Day 36, 9 August 2012, Farewell to MS Nile Style, hello hotel, Luxor by night - After a peaceful night docked in Luxor we bid a fond farewell to MS Nile Style and transferred to the Sonesta St George Hotel in Luxor. We repaired to the pool after the usual Egyptian arrival hiccups.... "Oh by big bed in a non-smoking room did you really mean twin beds pushed together in a smoking room?" Er... actually no oddly enough. But as we say "This is Egypt". After venturing out for a caleche ride along the Corniche (horse and buggy along the waterfront) we realised our mistake fairly smartly. Turns out puttering along in mid 40 degrees (110 odd for our Northern friends) is not relaxing at all. And that's aside from the Catholic guilt that the miserable horse is going to be DOA. In any event, the highlight of the day was visiting Luxor Temple by night (pictured). This amazing temple was built by the grand-daddy of Egyptian Pharaohs, the man himself, builder of Abu Simbel, that's right - Rameses II. Luxor was built to honour Amun-Ra and his wife and son, but seems in many parts to be just another huge, gorgeous monument to Rameses strength, power and ego. Our gentle stroll around the temple in the comfortable 35 degrees of evening was restful and serene. Truly one of our favourite experiences so far. We had a super Egyptian buffet dinner at Georgina Restaurant - somewhere in the backstreets of Luxor - and the opportunity to buy some Luxor-made jewellery after dinner. James has ordered a silver cartouche pendant with his name in hieroglyphics which will be delivered to our hotel tomorrow. Thank goodness we made a point of leaving our jewellery in the safety deposit box at the bank - great excuse for small, wearable, easy to carry souvenirs. Sleep tight - we will be - for a solid 5 hours at most - Up up and away tomorrow at 4 am for a sunrise balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings - haven't been eating or drinking in order to pay for it. Well not much anyway.