See Thebes Again

After my first exploration of Egypt in March 2024, I set foot on this ancient and mysterious land again at the beginning of 2025, as if the ancient Egyptian proverb was confirmed: Those who drink the water of the Nile will return here again. From Cairo we headed south to Luxor. As the saying goes: If you haven’t been to Luxor, you haven’t been to Egypt. Luxor was formerly known as Thebes. It was the capital of the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom and has a history of 4,000 years. Today, Luxor is known as the largest open-air museum in the world. Walking through the 134 huge columns of the Karnak Temple, I unconsciously hummed a line of lyrics: The Temple of the Priests... Whose past is it? And whose nostalgia is this mural relief in front of me? Every symbol on the stone pillar whispers ancient legends. You can miss the pyramids, but don’t miss the relics of God! Bid farewell to the temple complex on the east bank of the Nile and dive into the Valley of the Kings on the west bank. Think about it, these pharaohs have tried their best, moving their tombs (pyramids) from the ground to underground (Valley of the Kings), but they still cannot escape the fate of becoming a tourist attraction. I chose five tombs of Ramses' family from among the 64 kings to visit to see how the ancient Egyptians prepared for rebirth.