Just got off Skype to my Mother who I woke up to with happy new year. It was 12:30am and she was asleep. Thanks to a scary movie on TV Tom and I actually stayed up a little later than my mom, but not that much longer.
We've just moved from the Mercure Hotel to the Bob Marley Hostel in Luxor. Though we would spoil ourselves just a little bit more in order to celebrate the New Year, but ended up a little disapointed by the number of package tourists just looking for a tan and prehaps a day in the Valley of the Kings. The even strager experience was the spend the hours leading up to midnight with those same tourists and the Egyptian taxi drivers at one of the few English Pubs in town. Quite the scene. We were however happy with our delectable dinner of chicken curry.
Luxor and Aswan, unlike Alexandria and Cairo seem to be competing for the title of 'tidiest town'. To be fair they respectively number only approx 400,000 and 200,000, but still it is in nice to stroll along the Cornish (the name given to the street that runs along the water in most Cities or towns in the Middle East) and not be steping over potholes and rubbish.
We are looking forward to exploring Luxor, the city which rests on the site of ancient Thebes, after searching for things to do in Aswan. Aswan does have lovely views of the Nile, but it has few easily accessable sites (most are either a ferry ride or trek, so we chose to save our money) and a lack of restaurants, cafés etc. We did take an hour long felucca ride along the Nile, but really just to say we had. We also ventured to the Nubian Museum, created thanks to donations from many Western nations after a Czech research team lead not only a major excavation, but also an effort to move major Nubian sites and tresors so that they would not be lost under the waters with the creation of a massive dam. This lead to the great task of moving the giant statues at Abu Simbel up up a huge cliff, so they would remain above water. We chose not the venture down to the Sudnese boarder to see this site but have heard it is amazing.
Seeing as our resolutions are to make an effort to stay fit while we travel, in order to continue to fit the clothes we have bought with us, we're off to find Tom some running shoes and then to visit the Luxor temple.
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4 comments:
Happy New Year Katie & Tom! It was almost a year ago to the day that you were here visiting and drinking up a storm on our front porch! And, apparently, there were some wrongdoings with a Christmas tree? I don't remember any of this?
Wishing you the best of the new year and good luck with the resolution. I am sure you will be able to manage! Did you find any running shoes, Tom?
We are off to shovel some more snow as we have been hit with the motherload! Take care and talk to you soon!
You will notice that the time of your posting was 2:54 am. You actually phoned us at 2:30 am., not 12:30 am. Oh, those crazy time zones! We actually did stay up to see in the new year with some neighbours. Happy New Year to you!
I remember reading about the moving of those temples from Abu Simbel in my Weekly Reader in elementary school. According to Wikipedia, they are a top tourist destination in Egypt, ergo the numbers of those types. You need to find some non-touristy places. Maybe they aren't any left, except those which are warzones.
Where are you going next?
Happy New Year to Mommy & Daddy from Steve & I! Hope you are both well! xo
Hello! Yes we were just talking about this time last year. It was a blast. I believe it was actually a year ago today! Tell Steve not to miss us too much. Tom has not gotten shoes yet, but tomorrow it is going to happen. Enjoy the snow you two!
Mom, we do need non-touristy places off the beaten track, but you are probably right, they are located in war zones. At least Tom has seen a few.
Off to the Red Sea tonight :) xo
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