Egypt diaries continued..

 Day 5( 28th)

We started the day at 4.20 am along with another Scottish Family ( A teen, A primary school kid and their parents) on a minivan with packed breakfast. There were two drivers one took over the other at regular intervals. The roads were smooth and the sandstone hills on both sides with the dawn sunlight on them made the drive ethereal.

We reached crowded Luxor around 9 am as we had rest stops in between. Our tour guide , Sara took us straight to the Karnak temple and it was heaving to say the least. But we managed to enjoy the magnificence of the avenue of the Sphinxes, the open bud and closed bud columns, the magnificent statues with lively eyes, the sacred lake and of course R went around the Scarab 4 times to ensure her dream comes true ;)

From there we went by river Nile on the good boat ‘Titanic’ (!)for lunch where I promptly caught mild food poisoning. The veg fare was horrendous and the toilets in Luxor were a nightmare. 

We visited the Colosseum of Mennon ( mistakenly named by the Greeks as it was later discovered to be of Amenhotep iii), took some pics.

We then went to an alabaster factory, the translucent material which was used to make the canopy jars to store the organs, food etc. Made a small purchase for our memory.

We then travelled to the valley of the kings.  this was the best part of our trip. We visited King Seti,King Tut’s tomb, Ramses iv and Vi and Ramses ii’s  sons.

The vivid ochre, malachite, red and navy blue hues still impressively enchanting after nearly 3000 years was fascinating to say the least. It was wonderful to look at the images, enjoy the stories being told, the mythology represented etc.  Thankfully, because it was December, the tunnels were relatively ok, though we did sweat given the time we spent inside.

The frequent shuttles took us back to the entrance and from there we made our way to Hatshepsut’s  mortuary temple.

One of the lions at the entrance still has its lively eyes that look like they are gently observing the goings on around ! The day was getting cooler, so we enjoyed the open complex and got back to our 4 hour ride back to the hotel.

We were warned earlier not to make any eye contact with any of the sellers, so we successfully managed the multitude everywhere but what to do with those inside the tombs who insisted on taking our pics from our phones and then asked for baksheesh? The photos weren’t good either! Another sad state of affairs as otherwise the tombs were clean, well maintained with glass barriers keeping the visitors away from the reliefs on the walls.

Reached the hotel around 9 pm, deposited our bags in the room, changed and had the buffet dinner. My tummy was still not ok and I just wanted to get into bed and which is what we did.

Day 6 ( 29th)

We had booked a submarine and snorkelling for 10.30, so we whinged and complained and got up, had breakfast and got on to the ever prompt mini van. This time there were 2 Swiss couples who joined us. K and I had gone on a submarine to see the marine life , first in 2005 in Mauritius. Then, the sea was rich with colourful reefs and fantastic aquatic life that lifted your spirits. I went to Maldives with my colleagues in 2007 and it was equally good.

Since then, in the past decade, We have been to submarines in Rhodes, Andaman  and now here and sadly the coral reefs are all washed out, there is minimal colour and the acquatic life half of what we saw then.

R and K went snorkelling in the middle of the ocean as always but they said Madeira ranked first ( thanks Maththias!) followed by Rhodes, Mykonos ( Stephane’s beach) and only after that Hurghada. 

Came back had our first lunch in the hotel ( we had missed all lunched till date) , went back to the beach, lazed around in the sunbeds, I came to the room whereas dad and daughter lunged in the library. I wrote my blogs, caught up on news etc and we all went to dinner and I crashed after. K and R packed some of their stuff as they wanted to wrap up some rides in the aqua park in the morning while I tidied up the rest of the packing.

Day 7 ( 30th)

K had extended our check out time to 5 pm. We had a restful sleep, got up around 8 pm finished breakfast. R and K went to the rides, I tidied up packing. Around 11.30 I joined them on the beach. The water was crystal clear, I could see the fishes and the water was dense enough and warm enough for me to thoroughly enjoy floating and swimming. R being the little fish she is ,went back and forth till the end of the line and floated blissfully on her back in between. K went snorkelling again. The weather was perfectly warm and it was the   Exact relaxation needed on the last day. 

We got out of the water, had pizza , fries and ice cream from the beach snack bar and K and I left for our message. R wanted to lounge longer at the beach so we left her to it.

After our 90 minute massages, we rushed to have some snacks, took a shower, packed up and checked out of the room.

Out in the shuttle bus and reached airport by 5pm. 

After a really uncomfortable 5.30 hour flight starting at 9.30 we landed at 12.45 am and drove home to reach at 5pm.

Mind bogglingly, our dear R woke up and started studying again! She is really keen to do well and we really hope her efforts pay off! She is not a natural academic but only relies on her tremendous work ethic. Fingers crossed , she achieves her dreams.