Hot Air Balloon Ride and more history

Sharon went on a hot air balloon ride this morning with 3 other ladies from our tour group! We took a short bus ride, a boat ride across the Nile, then another bus ride and finally arrived at the start point. The ride was 45 minutes long, and smooth sailing 100% of the time, including a soft landing! We saw temple ruins, Valley of the Gods, agricultural crops, irrigation channels, homes and farm workers. Although nervous at first, the ride turned out to be a delight. (US$85) Afterwards, we met up with the rest of our group and we went to the Valley of the Gods, and entered three underground burial areas, which had lots of sculpting on the walls, including a lot of colour which stayed since it was protected from the sun. They were much more impressive and beautiful in colour! After that we went to the Palace, which again had some protected areas with colour, but massive sculptures and columns. We ate lunch at a local family home: chicken, beef, mixed cooked vegetables, salad, tahini and bread, rice and potatoes. It was the best meal we have had in Egypt. We took a boat back across the Nile, then a bus back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon was free time so we showered and went for a walk in the local market, but honestly, it is so unpleasant with vendors hounding you, they are so aggressive. We tried walking up a street for the locals, to see if we could find a shirt for Grant, but instead, found 3 young men who Grant struck up a conversation with about our cell phone, which started acting up this morning, only working occasionally, otherwise frozen. It ended up that Carlos, who spoke excellent English, told us he was a Christian, as were his friends, so we had quite an in-depth conversation about the Islam faith of Egypt, the women’s clothing, etc. He went with Sharon and got a new battery installed in her watch for only $2. Then he took Grant in a taxi to a cell phone store that has Apple phones, and it was finally determined that the phone was not fixable, so Grant bought a refurbished one, and they transferred some of the data onto the new phone, total cost was $300. It took 3-4 hours though. While waiting for the data to upload, Grant, his new friend, “Koko” and the taxi driver, had a beer and cigar while in the taxi! Grant says that this may be his most memorable and favourite story from our whole trip! Our tour group was supposed to have a Farewell Dinner but since most of the group was still full from the excellent lunch, that really didn’t happen, so Grant brought some home with his new phone.Read more