Chuck and Brian are working in the tunnel today (really a cave next to the tunnel, but they have to drive through to the other side and then come half way back to access it.) A shuttle runs everyone in. I am really happy about the shuttle, because I hate tunnels. They make me very uncomfortable. (So yesterday's adventure that required 8 tunnel journeys wasn't good.) The good thing is that they will be out for lunch, so will see how the weather is doing.
The really old lady keeps trying to talk to me. She asked if Brian was our son. (Brian is Chinese!) I showed her the pictures that I carry in my purse, so she could see Alec, Jef and the kids. Then the desk lady wanted to see too. They both agreed that I have a beautiful family.
Back to Egypt.
Day 2 in Luxor we had to be up and breakfasted and across the river shortly after sunrise. We had to get to the Valley of the Kings before the crowds. This is a good policy and when the weather is warmer really good for people's health.
As you can see - desolate is not nearly descriptive enough. This was one of the places that we couldn't take pictures, so if you really want to see what some of the tombs look like go to:
Each day different tombs are open, so that none get too much tourist activity. Somehow, I was able to overcome my tunnel aversion, but when the lights went out I was glad that I could see the exit. Maggi and I were together and we stopped where we were until they came on again, just to be on the safe side.
Leaving the Valley of the Kings was like running a gauntlet of salespeople. I have perfected a technique of not making eye contact (thank you India & China) and keeping moving that lets me move through them, but Dave seemed to be a magnet. He did buy a lot of stuff, but even when he didn't want anything they were attracted to him like flies to honey. The bad part of this is that sometimes I would like to just look at something but do not dare.
We moved on to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.
Our group picture:
We couldn't go inside but there is a lot of stuff to see in the colonnades. I don't think that I realized how colorful they must have been. We think of all of these buildings and statues as just being natural stone, but they were all painted.
We stopped by a gold shop, but once again, I didn't buy anything. Somehow I don't really see me wearing a gold cartouche.
We ate lunch at the hotel and rested, then went for the Luxor by night carriage ride.
We started at the Luxor Museum (another no pic place.) This was small with each item carefully displayed, so the viewing experience was very different than that at the Cairo museum. Don was thrilled to see the mummy of Ramesses I, which had been in a museum in his hometown when he was growing up. It was like meeting an old friend!
The carriage ride went through the back streets of Luxor, through a market, and past many places where the alley of Sphinx were being excavated.
Each carriage contained 2 people:
Our driver kept purchasing food tastes. The 1st was a bean thing which I accepted and had in my mouth, when I suddenly realized that I was courting a bad case of tourista!. Ack, Ack! I swallowed one bean and warned Chuck not to eat any more. This was frustrating for the driver, because he was trying for a nice tip. He finally hopped off and picked a flower for me - the horse kept moving, but we were in a line of carriages. I was wondering if I was going to have to start driving the carriage, if we left him too far behind. We did reward his efforts with a tip. OAT warns us, that taking a carriage or camel ride by oneself can be unsafe. The driver takes you to the middle of nowhere and requires a huge bribe to bring you back.
Our ride ended at a market where we had a light dinner of falafal on pita. They had a hookah for people to try. Passant called it "the hubbly bubbly". Maggi smokes so she was willing to volunteer:
Our last day in Luxor started waaaaay before dawn for Larry & me. We were doing the hot air balloon ride. Maggi & Chuck don't like heights, so they happily passed and stayed in bed.
We were awakened very early (on the early days there is a wake up call arranged by OAT). Had coffee and breakfast sweet on a little boat while crossing the Nile in the dark and then bussed to the balloon take off point.
It was barely light when they inflated the balloons and loaded us all on. There were 20 tourists in each balloon basket (in 4 sections). Before we lifted, we had lessons in assuming the landing positions. We had to crouch down while clinging to the side of the basket. Basically I was sitting on Dave's lap. The pilot said that there were 3 possibilities for the landing. 1) perfectly smooth-the Egyptian one. 2) bouncing several times. 3) being dragged in the basket. We were to hold on until told otherwise. On that cheerful note, we took off. We were the first, which made Larry very happy.
Notice the abrupt change from green to brown. The effect of the Nile is still there.
We were up in time to see the sunrise.
I think that Larry grinned like this the whole trip.
We could see our ground crew following us along the roads. At one point they all got out of the truck, but the pilot called down to them and we all moved on. Finally, he heaved a line off the side, which they used to pull us in. Notice that there is a fairly narrow road and a field which is about 6 feet lower than the road.
The guys pulled us in for a fabulous Egyptian landing. We set down and they swarmed all over the basket and we never moved.
The balloon trip was outstanding - we went up and down - sometimes just skimming over the sugar cane. We could see the people in the houses and they waved and shouted hello. I was really glad that I did this and Chuck was just as glad that he didn't.
We all went back to the hotel and had breakfast. Then we went to the Luxor Temple.
An obelisk:
The statue of a scarab:
We went to a market to get ingredients for an okra dish that we would learn how to make while on our Nile cruise.
Our bus was divided into 2 teams with different stuff to get. We had a list with how much we needed and what a fair price would be. I was elected team leader. Do you think it was because I'm the bossy one?? I also had experience in bargaining and open air markets. It turned out that our team consisted of ringers, because Don & Penny also had a lot of experience with this. We had to buy 4 ingredients, so I divided the team up into groups of 2, so everyone could do some bargaining and dealing. When they had settled on the price, I gave them the money. We did better than the other group. We got our stuff for less than the suggested price.
Here's Don with some merchants. (These guys probably do this several times a week. They must all think it is hysterical. When we got off the bus, they were all calling "okra".)
Chuck & Penny walking in the market:
The "grocery store"
We moved on to the River Hathor, our home for the next 3 nights. This was a small boat that only had 16 guest cabins. The 2 groups joined up for this. It was lovely and peaceful with so few people. The cabins were on 2 levels. Larry & Maggi were across the hall from us on the lower level. This was a little cheaper and we had checked to make sure that we would have all the same amenities. The only difference was an extra flight of stairs. The next level up had more cabins, the main desk and the dining room. Up another flight of stairs was a large lounge with bar and a "library" with gift shop. The library consisted of 1 shelf of books that people had left behind. On that same level was an open deck with tables and chairs where the cooking demonstration took place and where a lighter lunch was served. At the very top was a half deck with more chairs, a very small swimming pool, and some exercise equipment.
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