Demolishing an entire village.

A walk through a village that has been condemned.
In a few months this Village and its way of life will be no more,   as the city of Luxor expands to make way for modernization,  what they mean is money from tourism,  Just outside  but in the village of Awameia they have taken vast tracts of Arable farmland for government projects yet they expect the people whose houses they  steal,   Yes Steal!   a house not paid for is stealing,and these once land owners are expected  to go and rent/  buy and live outside the city purposely built   new villages on desert land, most of these people farmed the land  here  this land was given to them by Saddat  but now the government want it back,   all of it and give as little as possible for it  most cases nothing at all.  with no land to farm  and no money   how can they live in government assisted rented houses  how can they expect farmers to go and live in the desert.  those that they moved a few years ago to  places like Dhakla and farafra oasis  want to come back  because they have to fight the shifting sands that cover their new cheap  homes and land,  Luxor council has just been paid 300 million  sterling for the second payment  for the Island once known as Crocodile  island  now Kings Island. 

Maritim Jolie Ville Luxor Island Resort

this money I am told is to build the new Promenade and the reason these houses are coming down.
 shame on Luxor council  who can afford to Build a new heritage centre because the old one,,   I say old,  its 3 years since Mrs S  Mubarek came to open it  and its coming down 20 million dollars being reduced to rubble because its built too near the new avenue of the sphinx. a new council office  the old one was refurbished a few years ago at the expense of the usa  fund,  that  $ 60 million was to build the new Marina on the west bank  where is the marina ???  do you mean the new one now in process of being built?? the Japanese have given money to build?  why is it this government is not audited. any other country  even the poor ones get audited .  where has the aid money gone??   and why is it this Egypt is being subsidized when they are a far wealthier country than lets say the uk.    every day the temple of  luxor   all day has droves of people bus after bus until 9 in the evening. these people pay 80 egp  just for this one out of a hundred places to visit here in Luxor  valley of the kings is 100egp  none stop tourists all day every day.  each one of these millions of tourist pay 100 egp  to get a 30 day visa on arrival in egypt.  each one of these people have to stay in places like the  Aritem Jolie ville Luxor Island  where there profit last month was 10million dollars.  we want happy workers they said at a staff meeting  when they took over this Island. not one person has had a rise in wage, not Maritems fault the Egyptian management is greedy. only a month ago they bought 20 buggies to make it easier for staff to get about on the cleaning of this sprawling complex.  and what the labour was told  if you do not like it piss off  plenty of poor people with no homes ready to take your job  so they keep Quiet.
 I promised I would not Name the employees   this was not from one mouth but from several.
Luxor temple entrance at 6.30 already several buses have dropped off the tourists 
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The scene at 18.30   I counted 50 buses plus another 50 minibuses parked all the way down the road

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Who gets all this money? 
 some of these tourists will get to see the market street  this two has been modernized.  and the rent  of its 3x2 Meter shops tripled some pay two thousand in the month rent. all the modernization of luxor is to make money for the council.  the taxi's pay 5 thousand in one year licence  2500 taxi's here in Luxor
 almost 500 horse and carriages  all pay licence fees  hundreds of small craft on the river  all pay licence fees.

 problem is all the hotels etc have their own limos and buses  where the tourists are led around like sheep   only trusting the tour guide.(who will rip you off at up to 70%)  since that first day they arrived in the overpriced hotel and lectured on,  do not trust no one outside  be careful where you go be careful with the transport they will rip you off..  of course they will  only the brave venture out or those who have been before,  go to the blog called http://bloodylyingbastards.blogspot.com/    all about the scams these rouges get up to.

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Chuff chuff " The train that never moves.the only steam this had seen was from the food.  this was part of the interior deco for the buffet bar at the  Gaddis Hotel now taken over by John & Johns restaurant,  and this is where it will stay until the demolition crew comes in 
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Gone will be the village way of life   the council do not like to see donkey crap on the mud roads ( only in the tourist area's)
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Even though the buildings will soon be gone they still hang on and try and make life a little easier  by concreting the home floors  that for centuries are made in soil  cleaned and watered every week  to get rid if the bread crumbs and bits if food  that the ants like,  and come in vast numbers to devour such delicacies.that the humans leave on the mud floor  but if there is no concrete on the floors and a mud roof the council will have yet another excuse not to pay for the land.   all steel and cement factories are government owned,
 in seven years  the steel has gone up from 800 per ton to 4.800 per ton  cement has gone up from 2 egp  too 20 .  so most folks can not afford to put concrete down  apart from the ones  next to where I lived 2 months ago,  they had a massive building project in the front garden  and scurried around like the borrowers. taking what cement and sand they could in the night  a few egp made the night watchman blind. who also was a thief  got the job because he was caught stealing lengths of steel from the site 2 years ago.  had to work his court fine off, in this street they have made a mosque in one of the homes. at one time if you had a place of prayer in your home it was classed as a mosque so the owner did not get electric or water bills,  then two years ago the government realized what was going on and stopped all subsidies to mosques,
 the one in the temple caught fire  and they tried to blame it on the candles they had to light, this Mosque was over a thousand years old  so makes me think  did they invent electric and kept it too themselves for a thousand years,    we are in Egypt's wonderland ,   where the poor get poorer and the rich are stinking rich.