Thursday at Edfu temple

I took one of the horse drawn carriages down to the temple. It is only a 10 minute walk but they are hard to resist in the hot sun! However on the way back I chose to walk as it was much cooler then and the walk home was quite nice, and peaceful. Well that is peaceful accept for a couple of kids that saw me walking, and managed to run and go find a horse drawn carriage to try to talk me into riding LOL. They even offered me half of the usual fare. I just felt like walking though.The guards are all pretty amazed that I keep coming back everyday! For some reason everyone seems to think that the Edfu temple can be seen easily within a couple of hours. Obviously most people don’t take photos of every single scene and hieroglyphic they can *g*. Well that and most tourists are just that, tourists. They don’t see or care about the sacredness of the place and think it’s just a neat huge old building, so why would they need more then 2 hours? Apparently there isn’t a weekly discount though lol.I went into each of the room this time and did a small working in each one with the Deity of that room. It was quite an awesome experience, and the presences are strong here. Fortunately this temple out of all of them is the best for the guards leaving you alone to meditate or whatever you do. Some of the other temples they can get quite annoying! Again I went later in the day and had the entire building to myself most of the time. It was interesting to feel Horus’ presence strongly during the day. This time I also wandered around the outside of the entire temple, which is quite amazing. Basically 50 foot high engravings of Gods! There are also several displays around the temple grounds, such as pieces of the older version of the temple, pieces of other temples nearby, pieces of this temple that are in disrepair and so on. There are also a few random Roman statues, various altars and libation tables, and some wall blocks with various Deities on them, all displayed in various places on the temple grounds. I of course saw some interesting scenes and hieroglyphics that I had not seen before. Easy to miss I guess with a few million there. The good thing is that I seem to be able to understand the temple and hieroglyphics more and more each time I go. I’m also starting to understand the patterns of common designs and themes of the ancient Egyptian temples in general. Even with different Pharaohs, there are definitely some repeating scenes and hieroglyphics that you find in each temple, even the ones depicting the Pharaoh. Since the scenes are often the same or similar you definitely have to know how to tell which Pharaoh is which, or know ahead of time. Well of course you can always read his or her name above the image that is written in the cartouche. One interesting bit about the Edfu temple in general are the blank cartouches that you find around here and there. They made a few and left them blank so they could fill in the next King’s name, since they of course didn’t know who it would be yet. I think they would likely notice if I added my own name with a chisel and hammer though, darn.I went to sleep very early since I had to get up at 6am, and they damn prayers over the loudspeakers always wake me up at 3am. What in the hell are they thinking to have prayers over loudspeakers at 3am for? Apparently my guide isn’t Muslim as he says he has no problem sleeping through them and just puts a pillow over his head LOL.
El Kab and Edfu temple with a guide.... or 5Apparently in Egypt when you hire a private guide, you get a few bonus ones as well. There is the guide of course, as well as the driver. When I was in Aswan, the travel agent would also come along, as well as one other person sometimes (no idea what he was there for). Well in Edfu, my guide had his friend as our driver, who was driving a neat old beatup Peugo that had enough room for 9 people! Good thing too... my guide decided to bring a friend along as well. Then when we got to the sites, the local security person would hop in the car with us as well. When I went to the tombs there were 4 people with me, 2 security, my guide, and my guide’s friend.So the first stop at El Kab is the four tombs. These are the four tombs that are open, but I know there are more as I have maps showing far more of them. That is one annoying thing about Egypt, a lot of the more remote temples and tombs tend to be closed. We walked up several stairs to get to the tombs which were cut right into the rock which was pretty neat. The designs within the tombs were just beautiful!! A lot of the colour was still there as well. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside of the tombs. On one side of the wall you would have scenes from during the life of the Pharaoh, then on the other side of the wall you would have the scenes in the afterlife. The one side of the wall would depict the great exploits, of the Pharaoh as well as the basic things he did such as farming (some had great farms). In the afterlife you would see much food, many slaves performing all of the duties for the King etc.I had read the guide book, and a few websites about El Kab, and I somehow got the impression that we were going to have to be hiking four kilometres each way across the desert to see everything. Needless to say I was quite thrilled when I found out we could drive to all of the sites! I don’t mind hiking and all, but not when it’s this hot out! Next time I come to Egypt, I’m thinking November or January might be a more appropriate month, as it’s much cooler and I will enjoy the sites even more.We next went to a dual temple of Nekbet and Hathor. The guide got many pathetic points when he said he didn’t know which Deities this temple was to, and guessed Horus and Osiris (since there were images of the Pharaoh making offerings to these two Deities, one on each side of the wall. I did ask who the woman was that the Pharaoh was making offerings to, and the guide said “his wife”. Btw, El Kab is one of the more remote places to go to, and not many guides even know it exists, so I went easy on him. Now here is the interesting bit, he walked outside, and I didn’t see him look at any notes or anything, but he suddenly came back in saying it is a temple to Nekbet. Considering the signs I think the invisibles that were traveling with me helped him out a bit. I later read in the book that it is for both her and Hathor. The Hathor face on the top of the columns helped to confirm this. Well a remote and unknown location so I thought until I saw two tour buses pull up! Fortunately they didn’t go past the tombs. Next up we drove to an area of rock in the middle of the desert a bit off the road, where there were ancient hieroglyphics and pre-Dynasty animals etched into the rock there. We got some bonus fun of being able to climb around on the rocks.Then we went to the main temple area where there were two temples. The first temple was very tiny and was only one room, but was still quite nice. This temple was dedicated to Horus, and had several depictions of him on the walls (of course).The larger temple was dedicated to Nekbet and Horus, and was the nicest one of the lot, with stone stairs going up to it, and it was in pretty good condition. The wall colouring and engravings were just gorgeous and much of the design and colour on the roof was still there. This was also a one room temple, but it was quite a large room. Outside of the temple in what was the Hypostyle hall, were the remains of quite a few pillars. There were also Hathor designs around the top of the walls. All three of these temples were of course MUCH smaller then most of the temples were are used to in Egypt, but still pretty interesting in their own right. The guards of the area found and gave me a souvenir from the area, what looked to be a piece of a pottery vase.My guide said the tour was now done, so I asked what about the town of El Kab. It seems that tour guides in general, from the best to the worst will leave a lot of things out unless you specifically ask. For example, a trip to El Kab really wouldn’t be complete without seeing the old town and the temple ruins there. My guide in Cairo tried to leave out some smaller pyramids, my guide on Phillae island tried to leave out the birth house... and well you get the idea. So we went to the main “highway” and parked on the side of the road, crossed over 3 train tracks, and walked about a kilometre down a dusty dirt road. We were walking along the outer wall of the town of El Kab. Then we entered through the side entranceway along the path. I was told by the friend of my guide to watch out for snakes, so I rolled my pantlegs back down LOL. There are actual poisonous snakes in Egypt afterall. After going a ways I realized that in one section, what I thought were ruins were actually people’s houses, and people were still living in El Kab! They were living in the middle of nowhere right on the edge of the Nile in a really pretty old town protected by a huge mud brick wall. It seemed about 10 times as hot in El Kab as anywhere else in Egypt and the hike was hard. The hike wasn’t physically hard but with the heat and NO shade within miles it got tiring fast. Even my guides, who were in their 20’s looked a bit tired by the end of it.We finally reached the ruins of the temple, and boy do I mean ruins. There weren’t even any walls left. Just a few remnants of pillars, what is left of the alter (which I was so tired I sat on it) made of black granite (my guide thinks basalt and black granite are the same rock :P), and some other bits and pieces here and there. Apparently it isn’t known who this temple was dedicated to since there isn’t really anything to go by. The archaeologists never did figure it out, and just left it in ruins. My guide found a bit of a clue, an etched in image of a Deity on a piece of old pillar. He said he guessed it is Horus.... right up until I pointed out that the figure had a breast...There was a picture that looked to be of a Pharaoh on another pillar remnant, but that was about it. The guess is that the temple was to Nekbet since the entire area was/is hers. She’s the Goddess of the dessert and etc.My guide had been quite nice and gotten some water and a huge bag of Egyptian snacks that we all had as breakfast. Fortunately I got back to my hotel in time to still enjoy the huge breakfast the place is famous for. Egyptian junk food just wouldn’t have sufficed for the day. I still can’t believe the size of the breakfasts around here, they are huge. Most hotels just give you a few pieces of bread, a tiny package of butter and one of jam, and a little triangle of cheese. Terrible. Well as described above the breakfasts here consist of far more then that. They are also the most nutritional food I have found in all of Egypt which is a nice change! After eating the breakfasts I don’t tend to get hungry again until about 8pm, then either have a small snack or just skip dinner. Lunch is right out of the question after one of these breakfasts! Actually I often need a nap after one of them! The owner/manager of the hotel actually serves you himself, and I mean fully serves you! He has the food brought out, then stuffs your pita like bread full of each ingredient for you. When you are about half done the first one, he’s already started the second... and so on. I have never made it past 3 so far, and doubt anyone who has stayed here ever has! This is even after I only have one apple during the first course. I have never gotten as far as the extra bread and jam either. I have met two of the owner’s wives now, a few of his son’s and talked with one of his daughter’s on the phone. He definitely has the treat you like family attitude here! So much so that he made my guide show him his ID, which they wrote the name down, and also they insisted on going outside with me and copying down the license plate number of the car that I would be traveling in. Since I booked with a well known and government approved travel agency I seriously doubt there would have been any problems... but I have to say even if I had booked with a not so good one, I doubt there would have been any problems after all this. Now my guide asks me to meet him outside the hotel since the owner asks him too many questions about himself, as well as tries to get more information about me LOL. I don’t think the owner likes my guide though, since he has told me several times to not give him my money. Perhaps a bad impression, or perhaps my guide is too modern looking/acting.After wandering through the hot desert and enough food for 3 people, relaxing under the fan on high was definitely in order. Fortunately my guide and I had agreed on 5pm for the Edfu temple, which was late enough it wouldn’t be too hot out and was 4 hours after breakfast.I was expecting my guide to pick me up with a driver, however he was expecting we would walk. I was a bit tired from the morning, so I insisted we take a carriage. He made me pay for the transportation. Needless to say his tip at the end of the day wasn’t huge. The tour was alright. It was only about half an hour long, and he pointed out a few things, walked by most of the rooms (but most of the other guides there do as well), and only covered a few scenes. He was only going to show me the final scene of Horus conquering Set, until I asked him where it started and ended, so he showed me the whole thing, without much explanation, which is actually good since hearing the 10th guide tell me the story would have been getting old. He walked right by the sacred main room twice, so I asked him to stop and explain that one to me. Talking about the mini tour. I had booked El Kab and Kom al Ahmar, and was told Al Ahmar was closed, which pissed me right off since that was the main reason I booked with this company and paid so much. So a pathetic tour of Edfu to make up for it just wasn’t enough.There was one definite highlight though. I asked my guide if he could please ask the guards about me seeing the roof. He kept insisting that the roof was closed and that no one was allowed up there. I told him that with enough baksheesh yes they are, I have been to the roofs of other temples, and I have read about other people going to the Edfu roof. Finally I talked him into asking. It was going to cost $5 for the guy who told us it’s OK and pointed out the route, and another $5 for the police. This was more expensive then I expected, but I decided still worth it. The other stories I read about people going onto the roof, well they went through the locked gate by the guard opening it. Well either they no longer have the key, or the guard with the key was on break. So we were shown the way up to the roof by climbing up what seemed to be a slightly dangerous route along the temple bricks LOL. I found out later that my guide definitely did *not* enjoy this part of the tour! We were only allowed to go to certain parts of the roof though because other areas of it weren’t as solid and stable as would have been safe. I still did get a few photos though. Apparently we also had to not make it obvious at all that we were on the roof, but stay sort of low and not talk too loudly. It was still worth the trip I think. Perhaps it was a good thing that we went during a time where there was no one else in the temple and most of the guards seemed to be on break.Due to lack of anyone ever having change in Egypt, I bought 5 large bottles of water on my way back to the hotel. The hotel staff are so nice here, the main employee carried my water for me upstairs. He told me that he has been working here for 20 years now! He does do every beck and call of the owner, so I hope he gets paid well. Tomorrow it’s back to the Horus temple, with a pair of binoculars to see the higher up hieroglyphics and a different guidebook that goes into more detail then either of the other two books I have about the temple.