Luxor

Life along the Nile canals Luxor
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We woke this morning to pack up camp and take our last group photo with our Bedouin buddies. Today we were heading to Luxor,where shops, temples and a nice comfortable hotel bed was waiting for us ! The bedouins were restricted to taking us all the way to Luxor so we were to meet this mini bus about an hour from the city.  We got to this grubby truck stop with another flat tyre en route !  We waited for the minibus but it didn't turn up so the Bedouin's ended up taking us to Luxor after all, which we didn't mind because we got to spend more time with them, Saleh was getting way too good at UNO by this stage !

Horse and Carriage to Karnak Temple
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Our first greeting of Luxor was yet again another road block and 'papers in order' checks.  The canals that run off the banks of the Nile showed plenty of signs of life with locals washing and fishing.   Luxor itself was a country town  in comparison to Cairo. We got to our hotel which was very nice and even had a rooftop pool !  We said a sad farewell to our Bedouin friends and met the Gecko's 'Nile Odyssey' group of five who would be joining us for the rest of our tour.  Our afternoon was going to be spent at Karnak Temple but first thing was first check out our room and have a decent shower, well there was water pressure but the bath failed to drain so I was up to the knees in water !!  Ok this is Egypt so we can only smile !  Our trip to Karnak temple was by horse and carriage and it was chance to get to know a couple of Nile Odyssey members Kirsty and Luke who joined us in our Carriage.  Vaughan was no longer the only bloke in the group, there were two others to steal his thunder !!  Karnak Temple was amazing and our tour guide was not only a comic but very informative. The hypostyle hall was just mind blowing 600 square meters of gigantic pillars all carved with Pharonic stories.  The temple itself was enormous and we were a little disappointed we didn't have more time to explore it,we felt rushed in our three hours, you need half a day. After the temple we jumped back into the Horse and Carriage and headed to the Gold Shop. I don't know what is more scary a Cairo Taxi ride or Luxor Horse and Carriage, the horses know no fear of traffic.  Kimo took us to the Gold and Silver shop as it was a recommended place to get good quality gold, there were plenty of places where you could buy gold but you didn't know what the quality would be like.  Kimo also gave as orienteering tour so we knew where to find places like banks,Internet etc. It was an early sleep that night as we had to be up at 4am for our donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings

Karnak Temple is a Luxor Highlight