Day 48: Aswan - Luxor

14 July 2009 16:02

Today the team was back to an early start, with the bikes being unloaded this morning, we all wanted to be at the port early to make sure everything went as planned. Seeing that we are still in Africa this did not happen, as on arrival we found that the barge was blocked in by numerous other barges, with the Captain thinking we could just drive across them. After explaining to the Captain and Crew that this was an impossible task, we eventually got the barge moved and after the customs officials had checked the bikes we were free to bring the bikes back on dry land. It was then another few hours of waiting for the Egyptian License plates to be processed and once taped on the team made a hasty getaway. After about an hour drive the team stopped for lunch and following being treated to an awesome meal of fried chicken it was back on the road and onward to the city of Luxor, home to the Valley of the Kings. On arrival in Luxor, we were met by a Police Motorcycle who escorted to our hotel; needless to say the team really enjoyed this new found celebrity status. During check in the team was met by yet another challenge, sometime during the day Craig had managed to misplace his passport, luckily for us Waugie pulled out his superman cape and rushed to the rescue, managing to recover the passport in less than four hours. Tired, relieved and eager to get into Cairo the team retired to bed early, knowing that tomorrow brought an early wake up and almost eight hundred kilometers to travel.

Day 47: Aswan

14 July 2009 16:02

The team was very happy to be in the ‘civilized’ world again and after a continental breakfast the team donned their cameras in preparation for their tourist activities. Our first port of call was the Aswan granite quarry to see the Unfinished Oblisk. This granite quarry provided most of the pink granite used throughout the Egyptian Empire, with some of the rock traveling as far as Alexandria and Lebanon. The Unfinished Oblisk was the largest Oblisk ever to be commissioned by the Egyptian Empire, unfortunately while carving out this huge granite object a significant crack developed ruining what is thought to be over eight months of work. It was then off to the Philae Temple, which is actually a collection of temples built on a small island just above the Old Dam, which is the first of the two dam walls to be built. The remarkable part about the Philae Temple is that when the Old Dam was constructed the Temple used to spend over seven months fully submerged, until finally after the construction of the High Dam, the second of the two dam walls, UNESCO commissioned the relocation of the temple. This Temple complex was then relocated, exactly to original specifications to a nearby island that was above the level of the water. After completing the tourist activities for the day, it was then back to the hotel to get some well earned R & R. For dinner it was off to another traditional Nubian Village, which was situated about thirty minutes up river. For a special treat Waugie had organized a camel ride for the last few kilometers, sadly only the three Bristow Boyz were brave/silly enough to take up the challenge.

Day 48: Aswan - Luxor

14 July 2009 16:02

Day 47: Aswan

14 July 2009 16:02

14 July 2009 16:02

14 July 2009 16:02

14 July 2009 16:02

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