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Egypt Journal 5
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(4/1/08) Egypt Journal V (3/16/08-4/1/08)
Day 10 – The Nile is the longest river in the world. Its sources are from Lake Victoria and Lake Tania in the equatorial rain forest of Africa. By the time it enters Egypt it has already traveled four fifth of its length. But it is here it produces the strangest landscape. Within one hundred feet of its banks, your have huge volumes of flowing water, lush vegetation and bone dry dessert. Annually before the Aswan High Dam, it periodically floods its banks. Water level change by as much as 10 meters or more. It is this flooding particularly in the delta region before it empties into the Mediterranean that made possible the famous Egyptian cotton crop and her staple of rice. With human originated in Africa and the geography of the Nile, it is no wonder that Egypt has the oldest civilization. In fact many ancient civilizations including the Jewish can trace their origins to the Nile. Nowadays, with The Dam the flooding is more controlled and the Jewsih population is reduced to three hundred persons..
We boarded another ship at Aswan to continue our trip on the lower Nile (the Egyptian portion of the upper Nile is now called the Lake Nasser). The lower Nile is over a mile wide which permits sailing a boat both ways (unlike along the Yangtze, boats have to be pulled upstream by human power).. Thus, ancient transportation along the Nile is facilitated.
Day 11 - We visited
1. Temple at Kom-Ombo built during the Greek occupation some 2000 years ago
Temple at Kom-Ombo
The second largest source of income for Egypt is tourism. Guess what is the number one source of national income? (Hint: income not derived from production of goods)
2. The second temple site we visited on this 11th day is the Temple at Edfu, another Greco-Roman period piece and the most completely preserved antiquated building in Egypt since it was buried in sand until the 19th century.
Temple at Edfu (built two thousands years ago)
Day 12 – Today is the grand finale of the trip. In the morning we visited the fabled Valley of the Kings where all the kings of the middle and the new kingdom of Egypt were buried in secret tombs. Of course this did not stop the grave robbers and only the famous tomb of Tutankaman escaped this fate. Recently another tomb (#63) untouched by robbers was discovered waiting to be opened by the archeologists. In the afternoon we visit two of the grandest temples of ancient Egypt both built more than 3000n years ago– the temple of Luxor and Karnak, the latter occupied an area of 160 acres. and is the largest temple built in human history.
The Valley of the Kings from the surface
A bottom up view from a model of the Valley of the Kings showing the construction of the secret tombs of the kings beneath the valley.
Stature of Ramses II, the greatest ancient Egyptian king at Luxor temple
The famed hall of Columns at the Karnak temple. There are 114 such columns in this Hall of the temple. Each column requires 11 persons to embrace.
The most interesting experience today was to hear a dark skinned Egyptian tour guide speaking perfect Chinese common dialect to a group of Shanghai tourists.
Day 13 – We flew back to Cairo in the morning and use the remaining time to visit the old Cairo including the Hanging Church, the only remaining Jewish synagogue, and the hiding place of Mary and Jesus during the Roman occupation of Egypt.
Day 14 – After another 12 hour flight, clearing customs, and a four hour drive home from New York to Boston, we arrived home safely, very satisfied, and exhausted.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-20063.html
上一篇：Egypt Journal 4
下一篇：能吃苦的好理由 From the Op-Ed pages of NYT Apr.2, 2008
