Day 80: Sunday 20th April: Aswan

We decide to have a chill day at the pool at the Pyramisa Isis Island Hotel (a 10 minute boat ride on the Nile from the mainland). The hotel is VERY quiet - I really don't know how they will survive, being a 400+ bed room hotel.

Day 81: Monday 21st April: Aswan

Yesterday we met with Walead, a tour operator recommended by the hotel manager. Very friendly guy (an also negotiable - like anything in Egypt, it's part of the culture to "hassle") and we agree to 2 days of touring. Today we drive down to Abu Simbel to the site of the Temple of Rameses II and his wife Nefertiti. It's a 3 hour drive, escorted by police (they ride in one of the 8 vehicles in our convoy) but well worth it, the temple is magnificent and detailed and we have our own personal guide accompanying us to interpret all the pictures, stories and hieroglyphics on the walls. He is an Egyptologist and academic and extremely interesting.

This temple was moved 210m westwards and 65m higher due to the construction of the high Aswan dam in the mid 1960's - about 870 blocks of between 20 and 30t were saw-cut and moved and glued back together.

There were of course many many temples that this happened to, but Abu Simbel was paid for by the Italians and Unesco (but many nations involved in the others).

Day 82: Tuesday 22nd April: Aswan

Today we have organized a tour of the sites in Aswan: the High Dam, Kalabsha Temple and Philae Temple and we meet yet another Egyptologist who guides us around the sites.

Day 83: Wednesday 23rd April: Aswan to Luxor.

The vehicles are supposedly leaving Wadi Halfa today by barge and should be with us on Saturday so we decide to save some time (running out now) by taking a tour to Luxor, stopping at Kom Ambo and Idfu Temples on the way to Luxor (where the Valley of the Kings and Queens are, Luxor and Karnak Temples etc.).

We try to find a hotel in Luxor and then resort to asking our tour operator, Walead, and of course he manages to book us into the Sofitel Karnak Resort in Luxor for the princely sum of $35 per room per night (B & B). They really do try to rip the tourists off and Egyptians can get much better hotel prices than we can. Lesson learnt! The resort is lovely - right on the Nile with stunning views and gardens and of course the much-needed swimming pool. They even have a spa which I am hoping to get to.

Day 84: Thursday 24th April: Luxor

It's an exciting day today as we are to visit the Valley of the Kings and it doesn't disappoint.

We see 4 of around 64 tombs that have been created in a valley, underground, some up to 60m deep. There is a 3D model at the entrance which gives a good depiction of the extent of the excavations / construction.

Besides Ramses IV and IX along with Hatshepsut's tombs, we visit Tutankhamun's tomb which although very small (he was only 18 when he died and therefore did not have a lot of time to create a large burial place) contains his original sarcophagus and his mummified remains.

We then went to the Temple of Hatshepsut (who was the only woman to reign Egypt - and for 22 years - and actually got herself named a King).

We passed on Valley of the Queens on the guides' advice and rather went to an alabaster factory to see hand carving in alabaster, granite, sandstone and limestone (and of course bought some stuff).

Finally we stopped off on the way back to the hotel at the Memon Statues which guarded an ancient and huge (but now destroyed and non-existent) temple and which have been re-erected by the restoration teams.

Note: We are getting used to the "touts" and they seem to intrinsically guess that we will not be suckered into buying their rubbish!

Day 85: Friday 25th April: Luxor

Our guide Mohamed and driver Ahmed pick us up in the minibus at 8am again from the Karnak Resort Hotel.

Today we visit Karnak Temple, the biggest ancient temple in the world. It's already hot by 8:30 when we walk into the temple but it is truly magnificent as a temple to the god Amun Ra and was constructed over a 1200 year period by various Kings most notably Ramses II.

There is a gallery of 134 monumental columns as well as the largest obelisk in the world weighing in at 720t! There is a slightly smaller obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris which the French claimed long ago and came originally from Karnak.

After this we visit Luxor Temple which was connected by a long colonnade of sphinx in the human / lion form and the connection is currently being excavated and restored.

Luxor Temple is also very ornate and exhibits some Muslim influence in that a mosque was found to have been built on top of the old temple! There is also evidence of the Coptic Christian influence in parts where the original ancient Egyptian characters have been plastered over and replaced by Christian scenes.

Then it's off to Luxor Museum where some of the best statues found are exhibited (sadly no cameras allowed), but there are some near perfect granitic statues to see in the cachet of statues found in and around the Karnak and Luxor temples.

We have completed our tour by 14h00 so spend some 'down time' at the pool and in our air-conditioned room hiding from the incredible afternoon heat. Tonight we will venture out to one of the very few pub's around - ironically called JJ's so we will be having one or two for Julie tonight.