Another early start saw us heading out at 6am to the Colossi of Memnon - two 17m high statues which are on the West bank of Luxor. They were carved from granite blocks and represent the Pharaoh Amentoep III. From there it was a one hour donkey ride across barren hills via the finery temple of Queen Hatshepsut to the spectacular royal burial site of the Valley of the Kings. This famous royal necropolis is dominated by the Al-Qurn Mountain. The tombs were designed to resemble the underworld ; a long, inclined, rock-hewn corridor descends into either an antechamber or a series of burial halls and ends in a burial chamber. Over 60 tombs have been excavated here and the excavation still continues. Despite my claustrophobic tendencies I went inside and it was well worth the effort, seeing the ancient inscriptions, paintings and hieroglyphics still so well preserved after such a passage of time.
It was a very long hot morning and was followed up by a fantastic long lunch a the home of the owner of the hotel I was staying at. I caught the overnight train back to Cairo that night and thus ended my travels with that group and I start another group heading north into Jordan, Syria and Turkey tonight. The train got in to Cairo about 6am and by 7.30am I was heading out to Sakara with a few others to see the Step Pyramid, the oldest known pyramid in Egypt.
I met up with my new group, which also consisted of 4 others from my last group and alas I have to give up the luxury of my own room to share with a young British girl, Sarah. Tomorrow is another early start and heading north to Mount Sinai, about 8hrs from Cairo.
