Travel Far | THRIVE | EDUCATION ASIA | 151
NOTHING PREPARES YOU FOR THE WONDER OF STANDING BENEATH THE PYRAMIDS.
Taking in the pyramids of Giza, which have stood for over 4,500 years.
rebuilt by pharaoh after pharaoh over some two thousand years, we walked completely smitten at the scale of what remains. A short distance away, Luxor Temple glows gold at dusk, linked to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes along which sacred processions once moved. Across the river on the West Bank lies the Valley of the Kings, a sun-scorched desert gorge holding more than sixty royal tombs. Going underground is an experience in itself. The corridors descend into chambers where the colours on the walls look
impossibly fresh, untouched for three thousand years. Inside Tutankhamun’s tomb, the only royal burial in the valley found almost intact, the young king still lies in his painted chamber, more than three thousand years after he was laid to rest. This is where we came to understand how the ancient Egyptians saw death. Not as an ending, but as a vital passage. The afterlife was a chance for rebirth and eternal happiness, and every tomb was built as a carefully prepared doorway to it.
Stepping out of a temple at Abu Simbel, carved more than 3,000 years ago.
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