Transcript Luxor, Suez Canal, Pyramids, Sun Boat

Around the World in
60 Days
Safaga, Egypt
Luxor, Karnak Temple, Valley of Kings,
Suez Canal, Cario, Pyramid, Solar Boat
March 11 to May 10, 2009
China Airline – Honolulu to Hong Kong
Tahitian Princess – Hong Kong to Dover
Queen Mary 2 – Southampton to New York
Delta Airline – New York to Honolulu
TAHITIAN PRINCESS ROUTE
Salaga, Luxor, Valley of Kings
April 13, 2009
Salaga
Luxor
3.5 hr bus trip from Port to Luxor
Safaga, Egypt 4/13/2009
Karnak: Temple of Amun-King of Gods -
Row of Ram Headed Sphinxes Leading to Nile River
Colossus of Ramses II – with Daughter at feet
Scarab – Dung Beetle
West - Valley of Kings (Dead)
Sun Goes Down
Nile River Luxor - Living - East
Sun Comes Up
Queen
Hatchepsut
Temple and
Tomb
Temple of Luxor
Suez Canal Transit 4/15/2009
Isthmus of Suez is 100 miles long. The Canal
opened 11/1869. Built by the French and
nationalized in 1952. The battle over the control
of the canal and the two Arab-Israel wars
resulted in the closure between 1967 and 1973.
Port Said was destroyed and rebuilt after 1973.
 In Morning a convoy of ships moves south and
another moves north. They pass in Bitter Lake
about half way.

Ships awaiting turn in Morning
4/15/2009 Pyramids and Solar Boat
Built before 2500 B.C.
Pyramids
Port Said
Cheops (Khufu) – Chephren
2589 BC
2558-2532
- Mycerinus
2532-2504
Cheops’s Solar Boat Museum
C
The 4600 year old Boat
On South side of Cheop’s Pyramid an air and water
tight hole 31 meters long and 6 meters deep
covered by 41 limestone blocks.
The pit lay undisturbed for 46 centuries and housed
a dismantled cedar wood boat 43.5 m long, made
of 1224 pieces marked by the Cheops’s
constructor in hieratic script codes.
Reassembling the boat took 14 years and first
displayed in 1982.
The museum covers the shaft where the boat was
found with the boat above it with the bow
directed westward as it originally lay. Five pairs
of oars 8.5 meters in length extend from the side
and a pair of steering oars across the stern to
stabilize the vessel. It had been used in royal
occasions on the Nile and probably carried
Cheop’s body from Memphis to Giza.
The boat points to the west to follow Ra, the sun
god, in his day-time journey westward across the
skies and during his night-time journey beneath
the earth.
The solar boat was intended to be used by the
deceased Pharaoh in his eternal life as he
journeyed across the sky from east to west to be
united with Ra.
Ancient Egyptians believed in the necessity of boats
to approach the land that lay beyond the horizon,
where the Gods dwelled. Because boats were the
only form of transport in antiquity, the Sun God
Ra, used a Sun barge for his journey across the
sky in the day and then for the night journey
under the earth thru the land of the dead.
Joints were made either with ropes of grass or by
small pin-like pieces of sycamore wood. The
beams were held together by ropes set through
holes that only pierce the inside of each plank
with leather battens lashed underneath to seal
each crack. As the lashings tighten in water,
these strips made caulking unnecessary.
The deck has three sections. The royal quarters has
18 wooden columns topped with papyrus-bud
which housed the Pharaoh and boat captain. The
prow and stern simulates a bunch of papyrus as
the royal vessel is a wooden replica of a papyrus
reed boat dating back into prehistory.
We had heard about the boat being found when we
visited the Pyramids in 1980 and hoped to be able
to visit it after it was put on display.
Lights for Night Show
Sphinx
The Nile Hotel across from Egyptian Museum
where we stayed during 1980 trip with CL
Tutankhamen