Jan 9 to jan 11

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Jan 9
5:30 am wake up to hit abydos and dendara with another tour.  It's was a few hours drive away from Luxor which is why we had to leave early. We went to Abydos first. This temple had some really amazing heirogliphcs. I wish I could describe these places better but I cannt figure out how to. Haha they are really old ruins with heirogliphcs and some statues. This one was cool because the roof was intact I think it is the most intact temple in Egypt or atleast south egypt. It was also nice because it was so far away they were no tourists there and only a few showed up when we left. The lighting on the walls and pillars made for great photos I'll try and post some my last day here in Egypt. There was a little excitement there though one of the guys on the tour passed out while we were waiting for this American family to come out. He hadn't eaten today I think he was having direah and stomach problems so he was dehydrated. He came to and was fine we gave him some water and made him eat something. It was really sad because he soiled his pants when he passed out.  Well enough of that next stop was Dandara temple. 
This one was really cool because the ceiling had heirogliphcs all over it and they were very colorful. This temple had floors to it we were allowed to go on plus a tiny almost hidden basment you had to tuck under to get in. It was really neat. When I was upstairs I walked by one of the tourist police and he asked me where I was from, to which I replied America and he was very estatic and priased USA and Obama. He then told me to follow me and showed me around the temple he showed me things I would not have noticed, certain drawings and hidden things on the ceiling. He even took me into a room that was closed. It was like a provate tour. Thank you Obama. Haha I was thinking he just thought I was American and had money but he seemed very sincere. When we parted he didn't look like he was expecting anything. I even took a few steps away then I turned back to give him a tip. Again the moral agaist Americans with Obama is so much better. After I throughly explored this neat temple we headed back to Luxor where I had some food and chatted with the American law kids for a bit before they cought the train back to cario. 

Jan 10
Today I rented a bike after following some toothless kid to some crappy bike stand. Because I wantted to bike to the Karnak temple. This one was the biggest one I have seen so far. They are doing alot of work on it to restore it. I am indifferent about wheather I like them redoing them or not.  On one hand it's nice to see what it would have looked like but on the other hand it doenst look old/authentic. After I walked through this temple I found a place to eat lunch on the Nile. I found a nice resturant with a buffet. It was right on the water decent food a bit expensive but you pay for location as everywhere else. After lunch I biked along the Nile looking for a feluca/sail boat to hire for a sunset ride and tour to banana island. I got a large range of offers. So I then returned the bike but not after some hassle of the owner not being there and the kid not knowing where my ID was. I had to go back later but evenutally got it back and headed for the Nile to catch a feluca ride. I won't explain my hassle of barginning but I eventually got a decent deal. However I didn't notice how old and crappy the boat and sail were until we were out. It was ridiclous I could have swam faster. A few boats past us on the ride. I will say we were going up stream but still it was pathetic. Then a police boat came up besides us and I though I was going to get an escot back to shore because this guy didn't have the right papers or something. But they eventually let us go. The boat driver said they were just trying to scar him to get money from him. I wasn't too worried I could have hopped to shore and ran away or even swam away haha. Then we ran out of wind and a boat passed us but it had a crew and the kid was pushing it like one of those boats in italy. I tired to get my guy to do that, he did a bit but siad it was very tiring. Haha He then said there is a motor tug boat that pulls the boats to the island and we could do that for another 4 bucks or so. I said why not. So as the boat passed he tried to call them over but they kept on going. He then tried to throw a tow rope to one of the last boats. I was thinking well you've got one chance at this. He threw it well the guy caught it an strapped it to his boat but my guy didn't have it tied to our boat so the rope got pulled out of his hands. Hahaha so we decided to sit near the shore until the sun started setting so we could see the sun set from the water. However this guy got to involved in cleaning the boat we were really far enough out in the water to see a good sunset. But it was decent. I even reowed forthe guy to try and get us out there faster except he only had one oar which was basically a 2x4 not a big enough paddle to do anything with. We finally made it back to shore I paid the guy and went to check out the Luxor temple once it got dark. They lite it very well which made it look really cool. There is an avenue of Sphinxs out in front which looked awesome with lights on it. It gave a very heavely look to it. It was really cool, very touristy though. I then went to grab some cheap local food then hung out in the hotel lobby until my train back to cairo. The train was a little late but this time, and I was in regualr coach not one of those little rooms and actually I slept mch better because the seats reclined more and were more comfortable.
 
Jan 11
I made it to Cairo and decided to call Taha the tour guide a Ozzie couple told me about. He/ his driver meet me at the circle intown and took me to a cafe to have some tea and talk about a tour. I was a little weary and wanted to meet taha even though this drive called him and gave me the phone to talk to him. We were waiting for his shop to open and him to arrive so we decided to have breakfast. The driver ordered it was preally pretty good humas or baba gounish thing as well as some egg plant things and some hard boiled eggs with spices everything was pretty tasty. Taha wasn't going to show up for 10 mins but he said 15 mins about half hour ago, Egypt time just like every other third world country time. Haha I told him I would go get a hostle and come back. He wanted me to give a deposit so he could buy the bus ticket though so I did that. Then went and got a hostel showered up and rested for a while. I went back to the shop and he still wasnt there so I went to air Egypt office to try and confirm my flight because my travel agent said they tend to bump people who don't reconfirm. I took a number and waited 30 mins or more and finally got called on and ask the guy to confirm the flight he didn't even look at it and siad I didn't need to I seconded guessed him but I left. 
On the way back to Taha I got some really good fresh mixed fruit juice. This time he was there I took the tea he offered(everyone offers tea here for everything) I paid him the rest then went got some food and just vegged in my room to try and get over this little cold I have. Tomorrow off to the desert. 
  

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