Hiya people -
Firstly, thanx for all your messages & for taking the time to follow our travels - we continue to have an absolute blast!

Think i last left you as we were gonna venture to the Pyramids..... amazing structures but i have to say King Khufu, Khafre & the rest of the royal dynasty must have been sadistic buggars..... i mean why?!!? do you wanna build bloody great pyramids like these, just to have a burial chamber & a treasury chamber in there - i'd be mightily peeed off if i was one of the mere mortals that had to build them!! Anyway, Karl reckons if he was a king he'd do exactly the same..... bloody men! ;-)
We had a good day walking round them & like i say they are pretty cool - just not sure about the surrounding area.... call me a romantic, but i'd pictured them in miles and miles of barren desert - which they are one side.... however, the other side is downtown Giza with a pizza hut & a KFC!!!! Doesn't really cut it now, does it?
Also the Sphynx.... mmm, don't really know what i was expecting, but this wasn't it! I think i thought it would be the size of the Pyramids & would be more striking - oh well!!!!

Anyway, we got the night train back to Luxor......... & where do we start with this one then.... let's just say that we had no sleep whatsoever, thanks to our own personal mosque man performing some sort of cleansing ritual on another passenger all night, reciting the Koran in our 6 seater carriage!!!

Our fantastic 4:24 disco got a birthday with oil/filter changes, a regrease & a new joint for the prop shaft that had worn.

Next day we set off along the Nile riverbank to Karnak temple - a fantastic sight.... statues, columns, pillars, obelisks & temples that cover a huge area with an avenue that ,back in the day (new kingdom period) would have taken you the 3km to Luxor temple - both built to worship various gods & pharoahs.
Following this - we set off across the Nile to the West bank & the Valley of the kings. This valley set in the Al Qorn mountains is home to some 60 excavated tombs but excavations continue daily & there must be hundreds laying there undiscovered. They are without doubt a marvel to see. RamsesIV tomb in particular, is a spectacular show of hieroglyphics & colourful egyptian carvings. Tutankhamuns tomb holds his original outer tomb & the inlaid golden coffin with his mummified body on show - an absolutely incredible sight of the 'boy king'. All his other treasures & coffins are on show in the Cairo museum. From here we went to the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut - again astounding & perfectly fit for a queen - bigger & better than any of the male temples! ;-)....Until that is, we went to the funerary temple of RamsesIII - which outshone them all for it's size & splendour & the most detailed hieroglyphics & carvings covering every single pillar, wall - you name it - it was decorated!
The Egyptian sights knock spots off of the Roman sights & they were constructed some 4000 years ago!!!

Anyways, today we have just chilled, coz tomorrow we are off to Aswan & if Karl has to walk around any more pharonic ruins i think he'll run away!!! ;-)

Till next time - love & hugs to you all - keep safe.... Mandy & Karl Xx