April 16 Day 13 - Luxor

Chris's Story

Today was a rest day and although it was meant as a relaxing day it was filled with a hectic schedule of Sight seeing. Having risen early and pottered around luxor town center in the early hours, we set of with a purpose at 10:00 am. First stop was a motorcycle rental shop to secure the use of a more comfortable and relaxing mode of transport. We are directed towards a ramshackle shop in the back streets of the town centre that appears to be selling spare parts for cars, when out of an alleyway, comes roaring, a tiny Suzuki 100. The rider stops sharply in front of us and announces to us that it is for rent. We look rather skeptically at this small motorcycle and ponder whether it would carry two fat boys like ourselves up the Theban Hills. We query the shop owner whether he possesses anything bigger and he says that this is all he has. We spend 10 minutes haggling over the price, and we settle for 75 pounds (about 20 US) for the day. On we get and we take off to experience Luxor traffic from a slightly faster aspect than we are used to.

Frank soon gets into the swing of it and the horn becomes a musical instrument that plays its part in the symphony or should I say cacophony of the chaotic traffic. We drive up and down the Corniche a couple of times to get the feel of it and then made our way to the local ferry. Upon our arrival we are met by a youth whom we mistake for the ferry operator and he has soon offered us an alternative mode of transport across the river. We take up his offer of a private ferry across and he escorts us and the motorcycle unto a small river taxi that resembles the African Queen! We climb aboard and set off. To our dismay the vessel is piloted by a boy that could not have been older than 9 or ten! He called himself Captain Ahmed. His lips were stained purple with what looked like iodine treatment. He was so shabbily dressed that he invited immediate pity from us yet however he was very cheerful and piloted us across the river without any problem. We arrive on the other side and are immediately surrounded by tens of little children all vying for some Baksheesh (tip) for helping us with the motorcycle. Frank gets on the bike and soon leaves them behind.

We head towards the ticket stall to purchase our entry tickets for the Necropolis's sights and the first sight we come across are the two huge colossi of Memnon. These are two huge statues that used to front a huge temple which has now long gone. Legend has it that after an earthquake in 27 BC one of them was cleaved at the waist and used to creak and groan at dawn probably due to temperature changes or wind, and the roman emperor Hadrian ordered them to be repaired, duly silencing them for ever! we stop to take a picture and set off for Hatshepsut's Temple, where 57 people had been massacred in 1997 by an attack from Islamic Fundamentalists.

This is probably one of the more impressive structures in Thebes. It juts out of the side of the mountain and commands a beautiful view over the Nile valley If ever there was prime real estate this would lodge highly on the market. We spend about 45 minutes clambering amongst the pillars and dodging tourists at the temple, and then we are back in the saddle and head up to the valley of the Kings.

The valley of the Kings is the burial place for the ancient rulers and is where King Tut Ankh Amun was unearthed in 1922, and is also the sight for a further 61 other burial tombs. The Heat in the valley is intense and we soon break out a sweat walking around the site and we later read that the average visitor leaves 2.8 grams of sweat in the tombs in one visit. I will leave to your imagination how the sometimes 100 meter deep tombs smell when you are down in the depths of their burial chambers. Here we visit a few of the larger tombs and a couple of hours later head off on our motorised hairdryer to the last temple on our schedule Medinat Habu.

We arrive at an impressive mortuary temple which was built by the pharaoh Ramses III. It is the second largest complex in Thebes and is a fine example of what a temple complex would have looked like 4000 years ago. Photos are taken and we then return to Luxor via a new bridge built to the south of the town. We return the bike and then head to our hotel and relax at the pool for an hour soaking up the last rays of the sun and swatting a deluge of flies that seem to diverge on every person sat around the pool!! Then it is back to our rooms and time for the laptop to come out and for our site to be revamped and updated. Tomorrow is our last day in Luxor and we are going to visit the largest religious complex in the area - Karnak Temple. It is a vastly huge complex covering over 100 acres of land and at one time sustained over 80,000 slaves and workers. I am looking forward to returning to this complex as every time you visit you discover something new.

Frank's Story

Hello, Mum, Dad, " C " Family, Friends and followers of our journey.

Today was a memorable one. After visiting temples and tombs I find it difficult to describe what it looks like. Mr. Techno sounds impressive but I wont copy chapters out of our guide book. To think that I was standing in a tomb built over 4000 years ago left me speechless, and for people who know me that takes some doing. I wont bore you with details as Chris described it very well. ( He never copied all the book.)

As Chris explained we had a busy schedule in blistering heat. ( Approx 92 -96 o )

The renting of the bike was fun, it was quite a struggle to get the two us up the hills. Over the two weeks the majority of motorcycles have been Jawa, MZ, Simson and Suzuki. Most of them about twenty years old and only 100 or 125cc to be seen. After returning from our trip we had a bite to eat and retired to our hotel. I read with more understanding about the sites I had now seen and a little after 8.00 pm I was ready for bed. Due to the police escorts it gave us the added benefit of sneaking in a rest day before the daunting two day cycle in the scorching sun to Aswan, our final destination.

Hope everybody is well and will speak with you later...

April 17th Day 14 - Luxor

Chris's Story

Today the pace of life slowed down. I woke up relatively late at 8:30 and had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel. The temple of Karnak was our sole itinerary for the day, so we set off in one of the many horse and carriages that ply for the tourists along the Nile road. The driver, Michael Mohammed Schumacher, appears to be practicing for the Formula one championship race in Spain in two weeks time, and my sympathy went out to the horse! Five kilometers down the road we arrive at the entrance to the Temple site. We buy our entrance tickets and pass through the ticket collectors booth. As we head towards the first Pylon we walk along an avenue of ram like sphinxes lining both sides of the path. Our guide book tells us that this avenue is likely to have stretched for about 4km all the way to Luxor temple. We then enter a large forecourt where there are huge statues and small inner temples. Passing through to the Great Hypostyle Hall we are astounded by the immensity of the construction that we see before us. Gigantic pillars rise to lofty heights of about 23 meters high and 15 meter in circumference. It would take six people with outstretched arms to encircle just one of the approximately 150 pillars in the Hall. Apparently one could fit both St Paul's Cathedral in London and St. Peter's cathedral in Rome in to the hall with room left over!!

Obelisks and statues abound as we pass along the well trodden pathways of the temples. There are plenty of tourists scampering around the site, both in the large flocks of the organised package tours and the ever intrepid independent travelers, yet they all seem to be swallowed up by the sheer size of the complex and it is still possible to find a quiet niche and sit in peace and read about the history that surrounds you. The sun overhead is viciously hot and evokes cursing amongst the more follically challenged amongst us as well as from those with the luxury of natural sun shade.

We pass a group of Italian tourists circling a plinth with a scarab on top. At the encouragement of their guide they are going around the scarab ten times for good luck. I can't help thinking that this is a cunning plan by the guides to get their punters to visit the adjacent cafe for something to drink after making them thirsty walking around the scarab in the midday sun !! Never the less we avoid circling the scarab, but we do take advantage of the cafe and sip a cool bottle of water. We then head past the sacred lake back to the front of the complex and catch another horse and carriage back to Luxor town center.

With the morning's agenda out of the way, I grab a book and relax in the hotel gardens at an Arabic style tea garden, a carpeted area of low tables and cushions. I sip a refreshing pot of mint tea and read a book on the Nile River. Feeling very relaxed and as if I haven't just cycled from Alexandria on an uncomfortable razor sharp saddle, I head back in to the hotel for some dinner and to prepare for the continuation of our journey tomorrow.

Frank's Story

Greetings to all, Mum, Dad, " C " Family, Friends and all followers of our journey.

We visited Karnak Temple today, on the outskirts of Luxor. The size of it was unbelieveable, covering over 100 acres. I have still only read about half the chapter in the guide book about the site. It was another scorching hot day, well over 90o. The trip took about three hours and we returned to the hotel early afternoon. I then took the opportunity to go for a swim and relax for a couple of hours by the pool. I then packed all my equipment, checked over the bikes and got ready for tomorrow. The heat is much more intense as we get closer to Sudan and it is going to be a tough ride. We head to a village called EDFU tomorrow, a one night stop and then onto Aswan on Thursday. How we get back to Cairo is yet to be decided. See you in EDFU....

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