Donkey Day in the Valley of the Kings

  Luxor, Egypt
Friday, May 11, 2007

Donkey Day!  This morning we had yet another early start and got up before sunrise to ride donkeys to the Valley of the Kings.  The process of picking donkeys was quite hilarious by itself (apparently they matched donkeys to personalitys, which might explain why Gabrielle got the depressed donkey with self-esteem issues, being a social worker and all!), but the fun really started once we all got on and trotted off.  The donkeys all went at different speeds, with Dan's favouring a quick trot with occasional gallop, sending him bumping along with his feet about 2 inches off the ground, and Gabrielle's refused to go faster than a slow amble, with rare exceptions if you made beeping noises at it like it was about to be run over by a car.  Then, it strolled.  It was an entertaining ride, anyway, but fairly bumpy, and we were all a little stiff when we arrived at the Valley of the Kings.

Nice Ass!

As most people probably know, Luxor was the capital of ancient Egypt, and the Valley of the Kings was where most of the pharoahs had their tombs.  Apparently pyramids fell out of favour quite quickly after the pharoahs realised what an obvious target they made for thieves, so the tombs in the Valley of Kings were all very well hidden and, according to legend, the workers and artists who designed them were blindfolded every day before they were led there by trusted servants of the pharoah, so that not even the workers knew the location of the tomb.  63 have so far been discovered, the most famous being the tomb of Tuthankhamen, the Boy King, discovered by Howard Carter.  Although King Tut was only a boy when he died (he ruled from the age of 9 to 18), his tomb is the most famous simply because it was the only one not looted by grave robbers, and the spectacular gold masks, jewellery, furniture, carvings and ornaments inside are the only grave goods of the pharoahs to have been recovered in their entirety.  Compared to the other tombs, though, Tut's is quite small and plain, with almost no decoration on the inside.  Visitors to the Valley of Kings are allowed to see inside only three tombs at a time, in an effort to restrict the number of tourists through each tomb, so our guide Saleh picked out three that he thought were among the best, and off we went.

The Donkey and his Social Worker

Each of the tombs was beautifully decorated, painted on every surface all down the long passageways to the burial chamber itself with brilliantly coloured drawings and depictions of Egyptian gods and scenes of the Pharoah in the afterlife.  The colours were just amazing, yellows, reds, greens and blues so vivid after thousands of years, they were just jaw-dropping.  Some of the tombs went down 50metres or more below the ground through narrow passages, every inch covered in paintings.  It was pretty spectacular.

After the tombs, we walked along the ridge above the Valley and over the hill past the Valley of Queens (self-explanatory!), the Tombs of the Nobles, and the Temple of Hatshepsut (the only female Pharoah, and a very cool lady) to the Tombs of the Workers.  These were tiny, and we were the only people there, but our Tour Leader had told us that they were worth seeing, and he was totally right.  Since these were the tombs of the artists who had painted and decorated the tombs of the Pharoahs, they were beautifully decorated, but the cool thing was that they had a very different artistic feeling than the highly stylized painting in the Pharoah's tombs.  These were much more realistic, with scenes of the artists and their families, and of detailed mythical creatures, including what looked like a fanged rabbit right out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  The colour in these was UNBELIEVABLE, and we would have stayed longer if not for the heat and the annoying guards who kept trying to fan us with pieces of cardboard and then demand baksheesh (money) for their unwanted attentions.

After a quick bite of lunch, about half of the group headed out with Nick, our Tour Leader, to the Sunshine Project, and orphanage in central Luxor run by a tired-looking, incredible British lady named Lorna.  Apparently, when Lorna came to work at the project nine years ago, there were six children in the home.  Now, there are 73, between the ages of 2 months and 15 years, and Lorna has legal custody of them all until the age of 21 thanks to the Egyptian government.  Apparently, the children at the home are not orphans at all, but unwanted children who have been abandoned, usually as babies, because their mothers are unwed or cannot afford to support them.  Lorna talked about people finding the babies in rice fields, or rubbish dumpsters, or even left on the train.  Once, a baby was left on the steps of the orphanage itself, but this is rare.  Adoption is basically unheard of in Egypt, since family ties are very strong and children from outside the family are unwelcome, but these children are especially stigmatized in the predominantly Muslim society because they are illegitimate and therefore considered evil or bad luck by most people.  If not for the project, they would literally be left to starve on the streets.

Gabrielle learns her Farm Animals

Lorna told us that they had recently received some money from an organisation in Britain to buy new premises, and after several months of work the dilapidated building was ready, and they had moved in just weeks ago.  Prior to that, she, the staff and the children had been living in several small apartments.  We went on a tour of the facility, from the daycare downstairs to the baby room, with three local staff and about a dozen gorgeous, dark-eyed infants.  We played with the babies there for a while, then went up another level to the toddler room, where what seemed like dozens of two and three year olds tore around the room excitedly, playing with staff, throwing toys, and generally having a great time. 

Dan with some Sunshine

We played with the toddlers and read to them for a while before heading upstairs to the top floor play area, where another 15 or 20 small children were playing with staff.  Paul, a Canadian guy on our tour who is a part-time magician, had brought balloons to make animals with for the kids, and a happy chaos ensued as the kids ran around with their balloon animals.  They were all really affectionate and keen to play and cuddle with us, and I was struck by how beautiful they all were, nicely dressed and clean despite the chaos.  Several were very disabled, and were obviously receiving excellent care, although it sounded like Lorna had fought hard to get a specialist employed by the project to work with them and other local disabled children from underprivileged families.

Paul the Magician

We were sorry to leave, but happily donated our remaining Egyptian pounds to the Sunshine Project, amazed at how much they had managed to accomplish in the ten years or so since they opened.  It was very humbling to see what one or two people can accomplish in a country like this when they completely dedicate themselves to it, despite all of the social and political barriers, and those 73 children have the chance of a great life thanks to the efforts of a very few individuals.  Our trip there was definitely a highlight of our time in Egypt.

After the Sunshine Project, it was back to the hotel to pack up and then head back to the train station for the overnighter to Cairo - good times!

All our best from Egypt,
Dan and Gabrielle