The Return To Egypt 2019, The Journey Home, And Future Plans.

Last night was my last night in Luxor and as I had an early flight I moved across the Nile to stay at The Winter Palace as it is a bit nearer to the airport..... 

A little bit of a wander around the East Bank and dinner at The Lantern suggests to me that there are a number of ex pats living here, or at least spending the winter here. If you want to eat at The Lantern you need to book, unless there is only one of you!

The place always seems to be full.....

We are in ''downtown'' Luxor here and there are a variety of ''foreign food restaurants in this area, although why somebody should come to Egypt to eat Chinese/Thai/Indian food beats me.... But then the same can be said in Greece where the first thing people look for is MacDonalds or Pizza Hut.

There are a couple of quite good ''spice'' shops here though, and also Arkwright's Store which I guess caters very much for the English....

Luxor airport is deserted when I get there, not even the security gate is open yet!

As I am on the early flight to Cairo there are not many other passengers and after getting my bag X rayed there is time for a cup of coffee before heading through a rather tight security screening to get to the departure gate. I have already had a word with the check in staff about my transfer through Cairo airport because I do not have a lot of time, but it turns out it is a breeze as the transfer gate is not far from my arrival gate.

With time to spare and the flight back to Athens I have time to do a bit of thinking...

When I first came to Egypt in January 2017 I was well aware that my health was not all that it could be and indeed a few weeks later I was hospitalized for a week and diagnosed with emphysema and possibly lung cancer.

After tests it turned out that there was no cancer but fibrosis on one lung...

For many years I have spent winter on the Greek island of Crete because the weather is less cold, but no less wet, than the UK, but I have realised now that even the Cretan winter does not do me any good and that my breathing during the last three weeks while staying in Luxor has been considerably better.

It is the very low humidity of course, and it rarely rains in Luxor, there were a few spots one evening while I was there and so I have decided that maybe next winter I will come for an extended stay to enjoy the warm days but sometimes very chilly nights!

The blog is not finished yet, and perhaps you can look forward to a whole new blog on Living In Egypt!!

Until then......

The Return to Egypt 2019 - Further Felucca Fun, An Evening Cruise, And Flight Of Fancy.

In such a rush to get my shipwreck blog completed for all to enjoy I did not find out until later on the Sunday evening that I was not not the only one to have an interesting felucca tale to tell.....

There were two Australians staying in the same apartment block as me and we had had a couple of chats over breakfast although they were only here for less than a week, and returning from an evening cruise with Ahmed and then dinner that evening, they were standing outside waiting for Abdullah to come down and open the front door because ''we have lost our key..'' 

The key, it turns out was, was at the bottom of the Nile, along with the bag containing it..... 

Strangely while we were returning to the West Bank to park Ahmed's boat I did say to Ahmed that there as something odd going on further up stream as suddenly there were several motor boats all converging on a point in the middle of the Nile.

These, it turned out, were rescue ships heading out to rescue the Australians whose felucca had sunk in mid-Nile!

An unusual occurrence but due to the same reason that mine had nearly sunk, executing a tack in still quite strong winds they had shipped some water and listing ''rather more than a bit'' according to the Australians, the next tack had swamped the felucca and down she went!

The police take this sort of thing very seriously and arrested the captain and tested him for alcohol and drugs, and took full statements for the two Australians, the only passengers, who were completely unfazed by it all and refused to file a formal complaint.

As they said, ''It's a boat. Boats sink. It happens all the time when we are at home.''

You would have thought I had had enough of Nile cruises for one day but it was pre-arranged, and an evening cruise, at sunset, on the Nile is an almost magical  experience not to be missed. 


Tomorrow is my last day in Luxor before I fly out early on Tuesday and to finish the holiday off I have booked a completely new experience....

 I am not an early riser at the best of times, but this morning I have to be up at 5 am to be collected by a taxi as I am going on......

Yes, you guessed it a dawn ride in a hot air balloon ride. I have been in helicopters, I have been in light aircraft, I have been on a DC10, indeed I am so old I have been in a DC8, I have even been for a short flight in a Spitfire, but never a hot air balloon.

It is still dark, and I have to wait for a boat to come over from the East Bank bearing the rest of the people going on the balloon I am on. Indeed there are a lot of people milling about because there are a lot of balloons going up!! I was surprised how many...

The take off field is out on the road to King's Valley, there is no landing field because the balloons come down wherever they do.... Arriving there was all rather exciting as some balloons are already airborne, some air being inflated, and some are not inflated at all. And the first thing that happens is that my big camera is taken off me, but everyone has mobile phones these days, indeed all of the people on my ''flight'' come from the sort of countries where they make mobile phones....

Dawn is breaking but the sun is not yet over the horizon.....

Too many photos spoil the fun, so here are just a few.... And a video...

I am not sure of the environmental impact of all these hot air balloons burning all this gas, but this is the first time I have been born aloft by a very large bag of hot air.


I can't help thinking that a large bag of hot air accurately describes some people I know... 

Getting into the gondola requires a certain amount of agility as not all of the balloons have though of providing steps, however there is always somebody on hand to give you a leg up as it were.... 

Dawn breaking on the Temple Of Hotchickensoup 

 Sugar cane...

 What goes up...... Comes down wherever it feels like it......

Tim's Hot Tip of The Day..... Do not do what one Japanese girl had done which was to book a coach transfer from her hotel in Luxor East to the Red Sea leaving at 10.30 am..... Because they don't know exactly when or where the balloon will land there is no set timetable.

Luckily for her we have mobile phones these days and the balloon company were excellent and organised a taxi to take her from the West Bank to meet her coach after it had left Luxor town!

 Those power lines look a bit close....

 Landing in the middle of a cut cane field suddenly people appear to help you out of the gondola.


I must say the whole experience was quite thrilling, and well worth the money!

It took a while for our minibus to arrive to pick us up, time for a wander around on terra firma, and have a look at one of the many irrigation canals.









Don't ask me how the captain does this but her gets the balloon to turn a full circle providing panoramic views, luckily I am quite tall so I can see over everybody else... This is not actually the video I wanted to post but the file I wanted to use is too big it seems!!

The Return To Egypt 2019 - Marooned!! English Tourist Faces Near Death Experience!

The dramatic story of near disaster on The Nile as three men in a felucca faced a good soaking with great courage, whilst awaiting rescue from a near death experience with only half a bottle of water, 40 cigarettes and a Bluetooth speaker system attached to a mobile phone.

Rarely in the history of mankind has anyone shown such bravery in the face of insurmountable odds.

The drama began with a Sunday felucca trip from Ramla on the West Bank of the Nile to Banana island for Sunday lunch and the outward voyage was nothing but routine, but who was to know that the return trip was to turn into a nightmare.... The captions tell the story thus far...

Continuing the story the English tourist said, "I did think as we left the mooring that we were carrying a bit too much sail, and that the keel should have been lower, but as the only sailing experience I have had is on Piddinghoe Pond some 50 years ago, I did not like to criticise."

"As it became obvious that to continue and risk another swamping would undoubtedly sink us, the captain made the wise decision to head for the nearest land which was a small uninhabited island in the middle of the Nile."

"Distress signals were sent up, (the first mate got out his mobile phone), several times until somebody responded. By this time we had only half a bottle of fresh water left, and no facilities for making tea so as you can imagine I was getting just a tad tetchy, let alone the fact that I was obviously going to be late for my afternoon nap."

"Meanwhile other craft sailed past completely unaware of the difficulties nearby, especially as by now the captain and first mate had smoked nearly 40 cigarettes between them and were beginning to argue about who had smoked the most."

''Fortunately the first mate retrieved his Bluetooth speaker system from the water on the deck and finding it still worked was able to provide some calming music while we waited and the captain went ashore and finding an old 2 litre water bottle which he cut in half, he was able to start bailing out while we waited to be rescued."

After what seemed like eternity, but was actually about 30 minutes, help, in the shape of Mohammed, arrived."

The story continues in the photo captions......

 Departing from the garbage wharf at Ramla on the West Bank of the NIle, the felucca cruise to Banana Island for Sunday lunch should have been easy..

 The outward voyage began well with at good north westerly breeze making for good speed to the destination

And the lone passenger, a British tourist enjoyed the outward trip..

 Arriving at Banana Island there was time for the captain and crew, and the passenger to enjoy the view of the Sunday traffic on the river

Sunday is ''family day'' in Egypt, and the ''public'' restaurant is full of mothers and many, many children so Abdul has suggested that we go to the nearby hotel on the island as it will be quieter.....

 While getting to observe the local wildlife in 
the shape of a very pregnant cat which appeared the same time as lunch...

 On returning to the mooring the captain was in exuberant mood as we began the return voyage and here the lone passenger takes up the story..

Our captain who is very tall with flowing (to say the least) robes only needs a turban to look like a magician from the Arabian Nights!

"The return voyage began well and with the the wind against against us we completed the first couple of tacks with no problem, but then an unexpected gust of wind caught us and the starboard gunwhale briefly dipped below the water and we shipped a small amount of water, but we went on with no problem.....

"The waiting for rescue seemed to take for ever but we kept our spirits up with lively banter...."

"Passing traffic seemed unaware of the drama unfolding quite close to them..."

"Finally the rescue boat arrived with Mohammed on board. It appears that Mohammed is actually the man that built the felucca and if I am not mistaken he is giving the guys a bit of a dressing down for not sailing it properly....  Mohammed literally runs up the mast, bare footed as you can see, and furls the sail and in no time t all we are underweigh being towed by a motorboat. Underway back to Ramla, although I think many people were a bit confused as to why a felucca should need to be towed" 

The Return to Egypt 2019, Luxor Temple, Some Serious Bargaining in the Souk., and I Learn A New Word!

If you were paying attention back in 2017 you will know that I gave Luxor Temple a miss as I wanted to go to the museum and it wasn't on the 7 night cruise itinerary... This time I am going there.

Luxor Temple has an interesting history, several Pharoahs added bits here and there, and excavations starting in the 19th century continued well into the second half of the 20th century, quite a lot of it was buried in rubble from more recent constructions around it, and indeed the Abu Haggag mosque still occupies part of the site, the mosque was originally a Christian church in Roman times, so, according to your guide Luxor temple is just about the oldest place on earth that has been used continuously for the last 3000+ years.

They will also tell you that originally there were two obelisks at the entrance, but the right hand one is now in Paris....

While it might not be the ''ultimate'' temple, I think Luxor is an essential visit even if you don't go anywhere else! 

 Not so many pictures as I don't want to spoil the fun for any body else visiting, but this this is the Abu Haggag mosque, and the main entrance with the missing obelisk....

There are several statues of Ramesses II, he seemed to think quite a lot of himself,

 When you get around the back there is a nice collection of ''spare parts'' from various other places which are quite interesting in their own way as you can see the changes in architecture over time.

 The ''Sphinx Way'' connects Luxor to Karnak, and although the entrance to the Souk is almost opposite Luxor Temple I decide to take a walk towards Karnak and then double back down the other side of the Sphinx Way....

There is a bit of a ''discussion'' going on at the moment because there is a Christian Church built on top of one side of the way and they seem a bit dis-inclined to move it. I am sure it will get sorted out in the end....

Getting back towards the Souk I spot two foreign ladies that I have seen several times on the West Bank, they have seemingly just got off the public ferry, and they have shopping baskets on wheels with them... They actually stop and say hello to me and I ask if they are on holidays. One of them is Dutch and has lived here for some years, the other is English and comes here for four months during the winter, which kind of settles the question about foreigners living here!

Nearing the Souk I get hassled once again be the horse and carriage men who really are getting over the top, a passerby, seeing my dilemma as I have four of them talking to me at once comes to the rescue and shouts at them and they disperse... He asks me if I want a guide as he is an ''official guide'' and flashes a very formal looking plastic ''pass'' at me, except that I have seen one before, so I politely decline, and let him know that I happen to know that he is no such thing as that card is his National ID card. (Egyptian ID cards, by the way, show the holder's religion. How wrong is that in this day and age??).

Entering the Souk by a side entrance, I find this gentleman ready to show me his wares.... 

 His name is Mohammed, which comes as no great surprise. Mohammed fancies his chance as the debonair man about town and has taken a fancy to my ''Howard Carter'' hat.( Actually it's  a real Panama from Bolivia, but that is a whole different blog). To be honest when he put it on and had a quick strut up and down outside his shop he looked like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Hercule Poirot, bless him.

Mohammed has a lot of things in his shop, some of them very nice, and a lot of them very dusty, but I go ooh and aah in the right place so he is happy. I have worked in a tourist shop in Greece during the summer season and I could tell him that he would be far better off getting rid of three quarters of the stuff and having a few ''nice'' pieces on display, but Egyptian merchandising skills being what they are it would fall on deaf ears.

 You can pick up some really nice ''ethnic'' materials by the metre if you are into that sort of thing... But I am after a few things for myself and others. I spot some really nice cotton ''scarves'' with tasselled fringes which can be used as a scarf or even a keffiyah I suppose. The man wants EG£250 each for them and we finally settle on EG£250 for three of them. 


Moving on to one of the ''spice shops'', I get my ''Egyptian'' tea, and somebody has asked me to get them some ''moghat'', I have to show them a screenshot of the entry on Wikipedia before the understand what I want, but it is expensive, (I had a feeling it might be.....), eventually we settle on EG£160 for 300 grams of the stuff, but only because I spent EG£100 on saffron you understand.


I also find a shop that has some very nice little wooden boxes, made from olive wood and very similar to the ones that you can buy in Greece, except these are only about GB£2.50 whereas the ones in Greece are about 20 quid.... I take two of them.

Leaving the Souk there is a smell that I can only say is a bit like somebody burning dry leaves mixed with damp grass cuttings on an autumn day, if you get my drift.... This appears to emanate from a gentleman sitting on a doorstep behind a stall selling some of the tackiest jewellery I have ever seen, and which I happen to know comes from The Phillipines. He insists that I come and sit with him, and he even gets his mobile out and orders me coffee from the shop across the road.... He is as high as a kite to be blunt.... But it was an excellent ploy because I end up buying three necklaces of the brazen hussy type which require an expansive decollete for best effect...... 

Stopping for a coffee I find myself the other side of a fence from a man selling strawberries...... After sampling several I buy half a kilo, I think he was hoping that I would buy the entire stock, and then who shows up but the ''official guide'' who rescued me from the carriage drivers.... Even he cannot really explain quite why Lady Diana should be associated with WiFi but he does give me a useful word to use in place of ''la shukran'' to get rid of carriage drivers,  which doesn't really cut the mustard most of the time but works with waiters when they offer you something you don't want.

And the word is ''KHALAS''... The KH is pronounced a bit like the Greek letter H, like a 'ch' at the back of the mouth.... It means ''Enough!'' in a rather abrupt way, but having tried it afterwards a couple of times it does work, although possibly it is because the hearer is more taken-a-back by an Englishman knowing such a word!

I found out later that you can also say ''Shu!!'' which basically means ''What?'', like you would say to somebody hovering around trying to talk to you when you are trying to deal with other things, and my favourite, ''Astaghfarullah'', which is what you can say repeatedly to ask forgiveness from Allah.... I suppose it is a bit like saying ''For Chrissake'' or ''Lord help me'' with your head in your hand...

The Return to Egypt 2019, And I Learn a Bit About Agriculture and Egyptian Male Names

You might have gathered in the past that I do a bit of gardening myself, indeed where I spend my winters on Crete (when I am not somewhere warmer!), my garden is some 820 sq metres, less the footprint of the house, or just shy of a quarter of an acre for those that don't do metric. While much of it is ornamental and partly paved I always try and grow food crops, so wherever I go what they grow and how they grow it is always of interest. 

I think I noted in the past that there are fields full of grass, which is used for animal feed, but what I didn't say was that farming as such seems to be very small scale. So wandering south from my hotel I come across one such small holding. Passing along the way a new mosque under construction.

A bit further on I find Sayed (I am guessing at the spelling), who has some horses, a donkey or to, and a very fine Friesian cow, indeed I reckon in a competeition it would be a prize winning cow. and also a couple of vegetable plots. He grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and so on, and also some prize winning cauliflowers! 

But I am puzzled because obviously in this climate irrigation is essential but apart from a couple of large pipes I cannot see anything else.

 I ask Sayed about this and it seems that old habits die hard. So used are they to the Nile flooding annually that they still used flood irrigation, hence the reason why everything is grown in a sunken bed. 

And Sayed tells me that he only irrigates about once a week, which means going down to the side of the Nile and starting up one of the big pumps that you see at intervals to pull the water up from the Nile to his fields.

I personally am inclined to think that this is a bit on the wasteful side and that individual drip watering for each row of plants might be a better usage of water, but then so confident are they that the Nile ''will always be there'', that it doesn't seem to worry them! 




 There is however a trade off for having a constant year round water supply without the annual flood, and that is that the annual floods used to replenish the fertility of the soil with alluvial deposits and this no longer happens so there is now reliance on artificial fertilisers.

You win some, you lose some..... Although with all those horses the opportunity for a bit of organic gardening does seem a bit wasted. But even that has its problems as in a climate like this it is very difficult to get the horse manure to rot down!!

Returning back to the ''centre'' I find a number of interesting doorways and a couple of unfinished hotels...

On the way to the big open cafe near the ferry 

I have to pass the boatman, most of whom I now know by name, nearly all of them have ''traditional'' names so there are various Ahmeds, Muhammeds, Abduls, Abdullahs, Patrick, and Clive..... Don't ask it is too complicated.

In the cafe a fine example of flood irrigation in progress along with a very large cock....

 To the left is Mahmud, and I have already mentioned a Mahmud, but this is a different Mahmud. This Mahmud has been trying, unsuccessfuly,  to get me to go on his felucca. Personally I think Mahmud is too young to even be out of the house on his own, let alone take people out on the river...

But I am going to meet
Ahmed who drives the boat that is called Ahmed, that belongs to his uncle who is called Ahmed...... You see how difficult this can be when everyone has the same name?? It is a bit like standing in the village square in a village on Crete and shouting out Giorgio or Manoli... At least 10 people will shout out ''Yes''....

Ahmed is trying to get me to go on an evening cruise, and I am trying to get the price down which probably means feeding him but it will be cheaper than the extortionate amount he is asking at the moment....  

And also, Abdul, is also trying to get me to go for a Sunday cruise to Banana Island, the Abdul that used to have a felucca but sold it, not Abdul the taxi driver, or the Abdul that took me to look at a holiday apartment belonging to Mahmud....... And then there are Abdullahs as well. 

This is an Abdullah.... Abdullah works in the hotel where I am staying, indeed he lives in. If you can call sleeping on a bed in the front garden under a pile of blankets ''living in''... I am not sure what his actual title is but it does involve hosing down the paving in the front garden. Abdullah claims that he did not see me sitting outside my room reading a book when he ''accidentally'' put the hose on me. For some reason I do not believe Abdullah. But how could you possibly get cross with Abdullah?

He has a baby daughter who has his eyes, and at the age of 6 months has eyelashes that most woman would die for!

Finally the deal with Ahmed is done, and it means that tomorrow I get a ''free'' ride across to the East Bank as he has a party to take over, and later he will bring me back, (which has saved me all of 50 English Pence on the public ferry), because I am going to Luxor Temple, and also the market for a bit of serious shopping......

The Return to Egypt 2019, and The Return To The Valley Of The Kings... And Food..

If you were paying attention (I will be asking questions later), you will remember that I did comment that the guided visit to the Valley was a bit rushed and very crowded so going it alone will, I think, be better.

I have arranged with Abdul the taxi driver to take me there and come back and pick me up with as I thought, leaving me plenty of time while to be there, but I got that wrong as well!

Arriving in the car park I run the gauntlet of the souvenir sellers before getting to the ''reception centre'' which has a very nice 3D model of the Valley, but obviously being without a guide I am fair game for every ticket tout and ''official guide'' in the place.... 

Tim's Top Tip of The Day... If you ''un-guided'' when you arrive at the reception centre to the left of the 3D model behind a screen is a board telling you which tombs are open today... The man that approaches you and takes you around the screen is going to expect to be tipped.....

Having said that I am all for free enterprise but I think US$20 was a bit much... He got LE£5 and that was it.... And then you have to go further and buy your entry ticket which gets you into the 3 tombs that are open that day, and if you are like me and want to avoid the crowds, you can pay the extra to go into certain other tombs. Indeed I want to go and see King Tut's tomb....

And then there is the extra bit that you have to pay to get on to the ''happy train'' to get up to the main site. You can walk, but why walk...... Well actually it is seemingly quite difficult to get on one of the trains because the guides are shoving all their punters on first. So I try my best to look foreign and pretend I am part of a party to get on the train...

There are no photos here because I have had to leave my camera behind at the gate....

The Valley is a very barren, hot, dry area..... If you are going to be walking about to the further tombs then go early!!

I have paid extra, about GB£6 to see the tombs of Rameses VI and Tutankhamun as well as whatever else is open..... Well worth the extra to avoid the crowded, (but not so crowded as my last visit), tombs closer to the gate. 

Indeed the curator/security man at the tomb of Rameses VI, having nothing else to do, came with me and pointed out many of the main features!

And then I got to Tutankhamun's tomb.... I never got to see it because somehow I felt that it would be disturbing him, you see he is still in there..... And everyone has a right to peace in their last resting place.

Returning to the car park an hour late (!), I cannot see Abdul the taxi driver, but I am accosted by another taxi driver, and my Abdul is not answering his phone... Am I being duped? But no I am not, Abdul has had to take his son to the doctor so could not wait for me so he has arranged for somebody else to come and look for the Englishman with the grey beard wearing a ''Howard Carter hat'' to meet me.

I am fully expecting to have to pay again for the return trip to my hotel, but no, my new driver works with Abdul and has already been paid, ''But I was waiting nearly an hour for you'', which is at least worth a tip even by my frugal standards.

And now it is evening and time to eat.... 


Having been here for a few days I have found a few places to eat.... Unlike the East Bank, the West Bank is a bit more ''basic'', don't expect carpet or even ceramic tiles on the floor, hard packed earth seems to be more normal.

But either way the food is good. The cookery I can only describe as ''Eastern Mediterranean/North African'' but with a greater emphasis on meat than I was expecting, and many of the meat dishes are ''spicy''. Indeed when you order they usually ask you how spicy you would like it.

 What I would like to know is, who has the time to cut up a plate of salad in such small pieces??

Decorations in most places are ''ethnic'' to say the least, and the service is not always top notch, but who cares when you can sit and look at a view of the Nile by night.


 And you can get a good feed for less than GB£4!!

Having been here for a few nights now I suddenly realise that many of the foreigners that are around are not just visitors, they are indeed medium to long term residents.

I noticed on my previous visit that there seemed to be some Brits around who might well be regular visitors, but here on the West Bank there are more than I expected.

Which explains at least one menu...







Sorry about the photos, they are from my phone again.

There are also many street food places with an amazing array of things to eat, and chips of course, but then they do grow very good potatoes in Egypt!

And don't be surprised if you have a cat for company while you are eating.













I am getting quite good at arranging the photos on Blogger now......












Meanwhile at my hotel I am getting the all important breakfast sorted out. The first morning I ended up with everything on the menu, and a couple of things that weren't, but we have now managed to cut it down to an omelette, an orange, and some pitta bread.


 There is no plan for the next couple of days apart from having a wander around and poking my nose into corners where it should probably not be, and I might go and find the Abdul that I met a few days ago, or perhaps I will go and chat to that Ahmed who sails a boat called ''Ahmed'' that belongs to his uncle who is called.... Ahmed.

.........