Luxor, Egypt - Imodium junkies riding donkeys...

LUXOR :

Right, I remember leaving you in Cairo... Well Greg couldn't have been a better host - from taking us horse riding by night around the pyramids (more about this later), showing us some of his favourite haunts around the city, to introducing us to the shisha! Sadly all good things must come to an end, and after spending a wicked week with Greg, we had to depart for our tour.

Now before I go on about our adventures outside of Cairo, I'll take you back to our horse riding by night. One of Greg's favourite pastimes is to take friends up to this wicked little oasis, to ride horses through the desert - overlooking the pyramids. We had to catch a cab about 30 minutes out of the centre of Cairo, and as we were driving all of a sudden these huge, majestic shadowlike images appeared. It took a little while to realise that they were the pyramids... we were totally in awe! We were then met by a guy on a donkey, and he took us to the stables. I haven't seen anything so funny in ages - a large man galloping on a donkey who looked as if it were going to collapse under him. Our horses were selected (mine was quiet as I was being a chicken), and we headed into the desert. It was amazing, we rode over sand dunes with the moon and stars to guide our way, the only sounds were the horses striding along, and our whispers of amazement. The pyramids stood in the distance, huge yet eerie - every now and then they would light up, making the moment only more magical. After an hour and a half of riding were back at the stables... already I know this is going to be one of the highlights for this trip. Now, upon starting our evening I had no idea that I had an allergy to horses... though once I had come off the horse I was sneezing, my eyes were swollen and I had come up in some kind of rash. The worst thing for me was I had to wait another hour before we got back to Greg's so I could take an antihistamine - thankfully I didn't have a worse reaction... otherwise it could have been a short trip.

So... we joined our tour, 24 of us in total - Kiwi's, Aussies and a few token Brits, the ages range from 19-31, and the group is awesome! On starting the tour, we were greeted by our tour leader (Jo) saying she was about to send out a search party. There had been some confusion, and she had us down as staying at their hotel the night before... Good start!

Our first day was spent exploring the pyramids, and they were just as amazing by day. We caught camels from the smallest pyramid down to the largest. The ride lasted about 10 minutes, and to begin with it was a frightening experience - I had never realised just how high up a camel was. We had an opportunity to enter one of the pyramids, though I became claustrophobic and had to turn around before getting to the end. Ant managed to make it to the end, and has told me that there was only a big room - nothing much interesting. We also visited a perfumery and a papyrus making factory. Both were nice, but overrated and too pricey - it was like being taken around by a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok he! he! Our first night was spent on a night train to Aswan. After having to fight to get on the train, it was then a bigger fight for our seats. The locals who had beaten us on thought they'd take the seats, and some weren't happy to move! After settling in though, we managed to have an okay sleep... though with it being Ramadam and people only eating during daylight, by 3.00am all the locals started gathering together to eat, and talk (loudly I might add). But we made it to Aswan all in one piece.

We had a couple of days in Aswan, where we spent our time checking out the local markets, and smoking shisha at a local cafe. On one of the nights we had a huge meal with our tour, and some local dances performed for us - what a wicked evening. After showing us some of their traditional dances, one which included a guy spinning continuously, with a huge colourful skirt spinning with him... they all got us up to dance. They spun us round and round, and made us some strange moves. It was a great night, for me a good icebreaker - allowing me become a little less shy.

We have visited Abu Simbel - a set of two temples near the border of Egypt with Sudan. Constructed for the pharaoh Ramesses II who reigned for 67 years during the 13th century BC (19th Dynasty)... To visit Abu Simbel you have to go in a police convoy, which leaves at 3.30am I might add! Abu Simbel was amazing (photo's to follow), though there were too many people... to try and imagine, how people back in this time were able to build things to such a scale, are beyond me...

From Aswan we spent 2 days sailing down the Nile on feluccas. For those who don't know what feluccas are, they are traditional Egyptian sail boats, that have a cloth cover for the night, a huge mattress where about 10 people sleep - there are no cabins, you sleep on deck. Not much to really report we just relaxed, relaxed, drank beer, swam, ate, slept... hmmm and that's about it really. On the first night of our ride, our group gathered around the camp fire and told tales of their most embarrassing moments... though mine was a crappy peeing on my shoe, there were some funny as stories. We also were entertained by Stacey (a wicked Ozzy nurse) teaching our felucca boat boys some classic Austrlian tunes - G'day, G'day; Give me a home among the gum trees... ha! all class and brilliant!

I've now had Egyptian belly for 5 days, I've been blocking it up with Imodium, anti-nausea pills, nurofen and some Egyptian anti-bacterial pills. I don't know how good it is for my system, but there was no way in hell I was going to have the runs whilst on the feluccas. I'm planning to go solo when we hit the beaches at Dahab.

We are now in Luxor, where Ant will enlighten you on the next leg of our journey.

So far the tour has been better than I could ever expect. In the first few days I felt like I was being herded around like a flock of sheep, but now as we get into it... all is good. It's just like travelling with 24 of your buddies from home, only you don't have to worry about arranging your own travel or food. I would still like to travel independently, but for a tour I can't complain.