going south

Recently I took some days off to travel to Upper Egypt. One of my dreams since I've come here. Ahmed, Wa'el and me took the train from Cairo to Luxor - a journey along the Nile from the Delta to the southern desert. It took like 10 hours to get there. The land close to the nile was fertile, splendid green plantations, bananas, dates, figs, sugarcane... gorgeous. simply beautiful. You also get to know the local part of Egypt- the countryside. People still live there like they did for generations, farmers use donkeys to work on their fields - and their hands to gather the crops. They have to take care of the water-supplyment and you see a lot of men working on little canals or pumps that transport the nilewater to wherever it is needed. They have a hell of a lot to do and yet they are rather limitit in their possibilities. But it felt good to see some more green colour- there's almost no nature to enjoy in Cairo- exept for some parks and some gardens... But of course, you never lost sight of the desert that began some kilometers further and overwhelmed with its colours, its landscapes and its endlessness. It was a nice journey - I didn' mind at all that it was so long - even if me companions slept most of the time. I enjoyed myself ;)

When we arrived at our backpacker hotel we got a warmly welcome. They served us a chilled karkadeia(Hibiscus)-drink which I couldn't possibly resist. We all needed some rest after the journey and relaxed for the rest of the day on the rooftop where the hotel has its' restaurant.
We also started the next day up there- having a laaarge, delicious breaskfast. At like ninish we went to the valley of the kings, where I got in trouble by taking photos cauz it wasn't really allowed. It was fun, the tombs were impressive and the valley itself, too, of course. We contiued our trip bt heading to the temple of hatschepsut- the famous female pharao. Also known as queen Hatschickensoup. Wasn't my idea!
Afterwards we visitit the Habu Temple- one of my favorites in Luxor. There are certainly more famous ones, that's probably also why there weren't that many people. But like this you were almost alone there and you really got the flair of ancient Egypt and that was amazing!

The next day we rented some bikes to visit ther Luxor and the Kernak Temple. Both very big, very beautiful, but too many visitors in my opinion - as me too I'm one of them I couldn't really complain. We had the best guide ever at the Kernak Temple. He was a real archeologist- you could actually point at hyroglyphs and he knew what they ment. I learnt a lot- it was really interesting. In the afternoon we rented a felucca and sailed along the nile. By boat we visited the so called "Banana island", an island with fruit plantations. As I walked through the green fields, the bushes and the trees I felt so happy and complete and I realized that it's been a while since I've enjoyed nature. Almost 10 months. There has been whether city or desert. Nothing inbetween. Like always it's nice to discover pleasure in things that tend to be ordinairy.

It has been a great trip. A trip through history, through the country I live in, a trip through the lives of many people and a trip in company of two very nice guys - my boyfriend and best friend Ahmed and his friend Wa'el, a very talented singer that you should definitly listen to one day!!