Shiva: An Isolated Oasis _ Shiva Oasis

About two-thirds of Egypt's territory is a vast western desert, just like a beautiful, desolate and absolutely quiet planet, dotted with a series of oases, the most remote, mysterious and legendary of which is Siva Oasis, which has been regarded as a fairyland since ancient times and is the shelter of the gods away from the hubbub. When you visit Shiva, you must be in the mood of pilgrimage. ......

Old legend

Shiva's mystery is largely due to the vast yellow sand stretching for 500 kilometers between Shiva and Cairo, which makes Shiva oasis civilization and Nile Valley civilization isolated from each other, develop in parallel, and don't know much about each other ―― unlike the oases such as Baihariye, Ferrara, Dakhlai and Kharja, which have been ruled by Egypt since ancient times. It was not until the last dynasty of Egypt that Shiva was incorporated into the territory of Egypt, and the famous Oracle Temple was built in the 6th century BC, which made Shiva a sacred place: the ancient Greeks regarded it as a place where gods lived, and they also thought it was a place where gods gave orders directly to mankind. Some people even regard the priests in the temple of Amon here as immortals, and an endless stream of people come to Shiva to worship.

There are two other events in history that made Shiva famous. First, it is said that after Cambyses Ⅱ, king of Persia, conquered Egypt in 525 BC, he dispatched troops to attack Siva with the purpose of "attacking the Amons, reducing them to slaves and burning the Oracle of Zeus". After crossing the Kharja Oasis, a rare sandstorm broke out at breakfast in the desert, and 50,000 Persian troops disappeared without a trace, leaving an eternal unsolved case. So far, people are still looking for traces of these 50 thousand bones. The second is Shiva's trip during Alexander's Crusade. In 332 BC, after Alexander conquered Egypt, in order to win the hearts of Egyptians and establish the legitimacy of Greek rule over Egypt, Alexander overcame many difficulties such as sandstorm, lost way, high temperature and water shortage, and ventured into Shiva, so that the chief priest of the Oracle of Amon thought he was "Zeus-son of Amon", and it was an inviolable fate for theocracy to take over Egypt! These events have had a worldwide impact.

Now, the Oracle of Amon and the Temple of Amon have completely collapsed, leaving only a pile of ruins. Shiva has lost the noise of the past, away from people's sight, and gradually became silent. In the endless desert, such a huge and vibrant oasis has been brewed into its own unique oasis civilization in the long history, interspersed with countless legends, which is already desirable; And all this, because of the arduous journey that the ancients could not reach, the fact that even the Egyptians knew little added mystery.

The road to the desert

In the past, some camel caravans from northwest Africa went to the Middle East, and the words recorded after Muslims accidentally used Shiva as a transit point during their pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as some foreigners' early trips to foreign countries, formed my general outline of Shiva. Fortunately, after modern means of transportation replaced camels, the Egyptians built a road across the desert, shortening the eight-day journey for camels to 10 hour. It was very hot when I went there. The locals said it hadn't rained for half a year. At noon, we entered the port of Matru. As soon as I got off the bus and took photos of the station, I was immediately stopped, saying that Egypt's traffic facilities are the same as military facilities, and it is forbidden to take photos.

After crossing the port of Matru, the bus turned south and headed for Shiva. At this time, it entered the real desert area. Looking around, the vast sand sea is inaccessible, and only one asphalt road extends to the wilderness. The bus driver began to show us the live video of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and then actually showed an Arabic entertainment comedy. In Stephen Chow, the actor's performance was rather boring. Walking into Xiwa in this way of "walking and watching", I vaguely feel that modern civilization is getting closer and closer to Xiwa.

Air City in Oasis

People usually think that oasis is a clear spring in the desert, several palm trees, a long-distance camel team and so on. But the scale of Shiva is much larger-a large forest surrounds it, traditional houses, minarets and mosques emerge in the dense forest, and a mirror-like lake flashes in the distance. Now Siva has become a town with a population of about 15000. It's just that its block is very small, a bit like the mining street in the American western. It is cold and quiet, and it is empty most of the time. Several Shiva people wearing red and white plaid headscarves came in a hurry and soon disappeared without a trace. Occasionally, donkey carts pattered by, a gust of wind blew by, and I heard a few unknown voices, and soon recovered calm, like an empty city!

The center of Shiva is a Little Square, surrounded by some shops and stalls. Someone opened the door on 10 in the morning. The hotel owner told me, "Most of these shopkeepers are businessmen from Alexandria and Cairo. I come from Alexandria myself. With the encouragement and support of the government, more and more city people go to the oasis to engage in business activities. When no one is around, everyone is watching TV in the house-the promise of the Egyptian government to electrify every village in the country has been realized, and TV has spread to Siva with the progress of electricity. "

The inhabitants of Shiva are mainly Berbers, and they are descendants of Bedouins, an ancient nomadic people. They still maintain the traditional tribal structure, and the local government is composed of eleven tribal leaders. The owner of the hotel told me: "The custom of Shiva is absolutely unique, absolutely different from other oases in Egypt." As the farthest oasis, Shiva still maintains distinctive traditional cultural customs and still uses its own unique language-Berber. Women must wear traditional clothes, stay at home, rarely show up and live an isolated life. According to some data, Shiva is tolerant of homosexuality even, and most of them believe in Islam. However, the bulletin board of the hotel solemnly warns female tourists not to wear shorts and strapless.

The landmark of Siwa is Sha 'ali beside the square, an abandoned earthen city, built on the mound left over from the13rd century, which is the commanding height of Siwa. This is the earliest residential area in Xiwa Oasis. For the sake of living safety, the whole tribal group lives in communities, and each house is built according to the same style and structure. With the growth of population, the dense mud houses develop upwards, forming an incredible city in the air with simple appearance and similar shape in the center of the oasis. The whole periphery of Shahari is surrounded by a circle of high walls, like a solid castle in the air, to resist foreign invasion. A rainstorm in 1926 violently ended the continued development of the city in the air. The heavy rain washed away the salt in the mud bricks, most houses collapsed and residents had to move out of the city. Abandoned residential areas formed spectacular air ruins and were protected as cultural relics by the local government.

At this time, Shahari was barren and dilapidated, beautiful and desolate in the early morning sun. I walked up and down the dilapidated street like a narrow path in Shahari, as if I saw the prosperity of Shiva in those days and felt the imprint of oasis civilization and the passage of time. Inferred from the remains, the living environment of the ancient Shiva people was quite simple and narrow, but it was also an important sign that the Shiva people turned to settled farming life after ending their nomadic life. In the evening, Shaali was illuminated by several strong lights, which was a bit of a medieval horror atmosphere. It looks like a whisper house in a science fiction movie, which is very strange.

Neverland

When I was looking down at Shiva in Shahari, two little boys climbed up quietly and stood quietly aside. I greeted them with a smile. The older boy asked me timidly, "do you want to rent a carriage?" It only takes 10 angstrom pounds to get to Neverland. " In the salt lake about 8 kilometers southwest of the center of Siwa, there is an island, formerly known as Geziirit Birkit Siiwa, which is an excellent place to watch the sunset and is called Neverland by westerners. I thought I would go and see the lakes in the desert anyway, and see their pure and bright eyes. I agreed without much hesitation. The older boy introduced himself as Ali, only 9 years old and his younger brother. His mother must be very happy to know that they have jobs. So I went down the mountain and got into their "carriage" (actually a donkey cart). Ali took a foot-long wooden stick, gave the order to "plunge into it", and skillfully drove the donkey cart to Neverland.

Although the sun is shining, I don't feel hot at all, because there are clear springs everywhere in the oasis and the climate is completely different from other desert areas. Laughter and laughter came from time to time in the pond where the springs gathered, and a group of little boys in Xiwa were swimming naked. Although Siwa is located in the desert Gobi, with little precipitation (even no rain for more than 20 years), it has a very rich water source. This is because Siva is about 24 meters below the Mediterranean level and is a depression in the oasis. Ancient pharaohs called it Vahat, which means "Ding". Thousands of years of wind, rain and sun have caused the depression to sink to the water bed, and atmospheric pressure has forced the groundwater to surface, forming a fully utilized Jing Quan. Shiva is even called Thousand Wells City because it looks like a "big water tank".

Soon we came to the il-Hammaamaat mineral spring near the island, which is a typical mineral spring in Xiwa, extremely clear and transparent, with health care functions. When Ali brothers saw it, they got excited, jumped off the donkey cart, took off their coats and plunged into the unfathomable cool world, having a good time and being extremely happy. There was still silence around, only a few cicadas chirping, and the strong sunlight shone on the ground through the leaves of date palms, and time seemed to have stopped. I have a vague feeling that the long historical tradition of Siva has not changed. Hundreds of years ago, Shiva people were as happy as modern people because of these countless springs.

When I arrived at Neverland, the most famous coconut tree above the water in Siva was close to withering, the lake had receded 100 meters away, and there was actually a humble coffee shop under the shade. The only waiter there comforted me: the water will come back in winter. In fact, the population of Siva has surged in recent years, especially after the government implemented the "New Valley Development Plan", many people migrated from the Nile Valley to various oases to reclaim land, and a large amount of groundwater was taken. If it is not controlled, the water will not come back in a few winters. On the contrary, the oasis will face the crisis that the ecological balance is destroyed and the natural resources are gradually exhausted.

I stepped on the uneven saline-alkali land and came to the lake. On the other side is the towering Gobi, the edge of the Libyan desert. This big lake in the desert has the illusion of infinity and mirage.

We walked all the way through the dense date palm forest, and strings of dates hung on the trees. Ali was hungry, so he climbed a date tree and picked a bunch of raw dates to eat. He said the date palm tree belonged to his family. I tasted one, very sweet, but a little astringent. After a week or two, the astringency of these raw dates will naturally disappear and become sweet and delicious, which is one of the favorite foods of Arabs. Since ancient times, Shiva has produced date palms, which was once called the date palm capital. At present, there are about 300,000 date palms, which is the most important date palm producing area in Egypt and an important economic source for the Shiva people. The wealth of Shiva people is measured by the number of dates they have. In addition, Shiva also grows wheat, corn, grapes, lemons, pomegranates, figs and other crops. With the development of agriculture, Shiva people have a stable income, thus completely getting rid of the living habits of nomadic people, and Shiva has prospered.

Cross the big sand sea

I decided to go to Dashahai and touch the natural barrier that prevents people from entering Shiva. My friend introduced me to a desert jeep driver. The young man's name is Ahmed, tall and handsome, wearing an Arabic robe. It is said that he is a good driver. As soon as I got out of the hotel, I saw Ali standing quietly far across the road, pulling his donkey cart and looking at me. I discussed with Ahmed: "Take Ali!" "He said firmly. I waved to Ali, and Ali immediately understood what I meant. He asked his brother to drive the donkey cart home and jumped on it happily. Looking at his bright eyes sitting in the car, I know that his ideal must be to have the same jeep to replace the old donkey cart at home when he grows up.

The desert jeep rushed into the big sand sea like an arrow, and Ahmed reminded him: "Hold on!" The jeep climbed almost vertically, then rushed down almost vertically, crossed one sand dune after another and rushed to a very large sand dune deep in the desert. Ahmed parked his car in the shadow, took out a blanket, spread it on the beach and made black tea. I gasped and climbed to the top of the sand dune, looking around-the largest sand dune in the world on the edge of the Sahara desert, extending westward to Libya, spanning more than 800 kilometers! It is this big sand sea, as a part of the Sahara desert, that blocked the entry of the Nile civilization and kept the Shiva civilization intact for a long time. Ali happily played on the sand dunes. When he was tired of playing, he knelt on the sand dunes and watched the sunset gradually sink. He was speechless, only the strong wind blew up fine dust. ......

I walked down the sand dune and took a sip of Ahmed's sweet black tea with fresh mint leaves, which was fragrant in my throat. This is the most delicious black tea I have ever drunk in Egypt. Ahmed told me that he has been working as a desert guide, and now tourism has developed. Many Shiva people also play the abacus of desert tourism. They used to rely on camels, but now they are all replaced by special off-road jeeps, which are fast and exciting. Westerners like it very much and make money quickly. And this kind of business is very suitable for Shiva. On the one hand, they are familiar with the desert terrain, on the other hand, there are always some nomadic desires floating around in the bones of Shiva people.

With the opening of the desert highway, it is easy to enter Siva, and minerals and oil in the western desert (the desert west of the Nile) are constantly being discovered and exploited. Oasis, including Siva, is no longer just a transit point for caravans, but its economic and visual value has been re-recognized. At present, TV media, a large number of immigrants from the Nile valley and increasing tourists are the main reasons for Shiva's changes. The increasingly frequent communication with the outside world is gradually breaking the gap between oasis civilization and modern civilization. I sincerely hope that these changes will not cut off Shiva's connection with historical traditions. After all, Shiva is the oasis civilization of this world.

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Fayoum, another oasis in Egypt.

Known as the "bud on the stem of the Nile", this oasis is famous for its warm climate all the year round, numerous waterwheels (introduced by Ptolemy family in the 3rd century AD) and fertile agricultural land. Directly opposite the local open-air market is a suspended mosque built on five arches. Nearby is the Hunada built by the Sultan of Kebe for his wife in the15th century. Asla Mosque (Khunda Asla-bey).

Bahariya Oasis (Bahariya)

It is located about 365 kilometers southwest of Giza and 200 kilometers away from Farah Vlajo. It is famous for palm trees, olive trees, apricot trees, rice and corn. The tangled trees form an attractive landscape, which is in sharp contrast with a large number of sand dunes. This oasis is famous for having 398 mineral springs and springs containing sulfide. There are also a large number of migratory birds, deer and other wild animals here. The historical remains of Baihariya Oasis can be traced back to the Pharaoh's time. The original name of this area is "zis zis". Most of the historical sites belong to the Saite period of the 26th dynasty.

Xinshangu oasis

Xingu Oasis is located in the desert of western Egypt, 625 kilometers away from Cairo. It includes three main oases: Kharja Oasis, Dakhla Oasis and Farafra Oasis. The history of the new valley can be traced back to 5000 BC. There are deserts, lush plants, wells and hot springs (the temperature can reach 49 degrees Celsius).