Frying in Luxor

We're enjoying Luxor! It is so cheap here we can't get over it. Not much to say today right now we are killing time in the air conditioned bliss that is the internet cafe before the mummification museum opens at 4pm.

I slept in this morning for the first time in over a week so I feel very rested....I followed that up with a swim and some suntanning/reading at the pool and lunch at a downtown restaurant..the same one as last night. When we find a good place that doesn't make us sick why mess with fate and go elsewhere. Sue on the other hand was up early for exercising...crazy, crazy :)

We're gonna hit the mummy museum and then the Souk later when it is cooler out. It is so hot out right now you can't really walk the streets without over-heating (It is 34C today) .

We have one more full day in Luxor and then we are going to fly to Sharm El-Sheikh. The trip is flying by!!

Keep warm back in Calgary...

We're free, we're free....

Hi from Luxor!

I'm officially old today...I wouldn't let Sue celebrate it until 9am, to account for the time difference, so I relished my last remaining hours in my 20's...Sue bought me dinner tonight at this awesome restaurant in downtown Luxor. We sat at an outdoor table and watched the horse carriages go by while eating really good Egyptian food(we're addicted!) one of the best meals yet, and as we always take each other out for our birthdays Sue got off easy...Food is so cheap here we both ate huge meals for about $4 Canadian ..I told her that that is exactly how much I will spend on her in one month so McDonald's here we come.

We had a really relaxing fun cruise...we met some cool people on the boat and had a good time last night watching the sunset from the top desk with them as the foggy skies of Luxor crept up from the distance. We finished our cruise this morning with 7 hours of tour-guided sight seeing from 7am-2pm in stiflingly hot,hot,hot weather...I love it hot and even I was dying out here. The whole tour-guided thing was OK at times but we much preferred doing it on our own...we felt a little herded around like cattle by the end; you can't take break when you want, you had to stand in the sun for long periods of time listening to the tour guide drone on and on and with Sue's bad knees it was hard for her to stand around like that. Our guide spoke very good English but was hard to understand...we can't put our finger on why exactly but you had to concentrate very hard to get it...if you let your mind drift he sounded like he was speaking a foreign language...we felt like two kids in social studies class trying to pay attention unsuccessfully. We are also both very quick sight viewers...in and out...the tour guided stuff lasted about 4 times as long as our attention spans! So we're free!!!! Yeah!

We saw the Valley of the Kings and Queens today...they were excavating that new tomb they just found and we got to watch for a bit. We also went to Karnak and Luxor Temples...which were really amazing, the best we have seen yet. Unfortunately, by the time we saw them it was 5 hours into the day, smokin' hot and we couldn't appreciate them fully because WE WERE DONE. We're gonna go back fresh and crawl through them before we leave Luxor.

Luxor is quite a nice city...a lot like Aswan but busier with more energy to it. The Sellers are more aggressive here as well...we are pretty good at ignoring them but there were a few people on the tour bus from the boat that just got completely taken advantage of...Two of the guys from the cruise, Robert and Sal, would come back to the bus every time after walking through the souvenir shops post sight-seeing with crap they always stated they were forced to buy. You can't engage sellers at all... you have to just shake your head no and walk...or say no in Arabic so they don't know what language to sell to you in, they get confused and move on to the next person.

We are staying at the Sheraton at Luxor..it's pretty nice...we only paid $46 US per night so a steal! It has an amazing pool overhanging the Nile with super comfy loungers, we have big basking plans tomorrow! Oh and another mini-fridge(we looove the mini-fridge) water is about 2LE in town and 15 LE at the hotel ...same for pop , half price in town..we're cheap, well not cheap, but don't like to be taken advantage of like we're walking dollar signs because we're in a nice hotel. It's the principle.

Well, we're off to check out the Souk and head home to bed(we were up at 5am today) Talk to you all soon.

P.S. A big thanks out to all those folks shoveling my walk!!! Funny how I have hardly touched my shovel all year and the second I leave town it snows. I owe you all many free shovels when I return:)

Cruising the Nile

Sorry for so long between posts...internet is expensive on the boat..as is everything(they have you trapped!)

Our cruise is Awesome!!!! 10/10...Way nicer then we expected. It is beautiful to sail down the Nile and enjoy the view of passing small towns and farms...lots of palm trees and goats too! The ship is a good size..about 125 people on board...a dining room,lounge, and sun deck with a small pool and bar. We somehow lucked out big time and got the suite as our cabin!!! There are only 2 suites and we won the lotto...our room is twice as big as the others with a sitting room and it is at the front of the boat with wrap-around windows to see the view...and also a small door to a patio area...and real feather duvets/pillows and fluffy bathrobes...we are in heaven!

I almost forgot: the mini-fridge!!!! Our beautiful, beautiful mini-fridge.

Once we noticed it we jumped off the boat and bought enough pop and water and chocolate to last the trip and stocked it up! We are the cheap-asses who bring our own drinks to dinner...Ha ha! The only problem is mosquitoes...well not for me, as they don't bite me...Sue on the other hand must taste delicious because she is waking up with bug bites...the other night she was up reading and saw 4 of them on the wall...she snapped and started yelling at them and banging her book on the wall to attempt an all out assassination ..she missed them all but I laughed as I can't imagine what was going through the people's heads next door when they heard screaming and repeated banging on the neighbouring wall.

Another funny thing about the boat is the soundtrack...they keep playing the same mixed tape over and over but whoever made it accidentally put some inappropriate songs on it (I think without understanding them)...it is a mix of instrumental music, pop and dance music....The joy of our day is when we hear a certain Enya song we know we have to find a prime position next to the most uptight looking older person because in 2 songs it breaks into that old dance song "face down, ass up, that's the way we like to Fuck" the reactions of people's faces are hilarious!

Food is awesome too...huge buffets, nice 4 course plate service meals...couldn't ask for more!

The room cleaning staff always leave these elaborate "origami" towel animals on out bed when they finish the room..it is funny to see what will greet us each day..Yesterday I turned our towels into birds,the only origami I know, and Sue put one outside the door for the boys while I was showering...10 minutes later I got pulled out of the room in my bathrobe and ended up doing 10 minute in-service demonstration on how to make it for all the staff...then later that day they paraded me proudly to all the rooms to show me their birds!! It was cute.

We have been stopping at different temples along the way down the Nile with a guide and are now on our way to Luxor...I am on my way to suntan on the top desk and read my book while it all goes by!

Abu Simbel

Whew! it's hot here!!!! Low thirties..we're melting!

We are having fun in Aswan, it is a nice city and very cheap to travel here...we are eating 3 course meals for about $4 per person. The hotel is nice and offers an amazing free breakfast.. I had crepes and an omelet today, yum...first real breakfast yet. They don't really eat much for breakfast here..just bean dishes and tea.

Yesterday we went to Abu Simbel, a town about 40km north of the Sudanese border along the Nile by Lake Nasser, to see the Ramses II temples. They are huge statues/temples carving into the side of a mountain...it was actually originally in a different location but had to be moved up hill when the dam was built..it's amazing that they moved them as they are very huge and impressive...quite a sight for any ancient travellers venturing up the Nile to be greeted by back in it's day.

Getting to Abu Simbel was quite the adventure...well, getting home was more of one. The road to Abu Simbel is blocked my police and only certain vehicles can use it at certain times of the day...We could have taken a tourist police caravan(that left at 4am and cost 60LE) which wasn't our favourite option since some people we met at the hotel said it was way too crowded and horrible(and early!)..or we could take the public bus for 20LE and leave at 8am....we took the bus and were the only women on it, but thankfully, there were two French tourists beside us(only 4 white people allowed per trip). The ride up was OK but it took 5 hours with frequent stops to smoke and have tea at passing cafe's...however, once we arrived in Abu Simbel we were dropped off in the middle of the street with no sign of a bus station to place to buy tickets home...and as it is everywhere here, everyone we asked gave us different answers. We took the average of the answers and hoped the existence of a 4:30pm bus home was true and went to the temple by taxi. When we were finished seeing it at 2:30pm we took a taxi back to town in search of the so called bus station and paid our taxi driver Nasser to show us the town, as we had time to kill. He took us to his house where we met his kids, wife and parents who all live under a "roof", that being sticks, the size of my living room...the kids and his mom got a real kick out of seeing themselves in picture from the digital camera.

He took us back to where the bus let us off and said that a 4:30pm bus would be there to take us home...so we sat in the cafe with Nasser and had a drink and waited..and waited ..and 4pm came and no bus...however, the offerings of a private taxi for 350LE kept increasing!!!! Also we didn't see the two French guys and began to wonder....so Sue went on a door to door survey of where the bus came and we found out the station was 500 meters down a side street...when Nasser drove us there we found the French guys in a mini-bus(ie. 8 person van with 12 people in it) and got the last 2 seats at 15LE leaving in one minute!!! That was close but we won, and got it cheaper!!! The ride back was very uncomfortable on a seat with metal poking into my back crammed in a van with 12 smelly Egyptian men but it took only 3 hours to get back and they dropped us off at the hotel so it was awesome. Then we went to a restaurant with Claude and Didier (the French guys)for dinner...their limited English and our high school French got a workout but we did ok. They were both really nice and very well travelled..we think Claude is filthy rich somehow as he said he is retired and travelled the world and lives in a 200 year old chateau in France passed down from his family..and he was too young to have worked a full career...and wouldn't say exactly what he did for a living before...just many jobs...a mystery!!!

Today we leave for our cruise, check-in is at 11am...although we still have to find the ship...easier said then done..there are hundreds of ships and as in all of Egypt nothing is labelled correctly, and 10 people will give you 10 different answers!

Wish us luck...we may be swimming up the Nile to Luxor:)