AFTER SUPPER one or two of the group went to explore the boat, they went as far as the deck and had a drink. Tomorrow would be the start of exploring Temples 6.00 am wake up calls were arranged for us all and we all retired.We didn't need the alarm. "Allahu Akbar....Ashhadu allailaha illallah..." rang out from the minaret next to the boat, followed in series by several other mosques, it was 04:30 in the morning, I was awake when the telephone alarm came. Well if I am honest, as we were all located in adjacent cabins, I heard Swales phone followed by Gary and Marion's, then ours, then Etty's.....etc.
OK wide awake I had a shower. Well I had a sort of shower. I got in and realised the doors which slid, were pressing on my back and my head was an inch away from the shower head, I managed to soak and apply soap to the parts I could reach which tended to be as far as the thighs. Later comparing notes, Mike told me he went into the shower soaked himself, came out, and soaped himself then went back in to rinse. Seemed like the example to copy.
After showering and general ablutions, we went down to breakfast which was in the bowels of the boat, and I need you to remember that the word bowel was first used here. The room was nicely laid out, two tables allocated for our group with 8 to a table. I was down before Ange, but Etty was ahead of me so I sat at the same table. After a general sweep of the eating options, I got some chocolate cereal and milk and then went to the industrial toaster and did two pieces of bread and had jam with it. Then my daily ritual pill taking, and I was ready for the excursion. The rest came and dined in dribs and drabs and we went to the reception area to meet the guide Ahmed. "Good morning the Luxor temple and Karnak group, from now on I will refer to you as habibi." This word is literally translated from Arabic as "my beloved", Ahmed continued, "wherever we are I will have this sign" he showed us a laminated card on one side it said habibi. "So habibi on the other side it simply says "The best group" if we split up please look for this sign."
We then followed Ahmed. What we didn't fully appreciate was that the boats docked along side each other, abreast as it were. We were closest the shore on this occasion, so we went straight off the boat via a gang plank Ahmed led us up steps to a bus. Once on the bus we drove a reasonably short distance to the Luxor Temple. Ahmed explained on the bus that we would be visiting the Luxor temple followed by Karnak and then up the Nile about 9 kilometers where the boat will have moved to a new berth. "Follow me habibi...."
We walked from the bus park to the entrance Ahmed had given us all a ticket for admission/ We filed through and assembled outside this very impressive building. "habibi! I am going to tell you many things and at the end of each tour I will be testing you so you must remember. What you see is The Temple at Luxor. Each temple has two Pylons, these are either side of the space which is an entrance, through that entrance is a courtyard with no roof, this is for the poor people. Then there is a covered vault and this is for the rich people, like footballers yes, after that there is the holy of holys, where only the King and the high priest are allowed to enter. We will go through each section and I will point out all the interesting features, then I will give you time on your own and we will meet back here in the shade later." We moved on to the outer courtyard, then the covered vault and the holy of holys. At this point he pointed out that the dimensions of each space tapered both in width and height until at the holy of holys the taper was complete. This was a similar shape to the pyramids but on its side. The reason being that the king was the God Ra's representative on earth and the holy of holys was completely dark, so as you entered you went from light to dark and at the holy of holys the King would be closest to God.
We arranged a 30 minute look around and then met at the allocated point, which is depicted in the photograph at the beginning of the blog.
Back on the bus we set off for Karnak, and Ahmed pointed out to us major excavations going on in Luxor to link Karnak and the Temple via an ancient causeway lined with sphinxes and other statues. This means the moving and demolition of more modern buildings. If Luxor was impressive then Karnak was much better. This temple is the one depicted on the film "Death on the Nile" and in one of the Bond movies where 'jaws' is seen on top of the pillars.
It had the same layout as the temple at Luxor only there were many more columns all the capitals had papyrus scrolls, indicating they were Egyptian constructions. There were hieroglyphics on the stonework Ahmed explained the significance of the Cartouche which usually contained other hieroglyphics identifying the King who built the temple and in Karnak that was Akenaten and the temple dedicated to the God Aten. Ahmed had pointed out that the Pharaohs had three periods, the first, the middle and the last, there were 30 families.
Having seen two very impressive temples we got back on the bus and drove the 9 kilometers to pick up the boat. You see some funny sights in Egypt and one such sight revealed itself in the middle of Luxor, we passed a man on a scooter with a sheep across his handle bars!!!
This time we were not the first boat and we walked through others to reach ours. We had already decided to gather on the deck for a well earned drink.
There were 16 chairs and 4 tables laid out by a few of the group under cover on the deck. It was find your bearings time. We bought our first drinks, and as with all the boats no money changed hands it was all charged to the cabin. A beer was 28 LE (Egyptian pounds) roughly 3 English pounds. We were advised by everyone who had been on a Nile cruise to take your own booze. The problem being the boat owners and the crew would not be impressed. They didn't know it yet, but the boat's sales of diet coke was about to quadruple. there were four drinking groups, The Vodka drinkers, The Whisky drinkers, the Bacardi drinkers and the wine drinkers. The Vodka and Bacardis became known as "lemonade" and the whisky "irn brew". So each of the group had a bottle with "lemonade" to go into the coke, and "irn brew" to go in the coke. As for the wine, one white wine and one red wine bottle was bought and then refilled as and when required from the boxes of wine in the cabins. The Egyptian bar staff were often perplexed to see 16 sober people buy umpteen cans of coke and drunks as skunks at the end of the evening, before the end of the Nile cruise those same people were smelling a rat and tips had to come into play.
Day three arrived and it was a trip to Edfu. The early morning calls preceded by the 04:30 am "Allahu Akbar...................." occurred. At breakfast the intrepid group was getting more experimental, Laurence came past with two fried eggs, others had omelette's, boiled eggs, pancakes etc. and Tony was eating something that looked like beef stew. The omens should have been noticed, that food may not be conducive to a touring holiday. We were advised to order a bottle of water at breakfast to take with us, which we all did. At the receptions we gathered. "Habibi, we are going to Edfu temple and I have arranged for horses and carriages to take you there, follow me and when you arrive please wait on the pavement I will be in the last carriage".
We hit the street, and the horse and carts were there in a line and what a sorry set of beasts they looked too. Ribs showing and to some extent dishevelled. we were in the second carriage with Dave and Pete. Ange and Pete sat facing the horse, Dave was next to the driver and I was sat in the foot well in front of Ange and Pete. It was very uncomfortable, after a while, the driver let Dave drive. Here you need to know about Egyptian driving. They don't! they aim. Pedestrians walk in front of moving cars and they stop mid lane to chat to a friend.
When we were all assembled at the other end, Ahmed walked us to the entrance, but we had to go through a bazaar and they knew that the following night was the Arabian night on board the boat. This is when the passengers dress up in Arab costume for the party and the meal.
As we walked through the bazaar every one of us was assailed by a trader, one put a head dress on me, and said " you see me when you come back I sell you good clothes" the same with nearly everyone of us.
Edfu was another big temple, following the now familiar layout, we toured it and learned new things and then set off for the exit. This time the friendly sales patter was more intense, they would hardly let you past, I gave the head dress back to the man who sold it me and he said "no you must come to my shop" I refused and kept walking but realised Ange was having a harder time, so I went back and helped her leave,
As the horse man arrived we got back aboard, this time I sat next to the driver and half way back he gave me the reins to drive. I winged it realising if I pull one way the horse moves in that direction and the man kept whipping the horses flank for it to run. I was very glad when we stopped. Before I knew it the horse man had taken my camera and started clicking with it, He gave it me back with hand open, I was moving off he said "...no tip....?" I gave him 5 LE, he said "what about photograph?" I gave him another 5, "Two of you" I said "bugger off you have all you are getting" and ran on to the boat.
From here we had a longish sail to Kom Ombo temple, which we would visit at 4 pm that same day. However, one or two were getting temple'd out. There were not as many going on the Kom Ombo visit, but it was one of the easiest ones, we walked to it from the boat as it was directly next to the nile. Once done we were back on board and it was meal time once more.
The evening meals were very similar each day as were the breakfasts and lunches, and some of our group were conspicuous by their absence. then we began to get tales of the runs...and it seemed that this discussion always happened around meal time much to Ange;s disappointment. Some of our group could have been general surgeons, what they didn't know about the digestive tract, wasn't worth knowing. By the third day we had all had a guided tour of Laurence's bowel activity over the preceding 24 hours. One by one our group were dropping like flies. As each party member arrived on deck for after dinner drinks, we learned at least 20 derogatory ways to say diarrhea and that one topic was set to dominate discussion for the rest of the holiday. The one good thing was we had nurse Carol, who was like a veritable girl guide, she had diacalm tablets salts for re hydrating and good advice about how to avoid cold drink, not too much alcohol and plenty of rest, which was promptly ignored as copious quantities of "lemonade" Irn Brew" and wine were consumed with lots of ice into the night.
After Kom Ombo, we had a long sail up to Aswan, and that meant a day of sailing so sun bathing was high on the agenda, Kevin did his best German impression on day 3 by saving 16 sunbeds on the deck, a sterling effort. two beds were given up, I am not a big sun worshipper and Pete started his new job as the boat's figure head, he found a table and chair right at the front of the pointed end, and soaked up the sun. Gary, Mike, the other Gary, Jeremy, Laurence and Etty were all suffering from Ghandi's revenge, so relaxing was a relative term, occasionally you would see one of them scurrying by clenching their teeth and buttocks gay or straight it didn't matter everyone was mincing this holiday.
As the day drew on, we all took the sun, and late afternoon we all started again with the beers near the bar. But just before the sun dropped, lots of tiny boats with young boys rowing them came alongside our boat they wrapped a rope around anything they could and started to throw polythene bags with Egyptian costumes in, shouting for $20 or £15 or €15...and our lot throwing them back. Before dinner the boat entered a loch and we all watched quite a remarkable piece of boatmanship as they guided the boat through.
we had aperitifs then showered down to dinner, then on the deck for more "lemonade" "Irn Brew" and wine. Tomorrow was Aswan, where we would see the Aswan dam, Lake Nassa and a Temple on an island in the Nile called Philae ....
Chapter 3 will be here very soon....
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