HURGHADA AND LUXOR, Egypt - THE RED
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Hurghada
April 9
We were so thankful to get tied up
safely to the dock in Hurghada Marina. Lucky to have made it
because our weather window slammed shut. We had our first Med
moor experience, meaning that the bow is tied to a cement wall
and the stern is tied to mooring balls. This makes for some
creative acrobatics to get on and off the boat!
It was blowing very hard in the
marina and the first night all the boats were threatening to
bang into each other; one of our mooring balls was pulled right
out! A huge dive boat on the outside wall, sank, pulling another
boat down with it. This morn there was a Mayday called by a
fishing boat also. Not a day to be "out there." And again, we
have another layer of brown filthy sandy dust all over
everything! |
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Marina Life
The marina was surrounded by
contemporary buildings, all vacant. But the city was only a
block away so it was easy to get supplies and the marina
offered facilities for internet, fuel, propane and laundry. |
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Our priority was to assess the
damage down to the engine. Gord discovered that the breakage of
the brass replacement part that was made in Cairo stripped the
gears on our camshaft. The bits of brass were imbedded through
the oil pump into the oil pan, timing gear housing and all
through the engine. The crank gear and the cam gear were badly
damaged.
Then came the arduous task of
removing the damaged gears from the crankshaft without
dismantling the entire engine, a feat which everyone said could
not be done. Since we did not have the specialized tools
required, ever-resourceful Gord spent days and days building
tools to do this. He drilled holes in sockets and attached
screws and spare fittings and constructed guides for the gears
out of anything he could find lying around. In the end, he had
to grind down the crank gear into pieces to release it from the
shaft.
We found a cow magnet at a local
shop and managed to secure it to the end of a coat hanger to
retrieve the steel bits out of the oilpan. Getting the brass out
was much trickier and the process took many many days of
patiently wiping the inside of the engine gathering a mountain
of tiny bits of metal shrapnel and using pinchers to remove the
foreign particles. |
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Our search for new gears was
exhausting. We still needed the plastic gear, but now also
the crank gear, cam gear, tack sensor, seals, etc, etc. Luckily
we had internet so used Skype to call all over the world. After
talking and
emailing no less than 30 suppliers we were able to source all
but the crank gear, which we were told was obsolete, no longer
made. Of course we still had to deal with how to get the parts
into the country. To import parts into Egypt, one has to hire an
agent and pay a minimum $300/shipment plus agent fees. And then
there is all the baksheesh that would be on top of that!
It finally became apparent to us
that we were not going to be able to obtain a replacement cam
gear as the part, made for our 20 year old engine) was obsolete.
There was a world wide call put out to see if someone had one
sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust. No result.
Augusta had a friend
visiting them from Norway so we arranged for her to bring the
crank gear, along with some seals and other parts we were able
to order in Norway. This relieved us of the custom and duty
hassles for some of the problem. She was due to arrive in only a
couple of days so we felt ourselves very lucky!
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First stop
Memnon Colossus
A massive pair of statues rise 18 meters above
the plain. The faceless statues one of which is believed to be of the
legendary Memnon, King of Ethiopia, are the remains of what was once the
largest complex of the 'West Bank, covering a larger area than Karnak.
The disappearance was the result of it lying on the flood plains of the Nile
which caused it to be eroded away through the centuries.
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The stark hillsides were dotted with dwellings
where people lived amongst numerous holes excavated into the rock, the
remains of burial places from long ago. |
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Alabaster
Of course there was the mandatory
Alabaster Shop Stop. It was actually quite interesting to
see the demonstration of how they worked with the stone. An
array of items carved from different minerals found in the area
including grey, white and pink alabaster were offered for sale. |
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Karnak Temple
Located about three kilometers north of Luxor,
the Karnak Temple is encompases 247 acres of land. Although badly
ruined, the Temple is an impressive sight. It is the largest temple complex
ever built covering a site almost a mile by two miles in area, and
represents the combined achievement of approximately 30 pharaohs,
built and enlarged over a 1300 year period beginning in the 16th century BC. |
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The main Avenue running West to East within the complex leading towards the
Hipostyle Hall
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The Hypostyle Hall is considered to
be one of the world's greatest architectural masterpieces.It is filled with 134
enormous andstone pillars, the highest 70 feet tall, and each about 45 feet
around. The whole thing covers 64,586 sq ft. The walls, ceilings and
columns are painted with the natural earth tones.
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The reliefs throughout the hall contain
symbolism
of Creation. |
The outer walls of the Hypostyle Hall are
covered with scenes of battle. |
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The Temple of Karnak is actually three
main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples and
chapels, 25 in all. The largest and most important group in the site is the
central enclosure, the Great Temple of Amun. Sanctuaries,
obelisks, and groups of columns all feature accounts of the heroic deeds of
the sponsoring pharaoh. |
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Obelisk of
Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC)
The tallest standing obelisk, it is 97 feet
(29.6m) high and weighs approximately 320 tons.
The pink granite for the obelisk was quarried at
Aswan, which is several hundred miles south of Karnak.
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We saw the mate to this obelisk while in
Istanbul, Turkey |
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We started to recognize letters from the
Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet. |
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The temple area is in constant state of reconstruction. |
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Karnak contains the temple of Mut, |
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After a couple of hours at Karnak it was back into the mini bus. A stop at a
Papyrus Factory where they demonstrated how paper was made using the reeds
from the Nile River. A gallery full of painting on papyrus paper were offered
for sale.
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Lunch on the Nile
We had an amazing buffet lunch, seated right on
the banks of the Nile. We watched the boat traffic which consisted of
tourboats, river cruise boats, ferries and sailing feluccas.
After lunch we boarded a ferry that portaged us
across the river to rejoin our bus headed for the tombs of the Pharaohs. |
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Valley of the Kings
We drove a twisty road through the desolate
mountain landscape, the heat waves dancing off the highway.
The Valley of the Kings, in Thebes, is the
burial place of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom,18th,19th, and 20th
Dynasties. To date, more than 62 tombs have been identified.
Most of the tombs were cut into the limestone
hills following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a
sunken sarcophagus chamber. These catacombs were harder to rob and were more
easily concealed. Construction usually lasted six years, beginning with the
new reign.
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We ascended into 3 of the tombs where the
pharaohs body and worldly wealth were once laid. The walls were adorned with
paintings, perhaps of the events of the pharaohs life. Much of the color
still remained although none of it was protected from roaming hands or
graffiti. you were not allowed to take photos and we saw one tourist that
was being threatened to have his camera confiscated. |
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Hatshepsut Temple
A long walkway and staircase led to The Temple of Deir El-Bahri, one
of the most characteristic temples in the whole of Egypt, due to its design
and decorations. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the
other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period.
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The Temple was built for the great Queen Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty), to
commemorate her achievements and to serve as a funerary Temple for her.
Hatshepsut was a woman who dared to challenge the tradition of male kingship.
She died from undisclosed causes after imposing her will for a time.
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The three-tiered temple was found beneath
hundreds of tons of sand tens of centuries after its construction. Two ramps
connect the three levels.
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The sphinxes had the heads of Hatshepsut, and
she is also represented as a lion in some of the temple's reliefs
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There was military presence throughout the complex packing their Oozies
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The surrounding barren hillsides were dotted with hundreds of holes that were
the remains of tombs in the rock face from the 18th Dynasty.
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We headed back to town on the Western Bank and
marvelled at the traditional customs of the farming community where the
donkey still has its major role.
Since our bus wasn't due to join the convoy back
to Hurghada for a couple of hours, we took a river cruise down the Nile.
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River Cruise
Our boat put-putted down the river, slaloming
around feluccas which were drifting with the current in the still air. |
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Feluccas are traditional wooden sail
boats that have been used on the Nile for thousands of years. The rig consists
of one or two sails usually full of holes but they seem to do the job all the
same.
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We passed fields of rice and other crops growing in the rich fertile soil of the
farming lands bounding the Nile.
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Our boat pulled up to the shore and we hopped off at the head of a trail leading
to a little restaurant which was in the middle of a banana plantation. Of
course, we were served bananas.
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Shisha
Our guide took the opportunity to relax with a
Shisha (water pipe), with is the custom in Egypt.
This ancient water
pipe has been used for centuries to smoke away the day's stress, while relaxing
with friends and family. |
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Shisha is a
Middle-Eastern smoking tradition that began hundreds of years before the
invasion of the big American cigarette companies. There are numerous cafes
where one can lie on long cushions and spend the time talking to your
friends and enjoying this Arab delight. Tobacco is soaked in fruit shavings
such as strawberry, apples or grapes. This mixture is then smoked through a
large water pipe. Men and women of the upper classes in the Arab world have
been entertaining guests with hookah pipes for centuries. |
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Gord checks out an array of pipes. |
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Our bus returned to Hurghada and we arrived
about midnight feeling that we had seen a lot that day!
Back in the Engine Room...
A few days later our parts arrived, including
the new crank gear, but of course we still did not have a replacement cam
gear.
There was no option but to try and
reuse the damaged cam gear so Gord proceeded to resurrect and
smooth the teeth as best he could using a hacksaw, file and
sandpaper, hoping there were enough teeth left to mesh with the
crank gear.
Once again Gord used his home built
tools to refit the gears. The shaft was cooled with ice and the
gears were heated on the propane stove to make them slide onto
the shaft using the sleeves that Gord had made so the shaft
would not push thru the back of the engine. Gord equated
the process to performing brain surgery with a hammer and
chisel!
Days later, the engine was put back
together with all the seals replaced with new. Nervously we
started the engine, dreading another horrendous clamour that
would mean our permanent stay in Egypt. Another bout of
rattle, rattle, crunch crunch crunch!! as the old damaged
gear meshed with the new, breaking off some of the teeth on the
new gear. But the noise stopped before we could shut down the
engine so once we retrieved the additional bits of metal from
the oilpan, the resulting union of the gears seemed to be okay.
There were all sorts of new issues
that evolved, as happens when you start messing with a 20 year
old engine (ie, stripped bolts, corroded parts, etc). A major
challenge was when the engine was started, it would begin to rev
faster and faster to a screaming loud runaway pitch whereby Gord
had to rush down and smother the air intake to get it stopped. A
very scary sound as I was sure the engine would blow!! It took a
while to figure out that the culprit was a missing tiny ball
bearing with a hole in it that was suppose to be on the
governor. Since we couldn't find the little piece, Gord made
one, using his Dremel tool and an acorn screw head. It worked!!!
April 23/08
It was hard to maintain an optimistic attitude
of escaping the clutches of Egypt but finally there was a promising 3
day weather window, just in time as our 2 month Visa was running out fast.
So we set off, on a lick and a prayer, hoping to get all the way to Port
Suez in one 2 day hop. |
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