Luxor - the Ancient Temple - January 20

Scott and I had decided to share a hotel room in Luxor – but first we took out our tents and put them up as we only intended to spend one night in the hotel and camp the second! Also they were still soaking wet from the previous night so needed to dry off!

It was surprising really though because although it had been a really hard day again I was feeling pretty good - the only problem is my ankle and achilles - the same problem I had on previous trips – I have been applying tiger balm – hopefully it will ease after a while as it did before!

Had a really good afternoon in Luxor. We went into town after a welcome shower and ate some street food – falafels and more!

Luxor Temple was quite amazing! At first we couldn’t find the entrance to the actual temple and instead went into a mosque which had been built on top of some of the ruins – we thought that was quite incredible in itself – building on top of such ancient buildings (about 3500 years old!) There were parts of the original temple inside the mosque. The different carvings were really interesting – different inside and out – some actually carved into the rock – others standing separately! Eventually we found the temple entrance – there was a huge obelisk - incredible to think it was made from a single piece of granite! Loads of carvings on it! Although a lot of the place was in ruins it was still really interesting looking around – the size alone of everything is amazing! We met a guide here and arranged a trip for the next day – the hotel prices for tours were $65 and this guy was going to charge us $60 between three of us so we thought it sounded like a good deal! Only trouble was we would have to leave early next morning! So we headed back towards the hotel wandering around some markets on the way – ended up first in the tourist market where they really badger you with the hard sell. Managed to collect an unwanted guide/escort – and after a short while another one! They took us through the locals market – with everyone trying to sell us something – quite funny really! They then took us to a restaurant for falafels and to a shop where they were obviously hoping for some commission! Unfortunately they got a bit upset with us when we wouldn’t tip them! Every taxi that goes by tries to get your business – every shop you pass tries to sell you a coke – its hard work with so many people in your face all the time!

Back to the hotel and the most uncomfortable beds ever! It was great getting our laundry done though and of course the best thing was the bathroom! Much better then having to unzip your tent in the middle of the night! We were pretty tired and it was quite late by now – not to mention that we had agreed to meet our guide at 7am – so we fell asleep quickly on those uncomfy beds!!