March 09, 2006

From the Dark Streets of Africa-3
I was dreaming in real life while boat was sailing

When the Prophet Mousa called on the Pharaoh to accept the one true God, he got angry and ran to arrest and kill him. Mousa escaped trying to save his live but the Pharaoh chased behind to arrest him. Suddenly Mousa approached to the Nile River. It was very difficult time for Mousa, as there was big and Deep River on front, if he went in he would definitely die, if he stayed, the Pharaoh would capture and kill him. This was time when Mousa made his famous decision, which I personally have heard almost hundreds of time from my grandmother.
It was my grandmother’s most effective weapon to make me sleep, when I couldn’t or wouldn’t sleep my grandmother would come and lay down next to me and would offer a choice of stories and I had to select one of them. There were two stories I wanted to hear again and again, one was story of fourth Islamic Caliph Ali when he captured one of the temples, the second was Mousa’s escape from the pharaoh.
It’s almost seven years since I have lost my lovely grandmother, but today once more I was thinking of her, and screaming emotionally, as I was on a boat, sailing on that river, which I heard about hundreds times from a person who never been and never see this place personally.
It was noon, on 5th February of 2006, when our guide Linda announced that we would have lunch at a panoramic restaurant located just in other side of Nile River, while we were returning from historical mountains of the Valley of Kings in central part of Egypt. We had to cross this river by boat, the same river that I for so long wanted to visit as soon as I could. I had been inspired by my grandmother’s stories many years ago. She couldn’t visit the river in her lifetime and I don’t know whether she wanted to, but because of her stories gave the river a special meaning for me. While the boat was sailing I was also thinking about history of this river which have seen such epic events, and where the race between Mousa and Pharaoh took place. Today no one knows where exactly where that race took place, but wherever it was, it’s for sure that this was somewhere along this river.
When we were approaching the other side of the river my lovely guide honey was briefing me about the river. As I remember, he said that ‘this is one of the longest river [delta] extends between Cairo and the Mediterranean Sea from Alexandra to Port Said. And this is delta considered to be a great labyrinth of channels and fields covering a flat 22,000-km expanse where some 15 million people live’.
This delta divides the Egyptian capital Cairo as well as running through the middle of the historical city of Luxor – or Arabic version of name is El Uksur, [once it was capital of Egyptian in middle age of Kingdom]. The entire life was shaped on both sides of Nile, even in many areas boats were playing the role that Rickshaws play in many cities of India and Pakistan.
Of the many attractions of Nile river, I have been frequently told that this is the town where life has stopped thousands years ago, in some aspects it was really true, despite the modern vehicles of tourists, and hundreds of cars, donkeys could still be seen as part of local transport system.
The designs of shops were mostly years old, streets were extremely narrow and full of an unusual crowd of people and other trappings of daily life. The look of people was the same as those from any Muslim underdeveloped country in Africa or Asia, mainly the long dress and white turbans. But since it was center of the land of Pharaohs, it seemed it was an important place for the period of ancient Egypt. According to my guide Honey this was also the Holy City of Amon Ra [the God of Pharaohs] which means it was a spiritual, intellectual and economic center of ancient Egypt.
The competition between Pharaohs, particularly those of the XVII and XIX dynasties, to improve the temples of the gods, enlarging and embellishing them after each great battle or event, turned this into one of the most monumental cities of the ancient world.
In next part of my diary I will take you into world’s biggest open museum, which built almost 4,000 BC, and today’s it’s one of world’s attractive place to visit and it has listed by UNESCO’s as world treasure. We also will visit the temple of Amon Ra- the strongest God of ancient Egypt.