19th Nov - Arrival in London & Chat with Horny Guy

It was late when I arrived in London Heathrow. Said goodbye to a couple of the girls who’d travelled on the plane, & opted to get the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station. Great idea! Cost a bit, but got there in about 20 mins.
Checked in to the hotel I’ve used before & saw the same nice guy at reception. After I unpacked, I went downstairs to say a proper hello, & we started to chat. He’s a young (28 y.o.) Muslim guy who attends uni & comes from Pakistan. He told me he’d never even hugged a woman before in his life! Then he started really opening up about his desires for women & the limitations he’s placed under in this area by his religion. Then he starts saying all these things he’d like to do to a woman, saying that it really wasn’t sex. I informed him that what he was describing definitely was a sexual act, even if he’d been informed otherwise. Then he said he hoped he could maybe do some of this stuff to me (e.g. lick me all over my body) while I was here. I politely declined & suggested that it would be a much better idea to find someone at uni. I gave him his first hug, which may not have been the best idea, & went to bed hoping he didn’t get a hankering to enter my room uninvited. Hmmmm....

19th Nov - Market Stop & Bye Bye Cairo

My flight to London was due to leave in the afternoon, so a few of us visited the main markets in Cairo in the morning. What an adventure that place is. I did some hard bargaining & scooped up a few bargains before heading back to the hotel.

On the way to the airport we got stuck in a traffic jam. There were about 7 of us on the same flight. I forgot to go to the loo before I'd left the hotel & I was absolutely busting half way there. As soon as we pulled up at the airport, I leaped out of the minivan & ran for dear life to the toilet. Thank God it was just in time. Security wasn't a problem, & after a quick bite of airport food, I was heading back to good ole London.

18th Nov - Back to Cairo

We hopped on yet another bus in the wee hours of the morning & headed back to Cairo. This time at least we got to see some of the desert. When we arrived back in Cairo we were tired, but the city was rocking. You see, they were in the World Cup football playoffs that eve. A few of us went for a walk down the street & bought some Egypt scarves along the way. The locals loved that we were barracking for their team & many took pics on their mobiles of this strange phenomena - foreigners wearing the Egyptian colours.

Lots of Pretty Fish & Things

Every day when staying at the resort I went snorkelling. Partly because the Red Sea - voted best dive spot in the world - was right on my doorstep. And partly because I'd paid money for the hire of the gear which I didn't want to waste. So, even though it was really bloody windy & choppy, every day I ventured out, even for 30 mins, to take advantage of this environment. And it was worth it for sure. Lots of nemos about, colourful coral, & I even got to see a huge manta ray take off one day.
I don't have any pics of the underwater world cause my camera doesn't have gills.

Sore Bum Camel Ride

Never again in my life will I attempt to ride a camel! Perhaps only if I'm stranded in the desert with no means of transportation, I might consider it again. I've decided that I really don't like them verey much at all. The 1 hour trip was far too long. I was given the biggest bloody camel who liked to pick fights with any other that got in h/er way. The swaying to & fro was much harder than with a horse. And, the after effect on my bum was enough to turn me away from them for life.

15th Nov - Excellent Quad Bike Tour

Quite a few of us opted to do a 3-hr quad bike tour of the area surrounding Dhahab. Glad I was in cause it was one of the best tours I've done on my whole trip. I quickly realised, as did others, that I had a flair for quad biking, as I screamed off ahead of the pack. We went to a place in the desert, not too far out, & walked up a hill (not really sure why), then walked back down. Anyway, we jumped back on the bikes & headed back towards Dhahab & the leader let us take off on these sand flats. And I really took off, overtaking him at full throttle & hooning down the beach. Then we all stopped at the beach & I convinced the leader to let me have another ride. So I went off & raced him around the flats again. I had found my inner quad demon! But people were really quite pissed off that I'd gotten the extra. When we finished the tour, they even let me take a bike back to the resort. Absolutely LOVED IT!!!!!

Out on the Town in Dhahab

Our new tour guide, named Mo (not Big Mo, even though he was much much bigger than the previous Mo) set up a dinner for us on the first night. We headed down to the little seaside town of Dhahab & went to one of the restaurants dotting the coastline. We had a feast, watched the staff getting down dancing, & even smoked a shish! A great night!

14th Nov - Red Sea Hotel

We checked in to a seaside resort hotel on the Red Sea after the long drive from Luxor. I must admit, I was incredibly lucky on this tour as often I got to have my own room. While some had to share a triple room, I had a king size room of my own. With a great view out to the ocean!!
I just wanted to chill out at this place. Especially after the rush of going temple to temple over the past week or so. Did a fair bit of reading, internet checking & watched a great TV show - Doha Debate on BBC - which featured the topic 'should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear technology?'.
There wasn't a lot to do here at the resort. Like any resort it's a place to relax & unwind. Not my kind of holiday really. And I had 4 nights here!!

Check Out & Onto Overnight Bus

We'd been promised by Big Mo, our guide, that we'd get first dibs on bus seats over the other group who were staying at another hotel. But when the bus arrived & we got on, we realised the other group had snuck in front of us & had already settled into their own seats. Luckily, I was one of the few in the group who got their own double seat so it wasn't as cramped as some others were.
We left the hotel at 4pm for the long drive ahead. The country areas outside Luxor were alive with people coming home from work or going to markets. Along the way we passed many security checkpoints, especially around the Sinai region. But fortunately I had quite a good rest on the trip, unlike most others, & was ready for the day ahead in Dhahab.

13th Nov - Karnak Temple

We headed out to the Karnak Temple at 9am, the final temple on our tour. It was a relatively short bus ride to get there, but the air-con comfort was highly appreciated. On the way out, we saw these emaciated horses being forced to pull carts with bunches of tourists in them, that had just poured off the docked cruisers. This temple was absolutely enormous, & I think one of the most spectacular on the tour. The statues were quite diverse & well intact. It felt amazing just walking through history in this way.

Luxor Temple by Night

After a big day, we went to the Luxor Temple at night, located on the East Bank of the River Nile. It was wonderful to wander through there at night, with the background sounds of the Islamic call to prayer in the adjoining Mosque. I spent lots of time meandering through the areas out of the way of the hordes of tourists. And the artefacts were spectacular.

Counselling a Local Woman

While I was browsing the shops at the hotel, I happened to develop a conversation with one of the saleswomen, Riham. We had a lovely chat, quite in-depth, about life - what she wants to do, how frustrated & unhappy she is at present, etc. She opened up quite a lot to me (as often happens) & poured her pain out. So we chatted about finding direction & keeping that focus. It was another great chat on the day, perhaps a bit more profound as well.

Alabaster Shop

Hmmmm…..another shop visit organised by ‘On The Go’ that was guaranteed to provide the best prices on goods made of alabaster, granite, basalt, onyx, & other Egyptian stone. I realised immediately, with any substantial proof though, that the prices were far above what we should be paying. Big Mo said we needed to bargain, & he offered to assist in doing this. I spotted a couple of pieces I was keen on getting. A young man, more like a teenager really, was a bit shocked at my negotiation technique, saying I was like an Egyptian woman (heard that once or twice before). His original “best price” for the two pieces was 570EP. I got him down to 150EP after 15mins, & a warning to him from his boss that he better be doing ok.
However, when I got back to the hotel, I checked the shop in the lobby. The prices there were the same as the lowest price I got at the alabaster shop. Some of the others must have been really ripped off, & some of them paid quite a bit of money for their goods.

Just Another Angry Tourist

Just before we entered the Valley of the Queens, a seller approached me, as usual, to buy some of his wares. And, as usual, I just ignored him. Then he asked why I was so angry. I replied that we tourists get a bit sick & tired of having people in our faces trying to sell things to us everywhere we go - we‘re not angry, just over being bothered all the time. He understood & explained that it happens only because of the hard life people face in Egypt. That people are forced to do this to survive &/or get ahead in life.
We started to chat. He was an intelligent guy, 21 years of age, could speak 6 languages, his mother is Italian, & he is studying to be a tour guide. I ended up buying a 10EP scarf from him - I needed one anyway. We had a great conversation. And in the end he wanted a photo taken with me, which I agreed to of course.

Valley of the Queens

While not nearly as big as the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, there are still over 70 tombs here too. Sons of kings who died before ascending to the throne were also buried here. The tombs were quite a bit smaller, with not nearly as many chambers, even though the pictures were still incredibly elaborate & maintained wonderful colourings. One of the tombs had a little glass box in the corner that had the remains of a still-born child - very chilling.

Queen Hetshepsut

This queen had her own temple, & was on the throne for 20 years after kicking her half-brother/husband out of the head honcho position. Not exactly sure how she managed that one, but she did. The temple was built into the side of a mountain & had three levels, only two of which we were able to view. As it was exposed to the elements, much of the colouring had disappeared over time.
It was stinking hot walking up the many steps to get there. But on the way up, I responded to some of the “hellos” from local schoolchildren. I then had a cute conversation with a group of about 8 kids & their teacher, trying to pronounce all their names & general chit chat. These are some of the golden moments - with local people - that I’d really missed out on in this tour. We’d been kept quite isolated from the locals & so hadn’t had much of a chance to share with them.

12th Nov - Valley of the Kings

Having arrived in Luxor the previous eve, we received a wake-up call at 6am & by 7am we were heading to the Valley of the Kings. The valley itself is surrounded by hills of dirt & rocks, threatening to landslide any minute. It was dry & very hot - at least 37 degrees.
There are 72 known tombs in the VOKs, & our pass enabled us to visit only 3 of them. About 12 tombs are open for tourism & each day/week several are closed for cleaning &/or renovations. The ones we visited, as recommended by Big Mo, were King Ramses IV, & two others whose names I can't remember. Compared to temples we’d visited to date, these tombs maintained an astonishing amount of detail. The colours were still quite vivid, & the drawings & hieroglyphics relatively unscathed. This was definitely one of the highlights of the visit so far.
King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered here in 1912 by a couple of foreigners. It was discovered underneath one of the Ramses tombs. There was an extra charge of 100EP to view his tomb, which I declined. Most of his tomb possessions, excluding his mummy & coffin, are in the Egyptian Museum anyway, so seemingly there’s not much to see.