Day 6 of Egypt. Nile Cruise. Up at 6am (I thought this was a holiday!) for breakfast and the day's tour to the Valley of the Kings and to Queen Hatshupset's Tomb complex. Valley of the King was amazing (I keep using superlatives like awe-inspiring and amazing but that is what it is like. Roman Emperors, Alexander, Napoleon all came to see, and Giza Pyramid is the sole remaining seventh wonder of the ancient world).
Valley of the Kings has 62 discovered tombs of Egyptian royalty with a 63rd only recently discovered. Number 62 was the fabulous boy King Tut-Ankh-Amon who died at 19. His was the only tomb still fully intact - 5000 items including the gold sarcophagus and death mask. All of his items are now in the Cairo museum but his mummy has been brought back to the burial chamber. Wonderful to see him there and pure luck that his tomb was buried under the rubble excavated from a later pharoah's tomb. The vendors were in full game mode throughout - really hassling and leaning on us as we walked, putting merchandise in our hands and letting it go - all the usual tricks. Fair enough though - the recent revolution has smashed the tourism industry and some of them haven't earned for weeks. We ended up buying stuff we wanted at still reasonable prices, with advice from Sayed. The four tombs we visited were great: Ramses 4 and 9, meninbita and Tut. Queen Hatshupset temple complex was just as good - the Queen Pharoah who ruled through two kings for 22 years.
Back to the boat for lunch and launching up the Nile. The vendors in the canoes (one paddling, one hawking) who were hawking from the water the night before came back. d*** was sitting at his open window when a kaftan (a pretty one in his size) came flying through the window four metres above water level. "hello!hello!""Ali Baba! Ali Baba!" the cry from below. Looks out and there's a canoe with one guy paddling like the clappers against the current (someone should tell them about the invention of paddles - they were rowing with lumps of 4 x 2) and the other trying to persuade someone to buy what they had on display in the canoe (or hurled through the window of unsuspecting guests). Jeannie was watching with great amusement from our cabin until they spotted her. She ended up buying a table cloth and napkins that she liked. Went through the routine of bargaining from boat to canoe, they threw the goods up for us to snatch from the air, then a parcel to put money in and toss back down. Wonder how much ends in the water. They kept going for hours before we launched, circling the boat looking for sales. We finally launched after lunch - got a head of steam up and the hawkers are still alongside!! Pictured their paddlers with their 4x2s in a blur trying to keep up but they'd actually tied up to the boat and stayed that way for hours "hello! Hello!" until we reached the lock - alternately hawking and sleeping.
Cruised up the Nile for hours on the sun deck watching the villages and fields sliding by. The long watery thread of the Nile giving water, soil and life to the people, and just behind that long narrow fertile strip the dry dusty desert on all sides - 96% of Egypt is desert. Sunset on the Nile and we approached the lock. Sayed warned us to lock our windows while we were in the lock because the hawkers gather to sell their goods and have been known to jump in through the window and help themselves. Fun and games in the dock - free for all between the hawkers and the passengers with some deals still not finalized. Credit to the hawker - he sprinted/shuffled/sprinted up to the next lock 800 metres up still cutting a deal on the run with his remaining breath. Got his deal. After the locks we steamed on up the Nile.