Balloon over Luxor

This was probably the part of my trip that I enjoyed the most: flying over the Valley of the Kings in a hot air balloon.  However, it was not without some trepidation (like just about everything in Egypt) given a few flying incidents in the past.  Nonetheless, safety processes looked solid, the take-off and landing were smooth, and the view was absolutely spectacular.  The day starts at 5 a.m., passengers are taken to a ferry boat for tea and a biscuit and driven across the Nile, and then by road to the launch site.  The sunrise is beautiful and one enjoys the full spectrum of light from predawn to full daylight (which gets hard and flat very quickly in Egypt allowing only about 30 minutes at either end of the day for really good light).  Most of the passengers were Chinese (and mostly women).  As we came in to land, kids below us in the fields came running towards the landing spot shouting "Japanese, Japanese" which I think may also be code for 'wealthy people/ big tippers'.!  The women shouted back "no, we're Chinese!", for them a very important fact to correct.  However, I thought afterwards that it may also have been code for 'we're working class like you (so don't bother us)'. 

The evening before, first class travel on the 3.5 hour (220--odd km) trip between Aswan and Luxor on Egyptian Railways had been an excellent experience;  brand new wagons, business class seats and all for the sum of 90 Egyptian Pounds (about $4.50). The railway station in Aswan is being refurbished and it seems at some priority.  Passengers queue under the scaffold while the painting of the ceiling continues above (I have paint spots on my camera bag, shirt, hair, etc as evidence of this).

The Valley of the Kings is another indescribable experience.  The practice and procedures of burial, conceived and sustained over so many years, in a relatively small area, with an entire community dedicated to building and maintaining it.  The strength of colours in the murals on the walls after 4500 years is amazing. Unfortunately (but understandably), there is no photography allowed.  The tomb attendants hustle one endlessly and in discreet circumstances will apparently allow photography.

I am trying to get all my back blips posted by tomorrow evening so the text today is brief - I will add more in a few days' time.