Carry on Cruising!

---

Well, thankfully the Egyptian sleeper train was a lot nicer than my experience of the Indian sleeper train. We actually had our own compartment with a door and a sink :-) Luckily Richard decided to keep to himself the fact that he had removed a cockroache from my bed just before we were going to sleep. A rather restless sleep due to the noise of the train so I arrived in Luxor very tired for what was to prove one of our busiest days.

First stop after the station we headed to the West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings which contains the tombs of over 62 Pharaohs. Set in the hillside the tombs lead the visitor down a series of corridors and antichambers into the burial chamber and the sarcophagus. Our ticket allowed entry to three tombs including Ramses 2nd and 4th. I was surpised at how detailed the walls of the tombs are - very ornate and incredible to think they have survived for so long. The colours of the painted images and hieroglyphs are still so vibrant.

After the Valley of the Kings we headed to the temple of Hatshepsut (or Hot Chicken soup as she is also known!). We were then taken to our boat. To get there we had to walk through 7 other boats to get to ours! I am not quite sure what I was expecting but the boat was maginificent and our lunch was delicious. The boat had a lovely sundeck and a small swimming pool on which we could relax, however, our day of sightseeing was not over as it was off to Karnak and Luxor temples. I found Karnak temple particularly impressive due to the sheer size and number of ornate columns. Its hypostyle hall has 134 colums 23 metres high and 15 metres in diameter and I think part of James Bond's The Spy Who Loved Me was filmed here.

The next day our boat set sail heading for Aswan. We enjoyed a very lazy day and treated ourselves to a massage. We headed through Esna lock and saw lots of small rowing boats attaching to ours to throw outfits and scarfs up onto the deck for us to buy. They went everywhere - in the pool, on the roof of the terrace and into the Nile. In the evening we went to the Galabaya party. It was great fun getting dressed up and the food was delicious - stuffed peppers and vine leaves, lots of salads, chicken kebabs, yum! We had fun getting involved in the party games and dancing.

---