We left the hotel at five this morning to catch our flight to Luxor. Fortunately we were still a little jet lagged so we were up early anyway. Mahamaud arranged for breakfast to be waiting for us at reception but it was mostly bread so Bec wasn't able to eat much. It was pretty cold waiting at the airport, they had the air-conditioning up really high, I had to pull out my shrug and wrap up. The flight to Luxor was really quick, at least compared to the last few flights we've been on. Only thing was the time on the plane said it was an hour later than it actually was, something about daylight savings, so we got a little confused when it came to lunch time.

We met another couple at the airport, Australians named Maureen and Rob who will be coming in the cruise too. There'll be another couple joining us as well but they haven't arrived yet. We have a bit of time so Bec and I wandered the boat, checking everything out. The boat is both bigger and smaller than I expected. Though I don't really know what I thought it would be like. Our rooms are nice, small but not cramped and nicely air conditioned. One complaint we had about our room in Cairo was that the air-conditioning was barely adequate. Both Bec and I slept on top of the covers cause the heat made it very hard to sleep. Because we were up so early it's hard to believe it's still only mid morning.

At lunch we met the last couple in our group Katherine and Abe who are New Zealanders too. Abe has been stationed in Sinai for the past four months working as an engineer for UNICEF so he's been in the area for a while.

After lunch we started the site seeing. We went to the huge temple complex at Karnak. Nothing I could say could do justice to the power of the place. It's amazing. We took loads of photos and got some really got shots. Both Bec and I walk around the scarab seven times which is supposed to bring you a happy life.

After Karnak we went to the Luxor temple. I liked this one because you could see the passage of time on the walls. Not just what it was like like in ancient times but how it's survived throughout the ages. There was a mosque built halfway up the walls because the rest of the temple had been buried at that point. And at sometime the Christians have plastered over the walls and painted Christian paintings on them. Our guide Mustfa said there were five different religions represented at this one temple. On the way back to the boat we passed by the Winter Palace which was built by the last king of Egypt. Now it's a hotel for the very rich and famous.

Dinner was a buffet style and pretty good. We skipped the Light and Sound Show over Karnak but that was alright. Maureen and Rob went and they said it was a bit mediocre. We hung out in the deck for a while before going to bed early. It was a pretty long day.