Days 11 & 12: Luxor to Cairo

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Day 11

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Getting up at 5am Bec, Lauren and I were transferred to our motor boat so that we could reach the west side of the Nile for our hot air balloon ride. From there we were taken by bus to the hot air balloon launch site. It was awesome, there may have been about 20 balloons all being blown up at once by various companies to take us tourists up to get a bird's eye view of Luxor. We reach a total height of 400m and from there we could see the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, tombs of the Nobles, one of Ramses II temples and a few more temples. It was fantastic. You could see all the fields of the locals and their homes. Some you could even see into as the top floor of many had no rooves and was used as a stable for chickens ect. It was also amazing to see how around 300-500m on either side of the Nile was lush green only to be abruptly changed into desert! We were up there for about 30-45min (I wish it was longer). Each balloon carried 16 people (cornered off into 4 sections), the driver and the assistant. Unluckily for Bec and I, we were stuck in a section with two larger ladies and the assistant so that when we had to brace for landing poor Bec was stuck sitting on my lap! We had what the instructor called an Egyptian landing which means we landed smoothly. The other landings were referred to as the American landing which is all bumpy and the English landing where the balloon actually tips over when it lands.
After the balloon ride we were taken to a cafe where we waited for Shady and the rest of our group to meet up with us so that we could take the donkey's to the Valley of the King's. As we waited we ate one of our lovely breakfast boxes, with extra sweet rolls, dried up croissants, funny tasting chesses, juice and boiled eggs. By this time we where getting a little tired of them as the food is so much nicer fresh and not made up the night before. Once the others arrived we were each given a donkey. I named mine Bruce, he was a lovely placid donkey and just trotted along with everyone else. Poor Kate got one which was a little feisty and kept galloping around, which wasn't helped by Ian who wanted his to go faster and in doing so all other donkey's decided they would as well. Luckily none of us fell off during our hour long ride along the roads to the Valley or get hit by one of the crazy bus drivers!!
Once we reached the Valley of the Kings we were met by Shady and the lovely guide we had the day before who would ramble on about anything even if it wasn't related to the question you had asked! We were allowed to enter three of the Temples within the valley everyone entered the tomb of Thutmosis III which involved us climbing up the mountain side and then down into the mountain where you had to be rather careful to mind your head. Inside the tomb the walls and rooves were all covered in hieroglyphics most still in colour or with traces of colour. This tomb has two chambers with the 2nd one holding the sarcophagus of the Pharaoh. The next temple we visited was Saptah this temple was meant to be one of the ones with fantastic colour. Which it did have in the entrance corridor but once we went into the burial chamber all the walls were bare. Two of the others, Ian and Bec, had gone into the Temple that was built for both the Pharaoh and his Queen the only one of it's kind! This temple was apparently amazing with coloured hieroglyphics all the way through the tomb including in the burial chamber. Hence we decided that our guide had told us false inforomation on which tombs were the best to visit. The last tomb we went into was of the famous Pharaoh Ramses II who had a very large ego. This tomb had been restored and the colour in the images on the walls and the rooves was superb! Many of hieroglyphics on the walls were carved in and then painted over the top of. What was amazing about all of these tombs that we visited was the size of the sarcophagi and how they would have managed to get them into the tombs!
After the Valley of the Kings we were taken to a stone carving place where the hand carve a variety of objects from the various types of stone they find in the valley mainly vases. Here I bought a beautifully carved vase which has a range of different colours running throughout it ( I can‘t remember the type of stone it is but I will find out and let you know). Once we had all finished buying our range of items Shady took us to an African restaurant for a buffet lunch. Which was fantastic we had beef curry type dish, potato and spices, rice, fried eggplant, fried chicken, dip and pita bread.
After lunch Kate, Bridie and I decided to stay on the west bank of the Nile to visit the tombs of the Nobles while everyone else headed back to the east bank and the hotel. We visited 5 tombs Ramose, Riserhat, Kha Em Het, Rekhmire and Sennefer. Most of the nobles were advisors to the Pharaohs and had their tombs painted with the same types of hieroglyphs as that of the Pharaohs. Their tombs however, were a lot smaller and have many images of their families along the walls. The most amazing tomb was that of Sennefer, it is situated down inside a hill with all of the walls and roof covered in hieroglyphs and images. The colours of the images were superb, with the roof only inches away from your head. I would have loved to have taken some photos to show you all but these tombs along with those in the Valley of the Kings as well as many of the temples do not allow photos to be taken to preserve the colour of the images and carvings on the walls.
Once we were finished here we went back to the hotel on the east bank to pack have dinner then catch our over night train to Cairo.

Day 12

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After spending the night on the over night train which was a lot more cosy and comfortable than the trip down we went back to the hotel we started at Caroline Crillion. As we arrived well before check in time we all decided to head off to the Khan El Khalili Bazzar (markets). Here we had a couple of hours to go off and bargain for our purchase. I bought a few pins and some pashmina scarves. The best thing to know is that an Egyptian salesman will never sell you anything unless he is making a profit. Hence you will never rip them off they will always be ripping you off. The trick is to start ridiculously low while they start ridiculously high and work your way in. If you really want the product walking off is a great way to barter them down rather quickly to your price range.
After the Bazzar we opted for a changed of pace and headed to the third largest shopping centre in the world Citystars. It is huge, 7 floors full of shops!! Here we had lunch in one of the many food courts then went off to do some shopping. What we found though was the brand name shops were the same price as back home. Thus we soon lost interest and headed back to the hotel for our last night together.
For dinner Shady took us up to the mountains were we had a fantastic view of Cairo at night. From here we went to a mountain side restaurant where we again had a buffet type dinner with freshly made pita bread, fried chicken, meat balls, rice wrapped in leaves, dips and rice. Upon returning to our hotel we spent the rest of the night drinking together and saying goodbye to those of us who were leaving that night.

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Comments

[TimmyB]

Nice
Good working sweetie...lots of detail in this one!!! You'll have to tell me all about your new friends too. Will you get to see any in the UK?

[andy]

Shady was the guide who got me off when I was caught filming in the valley of the kings hahaha