The next morning, bright and early we headed over to the Valley of the Kings. Holy crap was it hot due to the limestone reflecting the sun. Amos and I were with a different group than the day before and our guide sort of sucked.
We got to the Valley of the Kings (VOTK) and I went to buy my ticket with my student card. The guy at the ticket window looked at it and said, "When is this for?" I replied, "Now." He said, "Where is the sticker?" "It fell off." He goes, "Don't waste my time. Full price. 80 pounds." Oooh, I was pissed. Amos had a student card too and got another ticket for me. No cameras were allowed at all, so I didn't get any pictures here.
In our group was a young (he looked no more than 25) looking American guy that had converted to Islam and his wife, who was born in Egypt but raised in Saudi Arabia I guess. He said he was teaching En
glish at some university in Saudi and that this was his first foray in the ESL world. He seemed like he really didn't want to answer any of my questions and didn't really look me in the eye. I asked him where he was from in the states and he said "central Florida." Really? He surely didn't have a southern accent. Very shady. Anyway, The necropolis was built from 1539 - 1075 BC, and contain at least 63 tombs with some containing more than 100 chambers. There are several open to visitors, but your ticket only allows you into three. It was so hot and crowded and you had to stand in line for 10 minutes before being able to descend the stairs into the tombs. It was during this time that his poor wife wearing a black burqua started to fade out. It must have been 100 degrees and she was just about to faint. She went and sat down in the shade and bought a little straw hat to wear over her burqua. They didn't have any water. You live in Saudi Arabia and don't know to bring water with you when you go out in the desert?! I gave her my water and hoped she'd feel better.
The only thing I really cared about seeing here was
the tomb and mummy of King Tut. I was able to see his death mask when I was at the Egyptian museum and sneak a picture of it on my cell phone. The mummy is now on display in the VOTKs for the first time since being discovered. It cost me an extra 50LE to get in, but I didn't care. The tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, and what most people don't realize is that it took him 10 years to excavate it due to his attention to detail. The mummy was very small and black and was mostly covered. You could only see his head and feet.
Tutankhamen was nine years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years. The latest theory about his death is that he died from malaria caused by a weakened immune system after
suffering a sudden leg fracture. Previous theories suggested that he was murdered due to a fracture at the back of his skull, but modern theorists believe this was caused during the mummification process. They were afraid of causing his face to collapse while removing his internal organs so they opted to remove his brain from the back of his skull instead.
After we left the VOTKs we were too hot and tired for the Valley of the Queens...so we skipped it. We went to Hatshepsut's mortuary temple next. There were several queens that ruled
Egypt, but she was the first that took on the moniker of "pharaoh;" ruling during the 18th Dynasty. She even assumed all of the regalia and symbols of pharonic office in official representations: The Khat head cloth, and the traditional false beard for example. After Hatshepsut's death, Tuthmosos replaced her image with his own and erased some images completely as is evident on the walls of the temple. Tragically in 1997, an Islamic extremist group attacked the temple disguised as security forces and massacred 62 people as they were trapped inside. This is the main reason that tourists have to move around in convoys.
We did, however, go to see the Colossi of Memnon which are two massive stone structures of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. They have been
standing in the Theban necropolis for 3400 years since 1350BC. The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's memorial but nothing is left of it. In 27 BC, a large earthquake shattered the eastern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of the statue was reputed to "sing" on various occasions, usually right at dawn. The cracks were eventually cemented together and the "singing" stopped.
Lastly, our tour guide took us to an alabaster shop. We were shown how they make the alabaster and then you are taken inside of course in hopes you will b
uy something. God I hate haggling. I wasn't going to buy anything but...I saw this cute alabaster cat and then I saw a green Anubis statue that was unlike any I had seen before. They turned the lights off to show me it was moonstone and glows in the dark. It seemed like a plastic resin to me, but they kept insisting that they were from natural stone. This is where my philosophy about buying things from Egypt comes in. You must first ask yourself: Is this something I really want? Next: am I comfortable paying this price even if it isn't genuine papyrus or really made of Pashmina, or in my case, real moonstone or just plastic. I offered 100LE (around $20
.00) for the cat and the Anubis. The guy wanted 320LE (which is like $65.00). No way. I finally got him down to 150LE (around 30.00) which I still knew was too much, but I had never seen a glow-in-the-dark Anubis, which I thought was cheesy but cool. As I walked out the door, an old man working there shoved some junk pieces of alabaster in my bag along with a small carved fish and said "free." NOTHING is EVER free. Sure enough, he put out his hand and started whining about being so poor. I gave him a couple of pounds and was kind of disgusted with myself.
We went back to the hotel and I decided to stroll along the Nile and take some pictures. It didn't take long before some Egyptian guy started to walk along side of me and talk t
o me. He assured me he wasn't trying to get me to buy anything (yeah right) and just wanted to talk. Whatever. After a few minutes I told him I'm married. He was like, "Why didn't you tell me?" I said, "I'm wearing a ring. Isn't is obvious?" He said he thought it was just decoration. What difference does it make if you're just talking to me dude? Uuugh. Suddenly I saw the Italian guy and his Spanish girlfriend (Cristian and Veronica.) Saved! Cristian told me they had no hot water in their room! No kidding! It's the whole damn hotel! Then he related a story about going on a felucca ride for lunch. He said they got some beers and they cost some ridiculous price like 25LE or something ($5.00, which is expensive for Egypt.) He said there was an American guy teaching in Turkey that went BALLISTIC! lol. Oh my God. It was the same guy from the night before! Poor dude will probably have an aneurysm before he gets back to Turkey.
In front of Hatshepsut Temple.
The God of Embalmers, Anubis, in Hatshepsut Temple.
Amos, on the far left, and the shady American and his wife on the right.
We got to the Valley of the Kings (VOTK) and I went to buy my ticket with my student card. The guy at the ticket window looked at it and said, "When is this for?" I replied, "Now." He said, "Where is the sticker?" "It fell off." He goes, "Don't waste my time. Full price. 80 pounds." Oooh, I was pissed. Amos had a student card too and got another ticket for me. No cameras were allowed at all, so I didn't get any pictures here.
In our group was a young (he looked no more than 25) looking American guy that had converted to Islam and his wife, who was born in Egypt but raised in Saudi Arabia I guess. He said he was teaching En
glish at some university in Saudi and that this was his first foray in the ESL world. He seemed like he really didn't want to answer any of my questions and didn't really look me in the eye. I asked him where he was from in the states and he said "central Florida." Really? He surely didn't have a southern accent. Very shady. Anyway, The necropolis was built from 1539 - 1075 BC, and contain at least 63 tombs with some containing more than 100 chambers. There are several open to visitors, but your ticket only allows you into three. It was so hot and crowded and you had to stand in line for 10 minutes before being able to descend the stairs into the tombs. It was during this time that his poor wife wearing a black burqua started to fade out. It must have been 100 degrees and she was just about to faint. She went and sat down in the shade and bought a little straw hat to wear over her burqua. They didn't have any water. You live in Saudi Arabia and don't know to bring water with you when you go out in the desert?! I gave her my water and hoped she'd feel better.The only thing I really cared about seeing here was
the tomb and mummy of King Tut. I was able to see his death mask when I was at the Egyptian museum and sneak a picture of it on my cell phone. The mummy is now on display in the VOTKs for the first time since being discovered. It cost me an extra 50LE to get in, but I didn't care. The tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, and what most people don't realize is that it took him 10 years to excavate it due to his attention to detail. The mummy was very small and black and was mostly covered. You could only see his head and feet.Tutankhamen was nine years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years. The latest theory about his death is that he died from malaria caused by a weakened immune system after
suffering a sudden leg fracture. Previous theories suggested that he was murdered due to a fracture at the back of his skull, but modern theorists believe this was caused during the mummification process. They were afraid of causing his face to collapse while removing his internal organs so they opted to remove his brain from the back of his skull instead.After we left the VOTKs we were too hot and tired for the Valley of the Queens...so we skipped it. We went to Hatshepsut's mortuary temple next. There were several queens that ruled
Egypt, but she was the first that took on the moniker of "pharaoh;" ruling during the 18th Dynasty. She even assumed all of the regalia and symbols of pharonic office in official representations: The Khat head cloth, and the traditional false beard for example. After Hatshepsut's death, Tuthmosos replaced her image with his own and erased some images completely as is evident on the walls of the temple. Tragically in 1997, an Islamic extremist group attacked the temple disguised as security forces and massacred 62 people as they were trapped inside. This is the main reason that tourists have to move around in convoys. We did, however, go to see the Colossi of Memnon which are two massive stone structures of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. They have been
standing in the Theban necropolis for 3400 years since 1350BC. The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's memorial but nothing is left of it. In 27 BC, a large earthquake shattered the eastern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of the statue was reputed to "sing" on various occasions, usually right at dawn. The cracks were eventually cemented together and the "singing" stopped.Lastly, our tour guide took us to an alabaster shop. We were shown how they make the alabaster and then you are taken inside of course in hopes you will b
uy something. God I hate haggling. I wasn't going to buy anything but...I saw this cute alabaster cat and then I saw a green Anubis statue that was unlike any I had seen before. They turned the lights off to show me it was moonstone and glows in the dark. It seemed like a plastic resin to me, but they kept insisting that they were from natural stone. This is where my philosophy about buying things from Egypt comes in. You must first ask yourself: Is this something I really want? Next: am I comfortable paying this price even if it isn't genuine papyrus or really made of Pashmina, or in my case, real moonstone or just plastic. I offered 100LE (around $20
.00) for the cat and the Anubis. The guy wanted 320LE (which is like $65.00). No way. I finally got him down to 150LE (around 30.00) which I still knew was too much, but I had never seen a glow-in-the-dark Anubis, which I thought was cheesy but cool. As I walked out the door, an old man working there shoved some junk pieces of alabaster in my bag along with a small carved fish and said "free." NOTHING is EVER free. Sure enough, he put out his hand and started whining about being so poor. I gave him a couple of pounds and was kind of disgusted with myself.We went back to the hotel and I decided to stroll along the Nile and take some pictures. It didn't take long before some Egyptian guy started to walk along side of me and talk t
o me. He assured me he wasn't trying to get me to buy anything (yeah right) and just wanted to talk. Whatever. After a few minutes I told him I'm married. He was like, "Why didn't you tell me?" I said, "I'm wearing a ring. Isn't is obvious?" He said he thought it was just decoration. What difference does it make if you're just talking to me dude? Uuugh. Suddenly I saw the Italian guy and his Spanish girlfriend (Cristian and Veronica.) Saved! Cristian told me they had no hot water in their room! No kidding! It's the whole damn hotel! Then he related a story about going on a felucca ride for lunch. He said they got some beers and they cost some ridiculous price like 25LE or something ($5.00, which is expensive for Egypt.) He said there was an American guy teaching in Turkey that went BALLISTIC! lol. Oh my God. It was the same guy from the night before! Poor dude will probably have an aneurysm before he gets back to Turkey.
I had a quiet dinner by the Nile and went to bed. No shower. I was flying to Dahab in the morning and would take one when I got there.
In front of Hatshepsut Temple.
The God of Embalmers, Anubis, in Hatshepsut Temple.
Amos, on the far left, and the shady American and his wife on the right.
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