And all for $21...
Today we had the option of joining an organised tour, with Mokhles and Osama (our Egyptian fixers), costing $70USD. We would leave at 6, visit the Valley of the Kings, have lunch and visit another monument. Seeing the Valley of the Kings was top on my list of things to do in Luxor but I didn't fancy walking around with 20 other people, and being tied to a schedule. Fortunately, Jenna, Steph, David and Dylan felt the same.
The self proclaimed 'kids of the tour' flew the nest at around 8.30, in search of breakfast. Strolling through the local Egyptian market we came across a man selling green falafel in pita bread - $5 egyptian (about 35cents NZ) bought us two pita bread and falafel each. A few stalls later on a mystic looking tea/coffee shop provided caffeinated beverages for all of 70cents. Revived and cultured we walked down to the Nile and were able to pick up a private boat across to the East Bank. The streets of Luxor are surprisingly devoid of western tourists. Our rationale is that it is the low season, however we maybe saw 10 others in the last 48hours. There are alot of empty horse drawn carriages touting for business.
Steph is very good at haggling, without all the negotiating. Essentially she suggests a price and it seems to stick. Once across the Nile we transferred straight into a minibus taxi to take us the 9km up to the Valley of the Kings. We 'lucked out' (as the Canadian's would say) with our taxi driver Ahmed. He has a diploma in Computer science, but was unable to get a job and so ended up working in the Hilton and studying tourism. Now he drives taxis. He took us up the Valley, and even stopped at a road side stall suggesting we bought water before getting there in order to avoid extortionate tourist prices.
The Valley of the Kings was well worth the 1.5hours we spent there. You purchase a ticket which enables you to enter three of the sixty three tombs. We selected three of the open ones Ramesses IV, Ramesses IX and Twosret. The whole valley is comprised of a series of entrances in the rock face. Each entrance is a gateway to the resting ground of a Pharaoh. Corridors carved out of rock, beautifully decorated with coloured hieroglyphics, mostly terminating in a chamber containing a sarcophagus. A very extravagant graveyard. Very humbling to view something over 3000 years old, and so well preserved. The Ancient Egyptians were extremely good at what they did!
In Cairo, mum and I visited the Egyptian museum. They had a room with mummies in - the carcasses were so well preserved, and some even still had hair. Ramesses IV tomb was my favourite as the colours didn't seem to have faded, and it even looked like a type of wallpaper someone might decorate a nursery or children's room with today. It is amazing the time and money that was invested in preparing for the afterlife, and we comment on the expense required for coffins, flowers and funerals today!
Ahmed was waiting for us in the carpark. Feeling the need for lunch Steph asked for a 'cheap, Egyptian lunch, no tourists - something that you would eat'. It did make me a little nervous when we pulled up on the side of a street, he led us down to what I can only describe as a dark garage-like entrance. Passing a kiosk with 4 chickens on a stick being slowly rotisserie-d! The dark underground garage was actually an underground cafe, serving pigeon (although they had run out today), chicken and vegetable lunches. We opted for three chicken, two vegetable meals and sat back to observe the ambience! A concrete room, with about 8 tables and some plastic chairs, it appeared to be the lunch stop for the local males. Over the period of an hour we were served a basket of fresh naan/pita bread type things, orzo bean broth, lentil dahl, a 1/4 of rotisserie-d chicken each (the skin tasted like bacon, probably best chicken I have tasted), some rice and some pickled vegetables to share. Definitely filled the void, and then some! It cost 42 Egyptian pounds each - which equates to about 3NZD each.
Back on the road, and returning to the Nile we passed a sugar cane trailer. Ahmed must have read
our minds because he pulled into the hard shoulder and asked the locals if we could try some sugarcane. The sugar cane is a fibrous stem, filled with a sugary water. You strip the fibrous outer away, easiest done with your teeth, and then bite into the fleshy core. It is refreshing but very sweet. Once you have chewed and extracted the juice, you simply spit out the pulp.
Feeling unwisely smug we made our way back the Rezeiky Hotel and Camp, calculating how much we had saved venturing out the Valley of the Kings on our own, and how much more we had got out of it than 'the others'...the others have not returned yet, so our claims are unfounded, however we all throughly enjoyed our day out without bikes!
