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Published: October 9th 2008
Balloon ride over the West Bank of Luxor
I have many more amazing photos of this ride, I cannot wait to share them with you all.Holly and I have finished our tour and survived our first day in Cairo on our own, but I still haven't filled you in since we departed Aswan on our Nile cruise....
I broke a strap on my favourite pair of sandals in Aswan before our Nile cruise boat checked out. "No worries" remarks our tour leader and local Egyptologist Michael. Everyone has some business or other to take care of in Aswan before we leave anyway...It's the first day after Ramadam and there is plenty of celebrating but not a lot of retail action even though it's 7.00pm and prime shopping time. We find what we need though (including some duty free beer - as if it could get any cheaper!) and I remind Michael of my sandal. He made some enquiries of the locals and up, down and around some narrow and uneven alleys we go. This was obviously local territory only and there appeared to be nothing much going on. A few more corners proved me wrong however and we happened across a cobbler - he fixed my sandals within 10 minutes at around 3 egyptian pounds (AUS$1.00 - with the plummeting exchange rate). Anyway, just a
little side adventure...
Our boat didn't leave on time and poor pathetic me couldn't stay up on deck to see our boat depart Aswan shores. Holly was less than impressed with my need for an early night - it was 10.30pm after all - but gave in to my gentle parental urging ; )
The next morning we stopped at both Kom Ombo and Edfu, both very small towns with significant temples. We had a bit of a hairy time with a local horse and carriage operator - you got the distinct feeling that you were going to be driven up a dirty alley, with goats grazing on piles of rubbish, never to be gazed upon (but possibly grazed upon) again!!
Boy I'm dragging this out, mmm let's skip to our arrival at Luxor...
We covered the West Bank which has the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings in a morning and it was worth every sweltering moment. Queen Hatshepsut (the only female pharaoh) was definately ahead of her time - check out the photo of her temple. And the hieroglyphics in the tombs we visited in the Valley of the Kings were
Temple of Horus @ Edfu
Thought I'd sneak a photo of the both of us in while you were admiring the statue of Horus. so well preserved, even the colour was still intact! Dulux could take a few tips methinks!
We relaxed by the pool for the afternoon before heading off to the Karnak Temple for a sound and light show. Not what you would expect the sound and light show. Definately great sound - Omar Sharif and some equally proficient female voice who tell the stories of Karnak whilst you walk from area to area with illumination along the way...
Holly and I had a 3.30am wake up call for a balloon ride over the West Bank for the sunrise - I don't need to say a word here, doesn't a picture tell a thousand words?
Thanks for listening folks - tomorrow I'll try to cover off our trip to Hurghada which should almost bring us up to date...
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Grandy~Fran
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Oh WOW!
It sounds to be fabulous Jo. You were brave going off to have your sandal fixed. How's your Arabic working out? I can't wait to see the photos...any chance of a postcard in the meantime please? It's lovely to hear from you and it's a delightful surprise to see your blog entry in my Inbox. Love you lots my two lovelies, take care of yourselves. Mum/Grandy