I bounded up in the morning, raring to go. I got ready and was out the patio door to explore our resort. We front onto the Nile so I immediately walked around the swimming pool and out to the river. I stared out across the river and absorbed the history oozing out of it. Scum gathered at the edges of the water, along with a shoe (thankfully without a foot) and some plant matter. On the west bank was an image straight out of a textbook on Egypt. Palms surrounded the muddy, flat-topped buildings and blue sky shimmered in the background.
To my right I could see the mountains which protect the valleys of the dead. To my left the Nile rounded a bend out of sight with nothing but green bushes on either side. How is it that I can be in a part of the world inhabited by people for thousands of years yet not see resort hotels and skyscrapers as far as I look?
Tom wandered in a different direction at one point. I was alone looking around when a guard motioned me with his finger to follow him further away from where I thought my family might be. He was smiling but I was a bit shaken by all the strange attention so I felt very uncomfortable. Rhys appeared and the two of us followed him together. The guard showed us an inscription in the wall which people touch to bring good luck. He took each of our hands to touch the wall, then our head three times and then the wall and our heart three times. Then he took our picture with my camera at his insistence. Then he held his hand out for money. I don’t carry money but I managed to dig up a British pound coin which he accepted. We then repeated the whole procedure with Tom and Julia. More guards signaled they wished to show us things but at that point we declined as politely as we could. We have found this behaviour from guards is the norm at tourist sites.
We went from the temple to the Mummification museum, weaving our way through the throngs of touts wanting to give us rides. One actually asked what he could offer that would make us give him money. The museum was small but excellent. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, unfortunately because there were some fascinating items. We saw a mummy, preserved skin from a foot, a piece of preserved flesh, a mummified head that had been halved to reveal the cavity which had once housed the brain. It is now stuffed with linen. There were lids from sarcophagi and a mummy looking rather blackened and dead. However did mummies get the white bandaged look? Every one I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen quite a few now) has been black and shriveled looking, and far more spooky than some old toilet paper doll.
1 comments:
Hi All....how dreadful but I'm glad none of you were harrassed any further. I remember Steve saying everyone was in your face constantly! Love to all of you... Mom
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