I've been rather rushed in Luxor. I boarded my felucca in Aswan and we sailed all day down the Nile. It was quite lovely. There were 7 others on the felucca with me: 5 French-Canadians, 1 Kiwi and 1 Dutch woman. It was a good mix and our captains were of the better sort (I've heard stories from other travellers who had felucca captains who provided nothing but bread for meals and didn't offer blankets at night). We stopped off at an island along the way to see a friend of one of our captains; he made us coffee and we chatted around the fire before leaving again. The winds were very strong so we eventually docked earlier than planned at another island. We spent the evening around a bonfire with the passengers of another felucca docked close to ours. The night was bitterly cold, though. Even with warm blankets it was still a very difficult night. I wouldn't try the experience again in winter without a heavy sleeping bag.

The next morning we woke up with the sun and set sail again. Of my group, I was the only one disembarking that day - the rest were all doing two days/two nights. They dropped me off along the bank of the Nile and walked with me up to the road where a minibus was waiting for me. There were already several other passengers inside and we chatted as we drove on to pick up other felucca passengers. Along the way we picked up Chen and Christoph! Chen and Christoph are a British-Taiwanese mother-son team that I met on the train platform in Cairo. Then I met them again on the bus to Abu Simbel and I met them again on this minibus and found that we were going to be staying at the same hotel in Luxor! Small world. Anyway, we made stops at the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu along the way and arrived in Luxor about two hours late (of course, when is anything ever on time here?)

Everyone settled into their hotel rooms and I boarded another minibus (with Chen and Christoph) to Karnak Temple, which was absolutely spectacular. After a couple hours at the temple it was already getting dark so it was time for dinner - I tried kushari! The next morning was supposed to be our trip to the West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings and such, but our transport was more than an hour late. We we arranged for a private driver (who ended up receiving a fine along the way for using his cell phone while driving) to take us to the West Bank. We drove past Howard Carter's house (the man who discovered Tut's tomb) and arrived at the Valley of the Queens. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures (and the fine for being caught doing so is 1000 LE, which is about $200, so I wasn't going to try), but the paintings inside the tombs were spectacular. At one time all the temples in Egypt were painted in birght colors, though most of the paint has since worn away, but here the colors were still bright - it was great to get an idea of what the other temples would have looked like at one time.

Then we drove over the Deir al-Bahri, the temple fo Queen Hatshepsut, which was also spectacular. It was built on three different levels, which was an entirely new style for the time. Then we went to the Valley of the Kings to see the tombs of the Pharaohs (also a 1000 LE fine for being caught with a camera) which were even more impressive than the tombs of the Valley of the Queens. Some of the tombs still contain the sarcophagus of the pharaoh. From there it was over to the Colossi of Memnon and then back to the East Bank for a late lunch. After lunch we walked along the corniche, taking pictures of the West Bank set behind the Nile, and stopped at Luxor Temple before heading back to the hotel. In about 30 minutes I'll be taken to the bus station where I will board a bus for Dahab - it should only take about 18 hours. If it's on time. Which nothing ever is. Joy.