The Valley of the Kings and Queens was easily the highlight of our Egyptian holiday. The eager beavers as usual started off early morning on day 7 even before the sun had even come up, with Ayman and Walid pushing us to meet the new boat group at 5:45 am if you please! We've never been as disciplined even in our working days!

Instead of the usual clambering over other boats to get to the east bank of the Nile, this time, we got onto another boat which rowed us over to the West bank, where the Egyptian dead are buried. From the banks of the Nile, the Valley of the Kings is some distance away, so we were all herded like sheep into a bus. We overtook tourists on donkeys (yes, that's one way to reach there...), and passed by a lot of alabaster factories (the main cottage industry in Luxor) before we reached the valley. This was one of our only experiences of Egyptian countryside: this is because the west bank of the Nile seemed to be less developed than the East bank, and the monuments were far enough that we had to pass through beanfields, but close enough to the Nile that it wasn't desert.

This was easily the most beautiful sight we were to see, but at the same time, most tiring. That's because the tombs are slightly spaced out, the sun is blazing, and there is a lot of clambering up and down, and the heat can be really killing. Its interesting though, how entrepreneurship is demonstrated in the strangest of places. There were Egyptian men at the entrance to each tomb, renting pieces of cardboard that sold faster than hot cakes and were used as makeshift fans!

The valley itself was very barren, with not a tree or shrub anywhere, but this is explained by its distance from the Nile, a whole 3-4 kilometers. All that we could see were small dunes and hillocks covered with monotonous brown shale. Had it not been for the various entrances to the underground tombs shaped like bunkers, the valley would have looked very much like a set from a Star Wars movie, and nobody could have even guessed that so much treasure lay buried underneath!

© Vixabs Vacations Unlimited

May 01 2003