Meanwhile, back in Ethiopia...

We're taking a break from the posts about our turn-of-the-year trip to Egypt to bring you...Timkat ጥምቀት! And what is Timkat, you may be asking yourself? Well, you can visit the highlighted link I've provided and read about it yourself, but in short Timkat is the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrating Christ's baptism, and features three days of dancing and singing. This year's holiday fell on Monday the 21st, coinciding with the American Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, and giving us a three-day weekend. I knew it was going to be a big event as the street in front of our house was festooned with colorful strips of paper beginning earlier in the week, but just how important a holiday it is only became apparent starting yesterday (Sunday).

I rode my bike yesterday afternoon to get some long-overdue exercise and noticed that traffic was much lighter than usual. Decorations could be seen here and there...:

...while the Karl Square traffic circle was festooned with green, red and yellow banners (the Ethiopian national colors):

It was when I was riding back to the Pushkin Square roundabout only to find it closed to vehicular traffic that I realized the celebrations had begun:

Arriving home, I convinced the wife and child to go out with me and have a look. Shu-E needed to buy eggs anyway from a nearby shop, so we decided to combine shopping with sightseeing:

As it turned out, we ran into a full-scale procession on the shopping street where the egg vendor is located and found it difficult to move. So we decided to stand back and enjoy the view. Everyone was in great spirits:

Our neighbor tried her best to blend in with the locals:

Amber carefully guards the eggs. In the end, not a single እንቁላል was broken:

Turning the corner onto our street:

Finally at home, we watched the procession from our third-floor balcony:

Even after darkness fell, we could still hear the celebrations, though we could no longer see them:

This afternoon (Monday), I went out for a walk after lunch in search of more festivities:

St. Michael Church, near the African Union Commission:

I soon found the crowds, gathered on Roosevelt Street:

The celebrations continued as I made my way over to Seychelles Street:

Things finally quieted down as I moved onto South Africa Street. A priest was giving a sermon as I walked by St. Gabriel ቅዱስ ገብርኤል ቤተክርስትያን, but by the time I finally made it home, the neighborhood had returned to something almost resembling normal:

Almost. As I write this at 2030 hours on a Sunday evening, this is what's going on outside:

Celebrations will finish up tomorrow (Tuesday) - many roads are expected to blocked throughout the city and crowded with pedestrians. Sounds like my morning commute will be affected, but at least I'll have a good excuse should I be late for work. And that for me is the true meaning of Timkat...

Seventh Day in Egypt: On the East Bank of Luxor

Sunset over the Nile

This the post I've been dreading writing (well, this one and the one to follow). It isn't because of any terrible experiences we had while in Luxor; on the contrary, it was a wonderful time. The reasons for putting off finishing this post are twofold: 1) there were too many photographs to sift through, select and then upload; and 2.) Luxor ("the world's greatest open air museum") is such an amazing place that someone with my poor writing skills can't even begin to adequately describe the sights to see there. Nevertheless I'll give it a try, though laziness will probably result in my letting the many photos to follow tell the story themselves.

The second day of January turned out to be a glorious one, weather-wise. This was the view from our hotel looking across the Nile toward the west bank:

The west bank, however, would be reserved for the next day. On this day, we stayed on the east bank of the Nile, first taking a taxi to the incredible Karnak complex. The site is spread out over 2 square kilometers and was constructed and altered over a period of 1500 years, dominated by the Temple of Amun-Ra. Joining the hordes of tourists arriving in groups on buses, we plunged in, starting with the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes:

Standing inside the Great Court:

The Great Hypostyle Hall is a forest of 134 stone pillars. Each summer when the Nile flooded, the hall would fill with several meters of water:

The Obelisk of Hatshepsut:

Great Festival Hall of Tuthmosis III:

Throughout our stay in Egypt, I tormented by daughter with an endless series of terrible Dad jokes based around the old Bangles hit "Walk Like an Egyptian":

The sacred lake:

Giant Scarab:

The Fallen Obelisk of Hatshepsut:

My wife consents to be photographed (sort of):

Inside the Temple of Khonsu:

Amber noticed this bird resting in an opening on one of the pillars:

The Euergetes' Gate, beyond which is an avenue of sphinxes leading to Luxor Temple:

I say this is a baboon; Shu-E maintains it's a ram. You make the call:

The Open-Air "Museum" is a collection of shrines, statues and stones:

By the time we emerged from Karnak, the tour groups were gone and the entrance was surprisingly quiet. If you're planning on visiting, wait until after lunchtime to avoid the crowds:

Looking towards the hills of the west bank:

Lunch was barbecued chicken in front of the complex. Delicious, but overpriced - best to eat back in town:

Speaking of which, we returned by taxi to the central part of Luxor and did some souvenir shopping at a shop where the prices were fixed. A relief for me as I hate haggling; my wife, being Taiwanese, is much more experienced in the fine art of bargaining, though she's not even close to her mother when it comes to the back-and-forth of getting a better deal:

The central part of Luxor is home to the Luxor Temple (which we would visit in the evening) and the Luxor Museum (which we passed on after having visited the Egyptian Museum the previous day):

Luxor street scene. After the utter cacophony and chaos that is Cairo, the traffic was relatively light in Luxor:

The sheer number of English-language volumes on sale in the Aboudi Bookstore was almost enough to convert me into an Egyptologist:

Amber and Shu-E were amused by the pairing of ROC and PRC flags in this shopfront:

The Nile and west bank from Luxor's corniche:

The Winter Palace Hotel is one of Egypt's most famous accommodations, a relic of an earlier age:

The sun setting over the Nile, a truly beautiful sight:

With darkness enveloping, we visited Luxor Temple, which stays open until 2100 hours. The aforementioned Avenue of Sphinxes:

I'm sure the temple is a stunning sight in the daylight hours, but visiting after sunset was the right decision:

The 14th-century Mosque of Abu Al Haggag adjoins the southeastern side of the temple complex:

The complex is defined by the Great Court of Ramses II:

The Baroque Shrine of Amun lies at the end of the temple:

Pretending like I know the meaning of the enscriptions:

Afterward we walked briefly through a shopping street, deflecting the constant stream of invitations to go inside the shops and look around:

It would be difficult to top the splendors on the east bank side of the Nile, but the west bank was yet to come...

My apologies, but it had to be shared at some point in this blog series: