I was up before sunrise today for our hot air balloon ride. Hot air ballooning has never really been one of those things that I have craved doing. I have to admit that I sort of classed it as a little to tame for my inner adrenaline junkie- however the prospect of flying over the Valley of the Kings at sunrise did put quite a bright silver lining on the idea. So, I with most of our group headed off early to fly. I definitely think the most ‘extreme’ parts of it were being practically thrown into the basket by 2 Egyptian men, and the point where we hit the tree. Nethertheless it was a fantastic flight. The view over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings was incredible. And watching it as the sun came up was magical. I think my favourite part of the whole thing (apart from hitting the tree) was being able to see so starkly from above the border between the lush Nile valley and the huge deserts which edge onto it. I took heaps of photos of this- it was a perfect illustration of what things will look like without water. No wonder the ancient Egyptians worshipped and revered the Nile. It really is the lifeblood of Egypt.
After a surprisingly smooth landing we headed straight to the Valley of the Kings to see some is suppose you would call it- gravesites. It’s an absolutely amazing place- they had discovered another grave temple thing (tomb??!!) yes that’s the word about 2 weeks before we arrived there- so we got to see an excavation site too. I can only imagine how many undiscovered wonders there are in those hills- the romantic in me hopes that some are never found, but the curious nerd in me wants to know and see everything! We got to go inside 3 of the tombs- all three were brilliant. The best part was the paintings inside. The bright hieroglyphics everywhere telling stories about the pharaoh who was buried there. The colours were all so bright and vivid still- it was mind-blowing thinking how old they actually were.
After this fun it was time for our donkey ride- this was something I had been looking forward to for ages. I have only ever ridden a horse once, and that was about 15 years ago in Delegate. I was ridiculously excited and got given a cute white donkey whom I immediately christened Bruce. Bruce was brilliant- he intelligently ignored any directions I tried to give him and trotted along at a reasonable pace minding his own business. It was so much fun and I never fell off once! (A real achievement considering how uncoordinated I am!) The same could not be said for the whole of our group. In Rhian’s defence her donkey was a complete out of control bastard and she did amazingly well to last as long as she did without falling off. I don’t think there is any defence for Emma- she was just no good at riding donkeys and very unco! (I am glad she didn’t get hurt though). Bruce was absolutely perfect and I gave him a big hug when we finished. I want a donkey!!! (Please mum-it’s my birthday soon!)
After this we had another fantastic lunch at a local restaurant and then headed of to explore the absolutely huge Karnak temple. This place was absolutely huge and I am very glad that we had a local guide to explain what everything was to us. It was quite crowded but luckily because the place is so huge you don’t really notice the crowds as much. It was stinking hot and I am ashamed to say that when our guide left us to explore on our own I joined the others in finding a nice shady bit of temple and sat. I honestly don’t know how people can handle the heat there it was so draining!
Thankfully after our visit to Karnak we went straight back to quite a nice hotel where we indulged in long showers and a change of clothes (I smelled like eau de donkey!) so it was much needed!
Then it was off out into the desert….a new adventure starts!
PS : I am still singing Billy Joel
