Day
9: Valley of the Kings, Colossi of Memnon, Temples of Hatshepsut
The boat tour guide is taking two tours today: in
the morning he is covering the West Bank prime sites and after lunch
the prime sites on the East Bank. We are moored on the East Bank
above Crocodile and Banana Island at the Sheraton dock. There seem
to be so many boats now that the traditional dock in front of the
Corniche can not accomodate them all. A bus picked us up at the
Sheraton gate and we proceedws first to the Valley of the King.
In the Valley of the Kings
The tour provides a three tomb ticket. You can pay
extra for Tutankhamun. The site has changed a great deal, there
are now tourist trolleys that shuttle you from the parking lot to
the ticket office. After we entered, our guide, John
Gamil, set a meeting point and time, only 1 hour. We choose
to go to the furtherest tomb and one of the most unique, Thutmosis
III (Thutmose III).
 It
used to be deserted, but we are told the Korean and Japanese tours
have it as a mandatory site on their itinerary. The French Tour
groups were in the Valley as well, so it was crowded. Thtumosis
III and Amenophis III are two similar tombs that they alternate
having open. They are decorated with a 'stick figure' version of
the Book of the Gates. The sarcophagus is a beautiful red quartite,
made in a cartouche shape. As there is no photography allowed in
the Valley of the Kings we have used old postcards to show you the
look of some of the tombs.
Previously, photos were allowed and we do have some
older photos of tombs available. Also, video cameras are not even
allowed in the Valley, you must check them. With today's modern
phones and cameras, the Antiquities department is fighting on an
ever changing playing field. I am sure that they wish to limit any
damage that flash photography might do to the monuments, but also
the numbers of people moving through the sites is very large now,
and any photography only slows down the flow of the crowd (we will
discuss this more in the diary entry for the Egyptian Museum, our
last day in Cairo, where our guide otained for us an extraordiary
privilege, written permission to photograph in the Museum because
of all the educational and promtional work we do for Egypt on our
web sites.)
The Tomb of Tutmoses III
This
Amenhotep II coffin is very similar to the Thutmosis III coffin.  Anyway,
Thutmosis III is located halfway up the cliff and has a steep
set of stairs down into it. There is a rest stop just before
entering the tomb to descend. There wasn't a waiting line,
but there was a steady flow of people up the steps and then
down the iron stair into the tomb. The inside stairs had been
designed for single file passage, but of course there were
people coming up as well as going down. A bit of clashing of
waist packs as people passed, hanging on for dear life to the
hand rail. I even saw a woman carrying a three year old child
down the stairs, although I can't image why you would take
a small child on a trip to the monuments of Egypt, someone
obviously thought it was a good idea! The tomb, as many tombs
in the valley and elsewhere, has been covered with glass side
panels to prevent touching and to reduce condensation on the
walls. There are no reliefs carved and colored, the tomb is
mostly black and white with the directions and illustrations
needed by the Pharaoh to pass safely though the underworld
and the "weighing of the heart".
A unique scene of the king with female family members,
including
his mother in a boat, his wives and daughter.
The king is suckled
by Isis as a tree goddess. Decoration of the Tomb of Tutmoses III
I had a voice recorder and I talked my way through the tomb so
that I could remember it later. The little stick figures sail and
pull the boat of the pharaoh through the underworld (Duat). The
gods sit waiting for the passwords to allow progress to the next
stage and the great snake Apophis
is shown slashed with many knife strokes to kill its power.
It seems that the priest started with a blank wall shortly before
the burial and quickly wrote and sketched the instructions on the
wall. It was probably done in a more orderly fashion, because the
placement of the text had to fit into the space and had to absolutely
complete, but some of it must have been done just before the tomb
was finished. High on one of the pillars near the exist is a small
paragraph of hieroglyphs that are written at a slant and if I could
read them, I would bet that they are a final quick benediction from
the priest that was sealing the tomb. I'll see if I can find some
research on that. Anyway, the trip up and down the stairs used up
most of our time and we met the group and exited athe Valley of
the Kings through the vendors market.
Valley of the Kings Vendors Market
The souvenir sellers were offering resin statues of cats, and little
pyramids in a three for whatever they thought your national currency
was and whatever amount they thought they could get away with. I
bargained for a cat. They asked US$30, for all three, I think, and
I came back with USD$3 for the cat and they took it. I happened
to have USD$1's with me. The price in Egyptian Pounds would have
been approximately 18EP. The vendors are trying to get you to buy
quickly as you are being frantically herded to the bus, but that
can work the other way, just keep walking hurriedly away and the
price will go down as you move along. If you want the piece, see
how low the price can go before you get to the furtherest point
that they are now allowed to follow you. But be sure of your currency,
by stating it firmly as you counter offer. I preferred to bargain
in Egyptian Pounds, it was less confusing to me, and they are much
better are quick money conversion than I am.
Anyway, just at the end of the stalls I saw a seller selling
a locally made souvenir that I bought one of the last time
I was here in 1990. It is an Ibis made up of an oval soapstone
body with incised decoration and a sand cast metal head and
feet. I have enjoyed mine sitting up on the shelf, and I
would suggest that it might be an attractive alternative
to the mass produced souveners, although the resin reproductions
are nice and they look perfect. They are not real stone,
or made locally. I am pretty sure the Ibis is.
Temple of Hatshepsut at Dier El Bahri
Next we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut at Dier el Bahri, 45 minutes
were alloted, I think. Ken is a thoughtful group tourist and he
was concerned that I would wander off into the vendors and keep
others on the bus waiting so I promised not to be the last one on
the bus. We have been to Hatshepsut's Temple before, but the Polish
Mission has been meticulously restoring the temple for many years
and two new levels have been opened since we have been here. We
took pictures of the birth and Punt reliefs on the first level and
then seperated. Well, I was still taking pictures with 10 minutes
left and I began frantically looking for Ken and walking fast to
the meeting point.
 As
I was scurrying down the ramps, searching all around me, I
noticed several other from my group still looking at reliefs
so I speeded up and was not the last one on the bus. But when
I got to the meeting point Ken has already informed the guide
that he had lost me and that they should proceed without us,
we would get a taxi to the boat. He was standing on a rock
looking out over the stream of tourists, so I saw him and waved
and headed straight on to the bus. We were on the bus and waiting
for the others, so Ken kept his good team-player tourist status.
Alabaster Factory
Next we visited the Alabaster factory where they did a demonstration
of how Alabaster items are made and why the lovely resin statues
are inferior. After the demonstration, which is interesting, you
can go into the sales room and look around. Why do all tourist end
up at the Alabaster Factory, you may ask? Well, three reasons, really:
one, they have bathrooms and you can buy drinks- two, many tourists
actually are interested in buying some of the beautiful hand made
and machine made things -and three, the driver gets paid a flat
fee for delivering you to the door (this is the same system that
operates in Thailand and probably anywhere you have been on a group
tour and ended up at a shop) and the guide gets a commission on
anything you buy. If you want to know more about how the guides
and drivers make a living, click here, but I'll give you a hint:
think minimum wage plus tips as in waiters, taxi drivers and hotel
concierges.
The Colossi of Memnon
 After
that stop we went to see the Colossi of Memmnon which are really
the huge seated statues of Amenhotep III, the father of Akhenaten.
Amenhotep III built a huge mortuary temple, with gold and silver
plating on the doors and walls, but the Nile innudation undermined
it, and succeeding Pharoahs stole the blocks and, of course, in
the full course of history, the temple was scavenged for the precious
materials and the mud from the Nile settled over the site, leaving
the two statues standing in isolation. Earthquakes badly damaged
the statues and they are cracked and restored. However, the temple
of Amenhotep is coming out of the mud, piece by piece. The Antiquities
Department is digging behind the Colossi. The day we drove by there
was a huge carved crocodile body being pulled out of the ground,
and other items are being saved. When we are on our own, we will
visit the storage room near the Mortuary Temple of Merenptah where
other items from Amenhotep's temple are being kept.
A Papyrus Shop Stop
On the way back to the boat, some of the others on the bus asked
to stop at a papyrus shop. The same deal applies as the alabaster
shop, but our guide was kind enough to help some of the bus passengers
bargain, probably cutting his commission right out.
No Karnak or Luxor for Us
Back on the boat we had lunch and told the guide that we would
skip the afternoon tours of Karnak and Luxor Temple. We were tired
and we had a day scheduled at both sites later in the itinerary.
While I was in the lobby the two Irish ladies, Katie and Debbie
were being told that they had been on a three nights boat tour,
not a four nights boat tour, and the afternoon trip was not included.
The other guest rallied around and while the ladies were willing
to pay extra, Grant suggested that since Ken and I weren't going,
there were two vacancies already paid for and I said, of course,
we were officially giving our seats to Katie and Debbie. The desk
clerk accepted reluctantly, he was outnumbered, and John smiled
wryly and said "I didn't know you could do that."
Galabeya Night
That evening the Katie and Debbie were ecstatic about the temples,
John is a good guide and they had finally truly experienced the
awe and mystery of ancient Egypt. They had sort of missed it, as
one had been bitten by a mosquito and had missed some of the earlier
tours, and one had been a bit at sea on her own without her friend,
and she had had a scary encounter with the vendors at Edfu.
This was the last night on the boat and there was a sufi dancer
and a belly dancer after dinner.
Tipping on the Boat
We gave John our envelope with his "tip" during the performance.
We had discovered earlier in a conversation with him that if we
dropped his envelope into the "Thanks" box at the desk,
they would lump all the money together and it would get distributed
to the entire boat crew. So I had told a couple of people and Grant,
and he got to the rest of the tour group and I think John got all
tof his personal tips given straight to him, probably for the first
time,
John was at pains, in his speech on the bus, to carefully tell
us why we should leave the suggested tip for the boat crew, as many
of them we never saw and they depended on the "tip" for
their "salary". You should leave a generous tip in the
"Thanks" box for the boat crew, John is correct-- but
tip your guide and any other person who delivers service directly
to you such as the cabin man, in person, in an envelope.
This tipping thing is a bit confusing, and in general, I think
you should tip anyone who gives you a genuine service. And in the
case of the boat--remember that many people make your trip a pleasant
one. The "Thanks" box is your only means to tip those
people. |
