Onward to Cairo & Giza

I wished for more time in Luxor and the surrounding area. It's a beautiful spot with so much more to see. I was amazed at the mix of road traffic and how everyone seems to find their own piece of asphalt - taxis, cars, donkey & cart with driver, cleches (horse & carriage), camels, people on bicycle. There are so many horses trotting past you with fancy decorated carriages carrying locals and tourists. Streets jammed up with pedestrians and horses, suddenly out of nowhere a large truck wants to get through. The driving in Egypt truly is from another world. It's like swimming down a river and everyone slides out of the way narrowly missing by millimeters the moving object next to them on all sides. It's quite an experience! Egypt is a place where time has not really moved forward all that much. In the midst of plenty of garbage, there were expansive green fields the locals were busy nurturing and harvesting. There is a lot of greenery here for animal and people consumption. Visually, it is a rest for the senses and gives a small bit of nourishment back in a funny kind of way. Many of the people live in the poorest looking homes with their donkey, camel, or goat right outside. The kids play in dirt amidst the people, animals, and garbage. Everyone is very happy for the most part. I, myself could not imagine living in some of these places. Traveling opens up ones mind and heart in no way that a book or movie can. I am hooked and find myself torn between wanting to go back to all the places we've been to spend more time and seeing new places.
Luckily, we had the name of a guide, Tariq who grew up in the little town of Giza right by the Pyramids. He saved us in many ways and made our trip so memorable with his hospitality and ability to share his wealth of Egyptian knowledge. Anyone thinking of visiting Cairo/Luxor get Tariq's contact from me. He is amazing!! We actually stayed in the upper flat of his family's home (which is large) and had a perfect view of the Pyramids. Everynight we could hear the 5 versions of the sound and light show, first in English, then French, Spanish, Russian etc. 365 days of the year this show takes over the night sky in Giza. It was a perfect way to see the show and watch the Pyramids lite up especially since the day we visited there was a wicked sand storm. Hence the covered faces, blowing scarves, and hazy looking shots. Tariq guided us through the Cairo Museum focusing our attention on the most important pieces there as we figured 2 hours was about our limit with the kids. The highlight of course was seeing the room full of Tutankhamen's jewels, the famous mask of his face in gold and semiprecious stones that covered him to his shoulders. The heavy stripes in blue and gold with royal symbols on his forehead and all around his face are inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli and cornelians. The three sarcophagi were absolutely stunning each one more exquiste than the next. The amount of gold and the intricate carvings were incredible. The 3rd coffin was "a block of solid gold between 2 and 3 1/2mm. thick, weighing more than 110 kilos, an incredible mass of pure gold." It takes awhile to take in all the beauty of these pieces and even then my ability to fully appreciate it feels stunted. I need more time here to absorb the scope of all of this. However, this is what we had and I am so lucky to have opened the door to these incredible tombs.
Powerful, aromatic healing oils are referred to frequently by our guide that are were used by the Kings and royalty. The two sacred plants to Egypt are the Papyrus and Lotus flower. Images of these plants are used frequently in the ancient drawings for healing purposed and to bring good luck. We were taken to an oil shop that had been passed down for generations in the family. Our man, Aladdin was the son who had taken over the business, gave us a comfortable sampling of some of their oils. All of the oils smelled so pure and fresh, it was hard not to resist buying all of them. We did end up with Parsley oil, an unusual one so we thought we'd try it, Bergamot, Euculyptus, and Lotus oils.
The rest of the trip details will have to wait until we see you in person. As I write this, I am thinking of all the pictures I didn't get that I wish I had. Once I get a pocket digi, I'll capture so much more.

Escape to Luxor & Giza

Egypt has been calling to our family ever since the kids were born and my mom would tell them endless stories about the hidden tombs, jewels, kings, and queens. Having signed on for a new posting in China next year, we decided to escape the excitement of National & Liberation Days in Kuwait and head for the mysterious and richly past of Egypt.
We flew into Luxor and stayed 2 nights at a fabulous, funky hostel type hotel called the Nefretiti Hotel right in the heart of Luxor. Our front door put you out into a breezeway walk through that continuously transformed itself from morning coffee stop into a lively late afternoon evening outdoor cafe with shisha and turkish cafe served non-stop. Out of nowhere local food would appear. You just had to know to order it and the guy would run away to a local take out type restaurant and then run it back to you 'to go'. Our tour guide for Valley of the Queens & Kings told us about this and as we were famished from our outing with him we sat down and kept ordering - falafals, noodles & rice, turkish cafes, yummy puddings (i forget the local names). Everything was 5 egyptian pounds which is about 250 fils which is around 1 Canadian dollar. pretty cheap and yummy. We ate till we were stuffed. Just around the corner was a great souk with all kinds of things for sale and very thirsty vendors. If you looked, you had to buy. No window shopping allowed! We had some fun with a few of the sellers. Geoff and I spent about an hour in one store that was chock full of everything from brass door knockers (I bought one) to gorgeous hanging lamps to rugs, scarfs, and general middle eastern pawn shop items.
We all loved visiting the temples, tombs, seeing the ancient drawings on the walls leading down to the burial chambers. It truly is stunning to see the intricate work that these ancient peoples spent their whole lives doing. Everything was focused on preparing for the second life. They were to work hard and tirelessly in this life and then be rewarded with leisure and pleasure time in the next life. Royalty made sure their lives were taken care of, but I wonder about all the other millions of people. Where did they all end up?