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Luxor was the ancient pharoaonic capitol of Thebes (Upper Egypt). With the Valley of the Kings, The Luxor Temple and Karnaq all nearby, Luxor is probably the second most famous archeology center in Egypt (after Giza). The 2nd day in Luxor started with a 6AM wake-up call (man I really need to go back to work so I can rest!) and a drive out to the West Bank of the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and the many tombs unearthed there. I had built my expectations for this quite high and in reality it was a bit of a disappointment since the exterior of the tombs are basically dirt hills (to attempt to keep them concealed) and since most of the graves were robbed of any and all artifacts (all except King Tutankhamen, but even his artifacts all lie in the Cairo museum). Also, although 62 different tombs have been discovered there they only let tourists enter 3 tombs total (allegedly to control traffic and prevent excess wear and tear - although I question how much wear and tear there will be on some tombs that have thus far lasted 3200 or more years). The 3 tombs we did enter were still painted in fairly vibrant colors that looked more like they had been done 50 years ago, rather than 3 millennia.

For more info and an impressive history on the Nile river, see the following Wikipedia link - The Nile River
Just after Christmas day, I spent 2 lovely days sailing down the Nile (North) by felucca (a traditional Egyptian sail boat), from Aswan, to Kom Ombo, a temple / town just about 50 miles south of Luxor. The days were perfectly warm at around 75 degrees F, which was a nice improvement from the chilly 66 degree days in Aswan. Nights however, were bone chillingly cold, at around a low of 42 degrees F (which kind of sucked because I did not have a sleeping bag and the blankets were dingy and fairly light - still I was able to bundle up in enough layers to keep from freezing and the second night I was quite a bit better prepared for the cold).

Early Christmas Morning, we left Aswan around 3:45 AM for the 3+ hour drive south to Abu Simbel and the spectacular Temple of Ramses II - one of the more famous sights of Egypt and one that you have probably seen photos of with 3 of the 4 colossal statues of Ramses II sitting at the face of the temple. As Abu Simbel is fairly close to the less than stable Sudan (only 18 miles from the border), military security was quite heightened and we passed through 6 or 7 different check-points en route to the site. We arrived around 7AM and were standing in front of the spectacular Temple of Ramses II by around 7:30 (about 1 hour after sun rise).

The colossal statues of Ramses II that sit aside the entrance are quite memorable and have been in a few movies. The temple was precisely built around 1250 BC to face the morning sun and on 2 days of the year to have the first rays cast down the 150 foot corridor and rooms to the inner sanctum to light the face of the Ramses II statue and then the 2 Gods on either side, amazingly precise engineering and astrological insight for the time. Abu Simbel was one of the 16 sites relocated in the late 60s in anticipation of Nassir Lake putting the old sight under water with the opening of the dam. The engineers were able to move the entire site about 1000 feet and up about 150 feet so it was similarly situated by the Nile and also had the unique precision of the morning sunlight on 2 days a year (now 1 day later with the new location).

From Cairo I travelled by train to Aswan, the main Southernmost Egyptian City along the Nile (originally the Northern Border of Ancient Nubia) and arrived on Christmas Eve around Noon. After settling in at a fairly nice budget hotel, me and an Aussie couple joined a small backpacker tour travelling to the Nile Dam and then on to Philae, both near Aswan. The Egyptians wanted the US to fund the dam back in the 60s to prevent seasonal flooding along the Nile and to provide power for the entire country, but the US Government declined. So Egyptian President Nassir courted the Soviets, who agreed to built it and were wanting to be in good graces in the region as part of their Cold War strategy. Although an engineering achievement as the 3rd longest dam in the world, it of course is ugly as hell, like most soviet era construction projects. The Egyptians are quite proud of the High Dam, but as a tourist attraction it fell quite short of their archeologica achievements for me, but fortunately the stop was only 15 min or so.

On Wednesday I hired a taxi for the day ($25) and spent 9 hours visiting the major archeological sights around Cairo. The first dynasty pharoe Zoester was the first to have built a permanent monument (out of bricks) and this is known at the Step-Pyramid of Saqqara (built around 2500 BC), which is still standing but slowly eroding to the elements. One of the key architects expanded on the amazing architectural techniques of the step pyramid to build the first prototype sloped pyrimid where he experimented with various slopes to find the limits of construction and this pyrimid at Dasur is known as the Bent Pyramid because the slope changes on the top 1/3 from 53 degrees to 44 degrees (othewise it would not have spread out like a pancake). The same architenct (Imhanotep?) followed up immediately with the first symmetrical pyrimid known as the Red Pyrimid (and situated right next to the Bent Pyramid).

After getting in very late Monday night (December 19th), I found my way to a cool hostel (single rooms for $7) and promplty passed the fuck out. I spend my first day (Tuesday) at the World-renowed Cairo Museum, which has far and away the most impressive archeological artifacts in the world, displayed in the most amateur / 3rd-world mediocrity (all in 50s-style glass cases without much lighting and with very little explanation - very reminiscent of one of a kindergarden diorama display case from our era of elementary school!). By such surprising and stark contrast, the Museo de Archeologico in Mexico City has extremely modern displays, presentations and lighting. Still, the collection of statues, jewelry, coffins and mummies was quite spectacular, and even with 5 hours to explore (and a guide leading the first 90 minutes) I probably only saw 75% of the exhibits.

Greetings Imperialist-Infidels,

As I had expected the job hunt to slow for December I thought to myself, “What better place would there be to spend a Christian holiday than in the Middle East?” So after some serious searching and haggling I found a sweet last minute fare to Cairo and with about 72 hours of time to plan I fired up the flight (rushing to get my shots, extra passport pages, booking a place to stay for the first night and other general preparations). I arrived in Cairo on the 19th of December and have been charging forwards ever since. I hope you enjoy hearing of my experiences. Feel free to stop in and sign the guest book.
Merry New Year,

- Vagabum Mike

Trip Itinerary

Dec 18, 2005 - Depart San Francisco International (SFO)
Dec 19, 2005 - Arrive Cairo, Egypt (CAI)
Dec 21, 2005 - Pyramids at Saqqara, Dashur & Giza
Dec 23, 2005 - Aswan, Egypt
Dec 26, 2005 - Sailing on the Nile by Felucca
Dec 27, 2005 - Luxor, Egypt
Dec 30, 2005 - Sharm El Sheik, Sinai, Egypt
Jan 03, 2006 - Dahab, Sinai, Egypt
Jan 05, 2006 - Through Isreal to Jordan
Jan 06, 2006 - Petra, Jordan
Jan 07, 2006 - Wadi Rum, Jordan
Jan 08, 2006 - Amman, Jordan
Jan 10, 2006 - Jerusalem, Israel
Jan 12, 2006 - Tel Aviv, Israel
Jan 14, 2006 - Evil 13 Hour Bus Trip back to Cairo
Jan 15, 2006 - Cairo Museum Revisited
Jan 16, 2006 - Alexandria, Egypt
Jan 18, 2006 - Giza II & Cairo’s Khan-Al-Khalili Market
Jan 20, 2006 - Return San Francisco International (SFO)