Gaddis Hotel Luxor

... side that no one else will...<br>after my ride, Huessen, by boat driver who is also 23, picked me up and we went to his friends, Badaway to hang out, we spent about 3 hours just chillin in Badaway's incomplete house. It was really one of the most impacting moments of my life... the 3 of us just sat on a rug, but below us was just dirt and rock, the walls around us were just a brick frame that only went ...

... 20. I could only think that he was probably a whiny brat, and thats why someone potentially killed him.<br><br>After visiting the Valley of the Kings for a few hours we took a truck to Queen Hatshepsuts temple located nearby. Queen Hatshepsut was different in the fact that she was one of the few women pharaohs. And like modern times she had difficulty being accepted by the people, and she often depicted herself in male form to show her power. The ...

... br>May I just take this opportunity to quote Ashley, one of the Canadians on the trip: "Yeah, the temples. They're big, they're beautiful, we get the idea already." Which is essentially what was running through my mind. They're majestic, the architecture is jaw-droppingly awesome, but (and I apologize for this but really) they all look the same.<br><br>Oh well, at least my dad enjoyed it. And dinner was great.<br>

... in the area. <br>This was our hottest day yet and the temperature was to hit 48 degrees later in the day. The whole area is white sandy dunes for miles and miles and on arrival at the Valley of the Kings we were taken by people mover up to the main excavated area where we could enter the tombs. We were able to visit three of the tombs and were amazed at the detail and colour still to be seen on the walls after thousands of years. <br>After ...

... and from robbers and thus when it was found by Howard Carter in 1922 it had truly been hidden to the world. And yet the toal opulence of what was found in his haphazardly created tomb is just remarkable. What must have been done for the big shots? I can't magine living in a culture that dedicates such complete and total opulence to death. Basically from the day a pharoh became pharoh he would start building his tomb. How did a society so consumed with such useless ...

... bas relief carving, hieroglyphics depicting the lives of the residents, etc. We also went to visit a number of other sites like the temple of Hatshepsut (aka Hot chicken soup), a woman who ruled Egypt adopting all the manners of a man (including false beard), faking her birth to a god, and usurping her nephew's rightful place as Pharoah (she had him imprisoned) And all this just to be accepted by the masses. Imagine Hillary Clinton, with a vengeance. We visited two other ...

... say that the antiquities in the areas of both Luxor and Cairo are truly magnificent and awesome in their scale and quality.  Seeing them was an unforgettable experience that we were both very pleased to have had.  Having said that, although it would have been wonderful to see Abu Simbell and other great monuments we didn't get to, we probably feel pretty satisfied with what we saw and are unlikely to go back.  Viewing the antiquities, you just cannot believe that you are ...

... hot air balloons in various stages of inflation, silently moving in the dawn light. We climbed into our basket and were greeted by the pilot, sporting a Blue Peter badge, who proceeded to give us the safety drill and a demonstration of the landing position. Must admit, I wasn't looking forward to the landing, after experiencing a very hard landing several years previous in England. Due to the unpredictability of the English weather, it&#8217;s almost impossible to control ...

... the coffee shop. We stayed and had a cuppa and then everyone started heading back to the hotel. Mark and I stayed for a little while but then Mohamed's room mate (another tour leader) whose name is Arafa joined us and it looked like they were in for a long one so Mark and I went back to the hotel. Tomorrow we got to Karnak and I am determined to get my photo and then I have the fun task of getting a visa extension - hopefully with Mohamed there I won't have any trouble.

... hawkers of the trip, and this took away a lot of the enjoyment of the journey. <br><br>From the top of the limestone cliffs we looked directly down on the remains of the Temple of Hatshepsut, and from our vantage point the couple of hundred visitors wandering around it looked like a colony of ants. There we left our donkeys and walked over the final ridge and down into the Valley of the Kings. <br><br>The admission price covered entrance into our of ...