| 9/17/1999 | |
| Journey to Luxor, or "Hey Sett, where's your winky?" | |
| The morning saw us say Sionhara to Cairo. We packed our bags, piled into the bus, and headed on out to Memphis. Chrissie didn't feel well, a condition that worsened as the day progressed. At any rate, we tried to enjoy the sights of the day. Our first stop was a make-up from two days prior. We stopped at the Luxor Papyrus Institute. Of course, it wasn't in Luxor, and it wasn't really an institute, but it was cool never-the-less. The "tour" started with a crash course in the making of papyrus. The "instructor" had an electric personality and a great sense of humor. He gave us a brief demonstration as to how papyrus is made. It's pretty simple really: soak the plant, slice the plant, pound it flat, goober it together, let it dry. Our lesson was followed by a fury of browsing and bargaining for souvenirs. We came out with our first real souvenirs of the trip. After digging through the luggage for medication, we started out on our short bus ride to Memphis, the original capitol of Egypt. Along the way we saw a number of rustic villages, lush fields of sugar cane and date palms, herds of goats, and our constant companion, the largest Nile canal. Once at the site we saw a number of statues of the incredibly vain Ramses II (he has over 2500 statues; and this is what's left after 3000 years!). There were two rather large statues of the pharaoh, along with the alabaster sphinx and a number of sarcophagi. Inside a nearby building lay the majority of a 33' statue of Ramses II. As impressive as the mangled monument was, to me it was only a foreshadow of the excursion to Abu Simbel coming next week. There we will see sculptures that make this look like a chess piece. At any rate, Memphis was very cool. And the number and annoyance level of the merchants was much more tolerable than previous encounters. That or I'm just handling them better than I was. Our third stop was Sakara. This is the site of the first pyramid ever built: the "Stairway to Heaven" or "Step Pyramid". This monumental structure, the first ever built with bricks, is dwarfed by the pyramids at Giza. But it was the first stepping stone (no pun intended) in the development of the technology required to construct the other tombs of ancient Egypt. It is surrounded by a number of other interesting structures. The courtyard where pharaohs proved their worthiness to lead the people; the coronation chamber, where the pharaohs were crowned; and a number of shafts, at the bottom of which lay the tombs of the relatives of the pharaoh. Of course, I couldn't let a day pass without some weirdness befalling me. Our tour guide decided that we should re-enact the story of Sett and Osiris. Guess who was picked to play the part of Sett? You guessed it, yours truly. It was decided that I was the obvious choice for the bad guy of the story. At any rate, I was fixed up with this gorgeous blonde babe, named Alicia, as my wife. Of course, as is the story of my life, by the end of the tale, she had lopped off my winky and given it to Osiris, my brother (who lost his when I chopped him into pieces an scattered them throughout Egypt). We have to wait for the end of the story at some future point in the tour; but it can't be good if I'm left winkyless by my own wife. At any rate, it was very amusing. After the show, we had time to wander around the site. Chrissie, still not feeling well, headed off to the bus, leaving me to wander around by myself (the fool). I snapped a number of great pics of the site. To my surprise, I even got to catch a glimpse of a site not on our tour. As I came around the far side of the pyramid, I noticed, off in the distance, a few other pyramids. Upon further examination, it turns out that one was the Bent Pyramid. This structure was started at an angle of 53 degrees. However, about half way up, the angle drops to 45.5 degrees. It is thought that the initial angle was too steep, and that the structure lacked stability. At any rate, there it was, off through the haze. I snapped a pic; I can only hope that it turns out. On the way out, in typical fashion, I checked out every opening and passageway in sight. At one point, I was approached by some weird, non-English speaking Egyptian dude. He wanted to know if I was with a group, apparently he was concerned with where I was going. At any rate, after the all too familiar back and forth between two people hopelessly illiterate in each others' languages, I conveyed to him that I was, in fact, with a group, but the group had split up and was roaming around the complex. It was my impression that he was attempting to reunite me with my group, whether I wanted to be reunited or not. Once he determined that there was no central group with which to reassociate me, he gave up and let me wander. I still don't understand the point of the exchange. Mental note: next time learn Arabic prior to going to Egypt. We climbed back aboard the bus to head to the airport for our flight to Luxor. By now Chrissie's condition was getting worrisome. She took some medication, which we were assured would fix her right up. This turned out to be a hoax. More on that later. Anyway, we (I) munched on our (my) boxed lunches as we drove through the Egyptian countryside. It was lush and green, and very very lovely. At one point we stopped along-side the road to take pictures of a genuine Egyptian village. It was very rustic and rather primitive by western standards. A child could be seen taking a bath right there along the side of the road. We got some interesting pictures. Our next stop was Cairo airport, for our flight to Luxor. True to my karma, the flight upon which we were booked was delayed. After an hour of sitting around the terminal, we piled into busses to board our Airbus 300. For those of you not familiar with aircraft, this is a BIG airplane. I expected a twin-engine turbo-prop kind of thing; boy was I wrong. This thing is about the size of a 747. It was reassuring to find out that Egyptian pilots fly much the same way the Egyptian drivers drive. After our taxi out to the runway, the pilot winged the corner, and punched it long before we were properly lined up for take-off. The plane shimmied side to side, finally straightened out and we were aloft. The ascent was steep, and very irregular. I thought that Chrissie was going to lose her lunch, and I had eaten it for her! Something very unusual: on our one hour flight we had a snack. They were very orderly about distributing it too. It was amazing. US Air could learn a few things from these guys. The flight was brief, and after a harrowing landing, we were on the ground. Meanwhile, Chrissie's condition had worsened. She really needed to lie down. We claimed our luggage, and headed to the bus. On our way to the hotel Chrissie rested. Also on the way, we passed a number of the sites we will see tomorrow; I love that. We arrived at Movenpick Jolie Ville; beautiful place, I'll tell you what. The hotel is situated on Crocodile Island, which lies in the middle of the Nile. This place is as gorgeous as any tropical resort to which I have ever been. Very serene, clear azure blue skies, stunning foliage and terrain; simply breath-taking. We took our welcome drink, got our room assignment, and got Chrissie into bed. Our guide had told us there would be a spectacular sunset between 6:30 and 7:00. I decided that I should get some pictures of this (I love sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset...). Unfortunately, the brief rest I decided to take before heading out to the pool to lounge turned into a full blown nap. I awoke with 15 minutes to get ready. I threw on some clothes, took some last minute requests from Chrissie, and headed out to the lagoon (for lack of a better description). The sunset was happening as I walked from our bungalow; it was truly spectacular. I took some pictures as I headed out. I got to the lagoon with a few minutes left. I got some pictures; but I doubt they will be what I had hoped for. I hung out for a while, socializing with fellow tour members. I took a brief swim (great pool), and rushed back to the room to slip out of my swimsuit before dinner. Chrissie was still feeling ill, so she skipped it. Mid way through the meal I snuck out with some food for her. I returned to hang out with my compodres, swill a few glasses of non-descript Egyptian wine, and listen to the cheesy sounds of this Arabic lounge singer. It was very amusing listening to Arabic renditions of cheesy 70's tunes. I'd say "keep your day job" but I think this was his day job. At some point Shahinaz joined us. She had some "magic pills" she said would fix Chris right up (where have I heard this before?). She took them, we'll find out. At any rate, it was a good day for me, and I look forward to the adventures of tomorrow. |
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