The most enjoyable of our tour was not to see these places, famous monuments, great creations of a mankind…but to FEEL them, to be transferred into their times, to imagine to be one of them…play a game of pretending…or…was it not a game at all? …hmmmm…
Kids Again
Anyway, back to the Earth from my clouds of dreams…Karnak…oh, yes…well, despite from it being a really really huge area, there was no refuge from…Egyptian kids! I never thought that the kids there have this tendency to be attracted to my person as if I hold a magnet for them! If they brought kids to Giza in flocks by buses, here in Luxor, they just walked into the temple from their school’s doorsteps. And I seriously suspect that it happened intentionally the same time in all schools of Luxor and surrounding area. Morning hours in temples are for humble foreigners, it is relatively peaceful, though quite crowdy. But I never thought that it could get any worse until they brought the kids in!
So, imagine the density of heavy breathing, sweating, desperately trying not to lose their guide, deadly tired mass of the red-skinned tourists, evenly smeared across the halls, around columns and by each wall of the complex. Now imagine refreshing streams of local kids, that started to propagate inside this mass, like a little brooks, happy, tiny, LOUD, crazy little rivers of terror…They would be normally lead by their teachers – one or two per class of 30-40. As opposed to Giza, the Luxor’s teachers were only males, mostly in galabeya (special Nubian dress) and always –with a thick cane – absolutely necessary teacher’s tool. Not only it was tough job for them to keep those kids together and on target, but also they’ve been trying their best to keep kids shut. Which looked just ridiculously impossible to me. Anyway, having had a "previous experience" with the schoolchildren in Giza, I was honestly trying to keep as far from the "schoolpath", as I can. And what would you think?! As the amount of classes visiting temple started to increase, the variants of the paths they can go, once inside, decreased in equal proportion. And I ended up having to literally run across from one column I’ve been hiding to another, when next group of kids, walked by, yelled their "hello! What is your name?!" onto me. There was no salvation from them! Like invaders in a fantastic sci-fi thriller, they were everywhere…Well, not until we’ve found some peace by one of the external walls almost off site and waited until they all gone back to their schools…I haven’t noticed other tourists being bothered that much though…maybe it’s just me – "child-too-friendly" face, eh?
Local Pharaoh
Well, I must admit, not only kids were keen to talk to me in Karnak… I’ve been sitting alone somewhere inside a shrine, hiding from the heat of a midday…midday in Karnak is relatively quiet time – morning organised groups have gone to their next speed tour, afternoon’s groups haven’t arrived yet. So, it was nice just to sit there, in a coolness of the stones, relax and think about something meaningless or something about the meaning of life, perhaps…
I’ve noticed a small group approaching the shrine, where I’ve been hiding from the mankind. A well-dressed in an elegant suit, man, in his thirties, two young ladies in black gowns and scarves, one hold little girl…they were strolling slowly, wondering the monuments, quietly talking between themselves…They entered "my" shrine, looked around for a while then came closer and the man spoke to me. His English was ok and he asked few general questions about how do I like Karnak, Luxor and Egypt itself, told a few things about himself – that he works as a tourist police officer, but he’s not on duty this time…that he likes Luxor and that life here is very good indeed. His female companions giggled on background, smiling at me and look at him in undoubted admiration, when he finally introduced them to me: "My wives" …it was my turn to look at him in awe. And I thought that nothing changed in this corner of the world since the pharaoh’s times. Still the men do their best to impress their women, and the women’s job – to show total reverence to their man. Even if he just boasted that he can speak foreign language with the "real foreigner", his two young wives were looking at him as if he was their only King, their Local Pharaoh.
Ahhh, that Love in the Harem! So touching…and so weird…