Friday, April 16, 2004

Valley of the Kings


Valley of the Kings as viewing from hill, located behind Deir al-Bahri, or Temple of Hatshepsut.


It's a hard 'walk' after all. The minor problem was we would not be able to get into the tombs without admission ticket, and the path the brought us to Valley of the Kings landed us deep inside the valley. So we had to walked all the way to the entrance. Midway we hopped into a tram. A guy came to check our ticket,but we didn't have it, and we couldn't explain anything as he didn't understand English. He shouted as if wanted the guide to come to chase us away, but luckily nobody paid attention to him.


The tombs in Valley of the Kings are labeled with lots of details. The admission ticket which costs EGP 30 (EGP 15 for ISIC) allows entrance into 3 tombs, excluding Tomb of Tutankhamun (EGP 40, EGP 20 for student). We entered into 4 with the ticket, due to a kind guide that didn't tear our tickets.


Staircase leading to entrance of Tomb of Ramses I. Yes, it's steep.


Decoration and wall painting inside Tomb of Ramses I was of superb quality.


Inside Tombs of Tausert (Tawasret) and Setnakht (Sethnakht, Setnakhte) has astronomical ceiling decoration. When we wanted to enter into this tomb, the guide didn't tear our tickets, and even allowed us to take photograph. Out of goodwill, we wanted to pay him EGP 1 as baksheesh, or tips. But he didn't want, said it's 'small money' and demanded EGP 10. We just took back the money and walked away. They must had been pampered too much.


The route to back to Deir al-Bahri, meaned Monastery of the North, so called because early Christian used to use it as monastery, or more commonly known as Temple of Hatshepsut, from Valley of the Kings.

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