A Complete Diary of Egypt Trip

        Who is unfamiliar with Egypt, one of the countries with the oldest history in the world? When I was a high school student, my history teacher once taught about Egypt and its ancient civilization. However, I just knew the country from the textbook and then soon forgot about the great civilization. Thank God, my memory was then refreshed by a rewarded trip to Egypt in August 2010. The knowledge I once only knew from readings has now become a lifetime memory.

        Who ever thought that an ordinary girl like me would be able to go to Egypt for free? Nobody, but God did it. It all started from my joining a Modernisator writing competition. At first, I did not expect too much to win the contest as I was just an amateur writer who never won any national writing competition. However, I prayed to God that He would give me a chance to glorify Him through winning the prize. I could feel that God spoke to me to keep praying for that. On a short visit to Times bookstore, I saw Egypt Insight Guides book. Something inside me compelled me to buy that three-hundred-something book as if I would win the competition. As I waited for the announcement, Fika from Modernisator called and told I won the contest and would go to Egypt to attend an International Youth Forum there. My heart leaped that I could not express my happiness and surprise. I held off the call and thanked God for answering my prayer.

Day 1

 

        Despite all the obstacles, I finally set off for Egypt with three friends who were all friendly and interesting. Our flight was economic Garuda at 8 p.m. However, when we did the check in, the officer surprisingly asked us if we wanted to move to the business class. Wow..!!Amazing.. Without hesitation, we immediately said YES SIR!! That was a miracle. God was with us. Happily I boarded into the plane, enjoying my first time being in the business class. Heading to Dubai, I was sitting next to Zul, a new acquaintance and a humble man.

Day 2

 

        After enduring almost eight-hour tiring but fun flight, we landed on Dubai International Airport at 2 a.m.. Dubai’s view at dawn taken from above was very beautiful with thousands of lamps shining as they welcomed our arrival.  Dubai airport is very large because it is an international airport and the hub of all international flights. As a newcomer in the Arabian country, I was puzzled encountering signage board written in Arabian language.

 

        We had to wait for 13 hours in the airport’s waiting room for the next flight to Egypt by Emirates. Unable to put up with the boring situation, we decided to stroll around the airport, taking pictures and shopping. Because of my oriental face, many people thought I was a Chinese citizen that they greeted me with “Ni hao”.

        There was a debate among us on how women should dress up in Egypt and to what extent it is acceptable. Fortunately, “Insight Guides” advised me to wear light and closed garments, so I brought cotton-made T-shirts and knee-long jeans. However, my friend thought it was okay to wear U-can-see T-shirts, so almost all her clothes were topless.Hahaha… At the end of our debate, she was worried the people would not welcome her because of her garments. Therefore, when some of my friends were in a smoking room, they met with some guys from other countries and had a small discussion on decent clothing for women during they stay in Egypt. After a long-hour waiting, we finally took our flight to Egypt by Emirates, but for this time, the same luck did not happen twice, we took the economy class. Haha..

        We arrived in Cairo, Egypt late at noon, around 5 p.m., (Egypt time), which is four hours slower than Jakarta time. Several staffs from KBRI (Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia) or Indonesian Embassy in Egypt picked and took us to a hostel where we would stay for one night. One of the officers briefly told us about Egypt. That night, we stayed in a small hostel that had no elevator. I and my roommate, Fika, got a room in the fifth floor, that we had to take our heavy luggage all by ourselves climbing the staircases. Sigh… very tiring. The Egyptian people in that hostel could not speak English, so it was a bit hard to communicate with them. When I wanted to buy mineral water, I had to use gestures to make them understand what I meant.

        Late in the evening, I was introduced to other people who have been working in the KBRI and they took us for a dinner in one of Egyptian restaurants in Cairo. They ordered some food, and I was then faced with a large plate full of roasted chicken, Arabian kebab, vegetables and yellow rice. I could not finish the meal because the portion was just too much for me and I just had a jetlag. They told us that Egyptian people eat a big portion.

No wonder, they are mostly very big and tall. Their portion follows their body posture. =D Egyptian food mostly have strong flavors and smell. Their famous food is “kebab”, which is made of beef.

 

        If you travel to Egypt, be prepared with some small cash in case you need to give tips to any Egyptian janitor who offered her/himself to help you. If you accept their service, they will not hesitate to ask for money from you. For example, when I went to a toilet, a woman suddenly offered me tissue without my request. After I finished washing my hands, I said to her I did not need her help, but she insisted. And at the end, she asked for money then I gave her five Egyptian pounds.

Day 3

 

        As the capital city and center of business, trade and culture of Egypt, Cairo is a small megapolitan city with around 12 million residents, packed with people who migrated from their hometown to find a better living. The buildings in Cairo and most places in Egypt are of pale colors like brown, grey, etc. because the people do not want to waste their money, time and energy to color their houses and offices with bright colors that would finally be made dirty by Mr. Dust storm, which attacks the country once a year.

 One of famous churches and mosques in Egypt but I do not know its name, could somebody tell me?

 

 

 

 

        After a short sleep, tomorrow morning we were asked to move our luggage to the tour bus, heading to Cairo airport to go to Luxor. Many people who heard we were going to Luxor in August, the hottest month in Egypt, were very surprised. If you want to visit Egypt, the best time to visit is March to April, when the wind blows softly and the weather is friendly. We went up to the bus and that was the first time I met with my friendly and smart tour guide, Ramiz. He was such a very nice man, with tall and big body , just like most Egyptians. He explained about the history of Egypt and the places we would visit in detail.

Our tour bus also passed by an area exclusive for the President of Egypt where military forces stand and watch over it.

 We then arrived in a five-star luxurious Steinberger hotel in Luxor. There, we were served with delicious lunch.

        In front of the hotel, there were people offering a horse ride. Along the streets in Luxor, you can also find many Egyptian men offering you a horse ride with a big carriage. However, you should be extra careful since they often charged tourists with a very high price or even in some worst cases kidnapped them. It is better to have an Egyptian friend to accompany you if you are really passionate to have a horse ride going around Luxor.

LUXOR MUSEUM

        The first historical site I visited was Luxor Museum, the most beautiful museum in Egypt. Unfortunately, we were forbidden to use camera to take photos. Inside the museum there were beautiful Pharaoh statues and historical artifacts. Ramiz explained about Pharaoh’s statues and the meaning of each symbol. I also saw a mummy in a glass box, which was a body of burnt bones covered in linen with hair pressed on the skeleton that can still be seen quite clearly. What a mummy..

        Luxor Museum is the most beautiful museum in Egypt not because it has the largest number of collections, but because its 4000 masterpieces are beautifully displayed. The Ancient Egyptians based their civilization on the concept of life and death. They strongly believed that someone would surely resurrect from death as surely as the sun rises from the east. Just as the sun inevitably rises from the east and sets in the west, so will dead people live again. They divided life and death according to east and west side. The east side resembles life, from which the sun rises, while the west side resembles death, to which the sun sets. The same concept also applies to lotus flower. The opening and closing of lotus flower’s bud resembles life and death.

Lotus flower

Lotus flower opens and closes its bud according to the sun’s direction. It opens its bud under the sun’s shade and closes when it is dark. Lotus flower and sandalwood were used for purification and mummification in the ancient Egyptian time.

Mummification

Since the Egyptians believed that people would surely rise from death, they mummified everyone. The process of mummification consists of several steps:

• The dead person was moved from the east side to the west side
• The internal organ of the dead was taken out (including the lungs, stomach, lever and intestines),except the heart
• An insect, which was the scarab, was put in the heart of the dead as a sign of protection
• All the water from the dead was taken out using a chemical substance to make the body shrink
• The dead was embalmed using lotus oil perfume and sandalwood
• The dead was covered using shroud or linen
• The dead was put in a coffin/sarcophagus and put inside a tomb

The process of mummification had various levels depending on the level position of the buried (king, official, or common people). Since then, people have been trying to apply the ancient mummification, however they failed to do that because the papyrus scrolls telling how to make a good mummy could not be found. For this reason, the present Egyptians cannot make mummy as well as their ancestors did.

Kingship

The most famous king in the Ancient Egyptian history was king Ramses II because he built over 65% of all the buildings in Egypt. He also had more than 124 concubines and hundreds of children. There are three signs through which we could distinguish a king from a common man.

• The crown (if the king wore two crowns, he was the king over all Egypt. The shape of the combined crown was in the form of wine bottle in an ice box)
• The cobra as the sign of protection
• The cartouche which had the name of the king inscribed on board stone using hieroglyphic writings

The kings in the Ancient time were described as people who were very powerful and strong with left leg stepping forward, carrying two flags, the flail and the crook. The flail was a symbol for enemy, whereas the crook was for summoning his servant.

Economy of Egypt

Despite its arid natural geography, Egypt has abundant wealth and riches. It positions as the second largest population country in African countries. Its main income comes from the Suez Canal, tourism, as well as the energy or electricity produced by the Aswan dam, which sold to other African countries. For the Suez Canal, they charge ships that cross it with high prices. After all, they have just used 6% of the total land of Egypt. So amazing !!!

Day 4

 

        On the fourth day of the trip when the temperature was extremely boiling, we visited the first ancient temple in the second ancient capital city of Luxor, called Abydos temple. Abydos temple is just one of the examples of many temples in Egypt. In the Ancient Egyptian civilization, each temple was dedicated to different gods. To build the Abydos temple and the pharaoh’s statues inside it,the ancient people took sand stones from the sand mountain located not far from the temple.

        On our way to the Abydos temple, we crossed the Nile river, which is the longest river in the land of Egypt and has become the source of life for the Egyptians for thousands of years. The Nile river is very wide and a bit wavy.

 

 

        Some people along the Nile river catch fish and sell clay jars. As our tour bus passed by, the local people waved their hand every time they saw us, which explicitly shows the typical humility and friendliness of the Egyptians.

 

ABYDOS TEMPLE

 

        The Abydos temple was dedicated to the first triad gods, Osiris, Isis and Horus. During his visit to the temple, a king/Pharaoh must bring special offerings to the gods in the form of oil and perfume as the symbol of life after death.

The entrance to Abydos temple

The open courtyard of Abydos temple

 

 The wall relief in Abydos temple depicting the king is giving offering to god Osiris

The scene of the king holding the ankh sign, given by god Anubis

 

 The king giving offering to the gods

 

The ancient Egyptians already understood the concept of two-dimensional architecture, which can be seen in how they carved the image of the king with raised relief and the image of the god with sunken relief to differentiate the visible from the invisible, the mortal from the immortal. Red color was applied to the image of the king to represent the king as a masculine figure.

 

 Cartouche of the king
 

 

 Inside the Abydos temple

 

 The scene of the god giving blessings to the king (look at the inscribed cartouche of the king), who is not wearing a crown as a sign of respect to the god and surrounded by the ankh and arrow signs (the sign of prosperity).

 (In sequence) The ankh sign (the sign of life), the arrow sign (the sign of prosperity), and another unknown triangle sign

 

   The picture of papyrus, which is one of the most important symbols in Egypt

  The king is giving offering to god Osiris while goddess Hathor gives her blessings

 

  The scene of the king receiving the ankh sign from god Anubis

 

  The king is offering oil and perfume to god Osiris as the first mummified body

 

 

The example of damaged king’s face because someone might hate the king thus destroyed his image

 

 

Inside the sanctuary only lighted by one spot sun light while the rest is dark

 

 

The columns inside Abydos  temple

The head statues of three kings

 

 

 An Egyptian gatekeeper at the entrance gate of Abydos temple

 

 

DENDARAH TEMPLE

 

        Mr. sun still stroke my skin very cruelly. Moving from Abydos temple, our group had another visit to an ancient temple, called Dendarah temple. Dendarah temple was dedicated to goddess Hathor, the wife of god Horus. Goddess Hathor was represented as a beautiful woman with a cow head. She was the god of beauty and music.

  The entrance to Dendarah temple

 

The relief on the wall of Dendarah temple, chipped by the early Egyptian Coptic Christians because they did not want to have pagan figures before them while praying to God

 

 

The ceilings of Dendarah temple, burned by the early Egyptian Christians

 

 

The empty cartouche for any king who offered sacrifices to the god

 

 

 Goddess Nut bending down from which the sun (Amun Ra) came out. She swallowed the sun at the evening while gave birth at morning

 

 

The Ancient Egyptian zodiacs on the ceiling (the display is the fake one, the original one is in the London museum)

 

 The small spot of light in Dendarah temple, shined through two stones sticking together

 

 

 The upper open court of Dendarah temple (second floor)

 

  The stairs are used to celebrate the New Year Festival, during which the statue of goddess Hathor is carried from the western stairway to the roof to be united with the sun disk known as the “Union with the Disc” ritual, then carried down through the east staircase. A series of procession of the gods are beautifully carved along the walls of the stairways.

 

  Outside Dendarah temple

 

 Morning view on the sun desk on the Nile river

 

Day 5

 

        On the fifth day, I visited two ancient temples, which were Edfu and Kom Ombo temple. At the evening, I watched the cultural performance from Kenya, Tanzania, Japan and Singapore. Each country showed the unique part of their country.

EDFU TEMPLE

 

The word Edfu is derived from the Ancient Egyptian word, which means sneeze. Just like all temples in Egypt, the structure of Edfu temple consists of four major parts, entrance, courtyard, hypostyle hall and sanctuary. The design of Edfu temple clearly shows that the Ancient Egyptians were very intelligent for they paid attention to every single detail of the architecture when building it. So, a temple in the ancient time is not merely a building, but is created in a very meticulous way to ensure the specific purpose of each element. The common structure of temples in Egypt starts from the entrance (very light), the open courtyard (semi light), hypostyle hall and sanctuary, the most holy place, which is dark with only small open light.

  The entrance to Edfu temple. Edfu temple is dedicated to god Horus. The scenes of this temple mostly describe god Horus taking revenge to Seth who killed his father, Osiris, by cutting his body into 42 pieces and scattering them to many different places all over Egypt.

The scene of king Horus striking his enemies in one strike with god Osiris and goddess Isis giving their blessings and delivering the enemies into the king’s hands

 

 

The scene of the king giving offering to various gods

 
 

The granite falcon, symbol of protection, standing at the entrance gate of Edfu temple
 

 

The scene of ships sailing from Edfu to Dendarah, the journey of King Horus to meet with his wife Queen Hathor

 

The ceilings of Edfu temple which were burned by the Romans because of their hatred to the Greeks

 

The columns in Edfu temple
 

 

 

A photo with our beloved Egyptian tour guide, Mr. Ramiz

 

  A scene on the wall destroyed by the Romans

 

 

        The wall reliefs in this temple beautifully record the story of Horus who sought revenge to his uncle Seth for his beloved father’s decease. In one of the reliefs, there is a scene of god Osiris and goddess Hathor blessed king Horus and delivered his enemies into his hands. Horus gained victory not because of his strength or smartness but because of the gods who gave him their blessings. Therefore, each time the king wanted to go for a war, he must first present offerings to the gods to ask for their blessings.

The hospital chamber in Edfu temple with only a small hole in the ceiling through which the sun light shines. A sick king would lie in this room for three days to get the sun shine over his body to purify and protect him. So, the medication was not by medical treatments but by nature.

The scene illustrates how king Horus is punishing his enemies by binding the enemy’s two hands with cords and breaking them at once, as an exaggeration to show to his people how powerful and strong he is

 

  The most holy place of Edfu temple that has three centuries, for Horus, Hathor and their child, Khonsu

 

  The sample of the boat used by king Horus to visit his wife Hathor in Dendarah temple

 

The king is sailing his ship in search of Seth

 

 After quite a long journey, King Horus finally managed to capture Seth (represented as a hippo) to be brought to Osiris, his father so that he could treat Seth as he pleased. In the previous scenes, Seth is described as a very small hippo, but because Horus delayed in searching for Seth as we go along the scene, we can see the hippo gets bigger and bigger. The growing hippo resembles small problems that are not immediately solved which then become bigger. The morale of this story is never let small problem go unsolved, no matter how small it is. Do not wait until your problem becomes bigger and more difficult to handle.

The national TV station

 

Day 6

 

        Tired of visiting ancient temples in sequence, on the sixth day, Ramiz finally took us to visit different historical sights, which are high dam of Aswan, Philae temple and Aswan botanical garden. In the evening, Czech, Rwanda, and Burundi represented their country through presentation and cultural performance.

HALF-FINISHED OBELIK - ASWAN

 

The half-finished obelisk initiated by Queen Hatshepshut

 

 

HIGH DAM OF ASWAN

 I was surprised to see that there some parts of the Nile River are already contaminated with floating plastic rubbish

Generator station transferring water from the High dam to the whole land of Egypt and other countries

 

 

The lake Nasser at the High dam of Aswan supports water provision in drought period. It has been the source of water provision for the whole Egypt for almost 10 years

 

 

        Egypt exports electricity to other African countries charging them 1 US$ for every 1 KB of electricity. The new project of Aswan High Dam brings out advantages and disadvantages to the Egyptians. The good thing is it stops the wild crocodiles, which often come out from the Nile River during flood time, from attacking the people. On the other hand, the building of the new Aswan Dam has decreased the area coverage of the flood reach-out, affecting the agriculture results and soil fertility. In the past, when there was no dam, the River flooded the entire area of Egypt from the Upper to the Lower Egypt. The people despite where they lived, could reap the benefits from the flood. However, since the new dam was built, so many places in Egypt have not got access to get the mud flood from the Nile River. For your information, the biggest five of Egypt are three pyramids, wild crocodile and mosque.

PHILAE TEMPLE

 

        The name Philae is derived from the ancient word “phyl” which means elephant. Majestically built during the Roman period, Philae temple which is dedicated to goddess Isis was built in the elephant time (300 B.C.) although it has nothing to do with elephants. The early Christians visited the place peacefully without burning the temple as what they did to Dendarah temple. The temple got its name because of its massive structure. It was originally built on the Philae island, however, the first and second constructions of High Dam of Aswan had caused water to inundate the temple during the flood time and damage the construction severely. The temple was located in the middle of New Dam and High Dam of Aswan. So, during the flood time, the water from the New Dam could cover the temple up to two meters while the water from the High Dam covered it up to six meters. The condition was not well resolved until 1972 when UNICEF mustered professional engineers to dismantle the temple’s stones and piece by piece moved them by boat from their original place to the current Agilqiyyah island with the same position as its original. You can also enjoy the sound and light performance inside the temple.

        Egypt has a long history of kingship who came from different parts of the world and attempted to establish their power in this rich country. The chronological order of the Egyptian history is shown in the below line:

Pharaoh - Ptolemy (Alexander the great) - Romans (Cleopatra, Anthony) - Christianity - Moslem

The beautiful columns of Philae temple

 

  The cartouche of the king in Philae temple
 

  The king is wearing the red crown and waiting for the god while shouting “long live the king, long live the man, long live to the first mummified body Osiris.” There are four cartouches, with two resemble the king himself and the other two represent his wife.

   

        Ramiz who had to take a four-year study to read Hieroglyphic writings deciphered the secret codes of the cartouches and translated the meaning to us. The cartouches write:

“In one of the years of the reign of king of upper and lower Egypt…………(the name of the king) the powerful of him for protection of the sun disk. I see your face in the middle of desert in one of the beautiful temples which is located in Aswan. My name is the king himself, the king of afterlife. I like your face. Please give me the interaction.”

 

The king is greeting the god as the first mummified body and asking for the secret to have a life after death

The prayer table inside the Philae temple used by the early Christian Egyptians and carved with a Coptic cross. The Christian Egyptians are called Coptic Christians and their symbol of cross is the Coptic cross with four equal sides showing that everyone is equal in Jesus Christ despite their wealth or social position. The early Christians used Philae temple as a church where the priests prayed in front of the praying table, and inside the hole, there was a picture of Jesus. When the priest kneeled down to pray, he faced the picture of Jesus and did the cross. The Coptic Christians ignored or substituted the picture of the gods on the temple’s reliefs with the picture of Jesus. Unfortunately, evidence or example of tools used for their prayer was not found.

Trajan’s Kiosk in Philae temple with floral columns and reliefs of the Roman Emperor Trajan making offerings to Isis and Osiris (quoted from Insight Guides)

 

 

A series of stone benches used by the early Coptic Christians as seats during the ceremony

 

 

 

ASWAN BOTANICALGARDEN

 

        After boarding off the boat, I was taken to a botanical garden called Aswan Botanical garden. When I arrived, all I could see was just trees and plantations. However, there was a very beautiful scenery at the right side of the garden, with a sand mountain and Nile river as its backdrop. The atmosphere there was quiet and peaceful, suitable for people who are looking for a getaway from hectic activities.

        Located on Kitchener’s Island, Aswan botanical garden was a gift of appreciation given to Consul-General Kitcheners, the leader of English army, for his achievements in a military campaign in Sudan. The General who was married to Seshare collected exotic plants and seeds from across the world and planted them in this tranquil garden. he married a wife called Seshare.

        History: constructed in 1898 under the supervision of ministry of irrigatory and was turned to experimental station for plants of equatorial regions and under equatorial regions in 1928 instead of making the experiments under glasshouses in Cairo as it would be very expensive.

 The entrance gate to the botanical garden

 

A photo with an Egyptian kid 

Composition of botanical group:

The botanical group is composed of the plants, which originally existed in the island such as the ficks sycamore and the date palm of exchanges with Orman and Zohrian gardens and zoo and also what the ministry of agriculture brought from abroad.

Wood tree group

Is a big collection of timber trees used in other timber industries on various degrees by way of example hot full enumeration. (African khaya - mahogany - teak - ebony, etc).

Day 7

 

        On the seventh day, I visited Kom Ombo temple, and at night there were performances from Burkina Faso, the Democratic of Congo, Tunisia and Middle Africa.

KOM OMBO TEMPLE

 

        Built in 180 B.C. during the reign of Ptolomeis, Kom Ombo temple with two entrances was dedicated to two gods, Horus (with man’s body and falcon’s head/sparrow-hawk god), and god Sobek, the crocodile god ,which is the symbol of fertility related to the mud of the Nile river.

        The word Kom Ombo is derived from Arabic word, Kom means heap and Ombo means golden. So, Kom Ombo means a heap of golden, which is considered to be one of the places in Egypt that has gold mine besides Sinai. On top of the temple were golden statues, just like the ones in Giza pyramid. However, the gold in Giza was missing at the time Arabic raiders attacked the place and took it to build their own fortress, houses, etc. One of the buildings they built using the plunder is Saladin, which was used as a fortress for war in Jerusalem.

        In the first open courtyard of the Kom Ombo temple there is a wall relief depicting the king wearing a skullcap, which is 90 % made of stones intended to ease the absorbance of purification water. The king must give different offerings to different gods. One of the scenes shows one of the Ptolomeis with left leg stepping forward holding a basket of foods and drinks (ancient Egyptian foods, grapes, wine, pure beer, and bread).

        The Ancient Egyptians used Nile meter to measure the water level of the Nile river from Aswan to Cairo. The measurement shown by the Nile meter was used to set the price of the land, especially during the flood season. The water level shows the fertility of the land, which means the higher the water is, the more fertile the soil is, and the more fertile the soil is, more profit can be gained from the harvest. After measuring the water level, they announced the land owners by papyrus to ask them to pay the taxes.

 

Situated in the sweeping bend of Nile River, 40 km of Aswan where crocodiles used to sun themselves, Kom Ombo temple is a temple which some of the front part of the temple has fallen into the river, while the back parts are roofless. The temple was built with twin sanctuaries with diorite offering table each dedicated to god Horus in the north and god Sobek in the south. The wall reliefs of the temple were mostly engraved by Ptolemy XII showing the detailed personifications of the four winds and interesting set of medical instruments. Ptolemy executed the engraving of the wall reliefs that tell the story of the four winds and show interesting set of medical instruments.

Two wings of sun disks are carved on the two entrances. On top of each column, there used to be golden leaves or statues of 200 kg weight. Worried of raiders’ attack, the Ancient Egyptians always requested protection from the gods before they left the temple at night. The long freeze cobra along the entrance column surrounding the temple is a symbol of protection that protects the golden statues. However, no matter how hard the Ancient Egyptians tried to protect the temple, some raiders eventually attacked and plundered it, taking away the golden statues. Since then, the temple has suffered from a lot of destructions. Over the entrance wall in the middle of the relief, there is a scene of a king receiving perfection or purification from the gods poured out from two jars, which symbolize life and purification.

The columns in Kom Ombo temple
 

 

 

        In one of the reliefs in the temple, there is a scene of a king presenting offerings to god Sobek who was holding a long stick as a sign of prosperity with goddess Hathor behind him (at that time Hathor was still the wife of god Sobek). Two extremely strong diorite offering tables are also found inside the twin sanctuaries, with one of them was the statue of god Sobek. The two offering tables were made of the diorite stones, which are one of the hardest stones. Diorite is a kind of stone which is much stronger than the easily-broken limestone. Stones polishing was done in several different levels, alabaster for limestone, granite for alabaster, diorite for granite, and another diorite for diorite. The way the Ancient Egyptians used one of the most solid stones for building the statues of their gods that took 25 years to complete insinuate the deeply-entrenched idea of immortality, which can be clearly seen in the wall reliefs and anything related to gods worshipping. They only used diorite stones to build the two gods’ statues, whereas they used limestone to build the entire temple, which took them 20 years to finish.

 The magic well in Kom Ombo temple with more than 300 year-water. The Ancient Egyptians believed that throwing a small stone into the well while saying your wish would make your wish come true. If your wish comes true, you should visit Egypt again. Otherwise, you will get a curse from Pharaoh (joke).

 
 

 

Day 8

 

        I started to get bored with visiting temples. Fortunately on the eighth day, Ramiz took us to other historical sightseeing, which were the temple of Hatshepsut, valley of the kings, colossi of Memnon, and Alabaster factory.

TEMPLE of HATSHEPSUT

 

        On my visit to the temple of Hatshepsut, I was wowed by the grandeur architecture  at the hollowed part of the heart of the mountain. From afar, the temple looks like a small beautiful palace in the middle of vast rocky mountain. Strangely, despites the modest building instruments at that time, the temple has been standing until the present time sparkling its splendor. The design of the temple is very unique with its spectacular natural amphitheater as its backdrop. Three beautifully colonnaded terraces are connected one another with sloping ramps.  The temple of Queen Hatshepsut is a modern-looking ancient temple that used to be filled with perfumed plants, fountains and myrrh trees. I am sure at that time, it looked more gorgeous than it is today. Maybe because the temple is too beautiful that it attracts many visitors, it was chosen by Islamic terrorists to run their brute campaign by shooting 58 foreigners and four Egyptians in 1997.

 

        Queen Hatshepsut’s tomb is located at the heart of the mountain in the valley of the kings instead of the valley of the Queens, as she represented herself as a masculine man rather than a gentle woman. Queen Hatshepsut was one of the most famous Pharaohs. 1300 years ago, she took the design of previous temples and duplicated it to build her own temple which she located at the heart of the mountain. The temple is divided into three levels or terraces.

        The major scenes on the wall reliefs tell the story of the transportation of obelisks from Aswan to the Karnak temple. Queen Hatshepsut considered herself as the son of god related to the idea of divine birth. On the second terrace, there is a scene showing the queen heading for an expedition from Egypt to the land of Bone by sailing boats along the Nile River and crossing the Red Sea and African land until they reached their destination. There is a picture of a tree used by the queen and her people to make boats.

        In one of the wall reliefs, there is a picture of people standing together in a row. This shows that the Ancient Egyptians only knew two dimensions, not three dimensions. So when they want to draw the picture of a queuing people, they would put the people one behind each other. Another scene shows the queen holding jars containing lotus flower and sandalwood essence.

        The Queen’s mummy placed inside the museum has a missing tooth. A scientist found a tooth in her tomb, matched it to the mummy and finally discovered that the tooth belonged to the queen.

        Hatshepsut was a beautiful woman, however unfortunately she failed to give birth to any child for the king. Therefore, his husband (Tuthmoses II) took another woman not from royal blood to be his concubine, who later gave birth to Tuthmoses III. The Queen was enraged by the marriage that she murdered her husband, cut his body into pieces and scattered them throughout the kingdom of Egypt. When the concubine learned about this, she tried to save her only son from the queen’s wrath by sending him to another country. In the end, the Queen also killed the poor concubine. While Hatshepsut started to establish her new kingdom, the missing boy grew up.

        Hatshepsut convinced the people that she could reign as a Pharaoh by representing herself as a masculine man with muscles and a powerful king who killed thousands of enemies. This way, she changed the traditional kingship and brought fresh air to the Ancient Egyptian kingdom by being the most powerful queen in Egypt. To support her propaganda, she engraved her own cartouches to represent herself as a god and ruler of Egypt for 21 years. She also conducted myriad expeditions and military campaigns and exchanged goods with the kingdom of Punt in Somalia. During this time, the son of the deceased king had grown up and entered the military to gather his followers. By the time he reached 20 years old, the queen started to punish the people for disobeying her orders. The young man finally came up with a very good idea to take revenge. On his visit to the queen’s palace, the queen’s heart was set on him and desired to have a sex with him. That young man used this momentum to cut off her head and ended her life.

        The temple of Queen Hatshepsut consists of three levels. The first level shows interesting but not the best scenes. The second level shows beautiful scenes of the transportation of obelisks. The third level has a sanatorium or hospital, where the priests in the past acted as if they were gods who would give healing power with purified water to anyone coming to the temple. The visitors had to pay for the water.

The figure of Queen Hatshepsut on the second level of the Hatshepsut temple.

 

        The Ancient Egyptians described male figures in reddish brown because of the male figure working under the heat of the sun. All male figures are in reddish brown, but the female is described in a light color. Nonetheless, in contrast to the common image, the Queen represented herself as a male figure with reddish brown skin and strong muscles, holding the ankh sign , standing with left leg stepping forward, and heading for an expedition. The expedition team used different sycamore trees to build the temple. Another scene shows the Sphinx avenue in the Karnak temple.

The sanatorium on the third level of Hatshepsut temple was used as a place to obtain healing power from the god. Hatshepsut used a man called Senenmut, who was the priest and high official as well as her boyfriend, to build everything for her especially the sanatorium. During the ceremony, the priest would stand behind the stone and act like a god imitating god’s voice. The people who visited this place brought camels, foods, drinks, wine, rams, etc. and waited for the god. When the god spoke, the purified water gushed out.

A photo of me and my friends from Japan and Czech Republic

 

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

 

        There are only a few pictures I could took on my visit to the Valley of the Kings as the visitors were forbidden to bring in and use camera devices. Documentary purposes are strictly forbidden. I personally do not understand why they would not let us take pictures inside one of the most historical sites all over Egypt? Is it because of security reason? But what does it have to do with taking pictures?

        Luxor which is used to be the second capital of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom is strategically located on the sides of the Nile River. The city has over than 1 million people whose traditional garment is called galabiya.

        The Ancient Egyptian kingdoms were divided into Upper and Lower Egypt or northern and southern kingdom. The emblem of the northern kingdom was papyrus, which was used for documentary purposes and is considered one of the most beautiful things in Egypt, whereas, the southern kingdom has lotus flower as its representation and the king wore champagne bottle crown. King Haksebed Ra (I don’t know the correct spelling of the name, could someone tell me?) moved the capital from Memphis to  Luxor and established the capital from the beginning. He built his palace following the design of the Hatshepsut’s temple and was the first person who had the ideas of building tombs and dividing the east (life) and the west side (death).

 

        The valley of the kings located in the mountain in Sahara desert is considered one of the most important sites not only in Egypt but in the history of mankind. Tuthmoses I and Atmos I used the valley of the kings and were the first kings who built tombs in the west of Sahara desert of Luxor. Their wives also created another valley, which is the valley of the queen. The tombs building was continued until the time of Ramses II. The committee occasionally closed certain tombs suddenly whenever they discovered new things. So, the availability of accessible tombs often change almost every day.

        There are 62 tombs in the valley of the kings, 112 tombs in the valley of the queens, valley of the nobles and valley of the workmen. So, the total number of tombs are 300 tombs. The last tomb (the 62^nd tomb) was discovered by Howard Carter in 1992. The five main tombs are the tomb of Ramses I, Ramses III, Ramses IX and Seti II, and Tuthmoses III. The tomb of Ramses II and Tuthmoses III are one of the largest tombs, while the tomb of Seti II is a big tomb with a lot of angles. Even though he was not famous, he built a great tomb. Sometimes unknown men do the best things. The tomb of Tuthmoses III is the most dangerous to visit because it is located in the mountain. A series of mountains in the valley of the kings is a symbol of remembrance to god Atom, which is the main cult of the Egyptians.

        From the fourth up to the twelfth dynasty there were 640 Pharaohs in total. However, only 120 pyramids have been discovered, which means there are still so many undiscovered pyramids. The king in the fourth dynasty built their tomb inside the pyramid. There are so many similarities between the man-made pyramid and God-made mountain in terms of shape and location. The mountain looks like a pyramid and is located in the desert just like the pyramid. The ancient people cut the mountain from the inside and started to build the tombs in the middle of the heart of the mountain. Various tombs finally created the valley of the kings.

        Ramses IX’s father was Ramses III. He had a son named Ramses II, who was one of the most famous Pharaohs of all the history of Egypt. Ramses II had 147 children. He was well-known because of his military campaigns, his way of life and myriad constructions he built. Ramses II’s grandson also followed the same name, Ramesu, which means the very big born of the son. In Ramses IX’s tomb, there are a lot of scenes related to the sun disk, which is the cult of god Ra, one of the most famous cults in Egypt. The tomb’s design according to 20th dynasty is different from other tombs. It consists of a big entrance, a very big shaft with four side rooms, and a library that has a lot of books, consisting of the book of death, book of life, book of day, book of litany of Ra, and book of open gates. The scene on the wall shows the king as one of the biggest priests of god Amun Ra and he was giving the offerings over the face of the god. The meaning of the scene is described in the cartouche of Ramses IX. Another scene of the book of earth showing the god from the four corners of the earth are adoring the sun disk, which they believed as the beginning of creation of human kind. One of the scenes of the book of death depicts the processions of gods and goddess to the tomb of the king to purify his body, and mummification. After the purification, the dead was covered with linen and then put inside a coffin in the tomb. The structure of the tomb is listed in sequence as follows:

1. Chamber - anti chamber
2. Hypostyle hall - the hall of pillar, composed of 4 pillars
3. Period of chamber - has two or three levels of the visited tomb
4. Coffin - the original coffin is put in the museum to be exhibited. The side walls and ceilings of the tomb are decorated with stars.

        Based on the estimation of archaeologists and historians, there are two names of Pharaohs predicted to be the ruler of Egypt during the times of Moses, who forbad the Israelites to leave Egypt. The first most likeable Pharaoh is Ramses II. Ramses II was a famous king and an administrative officer. He becomes one of the candidates because his mummy was found in an unusual position. Moreover, 3200 years of the time of Ramses is very close to the time of Moses according to the Bible. The second possibility is the son of Meren Ptah whose father was the first weak ruler. He never believed in any god, except the god Ra. He might have a hard time to believe in the God of Moses.

The tomb of Tutankhamen

 

        The tomb of King Tutankhamen is one of the most interesting and beautiful discoveries in the Egyptian history. King Tut was only nine years old when he became a Pharaoh. This happened because of the sudden death of his father and grandfather. He was the first man in the kingdom but was too young to make decisions by his own. Therefore Ay helped the young Tut to make decisions. Ay was a 95-year-old man of god who was very wise and had been faithfully serving the king’s family. Tut obeyed all Ay’s orders and executed them. Ay ruled over Tut from the time he was nine until 16 years old. At the age of 16, Tut  got married with a woman from the royal court to be his consort. Her name was Ankh est en ha amon (can someone tell me the correct spelling of the name?), which means beautiful like the sun disk. Ay envied Tut’s wife for he was worried that she would replace his position and have the most important place in the king’s heart. At the night of Tut’s marriage, Ay invented the first condom in the history of mankind. He gave it to king Tut to use at night and said to him “use this, this is like a spell, spices from god. The god will give you fertility if you use it.” Hearing upon this, Tut used the condom and as a result he did not have any child. Ay did not want Tut to have any child because he knew that the child would become the next king. Felt threatened, Ay desired to be the king and planned to kill Tut and his wife.

        Tut was distressed because he had no child. He went to see a lot of priests and asked what happened to his body and wife. The cunning Ay bribed the priests and ordered them to tell Tut to just do offerings to the gods with nothing to do with himself and his wife. As a result, Tut still had no descendant and kept getting discouraged until one day he met his good friend, hurum moheb (please suggest the correct spelling of the name), whom Ay could not bribe. Tut shared his problem and his friend suggested him to do sex naturally without using condom. When Tut did that, he felt real life. Finally he realized Ay had deceived him. He became furious at Ay and replaced him with mobed. Ay was then put in jail and when he came out, he took revenge to Tut and his wife. When Tut was sleeping, Ay killed him. There are actually three theories that explain the death cause of Tut: 1. Ay killed Tut when he was sleeping 2. Tut was watching a battle from the second floor, and Ay pushed him from the back. Tut fell from the second floor and broke his knees and head, as shown in his mummy with his head destroyed. 3. Tut was never assassinated. He died naturally because of malaria.

        The tomb of king Tut originally belonged to Ay and was not supposed to be in its current place. Ay exchanged the tomb. When the kings found Ay was just a high official, they never paid attention to his tomb. Ramses V built his tomb on top of king Tut’s tomb, which is the tomb of Ay with many Tut’s collections. When the tomb raiders came to the tomb and attacked it, they raided all tombs except the tomb under Ramses V’s tomb which belongs king Tut. That is why king Tut’s tomb is the only intact tomb of all tombs in the Ancient Egyptian history.

        King Tut’s tomb consists of corridor, chamber, period of chamber, and treasury. The scene in the tomb mainly shows the king receiving the ankh sign, the gods, and the book of death. As shown in the relief, King Tut gives offering to god Osiris, and his wife receives the ankh sign and purification from the god.

        The cartouche of King Tut is read meth Haperu Ra, which means lord of all the manifestation and existence of the sun disk itself. On one of the reliefs in Tut’s tomb, there is a scene depicting King Tut as a small young boy receiving the ankh sign from the god. In the Egyptian museum you can see the collection of the coffin.

COLOSSI OF MEMNON

 

 

These two grand statues situated at the sugar cane fields in the area of Valley of the Kings are called Colossi of Memnon for they were built by the famous king Amenhotep III or Memnon as a reminder of his temple. In 27 B.C., an earthquake hit the right statue and after that it made a gentle singing noise at dawn, which the Greeks believed to be the song Memnon sang for his beloved mother Eos. Strangely, after the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus repaired the statue in AD 199, the singing stopped.

 

Balloons

 

There were travel balloons on the road to Valley of the Kings. The balloons could take you see the whole Luxor in an early morning trip, starting at 5 a.m. for 1.5 hour-fly. One balloon could take up to 10 people with each pays for 200 Egyptian pound. However, the balloon is not designed to protect itself from the sun ray, especially in Luxor, the place where the sun is at its hottest temperature. So, it is highly recommended to take the flight early in the morning. There are usually 20 up to 25 balloons operating every day.

ALABASTER FACTORY

 

Alabaster is a crystallized limestone, transparent like a marble. How to make alabaster statues? Polish the alabaster, put it in the oven and cover it with wax. Along the streets in Egypt, Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan you can see Alabaster but they are all machine-made. Only in Alabaster factory around the area of Valley of the Kings you can find  hand-made alabaster.

 

 

KARNAK TEMPLE

 

        One of the seven wonders in Egypt is the Karnak temple. The temple suffered from a lot of destructions because of the natural erosions from flood. It was dedicated to the three important gods of Luxor, which are Amon, Mut and Khonsu. In the Egyptian history, each god must have a family since it is the idea of triad gods. Amun Ra is represented as human body with human face and two feathers straightened up.

 

The avenue of rams ushering the visitors to the main entrance of the Karnak temple

   

 

The Karnak temple has 134 columns which makes it be called the forest of the columns. If you stand at different positions in the temple, you can see the columns from different beautiful angles

  

 

        At the age of 18, a king must visit any temple in Egypt and present offerings to the gods to ensure prosperity during his reign. To differentiate the picture of a young boy from an adult is to look at it closely. If the image is an image of a boy sucking his thumb, it means he is still a child (under 10 years old). The straight beard of a man in wall relief shows the man is still alive, while the turned-up or curled beard shows he is either a god or dead man.

        The big statues in the Karnak temple are the statues of Ramses III with left leg stepping forward. Ramses II was one of the most famous kings in Egypt and he ruled for 67 years. Another scene in the temple is the fertility scene. King Ramses II gives offering to god Amun Men (please correct me if i’m wrong), which is the god of fertility. Any queen visited by the god would become pregnant and her son would become the son of god. During Ramses II’s reign, there was a 4-years famine, however, he still needed to present offerings to the gods to ask for more fertility for the land of Egypt, the people and the kingdom.

This scene shows the ark of god Amun Ra is carried by priests who are disguising like god Anubis and Horus in a certain ceremony. Anubis is the symbol of purification and mummification, while Horus is the symbol of perfection

The scene shows the king is kneeling before god Amun Ra and goddess Mut (purification scene)

  

 

The scene shows the king is presenting offering in front of god Amun Ra, who is the supreme god, god of Luxor and Aswan, represented as a man with two feathers, and goddess Mut, represented as a vulture

What does the king give to the god?

• Lotus flower which opening and clossing follows the sun’s direction, used in the embalming process.
• Sandalwood, to embalm the king’s face. The king gave offering to the god with his jar full of essence of lotus perfume. After that, the king moved to purify the temple of the god.

The two good-shape obelisks in the Karnak temple were built by Queen Hathsepshut. The obelisks are the real evidence of the advanced architecture methods of the Ancient Egyptians. The obelisk is 65 meters high, however in the ancient time, it was even higher than that since the current obelisk uses different base. Queen Hatshepsut created a building song and wrote it all over the body of the obelisk. When the people tried to erect the tall obelisk, they had difficulties in erecting it from the ground to the standing position. Before pushing it, they put a lot of stones until they could erect it, which is the hardest thing to do. At one time, they failed to erect the obelisk and it was broken. 

In front of the destroyed obelisk in the Karnak temple, there is a granite statue of scarab, which is the symbol of purification and mummification. Scarab also represents fertility, which means future and wish. There used to be a festival when the ancient Egyptians ran around the statue for seven times while asking the god of the sun to make their wish come true. If you have chance to visit it and hope to make a wish, you can close your eyes and run around it for seven times while pronouncing your wish.

The Secret Lake in front of the Scarab granite statue

 

The fallen obelisk killed almost 50 people at the time of its erection. In the middle of the obelisk is carved the name of  Queen Hatshepsut with the sun disk and the god Ra

 

 

The lotus-shaped colonnades in the center of the Karnak temple are very tall and big, whereas the surrounding columns are smaller and shorter. This resembles the idea of a lotus flower which blossom depends on the sun light

 

 

The sound and light performance in the Karnak temple

 

PAPYRUS INSTITUTE

 

 

 

 

 

The papyrus sold here is the hand-made papyrus, dating back to 6000 years ago, whereas the papyrus sold on streets is a banana-leaf papyrus, which is usually called cheap rubbish by the Egyptians.

 

LUXOR TEMPLE

 

 

        At the entrance of the Luxor temple, there are two obelisks, two grand statues, and other 60 statues. The construction of the temple involved three important kings, which are Ramses II, Tuthankamon, and Amenhotep III. The temple was built from inside to outside. It started from the hypostyle hall then followed by the open courtyard, the pylon and so forth.

1. Amenhotep built the temple 3650 years ago
2. Tutankhamen built the temple 3500 years ago
3. Ramses II built the temple 3200 years ago

The scene on the entrance wall shows Ramses II is giving offerings to the god and receiving the ankh sign from god Amun Ra.

At the entrance of the Luxor temple, there are two grand obelisks standing  magnificently. On the body of the obelisks is written the word of king Ramses II. On its base are some small monkey statues, which resemble the idea of new day. Every morning when the sun rises, monkeys would usually climb trees and clap their hands, showing their happiness. The sun disk is also the symbol of new day beginning; new day means resurrection and new victory.

The giant statues of kings in Luxor temple

 

 

Two sitting statues of king Ramses II in an unusual position

 

 

The beautiful colonnades of Luxor temple

 

 

The Avenue of Spinx used to connect the Luxor temple with the Karnak temple as a long road for the ritual of sun disk union

 

 

Egyptian Coffee Shops

 

Typical Egyptian coffee shop in Luxor

 

 

The famous Sisha from Egypt is available in many sweet aroma like strawberry and other fruits you could choose. That new way of smoking is very famous in all coffee shops in Egypt. Egyptian men spend most of their time in the coffee shop inhaling Sisha, drinking some coffee while chatting with their friends.

 

Sources:

The information about the history of Egypt I wrote above is the collection of my tour guide’s explanation plus the info from Insight Guides Egypt travel book and other books on Egypt. The information I wrote is not perfect yet with some misspelled names and other missing information. Therefore your inputs and revisions are appreciated to make this diary a trustworthy guide for other people who wish to visit Egypt. You could send me your suggestions to my personal email at cherry_lin2003@hotmail.com . Thank you for reading and look forward to hearing your response. ^_^