Sofitel Karnak

It's nice here -- once we got all the stuff with the room sorted, anyway.

We waited till 7:15, then went to the counter and were told our room was ready. So we got our bags and were led up to a room... that hadn't been cleaned. Um, okay... so the guy called the desk and got another room... which we went to, but it had 2 beds. We had reserved a king-size bed. So we called reception and were told they would take care of us.

90 minutes later, the two of us still reeling a bit from exhaustion, Wil called the front desk again. They seemed surprised we had an issue, and promised to send someone up to fix the problem. A few minutes later, a man came up to the room, stripped the beds, pushed them together, and remade them as one. Not exactly what we had in mind. So we decided to call the desk again. They told us that we could have a king bed at 3:00 -- normal check-in time, but we would have to leave the room we were in immediately.

So we thought about it and called them back to say that, actually, we would spend 1 night in that room and then switch the next day. Wil hung up, but 2 minutes later the phone rang -- it was Mohammed, the manager, who apologized and told us that he would have a room ready for us at 11am but he needed to have this room as it was reserved for part of a group and needed to be cleaned again. At least that was a good explanation!

So we took everything back downstairs, taking a moment to change into our swimsuits, dropped off the bags, got some towels, and went back to the pool where we slept and swam for a couple of hours. At 11:30 we went to the front desk, where Mohammed gave us our keys and told us that our things were already there. Good man!

We went to our room -- now in the Ramses wing -- and it was perfect. A couch, a balcony overlooking a grassy courtyard, and a massive king-size bed. Perfect! Really happy we stuck to our guns and got what we'd paid for. (Well, except for the picnique that was supposed to come with the room... but we're not that bothered.)

Hung out in the room for a while, then decided to go into town for some lunch. We had to take a taxi since we had supposedly missed the last shuttle (we hadn't), but we went out to the road and started bargaining. We were told a taxi would cost 25 to town, which as a ripoff, but the drivers told us it would be 40. We laughed at that. Another driver came up and said it would be 25, was always 25, but drivers would try to get 40. That's how we met Hamdi, our hard-sell taxi driver. He drove us to Sofra, the restaurant I had chosen from the LP. On the way, he convinced us to hire him for a trip to the west bank and Valley of the Kings the next morning. As his price was 50 less than the other driver had quoted us, we accepted and arranged for 7:00 the next morning.

Sofra was fantastic -- we ate upstairs on the shady roof terrace -- lots of fantastic Egyptian mezze, fabulous juice, and a leisurely lunch. Really nice place.

Then we walked around Luxor for a bit -- difficult to get a sense of where the tourist center is -- but then again we didn't go to the temple. Then we decided to take the boat back to the resort -- and (despite asking directions at the Winter Palace -- twice -- we really had a hard time finding it. It's very difficult to even hesitate on the corniche. Hesitation = touts. You want a felucca? Taxi? Carriage? Eventually we did find the dock, and spotted a westerner waiting. Success.

Came back to the hotel and rested in the room for a bit, then walked around as the sun set. Couldn't find anything to eat -- not many vegetarian choices -- but we'd had a huge lunch and decided to just skip dinner for the night.

Next morning we were up early and went to breakfast. Wil doesn't think it's as nice as at Oasis, but I think there seem to be more choices here. And the orange juice, though still not fresh, at least isn't Tang. They've got an omelette-to-order area, lots of "western" hot things, nice spreads, gorgeous tomatoes, and good bread. So it's okay, really.

Then we went over to the front entrance -- right at 7 -- to meet Hamdi. Imagine our surprise when Hamdi turned up with another driver as well and told us we'd be going with him. Nice. We figured that he'd gotten a higher amount from the other group and would have ditched us in a heartbeat. So we rather unhappily climbed in the other car. It was fine, of course. He stopped along the way for us to buy water and made sure we didn't get too fleeced. Then drove us quickly and safely to the Valley of the Kings.

I'm not sure what I expected -- but there's an attractive visitor's center and a not too chaotic ticket window. You buy a ticket that gives you entrance to 3 tombs for 60 LE. You can then buy additional entry tickets to Tutankhamun (100 LE) and Ramses VI (50 LE). We bought Tut tix and then set off. I had picked out some tombs to visit -- unfortunately 2 of my 3 were either closed or required a supplemental ticket. oh well.

We started off in Tut's tomb -- a deep, angled walkway down, then a small room. There's a red quartzite sarcophagus -- massive and perfect and beautiful -- and the outermost gilded wooden coffin (we saw the other 2 in Cairo). In a smaller case on the other side of the chamber rests his mummy, looking very frail, with spindly toes peeking out from the too-short covering. Some very nice painting on the walls -- a chubby young Tut with his wife, for example. It's one of the smallest tombs in the valley, but special because of Tut, and because the mummy is there. The tickets are overpriced at 100 LE, but it did keep the crowds down.

Tried to go to Ramses VI, but it needed an extra ticket so we decided to think about it. Moved on to Seti I. Closed. (So sad, because it had lovely crocodile and hippo paintings.) Tried some others. Ramses III? Closed. Amenhotep II? Closed. Sigh. Went to Seti II largely because it was open. Pretty paintings, nice carving (the walkway starts as carvings but then just goes on as paintings -- as if they were either running out of time or of interest. Some of the painting is really just sketches in red paint -- sometimes added to with black paint. Pretty cool. The guards in the tombs follow you around, calling out names or things in the carvings. "Cartouche. Osiris. Crocodile." and then expect a tip. This "walking wallet" thing is tiring.

Then we went "next door" to the tomb of Tawosret / Sethnakht -- a double tomb of sorts. Two big burial chambers... a little like train carriages. Really nice paintings -- have they been restored (repainted?). Lots of stars on the ceiling. Pretty.

For our final tomb we went to Ramses IX. Or was it IV? Can't remember. Big tomb, lovely painting, etc. Clearly the heat was getting to me at this point. Decided therefore to skip the Ramses VI tomb -- we had been in the Valley nearly 2 hours already.

So to the exit and the gauntlet of vendors. Everything so cheap -- but almost all of it crap. So tiresome. But it's their livelihood, I know.

Then back to the car and to Deir al-Bahri, aka the Temple of Hatshepsut. Her temple is beautiful -- looks fantastic and modern. Most of it has been rebuilt using modern stone. But there are some beautiful reliefs carved on the terraces... including the bringing of trees to her garden, a couple of which "survive" (or linger as dead stumps) near the ticket gate. Lots of annoying touts -- taking pictures of people with their camera and then refusing to return them till they are given a tip. We didn't fall for it, of course.

Super hot there, and we finished the water. As we braved the tourist gauntlet, one clever vendor had posted a large price list for his cold drinks. That's all I want, really. I'm happy to pay over the odds, but not to be fleeced all the freaking time. Really. So we bought Coke Light and water and guzzled it.

Then back in the taxi -- where the driver encouraged us to go to an alabaster factory (we said no). We didn't have time (or, by that point, ENERGY) to go to the Ramesseum, so we just went to the Colossi of Memnon to snap a couple of pictures and then headed back to the hotel.

We asked the driver to take us somewhere to buy water and soda and he stopped at a place in Karnak, not far from the hotel. We loaded up, even buying two expensive bottles of mineral water (12 LE each, when soda is only 5).

Spent the rest of the afternoon lolling by the pool and reading trashy books. I had finished "The Host", and got most of the way through the horribly written "Atlantis Code".

in the evening, we took a shuttle into town and went to the Kings Head pub. Wil had a Heineken while I made the grievous error of ordering a whisky sour. I mean, I wouldn't order that in a proper English pub, so what was I thinking? I suspect they had never made one before ... it was lemon juice (not lemonade, just sour lemon juice), and a splash of whisky. So nasty, almost undrinkable. Totally my fault.

Then a wander through Luxor and we walked home along the corniche. So many cruise ships! Moored 4 deep. Are any of them going to move? Weird. Spent the whole walk fending off taxis, carriages, and felluccas. Tiresome.

Walking through Karnak village, we stopped to buy soda. The kid tried to charge us 10 each for the soda, so we started to walk out. We quickly dropped to 10 total. Some little lad followed us for blocks and blocks, shouting "Hello! Money!" over and over. Really annoying. Then back to the hotel. Did I mention I burned my legs really badly? Idiot.

Today we slept in -- no Karnak at sunrise for us! -- had a leisurely breakfast, a splash in the pool, and now sitting on the grassy hillside overlooking the Nile. Still feels like not exactly our style, but it's nice here.