The Last One

I've been in Holland for a week now, and still haven't posted a thing. No, this has nothing to do with the availability and/or speed of the Internet. Think of it more as, perhaps, a mental block, rather than any actual obstruction. Writing this post means my trip is really over, something I've been trying to avoid, and still am, even though it really has been (over), for a week now. I think it's just, what do you say after all of this? I can't even begin to describe how I feel now. Relaxed but anxious. Thrilled but sad. Tired but revived. Home but not home. I miss Ann Arbor, I miss my friends and colleagues in the States. Of course I do. But, I'm happy to be staying with my family now, and am looking forward to hanging out with old friends from high school and college here once more. In short, rather mixed feelings.

Luxor was beautiful! I spent two full days there: one day on the West Bank, and one on the East Bank of the Nile. My day on the West Bank (first day) was a good choice, and well spent! I picked what I think are some of the most beautiful and/or most important sights, because it would be impossible to cram everything into one day, and then went to those sights with a private driver plus guide. Luckily the guy was an Egyptologist who really knows his tombs and so forth, so that certainly helped; I couldn't imagine having had to do all of that on my own.

I started the day going to the Valley of the Kings (picture left), and visited three tombs there. Taking pictures is extremely prohibited, and I didn't feel like losing my camera (and getting it back for no less than a $50 bribe!), so no snapshots of those. But they were quite amazing, all the murals and carvings etc.; especially the burial chamber of Ramses I was spectacular, with incredibly vivid colors, and remarkably well preserved.

I skipped the Valley of the Queens (in an attempt not to be over-'tombed') and headed straight for the Hatshepsut Temple (pictures left, and above right). I had seen a picture of Char in front of it from back in 2004 and have wondered about that remarkable monument ever since. I had assumed that it was built into the mountain, much like Helms Deep in Lord of the Rings. But, in fact, only the top (third) level is built into the mountain; the rest is built in front. It was extremely crowded here (and it had gotten to be quite hot by this time) but still an incredible sight. My guide once more pointed out many of the hidden treasures and artwork in and around the temple, so in short, time well spent.

The next stop was the Medinet Habu temple (picture right and below left). Lonely Planet touted this as one of the most underappreciated tourist attractions in Egypt, and I completely agree; this was by far my favorite sight that I saw in all of Egypt. An astonishing amount of murals and sculptures were very well preserved at this rather large site, which centers around the temple of Ramses III. The last stop, on the way out of the West Bank (and heading back to the one nearby bridge that connects ancient "Thebes" with the East Bank) I saw the Colossi of Memnon (picture below right); two giant seated statues (about 18 m, or 55' tall) that once guarded the Temple of Amenhotep III (which was only discovered fairly recently, and is still largely hidden underground).

That concluded my West Bank day, which obviously was amazing. I went back to the hotel to relax a bit, but it didn't all work out as I had planned. I'll spare you the details, but after a pretty much very disappointing night (where it comes to both service and facilities), I decided to swap hotels the next day, which I did, and it worked out fine. The best part about the hotel was the (here we go again) view of the sunset from the rooftop pool area (see picture at the very top of this post). The hotel was located on the East Bank, pretty close to the Nile, and seeing the sun set behind the mountains across the Nile was a true joy.

Sadly, the food in Al-Uqsor (the Arabic name of the town, which we later butchered into "Luxor") was nowhere near as good as that in Cairo. I tried to go by the Lonely Planet once more, but was disappointed (as, to be fair, my guidebook had predicted). So my last night I decided to spring for Japanese food in one of the top-end hotels. Bad choice. Though I still have no proof it was that particular meal (the test results aren't in yet), my last night in Luxor (which is when I had the Japanese food) I got violently ill, which to varying degrees continued for a little over a week. Today (Saturday) is pretty much the first day I'm not folded in half because of stomach cramps. Oh well, it's not the end of the world, at least I didn't gain all that weight I was fearing to gain (in fact, I lost about 4 kg / 9 lbs in a week), but it sucked that I now was unable to enjoy some of the finer restaurants in Cairo I had been saving for last. And, the 10-hour trainride on Thursday (last week) and the 9 hours traveling from Cairo through Prague to Brussels Friday Night were no pleasure cruise either...

In any case, my second day in Luxor, on the East Bank, I took it easy, mostly (this was still before I got sick). I spent the morning strolling around the Luxor Temple, which is pretty much right downtown, which meant that I had walked past it many times already. The Lonely Planet gave a pretty thorough description here, so I figured a guide wasn't really warranted. It was amusing to me that part of the temple is now, in fact, a mosque (see picture on the right), but I guess not really all that surprising. The temple was well preserved structurally (the alley of the sphinxes, picture below on the right, was uncanny), but much of the decorative artwork had been lost.

After relaxing a bit by the pool of my new hotel (also a rooftop pool!) during the hot hours of the day, I went to the Luxor museum in the afternoon. I had been looking forward to this a lot, since Char had touted it as her favorite place in all of Egypt. And certainly, it was remarkable. As museums go, it was just about the polar opposite of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo: wide open spaces, artifacts are carefully picked and displayed, and a lot of thought even went into the lighting of the pieces. Mostly, the museum was dedicated to war artifacts, but the two mummies, and the wall of Akhenaten were my favorite items there. It wasn't hard to see all the items in THIS museum, but I still spent a good 2.5 hours there.

After the aforementioned Japanese food (which tasted, aside from the sushi which was mediocre at best, quite good) the next day I had an entire day of "training" ahead of me. I dished out the $14 (11 euros) for a first class ticket and listened to books-on-tape all day (I am now an expert on Law in America [Lawrence Friedman] and Chronicles of Narnia [C.S. Lewis]!!), while trying to nurture my aching insides to a better place. Unfortunately, to no avail, and so I spent my last day in Egypt feeling pretty miserable, not "doing" anything anymore, other than checking the Internet and assuming the fetal position on the sofa at my hotel. I left the hotel around 11pm, splitting a cab with a German family, and got on my flight to Prague, which left 30 minutes late. Remarkably, I did manage to make my 50 minute transfer, and that's with picking up the second boarding pass in between. Perhaps more surprisingly, my bag made it also.

And so, now I'm here, in Holland. Excuse me, the Netherlands. It took more than 5 years in Michigan for me to stop saying Holland (so as not to confuse it with the town "Holland" in West Michigan), but 3 months on the road and I've already given up on "The Netherlands". But, call it what you will, I'm here now. And now, the real choices and challenges begin. What do I want to do, where do I want to do it, and how do I get to do it; these are the crucial questions that I'll begin answering now. This is not going to be easy; certainly not! I expect a steep road ahead of me. But, I've already climbed so many hills and mountains before, I'm not really all that worried. Not just in 5.5 years of living in the United States, though believe me, there were many challenges! But also in these last three months. Yet now I know, now that I've taken this trip of a lifetime, this trip that no one can ever take from me ever again, now that I have these tremendous new memories that have changed me forever in so many ways, now that I've climbed over so many obstacles big and small and reached my goals, now I know that the view from up here is worth it.

Thank you all for reading and writing me while on the road; it has been very encouraging to see so many of you feeling involved and connected with my journey. To those of you I have left behind in Michigan and elsewhere in the US: I will miss you dearly (I already do), but know we'll meet again soon (you're all coming to visit me... right?)! And to those in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe: I'm baaaack!!!!