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At the mid-point in our journey, we reached the Colossi of Memnon:
The desert in Egypt actually gets closer year after year.
Story of the Colossi of Memnon:
Long ago, King Amenhotep III built these statues as the guardians for the entrance of an enormous temple that has long since been destroyed by successive flooding.
These statues received the name Memnon because of the Trojan War. Memnon, a king of Ethiopia went to defend a city, and he failed and was ultimately killed (Wikipedia states that he was killed by Achilles).
At one point, a large earthquake struck the region, and part of the statues collapsed. From then on, part of the statue seemed to "sing" a few hours around dawn, and people came from all around the world to hear it. No one was able to figure out where it came from and someone eventually stopped it.
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| The Colossi of Memnon |
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Lesson on Mummification:
The purpose of mummification was to "dry up the body" without disrupting the facial features.
To accomplish this task, they would leave the body in the house for many days, and keep moving the body around so that the moisture didn't all collect in one place.
One issue that they had was that because the brain is mainly composed of water, it kept destroying the face. So what they did was break the nose bone, and then shred the brain with forceps, and take out what they could. Then, they would pour date wine inside to dissolve and clean out the rest of the brain. (Wow, talk about alcohol killing brain cells...)
The would place the vital organs into canopic jars, but they typically left the heart and the two kidneys, leaving a shape of a pyramid within the body.
In order to remove all the liquids, the Egyptians used linen cloth strips with natron salt (normally they used about 40 kg of it, in order to allow the salt to absorb all the liquids). According to our guide "Bob" this is very similar on how to salt fish. This process was done (and is still done) for forty days.
Egyptian Quote: "If you are rich enough, you will live like a king." In Egypt, if you are rich enough, you will be mummified like a king.
See, salt was so important for the Egyptians that they actually used salt to pay for things.
From here, we journeyed to the Valley of the KingsThese are some of the pictures outside the valley as pictures were forbidden inside.
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The Valley of the Kings is one of the hottest places in all of Egypt. I daresay that it is almost, if not just as, hot as Death Valley in the United States.
Not only is it hot, but it is also extremely dry and extremely hidden. Behind the many ups and downs of the sand dunes, lies rocks so parched and so hot, that very few things live there. Still, the Egyptians have managed to make it a profitable place, and we took a small train to the center of the tombs.
There are *tons* (well, about 60) tombs scattered all around this area. Some are really high and others are really low. Many are indicated by cellar-door type openings. Each opening leads to a different cave, built in the same style of the Egyptian pyramids, with the exception that the walls and the ceilings are covered with beautiful pictures.
We were only allowed to choose three tombs to visit, and some of the tombs were locked up, and were only opened seasonally.
Unfortunately, we were not able to see the tomb of the Pharaoh of the Exodus
I ended up seeing the tombs of Rameses the III, Rameses the IX and I think Rameses the IV.
For a detailed list of who's located in which of the tombs, see Wikipedia as there is a fully-detailed map (with pictures of the tombs)
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Lesson on the Structure of the Step Pyramid:
One of the Pyramids in Egypt is called the Step Pyramid.
They built it with five roofs so that there would be zero weight about the kings. However, the king was scared to be buried under the weight of so many heavy stones, so he asked his wife, after her death to be buried with him. Then he asked for his children to be buried after. In all there were six levels of the "Step" Pyramid
The Problem with the Pyramids:
The major problem with the pyramids was that they were like huge beacons to the grave robbers saying: "Please rob me!"
Short Lesson on the Egyptian's Mindset:
Many people think that the Egyptians were obsessed with death. Our guide "Bob" tells us that that is a myth. The Egyptians were obsessed with life. Particularly, the afterlife. This life was just a journey.
From the Valley of the Kings, we journeyed to the Temple of Hatchepsut, Moses' Adoptive Mother
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As history retells it, Queen Hatchepsut was unable to have children. It is said that she often when to the Nile River to pray for a baby. One day, she looked down the river and discovered a woven basket floating among the reeds. She opened it and drew the baby out of the water. The Egyptian word for "draw out" is "moses". (That's why we get names like: "Rameses" (drawn from Ra, the sun god), for instance.) It's very possible that Moses was actually named "Hopi-Moses" for the god of the river, but that the Bible takes away the name of the Egyptian god)
At the Entrance!
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As we headed back, I ran into the one I had promised things too, but as we walked back to his store, he left me and one of the other store vendors invited me in. I told him, no! I don't want clothing, I wanted some small pyramids to bring back. He would have none of it. He suggested that I just try on the clothes and see what I thought.
Well... I thought, you know, it would be cool to dress like an Egyptian. So I let him put it on me. He also put a turban as well. This is the pic we took: :)
 While that was all fine and good, I asked about the pyramids now. I wanted to bring back a whole batch of them... He didn't really have that many, so he left to other stores around to gather more. In about 5 minutes, he returned, his hands full of them. I thought to myself, "Cool! Now, I can just get the pyramids and go". I bargained with him for the pyramids, but I told him that I didn't really want the Egyptian clothes. "150 Egyptian Lira!", he said, "Very good offer!" I only had 50 with me and I definitely did not want to spend it all. So I said, "No thanks! How much for just the pyramids, and not the Egyptian clothes." "120 Egyptian Lira!", he replied. In my mind, I was like... that's totally not a good deal! "That's ok", I said, "Let me just take off these clothes and I'll go back to the bus." "No!", he said, "I give it to you for 100 Lira!" Ok, now he was getting a little reticent. So I tried taking it off. And it wouldn't come off. "It's too tight!" I struggled to free myself, and thankfully, he actually tried to help me get it off. After struggling for a bit, we managed to remove it. And I was also significantly closer to the entrance. Meanwhile, the other guy that had left me saw me and was like: "Why are you here? You promised to buy from me!" I motioned to the guy that had drawn me in with the clothes. "He tried to sell me these clothes and..." I hesitated, the other guy was blocking me from leaving the store. "Hey!" I said, "I need to get back to the bus! They're going to leave without me." I walked back to the back of the store where I had placed my camera, and took it, then I turned to leave again. "I'm going," I said, and tried to walk past. Would you believe it? They grabbed my arms and tried to hold me back! "80 Lira!", they cried. This time, I pulled away and broke free, and I started walking quickly through the merchant compound to get to the bus. Finding a shortcut, I dashed through it, to get to the bus. The guy was following me, running with all the pyramids and the Egyptian garment in his hands. "70 Lira!" he called out while running, "Final offer!" I stopped, turned to him, and said, "No, sorry!" I reached the door of the bus, and got in. Our guide was looking at me quite sternly. He'd already warned us about being late. As I stepped up the stairs, the vendor popped his head into the bus and yelled: "50 Lira! 50! Last Offer!" I thought about it. Thought about the 12 souvenirs he was holding and the Egyptian garment... reached into my pocket, took out my 50 Lira and said: "Fine!" He took the 50 Lira, and then the bus driver closed the door on him. As I made my way back to my seat, I counted my transaction. 12 Egyptian souvenirs, and one Egyptian robe, total cost: 50 Lira (or $8.50 USD) If that's what these "on the street" souvenirs are worth, then *whoa* they are totally taking advantage of all us gullible tourists out there! Well... now I know better, and maybe now I also know a better way to haggle! |
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