Historic Egypt (2/2): Luxor

After three days in crazy, chaotic, busy Cairo next we were off to sleepier Luxor.  It was about an hour flight and we landed a bit after dark so didn't see much on our first evening there.  There weren't many tourists in Cairo (except at our hotel!) but tourists were *really* in short supply in our second stop.  Our hotel was operating at something like 25% occupancy which sounded like the highest it had been for three years.  By the time we checked out, I think there were only like two other families there.  Poor Egypt.  Plan a trip there, people!  Help them out!

We loved our time in Luxor even if the temperature was a bit too warm (although we're pretty used to the heat in Abu Dhabi, the 100+ degrees, strong sun and lots of walking around wore us out).  There was no humidity though so it cooled down nicely in the late afternoon and evening.  There are lots of ruins - temples for festivals, for mummification and lots of tombs for burial.  We didn't see it all but we defintely saw enough that I think all of us (except Jake who was ready to keep going!) saw enough Egyptian ruins during our stay.

Regan got the most out of it in terms of the kids.  She already knew a lot about Egypt and the Egyptian gods and I think having that context helps make it even more interesting.  She was a great age to take and I think all the girls really enjoyed the trip.  I think their highlights are probably the camel ride at the pyramids, the hot air balloon ride and our late afternoon swims at the pool.

Our first temple in Luxor.  Hatshepsut's mummification temple.  She was the first ruling queen of Egypt (the other queens were just married to the king) and dressed like a man since a lot of people weren't use to ruling women.

The temple

It's already *hot* outside!

We felt a bit sorry for the tourism industry so we let our guide take us to two very touristy stops.  Our first one was an alabaster workshop where they made alabaster trinkets and sold other trinkets.  We bought a lovely carved basalt bowl, an alabaster candle holder and the kids all picked out a little Egyptian figurine.  The workers had a little routine to show us how they made their items.  They would all shout "W-o-w!" when one showed us something so that became a fun inside family joke the rest of the trip.  We might still be yelling "W-o-w!" when you see us next, too.

Jane giving carving out an alabaster vase a whirl. They bury the solid alabaster and use this carving tool to hollow it out.

Anna tries too but her little arm wasn't quite long enough to swing it around.

At the tombs.  Photos weren't allowed inside but we were able to go into three and see a lot of the carvings, hieroglyphics and some of the paint colors were still intact on some of them.  Amazing!

Sugar cane juice!  At a little kiosk in downtown Luxor, they stick the whole sugar cane right into this big machine and it squeezes out sugar cane juice.  I remember gnawing on sugar cane at a festival near Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas as a kid so it was fun to get a few stalks and let Jake and the girls (for some reason, Jake never got sugar cane in the Georgia mountains) try to chew on them a bit, too.  Nobody liked the juice very much but it was fun how they served it in a little baggie tied up with a straw.  Lots of policeman were in line to get juice, too, so it must help refresh them when out patrolling in the heat.

We always came back to towel art in our room!  This is a towel elephant surrounded by our kids many stuffed animals that must travel with us wherever we go.  Regan lost one in Cairo and was in tears over leaving bunny rabbit Strawberry behind but she bounced back pretty quickly.

More towel art - a swan and we think a scorpion?

The pool in Cairo was a little too cold so we only got in once but the girls took full advantage of our late afternoons at the hotel.  We typically toured from 8:00 until about 2:00 p.m. or so.  Then we'd have some quiet time in the hotel while the sun was still super strong and then hit the pool at about 3:30.  We would stay there until after the sunset and our tummies were growling for dinner.  The pool was right on the edge of the Nile facing west for the sunset.  It was an amazing way to spend each evening.

On the second level of the pool

Water taxi going by on the Nile - similar to what we took early one morning on our way to the hot air balloon ride.

This large hammock was where the girls ended each evening.  They sat in here, drank exotic juices and talked for at least an hour each night.

We spotted a hot air balloon from our hotel room one morning (well, to give credit, Jane, our early riser, spotted it).  That would be us a couple of days later!

Karnak Temple - more sphinxes.  These have rams heads instead of human heads.

Still cheerful have several days of touring - it's about to get hot and they start to lose a bit of their sparkle!

With Nabil - our tour guide in Luxor

Anna *loved* finding the letter "n" in hieroglyphics.  She found over a hundred at the Karnak Temple!

Anna totally lost it when an Egyptian family wanted to take the girls' picture with their little boy.  So the family only got three of our girls in the photo.  Anna had her cheeks pinched one too many times this day and she didn't like that the mom wanted her to hold that little boy's hand.  Poor Anna!

The sacred lake at Karnak Temple

Our second super touristy stop - at the perfumery.  Jane is getting some kind of head massage with a perfume good for headaches.  We just had to buy something to support their poor suffering businesses so now we're the proud owner of a Lotus Flower perfume that I'm pretty sure I am allergic to.  The exciting thing about our stop here is that there was a power outage and we were in the basement where it was absolutely dark.  I was glad no one knocked over any expensive perfume during the outage.

Luxor Temple

I can't remember what Jane is pointing at - I will ask her and will update this once I figure it out!

Lunch in the air conditioning.  We are HOT by the time we made it here.  Even though we were several hours flight north of Abu Dhabi, it still had Abu Dhabi-like weather in Luxor (Cairo was really nice)

Sunset over the Nile while I read a book on my lounger.  Ahhhhhh!

While the girls chatted in the oversized hammock, Jake and I enjoyed the Nile view on our loungers and toasted ourselves with a cocktail (note: skip the cocktails in Egypt and stick with the wine as the Egyptians don't seem to be seasoned cocktail makers.  Egyptian wine is surprisingly tasty)

On the ferry crossing the Nile River with our breakfast boxes the hotel prepared for us.  We were picked up at 4 a.m. (yes, FOUR A.M.!) to embark on our hot air balloon adventure.

Sunrise at the hot air balloon launch site while we waited for approval from the authorities for take off.  It was a bit too windy when we first arrived.

Four balloons went out that morning (we only saw two the morning before).  They are filling the third balloon here.

They filled the fourth (ours) and had us loaded so quickly that we were rising up in the air before I knew what was happening.  Jane and Meredith were a bit scared as we were waiting but it all happened so quickly no one had any time for second thoughts.

Happy faces once we were off.

Beautiful views of small villages and farmland.  We could see onto the rooftops of the houses and where some of the families would sleep on summer nights.  We could also see chickens, donkeys and goats.  Little kids would yell and wave to us.

One of the other balloons ahead of us.  The other three balloons landed in the desert below after about 30 minutes of flight.

I'm still feeling okay at this point

Then our balloon gets a different breeze and we cross over the Nile River three times!  I was convinced we were never going to get to one side and that we were going to have to jump from the basket and do a water landing (I sometimes have an overactive imagination...)

Ok, now look how close we got to the Nile River!  You can see why I was mentally preparing for a water leap.  We were low but the pilot clearly did it on purpose so we could enjoy the view of the Nile.

Looking up at our balloon.  The flame used to keep the balloon afloat was super hot (and a bit loud).  The ride was super peaceful when we just floated but we had to help protect the kids from the heat when it was cranked up.

Our shadow.  Between the river shots and this one, I was a bit of a nervous wreck.  We were either over the Nile River, villages with nowhere to land or over banana groves where the trees were too big to land on.  The other three balloons landed after thirty minutes in a big open desert and we were still flying after an hour and twenty minutes.  I was beginning to think we would never find a safe place to land (it's not like you can steer these things much) and that we would run out of fuel.  We finally get on the other side of a village and there are a couple of sugar cane fields.  Our pilot gently landed us on the edge of a dirt road in the sugar cane field.  I was so-ooo happy to be on the ground!

We landed!  Safely!  In a giant sugar cane field (the pilot assured us that they pay the farmer for any crops they damage and we definitely flattened some of their sugar cane).  My big smile indicates how glad I was to be on the ground.

The sugar cane was taller than me.  I was glad we were on the edge of the road (but certainly would have taken a safe landing in the middle of the field at that point).  Somehow our van showed up ten minutes after we left (I have no idea how they figured out where were going to land when we kept crossing the Nile and there is only one bridge in Luxor far from where we landed - it's still a mystery!).  Just a few minutes after we landed we had a swarm of little boys who ran up to check out the adventure of a balloon landing near their village.  Then the men started showing up so by the time we got out of there, we probably had about thirty people excitedly staring at us and taking photos.  The pilot had to fire up the flame a bit more to get us off the ground so that his crew could get us on the road.  The noise made them all scream and leap backward away from our balloon.  I'm still so impressed that the pilot landed us right near the road - we would have had a hard time getting out of the deep sugar cane field.

One LAST quick tour after the balloon ride.  Jane is done with ruins at this point!

The ruins of the workers houses who built all the temples and tombs.  Sounds like a tough job!  We were able to go into one tomb for the workers and one tomb for a noble but photos weren't allowed.

Crocodile towel art!

We think this is a hanging monkey (with Nescafe in his mouth!) but are up for help with interpretation.  Regan put a banana in his mouth instead of the coffee - she felt it was a more appropriate monkey snack!

Egypt trip is done.  We flew through Doha, Qatar on our way back (better connection than going back through Cairo) and were able to see their new airport.  An architect friend of ours helped design the airport so we were happy to get to finally check in out.  We also flew through Doha on our way to/ from Hong Kong last December but the new airport wasn't open yet.  The new airport has a fabulous (and creative) playground.  We loved it.

Teddy Bear art in the new Doha airport.  Jake looked it up - this piece by Urs Fisher was purchased for 6.8 million dollars!!!  The airport is a HUGE improvement over the old airport which had no real edible food options and no jetways - they managed to get ten million passengers a year through that airport but had to send them all to their planes on buses.  The new airport is beautiful and we had a great lunch at an Italian restaurant there.