Hot Cheap Suit

Tuesday, Nov. 9 -- 5:30 am wake-up call. I'm not used to this and think the Egyptians are quite deranged, even though the timing is designed to beat the heat. We leave for Queen Hatshepsut's (hot cheap suit) palace at 6:30. It was built into a mountain on the west bank 3,000 years ago and was discovered in 1903. Very grand but quite plain architecturally. (The architect's tomb is under the coffee shop -- lattes for life!) Queen H ruled 23 years as a pharoah and died at 50, "a very, very, very fat lady" according to Shushi; she was diabetic. She's quite idealized in the giant statues of her -- not remotely overweight. The walls depict all sorts of scenes of daily life; the temple even had a birthing room. Queen H sent an expedition to Punt (Somalia), which in turn provided the first imports ever to Egypt (including mhyrr trees). Some of the scenes on the walls depict the Somalis (Punters) with big legs because they suffered from elephantiasis. The disease is still around -- we saw beggar women in Cairo with hugely swollen diseased legs. Quite awful.

The Valley of the Kings was next and it's virtually indescribable. This is where Tut's tomb was found, one of dozens of pharoah tombs. They're carved into the mountains, down long, deep shafts and are just beautifully decorated and preserved. They have multiple chambers and again, almost everything is either painted with bright colors or carved. Although the pyramids are awesome, I found this place more impressive in many ways. The workers spent about 18 hours a day, slaving in withering heat and darkness, digging tunnels into the mountains, carving out huge rooms, smoothing and plastering the walls and then decorating them. They lived in local villages and were quite isolated. This place really is in the middle of nowhere, but was chosen because it's on the west bank of the Nile (sun sets in the west, representing death), the top of the mountain looks like a natural pyramid, its isolation meant the tombs would remain hidden and therefore inaccessible to robbers, and the heat would preserve the pharoahs' bodies. We went inside three tombs -- unbelievably beautiful and unbelievably hot! Archeologists are on the hunt for the tomb of Ramses VIII, whose supposedly intact treasures they believe will surpass those found in Tut's tomb.

Next stop -- an alabaster factory where everyone opened their wallets, and the Colossi of Memnon, two wrecked 60-foot high statues at the gate of the west bank.

We set sail at 1 and most of us napped. Hawkers in dozens of little boats sail next to us, selling all kinds of stuff. Lots of bargaining. At any one time, there are at least 200 of these ships on the river, ferrying hundreds of people between Luxor and Aswan. Our boat carries 130 passengers and about 50 crew. For those of us who are directionally challenged, it's very confusing that the river flows up (north), not south. Lower Egypt is to the north and we're heading south to Upper Egypt. Got it?

Before dinner, we went through two locks, a very interesting process. Our boat rose as the boat in the opposite lock descended with the water levels. Long discussion with Ussama about Islam, what the Koran really teaches, women's rights, Mubarak's endless presidency and the right of Egyptian men to have four wives. Who'd want them? He says women don't have to cover up -- it's a cultural, not a religious, practice. Whatever. They had a separate swimming pool for women at the hotel in Cairo and Muslim women wear bathing suits that cover their arms and legs, kinda like the Speedos in the Olympics, only worse.