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[sayhello]

So how was the balloon ride?? The couple of pics you posted look very cool! Although 28 in one balloon?? Who knew?

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

So interesting! The guide and your ship sound amazing. Not sure I'd do well with all the aggressiveness. I know it's part of the culture, but I can't stand that.

 

[AquaDame]

So how was the balloon ride?? The couple of pics you posted look very cool! Although 28 in one balloon?? Who knew?

Sayhello

It was so fun! We've never done one before so I have nothing to compare it to. I did wish we had risen higher - some balloons went higher or longer and we don't know why... it may simply be dependent on the wind doing what it will!

So interesting! The guide and your ship sound amazing. Not sure I'd do well with all the aggressiveness. I know it's part of the culture, but I can't stand that.

I can't either and I still did OK, until one specific incident in Jordan, but that is a ways off. The guides did a swell job of helping ward off the more persistent amongst them and helping folk shop also if they wanted some help navigating things. They also had a tendency to try to sell things at the doors of the busses so the guides would again step in, taking the items onboard and asking if anyone wanted the trinkets for $1-2. Lowering the pressure even by that much did wonders - many people bought things this way without the vendor getting in the way of themselves.

 

[sayhello]

It was so fun! We've never done one before so I have nothing to compare it to. I did wish we had risen higher - some balloons went higher or longer and we don't know why... it may simply be dependent on the wind doing what it will!

I'm glad it was fun! I still haven't done one, either, but it's on the bucket list!

I can't either and I still did OK, until one specific incident in Jordan, but that is a ways off. The guides did a swell job of helping ward off the more persistent amongst them and helping folk shop also if they wanted some help navigating things. They also had a tendency to try to sell things at the doors of the busses so the guides would again step in, taking the items onboard and asking if anyone wanted the trinkets for $1-2. Lowering the pressure even by that much did wonders - many people bought things this way without the vendor getting in the way of themselves.

I so do not care for bartering!! Just tell me the price, and either I want to pay that price or not!

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

With your entry ticket to the Valley of the Kings you are allowed to visit any of three open tombs, and there are a few more that are ALWAYS an extra fee. Our tour included Tutankhamun as ABD does too. There is a board that shows you which are open - our guides selected the three we'd do and spoke about them outside of each before we entered and of course answered any questions we came up with when we were inside also. I'd take a pic of what I wanted interpreted and Hussein would oblige every time.



Our first stop was KV2 / Ramses IV, and it had a queue outside and we moved very slowly in and around... such a different experience than Valley of the Queens! There was a worker at the sarcophagus hurrying folk along after a quick pic (and offering to let you take longer/ take the pics for you in exchange for a small "tip" of course).



KV 11 / Ramses III was next and much larger, though no less narrow on walkways. We were able to spread out more as it had more offshoots to it, and had upper and lower sections.



KV6 / Ramses IX rounded out our Ramses heavy itinerary on the included visits. We were given our tickets for Tutankhamun as we went in, and told to head there next and meet back up afterwards in a shady spot.



KV62 / Tutankhamun is soooo small comparatively! They limit the number of people in there at a time, but did a terrible job actually sending down that number... at least they WERE trying. It was a madhouse of elbows and jostling for a pic of where the sarcophagus laid. His mummy is on the other side of it now, but there is little of interest over there aside from... well, lets be honest his corpse. I will spare you that one.

Hussein is convinced he was murdered, and there is certainly compelling evidence... though his cache seems very impressive to us, it was quite small and poorly compared to what would have been expected for a pharaoh. Hussein had also shown us how his cartouche is misspelled on the box for his canopic jars. How could such a mistake have been made? It would have meant he could not find them when it was time, and so Tut would not be able to move on to the afterlife where he could squeal. So vicious..!



From here we again split off from the main group as it was time to spend some money! We had signed up for some extra tomb openings that AP arranged for us for this day. First up was KV 35 / Amenhotep II, and we were joined by three other folk on our tour for the opportunity. As is the norm, we bri... I mean tipped the staff once inside and were then allowed to take pictures. No tip? No dice. This was my favorite of the ones we paid extra for as the person working there was easy going and fun to chat with in addition to frankly being in this amazing place. When your mind is already blown, it doesn't take much to tip you over, and he had us all sit quietly in the dark next to the sarcophagus for a few minutes in meditation. Quiet as a tomb... I now know what that feels like in my bones.





Next up was KV57 / Horemheb though no one else paid the entry fee (plus tip) for this possible murder's elaborate tomb and we had the whole place to ourselves.



While we were in these tombs everyone else... waited on us. There were snacks, and it would be possible to buy a second ticket and visit more tombs but I don't think anyone did. That had been our plan if we hadn't coughed up the cost of paying for the private entries. We were here from just before 9 until noon, then it was time to head off to Hatshepsut's Temple just a couple of minutes drive away.



By now it was HOT. So hot... even to the point I started feeling a little woozy. I did not want to burn so I was stubbornly keeping my hat and long sleeve shirt and pants on as best I could but it was getting rough for me tbh. We hadn't sat down for hours since we were going tomb to tomb, but I also didn't want to drink too much water as bathrooms are few and far (and cost $ every time)... The tour guides all jostled their groups into the shrines on either side here to interpret the carvings for their folk, and there was little shade to go around.

After being shown both Hathor and Anubis, we again split off from the group, this time being the only folk who took them up on seeing the tomb of Senenmut. Perhaps we shouldn't have... as we started climbing down down down to the entrance I was not feeling very well at all, but I was looking forward to getting into the cooler air of the tomb ASAP... but that was not to be. Turns out no one had the key... or at least they had one, but when we got there found TWO locks! One gentleman ran back up to the office to try to find the second key while we plunked down in the shade, thankfully, and waited.

...and waited.

......and waited some more. He returned without a key so they went to phase 2 - break it off with a rock. BANG BANG BANG... it wouldn't budge. I had long finished my water and was thankfully starting to feel better, but it was still so hot. I was ready to bag the whole thing, and Hussein by then was on the phone arguing with folk in Arabic. Another man came with a hacksaw and they started sawing it about the time we should have been wrapping up our visit. I felt so badly for everyone waiting for us! 20 minutes then 30 went by before Hussein declared it was not happening and we tried to go. It was such a crazy scene of men arguing that they would get us in, and Hussein saying we had no time left for this. They knew if they did not get us in though they would not get our money, and so they refused to sign the paper ackowleding they could not fulfill their part of the bargain. Finally they relented and - seriously - as he went to put pen to paper yelling from the tomb that they got the lock off! Still more arguing from Hussein though as it was so late and we had no time, but they did not give him a choice and so down we went... into the tomb after all!

At the time we were so rushed I thought it was a terrible waste of money, but in the end this was Kyle's favorite and I'm glad we went. It shows the stages of creating these scenes, from sketch to inking and finally the finished areas as well. You could see where artists edited from the rough sketch to fill in their own ideas, and the ceiling is thought to be the first of its kind as a celestial calendar. We had Hussein in there all to ourselves and I could have kicked myself for knowing so little that I didn't have any good questions to ask. That was a common lament from me this whole trip...I just didn't know enough to even know what I did not know! Oh well..



Our bus then came to get the three of us and we met back up with everyone at an alabaster shop for the requisite forced shopping time. Everything was too rich for our tastes as always so we wandered around while other people spent their dollaroos and enjoyed the free hibiscus tea offered. We did not get back to the ship and lunch until around 2:30.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent cruising up the Nile towards the next day's activities. This was one of my favorite times, slowly sailing, passing and being passed by other river ships, enjoying the scenes on either shore. The ship held an afternoon tea on the upper deck every afternoon with small snacks and a wide selection of teas and some coffee. Between the two early mornings, packed days, late lunch, and tea, we were both pretty sleepy by 7pm so we gave in to it, and fell asleep without dinner at all, also missing a cocktail hour where they introduced the crew... whoops!

Just like that, we're already halfway through! Somehow at this point I felt like we'd be on vacation FOREVER with how many things we'd seen done already. That only lasted until we get back to Cairo in a couple days though, at which point I said it was much too short how could we be done already? So it goes...

 

[wdhinn89]

@AquaDame I am loving your review, thank you!!!