epp drizzle

Entry posted by minskyyy · February 27, 2007

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I am back from Egypt... it was wonderful. the weather was great. nice and warm at around 30 all week... sadly i do not have tan but i do have more freckles... prehaps i will just wait until they all join up

managed to cram a stupid ammount of stuff into one week....

Day one - went to luxoe temple which was breath taking - really liked the avenue of sphnixes(sp?).... the whole scale of the ancient egyptian temples is unbelivable.... can't get my head around how they made them all.... after the temple we went to luxor musuem to freak aneurin out with the mummies

Day Two - we visited Karnak Temple.... its gigantic!!! you can fit st pauls and st peters inside the main complex..... the hypostyle hall with all of its 134 columns was breath taking... you need eight adults to wrap around just one pillar.... also went on a sunset felucca trip on the nile.... very nice having a hotel with a pool and terrace overlooking the nile.... saw the Sudan a couple of times (old cruise ship they used on death on the nile) very pretty and still with all its original features ....

you do get hassled alot but not nearly as bad as i was expecting and some dark sunglasses so they couldn't make eye contact with me worked a treat...

avoided going for a ride on one of the calaches... the state of the horses being cantered up and down the tarmac roads with big fat tourists in the carriages was awful....

Day three - we just spent the morning exploring the town and doing a bit of shopping.... then we went on a camel ride as aneurin was desperate too on the west bank.... quite nice really and not all that different from riding a horse... wouldn't mind another go with a bit more speed

Day four - we vegged by the pool.... needed to atleast make a slight attempt to work up a tan.... sadly failled... went for a ride on a felucca

Day Five - we hoped on a boat to the west bank and hired a taxi for the day to go and see lots of things... we started with the colossi of memon which are HUGE!!! and as we arrived very early we were the only tourists there so quite atmospheric....

from there we went on to the valley of the kings... which to be honest i was expecting to fall short of my expectations... i was wrong... the tombs are wonderful...and a little creepy.... when three quaters down the tomb of ramses the 6th there was a power cut and the whole tomb was plunged into complete darkness.... lots of panicing tourists... just hung about at the back till the lights came on again... quite strange being deep underground in a tomb that has had previous ceiling collapses in pitch black... but memorable...

once we had seen our three tombs at hthe vallet of the kings it was off to hatsheputs temple (where all the tourists were shot in 97) the ammount of armed police around is a bit of overkill...lovley temple though with great views over the mountains.... it was begining to get stupidly hot by this point.... from here we went on to see two other temples... both equally impressive... will put there names in later as i cannot recall them off the top of my head.... then back to the boat and home to the hotel...

Day Six - a whole days cruise up the nile to dendara temple... this was our only booked excursion and although it was wonderful.... I much prefere the excitment of planning somthing yourself and not having a tour guide... again the temple was magnificant being the only temple with an intact roof terrace that you can walk on. stunning views over the desert....

being veggie eating was a small problem... survived on a diet of fellafel, houmus, cheese sarnies and salads... not too bad really but don't think i could eat another cheese sarnie for a long time

ooo and the drivers were crazy!!! i am not very good at crossing roads in places where the drivers take care to avoid me... egypt they do not care.... you are in on or near the road they will run you down... they don't use lights at night... and don't seem to care which side of the road they drive on either.... i did have a couple of moments in taxi's were i simply closed my eyes.... was far to scarey to watch how narrowly we were missing animals, people and other motors!

took a stupid ammount of pictures... will put some up when i have the time... i would reccomend a trip to egypt to anyone...

ooo and my glasto prereg has not been rejected all is good with the world