Forge: And Exploring Luxor!

Jules the donkey at ACE

A felucca on the Nile

Just basking

Temple of Karnak

We took the night train from Cairo to Luxor late Friday. Walking the quarter mile or so from our dropoff point to the train platform made me run through my entire packing list that now makes up 80 pounds of backpack-held luggage, sound, and filming equipment. Luckily, we got into Luxor with little trouble and were met by a guide who took us to our pretty luxe hotel, complete with wading pool and complimentary breakfast and WiFi. That same afternoon, we did a tour of the East Bank of Luxor, the main sights of which consisted of the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. The temples were magnificent and left us wondering how folks thousands of years ago could have constructed such monuments. Both temples had mazes of dozens of hundred-ton pillars, with much of the original coloring still intact. We spent much of our time, however, meeting other folks in our tour group, including people from Holland, Spain, and the UK. There was even a dude from San Francisco, American accent and all.

The next day, we went to the West Bank, which back in the day corresponded with death since the sun sets in that direction. We visited the Valley of the Kings to see the tombs of Pharaohs as well as the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Queens (self-explanatory). I feel bad saying this, but by this point in time in Egypt, I think we were pretty antiquitied out.The tombs were a wonder themselves, with their original artwork and hieroglyphs, but again it was sad to think that the treasures and people once filling them were now on display in museum collections. That night, we visited El Souq, the market street, with our new Canadian friends Daniel and Nicole. After a bit of souvenir hunting, we grabbed some koshary from a street vendor and took in the End of Ramadan celebrations from a bench right next to the Temple of Luxor. After dinner, Daniel and I joined some local Egyptian fellows playing soccer/football for what in retrospect, was one of the coolest moments in Luxor. I guess it reminded me of why I travel.

Our last day in Luxor was a free day and left us up to our own devices. According to Tripadvisor, one of the best activities in Luxor is to visit ACE (Animal Care in Egypt), a British charity founded to care for working animals on the streets of Egypt. So we hopped over and were lucky enough to be given a tour by one of the trustees. Apparently, many Egyptians who have working animals (e.g. donkeys, horses) haven't been educated in how to care for them, so the center provides free vet services as well as lessons in how to properly look after your animal. We met some animals excited to see us, including Jules the donkey, who enjoyed suckling on your hand. It was definitely a feel-good visit that left us glad that someone was watching out for animals in the area. After ACE, we decided to try and hire a felucca (small sailing boat) for a couple hours. After some bargaining, we found one that agreed to take us down the Nile to Banana Island and back for 60 Egyptian Pounds (~$10). Once again, it was surreal to be sailing on arguably the most famous river in the world and to be able to step away from the noise and bustle of urban Egypt for a couple hours. Banana Island was super random, literally a banana farm with a small zoo of crocodiles, sheep, and a cow. No joke, the latter tried to ram me while I was feeding it. Another first I guess.

After the felucca ride, we grabbed some dinner to go from a local restaurant and went to gather our belongings at the hotel in preparation for our night train back to Cairo. Goodbye Luxor!