It was with a bittersweet feeling in my heart that I woke up on the Saturday morning. We were going to see the Valley of the Kings – one of Egypt’s brightest jewels. But that night would be the last one I would spend with all my fellow travellers – the next day most of them were heading off to Dahab to spend a few days diving and relaxing at the Red Sea. I wasn’t fussed about the Red Sea to be honest, but was disappointed I wouldn’t be able to climb Mt. Sinai, which I had thought was included in our part of the tour, but in fact was later. The worst part was the fact the group was splitting up – only ten of us were heading back to Cairo the following day, which meant for everyone else tonight was practically goodbye. I was sad about that but I had been gearing myself up for it for a few days now, and so was pretty much prepared for it. Anyway before I could be sad I had the Valley of the Kings to explore!
The Valley of the Kings began construction because the Pharoahs started to catch on to the fact that pyramids were not a fantastic idea when it comes to making provision for your afterlife. A pyramid is like hanging a giant sign on the door of your tomb saying, “Treasure here! Come and steal it!”. The Pharoahs didn’t like this as all the stuff the pyramid robbers were taking were the things they were going to need in the afterlife. So one of them (I don’t remember which one) had the bright idea of making his tomb underground, in an enormous cavern. They liked this much better than the pyramids because not only were they harder to find, but now instead of having just one burial chamber, they could make their tombs as big as they desired, with the main burial chamber, an antechamber, and another storage room filled with all the things they were going to need for the afterlife, like food, cups, tables, clothes, hairbrushes, everything. What a nightmare if you ask me – I have enough trouble packing for an 11 day trip, let alone packing for eternity. The reason they had liked the pyramids so much is that they thought the pyramids would bring them closer to the sun (and therefore Amoun-Ra), but the geography of the Valley of the Kings affords natural mountains which resemble pyramids, which is thought to be a main reason that location was chosen as the necropolis.
The first tomb we saw was (I think) Tutmoses. The figures on the walls weren’t very colourful but I found them interesting as I guessed (correctly as later confirmed by Sam) that they were inscriptions of The Book of The Dead, which was basically a step by step guide of all the rituals and spells to be performed to ensure the dead king would have no troubles getting to the eternal life.
The second tomb we saw was Merentah, and that one was much more colourful and impressive, and I recognised Isis on the head of his sarcophagus. My memory of this tomb is a little hazy as it got drowned out by the grandeur of the third one – unfortunately I can’t remember who it belonged to (one of the Ramses?) but it was amazing. Rows and rows of hieroglyphs covered the walls, colours as vivid as if they had been painted three days ago not three millennia ago. The Egyptians used natural paints – sulphur for yellow, iron oxide for red, lapis lazuli for blue (which was the most expensive colour). After they finished colouring they covered the walls in beeswax to preserve the paints. The ceiling was blue with white Pole Stars painted all over it (the Pole Star was thought to guide the way to the afterlife) and also some kind of counting that I couldn’t quite figure out. There were also pictures of ordinary things, like a mill grinding wheat into flour and behind it some bread. There were rooms leading off the main chamber with gods and goddesses on the walls, all in vivid technicolour. Anyhow it’s impossible to describe all this even nearly adequately in words and photography within the tombs is strictly forbidden (not that that stopped a portly Nubian man from snapping with flash! If all those colours fade in a generation or so people like him will be solely to blame) so you will all just have to go yourselves and check it out. Do what we did though, and go early in the morning, as those tombs are really really hot, and must be unbearable around midday.
That afternoon was a free one in Luxor – unfortunately, other than the Valley of the Kings and Karnak temple Luxor doesn’t really have much to recommend it. We went for a meal at a Chinese restaurant (I think Shelly was missing Chinese food) but none of the staff including the chef were Chinese, so you can imagine the quality of the food. The rice in particular tasted as if it had been boiled in tap water, but (probably stupidly) I threw caution to the winds and ate it anyway. I was later to regret that as it caused a minor digestive upset from which think I still have not fully recovered. After the meal Shelly wanted to do some “quick shopping” which, translated from Shelly-speak into English, means hours of poring over papyrus and bargaining with proprietors. The situation isn’t helped much by the proprietors themselves, who, if they haven’t got what you’re looking for right there, will spend “just one minute” (one Egyptian minute = approx 45-60 regular minutes) looking for the item which they know they have in the back room somewhere, or occasionally they will even send a friend home to get it. I got sick of this after a while, and, tired from the sun, the food and the accumulated lack of sleep I headed back to the hotel for a snooze. Sam had promised Shelly to take her to a perfume shop that afternoon at five – I had intended to go with them but I was out cold until it was time for dinner.
I tried to make myself look acceptable to go out that night – since it was basically the last time I would be seeing these people I thought I’d try and leave them with a half-decent impression. This was made difficult due to the fact I’d left all my makeup in Dublin (I like to take holidays from makeup as much as anything else), my skin was dry as a bone and I had big red mosquito bites all over the right side of my face from the felucca. I put on my cleanest pair of jeans, a cool singlet and my favourite badass fake leather jacket (still after two years my favourite wardrobe item and at six euro the best bargain I ever found) and hoped for the best. While we waited in the lobby we had a photo fest and tried to snap ourselves with everyone around us in all kinds of silly poses. Eventually we headed off to the restaurant which turned out to be, of all things, an Irish pub. I could barely believe it but they had the authenticity down to every detail – Guinness mirrors, a Dubs flag, leprechauns, an Irish dancing dress on the walls, a chalkboard reading “Live Football”, and Westlife CDs. We probably could have done without the last one, but live and let live I say. It was a little while before the food arrived, so we passed the time playing pool, dancing, talking, buying jewellery (don’t ask) watching the football and generally having a great time. I tried to talk to as many people as possible and tried not to let my resentment at going home early show through (too much). Eventually the food came and we sat down to a raucous meal, followed by much singing and dancing. There were two tour birthdays that day, Tracy and Marcella, and since my birthday was the 19th and after I had left, Sam decided we would celebrate my birthday too. The group sang Happy Birthday to the three of us, and we continued to dance until they cleared us out of the pub into the club below. Then the fun really began as for the first time everyone really got into it and danced the night away. The DJ was quite good, better than most of the DJs here in Dublin to be honest. Not only that but he actually plays requests – imagine my surprise when I asked for “Gasolina” and it came on the very next song! I always love that song as it reminds me of the time I spent in Buenos Aires with my family. Sam had the brilliant idea of requesting “Soo ya soo” and everyone went mad, especially me. I didn’t leave the dance floor all night (every time I tried, which was only once or twice, someone came over to drag me back) and while people began to drift away a few of us stayed until the very end, reluctant to draw the night to a close. Finally it was time to leave as we were all exhausted, but someone (either Andrew or Sam, I don’t remember who) had the insane idea of stopping off at a coffee shop on the way home for a last shisha. We chatted at the coffee shop for a while, had something to drink and Rami paid without telling us (I was too tired to argue). Afterwards we walked home with our hearts heavy.
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