Blogs from Luxor, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 12

With all the joys of a 5am alarm call after too many beers the night before, I rolled out of bed, begrudgingly showered and left the still sleeping hotel to visit Karnak. The Temple is open from 6am, and I wanted to get there before the packaged masses arrived. Getting a minibus at this God-foresaken hour wasn't easy - apparently no one else is keen on getting up this early either. Who'd have guessed? I settled for a 5EP taxi instead, and arrived at the gates just before 7am, without a tourbus in sight, and just a scattering of tourists about. Still sleeping, I agreed to have a tour guide - it was fairly cheap, and it seemed to good to turn down as the site is vast if you don't know where you're going, and ... read more

Jeudi le 28 octobre, Le reveil sonne a 4:15, une journee bien speciale nous attend. On se prepare en vitesse car on vient nous chercher a 4:45... pour aller faire de la montgolfiere!!!!!! On arrive sur le site et il fait encore noir. Le personnel commence a gonfler les montgolfieres, il y en a 8 au total. Les flammes sont gigantesques et ca fait un bruit d enfer! Ils nous trient ensuite pour nous installer dans chacun des compartiments de la montgolfiere. Il faut dire qu ici ce n eat pas la montagolfiere a petit panier qu on peut imaginer. Plutot, c est pres de 30 personnes qui prennent place a bord en meme temps. Nous sommes choisis parmi les premiers... Sans doute ils voulaient installer les plus costauds d abord pour ensuite avoir plus de ... read more

I’ve seen temples and tombs of kings and queens. I’ve seen golden thrones and royal jewels. Magnificent…but Saturday was my favorite day so far on this fabulous trip. We visited a small village, Bearat, on the west bank of the Nile. It is extremely poor and barren. Few houses have electricity or running water. The gov’t is trying to discourage people from living on the west bank of the Nile so they don’t extend basic services to them. Donkeys are one of the modes of transportation. If you think dodging dog poop is a problem, well, no one is walking around with a donkey pooper scooper. One walks at your own risk! Chickens scurry to and fro as they are a source of eggs and meat. It was like entering streets as I imagine they were ... read more

I didn’t think it was possible to be hotter than it was in Memphis last summer ( temps. 100- 115F) but here in Luxor that is nothing. Add to it sand, no trees, and tromping around for hours and you have a good recipe for heat exhaustion. So it was amazing to me that people keep coming, hundreds, thousands from all over the world. Some wearing sun hats and carrying UV protected umbrellas and others wearing strapless tops, no hats and baking to a painful shade of lobster red. Everyone was there at the Necropolis of Thebes known as the Valley of the Kings. For over 500 years, beginning in the 16th century BC, royalty and powerful noblemen were buried within the catacombs amid unimaginable riches. The most famous tomb is that of Tut. He ruled ... read more

I went to Egypt with Em and our good friends James and Louise. We decided to stay in Luxor at Louise's suggestion since she has been to Egpyt several times before (yes, she is a little obsessed) so she knew that there was more to see there than the “big” attractions found at Cairo. Going in the middle of the summer we were expecting it to be hot and that is the first impression as you step off the plan, a literal wall of heat as we stepped out into the 42 degrees. I dont think it dropped below 40 the whole time. In Egypt haggling and bargaining are a big part of their culture. Given that we didnt have any transport from the airport to the hotel booked then we jumped right in and haggled ... read more