Today we arrived at the port of Safaga in Egypt. Our excursion included a trip to Luxor where we visited Karnak Temple, followed by the Valley of Kings and finally a photo stop at the Collosi of Menmon.
Sailing into Safaga.
Much of our 3+ hour trip to Luxor looked like this.
Example of the incomplete buildings.
Lots of crops are grown on and near the banks of the Nile.
The Nile. Amazing that it originates in Africa from Lake Victoria and Lake Albert and runs all the way through Egypt and ends the Mediterranean. There are no longer crocs in the Nile through this area like in ancient times. They are all stuck behind a dam now. The Nile no longer floods like in ancient times thanks to the dam. The Nile used to be really busy with tourists taking the boat tours up and down. But after the trouble in Cairo in recent years there is a lot less activity on the Nile. To Egypt the Nile is life, nothing lives without it.
A cruise boat on the Nile. Probably one of the Princess excursion groups. It was the only cruise I saw at the time.
Path of Sphinxes that runs for roughly 2.8km. I couldn't tell what heads they had from the bus. Most of them are no longer intact. 
Entrance to the Karnak Temple. Both sides of the entrance has a line of Ram headed Sphinxes. Karnak Temple has the largest space of any temple of the world. The central hall covers 50,000 square feet. Norte Dame of Paris could fit inside.
Mud brick ram headed sphinx. 
The god of fertility, growth and the afterlife. I think his name is Osiris. His picture pops up all over the place showing the Egyptians worshiping him and giving him offerings like in this picture.
Carvings on a fallen rose granite obelisk.
The view that the Pharaohs had all the way to the temples entrance.
The most impressive sight I have ever seen. The largest colonnade in the world. There are 134 columns. We stood 21 people side by side around a base to give you an idea of how large they are. These once colourfully painted columns have lost their colours due to the harsh sun. They are covered with carved pictures and hieroglyphs. 
The house where Mr Carter lived. He financed the work to uncover the tombs in the Valley of the Kings in the early 1920's.
Colossi of Memnon standing at 64 feet tall. These statues are of Pharaoh Amenhotep III have stood opposite the river Nile for 3,400 years.
Locals selling their wares were at every tourist point. These salespeople including children harassed you at every opportunity. They get right up in you face and follow you closely all the way to the bus. "5 dollar, 5 dollar, okay 1 dollar, 1 dollar". They don't seem to give up when you say "No Thanks", or "I have no money", or "Why would I want that, its ugly". Just best to ignore them. If they see you buy from one vendor then they swoop like seagulls. The tended to pick on the elderly and leave me alone, especially the kids selling things. Perhaps they think the older people have a heart and feel sorry for them. The vendors are restricted to certain areas outside the tourist attraction. I named it the gauntlet. If you want to buy anything, wait until it is almost time to return to the bus. They always drop the bargaining prices when you are leaving because they want to make the sale. Having said that, the items on offer here in Egypt were nice and good quality, compared to what I have seen in other places so far. One guy even had a cobra, I think the idea was to pay him money for a photo with the very irritated looking snake.
Roughly seven hours on the bus! It was rather uncomfortable as people could adjust their own seats, and the people in front of us had theirs leaning right back without a care for anyone but themselves. Other than that and the heat, it was an incredible experience.
When we arrived at port the first thing we noticed was that it looked like 90% of the buildings and houses were incomplete. This was also the case in Luxor, it was so strange, all these buildings lacking a roof and other finishings. Turns out that in Egypt, you don't have to pay a building tax if the building is incomplete, so they just don't bother putting the roof on. Some places have a tin roof or grass frond roof, but most have the top pillars and wires jutting out. There were lots of crops growing in fields, and the occasional donkey about the place. We saw lots of women working out with their crops and herding goats and the men sitting about in town socialising and smoking hubbly bubbly.
The drivers are crazy here with overtaking in dangerous situations and driving fast. There was even a little road rage between our bus and one of the other tourist buses in our mass bus convoy. Our bus driver didn't like others overtaking him. I just hoped that we get back to the ship in one piece. We passed an accident at night were a car had flipped, scary stuff. Apparently we had police escort, but I didn't see them. They are very short on diesel in Egypt. We passed two service stations that had 1km + lines for the diesel pump.
Luxor has been the first place on our travels so far that we haven't spotted a McDonalds whilst driving around on the bus. But I am sure there is one about. I wondered if they do an all goat patty, sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickled onions on pitta bread (bad joke, I know). We were told that the beduin nomadic tribes that live the simple life in the dessert breed goats for their meat, milk and use their skins for the tents, so that's what got me thinking about goat burgers.
Karnak Temple was amazing. I believe they started building Karnak Temple in during the reign of Ramses II. It is located on the east bank of the Nile in Luxor. Modern Luxor marks the site of ancient Thebes, which was the capital of Egypt for more that 14 centuries. The pyramids are 400 miles north, maybe one day I will return to see them.
We visited the Valley of the Kings which has the royal tombs of nobles and pharaohs who were laid to rest. The Valley of the Kings is located on the west bank of Nile. You can't take pictures at the Valley of Kings so I have nothing to show. We visited 3 tombs of the 60 odd that have been cut into the mountains there. We saw the tombs of Ramses IV, Ramses III and Ramses IX. They contained a wide hall of sandstone (I think, because of the light colour) walls covered with colourful hieroglyphs cut into them. Sometimes the roof was painted midnight blue with stars. Also massive picture stories telling the life of the Pharaoh were everywhere. What is amazing is that the colours are so bright because they have been untouched by the sun. It is a tragedy that the nearly all the tombs have been looted by grave robbers, as the artefacts and treasure that were buried with their Pharaohs are lost. The only exception was the tomb of Tutankhamen which was only discovered in 1922. By fortunate accident the tomb was concealed by the accumulated debris of Ramses VI's tomb nearby. 'King Tut' was buried with lavish treasures and jewellery, and most impressive of all is the gold mask. All the treasures from his tomb are in the Museum of Cairo today. To access the tombs we had a little choo choo ride, well it looked more like a baggage carrier from the airport. Our choo choo broke down half way, so we had to wait for another one to come along and pick us up.
Tutankhamen ruled from age 9 to age 18. If his tomb is so splendid, how much richer were the tombs of the really powerful rulers like Ramses II who ruled for 60 years.
I was stunned by the high quality of Egyptian craftsmanship in the tombs and in Karnak Temple.
The ancient Egyptians built their temples on the east of the Nile and buried their dead on the west side, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
We had a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon. They are 64-foot twin statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. They are all that is left of what was once a temple.
Common site around Luxor. The people appeared very friendly, we got lots of waves.
Some dudes taking a break. Our bus even got a thumbs up.
Poor donkey.
Ramses II and his daughter. He ruled for 60 years and died in his 90's. He had well over 100 children.
1 of 2 obelisk
I believe the 97-foot obelisk on the left is that of Queen Hatshepsut.
The most important part of the temple where the Pharaoh would stand and could view all the way down to the entrance of the temple. The walls inside are rose granite. I think this part of the temple was built in 1500 B.C., and then slowly over a thousand or so years the temple was extended by the many Pharaohs that lived after
These pictures do not do this wonder justice. The workers actually did the carvings at the top by slowly filling the surrounding area with sand as they didn't have scaffolding back then. You can still see some faded paint at the top were the sun doesn't shine.
Marble human headed sphinx.
We had lunch in a 5 star hotel, and wow they really know how to do cakes and sweets here. Best fruit pie I have ever had.
This is where I had to leave my iPad behind. This is what the surrounding area to the Valley of the Kings looks like. The tombs are cut into the mountains.
I think this is the Valley of the Nobles, they liked to be buried near the Pharaohs.
This is a shot of the other temple, the Temple of Luxor. It is not as large as Karnak Temple. I think it is cool how I managed to catch the sign in this shot. This temple was built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, about 1400 B.C., and then later expanded by Ramses II. This temple was dedicated to the Sun God Amon-Ra.
That concludes my Egypt experience. We go to Aqaba in Jordan for Petra tomorrow.
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