Not only do I get a room with a large en suite and terrace area with additional cats but I also get breakfast on a rooftop terrace.
Today started well, breakfast alone on the roof turned out to be the calm before the unexpected storm of being pretty much the only tourist in an increasingly desperate for tourists area of Egypt.
I had a good plan thanks to Ahmed. I had searched how far each monument I wanted to check out was and I decided to leave Nigel at home. I was expecting a decent trek today but the main reason was so I didn't have to leave him lying around near "security" and then have the constant grief of paying them off. As it turned out, Nigel would've been fine and I don't think I could've got anymore grief if I had tried.
It started within 5 minutes of leaving the hotel and getting alongside the nile. You can take a ferry boat for £1 or private boat for £5. The Nile isn't wide, the ferry is constant, ill take the ferry but then I'll have to get through 4-5 waves of private boat sailors. This led me to question the intelligence of the 5th guy. Not only was he metres away from the 4th guy, so definitely within earshot of my previous "no thankyou" but he is standing right by the entrance to the ferry boat but then still tries to stop me...
Like I said previously, I know they're only doing their job and its business but today I replied to his remark of "it's business its business" with "well the early bird gets the business" he obviously didn't understand this but if I was him and I had a lot of time on my hands (which currently they do) I would think a little bit about how I could make my business a little more successful instead of standing next to a service that does exactly the same as mine for 1/5 the price. Come on my friend!!!
This turned out to be just the beginning! I was the only tourist on the boat and made myself a real human target thanks to my bright red Saints Foundation t-shirt. On the 2 minute boat ride I was approached 3 times and then I got off the boat to another barrage of taxi drivers and stall people. The reason why it was so extreme for me was that normally they expect many tourists in Luxor. To account for the high amount of tourists they have a lot of people that earn a living from pestering/providing a service to tourists. Unfortunately if you take away the tourists bar one (me) then you end up with one guy constantly at breaking point.
I wanted some chill out time. When I'm riding the noise is constant and I'm always concentrating on something. Today I just wanted to be left alone and relax. I knew which way to go because all the taxis went in one direction, all the shops led one way and there was only one road with street lights. (There's a few tips for you if you ever find yourself in Luxor or similar foreign towns.) I had to walk a couple of km's to Memnon, this was interrupted with every taxi on the West Bank side of Luxor stopping by my side and today it wasn't just a "no thank you" and they were gone. Today was tough going, like trying to flick one of those impossibly sticky bogeys that just won't fly away! It's the nicest way of putting it!
Memnon was pretty impressive to say the least. I did love just imagining what it would've been like when all the temples were in complete working order. I never liked history at school but this was like walking through my very own book, absolutely amazing!
From Memnon and passing more taxis etc I walked passed a dig site where it was like looking at the set of the film "The Mummy" Lots of Egyptians busying themselves with wheelbarrows or chipping away at rocks and then when they found something of interest they would run to the white man sat under the umbrella who was telling them where to dig. I carried on walking towards the "Valley of the Kings" despite it being a good couple of miles. One guy was standing on the roadside and tried to flog me an alabaster scarab beetle. He learned a lesson today along with myself.
I told him at the start I had no money for him and I was going to walk to the Valley of the kings. He persisted to walk by my side so I decided to just have a normal chat with him. The walk lasted a good 25-30 minutes into the middle of nowhere. I could see that at the end that he was annoyed that I didn't give him any money but in this case he was up against a stubborn/true to his word man that doesn't mind a "bit of a trek." At the valley f the King's there were more of them hanging out, and they were even more desperate. I spotted 3 other people that also had there own entourage of Egyptians trying to either be a tour guide or flog them a statue.
It really was relentless. You couldn't get annoyed although I did lose it once and you couldn't fight it, it was like being in the wild. I needed to embrace it so I took a very deep breath and decided to work with it and make it more of my entertainment then my overshadowing cloud on what really is an absolutely magical place. If I was with another person things would've been different from the start for sure. So I decided to create a different person for every taxi driver, sailor, stall worker and tour guide that decided to grab me. "Hello my friend, where you from?" I was from England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Wales - "ah we love those, they are the best!" I even got that reply when I was from France....really? Now I know you're just saying that and not actually listening. Aruba confused them, confused me as well but it was the first different place I could think of!
"What's your name my friend?" I did enjoy being called Elvis. Elvis was from Germany and was an artful dodger for a living, I think he may play my African alter ego from now on. It was Chris from England that got out of a spot of bother when I took a picture of the tomb though. That's one thing you don't want to do. On my way to the police I was before I said to him that I would delete it. I deleted it but didn't realise they would be so touchy about it and still then he tried to get me to give him some money so he wouldn't tell! Nothing to tell after I've deleted the picture but I suggest if you decide to go, you don't even bother with trying sneaky ones.
I felt a bit conned (shock) as the ticket allows you to see just 3 tombs. There are about 50 banging around, most of them "closed" and you don't know what ones are the best until you've seen a better one. It turned out I saw the second best one but not the best. I blame this solely on one Egyptian guy. I spent a good 10minutes talking to him about the different levels of ok, good and the best and the fact I wanted to see the best. Intent on making me see his rubbish tomb compared the previous one I visited I was hopelessly suckered in. He got a high five from me and was lucky to get that despite his asking for much more. If you're planning on going, search for the top three so you're not left with an anti climax like I was.
I was still very impressed with what I saw. The valley is amazing and the detail in the tombs is unbelievable. Some still showing such great colour and it really really would've been amazing to see them years ago. I got a taxi to the temple of Hapchetsut and paid to get in as it looked intriguingly like there was something special behind the huge pillars that were built into the mountain. There wasn't. If you go, just take a picture from the car park and you've saved yourself some money. By the time I had finished with this I was again physically and mentally drained and on my supposed "day off." I just wanted a ferry, food and hotel and didn't really care how much I payed.
Memnon turned out to be my favourite place (probably as there were no Egyptians around) and that place was free! I was pleased with what I had achieved overall and I can safely say without any regrets that I experienced a large chunk of Luxor that I never would've done without both Ahmed's help. I would come back for sure but not alone and not when the tourist business is at an all time low. Just very unfortunate that it was how it was and their "business" was my annoyance for a large portion of the day.
After finally embracing and working with the locals I managed to get lots of goods down in price and had a good laugh with a few stall owners. Playing one stall off against another may seem unfair but after the day I had and after paying for things that I would later find out I should of spent less than half of the price than I did, then I was entitled to leave some shopkeepers disappointed at a lack sale. I was finally turning the tables!
The horse and cart people you just had to bite your tongue at (their best price had plummeted over the last two days from 10 to 2, so you can really get an idea of how desperate its getting) and I didn't dare walk back along the Nile to my hotel as the sailors would've been unbearable. I grabbed some food, met up with Ahmed again for one final goodbye and thank you and sat and watched some football in the same restaurant as last night.
It is without a doubt that Egypt is a magical place and I'm already very happy to say I have experienced enough and ready to move on. One thing is for sure, I certainly won't forget Egypt. I have a few more days yet and have made lots of quirky observations along the way that I will blog at some point when I find a "boring" day (as if there is ever going to be one)
Tomorrow I head to Udfu. Still things to see and do on the way but Luxor has prepared me more to really utilise and enjoy my last few days in Egypt.
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