DAY 19 - DONKEY DAY
SYNOPSIS: On the back of a donkey, I visited the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings, and a few other sights on the west bank of Luxor.
FULL MOON OVER LUXOR
Will we ever part? Mountain Man Aubrey and Spirit Man Kasper were going to go their own ways. But to make a long story short, we ended up once again at a hotel together; this time at the west bank hotel Kareem, across from Luxor. Mountain Man had left yesterday to find a cheaper place, but did not like it there at all. Spirit Man was going to find a hotel on the west bank with kitchen, but the one he had sought out had closed. And I was going to stay at a quaint, traditional west bank hotel that was known for housing international crews of archaeologists and Egyptologists, but it had jacked up its prices and despite lack of guests, the owner was not willing to negotiate the price. And so we combined forces and settled at a west bank hotel whose owner was willing to negotiate price and space. I have a two bedroom with a huge balcony for the price of a discounted one bedroom all to myself. Aubrey has something similar and Kasper has a large one bedroom. We are the only guests in a large, relatively new hotel. We have the run of the kitchen and the run of the roof top terrace, overlooking the Valley of the Queens and the little village down the below. If that is not enough, there is a small enclosed garden as well which provides shade and quietude.
The east bank – Luxor and the west bank, Kurna, have little in common. There is city life on the east and village life on the west. If you move west, you trade the honking of cars for the chirping of birds and the laughter of children playing. That was just fine with us.
Two brothers run the place, Mandu and Shema. As everyone else around here, they are hurting for business. Mandu picked me up at the ferry this morning helping me with my luggage. Those kinds of services are not included when thousands of tourists flood this area. We heard today that usually, the Valley of the Kings is visited by 6-8 thousand people a day. We asked the guide how many there are now and the answer was 6-8. I think it’s a bit more than that by now – we are actually seeing a handful of individual tourists here and there, but just imagine! The huge parking lots at every one of the sights I saw today were empty; not a single bus in sight. One local lamented that this is the second year in a row in which business is hurt badly through outside factors. Last year it was the smoke from the volcano that put a big dent into business. I had forgotten about that. But I was in Iran when I heard that for over a week no flights were going out of Europe or something close to that due to a volcano eruption which was polluting the skies. Of course, that would affect a lot of tourism all around the world.
The good thing about travel companions is cost sharing. Transportation can add up around here, since none of the sights are accessible by foot. You need a taxi, a bike, a bus, or… a donkey! Mandu arranged for three donkeys plus guide for us to get around today. By 8 AM we had saddled the donkeys and headed towards the Valley of the Queens. Donkeys are funny creatures! They tipple along with tiny, fast steps. It looks hilarious to ride behind somebody else seeing them bopping along as if in fast forward motion. The three donkeys had very distinct personalities. Mine was very responsive to pulls of the stirrups, but it loved to lead instead of following me when we were on foot. Mountain Man’s donkey was lazy and slow. But Spirit Man’s donkey was outright evil. It would not stop or slow down no matter how hard he yanked at that rope. At one point it even threw him off as it stepped into an unexpected gallop just when Spirit Man was in the process of mounting the beast. I am glad I was not on that one. Our guide admitted, that Spirit Man as the youngest and strongest among us, deliberately ended up with the notoriously stubborn of the donkeys.
This morning, Mandu folded a Nubian-style turban for me so that I would not get sick from all the sun exposure. People around here think it’s cold, but I have a different perspective. Mountain Man looks just like a local with his brown and weathered skin and is used to African temperatures. No amount of sun can get through to him. He did not even wear a hat. Spirit Man does not seem to burn much and he has this cool, leather cowboy hat. But even though I put on sun factor 50 sun cream twice a day and wore a turban, it’s me who is burned and sun damaged at night. Those wimpy north European genes are good for nothings, really! But with two liters of water and frequent escapes into the shades, I survived the day.
COLOSSI OF MEMNOS
Our first stop was the colossi of Memnos. They pretty much stand in the middle of a field where once there was one of the largest temples in all of Egypt. Nothing much is left because so much was constructed in mud-brick. The colossi are impressive specifically, because they seem so forlorn in their surrounds of sugar canes and green fields.
In the Valley of the Queens three tombs were open, two of which were not queens but princes, children of queens. I guess, they did not quite qualify for burial in the Valley of the Kings since they never made it to kinghood; hence were left near their mothers. In both valleys the tombs generally consist of a long shafts leading deep into the mountain and downwards. Off the main corridor there are storage rooms for provisions, instruments, and riches. The end point often is a small hypostyle hall preceding the burial chamber which may or may not contain a sarcophagus depending on early looters or later archaeologists. Much is in Cairo, Paris, London, or New York these days…
The longest tomb we entered today was 120 meters (360 feet) deep. The tombs are in various stages of completion and contain brightly painted relief carvings covering scenes from the Book of the Dead and other Egyptian funerary literature. The detail and the state of preservation in some of them is incredible. And to have the tombs empty allowed us to stay and look as long as we wanted. Normally, long lines of tourists are shoved through single file and there is not much lingering. Also, on days full of tourists, the air is nearly impossible to breathe down in these tombs due to lack of air circulation, dust, and sweat. The damage to the tombs because of the human traffic is considerable. Protective glass has been added to preserve the images, but the humidity takes its toll creating fungi causing irreparable losses.
To see all the tombs open to the public at the Valley of the Kings we would have had to spend over $60…! We chose to buy a selective ticket and the three tombs we saw were definitely representative of the rest. No, we did not go into King Tut’s tomb. It has one of the original sarcophagi left, but Cairo Museum has the better ones. The decoration is not superb and I saw it 15 years ago. Not memorable.
PEAK AT THE VALLEY OF KINGS
There is absolutely no photography inside any of the tombs and these guys mean business. Lonely Planet warns about breaking this rule, as confiscations of memory cards is the penalty when caught. Spirit Man, however, was able to snap a few blurry pictures while we covered for him when the guide looked away or was busy with other things. The advantage of a small camera… Oh, it still hurts to think of the loss of that camera and how it will hamper my style for the next few months. Damn!
Because of our donkeys, we approached Deir el Bahri, the temple of Hatshepsut, from the high mountain range winding our way down into the valley. We had spectacular views into the worker’s village of Deir El Medina from up there. Deir El Medina was a settlement for the workers who worked on the valleys and lived on the east bank. Perhaps, I can visit it in the next few days. We also had some treacherous terrain to cover and occasionally had to lead the donkeys down slipping and sliding rocks and sand. Or, in my case, the donkey was pulling me down the hill. At times I had to just let him go or I would be somewhere at the bottom of a cliff. Thankfully, the guide was at hand to fetch my lose donkey and to show him who is boss.
Despite overall praise by everyone else, Deir el Bahri is not my favorite. It looks like a concrete factory as it has been completely over-restored. Half the temple is not even accessible and many of the reliefs on the wall are dusty and hard to make out. But I like her! One of the four or five females on the throne, she made up a great story to convince people of her divinity: That she was raised by the sacred cow goddess Hathor herself and therefore qualified as a pharaoh. She put on the false beard and ruled for nearly two decades. And she ruled wisely: Instead of waging war with the Nubians, plundering, killing and taking prisoners, she outfitted legendary trading expeditions to the land of Punt! Win-win for all and riches for Egypt. Put a man on the throne and you get war and resentment. Put a woman on the throne and you get trade and peace.
We almost missed out on the final temple, the Ramesseum, since the ticket booth was far away and we ran out of time. Our donkey guide just wanted to ride by. I asked to take pictures from the outside and when we got there, the door was open. We went in, roamed around, took great pictures and there they came: A guard and the tourist police! We made up some excuses of being clueless about tickets and bribed our way into staying. The Ramesseum is the temple, Ramses II built away from his tomb. It was the place where worship and temple activities continued way after Ramses’ funeral. A giant statue of him has fallen and is strewn on the ground in various pieces; this is one of my favorite spots in this area.
RAMESSEUM WITH BROKEN GIANT
When we mounted the donkeys, they practically started running. It had been over 9 hours since we started and they had not seen any food or water. They knew the way home and there was no stopping them. When we reached the hotel, we tipped the guide and then found ourselves accused of not paying him. There it was again, the deliberate price misunderstanding, really a set up, which I have encountered more than once. That put a bit of a damper on things, but it is unfortunately typical. You are quoted one thing and when the time comes to pay, there is all of a sudden something else you were supposed to pay for. It puts a guilt trip on you and then you have to decide whether to be a schmuck or to pay twice as much as you had agreed on… Oh well.
What a fun day we had and what a unique experience. The donkey is about as ancient a mode of transportation as the feluka. I am so glad I had a chance to experience both. But tomorrow I will be back on my feet.
Good night.