Egypt

I think I have been avoiding writing this blog as I know its going to be a long one!  We arrived in Cairo at 5am and after some difficulty getting cash out of an ATM we manged to purchase our tourists visas and enter the country.  We were looking forward to getting out of the hot stuffy airport and in to the cool air of the city.  Little did we know it was already 30 degrees at 5am!!  So no refreshing breeze to cool us down.  Luckily we were able to check into our hotel at this early hour and crank up the air conditioning and have a sleep.  Later that day we met out tour group, which was just us and a brother & sister travelling together from Columbia, and had dinner in the hotel restuarant from where we could look out and see the Pyramids in the distance.  Our first full day in Cairo and we were off to see the Pyramids.  They were amazing.  So big.  Each individual stone that was used to build the pyramid is much bigger than I had imagined.  What was really cool is we were able to climb up onto the Great Pyramid.  The Pyramids are the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world being built in 2560BC! Much older than any ruins in Europe. Of all the Pyramids I liked Saqqara, the step Pyramid, as it is the 1st Pyramid ever built and has its own unique shape.  While we were visiting this Pyramid I took a photo of a camel by the pyramid and then the owner took his opportunity to pick me up and put me on his camal and lead me around, then of course asked for money. 

That night we had a truly Eyptian experience in store - a 13hr night train from Cairo to Aswan.  As luck would have it it was the end of Ramadan  so the trains were packed with city workers travelling home to their families.  The best was yet to come when the air con conked out and we were left to travel 3 hours in an oven.
Upon arrival in Aswan, with little sleep, we checked onto our cruise and our home for the next 3 nights.  Then we went off to explore Aswan Dam and the first of many, many temples Philae.  This was my favourite temple as we got to take a boat ride to reach it.  The temple has been moved as its original site had been flooded for half a century and UNSCO stepped in to save it.

The next morning we were up and gone by 3:30am for the three hour drive to Abu Simbil temple in army convoy.  The temples were carved out of the mountainside in 13th century BC.  However, in 1968 the temple was relocated to avoid being submerged by the formation of Lake Nasser (which is a reservoir for Aswan Dam).  This temple is one of Egypts top attractions.  It is literally in the middle of the desert so there is no escaping the sun and even though it was 8am it was baking hot. 

We had a couple of hours to look around before being driven back to Aswan and the cruise boat that was getting ready to sail up the Nile.  It was lovely when the boat started sailing as it created a breeze which made it ideal for sunbathing and just chilling out as we were tired from our early morning trip. 
We docked at Edfu and spent the night not going anywhere.  In the morning we took a horse and carriage to visit Edfu temple before boarding the boat and sailing to Luxor.  We were sunbathing by 9:27am and had our 1st beer before lunch time.  Great way to spend the day.

Again we were up early this time at 4:15am as we were taking a hot airballoon over the Valley of the Kings.  We got an aerial view of Al-Deir Al-Bahari temple and saw lots of sugar cane and date trees. 

From there we went to check out the temple then the Valley of the Kings.  The Valley of the Kings houses 63 tombs and chambers and was the principle burial place of major royal figures of the new Egyptian Kingdom.  Unfortunately we were not able to take photographs of the tombs.  Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered here and its entire contents are now displayed in the Cairo Museum.  After this visit we checked into our hotel in Luxor which had a swimming pool so the rest of the day was spent lounging in and by the pool.  That evening we went to an Irish pub where we caught up with other tour groups that we had met on the cruise.
Our last temple visit was the biggest - we saved the biggest til last.  Karnak temple was huge.  It was started by Ramses II.  Again we went back to the hotel and relaxed by the pool until it was time to board the night train back to Cairo.  Randomly the air conditioning wasn't working again so I am sceptical if it ever works at all.

Upon arrival in Cairo we visited the Egyptian Museum and saw Tutankhamuns burial mask.  Our last visit was to a Mosque where I had to pay to wear a Klu Klux Clan type robe to cover myself up. 
Overall, Egypt was amazing.  We have never been in such intense heat before and it made exploring really difficult.  We returned home with many souvenirs and even had a trip to Ikea today to buy a bookshelf to put them on.

Luxor temple

Our next trip is to Munich for Oktoberfest, we bought some traditional costumes and there is a group of 12 of us going.  It's going to be great.