Umbrella? What’s that?
After a very hot day in the Valley of the Kings, I’ve asked our taxi driver when was the last time they had rain?
"8 years ago" – he replied.
Pen for Hello
A little cute girl came closer to our taxi, when the convoy stopped in front of railway crossing. She said: “hello, what is your name?” then vividly mimicked as if she wants to write. The taxi driver explained: she asked if I can give her a pen as a souvenir. As I happened to have few pens just for this occasion (I’ve read about kids in travel forums before we went there), so I gave her one. On our way back – same railway crossing, same kids (it seems they work full time on it) same cute girl come up with same cute smile and phrase. In a little less then 2 hours little beggar didn’t even remember my face! LOL.
Baksheesh
Baksheesh is "small fee" of appreciation for the "extra service". Sometimes this service hasn’t been even asked for. Everywhere in temples local guards tried to get us in a “forbidden” places, or to almost "force" us to take pictures where it wasn’t allowed. The purpose? – they can "legitimate" ask for baksheesh after. Later when we became experienced, we just tried to avoid walking along in the areas where we’ve noticed one of those "little helpers". But at first it cost us almost twice the entrance fee just to walk inside the monuments. Duh! Even kindness has its financial limits…
Sugar cane
First time in my life tried a sugar cane – the real cane that our taxi driver just picked up from the field next to the road. You supposed to suck the juice out of it and spit out the chewy grass-thing. Was very sweet, but I won’t have just this for breakfast…
Swans on the Nile
On our cruise boat the crew did all their best trying to impress us (and of course to get a baksheesh!) look what they’ve done with our towels one day!
Multinationality
Having spent whole day in a temple complex of Karnak, I’ve learned not only about ancient times of Egypt, but also how multinational are interests of the international army of tourists. It was very educating to watch throughout the day, that the tourists from different countries have been shown different things in a temple. Like Austrians and Germans were mostly interested in inscriptions on the walls and what they mean. For Italian tourists the guides would point which monument was built by which pharaoh and which pieces of the temple gone missing and then were discovered in different museums all around the World. Spanish tourists liked the walls with the pictures of king’s battles and historical events. And for Russians the most fascinating experience was to walk around the big statue of scarab beetle which they were told, will grant their secret wish if they walk around it three times and will give them "true love" if they walk around seven times! Amused we watched how dozens of those who "want it all and now" slowly walked around the stone thing. Indeed there are no limits to the human hope for the miracle! LOL
Revelations inside the tombs
A bit more about the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
We’ve visited few tombs. Most of the pictures inside are those with the scenes from life of the pharaoh, as compulsory elements - inscribed "instructions": Book of the Dead; Book of the Gate; Book of the Earth, etc. A couple of unusual pictures that I’ve noticed in the tombs:
Tomb N9 – Ramses VI. There is a striking astronomical black ceiling and also some figures on the walls haven't got…heads…not because their heads have been erased later, as it often the case in ancient Egypt, but they simply haven’t been depicted in the first place. There are also same many black figures with the horns…very eerie.
Tomb N11 – Ramses III. Known as "The Tomb of the Harpists". It has non-traditional shape with the gallery not straight, but with the turn in the middle. Also, compare to the other tombs, this one has a pictures from everyday Egyptian life, which is rather unusual for a royal tomb. Very beautiful relief of the two blind musicians in one of the chambers – hence the name "two harpists".
Some interesting info, that I want to keep in my travel notes.
What the Egyptians believed about the spirit of beings. There were three forms of spirits to each being: the akh, ba, and ka. The akh was the name given to the form that the dead existed in. This form was immortal and unchanging. It is this form that travelled to the underworld. The ba, represented as a human headed bird, was the form released at death. It is often called the soul, incorrectly. It was actually considered a being’s personality or character. Finally, the ka was the form considered to be the double of a being, both spiritually and physically. The ka was created at birth by the god Khnum on his potter’s wheel. The ka could be released in dreams while a being was alive, but was finally released at death. It is symbolized by a pair of upraised arms. At one’s death, the ka and the ba travelled to join each other in the next world. Once this was done, the being could become an akh, and take the form of the dead that existed among the gods.