get here before it is spoiled by tourism.

In Bahariya, we were impressed by a hot spring in the desert, then we were picked up by a minivan back to Cairo.

We had Hot Dogs at a gas station near Cairo. The roller coaster and other familiar amusement park facilities could be seen afar. It’s a new suburban district and an expensive one according to our guide. We thought about going to Citadel if we had time, but the traffic again was bad and we didn’t have energy to walk another 2 hours anymore. We directly headed to the airport for the flight to Luxor at the night.

2010.10.6When I planed the trip, I struggled on whether we should go to White Desert. We can spend more days in Cairo or Luxor if we don’t take this two-day tour. We finally made the decision to go there because it is relatively less visited by tourists and photo opportunity seems to be excellent. We are glad we made the right choice. It’s certainly one of the highlights of the trip.

Many tour companies provide packages for White Desert tour. We booked the tour with Select Egypt. A minivan picked us up at hotel at 7:30AM. The road out of the city is the same one to Giza. Set the shutter speed to 1/4000s, I could take picture in the car. I was interested in the strange buildings in construction along the highway. Not only they don’t look stable, but the windows are so small.

When we reached Cairo’s suburban area, normal residential buildings started showing up.

For the whole 4-hour drive from Cairo to Bahariya, we were the only passengers on this air-conditioned minivan. After about one hour on the way, we entered the Western Desert. The road condition was very good. From time to time, we saw these huge tires used as road signs.

After two hours, we stopped at the resting area. The store served Egyptian tea and snacks.

We continued on for another 2 hours. After passing several small oases, we finally arrived in Bahariya. The main settlement of Bahariya is a small village. We were dropped at a small hotel and waited to be transfered to a 4×4 jeep to White Desert.

Our jeep arrived at 1PM. Every tour group has one guide and one driver. Our guide has served in peace corps in Sudan. He is young, speaking good English and quite knowledgeable on many things. In fact, he is very modern compared with other Egyptians we met before. On the contrary, our driver is a senior, which means he’s very experienced and familiar with the area.

Before having lunch, we first stopped at a huge sand dune, the black desert area and a spring in the desert. The black desert is quite unique in that the whole area is covered by the small black stones, from the ground to the volcano-shaped hills. Although the area is not totally in black color, the wildness of the vast uninhabitable region did evoke some unearthly feelings.

We had our lunch at a resting area in El Heiz Oasis. The place was built just for serving the organized tour groups. While the outside was dry and hot, grass mat and palm leaves provided the shade that made inside unbelievably cool. The food was ‘lavish’ considering it’s in the middle of the desert. We didn’t have many, especially the fresh tomatoes. We worried about the food safety but I now think we worried too much.

On our way to Farafra direction, we started seeing more sand dunes. This is the east border of the Sahara.

After that, we stopped at a place with crystal formation of stones.

We were in fact behind the schedule, partly because we left Cairo half an hour late, partly because I always took a little more time at every place to for pictures. It turned out to be a good thing. It’s 5PM already and the Sun goes down at 6:30PM. There was no chance we could reach the White Desert before sunset. So we took more time in El Akabat area and observed a wonderful sunset. We hiked down from a sand hill, what presented in front of us was a valley with huge standing boulders. The Sun on the horizon lighted up these boulders and painted them with the amazing golden color. We started seeing the white stone formation on the ground. After the Sun dropped below the horizon, the color of the sky became more subtle. It transited gradually from blue to purple color. It’s much better than the sound and light show at any temple.

We learnt why 4×4 Jeep is critical in this area, the sand is deep and offers very little traction. One car actually got stuck in the sand. Our driver and guide had to perform a rescue session.

Cairo’s morning.

Cairo’s morning

Cairo, whose official name is Al-Qahira and called by Egyptians as Masr, is a city with unparalleled history in terms of length and variety. A journey through Cairo is a virtual time travel: from Saqqara, the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Old Coptic Cairo and Heliopolis, to Al-Azhar, Citadel, Fatimid Cairo, Khan al-Khalili and more recent Zamalek district and Cairo Tower. It also provides a life-time photo opportunity that occurs on each step in these places.

Unlike many people think, although it is somewhat chaotic, Cairo is a very safe city, even for western travelers. There are many tourists, including females who travel alone, walking on the street during the night. They may attract attentions or even verbal harassments, but that’s just the way it is. Taxi drivers never turn on their meters, but as long as you negotiate the price beforehand, they are generally dependable too.

The Police Patrols the Giza Plateau

But our impressions of Cairo are not all good. First and foremost is the traffic. If you think driving in New York or Beijing is hard, welcome to Cairo! Maybe because the gas is so cheap, 0.6 USD/gallon=0.9 LE /liter, the streets are crowded with cars everywhere. Driving in the lane is the least thing you should worry about. You’re suppose to race the car not drive it. The traffic can be totally jammed at any time, so it always takes longer than you thought to get where you want to go.

Another thing that often frustrates us is the “baksheesh” culture – money is asked for everything. Some people are sitting in front of temples waiting for you to take pictures; others show you some places you might skip; the tour guide can suggest you to follow him to smell the essence of flowers; even polices may ask you for baksheesh after showing you directions. Egyptians are generally very hospitable. It’s common that people try to start talking to you on the street, asking “where are you from?” or “你好”. But, it is very hard for us to tell if it’s simple hospitality or just try to get you to buy something.