Luxor Bound: Kom Ombo & Edfu

Amos and I hopped in a microbus with some other people and off we went to see more ruins. The Irish couple was left behind. I think it turned out they were put on the wrong felucca, so they were going to have to sort out who was going to pick them up and figure out where they were supposed to go.

Our first stop was Kom Ombo. Amos and I decided not to go inside. It didn't look like much from the outside and I wanted to save some money. Each temple costs anywhere from 25 - 100LE to enter (from $5 - 17.00). That really adds up when you go to an average of three temples a day. I kind of wish I had gone in because I heard it was pretty good because it had the Temple of Sobek which is the crocodile God and had a mummified croc in it as well. Oh well. Amos decided to tease some of the "Antiquities Police" and hustle them with an arm wrestling match which seemed to be the highlight of their day.

Our next stop was Edfu. It is a temple dedicated to Horus and the most preserved cult temple in Egypt and also the largest in Egypt after Karnak Temple. It was in a remarkably preserved state. Damage to most of the other temples that I have seen until now are attributed to major earthquakes, pillaging, and erosion. This temple seems to be affected by none of those things partly because it was built in the Ptolemaic era from 237 - 57 BC; later than most.
The falcon-headed Horus was originally the sky god, whose eyes were the sun and moon. He was later assimilated into the popular myth of Isis and Osiris as the divine couple's child. Raised by Isis and Hathor after Osiris' murder by his brother Seth, Horus avenged his father's death in a great battle at Edfu. Seth was exiled and Horus took the throne, Osiris reigning through him from the underworld. Thus all pharoahs claimed to be the incarnation of Horus, the "living king."

There were many groups there with their tour guides. There was one guide in particular who was the best story teller. He was amazing. He had his group acting things out and really made the history fun. I asked someone in the group who he was. They said he is a "freelance" tour guide and just happened to be working their cruise ship that week. He was like the gay, Egyptian version of Sir Bedevere from Monty Python & the Holy Grail. I got a bit of video of him in the act.

Gay, Egyptian version of Sir Bedevere from The Holy Grail.

Aaaaand...some more.

I came out of the temple a bit early. Amos and I hung out outside near the souvenir shops waiting for the others. I heard a strange noise. True to the Holy Grail theme of the day, the only way I can describe it is like the "Knights of Ni." It was this "woooooo." Sound. I was trying to figure out what it was when one of the shopkeepers pointed to me and looked at me and made this "aaaah" sound and rolled his eyes to the side, made his head limp and stuck out his tongue. He saw the puzzled look on my face and repeated it. I realized he was imitating someone who died. It was a funeral procession. The women were in black burquas and I guess they walk behind the coffin into the cemetery (which was on the other side of a fence). I was afraid to take direct video of them because I didn't want to be rude (would you like it if some stranger took video of you at a funeral?) But I did manage to capture the sound.

Sounds of a funeral procession.

We were finally on our way to Luxor and our respective hotels. It was like a two hour drive. We stopped along the way to "rest" at a souvenir shop. I didn't even bother getting out of the minibus. I watched as a shopkeeper kept throwing scarves at an English woman. She kept saying she wanted only one scarf and told him the price she was willing to pay. He would not relent. He kept pressuring her to buy more and for a higher price. She finally walked away and got on the bus. He came to the window still persistent. She refused to buy anything now and I don't blame her. Why don't Egyptians realize that this pressure tactic doesn't work on Westerners? Most of us walk right by the souvenir shops with out even looking because even simple eye contact invites harassment. To all Egyptian shopkeepers: Leave us alone to shop in peace and we will probably buy something!!!! Oh, and offer us a reasonable price too. Don't try to sell us something that is worth 20LE for 200LE....we won't buy ANYTHING!

I got to the bus and was bombarded by kids selling jewelry. "One pound!" They said. "Really?" I replied. "Only one pound (like 17 cents)?" I repeated it in Arabic. "Wahed guiney?" (one Egyptian pound?) Ok. I gave them two pounds for two cheap necklaces. They inspected their money and said, "No, one EUROPEAN pound." Hell no. I tried to give them their stuff back when they suddenly ran off. The police were coming and I guess what they were doing was illegal. Oh well. Sucks to be them and I still got my necklaces.
The driver asked me which hotel he needed to take me to. Remember, I didn't have a specific itinerary, so I had no idea. I called my travel agent and asked him. He told me it was the Hotel Windsor. Great. Amos is at the same hotel too. Cool. Unfortunately, two British women that were on another felucca got scammed I guess about the price to be taken into town. After arguing with the driver about the price for 20 minutes, we made it to our hotel.