Yunluo has seen countless times that Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo's Bedouin driver get out of the car to help up the brother who fell in front of them, smile at each other, get back in the car and continue to move forward. People who grew up in this desert should never know what it means to hit someone with a car. They are used to the hands that are handed over to them, and they are also used to handing their hands to those in need.
Yunluo couldn't help but like the people here, thinking to herself that whenever she saw them selling handicrafts, she would buy as much as she could, and she would never bargain no matter how high the price was. Unfortunately, Yunluo always bought camel wool socks and hand-woven baskets from them at low prices.
The headscarf worn by local women. There is no price hike, no rising tide, the desert people are used to using their hands to exchange for the wealth they deserve. Their Allah should have told them a long time ago that a gentleman loves money, but he gets it in a proper way.
In this small oasis, a thousand-year-old castle surprisingly survives. In this remaining castle, you can vaguely see the prosperity of the past, with several rooms with concubines' names, long corridors, workshops for making olive oil, temples for prayer, and ancestral halls for worshiping Allah and listening to saints preaching.
There are almost no tourists visiting here. Compared with the countless magnificent temples seen later in Luxor and Aswan, this castle looks so dilapidated.
Perhaps the owner of the past lived here in seclusion, enjoying the comfort of being free and unrestrained, which is something that the kings of the ancient Thebes could not understand or comprehend. To this day, it still exists quietly and lonely on this land. Although it is dilapidated, it can still make people feel pity.
In the mottled sunlight, one seems to be able to see graceful women laughing and playing, the men they love talking together, the wise men explaining devoutly, and the children running barefoot.
In front of this thousand-year-old castle in the desert, Yunluo never felt the sigh of the end of prosperity. History seemed to have no ups and downs here. Disappearance, remnants, and new births, everything seemed to happen naturally, and all Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo could do was to come and then leave.
Leaving Dhakara Oasis, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo continued to move forward and arrived at Harij Oasis, the largest oasis in the Sahara, at dusk.
Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo booked the best local hotel, and they were not disappointed. The road in front of the hotel was very clean, and the pink exterior walls matched with the lush greenery around it gave it a feeling of paradise.
I love this door. In the story of One Thousand and One Nights, there should be a beautiful princess, a handsome prince, a sinister queen, and some kind of magical bird behind such a door. When I opened the door, the waiter immediately handed me a glass of iced sour plum soup, which was really thoughtful and made me feel refreshed.
The facilities in the hotel are mostly made of wood and painted a light green. Even the best hotels in the desert are not luxurious, but simple and clean.
It makes every traveler coming from the depths of the Sahara feel warm. The evening breeze blew the curtains gently, and sleepiness swept over unnaturally. When Yuanyuan took a shower, Yunluo leaned against the head of the bed and fell asleep quickly.
There were few people dining in the hotel restaurant, and the waiter had already set up the table for Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo. The people here were as clean as this oasis, and there was no feeling of the end of the desert with rolling yellow sand. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo didn't seem to be staying in an oasis in the Sahara Desert, but more like an unknown town in Europe.
I ordered chicken rice, which was not as delicious as the Bedouin brothers', but it was enough for Yunluo to devour it all. The dessert after the meal was sweet as usual. Egypt produces a lot of sugarcane, and Egyptians love sweets. After the experience in Cairo, Yunluo hardly dared to touch such desserts. The greasy sweetness made Yunluo, who always shouted that he wanted to lose weight, feel very guilty.
After dinner, I walked around the hotel. It was past nine in the evening and there were few people on the local streets. Compared with the hustle and bustle of Cairo, it was so quiet here. Occasionally, if I met someone walking the other way, they would greet me warmly. Since I came to Egypt, I have been impressed by the friendliness of the Egyptians.
Smiling, waving, taking photos, giving you a thumbs up, inviting you to enjoy delicious food together, Egyptians express their love for you in various ways. The Muslim people are not as serious and rigid as Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo imagined, and they are not as serious and stern as they thought. They are good at singing and dancing, have a good sense of humor, and are full of enthusiasm.
On the way from Harij to Luxor, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo have to pass through the desert no-man's land for six hours, and there is no oasis to stay. In order to ensure the safety of Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo and prevent their car from breaking down accidentally, the local police will escort Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo for a distance.
Make sure the environment and the car are in good condition before returning. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were flattered by the Egyptian government's attention to tourists. Yunluo, who had previously looked down on the casual attire of the Egyptian police, now began to look at them with a new eye.
The hotel carefully prepared lunch for Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo on the road. Each person had a big bag with bread, fruit, drinks, and snacks. Unfortunately, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo had limited appetites, so basically everyone could only finish two bags of food. This reminded Yunluo of that night in the desert.
The Bedouin brothers cooked 6 kilograms of rice, which was almost equivalent to half a month's food ration for Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo. Everyone ate desperately but only finished less than one-third of it.
Along the way, hills of different sizes began to appear, and the endless desert disappeared. After escorting Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo for a while and confirming that everything was fine, the police returned to Harij. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo continued to move forward in the dust in their fantasy of Luxor.
There were no women in the small roadside shop, almost all of them were men. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo stopped to use the restroom. There was only one and it was open to both men and women, so everyone lined up to use it. The enthusiastic Egyptian uncle even turned on the flashlight on his phone and told Yunluo that it would be dark inside and asked him to be careful.
To express my gratitude, I gave them some Fengyoujing (Chinese medicinal essential oil). Peppermint is abundant in Egypt, and I don't know why they are so interested in Fengyoujing (Chinese medicinal essential oil).
In the afternoon, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo arrived at the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of Luxor. Although it was only March, the weather in Luxor was already very hot, so they had to learn from Muslims to cover their entire faces with a headscarf. In this way, others really didn't dare to confirm which country Yunluo was from.
The vendors would take turns greeting Nalanshiqi and Yunluo in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Some even used Thai.
Before leaving, I bought LP and Travel Around the World Egypt, which described the Valley of the Kings in great detail. There are more than 60 royal tombs here, burying 64 pharaohs from the 17th to the 20th dynasties.
The main tombs worth visiting in the Valley of the Kings include the tomb of Tutankhamun, the tombs of Ramses III and VI, and the tomb of Seti I. Of course, some tombs are generally not open to the public and are only used for academic research. Like the Egyptian Museum, the Valley of the Kings does not allow visitors to take photos.
Everyone has a tomb that they want to visit the most. Yunluo prefers Tutankhamun's tomb. Maybe it's because of the mysterious legend about Tutankhamun that he saw before.
It is said that before the expedition entered Tutankhamun's tomb, they saw a curse engraved on the wall: "Whoever disturbs the peace of this pharaoh will be visited by the winged death" and "He is the protector of Tutankhamun, driving away the tomb robbers with desert fire." A few months later, Lord Carnarvon was bitten on the left cheek by a mosquito in the tomb.
He died of an infection after accidentally scratching a pimple on his left cheek while shaving in the morning. His son said that when he heard the nurse's call and walked into his father's ward, all the lights in the hospital went out; his daughter also said that before his death, his father shouted, "I heard his voice calling, and I'm going to follow him!"
The doctor who examined Tutankhamun's mummy said that there was also a scar on the left cheek of the mummy, which was exactly the same as the position where Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito. In addition to Carnarvon, 22 people who participated in the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb died accidentally in the following three years and three months. The terrible curse seemed to have come true.
The Valley of the Kings is truly a massive project. All the pharaohs' tombs were carefully selected and took many years to build. Most of the gold and silver treasures originally placed in the tombs have been stolen by tomb robbers, and a small part has been moved to the Egyptian Museum.
Now, all Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo can see are mottled murals. Although they are not well preserved, they still show the extraordinary wisdom of ancient Egyptian craftsmen.
I am very glad that Adi accompanied me on this trip to Egypt. As a doctor of Egyptian archaeology, he really knows the history of Egypt like the back of his hand.
They are very proud of their nation's splendid ancient civilization. Whenever they are excited, they will speak eloquently and dance. The Valley of the Kings is undoubtedly a paradise for archaeology enthusiasts. Every character and pattern here can be traced back thousands of years. You can see a dynasty and a period of history.
After leaving the Valley of the Kings, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo came to the Temple of the Queen.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Thinking of the famous Cleopatra, the most famous woman in Egyptian history, she was only the Queen of Egypt. She did not become a queen. Cleopatra used her beauty to attract Caesar and Antony, but she could not help Egypt escape the fate of being trampled by the iron halberd of the Roman Empire.
The owner of this temple, Queen Hatshepsut, is a woman who truly became a king in Egyptian history. Hatshepsut was the daughter of Thutmose I, who lived more than 1,400 BC. She had pure Egyptian blood, was smart and beautiful. After Thutmose I died, there was no legitimate son to inherit the throne, according to the ancient Egyptian theory of bloodline.
A bastard son can only inherit after marrying a legitimate daughter. So she married her half-brother, Thutmose II, and gave birth to a daughter, Neferi. After Thutmose II died, there was no legitimate son, so his bastard son could only inherit after marrying Princess Neferi. But because he was too young.
So Hatshepsut temporarily served as regent, and soon after, she announced to the Egyptian people that she was the daughter of the god Amun and officially declared herself the king of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Queen Hatshepsut reigned for 22 years, and achieved fruitful results in domestic and foreign affairs, and also vigorously developed maritime trade. When her illegitimate son grew up, he began to desire the throne. This man was Thutmose III, who had made great military achievements in history and expanded Egypt's territory unprecedentedly. He began to win over the priests of Karnak to prepare for his ascension to the throne.
Then Queen Hatchepsut suddenly disappeared mysteriously in history. Soon after, her illegitimate son ascended the throne and in order to erase the history that Egypt had been ruled by Hatchepsut, he ordered the removal of all records about the queen from Egyptian soil.
In the Queen's Temple, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo could see statues of the queen with their faces scraped off and the queen's name erased and incomplete everywhere. They felt regretful and at the same time couldn't help but feel pity.
While visiting the statue of Menon, many local children surrounded Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo. Yunluo and Yuanyuan took out snacks from their backpacks to give them as they did before. The situation became uncontrollable. Dozens of children of different ages suddenly emerged from nowhere and all asked Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo for things.
Zhang and Yang told Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo to get in the car quickly. The children still surrounded Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo's car and kept banging on the door. Suddenly, they didn't seem cute at all. They didn't have the simplicity and innocence of the children in the desert. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo's Adi finally got angry and scolded the children in Arabic.
The sky of Kenya is dominated by birds! It reminds Yunluo of the saying "Eagles soar in the sky."
Haha, I see the lazy African people again. Africans are like this, poor, happy, and live a lazy life. A roasted cassava may be a meal, and then drink some water, and you're full!
It is really a tourist country, and there are safari vehicles everywhere. Most of the local public transportation in Kenya is also like this. They are parked together, and the ticket sellers are shouting loudly under the cars to attract passengers.
Yunluo is a person who likes to enjoy life. She planned the daily accommodation expenses before the trip. However, "plans cannot keep pace with changes". On the first day, she was taken to a place that looked like a chain hotel by Kamau, whom Yunluo had always trusted. Despite Yunluo's constant opposition, Yunluo didn't want to make herself unhappy during the trip. Yunluo told herself to bear it. At that time, Yunluo was thinking, this is a journey for one person. The ups and downs have begun to take turns. Yunluo has to learn to deal with these emergencies!
At the entrance of the small hotel, do you know what the black pole on the ground at the entrance is? Every car entering must pass through it for inspection! It is a bomb inspection equipment. It once again reminded Yunluo that Yunluo was already in a distant foreign country.
Yunluo didn't take any photos of the $90 room because she was in a bad mood. She didn't expect to stay in such a place on the first day. Yunluo likes hotels with beautiful outdoor swimming pools, big and beautiful restaurants, big and bright rooms, big and soft double beds, and big bathrooms. (To be continued...)