When a cruise is not a cruise

We flew out of Cairo on an early morning flight, 4:45am, to Aswan, arriving a bit after 6am. Once our baggage was sorted, we boarded minibus to be transported to our Nile cruise ship, the Nile Ritz. A rather smaller version of a P&O ship, it carries approximately 200 people, in decks of accommodation combined with a restaurant [level 3] and the top deck [level 4] that had a rather large enclosed lounge/bar area which opened to the foredeck, and at the rear deck with chairs and tables, small pool with loungechairs for those sunbathing. The 6 couples were divided into 2 couples each in decks 1, 2 and 3. Sheryl and I drew the short straw for deck 1, the lowest desk; Sheryl afraid we were close to the bilge pumps and engine room. Our room was small but comfortable, airconditioned, with shower/toilet/sink, a small wardrobe and storage, tv on top of a minibar fridge; our window was about 30cm above the waterline, giving great views of whatever or whomever floated by. Charming!
We didn't have much time to dwell on our luck as we were whisked off by bus to visit the High Dam, which was very impressive. Noticed quite a highly visible security presence here; numerous uniformed, armed guards appeared to be everywhere. You could take photos here, but not videos. After about 20 minutes we boarded our bus and drove on to a boatramp from which we caught a passenger boat to the island of Aglika, to view the Temple of Isis. This temple was originally on the Island of Philae, which was submerged by the waters of the Aswan Dam.
To get to the boatramp was quite a feat as there were heaps of people trying to sell you stuff. The boats carry about 14 people, split over simple seating on the left and right edges of the boat, which was covered from the hot sun by a simple metal canopy. The driver sat at the back, operating a small, loud and smelly outboard engine, without a cover, so we could see the ancient metal bits spinning and whirring as it spewed out foul black fumes. The mechanically minded fellas in our group commented it was held together with elastic bands and was older than Methusala, ie, probably a true antiquity in its own right. Many of these boats jostled for position at an impossibly small jetty that could only really cater to 2 boats, so about a dozen were cramming in to pick up a group, or trying to leave with a group, heading for the temple buildings. A short trip of about 10 minutes saw us arrive at the island jetty.
A short walk past more people trying to sell maps, instruments and other 'souvenirs' with our guide towards the temple, our eyes and brains realising here we were visiting true history, true ruins, older than most civilisations of Europe. Again, many armed guards dotted around the ruins here. The scale of the ruins was impressive, constructed over 800 years, some 2500 years ago; difficult to believe they were built by people with very limited technology and simple tools. There was something to see everywhere you looked: colonnaded walks meeting at the base of 2 giant squat towers [pylons], which were covered in deep-etched heiroglyphics and massive bar-relief figures, left foot always forward. The entrance between the towers is guarded by statues of 2 lions. Built of limestone, and even though in great ruin, these buildings continue to shimmer in the sun. The inner walls are covered in heiroglyphics. You could study them for hours, but we didn't have the time. Our guide, George, gave us a brief rundown of some of the architectural and artistic features. My [Pier] personal favourite was the small Temple of Hathor, set to the east of the Temple of Isis; small, yet grand, beautiful proportions. You could only imagine what the entire complex on this island was like, had the all buildings not been in ruin. Fantastic. Lots of photos taken.
We spent maybe an hour or so at this island before we were called back to the motorboats. Wish we had more time, also wish it wasn't as hot. Back to our cruise ship via the city of Aswan, for lunch. The buffet food on offer, again, was fantastic; great choice, beautifully cooked, and plenty of it. Once lunch was over, it was a short time before the ship commenced the cruise, next stop, Kom Ombo, approximately 50 kms from Aswan. We arrived at Kom Ombo mid-afternoon, and then we were herded on to a bus in order to visit the Temple of Haroeris and Sobek [on the east bank of the Nile], arriving with hordes of other tourist groups, not long before the sun began to set. The temple stands on a low promontory in the bend of the Nile, so upon arriving you had a lovely view of the ruins from below. It beckoned to you, reflected in very romantic golden almost-sunset light -- plus, thankfully, it was cooler -- but the sheer amount of people trying to get in the turnstiles/metal detector machine caused a minor stampede, and some of our group decided not to attempt being part of the crush. And this wasn't the high season, so one could imagine just how insane it would be at that time of year. [We think something seriously needs to be done to make the main entrance for tourists to be safer and easier in the future.]
The design of this temple seemed at first glance quite similar to the Tempe of Isis, so there was an immediate 'familiarity' with this place. You could see remnants of original paintwork, which seems a miracle of thousands of years of aging and weathering. We can't remember everything that was told to us by our guide, and we don't profess to be Egyptologists, suffice to say anyone that has a fascination with ancient ruins, ancient Egypt, temples, decorated architecture, sculpture, ancient languages and hieroglyphics, ancient beliefs and religions, etc, would be fascinated by the rich decoration and beautiful architecture of this temple. The sheer amount of heiroglyphics and bar-reliefs covering the inner building and outer corridor walls, as well as columns, is mindboggling. Darkness descended slowly but surely, making it difficult to see around the ruins, plus we had to return to the cruise ship, which needed to sail on to our next stop, Edfu, approx 60 km from Kom Ombo.
Cruising the Nile was quite an eye-opener: the edges of the riverbanks were flat, lush plains, in parts seeming to go back quite a way. We saw massive crops of sugar cane and many, many date palms and banana trees. People were tending to their crops, children swam in the river and waved to us shouting 'hello, hello'; feluccas calmly drifted by on the flat water of the Nile, no waves except those caused by the many cruise ships sailing in both directions. The river was quite wide, and every now and then there was a bridge spanning the river. On the west side of the Nile, beyond the farms and fields, you could see the low desert hills. Every now and then you saw a small tomb sitting on top of a hill. We were told that 5% of Egypt's land was arable, the rest was desert, so you could see why farmers used every square inch of fertile soil to grow something. Again, towards sunset, you could hear the sound of the call to prayer, echoing in from both sides of the Nile, and filling your head with visions of times past; many of the mosque minarets throbbing with coloured lights. A very pleasant way to travel.
If the buffel lunch impressed, well, the dinner the first night onboard was amazing. The restaurant was set up for silver service, the tables looked gorgeous with cutlery and crockery sparkling under candleight, all the waiters dressed up formally ... we felt so underdressed! Suits, crisp white shirts and ties for the men, evening dresses and bling for the women should've been the code. The food was served to us by the waiters ... we love how they served the vegies from platters with fork and spoon in one hand, very skilfull, very elegant. The food again was scrumptuous. Poor Pier was exhausted by the time dessert was served, could hardly keep his eyes open, so bade a polite goodnight, descended into the bowels of the ship for an early night's retirement.
On the second morning of our cruise we visited the Temple of Horus in Edfu. After lunch we cruised further north to Esna, where we went through the lock, on to Luxor, which is where the cruise ship stopped, so really, we only 'sailed' for 1.5 days: so much for a 4-day cruise! In the end we probably travelled only 175 km of the 1545 km to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Temple of Horus [body of a man, head of a falcon = sky-god of the Nile Valley] was buried up to it's lintels [horizontal slabs sitting on top if columns] till the 1860s. Again, it's design is generally similar to the other temples we have seen so far. Two vast pylons at front [the entrance guarded by 2 large black granite falcons], then a massive colonnaded courtyard, followed by a more massive series of halls [the last of which was the Sanctuary of Horus], surrounded by thick outer walls. Heiroglyphics and bar-reliefs as far as the eye could see; again, some of the architectural features had remnants of the original paintwork. Again, dazzling in the hot sunlight, filling the senses and imagination of what it once must have looked like. Everywhere you step you wonder who was there before you; what rites had been performed; history everywhere. The camera could hardly capture the immensity of some of the spaces, nor could our brains at times. Again, too many other tourists there to not feel rushed or crowded in at times, but that was a relatively minor quibble. The only improvement we could suggest to Thomas Cook would be for tours of temples to be conducted earlier in the morning if possible, especially at this hot time of the year. It seemed we arrived towards late morning/lunchtime, which was silly. The front entrance to this temple had a long line of souvenir shops, with the owners trying hard, and politely, to get you in to spend your Egyptian pounds. We resisted, knowing you'd probably be ripped off, plus we were always concerned with being at meeting places on time, otherwise you'd be rewarded with the stern looks and body language of the backs of our travelmates. Not a patient lot by this point of our trip [more in a later post on our assessment of group travel], some of whom were sick with colds. Like some other times we haven't mentioned, the meeting time had changed without us knowing, which was quite annoying [too many Chiefs and not enough Indians]. Onto our bus, and back to the cruise ship. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading our emails and adding to our blog, and much later, a yummy buffet dinner. Many of the passengers hit the onboard shop hard to try on outfits for tomorrow night's fancy dress after-dinner party and frolics. Unfortunately Pier was rather antisocial about the whole thing, whereas Sheryl was hoping to have some fun, even if for a short while. [Sorry about that Sheryl -- P]. Some of our group had picked up bits'n'pieces from the shops outside the temple we visited this afternoon. Pier couldn't see the point of buying more 'crap' that we'd never use again, and also spending time with people who didn't give a hoot about us. So, after dinner, we sat at the front of the boat, relaxing, catching what breeze we could from the now-not-moving cruise ship, watching dressed-up people arrive for drinkipoohs and mill about, waiting for the entertainment to start. Pier felt it looked quite sad really, almost verging on the desperate, so many middle-aged people looking uncomfortable in their outfits: we must all have Fun, Fun, Funnnnn! Sorry if this sounds rather negative, but that's what I felt. As more people arrived the party games started and after a short while we took our cue to go to beddiebyes, knowing we had another hot day's touristing ahead of us.
After breakfast the following morning, with all our group having had a 'great time' [as proof, check the photos on the onboard shop windows] we piled onto our bus for our visit to the Necropolis of Thebes and the Valley of the Kings. Again, a really hot day, the sun beating down on us, the airconditioning in the bus a short respite before our sweat glands again being assaulted from the big blue sky above. Penance for our 'sins' the night before perhaps? But we were good, why us? Oh well, we had to suffer collective punishment then! Grrrrr! We arrived at a bus holding area where we dissembarked, the grandeur of the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut shimmering away about a kilometer from us. Again we ran the gauntlet of a long row of souvenir shops before we entered the security screen entrance and on to a waiting area, waiting for a tractor-pulled-3-tourist wagons spluttered over to us, and we piled in and were then deposited in front of a 100m paved slow rise to the lower steps of the 3 levelled temple. Wow, a wonderful sight before us filled us with renewed enthusiasm as we withered in the heat. Another 100m walk to the right to a shaded kiosk with whirring fans and cold fridges filled with frosty drinks beckoned to us. No, no, NOOOOOO ... just 30 minutes in the temple and you can go. OK, we steeled ourselves and on we walked, reaching the first ramp of steps, admiring the colonnades to the left and right. It kind of felt like we were visiting a very low South American Mayan stepped pyramid [that's because Pier worked on a World Histroy textbook -- which included a chapter on the Mayans -- before we left for our trip]. Many of the huge sculptures of the man body-animal/bird headed figures standing in front of the columns were bady damaged or missing. We could imagine just how incredibly beautiful this temple would have looked like thousands of years ago. Gorgeous proportions, lovely architecture, large in scale yet not overwhelming to we modern-day mortals. We rose through another 2 levels and admired the views facing the palins below, to where the fertile farming lands were and the Nile itself. Here it was sandy and stony, dry and desolate, the cliff walls behind and to the right were barren, sandy-white to cream and light browns in colour, dotted with small entrances to caves and tombs, every now and then a door/portal sculpted into the cliff. At the rear of the upper level we saw the entrance to the Sanctuary of Amun, which we could not enter. Wow. A final look around, with some photos taken, and then we took our leave, descending the ramps over to the kiosk for seats in front of a fan with some cold drinks ... ahhhhhhhhh ... it was so hot, a shame really as it spoilt our pleasure at having visited this temple, we could have easily stayed longer to have a really good appreciative look had it been cooler. And back on to the bus to be taken to the Valley of the Kings, where again we were dropped off next to a security entrance, waiting for golf-cart-pulled tourist wagons to take us higher into the valley for the tombs. We didn't know it then but our entry tickets allowed for only 3 tombs to be entered: the tickets were hole-punched by attendants as you entered the tomb. We were put off by the sheer amount of people there, and decided to go to the futherest and highest placed tomb at the rear of the valley, which was probably a mistake, as we had to climb up a few sets of steep stairs to get to the entrance. Blast, already tired and even more hot, we descended into a steep angled tunnel cut into the cliff walls, the floor of which was wooden planking with thin horizontal boards nailed in for your shoes to grip on. Yes, the angle down was quite steep. A constant line of people were descending and ascending, room enough in the tunnel to really fit 1.5 persons comfortably across. As people were ascending their entire faces and much of their clothing was drenched in sweat ... it got hotter and more humid as we descended, so much so that it was incredibly uncomfortable and stressful to get down there. The conditions didn't help to admire the quite vivid decoration of the tunnel walls and ceilings, especially the vestibule with ink blue painted ceiling with white stars, walls decorated with simple outlined figures. We didn't get as far as the burial chamber itself, as we would have needed to descend even further into an even narrower tunnel. There was a great line of poeple trying to descend, and the ones ascending looked so drenched in sweat and exhausted looking. So, Sheryl returned up to the outside while Pier stayed a little while to admire the vestibule, feeling ever increasingly hot and uncomfortable.
We are fairly sure the one we visited was that of Tuthmosis III. From the Egypt Rough Guide ... secreted into a separate wadi, high up in a cleft, the tomb of Tuthmosis III [1479-1425 BC] is one of the oldest in the valley. Its concealment and defences make this tomb especially interesting, though some are disappointed by its artwork [not me!]. Having ascended a wooden stairway to the cleft, you descend through several levels, crossing a pit by footbridge to reach a vestibule. Yadda yadda ...
Once out and rejoining Sheryl we both shook our heads and decided it was not worth it to visit 2 more tombs, in this heat, with the limited time we were given by our guide. Again, we wished we were more fully briefed by our guide about the physical and mental reality of visiting these tombs. We wish we had been given a recommended shortlist of which tombs were the most beautifully decorated ones to visit in our limited time. They probably would have been the more popular and crowded of the tombs, so don't know if that would have been a good thing either. Some of our group had visited tombs which were, in their words, absolutely awesome, decorated in extremely vivid colours and beautiful designs inside. Damn! Picked the wrong one. [PS, Tut's tomb was closed that day]. Our group members expressed doubts that the colours weren't touched up, as they were so vivid*. I can't believe it either, especially with the amount of humidity [and acidity?] caused by the breaths of countless visitors over many, many years.
Our tip: get to the Valley of the Kings as early in the day as possible; know which tombs are the best decorated; allow yourself plenty of time to deal with crowds, knowing you will have a bit of an ordeal to go through when actually descending into tomb tunnels. Definitely drink plenty of water, and remember, no cameras allowed.
Sheryl and I decided to get to the group wait zone, sitting under shade on benches with a big bunch of people. It was here we met an old fella from Washington State, a 78-year old Korean War veteran, born in the Depression, who had worked every job you could think of. He said he'd ended up as a dairy farmer. I made th mistake of asking if he was in the Army, for no, he was in the Marines [how dare I slur his record?!]. The Marines are a cut above, teaching him to "take no s**t from noone" and "to whip his weight in wildcats" [Sheryl loves this one]. Having visited Australia last year, he especially loved Sydney, declaring it as the most beautiful city in the world. He said he was definitely against Obama as "he was going to take from the rich to giver to the poor" and that "he'd worked too hard in his life to lose it all now" ... sound familiar? Scare tactics akin to those of our friend Johnny last election? Yeah right, as if that would ever happen in reality! We enjoyed our 10 minutes with Mr Whippy Wildcat before he ambled off to join his group, his too-damaged hips not allowing him to visit any of the tombs. Another tip from us: do your travelling when you have your [relative] youth and good health! Soon it was time for our group to get together, swap notes, catch the wagons to our bus and head off to our next stop.
After a short drive we stopped for about 10 minutes at the Colossi of Memnon, a gigantic pair of enthroned statues, 18 metres high. Currently in a dusty space between a road and some fields, they once fronted athe mortuary temple of Amenophis III, once the largest complex on the west bank. The good old Rough Guide tells me the complaex was plundered by later Pharoahs, so that only the Colossi remained. Both have lost their faces and crowns, and one was damaged by an earthquake in 27BC. Even though they looked sad and out of place in that patch of sand, they were nonetheless imposing and I enjoyed getting up close to notice all the graffiti from ages past, in Roman and Greek, and bits in English.
Back on the bus for a visit to -- you guessed it -- another government approved alabaster factory. We grudgingly endured a short brief about how alabaster is worked by a man and some workers there, before entering the showroom of countless bowls, replicas, souvenirs, platters, figurines, jugs and titsch by the barelload. Everywhere you turned someone was suddenly next to you offering you information about whichever piece you showed interest in, as well as a price. Go away! George [with your kickbacks] and Thomas Cook, you have a lot to answer for! Maybe we were naive, but this aspect of our tour package was extremely annoying. After about 15 minutes, on to our bus, drinking more water, for our return journey to the Nile Ritz. According to our itinerary, "afternoon is at your leisure" which effectively meant there was nothing for us to do, no options to choose from. Our vessel was 'parked' too far from Luxor itself to be able to walk into the city for a look.
Next tip: if you decide on a Nile cruise, make sure you find out exactly what the vessel is like -- has it been refitted? etc, facilities and activities on offer -- also, EXACTLY what you'll be doing/visiting and for how long and when in the day, what other options are on offer; also, EXACTLY where the vessel is docked in relation to the city/town itself, ie, can you exit the vessel and walk into town/city for a look, especially if the vessel is going nowhere for 2.5 days?! Regarding the first point, we found at times that our vessel was moored at the end of 3 other vessels widthwise [ie, parallel to the shore] and you had to walk through the lobbies of those 3 vessels from your vessel to get to the gangplank on to the river shore. That way you saw the fitout and condition of each vessel in realtion to your own. Ours was a bit on the dowdy side compared to some we saw, which had ritzy floor-to-ceiling marble, or very modern plush hotel look about them. A good question to ask! Regarding the last point, it would have been much better for us had we been docked next to a town/city centre as we could've made more of our "at your own leisure" time, seeing as we aren't bar jockeys, leather-skinned sunbathers, or snoozing with bodice-rippers or thick 'airport' novels on our laps on sunlounges. Yes, there was a table-tennis table -- Sheryl too competitive for Pier -- but it was too hot to play, plus the westerly breeze wrought havoc with your sidespin and pinpoint placing! Sheryl and I decided to take a bit of a walk along the river bank.
Heading north we soon reached the end of a grassed area, hounded by a dog with a very hoarse bark. Heading south we passed through a grassed and pergola'd area that looked like it was an on-land extension of a cruise ship's mooring, complete with a full set of expensive looking gym equipment, sitting there in the weather without any cover, rusting and locked solid through neglect. Such a waste! The money spent on that equipment could've fed a Kenya village for a year! We thought maybe this was the private riverbank area for a particular ship or company that might've gone bust very quickly, otherwise why leave behind this equipment. We were amazed noone thought to pick it up and take away, 5-finger discount-like! Theories, theories. We sat down admiring the view we didn't have: a moored cruise ship in front of us, a seemingly neglected small fishing boat on the water to our left, secured to the bank by a frayed rope. A boy was spalhing about in the water between the cruise ship and the riverbank, using his sandals as paddles in his hands, floating on the water on a black grabage bag filler with empty bottles ... interesting. He paddled over to us and we had a short, halting exchange in English; suddenly a head popped up in the little fishing boat, it was this fella's older brother; soon these boys' father appeared and the boys skedaddled ... perhaps they were shirking a job, so we set offback to our cruise ship, disappointed there wasn't any hope of seeing anything interesting on the riverbank, worthy of spending our time till dinner. Annoying, as it seemed a complete waste of time [and money] to be stuck out here with no options. We decided that tomorrow we would somehow organise to get into Luxor and have a look around, even if for a short time. We had a reasonably early evening after dinner as we were going to have an early morning for a balloon flight.
Day 28, Saturday 20 September
We got up with our alarm at 3:15am, were quickly dressed and up to the restaurant for cuppas and a slice of sweet cake. We had to wait a while before a van came to pick us up, to transport us along the riverbank through Luxor to a watertaxi stop. It was dark and cool, and we had to wait some more time before the balloon pilot, a big, burly Egyptian came onboard to give us his safety briefing. The was another group of about a dozen people on our vessel, from the Czech Republic, none of who, except for their tour leader, who could speak English. Unfortunately for our gruff inpatient Captain Bombasticus, his instruction had to be translated by the Czech tour leader, which took ages. Finally, as the sky grew noticeably lighter, we crossed over to the opposite [west] bank of the Nile, where we were picked up by another van to transport us to the balloon liftoff area, which was located in a freshly harvested field on some poor farmer's land. There were about 6-8 or more other balloons in the immediate vicinity, in various stages of inflation all around us, an impressive sight. I will never tire of hearing the fans whirring, and the fast, furious and loud bursts of ignited gas blowing up balloons with the beautiful golden glow in this semi-darkness. Lovely to see especially in the red, orange or yellow coloured balloons. The combined Traveljoy-Czech Republic group were measured for height and weight estimated, then loaded into the basket, almost 30 people. Unlike other compartments of 6, Sheryl, I and Linda were in a compartment by ourselves, we 3 being small and short we had room to move. Our compartment was next to the ever-loud, almost-rude, autocratic pilot [who'd want to be his assistants?!], so felt the heat of the burners when he fired them up, thank goodness we knew to wear hats, otherwise we'd have had very curly, blackened tops-of-heads, ha, ha. A slow rise off the dusty patch, the irritated farmer had by now arrive on his donkey, and was being shushed and pushed away from our sight as we drifted above the crops, by now the sun had risen over the low hills on the eastern bank of the Nile ... no matter how many times we've seen the sunrise during our trip, it never fails to mystify us with it's beauty; it's unique every time. Captain Bombasticus made sure the balloon turned every now and then so that we could all have the chance to take in the ever-widening 360° views of the incredibly fertile plains on either side of the Nile, the city of Luxor on the east bank, some of the street lights below twinkling in the sunrise. Opposite to the rising sun were the craggy pale shapes of the low mountains, along the lower slopes we could see various temples, the Colossi as well as the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, with no tourists anywhere in the area, so you could see the complex without interruption, even at this distance [a great view through the zoom of cameras, video cameras and binoculars]. Every now and then Captain Bombasticus would blast "everyone enjoyin it?" ... yessir! He broke off in a Jamaican voice as he took a shine to some pretty Jamaican lasses who were in a compartment on the other side to us, with the pilot in the middle. Oh dear ... Unfortunately for some of our group with high expectations, our balloon didn't fly over and above the Valley of the Kings ... our pilot explained had we done so the winds would not bring us back to our landing spot. Who cares, we had a fantastic view of the gorgeous countryside, the sunrise, and the ruins of everything we'd seen the day before, so we could see the relationship of them all, where they were placed on the land, in relation to the Nile and to Luxor. Plus, it was another balloon flight and we love them. We still think our flight above the Yarra Valley 5 years ago was the prettiest balloon flight we've been on to date. About 45 minutes later we'd landed on another patch of a harvested field, close to some farmhouses. Two older ladies dressed in black led a small herd of goats around us, a classic photo series right there. A few kids came over with some bits'n'bobs, hoping to sell them to us. Once we'd landed and had a celebratory dance, certificates and t-shirts were handed out ... one of the boys pestered me for my t-shirt ... I asked hom how many he had [6] and what he did with them [sell them] ... I should've given it to him as once home it was pretty cheap and nasty [and took room in my bag]. Oh well, next time ...
The flight was a very enjoyable experience, and once we were returning via Luxor, Sheryl and I decided it would be worthwhile trying to organise a taxi to take us into Luxor so we could spend some time to ourselves having a look around the city centre. We knew many businesses wouldn't be open due to Ramadan, but we thought "who cares, at least we're having a look". Some of the others in our group expressed interest. Once back at our ship and having had breakfast, we decided to make definite plans: we asked the reception on the ship if they could call for a taxi, decide on a price for drop-off with a pickup at midday, andsee who else would like to come. Two others decided "yes", and we put the plan in motion. Yee-har! Movement at last! The taxi man arrived, he was instructed by reception as to what we wanted, we piled in and it worked! Dropped off in the city centre next to a Maccas, we went for a little stroll towards the train station. We noticed the tourist info office opposite was closed [useful ... not!] and soon 2 guys on horsedrawn buggies approached us with offers to take us on a ride around, wherever we wanted. Some of us needed to go to an ATM, and we wanted to see the market the townspeople go to, as well as finish up at a big souvenir place [which we knew was the 'real' reason why they picked us up [the 'kickback' for taking tourists there]. Anyway, the price was supposed to be 5 Egyptian pounds each [pretty much 1AUD] and so we decided to go with it. These guys were a major hoot, Sheryl and I enjoyed the lively little fella who drove our buggy, fining the ATM, and then turning ino an almost impossibly narrow street lines with stalls on either side of the street, with shoppers walking alongside both sides of the street with 2 buggies attempting to push everyone aside. In other words we had a very closeup view of the stalls and the people and produce, at times we had to stop for a few minutes as we couldn't progress any further because of the crush. In the meantime we saw fruits and vegetables, meats and fishes hanging or being chopped up in the open, mounds of spices with the smells drifting to us and the incredible blue oif the indigo was amazing; every now and then we [horse, buggy, drives, us] would get dirty looks as we pushed our way through the market. We saw a woman blowing into the mouths of small pigeons [?] so their chests puffed out, then placed them back into a crate with other pigeons -- we wondered why she did that: was it to stupefy them? Does anybody have a theory on this? Then there were clothing stalls, veils, scarves, ladies and men's outfits, shoes, bicycle repair shops, people frying latticelike pastry [?] on big [about 1 metre round], flat round iron pans ... yum [whatever it was] ... it was tantalising and exotic and amazing to see. We snapped off as many shots as we could, without being inpolite, most of them are a little blurred, but, who cares?! It was a fantastic experience, like a scene out of a movie. We finally would our way through the market, ending up at this big souvenir place, where we bought some papyrus, wooden boxes inlaid with mother of pearl, as well as an outfit for Pier. We were totally ripped off with the boxes and the outfit, but we didn't care all that much, as we had such a wonderful adventure in the horse-drawn buggy. Once done, we jumped back onto the buggy and were driven back to our meeting point with the taxi. Yes, our price was supposed to be E£5 each, but it went up as we tried to pay that price, ending up E£40, $AUD8 ... big deal! We had some time to spare so the 4 of us thirsty intrepid travellers went into Maccas where we got drinks and Sheryl and I shared some fries. The lady with us saw that they were selling Maccas Egypt towels, so had to buy one, to add to her already incredible, and some lavish, purchases to date ... I'd hate to have to lug her bag!
Our taxi duly arrived and off we went, returning to our cruise ship, paid the driver the agreed price, and took ourselves to our rooms. Sheryl and I agreed that this short trip was probably the most enjoyable experience we've had together all cruise! It certainly was memorable, and a total hoot. We had lunch on board, then relaxed chatting with various people up on the top deck. As the afternoon wore on it was time to do a final pack of our bags before it was time to leave our cruise ship, and taken to the centre of Luxor [same place where Sheryl and I were dropped off by taxi this morning] for a couple of hours shopping in the central [touristy market]. Unlike the market the Luxor people used, this market was a street of shops, tizzed up for tourists -- and we're sure, with prices to match -- but it was fun to say "la shukran" [no thankyou] and have a bit of a joke with the shopkeepers as they tried everything to entice you to buy from them. At a carpet shop Sheryl said she'd only have a look if the carpet was jet-propelled. Others exclaimed "free, free", probably meaning free to look rather than free to take with you, ha, ha. We walked up and down a few times, just killing the time before we had leave for the train station, 7:30pm. As soon as the call to prayers started up, the street market transformed into virtually every man starting smoke, trestle tables and blankets being set up in side streets, food brought out and people feasting as the sun went down. Amazing. We were somewhat jealous, wishing we could join them as the food looked yummy! We had to make do, all us our group meeting up at a cafe for a drink and chat, beofre it was time to be picked up by our bus, for the short trip to the train station before dropping us and our luggage off. Our time in Luxor almost finished. What a day!

*According to our Rough Guide, yes, the colours have been restored.

Next post, thoughts on group travel, and our tour in general.