There is a map of Egypt in a street in Old Cairo which displays all of the ancient historical and religious sites across the country. Amusingly, there is a big section coloured red which is labelled “A large area of desert with nothing in it”. As the plane starts to descend on the short flight from Cairo to Luxor, and we drop below the ever-present haze, the vast nothingness is there laid bare for us to see: the entire landscape is one single colour. Yes there are contours and elevation changes, but there is not a single break in the ochre blanket. That same map back in Cairo also had…