Nile Valley Hotel & Restaurant Luxor

... bank of Luxor. The shepherdy donkey guy matched everyone up with a suitable donkey and thank fully i got a tiny one so my feet were nearly touching the ground which everyone behind me found hilarious. I personally found it very reassuring because it meant if i fell off it wouldn't be from a great height so that made me relax even though there was very little to hang on to. One of the shepherds was a little boy named Biyup (i asked him in Arabic and i ...

... pass out or throw up. Thankfully I did neither, although I must have looked pretty green because people in the group started fanning me and dumping water on the back of my neck. I basically walked from one seat in the shade to the next and hardly listened to the descriptions our guide was giving. I started feeling better when we were leaving. Too bad, Karnak was impressive and beautiful but Luxor had many other things to offer.<br><br>I know for a fact ...

... rock aret which looks more like modern day than ancient Egyptian but it was still very cool - very cool, it was amazing. And finally we saw Rameses IX but this was over touristed and protected by glass - it was more of a spectacle than a tomb so not as good as the previous two.<br><br>After the valley of the kings we tried to get into Seti I, this was impossible as we needed a ticket from the ticket booth at the begining so back we went to get the ticket ...

... photos. We had to take a bus there. It felt like we were being rushed and ferried around, but I guess it was hot and well, you look at the pyramid, and look at it some more, and that's about it, not many places to "go," so to speak.<br><br>The Sphinx is cool, but those darned Turks shot off the nose! What a shame. The Sphinx is both bigger and smaller than I thought it would be, but impressive either way.<br><br>While, as I said, I was not dissapointed, I would ...

... of the unification of Egypt and also his enemies - so they are always underfoot - Palestinians, Nubians, etc. They also painted images of the king's enemies on sandals and foot stools. After Luxor, it was about 4pm and we were exhausted, so we came back and took a nap and a shower! yay! Then we had dinner and before that watched the sunset over the Nile and West Bank. After dinner, we watched some dancers and then went out with our guide Khaled and a guy that ...

... to the country.   It isn't a dam in the true sense of what we think of as the Hoover Dam, being made of concrete.  This dam is made of a clay core, petrified sand, and rocks that hold back the nations largest man-made lake.  This stop was impressive but short, as the only thing our minds could focus on was dinner (as we had not eaten since breakfast).  We headed downtown Aswan in one of the local cabs that I am glad to say I have experienced.    This trip has truly been ...

... to avoid and then held out their hand for baksheesh, pleading or even threatening if necessary.  Even a gun toting tourist policeman was at it at Hatshepsut temple.  Apart from being quite expensive, it is actually quite difficult to maintain sufficient supplies of small change to continuously feed it out to people.  One has to recognise that Egypt is a poor country with an average income of only about $1600 per annum, but this culture was very off-putting, as it was so ...

... the sites after choosing a hostel (we split a room with A/C for roughly $2.50 USD). <br><br>I won't bore you with the history...but there is plenty around. Most of Luxor was built on and around the 4000 year old site of ancient Thebes. We were expecting extreme heat - heat that I have never experienced before. Travellers had been reporting temps as high as 48-50C from Luxor through Aswan to the south. We were ...