Esna Lock | Esna, Egypt Day 2

After our sight seeing for the day, we returned to the cruise ship. The cruise ship was set to sail to Esna that night. And on the day when the cruise ship sails, there is tea served on the top deck. So after we had checked out the small jewelry store in the ship, we went up to the top deck for tea at about 4.30pm.

The deck was not at all crowded - which suited me great. I just abhor crowds! We had the place almost to ourselves. The cruise ship moves along at a steady speed - not too fast though. We busied ourselves taking pictures of the glorious sunset (sunset was at about 5.20pm).

After dinner, I went up deck again to relax. There was soft piped music playing - Celine Dion of all was featured! I would have preferred something local, but ah well. It was still nice to sit by the dimmed lights and enjoy the breeze.

Then out of the dark waters, I heard a voice calling out hello twice, then added "I am here". Initially, I thought it might be someone on a cellphone. But when the voice came again, I got concerned, wondering for a moment, if someone had fallen overboard. That was a scary moment.

I went to check, peering over the rails. But I could see nothing. But as soon as I did that, the voice called out again. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized that there was a man in a small row boat. He was being pulled along from the back of the cruise ship - apparently, he had attached his small boat to the cruise ship with a rope. Instantly, it came to me what this might all be.

Before my trip, I had read that as the cruise ship neared Esna Lock, the nearby villagers would approach the cruise ships in row boats, selling their wares from galabiyas (long dresses) to shawls. But all the accounts I had read about had occured during the day time. And the accounts had not said anything about peddlers attempting to sell things while the cruise ship was moving!

I sent a friend to get a touch light as it was impossible to see the man holding up his wares. But even with the torch light, it was impossible to see anything. We shouted and gestured for the man to move to the side of the boat.

He did this, and suddenly many other small boats appeared and latched themselves to the cruise ship. Meanwhile, all the ruckus brought the guests up the deck. As I am a true shopaholic, I got very excited - asking to see what they had.

I dealt with the first man we had encountered. How it worked was this - he asked if we were interested in galabiyas. I said yes. Then he asked for color. I said blue. Then he places a glalabiya into a plastic bag, and throws it up to the top deck. Mind you, the cruise ship is about 4 stories high! That was some aim. As soon as we got the bag, we checked it. This process happened many times as we selected our galabiyas - I wanted a smaller size (size three was the smallest, but still a bit big for me), another friend wanted a black large sized galabiya. It was so much fun.

After we had selected our galabiyas, then the bargaining occurred. The sellers could speak English, so that it easier. We bargained down our galabiyas to 55 Egyptian Pounds a piece. The main reason why I stopped bargaining was because we were fast approaching the Esna Lock, and I could see the cruise ship approaching the dock area. The row boats were being squeezed between the ship and the banks of the dock. I was so afraid that they would be crushed. So I insisted we stop bargaining and just give them the money....

After we settled on the price, we placed the money into a plastic bag with an item we did not want. Then our Egyptian tour guide, who had somehow appeared while we were busy bargaining, helped us to throw the bag back to the seller.


Some Kids in Our Group Holding Up Our Purchases

What an exciting event. That could never happen elsewhere, I think!

As we neared the Esna Lock, we all proceeded to the front of the boat to watch the process. We were very lucky that the Esna Lock was not closed for maintenance - usually between the 1st and 15th of December, the Lock would be closed, and those on the Nile cruises would have to take a bus from Luxor to Esna instead of cruising down the Nile. Thankfully we passed through!

The lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber whose water level can be varied.



Esna Lock - December 9, 2009.

Hatshepsut Temple | Luxor Egypt Day 2

After the Valley of the Kings, we proceeded to the Hatshepsut Temple which was located not too far away. In Arabic the temple is called Al-Deir al-Bahari Temple. Hatshepsut was a female Pharaoh - an impressive figure in Ancient Egyptian history.

She was an 18th dynasty Pharaoh, daughter of Thuthmose I and Ahmes. When her father died her half brother, Thuthmose II, ascended to the throne. He was young, apparently younger than Hatshepsut herself.

The Egyptian tradition of having the Pharaoh marry a royal woman led Thuthmose II to marry Hatshepsut. (The women in Egypt carried the royal blood, not the males. To become Pharaoh, the man had to marry a female of royal blood, often a sister, half sister or other near relative. Usually it was the eldest daughter of the previous Pharaoh.) Thuthmose II died soon after becoming Pharaoh, leaving the widow Hatshepsut, a daughter Neferura, and a son by another wife - Thuthmose III.

Due to the young age of the Pharaoh, Hatshepsut became his regent. They ruled together for a number of years until she proclaimed herself Pharaoh (perhaps when Thuthmose III was reaching manhood) - something almost unheard of, despite the higher status of women in Egypt compared to women in other cultures at the time. Women could own land, inherit from family members, and even go to court to defend her rights. But before Hatshepsut, there were queens who had ruled Egypt... but not a female Pharaoh.

She managed to rule for about twenty years, before disappearing from history - coinciding with Thuthmose III's becoming Pharaoh in his own right.

Hatshepsut began to adopt several male attributes, after the Oracle of Amun pronounced it Amun's will that Hatshepsut should be Pharaoh. She gradually took on the new role, rather than appearing all at once as the Pharaoh. That would have been a drastic step - she was rather cautious. She dropped her titles relating to those only a woman could hold, and took on those of the Pharaoh, and slowly started the trend towards appearing like a male, wearing the shendyt kilt, nemes headdress with its uraeus, khat head cloth and false beard. She even, eventually, dropped the female ending from her name ('t') and became His Majesty, Hatshepsu.

Interesting! Her history is depicted on the walls of her impressive temple. However, there is evident damage. Someone, most likely Thuthmose III, tried to erase her name and image from every monument that may have had her name.

The temple is created out of the mountain - a sight to behold.


Hatshepsut Temple


Massive Mountains at the Hatshepsut Temple


Walking Up a Massive Ramp to Get to the Hatshepsut Temple




Inside the Hatshepsut Temple


After the visit to the Hatshepsut Temple, we were brought to an alabaster factory. They make the figurines and vases from alabaster by hand. Impressive.


Alabaster Factory at Luxor Egypt


Artisans work on Alabaster by Hand, Luxor Egypt


Artisans work on Alabaster by Hand, Luxor Egypt

We returned to our cruise ship for lunch. After a short rest, we went to visit the Colossi if Memnon in Luxor. The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years (since 1350 BC) they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor. The statues are badly damaged - but the sheer size of it is remarkable.

The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's memorial temple (or mortuary temple): a massive cult centre built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he was worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from this world. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Egypt.

Colossi of Memnon, Luxor Egypt

Valley of the Kings | Luxor Egypt Day 2

After a night's rest, I felt much better. We started off relatively early - had breakfast and met with the group at about 9.30 am. Our first destination for the day was the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings is located on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor. It is essentially a site where the ancient Egyptians created tombs for their kings and powerful nobles during the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt) over a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC.

This was my favorite site (apart from the Egyptian Museum that I would visit later) amongst all the historical sites that I had visited. The area is quiet and calming, and I can understand why the ancient Egyptians chose this area as a resting place for their kings. As we drove in, the valley became flanked by huge brown mountains.

The sheer size of these mountains was breathtaking. The Egyptian government had created paved roads for tourist buses to drive on into the site - but I could imagine what it would have been like ages ago when the ancient Egyptians had to walk on the desert sand to reach the Valley.

Massive Mountain in the Valley

We were told that there were 63 tombs that had been discovered in the Valley so far. It is possible that more may be uncovered in the future. Apparently, another tomb had been discovered only months back! From the 63 tombs, the guide bought us tickets that would gain us inside access to three tombs. The ticket cost 80 Egyptian pounds. The tombs had been filled with ancient treasures, but grave robbers in the past had taken away many of these treasures. And others, for example, the only intact tomb found with items (from Tutankhamun's tomb) were placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

View from Outside the Entrance to Valley of Kings

We could not bring our cameras into the Vally of the Kings. So we had to leave them on the bus. After getting our tickets, we entered the entrance building that had been built. There were exhibits with pictures of the various discoveries of the tombs - for example, Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun in 1922. We then took a tram ride to the tomb areas - after that we walked. Even with the throngs of tourists milling about, I liked this site the best. It was pleasantly cool that morning - the valley was somewhat shaded from the sun.

The Short Tram Ride to the Tombs Area

The selected tombs we entered were pretty amazing - the brilliant turquoise blue colors were still visible. This is where the brilliant turquoise blue that is seen on jewelry sold along the Nile comes from. I wish we could take pictures, but completely understand that concern that flash from the camera would over time fade away the depictions on the walls.

I bought a little booklet called the Valley of the Kings for 25 Egyptian Pounds from peddlers outside. It contained a factual information, and brilliant pictures of the scenes on the walls in the tombs categorized by Pharaoh.

The eighteenth dynasty tombs in the Valley of the Kings have a simple structure, consisting of a series of corridors and stairways. They are separated from each other by door jams, running to the east, south and west in bent axis with shafts in the floor. The shafts were designed to obstruct tomb robbers and act as drainage for rain water.

The nineteenth and twentieth dynasty tombs consist of a series of jagged or straight axis. Each pharaoh added corridors, side chambers or pillars as new elements, or simply increased the length of the tombs.

The walls of the tombs are decorated with scenes of the journey of the sun god through the earth and heavens. The deceased pharaoh is shown as the companion or embodiment of the sun god, sailing through the Underworld at night on a boat. There are also scenes of gods, like Hathor, giving the key of life (ankh) to the the pharaoh.

One interesting fact is that in spite of the many precautions taken by the ancients, the tombs were prone to robbery. At some point, a list of the tombs that had been robbed was created. Then the priests of the 21st Dynasty King gathered all the remaining royal mummies and rewrapped them. They hid the mummies in two secret caches - one collection was in the tomb of Amenhotep II and the others in the tomb Inhapi. This was discovered by Maspero in 1870.

The tour guide told us that if we wanted to visit Tutankhamun's tomb, we would need to get a separate ticket. We asked if there was anything inside the tomb besides the wall art - and we were told that all of the items in his tomb had been moved to the Egyptian Museum. I assumed that his mummy was also at the museum. And we would be visiting the museum in Cairo later. We were essentially discouraged from buying this additional ticket!

Later on, I found out that Tutankhamun's mummy was INSIDE the tomb. I was so very upset that this crucial information was not divulged. If I had known his mummy was inside the tomb, I would have bought the additional ticket.

What a waste - well, I plan to make a second trip to Egypt in the future, so I will definitely go then.

So if you are at the Valley of the Kings, know that Tutankhamun is inside his tomb - they have his face uncovered, and he is in a climate controlled box. I would think it would be worth seeing....Sigh.

Tutankhamun