Day 54- 8 October 2008
Today was a massive day !!
The day commenced with a 4am wakeup call then a quick shower and out the dorr to catch a taxi to a boat ramp on the nile river. We then caught a small boat to the other side of the nile and then another taxi to a cane field in the middle of no where. From there we stood onthe side of the road whilst about 30 egyptians ran around the field busily until we were motioned to enter the field and to climb into a large basket. As all 9 of us entered the basket it was not long before we felt the heat from the top of the basket on our heads. A few moments later the basket lifted off the ground and i was on my first official hot air balloon flight. Higher and higher we rose in the air in a basket hanging from a very large balloon. It was sunrise and the view was amazing. We travelled with the wind and went over some of the most important sites in Egypt, Ramsesses Temple, Ramsesses statutes, the valley of the nobles, the Temple of Hafititus, simply amazing. Nearly an hour later we where gently heading back to earth and made a pretty safe and soft landing in a cane field. Did i mention it was amazing??
From there we were picked up by a mini bus and taken to ramsesses statutes whichstand tall and proud in a field and then picked up by our tour bus and taken to the Valley of the Kings.
The Valley of the kings is the final resting place of most of egypts kings and queens and house hundreds of tombs hidden for thousands of years and eventually raided by tomb raiders (but the type unlike angelina jollie). We went into 3 tombs naley the tomb of Ramsesses 1, Ramsesses 3 and Tutemoses. Each you had to walk down stairs deep into the mountainto find the tomb chambers (treasures and mummies no longer there), but many of the rooms still painted and carved with hyrglphics and other pictograms. I then visited the tomb of Tutenkamen (which was discovered by Carter in the 1920s) , the only tomb (that has so far been discovered) that was not raided and had all treasures in tact. Also in the tomb still lies tutenkame whos body (unwrapped) lays in a glass contained in the tomb and is visible. Also visible is his final coffin which is a marvelous piece made of gold. It was quite special to see him and his skull andbones were a dark black and still very much in tact.
From there we headed to the Temple of Hafititus which is quite impressive and has 3 levels (one of which is built within the mountain).
We also visited an alabaster shop to see how alabaster is made.
From there we headed back to the hotel for a swim and then got on the bus for Aswan. As on our trip from cairo to luxor we had to go in a convoy but as we were the only bus, we had a police car with armed (machine guns) guards both at the front and back of our bus up to the border of Aswan and then for the last 2 hours of the trip an machine gun toting guard sittinig at the front of the bus. Luckily there were no incidents and no need for our armed guards to leap into action.
We checked into our hotel around 6.30pm after our 3 hour trip to Aswan and our room has a lovely view ofthe very very large pool and gardens and is on the outskirts of Aswan (a very safe area).
Tomorrow morning we get up at 2.45am (yes thats about 5 hours sleep) to go to Abu Simble (by another armed convoy).
Day 54- 8 October 2008
Today was a massive day !!
The day commenced with a 4am wakeup call then a quick shower and out the dorr to catch a taxi to a boat ramp on the nile river. We then caught a small boat to the other side of the nile and then another taxi to a cane field in the middle of no where. From there we stood onthe side of the road whilst about 30 egyptians ran around the field busily until we were motioned to enter the field and to climb into a large basket. As all 9 of us entered the basket it was not long before we felt the heat from the top of the basket on our heads. A few moments later the basket lifted off the ground and i was on my first official hot air balloon flight. Higher and higher we rose in the air in a basket hanging from a very large balloon. It was sunrise and the view was amazing. We travelled with the wind and went over some of the most important sites in Egypt, Ramsesses Temple, Ramsesses statutes, the valley of the nobles, the Temple of Hafititus, simply amazing. Nearly an hour later we where gently heading back to earth and made a pretty safe and soft landing in a cane field. Did i mention it was amazing??
From there we were picked up by a mini bus and taken to ramsesses statutes whichstand tall and proud in a field and then picked up by our tour bus and taken to the Valley of the Kings.
The Valley of the kings is the final resting place of most of egypts kings and queens and house hundreds of tombs hidden for thousands of years and eventually raided by tomb raiders (but the type unlike angelina jollie). We went into 3 tombs naley the tomb of Ramsesses 1, Ramsesses 3 and Tutemoses. Each you had to walk down stairs deep into the mountainto find the tomb chambers (treasures and mummies no longer there), but many of the rooms still painted and carved with hyrglphics and other pictograms. I then visited the tomb of Tutenkamen (which was discovered by Carter in the 1920s) , the only tomb (that has so far been discovered) that was not raided and had all treasures in tact. Also in the tomb still lies tutenkame whos body (unwrapped) lays in a glass contained in the tomb and is visible. Also visible is his final coffin which is a marvelous piece made of gold. It was quite special to see him and his skull andbones were a dark black and still very much in tact.
From there we headed to the Temple of Hafititus which is quite impressive and has 3 levels (one of which is built within the mountain).
We also visited an alabaster shop to see how alabaster is made.
From there we headed back to the hotel for a swim and then got on the bus for Aswan. As on our trip from cairo to luxor we had to go in a convoy but as we were the only bus, we had a police car with armed (machine guns) guards both at the front and back of our bus up to the border of Aswan and then for the last 2 hours of the trip an machine gun toting guard sittinig at the front of the bus. Luckily there were no incidents and no need for our armed guards to leap into action.
We checked into our hotel around 6.30pm after our 3 hour trip to Aswan and our room has a lovely view ofthe very very large pool and gardens and is on the outskirts of Aswan (a very safe area).
Tomorrow morning we get up at 2.45am (yes thats about 5 hours sleep) to go to Abu Simble (by another armed convoy).
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