Bedstemor's 85th Birthday ( 13
- 20 Nov 2004 ) |
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Ancient Egyptian stories and legends have
long made their mark through movies such as "Cleopatra", "The
Mummy" and wowed us women with Omar Sharif's performance in "Lawrence
of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago" and more recently in
cartoons such as "The Prince of Egypt". There is a certain
mystic about middle east portrayed to us from a very young age when
we hear bedtime tales like "Ali Baba the 40 Thieves"
or "Sinbad the Sailor" - most of us have a dream of seeing
the pyramids.
I was very lucky to have the opportunity
20 years ago to come to Egypt with my parents and at 10 years old, there's
only so much a child can remember. But this year, the Pallesen Family
once again get together for the Matriach's 85th birthday. It is tradition
for the family to come together and travel to an exotic country - in
the past Tunisia, Morocco, Gambia and for Grandmother's last wish, to
see the pyramids of Egypt, that her husband saw 45 years earlier.
The Matriach's three children, six grandchildren
(Nikolai could not make it), four greatgrandchildren and respective
spouses all came together for a week in magical Egypt. It is autumn
with warm days and cool nights - a contrast to the approaching winter
in Denmark.
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Saturday 13 November 2004
Departure for Egypt
Our family had to leave Falster at 2:30am
to catch a 6:30 flight, 4½hr later we arrived at Cairo Airport.
I have dim memories of a very warm airport in complete chaos, with people
pushing to get their luggage through, shouting over a mad din. Instead
we found a rather clean and uncrowded airport. We were met by the AB
Travel Agency representative, taken to a Hotel Pyramisa, left in a closed
piano bar
and promptly forgotten until one of us had the bright idea to ask for
our keys.
Our family shared a two-bedroom hotel room
with a large living area. Our first afternoon was spent walking around
the streets of Cairo trying to find a place for the family to have dinner.
Our hotel was located across the river from downtown
Cairo, so there was not a lot to see, combined with the fact that
many shops were closed during the day over Ramadan, the Islamic period
of fasting from dawn to dusk. Sunday heralded the last day of Ramadan,
so many were preparing for the final feast.
In the end, the whole family had dinner
in the hotel's "Oriental" restaurant of Egyptian style. We
figured we would get some decent Egyptian food but were disappointed
to find most of our food luke-warm. The rice was very dry, little meat
on the lamb and rather bland food. To our surprise, after our comment
about this, we were presented with a complimentary platter of fruits
native to Egypt such as fresh dates and guava. To our amusement, no
matter what kind of Egyptian wine we ordered, they all tasted the same.
There was plenty of Egyptian beer and of course the danes lived up to
their drinking prowess and Bedstemor ("grandmother") treated
us all dinner.
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Sunday 14. november 2004
On the first night we didn't sleep very
well - sleeping in a different bed combined with quranic prayers coming
from a nearby mosque didn't exactly leave us with a peaceful sleep.
However we were all up early to get together in Bedstemor's room for
a "surprise" get-together - to sing the danish birthday song
amongst a flutter of red white flags, and present her with a small
gift. This family "surprises" the birthdayee and all sing
in unison this rather cute birthday song.
The Citadel Muhammad Ali Mosque
 Our
first destination was the Citadel. It is the
city's fortress that once housed the royal family and although most
of the complex is open to visitors, the military still have a foothold
and some areas are out of bounds. It takes a half day to explore all
areas of the Citadel but we didn't have the opportunity to do so, and
instead spent most of our time in the Muhammad
Ali Mosque.
<== There is a magnificent view of the
city from the Western Terraces - magnificent had most of Cairo not been
filled with the same shade of mud-bricked buildings. What
was most notable about Cairo was its lack of colour or rather its ability
to blend into the desert.
 Our
guide Adam/Mohammed provided little insight to the function or history
of the Citadel, and instead sat the group in one corner of the Muhammad
Ali Mosque like a bunch of school children, and gave a lecture on Islamic
laws and behaviour.
When René ventured to ask more about
the Citadel, he was scolded for interrupting and told to listen. We
never got the opportunity to find the number 7 Napoleon's troops had
painted above one doorway to avoid using the unfamiliar Arabic names
or the twin half-round towers because our guide simply didn't know where
they were.
During this time, I had the opportunity
to wander off and walk the beautiful alabaster-lined arcades of the
mosque. the soaring central prayer hall was a glimmer of hundreds of
lights hanging in concentric circles. Arabic inscriptions in gold were
painted on the ceiling. Women had to be suitably attired and could not
wear sleeveless tops or short skirts or shorts. In one corner lay the
sarcophagus of Muhammad Ali - the builder of the mosque and an albanian
mercenary who was the founder of the dynasty that ruled till the revolution
in 1952.
Cairo Egyptian Museum
I
have memories of wandering around this museum, peering into smudged
glass cases, staring into the shrivelled faces of some once well-known
pharaoh like Ramses II and wondering if the ancient Egyptians were giants
in their large coffins.
20
years later, it was almost impossible to push through the crowds of
tourists - only useful because their guides provided more information
than ours. With only two hours, there was no way that we could view
the whole museum or see the royal mummies.
The museum
was celebrating its centenary and there was a special exhibition dedicated
to TutAnkhAmun - the most famous archaeological find. With travel guide
in hand, we oohed and ahhed over the gold treasures found in his tomb
- a gold throne featuring the famous scene of TutAnkhAmun's queen anointing
him, chests made out of ebony ivory, cheetah-skinned hunting shields,
bows, arrows, alabaster canopic jars holding King Tut's mummified organs,
gold sarcophagus - if Howard Carter had found such treasures for a little
known boy-king, imagine what the tomb of a pharaoh like Ramses II would
have been like? King Tut's inner coffin of solid gold and the famous
mask of gold that everyone wants to see and is portrayed in many egyptian
images.
The museum
has become another money-making expedition for the Egyptians with an
exhorbitant price to view the royal mummies. We had to content ourselves
with the animal mummies - cats, dogs, birds, goats, Nile perch (yes,
fish as well!) and most amazing was a 7-metre crocodile mummy.
The exhibitions
were arranged by themes on the upper floor and chronological on the
lower floor, going clockwise from the Old Kingdom, to the Middle and
finally to the New and later kingdoms. There were rooms full of giant
sarcophagi that would've weighed a tonne each, a room full of miniatures
showing the egyptians' daily lives, a room full of ancient papyrus long
faded and rooms full of bits and pieces from ruins, statues, palace
floors - a place where one needs a days to spend with a decent travel
guide.
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Khan Al-Khalili
 After
a stop at an egyptian perfumery and some lunch,
we headed to Khan Al-Khalili - the oldest
bazaar in Egypt that has lasted since the 1300s. Ancient buyers visited
the khan for goods brought in on merchant caravans. No longer do we
find slaves, silk, jewels or diamonds, but wooden guitars, brightly
patched pouffe covers, clothes, t-shirts, crappy papyrus paintings,
bongs/water pipes, bright bolts of cloth, the aroma of spices is very
much present and stalls are heaped with bright red, gold and blue powders
and sacks of seeds pods. Coppersmiths hammer out platters, tureens,
coffeepots and enormous crescent-shaped tops for minarets. It is a ritual
of the bazaar to expect to bargain - locals or foreign visitors - usually
a 10th of the offer price - if you have paid a third, you have paid
too much. We had only an hour to spare but many of the shops were closed
for a siesta after lunch. Ulla I pointed to bags of multicoloured
spices. He wanted £50 (AUD$10, 50DK.Kr) and after I said "da
ketir awi" (it costs too much) and walked away, the shopkeeper
doggedly followed us for a kilometre reducing the price from £40
to £30, £25, £20 and after we shouted £10 in
jest, he offered £15, £10 and finally £5 before finally
giving up on us. After much haggling, we managed to bargain for two
ornate glass perfume bottles for £20 (AUD$2.50; 20DK.Kr)
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Bedstemor's Birthday Feast
 Irene
Ole had organised a private room for Bedstemor's
birthday party. A single long table in a room of egyptian style.
Small silver pots lined in two rows in the middle of the table kept
the food warm.
We feasted on cumin-flavoured fried fish,
chicken fillets egyptian-style, cinammon-flavoured ravioli, rice, mashed
potatoes and beef steaks in pepper sauce, sang and toasted with bottles
of egyptian wine and beer to Bedstemor.
Whilst the children played in one corner,
there was much chatter througout the table and the evening finished
off with chocolate and fruit cakes topped with "Happy Pirthday"
(note, it's not an error) and we laughed in amusement in a plethora
of egyptian sweets - baklawa, semolina tarts, rose-water flavoured tarts,
and tarts that tasted like liquid honey... Ulla almost wanted to take
the rest of the desserts with her (except for the rose-water flavoured
ones - it was funny to watch her expression - rosewater almost smells
like cosmetics). The waiters were extremely attentive, coming by every
two minutes to serve us.
Best of all, Bedstemor turned 2 years old,
as she blew out each candle on the cakes. As the danes would say, "det
var meget hyggeligt!" (it was cozy)
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Monday 15. november 2004 (7:30am start)
From the brown buildings and streets of
Cairo, we travelled 24km southeast of the city to Saqqara, changing
from a uniform brown to lush green fields of large cabbages and hundreds
of date palms. It was like an oasis, a gentle mist gave a surreal sense
of the fertile plains of ancient Egypt. Women in full-length black abeeyas
squatted in the fields, the odd man walking around - such a contrast
to the intense crowds of central Cairo.
Saqqara's Step Pyramid
Founded as a necropolis (burial city) for
the Old Kingdom and is one of the richest archaeological sites in Egypt.
The Step Pyramid
is less that ½ the height of the largest pyramids at Giza, but
this monument served as a predecessor of the smooth pyramids. Previously
tombs were made of mud brick, rectangular slablike structure covering
a burial pit. But the architect Imhotep had the bright idea to construct
in stone and  build
the slablike structure 5 times one on top of the other, creating the
first pyramid.
We entered through the Great South Court
- the size of a soccer field, down a corridor of 40 pillars inspired
by bundles of tied reeds. Whilst Adam was making another one of his
speeches, I was tempted by a turbaned egyptian in a dress who took me
to the top where I managed to get one shot of the magnificent pillars
up top, before being scolded by Adam and being asked for baksheesh (tip).
I was gratefully rescued by a couple of Italians when the egyptian would
not let me go without a baksheesh. However, once I surfaced from the
building, I was blinded by white sands and the immense pyramid sitting
solitary amongst a few ruined stones, with a much smaller triangular
heap of stones in the background. Although the morning had been cool,
the sun soon warmed us up as we wandered round to the north.
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Memphis
 Once
the capital of ancient Egypt, it remains unexcavated
due to villages built on top of it and a high water table as a result
of the Aswan Dam. There is a small garden with small finds - bits and
pieces but the most exciting thing to see is a colossus of Ramses II
lying on his back as the lower legs are missing. The colossus would've
been 5 stories high had it been standing. Nearby lies the largest alabaster
statue ever found - 80 tons of sphinx - imagine what treasures that
could've been found if Memphis could've been excavated, especially as
this ancient city lay halfway between Upper and Lower Egypt.
Our final stop before lunch was a papyrus
museum - another place of commission for Adam. Bedstemor purchased a
papyrus of egyptian alphabets. Some of the paintings cost a massive
£3,500 (AUD$900, 3,500DK.Kr). For lunch, we had a splendid egyptian
meal in the middle of nowhere that served excellent mezza (egyptian
tapas) of baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant dip), tzatziki (cucumber dip),
hummus (chickpea dip), fuul (beans) served with freshly made pita bread,
warm vine-leaf rolls, lamb kofta and freshly roasted chicken in thyme.
It was feast fit for a king and the most egyptian meal we had on the
whole trip.
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 Pyramids
of Giza
From air the desert pyramids were
right on the edge of the city, 16km from Cairo.
I remember vaguely, as a child, hunched
over, walking up a surprisingly warm shaft lit by a single light bulbs
and emerging into a very chilly dark room that held a single stone sarcophagus,
the room empty except for occasional square holes in the wall where
food was left for the afterlife.
I had entered the Queen's chamber in the
largest pyramid and 20 years later, only the first 300 can enter these
pyramids - for an exhorbitant fee. |
The largest of the three, Cheops' pyramid was
the largest, standing at 146metres at one point, took 920 metres to
walk around it and contained 2.3 million blocks! Each block was at least
one metre high, so you can imagine how massive these pyramids were.
The 2nd largest, Khefren's (Cheop's son) pyramid
still had some of the smooth shiny limestone casing that once used to
cover all these pyramids.==>
The massive solar boat that once carried
the pharaoh's body from Memphis to Giza and the
three smaller Queens' pyramids stood at one corner of the massive Cheop
pyramid. We didn't have the opportunity this time to enter the tombs,
but I feel priveleged that I did and that I still have some memories
of the event.
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The Sphinx
 The
pyramids loomed in the background as it sat silently on the hot sand
under the glaring sunlight for 4,000 years. Napoleon's troops once used
it for target practice, so its nose and pharaohs beard and long fallen
off and lies in a British museum. The Greeks called it "the
Sphinx" as it was based on a mystical creature with the head
of a man and body of a lion, which would stop any traveller along the
way with a riddle - if the riddle wasn't answered, it became the sphinx's
dinner. Throngs of crowds surrounded the sphinx and we could only enter
in single file. Over time, it seemed that tourists could view it from
further and further away. 45 years ago, Bedstefar's (grandfather) could
touch the Sphinx and even climb to the top of the pyramid; 20 years
ago, it was simply surrounded by a small wire fence but I could stand
close up to it; now it lay in a very large pit where visitors could
only view it up close if they zoomed in on their cameras. 4 millenia
later, it still manages to awe all of us.
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Tuesday 16. november 2004 (2:30am start)
Yes, you did read that right - we were
all waiting in the lobby at 2:30AM. Last night, Bedstemor's grandchildren
treated the family to a Spanish-Egyptian Italian
dinner, which was followed by a  cacophany
of tambourines, oboes and drums played for an Egyptian engagement couple
in the lobby.
This morning we were flying to Aswan, to
board a 3-day cruise up the Nile, sailing up to Luxor. When we arrived,
we were taken for a short felucca ride along
the Nile with a fantastic view of the Tomb of Nobles.
When we returned we were given our rooms onboard a four-storey cruise
ship that had an indoor games room, a pool and sundeck at the top.
Even from our rooms right at the bottom, we had a magnificent view of
a small white mosque-like structure on top of huge sandy mountains dotted
with small caves.
In the evening we had the opportunity to
visit a small souq (local bazaar) selling t-shirts, papyrus paintings,
mounds of saffron and dry scented lotus flowers, brown, red, yellow
indigo mounds of fragrant spices - all of which some of us bargained
for - the most expensive £25 papyrus painting (AUD$5, 25DK.Kr)
to cheapest £15 embroidered t-shirts with hieroglyphics (AUD$3,
15DK.Kr). To top the evening off, we took a £5 horse carriage
ride back to the ship. |
 
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Wednesday 17. november 2004 (7:30am
start)
It seemed some of the family had succumbed
to a tummy bug. The rest of us steered clear of unwashed fruit, fresh
salads, raw vegetables and drinks made with local water. However, this
didn't stop us from going out to see a few sights.
The Unfinished Obelisk
Had this obelisk
been completed, it would've been the largest and heaviest ever made
standing at 142 metres. It sat in a granite quarry, perfectly complete
on three sides but abandoned when a flaw was found in the stone. It
is almost impossible to imagine how the ancient egyptians could've moved
even a single rock made from this quarry as it stood a great many miles
from any of the monuments ever made. Unfortunately for Egypt, most of
its obelisks have been spirited to other countries - to Italy, Britain,
France and even Argentina by foreign archaeologists in the last centuries.
Most of us didn't have the chance to view the complete obelisk before
Adam rang a bell that he carried (to annoy us I suppose) |
 
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High Dam
 For
centuries the Nile controlled the Egyptians' lives - either flooding
or insufficient water levels were disastrous for the people who relied
on this huge water source for their livelihood. When the Aswan
Dam was built, some of the villages in the south lost their water
supply.
30 years ago, a new High Dam was built
which resulted in the man-made Lake Nasser to the south being created
==>
This meant many people had to be moved
as villages were buried, as well as some of the ancient egyptian monuments
such as the Temple of Philae. |
 At
its highest point, the High Dam stands at 111m high, 3.8km long and
980m wide at the base.
Three times the number of stones used for
Cheops' Pyramid was used.
Videoing isn't allowed as it is a high-security
military area - should there be an attack on this Dam, then much of
Egypt would be submerged under water and would be a disaster for the
country.
Given only 10min, Adam "rang"
us back to the bus. |
Temple of Philae
 After
Aswan Dam, the Temple of Philae was submerged
for six months a year and tourists had to view it through the murky
waters of Lake Philae. When the High Dam was built, it threatened to
submerge the Temple permanently, so was moved stone by stone to a new
island similarly landscaped. Philae is special in that it's only accessible
by boat and the sunset forms a spectactular backdrop. A temple dedicated
to Isis (goddess of women, sex purity), it was one of the last
outposes for paganism and due to the popularity of Isis, was also used
by the early Christians. The Temple walls and many pillars were filled
from top to bottom with hieroglyphs and images of Isis - many defaced
by the early Christians who considered ancient Egypt's gods to be "pagan".
I had a fantastic afternoon walking in and out of all the nook and crannies
- visiting the Birth House, Nilometer, the "Pharaoh's Bedstead"
and much to the amusement of the family, I was the last to emerge.
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 Kom
Ombo
The ship set sail from Aswan at 3:45pm
after an afternoon spent sunbaking and drinking beer (typically danish
to make the most of sunshine and beer). We were sailing 48km north of
Aswan to Kom Ombo - the site of an ancient
city devoted to the worship of a crocodile god, Sobek. The ancient city
is long gone and crocodiles existing on nearby sandbanks have been hunted
to extinction.
At sunset, we visited the Temple of Kom
Ombo, dedicated to both Sobek the Crocodile god and Horus, the falcon-headed
sky god Isis' son. Although we didn't have the opportunity to
explore this  temple,
it was both spectacular and eerie at sunset, with large light illuminating
it. There existed a pit filled with water, with a platform halfway down,
where crocodiles were lured in from the Nile with human flesh, and the
largest crocodile was caught and mummified as a tribute to Sobek. At
the Chapel of Hathor (Horus' wife), an American shouted "Geez,
I thought I was supposed to see crocodile statues!" *laugh* It
contained two of the mummified crocodiles found at the Temple.
We returned to a small cocktail party before
dinner, provided by the ship to introduce all the staff responsible
for making our trip enjoyable.
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Thursday 18. november 2004 (7am start)
We sailed overnight past Kom Ombo to Edfu,
a small regional center for the sugarcane trade, visited the Temple
of Horus and sailed on to the Lock-crossing at Esna.
Temple of Horus
 This
is the most complete of its kind, a Greco-Roman
temple that conforms exactly to ancient egyptian principles of architecture
ie visit Edfu to see what almost every other temple in Egypt would've
looked like in its original form. We were awed by the massive walls
of the pylons at the entrance, distince reliefs showing mirror images
of Horus and the pharaoh grasping the hair of his enemies. It was built
by Cleopatra's father around 50yr BC. Standing in the forecourt of this
well-preserved temple we can see mud-brick houses lined up at the top
of the compound walls because this temple was once buried right up to
the ceiling with a village built on top of it. Many of the temple relifes
capture the cataclysmic battle of Horus with his brother Seth. We entered
a small Nilometer - a dark, dank tunnel that smelled of pee and was
once used to measure the level of the Nile. Again I was the last to
emerge (a couple of minutes late only) to the loud applause of everyone
(and a huge glare from Adam).
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 Returning
to the ship in time for the 9am sail, we set off for Esna, 48km south
of Luxor. Whilst the family tanned on the sundeck,
I sat in the sun at the front of the boat, enjoying sense of peace and
tranquility. It was truly beautiful to sit on a boat not too big or
small, to watch the changing scenery on both sides, passed fields of
giant palms and lush green fields, a smoking metal, the ship moving
at a leisurely 16km/hr and passing some incredibe mountains of sand
and cliffs. Ole joined me for a chat - he Irene are moving to
Greenland on Tuesday. Later in the morning, I joined René and
Ulla by the pool, gossiping about Bedstefar and family resemblances,
watching Vinnie's kids and Sebastian splash about the pool, Lonnie,
Sarah Birit stripped down to the minimum to get a bit of colour.
|
 We
reached Esna and used the few hours to get off the ship and stretch
our legs after a morning of lazing around the pool. I was itching to
walk around Esna, away from tourists and see how the locals lived. René
and I headed for the quieter streets avoiding the busy streets
around a souq. We were followed by a few children clad in long grey
or white robes, who guided and annoyed us. Most of the narrow streets
were unpaved, some very muddy and smelling of manure. Skinny, skeletal
donkeys balanced again flat wagons, many shy girls waving from the darkness
of their doorways or 2nd-level windows, whilst little boys came out
to say hello and mill around us. Most houses were simple of mud bricks,
with tiny wooden shuttered windows to keep the intense summer heat out.
Some had extremely ornate wooden doors, reminiscent of colonial days.
Occasional peek in doorways revealed empty mud-lined rooms as most people
lived in the upper floors. Eventually René shouted imshee! (go
away) as the kids got noisier, more aggressive, pulling on our arms
and throwing pebbles at us. When I stumbled over a whimpering black
and white disease-ridden puppy in brown paper, it was kicked aside -
making me almost reach out for it if René hadn't stopped me.it
was wise not to even make contact witht the children, who were dust-covered
and clad in the long egyptian grey robes. It was such a relief when
they finally left us even though we knew they were hiding in in alleyways
watching us wind through the streets. There were goldsmiths glittering
with ornate rings, earrings and necklaces; tailors still sewing by hand
on the steps of their shop; coffee houses filled with solitary men smoking
their water-pipes - their eyes following us down the street. We had
spent so much time just sitting around that it was good to get away.
Crossing of the Lock
We
set sail at 3pm and many ships like ours got together near two bridges
just north of Esna. For one hour of the day, a bridge opened up for
the ships and cars were ferried across the Nile instead. In the meanwhile,
the ship had organised a special Egyptian "Oriental" dinner
where guests could dress up in egyptian attire. It was a traditional
egyptian feast of flat bread, baba ghanoush, warm stuffed zucchini and
capsicum, warm cabbage rolls, chickpeas, lentils, fish, and traditional
dish of okra, and a dressed up rice-stuffed whole lamb with a foil-covered
head, small skinny eggplants for ears sitting upright on a silver platter.
To finish it off was a plethora of egyptian dessert - semolina tarts,
almond-milk agar (jelly) and the tartlets that tasted of liquid honey.
Between 10-11pm we all gathered together for the lock-crossing.
Canal lock-crossing
involves ships moving from a one water-level to another, usually where
a dam is involved. Two cruise ships moved into a channel that is closed
off and the water in the channel gradually reduced - in our case approx
10 metres. Once we reached the new water-level on the other side of
the lock, the door in front of the ship opened and we sailed out. The
lock-crossing took approx one hour, although all the waiting took a
few hours. It was well-worth staying up even though we had an early
start the next day. What was most amazing was the way the ship travelled
with such expertise through such a narrow channel with barely enough
space on each side.
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Friday 19 November 2004 (7am start)
Overnight we had sailed from Esna to Luxor
arriving at approx 2am - the last port for us. We were awoken by efficient
wake-up calls and we could hear phones ringing in all the rooms going
on early tours. We had a long day ahead, cramming four different sights.
Valley of the Kings
Builders of the great pyramids realised
that hidden entrances and false shafts were not going to protect their
dead pharaohs or the riches buried with them from tomb-robbers, so from
the 18th dynasty, the ancient egyptians started digging underground.
Rolling hills and valleys of sand, rubble and solid limestone - it is
amazing to think that the ancient egyptians managed to bury something
like possibly over 300 pharaohs of which only 62 have been found (last
was TutAnkhAmun). |
 The mountain under which many of the tombs were found
has a pyramid-shaped peak. |
Our tickets allowed us to visit three tombs only and only a handful
were opened on the day with long queues at each.
We visited the tombs of Ramseses III, IX
and V/VI - all of them relatively small tombs, some partly excavated,
others quite madly damaged by humidity from all the tourists and from
oily fingers.
|
 There
was a variety of hieroglyphs and images, of the pharaohs, how they treated
their subjects, even the ceilings were beautifully adorned with dark
blue skies, thousands of stars and the sky goddess Nut, stretched above.
Tomb of Ramses III was like a picture book of "Better Homes
Gardens" with images of hundreds of pots, furniture and food preparation.
In the tomb of Ramses V/VI was a large shattered giant pharaoh-shaped
sarcophagus eerily illuminated by silver light - Ramses VI unusually
sharing a tomb with his predecessor brother. It is truly amazing
that such images have lasted thousands of years, hidden away in dark
low-humidity tombs that are quickly disintegrating since they have been
excavated.
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Colossi of Memnon
 Just
past the Valley of the Kings, we stopped to view the Colossi of Memnon
- twin 18-metre figures of Amenhotep III that once stood in front of
what was believed to be Egypt's greatest temples, even larger than the
existing Temple of Karnak. Each carved from single pieces of stone,
once famous for bell-like tone emitted each sunrise. The Greeks believed
these sounds were made by the immortal Memnon greeting his mother. After
an Roman emperor made restorations in 170AD, the sounds ceased.
To our amusement, Adam made another one
of his commission-based stops at an alabaster
factory. He couldn't understand why we broke into laughter. Instead
of boycotting the trip, we all went rushing in for free cups of coffee.
René led a race with Sebastian and Vinnie's boys sliding across
the smooth alabaster marble floor. At the other end was Ulla being approached
with a small £10,000 alabaster hippo, to which she jokingly said
yes and the shop-assistant went away to put it aside.
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Temple of Hatshepsut
 Lying
next to the Valley of the Kings is this temple of the only female
pharaoh who ever ruled in Egypt. Due to a botched job by an Egyptian-Polish
archaeological team, the ruined temple was recreated to resemble a bus
depot, with much of the original artwork covered over or destroyed.
The sucessor to Hatshepsut's brother/husband was stepson Tuthmose III
who had to wait 20 year to get his throne, hence when she died, she
was not mummified and her temple destroyed as punishment. The temple
was at the site of a Coptic monastery and fantastic limestone cliffs.
There may not be much of the temple to look at but the view, from up
close, far away or even from the sky is definitely worth the trip.
Then we had lunch and a brief rest. I was
surprised to find that a humorous member of housekeeping had set up
towels, blanket lettuce leaves to resember a man and his snake.
I thought René had played a joke on me until I found out something
similar other family members' rooms!
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 Temples
of Karnak Luxor
Karnak was known
as "Ipet-Isut" - The Most Perfect of Places.
Much of it is in ruins but is possibly
the largest temple complex ever built anywhere and created over 1,500
years by successive generations of pharaohs.
It was the residence of pharaohs, place
of worship, wealthy treasury, centre of administration and employed
thousands.
Karnak is most famous for its giant columns
- 134, each 15m high, centre 12 columns were 21 metres tall. It takes
six adults to stretch their arms out around a column's girth.
Between the columns there once stood statues
of pharaohs and the whole effect would've been intimidating, as though
passing through a hall of giant gods. |
<== Ramses II was responsible for a
lot of the restoration of the temple and his signature is etched deeply
in certain area so no other pharaoh could take credit.
Past the giant columns stood the tallest obelisk existing in Egypt at
almost 30m high. Although made out of one piece of granite, the Obelisk
of Hatshepsut looks like it's made of two different stones as the lower
half was covered up for many years by Tuthmosis III in his resentment
towards his stepmother's usurpment of the throne. There once existed
17 obelisks but these now lie in various parts of the world.
The further we walked into the temple,
the older the temple and the more ruined it became so when we reached
the other side, it was a mass of ruins. |
The most beautiful aspect of the temple to me were the images of a queen
embracing her pharaoh.
It was considered taboo for such displays
of close affection that for many years it was covered up with a gold
plate.
Near the Sacred Lake - a body of water used for priests' ablutions -
stood a giant scarab beetle. Adam told us to walk around it seven time
and our wishes would be granted. It would've been veryd=67&bpt=1#top" mce_href="http://summitconsulting.com.au/cs/controlpanel/blogs/posteditor.aspx?SelectedNavItem=NewPost§ionid=67&bpt=1#top">Return to Top
Goats . . .
  
We came across a couple of trees full of goats. They were climbing around the tree to reach all the green leaves. Our first though was that someone put them there, but they were too much out of reach for that idea.
14. November 1999 10:34
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
 My whole family was in Morocco to celebrate my grandmother's 80 th birthday.
This is my grandmother. Even as an 80-year-old woman, I find her pretty cool (you should see some of the pictures I’ve got of her with dark Blues Brothers sunglasses).
(No need to say that the flags are Danish.)
It was a family reunion. We do not all live in the same place, but all of us make this journey as it is one of the few times that we all get together. Unfortunately, there were a few of us who could not make it.
It was important for me to be there it was hard to tell whether the whole family will ever come together again as a large group, as my grandparents are no longer living there.
 My brother, Claus!
Another person I find pretty cool is my brother.
He has not been well in the last few years, but I love him anyway
( Definitely can't do without my big brother ) Mum's pretty cool too! She will probably hate me for putting this photo on my homepage. But it is a really nice photo of Mum with a big smile.
She hates the idea of me climbing mountains, but at the same time she bought me a climbing helmet as a Christmas present. She thought it will keep me safer when I am so far off the ground.
Thanks Mum for supporting me.
I also find my dad pretty cool. He’s a bit of a nerd just like me which means that we probably understand each other better than anyone else in the family.
 This is my dads brother and his wife. The resemblance is unequalled. My dad and his brother looks very much like each other. They have the same bad habits (just like my grandfather) and both their wives are smoking like chimneys.
 Finally, a picture of me...
I do belong to the family even though most of them have probably forgotten about it by now!
I am sitting outside one of the food places on the local market. We each got a serve of excellent calamari, shrimp and fish. I think this was the best meal I had while I was in Morocco.
Most tourists would avoid a place like this just because of the hygiene, but I have never had diarrhoea because I had been eating local food.
Perhaps all this travelling I do has made me immune to germs and bugs! Or maybe I just pick good food!
Do you want to see my family on a Donkey Day out?
Click Here!
Created: Jan 2000 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001
22. March 1999 02:11
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
Thailand ( 1999 ) . . .
On my way back from Laos, I stayed in Bangkok for a few days, visiting a friend whom I have known for a long time.
On the right, I am standing in front of a huge statue at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. There are many statues like this, very ornate and detailed. They are brightly coloured and some of them can look scary! As you can see in the background, the architecture and design of the roof is also very detailed and many of these were built a very long time ago by very gifted artists.
Here is Nui on the left.
She was the girlfriend of one of my friends at University in Denmark. She used to be a lecturer at the University of Bangkok and specialised in software design.
I stayed at her family's house for a few days in the outskirts of Bangkok. It was very nice to get away from all the pollution, noise and chaos of inner city.
You will now be happy to know that Nui has finally married Søren after all these years!
I am on a canal cruise!
Much of the water near the cities are very polluted, but it is very interesting to see the floating markets in Bangkok - yes, you will see people selling vegetables and meat from little boats...
Created: Jan 2000 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001
15. March 1999 10:31
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
 I can apply a lot of Dilbert's Principles to my work, that is why I always go to the Dilbert website to see what else Dilbert has come up with. More importantly, I thought Dilbert an accurate description of what I do, hence the first think you see on this page is... Dilbert!
 I had the privilege of working as a contractor in the world's leading company in bionic implants, Cochlear. I worked there for 1½ years as the head designer/developer of the software programming the bionic implants. I worked with some of the best developers, and had a lot of fun whilst I was at it.
  I had the chance to go on the Harbour Bridge climb, organised by the company. It is quite an expensive trip up over thte top of the bridge and normally would not pay to do it, but had the opportunity to do this with my colleagues. It is very windy up there and the view spectacular. There is quite a lot of people on the bridge climb - average about 10-15 per group, with about 3-5 groups on the bridge at a time. The whole walk from the bottom, to the top and back the other side takes about 2 hours. Many tourists take the opportunity to try out the climb, and I am told that the trip at sunset is spectacular.
 I took this trip on a Douglas DC-3 (from the 1930-40's) with PMP Software. PMP Software was the company I worked for during the years I was waiting to get my permanent residency in Australia. I had the chance to see this state from an aerial view. There were quite a few Danes working for PMP, and at present, Kenneth is also working for them.
15. June 1998 10:33
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments
 New Zealand ( June 1998 ) . . .
My first trip to New Zealand took place in June 1998. I travelled with the Lenehans - friends I have known since my arrival in Australia. This was one of many trips I took with Lance and Anne. We rented a campervan and decided to explore the south island of NZ.
I have since been to New Zealand again - NZ has some of the most beautiful mountains and I had the chance to go there again in January 2001 to do a technical ice-climbing course.
I took so many photos and would have loved to place all of them on this webpage. Instead, I have selected a few to show some of the places I managed to go to, such as Milford Sound, Nelson, Arthurs Pass and Mt Cook.
There were many glaciers in NZ and lots of seals to go with them!
NZ is a beautiful country with many unusual natural formations. It is a photographer's haven. We ended our trip with a farewell dinner in Christchurch.
Seals . . .The Lenehans and I decided to spend 2 weeks in New Zealand in the winter of 1998. We flew to Christchurch from Sydney, and drove north to Nelson.
On the way to Nelson, on the east coast of the southern island, there are hundreds of seals. It was a spectacular sight and I managed to get quite close to them to take photos.
   They did not seem to mind me taking a few photos. Some of the seals look tired - I guess even seals, like humans become tired. Who wouldn't like to pet a seal? They look different when they are wet though.
 This was taken near where the seals were. I like the blend of colours and the harmony of the picture.
A lot of friends have commented on this photo! Most of them really like the photo, and feel there is something calm about it.
 Nelson . . .Nelson is located at the northern most part of the southern island.
We explored the area around Lake Rotoiti.
  These were taken from the ridge itself.
There is a lake at the end of the mountain ridge. From here, it is all downhill. We camped just below the lake at 1,500 metres altitude.
It was snowing the next morning and all water was frozen. We estimated the temperature to be around -7 degrees celcius.
  The side of the ridge was one big stonefall.
It was very cold and the wind was strong that day so it was necessary to wear gloves hat.
We managed to get a group shot from the top of the ridge. The mountains in the background are knows as the McAngus ridge at Lake Rotoiti.
 Here are the mountains at Lake Rotoiti.
  The mornings are incredibly beautiful at Lake Rotoiti. Here you can see the morning mist floating gently on the water.
It is also very cold here - that is why there is ice on the bridge in the foreground.
 The photo on the right shows the Lenehans crossing one of the suspension bridges at Lake Rotoiti.
At this point we had walked 15 kilometres, with a 1,000 metre descent. We had yet another 7 to 8 kilometres to go that day!
 This is what happens when you do not use a tripod. The effect is quiet interesting and makes the photo look like a painting by Monet.
This photo has has been dubbed "The Renet" among my friends.
 Arthurs Pass . . .We drove to Arthurs Pass, on the way from Nelson to Queenstown further south.
There is a place called Goat Pass, and there is only one way in - on foot.
Here, you can see Anne climbing up ladders on the Goat Pass track.
 It was raining so much that we were not able to get down through the canyon on the other side of the Pass. We therefore decided to go back the way we came.
Further down the track, we had passed a bivouak and decided to stay ther during the night. It was very dirty and Anne would rather sleep outside in the rain.
Everything was wet so she changed her mind and came back in. *laugh*
 She wore plastic bags on her feet, in her boots are so that she could wear her boots without getting cold feet! Aussies will never get used to the cold.
Here is Anne crossing one of the rivers.
Every time she crossed a river, she would sit and massage her feet for 10 minutes until they warm again.
I guess Aussies will never get used to the cold. Neither will Danes for that matter! An Australian winter is like a Danish summer - so you can imagine how cold Denmark is! Still, Danes cannot get used to it - just ask Kenneth or Soeren!
 Sleeping ???
Aussies will never learn to live with the cold!
I must admit I hate the cold. I loved it when I lived in Kenya - so hot and humid!
Even living in Denmark for all those year did not make me like cold weather any more than I used to. That is why I love Australia - warm summers and mild winters. Sometimes winter in Australia is a bit too cold for me! But I do not usually wear more than a T-shirt or a thin jumper in winter. My girlfriend was complaining about me having the heater on full-blast in the car during spring!
Okay, so I love the heat!
 Inside the campervan.
Temperature was down to -10 degrees Celcius during the night and there was no heating in the van.
This explains why Anne was wearing a thick blanket. There was only enough water for a two minute shower. That is why Anne is wearing a hat indoors. See the expression on her face? She knows I will write a stupid description for this photo.
 In the campervan I had the top bunk.
This is one of my girlfriend's favourite photos!
On the way to Milford Sound, we saw some unusual formations - The Pancake Rocks. The Pancake Rocks are located near Hokitika, between Kumara and Ross.
  They do not taste as good as real pancakes - you get sand in your teeth...
  At Queenstown, we had the most glorious view of "The Remarkables". The Remarkables are the mountains in the background - don't ask me why they call The Remarkables, I don't know. But the photo on the left shows Queenstown with these mountains in the background.
The photo on the right shows the a sunset at The Remarkables (with snow on top!) Pretty 'remarkable', huh?
 Milford Sound . . .Milford Sound is located near the southern-most tip of the south island of NZ. It is the series of 'islands' that you can see on the western tip of NZ on the map.
To get to Milford Sound, we had to take a huge detour from Queenstown. To come back from Milford Sound, we had to take the same detour before heading east from Queenstown.
Driving down to Milford Sound, we had to put chains on the tyres of the campervan.
In the pass, there was at least 10 centimetres of snow on the road, and it was illegal to continue on without chains. Chains help create friction on the roads and makes it easier for the vehicle to drive on in icy conditions.
We managed to rentort
i mørke tørre grave, som hurtig nedbrydes, efter at de
er blevet udgravet. |
Memnon kolosserne
Lige
efter Kongernes Dal stoppede vi for at se Memnon kolosserne - to 18
meter høje figurer af Amenhotep III, som stod foran hvad men
mener var Ægyptens største tempel, endnu større
end det eksisterende Karnak tempel. Hver af statuerne er hugget ud af
en hel sten, engang berømte for klokkelignende toner, der opstod
fra statuerne ved solopgang. Grækerne troede disse lyde blev lavet
af den udødelige Memnon, der hilste på sin moder. Efter
at en Romersk hersker foretog restaurationer på kolosserne i 170
efter kristus, forsvandt lydene.
Til vores morskab gjorde Adam endnu et
"kommisions stop" ved en alabaster butik.
Han kunne ikke forstå, hvorfor vi brød ud i latter. I stedet
for at boycotte turen, skyndte vi os alle ind for at få en kop
gratis myntete (som ikke havde noget med myntete at gøre). René
førte an i et race med Sebastian og Vinnies drenge med det glatte
alabastergulv som glidebane. I den anden ende blev Ulla præsenteret
for en lille 10000£ alabaster flodhest, som hun i sjov sagde ja
til, hvorefter butiksassistenten gik for at sætte den til side.
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Hatshepsut templet
I
nærheden af Kongernes Dal ligger dette tempel for den eneste kvindelige
Farao, der har regeret Ægypten. På grund af et forkvaklet
arbejde af et rent Ægyptisk arkæologisk hold, blev templets
ruiner genrejst til at indeholde et busdepot, resulterende i at meget
af de originale kunstværker blev overmalet eller ødelagt.
Efterfølgeren til Hatshepsuts bror/mand var stedsønnen
Tuthmose III, som måtte vente 20 år på sin trone,
hvorfor Hatshepsut ikke blev balsameret, da hun døde, og hendes
tempel blev ødelagt som straf. Templet stod på stedet for
et Koptisk kloster og fantastiske sandstensklipper. Der er måske
ikke meget af templet at se, men synet tæt på, fra stor
afstand og endog fra himlen gør absolut turen værd.
Så fik vi frokost og et lille hvil.
Jeg blev overrasket over, at et humoristisk medlem af rengøringspersonalet
havde sat håndklæder, tæppe og pude op i min seng,
så det lignede en mand og hans slange. Jeg troede René
havde lavet grin med mig, til jeg fandt ud af, at noget lignende var
lavet i andre familiemedlemmers værelser!
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Karnak
Luxor templer
Karnak var kendt
som "Ipet-Isyt" - det mest perfekte af stederne.
Meget af det ligger I ruiner, men er muligvis
det største tempelkompleks bygget nogensinde og skabt over 1500
år af efterfølgende generationer af Faraoer.
Det var boplads for Faroer, stedet for
gudedyrkelse, rigt skattekammer og administrationscenter med tusinder
ansat.
Karnak er berømt for dets gigantiske
søjler - 134 på 15 meters højde, 12 i midten på
21 meter. Der skal seks voksne til at favne omkring en søjle.
Engang stod der statuer af Faraoer mellem
søjlerne og hele stemningen ville have været skræmmende,
som at passere gennem en hal af kæmpe guder. |
<== Ramses II var ansvarlig for meget
af restaureringen af templet, og hans signatur er hugget dybt ind i
flere områder, så ingen anden Farao kunne tage æren.
Forbi de kæmpe søjler stod den højeste eksisterende
obelisk I Ægypten, næsten 30 meter høj. Selvom den
er lavet af et stykke granit, ser Hatsheosuts obelisk ud, som om den
er lavet af to forskellige sten, da den nederste del i mange år
var dækket til af Tuthmosis III i hans vrede over stedmoderens
tilranelse af tronen. Der var engang 17 obeliske, men disse er nu spredt
over hele verden.
Jo længere vi kommer ind i tempelområdet,
jo ældre er templet og ligger i ruiner, så da vi når
den anden ende, ligger alt i ruiner. |
Det mest skønne syn for mig I templet var billedet af dronningen,
der omfavner sin Farao.
Det blev betragtet som tabu at vise billeder
med en sådan affekt, så billedet var i mange år dækket
af en guldplade.
Tæt ved den hellige sø - et bassin beregnet til præsternes
renselse - stor en kæmpe skarabel. Adam fortalte, at vi skulle
gå syv gange rundt om den, mod uret, og vi ville få vort
ønske opfyldt. Det ville have været ret komisk at se en
stor skare af folk vandre omkring skarabellen.
Efter 1½ time måtte vi videre…
til endnu en kommisionsbutik - en bomuldsbutik med t-shirts med fabrikstryk,
der kostede fem så meget, som jeg havde købt broderede
t-shirts for. |
Til sidst på vores tur: Luxor templet==>
Der var en avenue af Sphinxer, som engang
forbandt Karnak templet med Luxor templet med 2½ km.
Engang i Faraoernes tid lå Luxor
templet i hjertet af den gamle hovedstad Thebes og var velbevaret fordi
den engang var begravet under landsbyen Luxor og endog i det 13. årh.
havde en moske opført indenfor dens mure - hvilket indbyggerne
kræver bevaret under restaureringen af templet.
Templet synes ikke oversvømmet med
turister og i det forsvindende lys fra solnedgangen lægger templet
et spøgelsesagtigt men flot skygge over byen. |
 Efter
turen tog resten af familien på hestevognstur tilbage til skibet,
mens vores lille familie besluttede at gå gennem byen - en kort
tur langs Nilen. Som i Esra var vi interesserede i at gå gennem
gaderne, tage video og fotos og se, hvordan folk
levede - gamle mænd ryger vandpibe, skrædere syer dragter,
en mand vasker kopper i en kaffeshop, en åben slagter med kroppe
hængende ved fortovet, små børn hviner for at blive
fotograferet, kvinder klædt fra top til tå i sort, børn
glad vinkende fra alle hjørner - disse mennesker smilede mere
og syntes venligere - og ingen spurgte efter bakshees (drikkepenge),
og en skarp kontrast til Esna. Vi stoppede for at få en sodavand
på tagterrassen af en hotel og betragtede
endnu en fantastisk solnedgang over Luxor.
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 Efter
vores sidste middag blev vi underholdt af en ung kedelig mavedanserinde
og, hvad jeg har ventet på at se, en "Hvirvlende Dervish"
- en fremvisning af Sufi dans.
Sufism, en halv-mystisk gren af Islam,
med en uortodoks vej til bøn, det vil sige at danse og opnå
en trancelignende forening med Gud.
Tilskyndet af takten fra trommer, strenge
og fløjter, spinner danseren rundt i et slør of flerfarvet
skørt - rød, gul og blå - indtil han lignede en
snurretop.
Photo Courtesy of Tour
Egypt Photos
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Lørdag 20 November 2004 (start
4:45)
De fleste af familien nød krydstogtet
og stederne de så. De var ikke særlig glade ved planlægningen
af turen med latterlige tidlige morgenstarter, nogle dage sammenpressede
og andre med næsten intet. Men mest af alt var mange af familien
utilfredse med Adam - vi klagede på vore spørgeskemaer
og Ulla gav AB-Travel repræsentanten en opsang om, hvor ubehagelig
Adam havde været, hvor intetsigende hans høj-accenterede
sprog havde været, han kørte på nogle af os, stirrede
på børnene for at sludre bag i bussen, han undgik spørgsmål
og skældte på alle, der afbrød ham med et spørgsmål.
Værst var alle de unødvendige "kommissions baserede"
stop, som tog tid fra vores seværdigheds besøg. Han var
en typisk Ægypter, som kunne have gjort vores tur meget mere lykkelig.
Fra en tidelig flyvetur til Cairo, en galehus
med vores bagage, en tretimers ventetid I en kaffeshop på et hotel
tæt ved, til en 4½ timers flyvetur tilbage til København,
var klokken 17, da vi fik vores bagage og tog en sidste afsked med alle
medlemmer af familien. På trods af en start kl. 4.45 tog det os
en hel dag at komme hjem.
Der er en vis portion tristhed at det måske
er sidste gang familien er samlet, da Bedstemor jo bliver ældre.
René har været med på måske ti samlinger, planlagt
af Bedstemors børn, men betalt af Bedsteforældrene - som
en arv til familien. Jeg har været heldig og privilegeret at blive
inviteret med på en af disse familiesamlinger - fire generationer
i alt. Det gav mig lov til at besøge en anden eksotisk del af
verden og at lære at kende denne meget specielle Matriark. |
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