Valley of the Kings – part II

In a state of tarn from sensory overload, we left the Valley of the Kings to find Ahmed and go to Deir al-Bahari (Temple of Hatshepsut). Our original plan had been to do the walk over the ridge from one to the other. The boys decided against that when they saw what the walk entailed – we were all glad for their decision. The Toyota was comfortable and quick and we had a chance to chat with Mr Saleh on the way.

The parking lot at Deir al-Bahari was a ZOO. Tour busses, taxis, touts hawking every faux-pharaonic tchtchki one could imagine. Ahmed got our tickets, and dropped us all, including Mr Saleh to head for the entrance. One has to “walk the gauntlet” of touts to get to the entrance, but we seemed to be surrounded by a tout shield by being with Mr Saleh. Everyone left us alone, and we walked unmolested to a building with a shady porch where we got a really good history of the site, Hatshepsut, and the things to see. As we walked to the mini-train, our heads were full, the sun was bright and hot, and an amazing creation lay before us.

We took our time at Deir al-Bahari. It was hot. It was HUGE. The starkness and grandure of the surroundings and the beauty of the temple were incredible. Some parts had been “restored” others were “in progress” and others were in various states of dis-repair, but the temple was awe inspiring, in the purest sense of the expression.

After a hot and dusty exploration, it was “treat time”. We enjoyed the “best icecream EVER” and meandered back to find Mr Saleh, enjoying the shade during the hottest part of the day.

We had, initially, planned on continuing to Medinat Habu, near the Valley of the Queens, but by the time we’d rejoined Mr Saleh, it was pushing 2pm, we were hot, tired and HUNGRY. We decided to put off Medinat Habu until “bokra“, stop at the Collosi of Memnon and go get some lunch. It was a good decision all around.

At the Collosi of Memnon (all that is left of the funery temple of Amenophis III – the LARGEST of the Theban temples!) we met a tour-guide woman who was beside herself that we had Mr Saleh as our PERSONAL tour guide. Apparently, according to this woman, he is the “father of all the Valley tour guides”. She was so happy to see him, and in awe of his expertise that she was nearly in tears as she told us how lucky we were! WOW – we knew that Mr Saleh was awesome, but this was testament to his true grandure!

We lunched with Mr Saleh at a restaurant of his suggestion. Sated, tired and trying to process the sights we’d seen, we got back on the ferry to the East Side. The day was an expectation-exceeding experience.

And a (?culturally?) interesting sidenote is that Mr Saleh did not discuss price. He told Jack (obviously the Baba) to decide what was “fair”. We’ve since had similar experiences, always with EXCELLENT guides/drivers etc. The thing is that it is HARD to know what is fair!! I think that in all these occasions, we probably OVERPAID, but we all felt that the person was so outstanding that the monetary sum was deserved. It is an odd way to do business (at least for us), yet I think (hope) it turns out well on both sides most of the time.