Adventure in Luxor

The Tourism Police are everywhere......they obviously know we can get a bit wild!!!

Greetings from Luxor!

It was a short night last night. I had about 3 hours of sleep because we had to be up by 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the Cairo airport for our departure flight to Luxor at 6:00 a.m. The flight was only 1 hour. We're now in a new hotel and things are nice here. Luxor has a different feel to it. It's a smaller city, fewer tall buildings, less trash in the streets, some greenery around and clear blue skies.

We traveled, by bus, to Quena to tour Quena Technical College. This is the college Alaa (former Kirkwood visiting faculty) is teaching at. We toured the Hospitality & Tourism College. They have spent lots of money on improving their facilities here. They have a hotel with VERY LARGE rooms. Tourists and residents may stay in the rooms for a charge of about $80 in US dollars per night. The view from Basma Hotel (at the institute) is impressive! The culinary students served us sweet bread, a mango tart and a fruit / yogurt beverage. The students were very kind and professional with excellent customer service. It reminded us of the wonderful students who serve us at the Class Act back home.

We returned to the hotel, had a late lunch at the hotel (overlooking the Nile River at sunset) and then went out on the strip for a little night life/experience. Ken agreed to treat the 3 of us (Dennis, he & I) to a horse and buggy ride. It was an adventure!!! The buggy driver was taking us further and further away from the "city" and I got nervous. When the buggy driver started to direct the horse down a dark alley we all jumped out of the buggy and walked back to our hotel. I was tense and nervous for a while but once we got back to the "busy city" I felt much better!!

Tomorrow will be another early morning as we'll have breakfast at the hotel early and must leave here by 6 a.m. to visit the Valley of the Kings and Karnak & Luxor temple. Should be a hot day so we're getting an early start.

Still enjoying the adventures....and fun!

Lauri