May 9th, Luxor & Valley of the Kings

I woke up at 6:30 and skipped breakfast. I knew that I needed every minute I could spare in order to see half of what I had planned to on the West bank of Luxor. I headed down to the waterfront and began looking for a way across. I could have taken the ferry for 5 pounds but I didn't want to wait so I was going to see if I could talk my way across another way. I found a man who surprisingly was willing to take ma across in his boat for the same price that the ferry would charge. I had now been in Egypt long enough to not simply regard this as a simple turn of good luck. This guy had something up his sleeve. So I cautiously stepped into the boat and we crossed over the Nile. It was just about 7:00 when I got to the other side and it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day. Just then my boat driver offered to find me a taxi for the day. A friend of his would be my driver for only 30 pounds for the whole day. Here it was, the hook that he would try to catch me with. He would get a cut from his friend for getting me to buy his taxi service and I had no guarantee that the 30 pounds would not somehow turn into 60 or more. The guy was walking a few steps in front of me so I waited until his head was turned then I just disappeared down a side alley. Sneaky, yes, rued, maybe, but I thought it was better than arguing with him.

Just like at the train station as I walked to the ticket office I was hounded by numerous people offering their taxi services. Once I had bought my tickets it quickly became apparent that walking in-between all of the sites would be impossible. But I still did not want to pay cab fare for all those trips nor did I want to rent a cab for a day. Dang, maybe all those people in the tourist buses had a point. Just then, a man across the street asked if I wanted to rent a bicycle. Score! "How much?" He wanted 30 pounds for me to have the bike until 3. I talked him into letting me have the bike until 7 for only 15 pounds and set of down the road. First stop, Ramses II's temple the Ramesseum.

I was feeling pretty good about my bargaining skills until I actually got on the bike and started riding it. I am convinced that I had the absolutely worst bike in all of Egypt. Summoning all my strength I muscled this Bike with bald tires, crooked handlebars, a rock hard seat, and a chain that fell off at least 15 times that day I trudged up the hill to the Egyptian temples.

While I was at the Ramesseum a local came up to me and started pointing to random hieroglyphics and muttering questionable explanations in Arabic. He then asked for a tip and I again refused after which he left me alone. Or so I thought. He snuck up on me and managed to pull me aside to some archeological dig going on right next to the Temple. I was about to leave but he was insistent that I stay and see what he had to show me. With that he began to pull aside a piece of tin that was covering a hole and to my astonishment there lied a brightly painted wooden sarcophagus that had been partially uncovered by the archaeologists! I had no idea he was going to show me this. Amazing! I was looking at an Egyptian sarcophagus exactly where it had been laid over 3000 years ago. The man then asked me for a tip and I thought that was worth a few pounds.

I then mounted my bike and limped all my way down to the Temple of Seti I. Very neat, but I wont bore you. The good stuff happened after I left Seti's temple and began the 8km bike ride uphill to the Valley of the Kings. I honestly did not know if the bike would ever make it. I would try to peddle hard to get some momentum and the chain would fall off. I would try to go slower to take it easy on the bike and the chain would fall off. Keep in mind, every time that I had to stop the bike to put the chain back on 10 taxis would pass me by and insist that I hire them to drive me. With a broken bike I really had no excuses other than I had paid 15 pound to rent a bike so I would not have to get a cab and dammit, I was going to use that bike if it killed me. Stubborn? Probably, but I finally got the hang of the bike and slowly made my way of to the Valley of the Kings. I made it a point to wave at every bus full of confused tourist gawking at me as they passed by. They had no idea what they were missing on those big, air conditioned, diesel engine tour buses. No idea....whimps.

I made it to the valley alive and locked up my bike. The tombs were awesome. Once I was done with the 6 tombs that I visited I began mike hike up out of the Valley, over the mountain ridge and down into the canyon where Queen Hatshepsut's Temple was. The hike was steep but incredible. I could see all the way down the Nile Valley and across the river into Luxor. As I descended I got first class pictures of the temple as it slowly emerged from around the rocks. Many of you are probably wondering how I did all of this biking and hiking in the incredible heat of the Nile's West Bank. TO be honest, the weather was perfect. Slightly overcast with even a few drops of water falling now and again I hardly broke a sweat all day. I guess I planned my trip at the perfect time.

By the time I was done with her temple I was pretty beat and I still had one more site I wanted to see on the West Bank before things closed at 5:00. It was now 3:00 and I needed to get my bike that was still in the Valley of the Kings and then ride it all the way down to the most southern end of the monument to the Medinat Habu temple. Should I get a cab this once to go get my bike up at the Valley? After all, that is pretty reasonable considering I would have to basically run up the entire trail in order to get my bike and make it to Medinat Habu before it closed. Taking all of that into consideration...I started running up the mountain trail as fast as I could.

I got my bike and began speeding down the mountain road as fast as that old bike (that I honestly think Ramses himself might have owned) could take me. Fortunately, it was all down hill this time, but that did not keep the chain from falling off several times. Once when I was fixing it a cab driver asked me if I wanted a ride. When I said no he turned off his van and got out. Great, now I would have to put up with his hassling until I got the bike fixed. To my surprise he just helped me get the chain working again and said nothing more about the ride. I thanked him and sprinted off to Mediant Habu.

I agree with the Lonely Planet authors that Medinat Habu is the most underrated monument on the West Bank. My breath was taken away by this incredibly well preserved Temple built by Ramses the Great. In my opinion, it is second only to Karnack in Wonder.

I returned the bike and finally settled for one cab back to the river where I got another private boatman to take me across for 5 pounds and then went to dinner. This restaurant I found serves genuine Egyptian cuisine, which I actually like by the way, on the roof of a hotel overlooking the Luxor Temple. I took my time and let my swollen feet rest for about an hour and a half. I had biked over 15 km at least and walked over 8km in one day. Caleb, the triathlon runner, is probably thinking that it was no big deal. But hey, I hate to run and the bike I had was a burden in itself. By the end of the day, I was beat. I checked out of my hotel and slept soundly on the train back to Cairo.

Sam