Salaam,

My route over the last few days

I left Cairo at 5am and headed for the Pyramids again. I was really hoping for a nice pic of the pyramids with the bike. So I filled up and headed back to the Pyramids. This time of the morning there was no one present. I stopped and tried to figure out where to get the best pic. There wasn’t many option as everything was closed. I got 2 pics when the crowds came running over the street and shouting something about photos and I don’t know what else. I just ignored them and hit the road. Its a pity.

The only pic I managed to get.

Yeah I was in a rush. I wanted to get south and wanted to make sure that I catch the Aswan ferry this Sunday. I really didn’t want to hang around another week in Aswan just because I missed the boat. So my plan was to blast down to Luxor and make arrangements for the ferry. There has been some problems the last couple of weeks with the barge running behind schedule etc. so I wanted to make SURE!

I got out of Cairo at 5:30am and headed for the Red Sea road down towards Luxor. It was a leisurely drive in the beginning but as the sun rose it became so hot and the miles just didn’t seem to roll on.

The Red Sea road

After a long and sweaty 800km I reached the outskirts of Luxor. I joined the agricultural road and drove the 60km south to Luxor. As soon as I arrived in Luxor I found the people very friendly and helpful. Life here seemed far more relaxed than that of Cairo. I checked into a campsite and found Camp Rezeiky to be an oasis with a pool, beer and really good food. The only sad part is that I was the only guest.

The agricultural road runs all along the Nile and its where all the farmers hang out!

Egypt at night. The Nile is where all live happens.

The Nile atlast!

Camp Rezeiky

I had a long chat to Barak the Camp manager. He explained to me that years past there used to be at any given time 10 bikes, 30 4X4’s, and various campers all hanging out in the camp. Today I was the only guest. It is really sad to see whats happened to Egypt. My heart goes out to the people as most of them just want to return to normal life and work and sell there service’s to tourists.

I chilled out and feasted on the fantastic food that they serve.

The next day was a catch up day for emails and calls back home etc. My plan was to see most of Luxor today.

This morning I headed out early and pointed the taxi driver in the direction of The Valley of The Kings.

Valley of the Kings-Wikipedia
The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: وادي الملوك‎ Wādī al Mulūk), less often called the Valley of the Gates of the Kings (Arabic: وادي ابواب الملوك‎ Wādī Abwāb al Mulūk),[1] is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom (the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt).[2][3] The valley stands on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern Luxor), within the heart of the Theban Necropolis.[4] The wadi consists of two valleys, East Valley (where the majority of the royal tombs are situated) and West Valley.

Here is a cool 3D presentation of the Valley and how the Tombs are laid out.

Under grounds passages

I met Mohammed and felt so sorry for him. He was forcing himself to be my guide. I explained to him that I cant afford him and he just said “I have nothing else to do, so I join you and then if you want you can give me a tip”. I said cool.

The entrance to the Valley

There was one annoying thing however. There aren’t any photos allowed… So when I reached the Police they asked “Camera?” Ofcourse I said no and entered with 2 cameras ready to fire away. There are over a 150 tombs but your ticket only allows 3 of your choice. So I said to Mohammed to lead the way to the ones he recommends.

So this is what I found, there aren’t so many as I had to take the pics when nobody was looking.

After The Valley the taxi picked me up and we headed for Hatshepsut.

It was a good morning of sightseeing. I took a boat across the Nile again and said to the driver to take me around a bit so that I could see more of Luxor.

Luxor

…<

Tomorrow I tackle a couple more of the temples and valleys and then Saturday its off to Aswan. I will probably only be online again from Wadi Halfa next week.

Have a good week and see you in Sudan.

Cheers
Riaan
Luxor, Egypt