adventures in egypt: luxor

days 5-8 were spent in luxor. today is day 9 and we're leaving to go to hurghada in a few hours. yay! scuba diving!!!

luxor is a tiny little town. the east bank, which is where most of the hotels are, is the "city". the west bank is mostly ruins and farmland for growing corn, sugar cane and sesame. luxor is a huge tourist destination. it's bit like cambodia's siem reap. there are numerous temples and ruins to visit over a multiple-kilometer radius and it takes about 3-4 days to visit most of them.

what i've been wondering is where does all the money generated by tourism go? there are plenty of hotels, ranging from very nice to decent, and one really nice, small museum, the Luxor Museum. otherwise, this town is a shit hole. and i don't think the crappiness stems from lack of resources. i think it stems from disregard. but by whom? the government? the local community? not sure. something about this place just doesn't feel right to me. none of the income generated by the tourism industry is getting invested back into the town. buildings that appear to have caved-in on themselves or were abandoned in mid-construction are everywhere. power is definitely not reliable. and other than major arteries, roads aren't paved.

this doesn't make sense. on the whole, this town is definitely making money. given the lack of maintenance of most of the ruins, the entry fees for places are high. the hotels employ a lot of people. also, the tourist-prices for everything from a can of soda to the toilet paper at public restroom are ridiculous. i've been to a lot of places but i've never had to haggle as much as i've had to do in egypt. it is such an annoyance not only because every single transaction requires haggling, but because haggling takes longer than usual since the prices that the locals start off with are so absurbly high (e.g., they'll start off at 50 EGP and go down to 5 EGP; just imagine how many rounds this takes). i'm sure that there are other places in the world that are as bad but until i get there, egypt wins my biggest-pain-in-the-ass prize.

all of that said (and i'm sure that tourists who stay within the confines of their plush hotels and/or have had to pay only one fat tourist-price for their package tour have a very different impression of luxor and egypt), i still think luxor is worth a visit. during the last few days, i went to the Luxor Temple (definitely go during the day and night), Karnak, Luxor Museum, Mummification Museum (a bit of a rip-off), Temple of Seti I, Valley of the Kings (where you can see the tomb of Tutankhamun, aka King Tut), Deir al-Bahri (mortuary of Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled as both a female queen and as a male pharoah, who has been recently getting a lot of press (photo shown)), Ramesseum, Deir al-Medina (tombs of commoners and a Ptolemaic temple) and Medina Habu. There are plenty of other places to visit but i've reached ruins-overload and decided to stop rather than force any more history down my throat. it's an amazing collection of sights densely clustered within the outskirts of one little town.

as for food, El Zaeem is good for egyptian food. you can eat in (they have good A/C!) or get take out. Oasis is a really cute place i went to for dessert (crepes) and a drink and i think it'd be a great option for non-egyptian fare. go there if you're craving good service and a mellow atmosphere with your meal (because you're not going to find that in most egyptian places).