I had been fascinated by Egypt since childhood so when the opportunity came to go there, what else could I do but go?
I’d never travelled further than West Germany and I'd travelled there by train. I’d certainly never flown before and was a little apprehensive about the prospect. There was the small matter of being in debt to my landlord by several hundreds of pounds and not being in regular employment at the time.
I was also in love and the relationship was in the early stages of heady romance. There were occasional fireworks in amongst the tenderness and the passion, two very strongly individual characters that we are.
Anyhow, the trip had been planned way before Lynne and I became an item, my life was in a rut and I was ready for change. I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed the flight and it was all part of this new adventure. I gazed down in awe at the Alps as we flew across Europe, over snow covered mountain peaks as far as I could see.
The excitement grew into eager anticipation as we approached the north Africa coastline, followed by miles and miles of desert, broken only by the lifeblood of that country, the Nile.

Luxor
I wandered out into the sunshine the next morning bleary eyed, trying to take it all in, the people, the smells, the sounds, feeling conspicuous and wondering just what kind of holiday this was going to turn out to be. This place was so fantastically different to anywhere I’d been before.
"Englishman, let me help you spend your money" shouted one horse carriage driver, "Baksheesh, baksheesh (change)" came the pleas from many, young and old. I was to hear these pleas often.
I found much to admire in the Egyptian people that I came across. Sometimes I observed a fine balancing act of their dignity and their need to entertain and welcome their visitors. Tourism was and is big business in Egypt.
An example of the Egyptian sense of humour was exhibited perfectly one warm evening by a man in the street speaking in exaggerated public school English. The crowds loved him.
I marvelled at the value of an Egyptian pound to an English one and when I finally plucked up the courage to ask how much for a carriage to the other side of  Luxor where my friends were staying, I began to understand the need to haggle and I became quite adept at this once I had gained confidence with some of the people.
Grateful as I was to be in a foreign country with well travelled friends who had some experience of Egypt, I had some of my best experiences on my own, making the acquaintance of street traders and the girl in the shop who processed my first lot of photographs. Her name was Sahid which she said translates as "no sleep." Then there was the carriage driver who took me to meet his wife and two young children and brought me mint tea and biscuits. Everyone I spoke to was curious about the UK.

Karnak
There was something about the temple complex at Karnak that knocked me out and it was more than the grandiosity and vast scale of everything. There was a sense of serenity about the place and I spent several days there alone, sitting, walking, drawing, writing and happily contemplating the nature of such devotion to the gods.
One day, I’d left my hotel with the sole intention of spending the whole day at Karnak and at midday, I sat down by the sacred lake to eat my packed lunch.
As I sat, the ripples of sunlight reflecting upon the waters surface seemed to dance to the rhythm made by a pipe nearby releasing water into the lake.
Maybe it was a combination of the hot sun, fatigue and the hypnotic effects of the water. Whatever it was, I became entranced by the intensity of the feeling that I was experiencing. I looked around for conformation that there were still crowds of people around me as I sensed only eerie silence. There were, but their presence seemed distant and the silence remained. A slight sense of alarm was replaced by what I can only describe as a feeling of timelessness, a grain of sand in an ocean of eternity. Then the feeling faded and I was left wondering what the hell had just happened.

Acquaintances
One acquaintance stood out from all others. I ‘d first met Gaber on this first trip to Egypt with Andrew and Anne. When Lynne and I went to Egypt some years later, I wrote to Gaber beforehand to arrange to meet with him again. Gaber lived on the west bank of the Nile, far away from all the shops selling alabaster busts of Nefertiti and pyramids for the tourists.
Some of the best times were spent in Gabers' garden just soaking up the sun. It was a walled garden with a vegetable patch, a banana tree, an ox, a donkey, a cat and a kid goat which we nicknamed "Baby."
Lynne and I took a ride through the country, Lynne on Gabers' donkey, me on a neighbours' horse and Gabers' eldest son leading the way. We travelled through fields of sugar cane and lush palm trees at a nice easy pace until arriving in the village where the young children excitedly attempted to take the reins of the animals.  Upon arriving back at Gabers' house, the donkey rushed in through the gate, catching Lynne’s leg on the frame, unceremoniously ditching her into the garden.
Gaber became our driver, as he had been on my first trip and I was keen to show Lynne some of the places that I’d visited previously such as Abydos, a temple site with exquisite carved reliefs and statues. We discovered a dried up sacred lake in the temple complex at Dendera where lizards scurried around palm trees and rocks. Memorable trips included the temples of Philae, where some parts were accessible only by boat. I never felt completely at home with the idea of walking through the tombs of pharaohs in the valley of the kings. These were the final resting places of ancient rulers of Egypt being visited by a motley crew of sweaty tourists, some who could only mark the occasion by having a photograph taken of them standing disrespectfully on the monuments or with an arm draped across the shoulders of an embarrassed guide.

Aswan and Abu Simbel
Gaber agreed to drive us all the way to Abu Simbel, several hundreds of miles south into what was once Nubia.
We left Luxor, driving past stagnant watercourses alongside the road where women washed clothes with their babes strapped to their backs, through communities with small markets displaying carcasses, fruits and vegetables, house-fronts where dozens of people sat to watch television in the open air. We saw garden walls made of mud and hundreds of re-cycled glass bottles.
We drove past the familiar sights of Esna and Edfu where we had visited the temple of Horus previously. After driving through several police and military checkpoints the road opened out into a vast desert landscape. The monotony of the journey left much to the imagination and I really thought that I could see a huge expanse of water ahead, my first mirage.  What I didn’t imagine was the dull thud as we hit a wild dog head on. Gaber glanced into his mirror and gave a wry chuckle at our display of over sensitivity.
We paused briefly by the side of the road just as a small group of Bedouin came in sight with their animals. One of the young men approached me and talked away in Arabic whilst pulling out a short dagger from his belt. The language barrier was absolute and Gaber was back in the car resting. The young man shook his head wearily and muttered something before moving off.  We arrived gratefully in Aswan for our overnight stop. Gaber was beside himself with disbelief for not bringing our passports. The hotel receptionist told us to go the police station for a temporary pass.
Gaber drove us through town and dropped us off outside whilst uttering dire warnings of police incompetence and corruption.  There were six or so men in the waiting room and they shook their heads wearily when we told them what we were there for. However, after a short wait, we were summoned in to the chief’s office.
"Come" called the voice from the other side of the door and we cautiously stepped in.
"Sit" ordered the chief, never once taking his eyes from his television showing some kind of children’s programme. He had his feet up and he tapped his fingers on the desk to the tune of old Macdonald’s farm emanating from the television.  We exchanged nervous, puzzled glances at each other as he continued to watch the screen without once looking our way.
"How can I help you?" the chief asked suddenly.
We nervously explained our predicament and after mildly admonishing us for our stupidity, waved us away. "No problem" said the chief. "Enjoy your time in Egypt."

Aswan was stunning. There were animal skulls on display among the fragrant herbs and spices in the markets and dark-skinned Africans with wild hair and piercing eyes glided gracefully by.
Abu Simbel too was simply awesome. We entered through a modern building housing an exhibition which showed the transportation and reconstruction, piece by piece of the great monument. We passed through into brilliant sunshine and were confronted by the huge stone carvings, grander in scale than any other temple sites in Egypt.
We made the journey back to  Luxor without an overnight stay.
"Too far" uttered a very tired Gaber.

Cairo
No trip to Egypt would be complete without a trip to Cairo, not least of all to visit the great pyramids at Giza.
I had flown there alone on my first trip and visited the Egyptian museum and the Citadel. I found the pyramids frustratingly disappointing as I couldn’t get anywhere near them without someone offering themselves as my guide or trying to sell me something. I was used by now to the constant pestering but this was different, more aggressive.
For some reason or another, Lynne and I couldn’t’ get a flight to Cairo so we opted to go on the overnight train. The whole experience of this trip to Cairo was fraught with tensions starting with buying our tickets. There didn’t seem to be any logical or polite system to buying your ticket. People just barged in, cash in hand demanding their ticket, so in the end we just asserted ourselves and got ours. Aboard the train, a young Japanese couple were accosted by two rail employees who claimed that they hadn’t paid for their tickets. The Japanese man paid up grudgingly. "Seems like someone’s being ripped off" came an anonymous voice from somewhere on the train. I only wish that I could have had the courage and knowledge to have said or done something. It made me realise just how remote and protected you are among your ‘own kind’ in the tourist parts of Luxor, scornful as I am about it. Finally we stumbled off the train, bleary eyed with assaults on the senses in every direction. We learnt to be more assertive in and around Cairo and enjoyed several days there before gratefully boarding a plane for the hour long flight back to the relative serenity of Luxor and the welcome of Gaber and his family.
Having Gaber as our friend, companion and driver smoothed the way and made the whole experience so much more rounded and enjoyable.

I look back with great fondness to that first experience of culture shock, to my ‘altered state’ in Karnak and the unique friendships that were forged there.

I remember everything with clarity, "like a dream" as I once wrote on a postcard home.

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