I roam, I muse and I write: Egypt Part III

Day Six, Seven and Eight - Temples and Hot Air Balloon

After the ferry ride to Hurghada, there were a few hours to kill before the bus that will take me to Luxor. Dragging my luggage around, I decided to venture into the street next to the bus terminal to get dinner. I kid you not, once I stepped into the street - filled with only men - turned around to look at me. I wondered if this was some kind of a male-only street in Egypt that I did not know about and my first instinct was to bolt right away/ But my stomach growled and I reminded myself that nothing would happen to me in the middle of a busy street. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and despite the hundred pairs of eyes still staring at me, I walked briskly down the street, dragging my luggage behind me, staring straight ahead and not making any eye contact with anyone at all. I took huge strides and acted like I knew where I was going - I hadn't a clue at all.

This was one of many uncomfortable moments I've felt in this male-dominated society and I sincerely wished I were born a man instead, just so that I would feel less vulnerable.

I went into a decent-eating eatery that wasn't too big or too small which served grilled chicken with pita bread and Tahini, a sesame paste which I like very much. I chose a seat that allow me to see the people on the streets while keeping me semi-hidden from view. I've had enough unwanted attention for the day. After the dinner, I went to wait in the bus terminal, after witnessing a huge verbal fight between two big men, fending off several requests for money and the multiple personal questions thrown by a too friendly Egyptian man, I boarded the bus to Luxor.

A really nice family man with his wife and five children took care of me during this bus ride. I had wanted to sit down next to some dodgy Egyptian man at the back of the bus, but he came and said, “Come and sit with my family, you sit next to my boy.” The boy turned out to be an extremely cute three-year old with pinch-able cheeks. During the dinner break, he invited me to sit with his family again with bread and chips and he even bought me a can of soft drink. I was slightly paranoid that he would want me as his second wife the entire time but I guess I was, once again, just thinking too much for my own good.

He showed me the stop to get off - in the middle of a dimly lit street with no traffic at 3a.m. in the morning. I was all alone except for a couple of policemen at a nearby checkpoint. I was feeling pretty panicky and at a loss. I thought I was going to Luxor, one of the busiest tourist sites in Egypt where I would have no trouble finding my way around and yet there I was, in the middle of nowhere with hardly anyone on the streets. Everyone on the bus was waiting for me to go so that the bus could start moving again. I had to suppress my panic and asked the bus driver how I could get to my hostel. The father acted as my translator and they helped me call a taxi. After expressing my gratitude to the father for taking care of me, the bus started up and took off, leaving me behind with my luggage in a trail of dust and sand.

Thankfully, the taxi did arrive and took me to a hostel. I was overcharged by five times, but I was so glad that I reached a place where I could rest so late in the night that I didn't do too much bargaining. When I reached the hostel, the receptionist who had been sleeping, came out to register my details, without his pants on. He was completely unabashed about it and when I reached my room, I finally realised why. The whole place was sickeningly hot even in the middle of the night and I could feel the humidity in the air. I did not sleep well that night and woke up next morning drenched in sweat. After being scalded by the bathroom water in the morning, I went down for breakfast to find an Asian guy eating breakfast. He seemed friendly enough and there was no one else around so I asked him if I could join him for breakfast. He turned out to be a nice and easy-going Korean and we ended up going to Karnak Temple together. Karnak Temple was probably the most impressive temple out of all that I'd seen, in terms of its size and the majesty of the structures, but there are other temples far well-preserved in the smaller details such the retention of the colours and more intricate carvings.

Entrance of Karnak Temple with ram guards

Hieroglyphics on the walls. Those encircled symbols represent a King's name.

Mummy statues

The coptic people decided that they didn't like the queen so they chiselled all images of her out.

Paranomic view of the temple

The mummies are holding two keys - one for this life and one for the next. I like this idea so much that I even bothered to put up with the shopkeepers determined to squeeze every pound out of me and bought two key key chains.

Walking around the scarab seven times for good luck. I wanted to walk together with the Korean guy, but he said if we walk together, we will have to marry each other. We both felt that that it was too soon for a marriage proposal so we walked alone.

The friendly Korean guy. I wish I got his name!

In Egypt, as far I know, the concept of boy or girlfriend is rather flamboyant and people only date to marry. So when two Asians walked together in Egypt, the only two reasons they are travelling together are

1. they are brothers and sisters

2. they are married

So within few hours of knowing each other, in order to keep the answers to the numerous questions asked by the curious shopkeepers to taxi drivers simple, we become a married couple. I think the secret power of the scarab was super strong. Anyway, so we had lunch together and my fake husband soon left me later for Sharm, but he did introduce another French friend, Nicolas, to me who became my travelling companion for the remainder of the day and the next. We went to the pretty impressive Luxor Temple with more detailed carvings than Karnak Temple.

Luxor Temple

The sweltering heat pretty much made the visits to the two temples enough for the day, but I have exciting plans for the next day.

I arranged for an hot air balloon ride very early next morning to catch the sunrise. A car would pick me up from the hostel and bring me to a jetty, where a boat will bring us across the river where the hot air balloons were. But perhaps due to the heat and dehydration, I was slightly delirious. After the tour operator told me to be ready downstairs at 4.20am the next morning, just before I went to sleep, I cleverly set the alarm clock for exactly 4.20am. I panicked when I woke up and discovered that the car to bring me to the ferry had left without me. I then woke the receptionist up, who was sleeping without his pants on again, and soon the car came back for me. When I reached the ferry, I realised everyone was waiting for me. On hindsight, I had slept till the latest among all the passengers and waited for the least amount of time for the ferry to depart, a decent trade-off for the huge morning stress it had caused me.

Balloons preparing to take off

The balloon captain gave us a few minutes' talk about the safety and the taking-off and landing position where we had to assume and then we were off! All 25 of us fit nicely into a small basket, separated into five sections. Four corners of the basket held six passengers each and the middle portion stood the captain and all his air tanks.

Beautiful sunrise

The flame made a few people dripped with sweat.

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We flew over the mass landscape of ancient temples, uncompleted residential buildings without roofs, crops and animals and saw the vast desert, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens and a snaking river. It was a enjoyable 45 minutes up in the air with a sweaty but jovial and hardworking captain.

Reminds me of UP

Green vs sand

Landing and keeping the hot air balloon was a massive task that involved more than 20 workers. Once we touched down, I got the shock of my life. The 20 or so men started chasing at full speed towards us and flung their arms and held onto the edge of the basket. All these happened, when I was still squatted in the landing position and looking upwards out of the basket, watching more and more men appearing and wondering what the hell was happening. It was a confusing couple of minutes.

Keeping the balloon

But all was fine in the end and I enjoyed the first hot air balloon ride in my life :)

In the morning, Nicolas and I went for the West Bank Tour, which was a fascinating tour of the ancient temples and tombs. Unfortunately, I didn't pay much attention to the names of the temples and the pharaohs. The highlight of the tour, Valley of the Kings, containing some incredibly well-preserved tombs hidden deep underground, didn't allow any cameras to be brought into the compound at all.