Luxor

Luxor is something like a thousand kilometres south of Cairo, and also on the Nile. It's where the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, and a swath of other crumbling places can be found. They like their obelisks, too. Anyway, we reached Luxor after an overnight train trip that wasn't too bad, although I'm surprised that I slept at all because the train seemed to continually shudder and vibrate, and the door made this awful metal against metal squeek sound at the big shudders, but I fixed that by stuffing a curtain between the door and the jam. Which reminds me: When is a door not a door? When it's ajar. Hah, hilarious, no? I'll try it on the Jordanians and see how far I get. Which is actually where I am now, a dingy Internet cafe in Amman near the bus terminus. But anyawy, Luxor... look, I have to say that I have generally been under-awed by the ruins and temples, etc. I love the history and ideas behind them, but seeing them in the, uh, stone isn't always impressive. Luxor temple was pretty cool because you were walking amongst gigantic pillars, and the sheer size of them was impressive. This feeling was even surpassed at the sound + light show at Karnak temple, where similar pillars were lit from below, enhancing the towering sensation. That, however, were the only good few minutes from an otherwise crap 'sound + light' show. What's more fascinating is the people we met, but it's certainly trickier to explain. It's so strange leading the 'tourist life' or being on the "tourist trail", as it's so far removed from my every day life. Here, we tend to get ushered from one tourist trap to another, whether it be a ruin or a restaurant, where the locals see you as a walking ATM machine. Pop you in the right chair or shop, and comes the money. Fortunately we're not completely foolish, just partially, and usually avoid the traps. But I'm so sick of the crap quality of everything that we keep experiencing, that they can get away with just because you don't know where else to go, or because it's covered in the varnish of "being on the Nile", etc. Like the hotel and restaurant, ok, the hotel wasn't crap, just tacky, but the restaurant food was crap, and we didn't even get to see a menu when we ordered so we didn't know what the price would be. It was more than we expected but not exorbitant, but then they didn't even accept VISA and they exist to rip off tourists!! Bizarre. So we had to stiff them 4 Egyptian pounds since we didn't have enough to cover the bill. :) Our tour guide, Ahmed, did select the restaurant for us because they were also able to provide an authentic Arabian minstrel to soothe our ears, so I can't complain too much. Well, yes I can. Not about the music, which was cool - the Arabian version of a guitar and a soulful crooner more reminiscent of the Imams that sing the call to prayer than of a typical guitar singer-songwriter. Earlier in the day, we did have a felucca ride on the Nile before sunset, and that was fucking bliss. For the actual tours of the ruins, etc in Luxor we had a nice guide, Hala, who was actually an Egyptologist, and she was pretty funny once she warmed to us. I think it was the first time I had a chance to flirt with anyone for the whole bloody trip.