We felt a little short changed by the Felucca captain though not terribly and were generally happy - it had been reasonable, but the meals weren't great and the extras had been overpriced. Also we realised that we hadn't travelled very far by Felucca and here we were in Kom Ombo transferring to a bus to take us via Edfu through to Luxor.
The busses stopped at temples in both Kom Ombo and Edfu. We chose to look only at the one in Edfu which was a relatively recent one (about 300 BC) so in good condition.
We arrived in Luxor mid afternoon - this time armed with a good tip for a hotel from an Australian girl we met in Cairo.
The hotel was called Princess - and the price at 30 pounds ($6) into the budget realm that we had been looking for. Perhaps it was no surprise that until we dropped their names the prices was 50 each - then it turned into 50 for the room then it dropped to 30 when we accepted a shared bath room. We were particularly happy to have broken into the budget traveller realm - and as this place is not yet in the Lonely Planet they seem to be trying extra hard to give good service. The staff are amazingly helpful and friendly, the set up good for hanging out and meeting other travellers and we have been feeling very glad of our luck since we got there. I got a pretty crappy matress on my bed though and it was very noisy. It seemed that the loudspeaker for the call to prayer must have been placed right outside our window and every car must have honked at our corner.
We went for a walk along the corniche on the nile in the afternoon and had an expensive but very nice meal at the oasis cafe. Tim slept early while Julian and I shared beers with a very interesting young American from Atlanta named Robbie who is a young journalism graduate and freelance travel writer.
