Luxor

Luxor is truely an amazing place. It is an hour from Cairo by plane or you can do the 6-8 hour train ride. Most people do the train but due to a time shortage, i chose to fly. It is a lot smaller than Cairo- only 600 000 people- and it is much nice i think mainly because it is less busy. The Nile runs through the town and everything is based on the Nile. The Nile is a huge source of life for Egypt- from water that is used everyday, to transport, to fishing, agriculture and especially tourism. I took a felucca ride down the Nile and had a little dip in the water, and apparently, if you touch the Nile you will come back to Egypt. Well, i think it is safe to say, I will be back here. On my felucca ride (a sail boat with no motor) I watched the sunset, and it was beautiful! One of the best experiences I had.

A second highlight was the hot air balloon ride I took. This was incredible but did mean I had to be up at 4am! We watched the sun-rise from the sky over the Nile and the West Bank. It was amazing!

Luxor is divided into two parts- the East Bank and the West Bank. The East Bank is the central town where most people work and is where Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple are. The West Bank is where most people live, is much quieter and where the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Nobel Tombs are. The two are divided by the Nile and you can take a quick ferry ride across.

Karnak Temple was incredible! It is gigantic and so over-powering. It is very much based on Ramses II and his life and legacy and has some amazing statues. The Luxor Temple is too very big but not as impressive as the Karnak one. What is lovely about the Luxor Temple, is the road of sphinxes which one walks through.

To be honest, I do not remember all the stories behind all the tombs and the Valley of the Kings or Valley of the Queens, and unfortunately, you cannot take photos in the tombs, so i do not remember much. What I do know is that the Valley of the Queens has amazing art inside the tombs, which detailed picture history! The tails behind these tombs really is incredible. To think that this was someone's life thousands of years ago!

I would recommend staying on the West Bank as it is much quieter and there are less hassles. Luxor is the kingdom of hassling! I understand that tourism is down and that most people base their income on tourism, but the harassing my the salespeople and horse and cart people is terrible, and actually ruined it a bit for me! It is unavoidable and even if you are a male, it still happens to you.

Besides the hassling, Luxor was really relaxing, breath-taking and is definitely a side of Egypt to see! It is worth escaping the hussle and bussle of Cairo for a few days!

This concludes my travels in Egypt for now. I want to visit the Sinai and Sharm-el-Shiek sometime and hope to do so later this year. They say it is the 'otherside' of Egypt.

I sit here now on the balcony over-looking Cairo and am pondering my next adventure in Paris! Watch this space for how i navigate the metro system tomorrow with all my luggage and in french! Should be yet another adventure for this master's student!

A city of contradictions

When i told a friend I was coming to Cairo, he said he was there in December, a month before the revolution, and he said there is only one way to describe Egypt-
'It is something else' and two minutes out of the airport i knew exactly what he meant!

Cairo is this dirty city full of buildings falling down and then all of a sudden a beautiful Mosque; it is a incredibly busy city with driving like you have never seen anywhere else, and then there is the tranquility of the Giza Pyramids; there is dire poverty and the richest of the rich; Christians and Muslims living together; the ultra conservative and the full free and open...a city of contradiction!

I was with my friend Jen and we had a great three days. We saw the beauty that is Cairo, walked the dirty streets, sweated about five times our body weight, haggled prices down, being completely exploited, been proposed to, photographed and experienced terrifying taxi-rides. We have met some lovely new friends and just had a blast.

The pyramids are surreal! There is no other way to describe these enormous structures thousands of years old, build without any of the technology we have now. The thought of putting those blocks on top of eachother is out of this world! You can definitely see why they are one of the great wonders of the world.

The Egyptian Museum was the best thing i saw in Cairo. It is amazing! Chaotic but amazing! There is little signage, so best to take a map but the statues and artifacts are incredible; really incredible! The museum is peaceful, not too full and usually one can be left alone to look at whatever they want. It is an incredible place that makes you really realise how vast Egypt's history is!

The coffee is amazing! I do not think I have tasted anything like it! It is so good! The sheesha (hubbly) is amazing! They come in every size and colour imaginable and the flavour blow you mind. The tobacco is stronger than what we have in South Africa and it hits your head fast! The food, if you choose the right item, is delicious! Especially the vegetarian options like hummus, baba ghanough and falafels! The bread is made in a rock oven (which is really just a fire on some stones) and is amazing!

What surprised me the most about Cairo is the people. The people are incredibly friendly and will help you out, usually without wanting anything in return. They will continually welcome you to Cairo. There are those who are bothersome and try and harass you into buying things and will show you something and demand a tip, but after a day or two, i learnt to put my sunglasses on and just walk fast! It is manageable as a woman, but when a male is by your side, then no one bothers you. Also key would be knowing any Arabic. I did not expect there to be so few people who spoke english, but literally one in ten will be able to speak a few sentences and one in a hundred can actually speak English to you. Key words are useful such as sorry (as-sif), bathroom (ham-man), No (la) and thank you (shu-kran).

Taxi drivers are the worst as they usually do not speak english and especially cannot read english so if you are trying to get somewhere, it is incredibly hard! They will also say 'Yes' to you and have NO idea where they are going. There are no rules of the road! Anything goes...literally! We had a taxi which reversed up the highway! Most cars do not have speedometers or working lights etc...it is an experience of note! Mostly you do feel like you won't die but one such ride we honestly thought death was upon us!

One last point about Cairo is that I did not feel unsafe at all. There are tourist police and normal police everywhere, so i never felt like anyone was going to rob me. I would walk alone and be fine. Even with the riots going on in Tahrir Square, I felt safe. We did not actually see any riots ourselves which makes me doubt the coverage that has been all over NY Times and CNN....we were right there on friday and saw only a few hundred people and there was no violence. Everyone you meet is too happy to tell you how excited they are that Egypt is free. There are '25 January' t-shirts everywhere. You can really tell things have changed and people are excited to elect their own government!

Cairo is a place I am not sure I would visit again, but definitely something worth seeing. There are no words to describe this place and pictures do not do it justice. It is an exhausting place and three days in, i was ready to go. If i do come back, I will get a hotel outside of Cairo away from the madness, bring a male along, learn some arabic and try find someone who knows the place well.

There is nothing else to say but 'Cairo...it is really something else'!