I got up at 6am, which is always difficult, to make sure I was downstairs for breakfast at 7, so I would be ready to meet my driver at 8am. Any meal in Egypt always takes an hour, so I have learned to plan for it. Well 8am rolled around and no driver... 8:30... Finally the hotel owner got one of his sons who owned a cel phone to let me borrow it so I could call my guide. He said something about how he would find out. By 9am the hotel owner phoned my guide and started yelling at him for the lame service lol, or I figure that is what the angry and loud Arabic meant. So we come to find out that my driver won’t be by until 11am. So I decided to head for one last trip over to the Edfu temple. There isn’t much else to do in Edfu, and I just love visiting the temple.
This time was a visit without my camera, so I just concentrated on the hieroglyphics and wall images. It’s amazing how every single time I go to that temple, I find something new I had never seen before. I always get a new idea for offerings to Horus, or learn something new about ancient Egyptian ritual. I only visited for about an hour before the hot sun got to be too much. I took the carriage back to the hotel, had yet another shower and waited for the driver. I gave the hotel manager a $20 US tip, which he told me was too much. I then said I was going to give his assistant a tip, and he said no, he will just give him 10LE (which is about $2 US). I thought that just wasn’t right since the assistant did just as much work, and helped me just as much as the owner. The assistant is the one who went out to buy me food whenever I wanted (at Egyptian prices), brought me food when I wasn’t feeling well, walked me over to the post office when I asked where it was etc. So I gave him a $20 US as well. He thanked me..... then I think later looked at how much. He thanked me at least 100 times LOL. I don’t think he gets paid that much (if at all), and he was very thrilled. He told me he was going to use the money to feed his sister who is currently pregnant. I don’t think anyone had ever tipped him before or something judging by his reaction.
Well my driver and guide finally arrived, so I was off to Luxor. We first had to stop at the Edfu temple to get in line for the police convoy. I didn’t have quite enough time to go into the temple yet again though, so I just went to the market there. I bought a dress with gold Egyptian designs all over it for $10. The price started at about $90, and it was a hell of a lot of work to get him down to $10 LOL. Fortunately I was in a good mood, so I was just laughing about it. I have learned to not even bother haggling when I’m in a bad mood, or with someone I don’t like. From what I have learned, I paid waaaay too much for the souvenirs while in Cairo. Some of the guidebooks said to talk them down to half of what they say. I would say more like talk them down to 1/4 or 1/5th of what they originally quote! It also helps to not care at all whether you get the item or not. I have only once ever had a seller say he wouldn’t sell me something for a price I gave, so I had to offer a little more when I walked back through.
Along the “highway” (which was a 2 lane road) we passed several tiny villages along the Nile. They were quite nice, and they look like an extremely relaxing place to live. While most of Egypt is desert, the bits along the Nile, and the bits along the irrigation canals are full of vegetation and are quite green. There are also many mango trees. Mangos aren’t in season for another 2 months though I’m told.
On the way the convoy all stopped at a couple of overpriced cafeterias, and I paid as much for an ice cream bar as I have for a tshirt! I think the ice cream was a better value considering the heat though! I have to say those people are making a killing off the convoys.
Once we arrived in Luxor my driver had no idea where my hotel was and had to ask several people. I also pointed out where on my map which helped a bit. We finally found it. The hotel was down what looked to me like a back alley, but it couldn’t have been since the street had a street sign with a name on it. Apparently not all streets are paved in Egypt. The hotel exceeded my expectations by far! For only $5 US per night I was amazed! It’s an extremely nice hotel. It also has very funky decor which is Bob Marley and Marijuana themed LOL. I’ll bet you can get the extra special hooka/sheesha smoke here. The staff are also very mellow and laid back which is nice.
The best part of the hotel is their rooftop. It is a bunch of pillows, rugs, a hammock, a couple of daybeds, some chairs etc. all laid about, with some sort of reed rooftop over the entire thing. There are of course Bob Marley posters everywhere, and much pot leaf and Bob Marley art all over the walls. This is also where they serve breakfast. It doesn’t get much more relaxing then this, unless you count the felucca trips perhaps. For some reason or another, they have strung several beer cans up on the roof, I think to act as wind chimes of some odd sort. I also noticed a blue flowering morning glory plant up here, along with some other shrubbery that I can’t identify. It is an awfully nice place to sit and update my blog from :). Since it is the low season for tourists, I seem to have the entire roof garden to myself which is also nice.
I asked which restaurant nearby was good, and they recommended the one at the end of the block. It had the best calamari I have ever tasted, which was also the freshest. They don’t use crappy old previously frozen squid like in North America. However the tageen was terrible! The worst tageen dish in all of Egypt I think. Since dinner cost $13 including an appetizer and a drink, I don’t think I’ll be returning to there again unless I’m particularly desperate. It’s sort of difficult to tell around here which places serve food, and which just serve coffee and sheeshas. Most seems to just do the coffee and sheeshas, since Egyptians are far better cooks then the restaurants anyways.
The hotel staff keep asking me where I am going today, or what I am doing today. Apparently no tourists just take days off in Egypt. They all figure that I must be going on some tour or another, or going to some museum. Instead I am just relaxing and getting some reading and typing done.
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