After a one-hour delay we were finally in the air for the short flight across the Red Sea and desert (above), and over to the Nile River.

Note the distinct boundary between desert and green! This is alongside the Nile, which appears as one long green vein traversing the length of the country as the adjacent towns and villages use it for irrigation.

Satellite image of Egypt courtesy of good old Google Maps. Red Sea on the right (with Saudi Arabia on its right, the Sinai Peninsula on its north), and the Nile River clearly obvious in the middle there.

After just 50 minutes in the air we landed in Luxor, and saw this thing just sitting there on the tarmac hahaha. Good to know they're on standby ;)

Our taxi into town - almost looks like something out of Ghostbusters.

Our first observation while en route to our hostel: we weren't in the desert anymore - the roadside was actually green rather than sandy...

These things are like the blue and white vans in Sharm, and Kristina immediately wanted a ride in one hehe, although we later found out they were for locals only (even if the drivers wanted to, they weren't licensed to take tourists and this was strictly policed)...

Donkies were the real workhorses...

There were actually local women here (recall we saw virtually none in Sharm)...

And the brave and/or stupid do cycle here :)

The street just off the main drag through town looking towards our hostel in the distance.

And the view of that same street from our balcony.

Humble abode, but odds are it has satellite TV. We were told that while they're clearly not the wealthiest people in the world, almost all of them have nice flat-screen TVs and DVD players. Priorities :)

Egyptian rubbish collection, though from the amount of garbage lining the streets they don't appear to work too hard (like the French).

Where our street meets the main drag - chaos, and I loved it! No lanes, no giving way, no real road rules to speak of, just blast your horn and the bravest man wins. Video here (although unfortunately it all quietened down while I recorded this, typical!).

Cyclists going against the flow of traffic...

Fat kids running out in front of fast oncoming traffic...

Even wheelchairs don't give a shit hahaha! Notice the white and blue vans - they're the equivalent of the blue and white vans in Sharm, and notice none of them have their door closed hehe. Again, no such thing as health and safety here.

After two days in touristy Sharm, we really felt like we were in the real Egypt here. Tourists actually stood out as looking like the odd ones.

This was a common sight (and a common experience for us too) - getting offered something you don't want and walking off while the dude is still trying to convince you otherwise. In a town where tourism accounts for 85% of the economy, this is one of many such things you need to be ready to tolerate.

After several early mornings in a row we had another kip before heading out for a wander. Today was kind of a 'spare' day since the original plan was to be on a coach all day coming from Hurghada, so we used it to recuperate a little (and prepare for another extremely early one tomorrow).

Arabic Coke :)

So, Luxor sits on the east bank of the Nile River about a third of the way up from Egypt's southern border. It's home to half a million, has a lot of poverty, and like Sharm is driven by tourism though not a by-product of it. While Sharm was slapped together overnight, Luxor has a much richer history. In a nutshell, Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom. I could bang on about it here, or you could just click the link to learn more :)

Well that looks perfectly safe - repainting the middle of the road with traffic hurtling at you in both directions. No cones or warning signs or high-visibility clothing or anything - it's a very different world in these parts :)

Luxor Temple, left over from the days of Thebes. We didn't bother going in (instead getting photos from the roadside) after the Australian chicky who runs our hostel said we shouldn't bother. In hindsight though, I kind of wish we had.

A felucca on the Nile at sunset - more on them later. The birds in the trees all went nuts during the sunsets - video here.

View of the West Bank as seen from Luxor. Those illuminated mountains house numerous ancient tombs and temples which again I'll mention more on later.

We got the ferry across the Nile to the West Bank (just E£1 also) for dinner. I went for the stuffed pigeon because everything else on the menu looked boring, and stuffed pigeon is certainly what I got hehe.

Luxor Temple by night - pretty! Definitely should have paid the pissy amount of money and gone in. While taking these photos a couple tourists jumped into the complex from the roadside and were chased out by security hehe - it was worth a try.