I woke up to a helicopter in my room. It wasn't a real helicopter it was a unionaire conditioning unit but it may as well of been a helicopter.
I didn't mind too much as the aim was to get an early start and get to Luxor as soon as I could to establish myself for a bit and maybe squeeze some sightseeing in. I left the hotel at around 7:30 and found myself in the most chaotic school run ever. I don't know what your typical school run is like but if you thought women trying to manoeuvre oversized range rovers outside small school entrances or fleets of buses with kids running everywhere was bad! Try adding dust, heat, noise, more vehicles going faster, more people moving everywhere and livestock to that equation.
Myself, Beirdre and Nigel did well to get out alive but still had to endure a barrage of constant hellos, how are yous and where you froms, for about 2 hours from the locals and the kids that didn't go to school. At first its nice, you say hello back or you smile or you answer them even though they have no clue what you said. After doing it every minute or so for two hours though, it becomes hard to maintain that initial enthusiasm. I never ignored them, but my "hi-de-hi" wave and a smile did evolve into a lazy nod or a slight raise of the hand. I wasn't being grumpy, it was just very draining and you really have to experience to understand.
I followed a leg of the Nile the whole way down to Luxor. A good quality road hugged the bank and as I cycled I could see what an unbelievable resource for life the Nile is. From Qena, there are wetlands that stretch in width about a mile either side of the river and then in the distant mist you can see the concrete fighting its way upwards. The sound of pumps rang in my ears for the whole day as water is taken from the river to fill irrigation systems.
Fisherman in tiny boats work up and down the river and mules are constantly up and down the river banks with crops like sugar cane. I used to play a computer game set in the times of Greek mythology which reminded me of the layout. The Nile provides so much for the farmers and then beyond that you have the housing and the factories etc. It felt like I had been transported back hundreds of years to much simpler times and I have really. The craziest thing for me is when you realise I did it on my bike, the world all of a sudden becomes a lot smaller and that different planet, and those different people that you saw on the news and thought you will never come across, are all of a sudden saying hello to you, getting in your way or beeping at you!
I did have to laugh at one man who shouted at me from the top of a loaded flat bed truck of cement bags, "what have you brought?" That was a new one for me. What? I had to bring something? Has a new king been born I thought, should I have brought gifts?, or was I a messenger with a telegram from the west? "Nothing, what have you brought?" I replied, I don't think he understood and the lorry pulled away before anybody else sat next to him could pipe up with another question.
Despite the "short" ride of 40 miles and the anticipation of Luxor, I was feeling a bit down today. It may of been due to not having breakfast or just the fact that I'm constantly finding myself deeper and deeper into adversity and being that one white man, I stick out and gain attention when sometimes I just like to be left alone. As I stopped for some water at a roadside tap a boy came running up to me and offered me some kofte. As i looked up i was shocked, the act of offering food wasn't the main surprise it was the fact that he was albino. I had never seen an albino before and I couldn't believe that I've gone almost a week in Africa without seeing a "white" person or at least spoken in a fluent English accent to anyone and now I have a "1 in 20,000" offering me a kebab! I gratefully declined, through shear surprise more than lack of hunger.
When I arrived in Luxor the feel was instantly more chilled out and open compared to Cairo. The buildings weren't as high and so it was less claustrophobic and when I said no thankyou to the taxi drivers, horse and cart people, jewellery sellers, people on the stalls, faluka sailors etc. most of them said ok and let me move on to the next one.
One man with a donkey and trailer did try a little to hard for my liking to let him taxi me and Nigel on his flat bed the few hundred metres to my hotel. I did laugh, despite actually being on a mode of transport, I was still being pestered! They're persistent, I can definitely give them that! The hotel was found thanks to a man from another hotel that walked me down the road to the Little Garden Hotel.
Ahmed had told me to meet him at the Hotel and when I arrived I surprisingly met my first English lady! Barbara the owner was amazing and it was great to have a chat in a more relaxed English accent then a stagnated broken one. I chilled out for a bit in the room that Ahmed had sorted for me and then when he arrived we had a good chat through some of my plans for Luxor.
Ahmed is a tour guide and so the perfect man for telling me the best places to pay for and the other places just to take pictures of. He told me where everything was so I could ride or walk there if I wanted to and really if I wasn't for him then I would never of had a clue where to go first!
Ahmed left to go back to work but we had arranges to meet up later for some dinner. I saw the Luxor temple first (I had cycled past it on the way to the hotel but had no clue what it was) and then I went to the Karnak temple. I love the fact that all the statues are in their original positions and so when you travel through Luxor you can easily transport back in time with just a simple turn around the corner. I cycled around the outside of Karnak temple for a bit and it reminded me of the areas around the pyramids. Very poor, very tough living conditions and lots of waste. It is something that I have accepted since my first major shock in Albania and unfortunately its become the norm.
I wanted to spend a bit of time playing football with the local kids but they were too interested in Nigel and when, can you believe it, an Egyptian dwarf or whatever the "PC" term is at the moment decided to pretty much mount Nigel where the tent is normally strapped, I decided to get back to the ranch and chill before meeting Ahmed for dinner.
Ahmed had already bought some food and we took it to a really chilled out opened roofed bar to eat and meet up with one of his friends. Despite working long hours, Ahmed was still willing to show yet more great Egyptian hospitality and ensure I was all sorted for my sightseeing day tomorrow.
After a lovely dinner of chicken, rice, kofte and pitta I hit the hay. I was pretty knackered and I had seen some pretty amazing sights! Some living and some not! I needed to lay down to ensure I was feeling ok!
What began quite a painful and stressful day, eased into a relaxing evening with yet another friend made. After 6 straight days hard cycling, I can enjoy some sightseeing and a day without Nigel tomorrow but don't tell him I said that.
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