Tuesday, February 26

We arose early (again) to try and beat the hordes of tourists headed to the Valley of the Kings and Queens, where Pharoahs and their families awaited immortality. We drove deep into the desert where there was nothing green or that looked remotely alive. Instead of fine sand, there were rocks but the rocks and cliffs were beautiful in the early sunlight.
These tombs, once cleverly hidden, were designed to resemble the passage to the underworld. the hieroglyphics that adorn the walls still spring to life with vibrant color. We visited King Tutankamun's (King Tut's) tomb, an ornate burial chaber with many treasures for the afterlife, which was left undisturbed for 3,000 years. We also saw a mother and son's tomb in the Valley of the Queens, less impressive (of course?) than the king's tomb.
One amusing service provided in Lexor (and in Cairo, we found out later) is the delivery of fast food - McDonald's, Pizza Hut, etc. The delivery vehicle is a small motorcycle with a little red box on the back of the motorbike. We considered it.....briefly.....
nah!
Driving outside the city of Luxor, our bus met up with many donkey carts carrying harvested sugar cane, one of the main crops of Egypt. Once in a while we saw tractors however sugar cane, for the most part, was hauled using donkeys. In addition, I was surprised to see thatched roofs - not so much on houses, but on shelters used for the animals.

While we are visited the valleys, our ship left Luxor and met us at Eslan, where we had to wait to go through the locks.