Sunday, February 13, 2011

EGYPT - Day 7

We started this day off VERY early, got on these little boats at about 4:30am, supposed to go accross the Nile to go on a hot air balloon ride, but unfortunately it was cancelled dude to 'wind'.
We then had a few hours of waiting to find out if our trip to the valley of the kings was cancelled due to the 'troubles' going on in Egypt (we were there during the first week of protests). Finally we got the go ahead that it was safe to go and headed back out to the motor boats!


The colors and carvings in the tombs are amazingly well preserved.
(These photos are off the internet because we are not allowed to take any pictures)
Next stop: Queen Hatshepsut's temple







It's hard to see, but if you look close, Queen Hatshepsut is suckling from Hathor's teat



Memnon Colossi




Our last (but not least) stop in Egypt, Luxor Temple

Our awesome guide, Sameh, giving us his tour.

Christian grafitti




Tutankhamun and his wife.

The two pics below depict some pretty cool carvings. These walls were across from each other in a corridor. They are both of slaves and you can see the binding around their necks. When you look at the hair and facial features you can see the first one is of slaves of African origin and the second one is of slaves of Asian origin. Nobody was safe from slavery when the Pharaohs came to town.




A mosque on top of part of the temple






Little bit of Roman influence creeping in.


The avenue of Sphinx



Looks like you sphinx need some kung-fu culture



Last night...
(shortly after this I spent 8 hours in the bathroom with raging gastroenteritis)

AHH, there's a monkey in the room!


Bye bye Egypt.
The little sailor man putting our bags on the bus, heading to the airport.

EGYPT - Day 6


A trip down to the captains room.




This is our boat.

Hello!

Karnak temple in Luxor.


The row of Ram Sphinx

This obelisk fell over.

Scarab beetle (the symbol of young Ra)

Another obelisk


Tutankhamun











The colors are still there!












The mudbrick wall that shows how they managed to make the temples.



Another beautiful Nile sunset



The Whirling Dervish

Dancing with the belly dancer.

This Arabian elephant stole MY sunglasses!!