Perspectives of Time

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities is leading the archaeological excavations around Karnak that have become possible as a result of the lowering of the water level. During its busy history the Karnak Temple site was a place for pilgrims and a place for health. This ancient spa and bath complex was found directly in front of the Karnak temple.

One of the ancient Roman drains has survived to modern times in very good condition. Archaeologists of the Egypt Supreme Council of Antiquities have discovered and excavated the drain shown below - more than 1500 years old.

Excavations in Luxor continue to uncover a lost world. Near the Avenue of Sphinxes a very ancient well has been found far below the surface.

The Mosque of Abu Hagag was mentioned in another, more popular Blog . . . . and here is another interesting part of the story. The oldest of the minarets rests mostly upon a wooden foundation stretched between the two ancient stone roof beams.

Inside the house of Hassan Fathy we see this perspective of the inner court yard.

And from the top of the mountain we see . . . . just about everything!

Fathy, Fish and Faith

Hassan Fathy is called Egypt's most renowned architect since Imhotep - who was the builder of the Saqqara funerary complex almost 5000 years ago. In the late 1940's Hassan Fathy was commissioned by the then Egyptian government to provide a housing solution for people to be moved away from the site of the Egyptian tombs. His innovative solution - the constructed community of New Quorna - was built barely a kilometre from our flat and incorporated use of low cost mud brick, domes and arches inspired by the ancient structures he saw in the pharaonic temples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Fathy

The new town was rejected by its intended residents - who did not wish to leave their original homes built upon the ancient tombs and which provided a steady income from stolen treasures. But Fathy's ideas and designs survived and inspired architects in western nations ever since. His distinctive domes and design elements have returned to Egypt in the works of The American architect Michael Graves and his creations at resort properties at El Gouna on the Red Sea and the Hyatt Regency resort on the gulf of Aqaba.
http://taba.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

Today, the remains of Fathy's New Qorna town have mostly crumbled into ruin with the exception of a handfull of buildings. Fathy's own house, where he lived during construction of the project (shown below) is in poor condition and starting to fall down.


The operators of small museum at the site are hopeful that someone, probably an international aid agency, might help preserve the ruins and preserve this site of architectural innovation.
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A walk through the Luxor souk can reveal some interesting discoveries. Fish from the Nile continue to be trapped and brought to market. These various distinctive fish species are often shown carved or painted on the walls of tombs.


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The Luxor Coptic Cathedral continues to rise in the heart of Luxor. Egypt typically bans the construction of churches and it took 30 years for the local community to gain permission to build this cathedral on the site of another church. It has three floors inside to accommodate the thousands of worshippers who will attend services. Approximately 40% of Luxor's half million citizens are Christian.

Time to Climb

The Nile Valley is full of cool air yesterday and today, streaming southward and bringing clear skies overhead. Such a cool day, late in winter and on the edge of the hot season was an opportunity to climb the mountain that wasn't to be missed. Notwithstanding the supervision of the cabinet work - I took a 2 hour break and rode my bike to Quorna mountain for a quick sprint up the mountain. The clear air provided for the best pictures of the year.

Here is a perspective from the mountain towards Luxor. Our building is located in the bottom right hand corner - just a short walk from the river.



Part of the ongoing kitchen cabinet construction involves custom fitting of the granite counter-tops. The nearest workshop is the street.

Industrial Alleys Working

The dark alleys of Luxor are alive with industry – carpenters, iron weavers, painters, and scores of vendors of all that China can make. Back amidst the dust and darkness I have been visiting over the past weeks to follow the creation of a new set of kitchen cupboards.

Streets of Time – Destinations Pending

There have been several urban renewal projects in Egypt over the past 10 years – though not yet enough. Alexandria was renewed first - in coordination with USAID water projects that made the City safer to live in. The corniche was improved and the old town centre was cleaned up. In Qena, north of Luxor, another urban renewal program improved streets and utilities with impressive results including public pride and satisfaction.

In Luxor there is more of a challenge. Layers of architectural riches are in the way and many people cling to the far edge of poverty and their small homes of rough brick – in the path of change – maybe all they have in life. As the city tackles changes, inconvenience and distress a new Luxor is rising out of the broken bricks. The new Luxor works better, moves faster, is more convenient, and even safer. It protects and showcases the temples and shows tourism – the foundation of the economy - a better time. The average citizen, in an average day, is also starting to feel the benefit. East of the railway tracks new neighbourhoods are built on a planned grid of newly paved roads. Beside the train station a new bus station moves people quickly from train to village. Beside the bus station is a new market – conveniently located for people to buy food on their way home. New bridges eliminate the former gridlock. None of these measures are a solution to the ongoing population explosion – but solving THAT problem will require more of the vision, planning, and commitment shaping the City now.

This old apartment building (below), featured in an earlier post, is for removal as it encroaches upon the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

To be or not to be. This old building below holds the Famous Oasis Cafe (David Munro, Proprietor), and a popular dentist's office, planned for demolition in a couple more years - and so still has some chance of being reconsidered for survival.

The building (below) featured in the demolition video of a couple days ago is continuing its journey to street level.

This urban dairy relic of past decades supplies local milk vendors who sell milk from metal cans strapped to the side of motorcycles. The Governor's compensation plans should provide the operators of this business with a new start in a better location.

Far away on the West Bank of the Nile a new "dewatering" project is wrapping a protective barrier around the remains of ancient temples on the edge of the desert. Soon, the lowered water levels will permit new excavations and the next step to create the "World's Largest Open Air Museum".

Five minutes above a thousand mile journey

It is just a ribbon of water which takes no time to cross – but it is the planet’s greatest river carrying mostly rainwater from the Ethiopian highlands to the sea. Some may take it for granted – but every passing drop tells a story and every passing moment shows some sort of beauty to this growing dusty City.

A view westward - Mount Quorna is the peak on the far right.

The grey glow of first twilight gives the water surface a metallic sheen.

Monday night and the boats have arrived from Aswan and are stacked six deep along the East bank of the river. Passengers access the shore through the lobbies of the adjoining boats.

A Season to Every Time

In Luxor the season is Spring and turning to summer. The Time Traveller’s Wife rests in her Palm Palace in the shadow of Qourna mountain, surrounded by bright fields and migrating song birds. And mind-numbing heat is also migrating this way. I tell her about a new cool land – far to the west – filled with polite people – an orderly and educated society – with good food and true friends. She once was there, I remind her, before a treacherous employer’s jealousy stung her heart beside the Nile. In this new land she will find family, I tell her; people who speak her language, interesting work, and a life to remind her of happier times. So spoke the Time Traveller – who has seen these things in his travels. Her eyes held interest, but scepticism too. As I pressed my point, the breeze scattered reflections upon the Nile and my words were blurred. The evening breeze helped a felucca downstream, and the current held it fast.

1 PM Mountain Time

. . . was best to ensure maximum challenge and heat stress on a day forecast to reach 38 C during another climb up Mount Qourna. It was last Friday, first a water drinking binge and then I filled my pockets with more bottles (water mixed with electrolytes) and rode my bicycle to Deir El Madina. The result is shown in the Qourna mountain trilogy videos.

There was cool dry desert breeze blowing during the climb and at the top of the mountain. In another week or so I expect to challenge the mountain again in the true Luxor heat of 40 +.

Building Up and Taking Down

Taking advantage of this temporal rift that has dropped him beside the Nile in some preceding century, the Time Traveller has tried to secure some kitchen cabinetry in the far away alleys of East Luxor - at 8th century prices. Only a few more days remain until delivery and installation and upon completion the Time Traveller’s work here will be almost done.
Elsewhere in Luxor, buildings are coming down.

And change . . . in this land, represents a new wayto the glories of the past.

Dairy Vignette

We have many requests for the video of the land zoning issue involving the Gamoosa (water buffalo) dairy farm - discovered in downtown Luxor beside the path of demolition which is uncovering the ancient Avenue of the Sphinxes.

I think this farm is a relic of earlier decades when the Avenue of Sphinxes was a green pasture and still used for agriculture.



I can only hope that these urban Gamoosa will find their way to a proper farm somewhere with green grass and less dust.

A Capital Place

Sheik Abu Hagag was supposedly the first “Sheik” of Luxor. When Islam swept out of the desert and into Luxor a mosque was constructed on top of the remains of Luxor Temple. The ongoing Luxor excavations and restorations that are part of the development work included uncovering the temple within which the mosque was constructed. Unlike some restorations, the work done to restore the Abu Haggag mosque in Luxor temple is magnificent for its subtle fusion of old and ancient and the selection of architectural fabric from the 18th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Haggag_Mosque

Yesterday . . .

. . . included an unusual collection of activities. A trip to the Valley of the Kings with some British tourists. We had hoped to accompany the famous “Mut Lady” on a research expedition to the tomb of Thutmoses III but her schedule of classes and end-of-term exams caused her to cancel. So, the rest of us visited the interpretation site and some of the famous decorated tombs.

By mid-afternoon a short-cut through the fields to the ferry resulted in chance encounter with a mysterious native woman with gold hair carrying a magical wand.

Her manner was mysterious and she predicted that early the next day many large coloured balls would fall from the sky! . . . .

A small boat was hired for the river crossing – landing near the refurbished and lengthened “SUDAN” – a restored paddlewheeler. In this boat the President of France, Sarkozy, and Carla stayed on during their last visit to Luxor.

Days Between Time

Between our efforts of trying to finish "this" or complete "that" are the days not unlike the eddies in a river's stream. Here we turn slowly in circles and tend to minor tasks that are close at hand. The views on such days are simple but busy as they are on this day which included a trip to the bank, to the cell-phone office, to a grocery store and back again across the river. The trip back begins with a short video of the motor launch leaving from below the winter palace.




These motor boat trips across the Nile cost 5 L.E. for locals such as myself (about 80 cents). This Time Traveller's frequent dealings with airline companies pursuades him to add a 1 L.E. "fuel surcharge" for any destination significantly off the straight line path across the river.

Despite recent development projects, parts of the West Bank of Luxor still have a rustic view to them.



It is difficult to imagine how the Nile must have teemed with abundant wildlife in ancient times . . . as we are reminded of by this view of a water hen passing the boat.



On the final road back in the 39C heat, there is yet another example of Egypt's agricultural fertility. Before the banana trees grow and begin to shade the land with their large leaves, the land can be used to grow another crop simultaneously - in this case either eggplant or zucchini.

Mountain Views

Since my Chinese made elliptical exercise machine has some maintenance problems – it has become a challenge to maintain satisfactory fitness for my cardio-vascular system. The solution is to bicycle to Quorna mountain and quickly sprint to the top of the 1000 foot high hill. Another solution is to slowly stagger to the top of the mountain while breathing frantically and listening to my heart pound against side of my chest. Yesterday I took this second option with my former secretary, who is presently studying to be a tour guide – with her first aid training she is fully qualified to escort aging tourists.The Time Traveller’s wife was relieved of her mountain climbing duties - preferring her computer with visions of pottery sherds dancing in her head.

Upon arrival at Deir El Medina (The Monastery of the City) we documented some exhibits in the tourist rest area.

Near the top of the mountain we practiced making YouTube videos – soon to appear on the internet.

After her graduation, El Muwazafa (The employee) will appear on the Web as the Famous Tour Guide - “Mut Lady” – so named because she was raised beside the Sacred Lake of Mut Temple near Karnak.

Here she is practicing a “wrap” for future web videos.

Memory Lane

In Luxor, as part of the City’s ongoing development plan, the last wall along the ancient road linking Luxor and Karnak temples has been removed revealing a clear line-of-sight between these two famous locations. Soon this messy row of bricks and excavations will be restored to its former glory and tourists will be able to recreate the ancient festival parades along its length.



When one tears away at the old heart of Luxor’s town, one never knows what is to be found. Right beside the old apartment building featured in an earlier blog I discovered a dairy farm with ten water buffalo quietly munching away at old sunken feed troughs dating to at least 30 years ago when the area was still pasture.

Water sticks together . . .

. . .and pulling it apart has a chilling affect on air and apartments.

The new evaporative cooler – purchased and installed for less than 400 USD has been tested with good results. At 38 C outside the chiller kept the apartment in the mid 70s Fahrenheit.

The Psychrometric Chart below combines enthalpy calculations in a combination intended to allow prediction of the expected cooling. The chart shows that with outside air at 120 F (50 C) and 20 % relative humidity, we may expect to have between 75 F and 80 F inside the apartment – more or less.

The charts of average temperature and humidity for Luxor suggest the system might keep the apartment cool right through the heat of the summer – for about 100 watts of energy and a few gallons of water per day. So far, we have only tested it o 38 C. We shall see – Preferably our new renters will discover how well it works!

Egypt’s electrical energy use has been steadily increasing as a result of growing population, disposable income, and air conditioning. But it won’t be hard to reduce energy use here. The flat landscape and compact urban environments are perfect for electrical vehicle usage. Photo-voltaics could generate sufficient power for distributed battery charging. Most buildings south of Cairo could use evaporative cooling. The simple solutions applied at our apartment here in Luxor could reduce upper middle income household energy use to a fraction of present use.

I have some local engineer friends who have just had their government project concelled by the ministry due to a shortage of funds. I am meeting them next week – maybe I can suggest they start their own “Green Company”.

From Beach - to Abyss

A shock – I am suddenly thrown 1200 years back in time – to modern day Egypt. I am back in Luxor, and I discover my wife has been entranced by a mysterious cat named Calypso and spends her days blogging and eating cookies shaped like Lotus flowers. The apartment has been ravaged by contractors. I must fix it in just a few weeks – before this odyssey takes me from 8^th century heat to the cool of Canada. Must . . . not . . .look at Cat . . . . must not . . . .eat Lotus cookies. . . .

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To enter this abyss of dark time, I have crossed a line of conflict – the “Clash of Civilizations” pitting the corrupt counter-intuitive wasteful Western Ways against the Blissful Way of righteousness untroubled by consciousness. This conflict presents a moral and ethical dilemma that threatens to force us into opposing camps . . what camp shall we follow?

Camp 1 - The Corrupt Western Way . . . .

Camp 2 - the Blissful moral path of righteousness . . . .

Tough call.

Jonathon Livingston Seagull

A few generations ago ancestors of mine went to the sea in ships on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and hauled their cod fish over the gunnels while being bounced in waves and beaten upon by rain, wind, fog, and occasional large pieces of ice. Since then, the sea still holds a firm grip upon the descendants of those struggling Irish expatriates – myself among them. A few days by the beach leaves me most of all with a feeling of belonging and not knowing why. Someday soon I shall come back here and fly along these dunes and listen to the surf crash below me.