Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel Temples (2/7, 2/8)
2/7
Hot air balloon ride postponed due to wind
Trouble is part of any trip, but even more so in Egypt. The night before, I received a message saying, 'The wind is too strong, tomorrow's balloon ride is impossible! Can we change the schedule?' However, I had plans to go to the Abu Simbel temples the next day. After some negotiation, we decided to push it back to the morning two days later.
As it turned out, this was the right decision. A friend from a Japanese group I met on the tour said, 'I'm betting on being able to ride tomorrow morning right before I fly home!', but in the end, it didn't fly the next day either due to the wind, and they unfortunately ran out of time.
I strongly recommend planning your schedule with a buffer of several days if you are aiming for a hot air balloon ride in Luxor, even though it is proof that safety measures are strictly enforced!
08:30 The overwhelming scale of Karnak Temple
Due to the postponement of the balloon ride, we started the morning at the Karnak Temple on the East Bank. Among the massive Great Temple of Amun, the 'Great Hypostyle Hall' is truly a masterpiece. 134 giant columns tower over you, and obelisks nearly 30 meters high pierce the sky.
Every single one of the columns that you have to look up to, and even the far-off ceiling, are densely carved with elaborate reliefs. In an era without heavy machinery, how on earth did they stack these giant stones, and how many years did it take to apply these intricate carvings? And if you look closely, you can even see faint traces of the original paint deep within the carvings. I was surprised that paint from thousands of years ago still remains on the ruins outside, and I was moved by the thought of what a colorful temple must have stood there once.
Don't forget to walk around the 'stone statue of the sacred scarab (dung beetle)' right next to the Sacred Lake seven times counter-clockwise while making a wish.
It's easy to lose track of how many times you've circled, so please focus completely while counting (lol).
12:00 Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
We moved to the West Bank and headed to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, which stands majestically against the sheer cliffs. After climbing the long ramp, you are greeted by Osiris statues with the face of Queen Hatshepsut. Queen Hatshepsut is said to have worn a false beard and dressed as a man in public to reign as a 'Pharaoh' despite being a woman. Indeed, the reliefs in the temple depict her with a sturdy, masculine appearance.
The highlight is the relief depicting the expedition and trade with the Land of Punt (near present-day Somalia). It's a bit hard to find, so try looking for it like you're on a treasure hunt. And my personal highlight is the relief of the Queen drinking milk from the sacred cow Hathor. It is a religiously sacred ritual, but to the eyes of a modern person, it just looks like 'a picture of someone chugging milk with incredible intensity,' and the moment my friend and I found it, we looked at each other and burst out laughing lol
13:00 Lunch time
The restaurant we were guided to (or rather, semi-forcibly taken to) by our guide was near the Valley of the Kings. The price was 650 EGP per person. That's more expensive than a decent lunch in Japan.
'Get Your Guide, just how many souvenir shops and restaurants are you secretly connected to...' I thought, sensing the adult circumstances, but the food that came out was undeniably delicious.
Shorbat Khodar: A gentle tomato-based vegetable soup with zucchini, carrots, and potatoes melted into a smooth consistency. This seems like something every Japanese person would love
Roz: Rice mixed with brown, thin pasta (rosamaria). The rice has a chewy texture similar to Japanese rice, and it's a comforting flavor.
Baba Ghanoush (my favorite): A fragrant roasted eggplant paste. When you put this on the aforementioned Roz (rice) and shovel it in, it's so delicious you can't stop your spoon!
Beef Shukia: Grilled beef and onions. The exquisite use of spices brings out the natural flavor of the meat.
14:00 Valley of the Kings (Tombs of Ramesses III, IV, and VI)
Finally, the main event: Valley of the Kings. We step into the "Valley of the Kings," a collection of rock-cut tombs where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom rest. The system allows entry into three tombs already selected by the admission ticket (Tutankhamun, etc., are optional).
Tomb of Ramesses IV:
The first place we headed was the tomb of Ramesses IV. Above all, this place is famous for the "giant stone sarcophagus" that appears at the very end of the passage. The sight of a massive granite coffin, twice the height of a human and nearly reaching the ceiling, sitting there with a thud, is so overwhelming in its sheer mass that it intimidates anyone who sees it.Tomb of Ramesses VI:
Next, we went to the tomb of Ramesses VI, which is said to boast some of the most outstanding beauty in the Valley of the Kings. The highlight is the "Book of the Night" depicting the sky goddess Nut in cobalt blue, which spreads across the entire ceiling and is breathtakingly beautiful.Tomb of Ramesses III:
What surprised me when I went inside was the uniqueness of its structure and the wonderful state of preservation of the murals. The corridors (passages) just keep going deeper and deeper, and on both walls, reliefs carved by the craftsmen of the time with all their heart are literally drawn in a long, unbroken line.
What is surprising is that the colors of the reliefs felt the most vivid among the three tombs. The red, yellow, and blue colors mixed and painted by people thousands of years ago emerge from the wall surface, maintaining a freshness as if they were painted yesterday. I completely understand why our guide, Hussein, highly recommends it.
15:00 Perfume Shop
...And so, this is where the "second act" of the Egypt tour begins (lol). We were taken to a perfume bottle shop with the exact same flow and the exact same scents as the one I experienced in Cairo two days ago. The only difference was probably the price. Here, it was 30 EGP for 30ml. Moreover, there was no free perfume bottle included. The Japanese girls who were with me also noticed the second case of déjà vu, and everyone's hearts were synchronized. We succeeded in turning them down with a smile, with a unanimous "No!"
16:00 "Alabaster Museum"
We were told, "Next is a museum," but what we arrived at was just a run-of-the-mill souvenir shop.
What they handle here are crafts made of a natural stone called "Alabaster", which has been used for pharaoh sculptures and perfume bottles since ancient Egyptian times. It is a stone characterized by its fine texture and beautiful translucency, and the store was packed with shelves of candle holders, stone statues of gods, and models of pyramids.
But it was different from a regular souvenir shop, lol.
The clerk explained the traditional techniques, saying, "We are different from the cheap plastic fakes on the market; everything is handmade!" but the demonstration was completely in the style of a "3-minute cooking" show.
In front of craftsmen (?) ①, ②, and ③, stones that had already reached that stage of the process were prepared. After person ① finished pretending to shape it, person ② started tapping it with a hammer in a very sluggish, unmotivated manner, and when that was finished, person ③ started polishing it with a swish-swish sound.
I couldn't help but mentally retort, "You definitely didn't make that here!"
Once inside, as expected, a barrage of aggressive sales tactics began. They stalled customers with free hibiscus tea and persistently recommended products.
Even if you refuse, they start a never-ending story, saying, "Then how about this small size?"
In the end, we managed to escape by using the "We are students and really have no money! We're seriously sorry!" strategy, a full-force appeal of financial distress filled with sorrow.
With this, the tour of the Valley of the Kings, full of laughter and tears, ended safely (?).
16:30 Supermarket "Kheir Zaman"
We were driven to the hotel's designated location, and finally, we went to a local supermarket. This place had an incredibly rich selection of coffee. Since there were no price tags, we proceeded with our shopping while having the clerk check them one by one with a barcode reader.
What was shocking was that mango juice was 6 EGP (about 18 yen). It was incredibly cheap, yet unbelievably rich and delicious. I actually wanted pomegranate juice, but I was very satisfied with the mango.
As a souvenir, I bought Egyptian coffee with cardamom. It's an authentic one where you can choose not only the roast level (light, medium, dark) but also the amount of cardamom in three levels (normal, extra, extra-extra)! Amazing!
2/8
Early morning departure to Abu Simbel Temple
At 4:30 AM, the pickup car arrived in the darkness. By the fifth day of the Egypt trip, I was surprised to find that my body had completely adapted to this early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine, and I felt no pain at all.
This visit to Abu Simbel Temple was a sacred site I had desperately wanted to visit, thinking it was "absolutely unmissable" if going to Egypt. However, the bottleneck is the access. I considered a route flying domestically from Luxor to Aswan, but there are almost no direct flights, and it would be a huge waste of time because it would require a connection in Cairo.
Even though it's a domestic flight, you need to arrive at the airport several hours in advance, and even after arriving in Aswan, it takes another 4 hours by car. The one-way travel time easily exceeds 6 hours.
We reached the conclusion that it would be more logical to leave Luxor early in the morning and drive for six hours straight. Once we got into the car from the hotel, we could just sleep and be taken to our destination, and it was much more economical than flying. The only concerns were whether a 12-hour round-trip drive would be too grueling, and whether we would be satisfied with only two hours on-site after spending six hours getting there.
However, as it turned out, choosing this day trip was a huge, absolute success!
What arrived was not the shared minivan we had imagined, but a private car with leather seats. We were the only passengers, and our dedicated driver, George, took us to Abu Simbel in a private-car style.
He was very considerate about bathroom breaks along the way, and at a service area, we had an elegant moment enjoying espresso and coffee in the crisp morning air while taking snapshots.
Above all, our driver George's machine-gun chatter was incredibly entertaining! Until around 6:00 AM, when we were sleeping, he drove quietly so as not to wake us, and as soon as we woke up, he enthusiastically explained the viewpoints outside.
And every time a donkey appeared outside the window, he would shout in a voice that echoed through the car,
Look! That's the Egyptian version of a Ferrari!! he would say repeatedly, laughing.
While laughing at George's comfortable driving and his constant repetition of Ferrari, we arrived at Abu Simbel at 10:00 AM. It was such a comfortable and quick drive that I wondered why I had been so afraid of the six-hour journey.
Meeting up with the guide
We arrived at the Abu Simbel temples and first met up with our official guide, Ahmed. However, around the ruins in Egypt, there are many mysterious men wandering around who call themselves assistant guides separate from the actual guides.
As soon as Ahmed finished his explanation and we had some free time, we were approached by a pair of twins who said they were the same age as us.
We were innocently happy to have
made new local friends,
so we exchanged Instagram handles and decided to walk around the temple together. But they started taking lots of photos without us asking, and they just stood there waiting for us to finish sightseeing inside the temple. I gradually began to sense an uneasy atmosphere, thinking, Oh, this is definitely the pattern where they demand a tip later.
They stuck right behind us until we reached the spot where we were meeting our driver, George.
Just as I was half-resigned to the fact that we would have to pay a tip, our hero, George, appeared from ahead.
Habibi!! (meaning friend of my heart in Arabic)
George, who approached shouting that at full volume, stood in front of us with an overwhelming sense of tolerance (and silent pressure) like Gian from Doraemon, and guarded us from the twin men (lol).
Thanks to him, we were able to part ways with them smartly without paying a tip.
(...But there is a follow-up story. When I opened the Instagram account we exchanged, there was a storm of messages from them.
How are u now?
Now, I want to see you ❤️ ......I couldn't help but retort, You're so noisy! (lol).)
When you exchange SNS or WhatsApp with men you meet in Egypt, you will receive passionate messages like
Where u now? How are u?
100% of the time. The friend who accompanied me ended up having to deal with 4 or 5 Egyptians at the same time before she knew it, and it looked really tough. They will casually invite you to go get a meal, but unless you can truly trust their identity and character, it is wise to decline firmly. (Ali from the first day was a trustworthy person.)
The overwhelming Great Temple of Abu Simbel
Now, it's finally time to meet the main attraction, the Abu Simbel Temple! As you walk from the entrance, the first thing you see is the back side, or the buttocks, of the Great Temple and the Small Temple. The moment we walked around and stood in front of them, I literally stood frozen with my mouth agape at their unimaginable scale. They are just too huge...!
The four giant statues towering in front of the Great Temple are all of the Pharaoh
Ramses II, who is said to be a narcissist and a mass of self-love. Interestingly, from left to right, his aging process from 25 to 97 years old is expressed. According to the guide, as he ages, his nose becomes thicker and more impressive, which is how they distinguish his age.
Also, the head of the second Ramses II statue from the left has collapsed and is rolling at his feet. This was due to an earthquake in the past, but when a global UNESCO relocation project was carried out in the 1960s due to the construction of a dam, it was left as it is today without being restored, with the idea that there is value even in the collapsed history.
Furthermore, this temple is precisely designed so that twice a year (on the Pharaoh's anniversaries, February 22nd and October 22nd), the first light of sunrise reaches straight to the statues of the gods in the sanctuary 60 meters deep from the entrance of the temple. On the day of that miracle of light, tourists from all over the world flock there, and it is said to be incredibly crowded.
And, something that absolutely cannot be left out when talking about this temple is that this is the birthplace of World Heritage sites.
The Egyptian government planned the construction of the Aswan High Dam for modernization, but it was discovered that once the dam was built, valuable Nubian ruins, including this Abu Simbel Temple, would be completely submerged.
UNESCO stood up, declaring, "We must not let this great ancient heritage be submerged!" and called for donations and cooperation from around the world. Countries invested a total of $36 million to dismantle the ruins into small pieces and move them exactly as they were to a safe hill about 60 meters higher than their original location, successfully completing an unprecedented "relocation project" in human history.
"Treasures common to humanity should be protected by the whole world, transcending national borders."
The strong philosophy born from the success of this great relocation operation led to the later "World Heritage Convention," which resulted in the birth of the World Heritage system. In other words, if the Abu Simbel temples had not been on the verge of being submerged, the World Heritage sites we have today might not exist.
With all that said, even with only two hours for the visit, it was a deeply satisfying time due to how dense it was!
12:00 Exquisite tahini and steak
While soaking in the lingering excitement, we went to a nearby restaurant, "New Abu Simbel Restaurant," for lunch.
The tahini (raw sesame paste) served here was surprisingly delicious! It went perfectly with "aish," the traditional Egyptian bread, and I couldn't stop tearing off pieces and dipping them.
Shorbat Lisan Asfour: A chicken soup containing short, rod-shaped pasta that means "sparrow's tongue." It had a rich, gentle flavor similar to a consommé-based minestrone, and it was so delicious that it blew away the fatigue of the trip.
Beef steak: I don't know the name, but it was juicy and filling, making for a very satisfying energy boost.
Heading back to the hotel
I have nothing but gratitude for George, who kept us safe and made the 12-hour round trip incredibly fun.
However, the one thing I still regret about this trip is that I couldn't give George a sufficient tip.
Since the next day was our final day in Egypt, I was almost out of Egyptian pounds. At the same time, I didn't want to use the Euros or Dollars in my wallet, considering my future travels in other countries... I was facing the "cash-strapped problem" typical of the end of a multi-country trip.
In the end, the best I could do was scrape together the pounds I had on hand, which was a small amount that didn't match his wonderful work. I wish I could have shown more of my "Habibi!" feelings to George, who protected us from the twins with the manliness of Gian from Doraemon...!