Kings, Queens and Gods...

Listening to: Children laughing and yelling

So far so good our tour bus arrives at 7.50am but it's full to overflowing, and small and my knees are up around my chest. These vans are poorly designed, hot and incredibly uncomfortable. The driver is a maniac (not unusual in Egypt) as he swerves to avoid people, other cars, bicycles - beeps his horn continually (special on road communication that only the Egyptians understand - as each beep has a different tone and sound depending how they hit the horn) the vehicle hits every bump in the road and with no seat belts it's a little more than uncomfortable by now.

First stop is 'Colossi of Memnon'. Interestingly these faceless statues stand 18m high and while they appear giants standing all on their lonesome, they were once quite small as part of the largest temple ever built in Egypt for Amenhotep III (my man) and is thought to be even larger than Karnak! WOW!! Unimaginable hey?

Next stop is Valley of the Queens, 75 tombs but we only saw two. Tomb of Titi and can't remember the other - some king? buried in the wrong place I reckon.

By the time we reach the temple of Hatshepsut (she was pretty cool) set within the rugged limestone cliffs rising 300m above the desert plain - I'm over it! Not over the beauty and magnificence, but over the tour. Yeah, yeah - I know I'm repeating myself and such a whinger but it's getting hot (intensely so) and I'm tired of being squished and yelled at 'yallah, yallah' when all I want to do is wander and be free to explore to my timetable which is at least two hours longer than they want. You're lucky if you get 50 min anywhere!!

The main interest of this tour is the Valley of the Kings but these days it's too costly and complicated to do independently, unlike the last time I visited although I wouldn't want to repeat the donkey journey I took across rugged desert plains in the scorching heat!!

Next we visit a pitiful Alabaster factory (which we reckon is mostly resin) boring and rather uninteresting.

Final stop - what we've been waiting all day for - Valley of the Kings. I alwayz wanted to see King Tut's tomb and on last visit it was 'closed for restoration' - you can imagine my disappointment after such a long journey trudging the rocky desert hills on donkey back and foot (coz I refused to ride mine up the hills - poor little thing) so this time I was pretty keen to finally see it but alas...it wasn't included in the already steep admission - an extra $35 AUD to see and apparently there isn't much to see as all his treasures are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. So I visited Ramses IX and Ramses IV (exactly the same tombs as last time LOL) without realising until I was in them. Ramses IV being the most impressive with detailed hieroglyphics, gorgeous colours still apparent in the artwork and the red granite sarcophagus (which is huuuuuge, the largest in the valley and empty) Ramses IV is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

By 1.30pm we are gladly back in the bus for the hair raising 1 hour trip back to Luxor. I know I probably sound as though it wasn't much fun and I'm a total whinger - it was fun and awesome and no regrets here, I just don't like cramped mini buses or organised tours for obvious reasons. But hey 'cest la vie'. Valley of the Kings is quite an impressive place and I love the logic behind the Ancient Egyptians having the West bank for the dead and the East Bank for the living all based on the cycle of the sun. As the sun rises in the East, this should be for the living and because it sets in the West, for the dead. Their belief in the afterlife and their journey to the underworld is fascinating, their journey is about returning to their bodies, hence mummification and the sun cycles represent rebirth with the rising and setting of the sun. This is a simplified version that I hope hasn't been lost in translation :)

After a rest and madly packing we spend our last night at the Oasis Cafe yet again. The Irish Manager, Lorraine and Egyptian George are gorgeous and a heap of laughs. I break my NO COFFEE code for the first time in 23 days and have the best tasting coffee in a very long time and that includes OZ!! A special import from Cairo which I must find out the name of :) Since then I'm now on a constant search for the elusive, gorgeous tasting elixir of the Oasis coffee, but so far have had no luck :(

Luxor has been a huge highlight, one city that has changed greatly and this time for the better. It's a city you either love or hate. We love it and are very keen to return :)

Midnight rambler signing off - ma' salaama