1/2 Way

Hi all. Today we arrived back in Luxor after 2 days in Aswan and aprox 3 days on a Fellucca cruising the Nile. Aswan was great, with a Nubian Bazaar, Philae temple and we went on a camel ride to a 7th Century Monastery in the desert. From there we also took a 'day trip' to Abu Simbel. I'm not sure if it classifies as a day trip - get up at 4am to join the government convoy to drive at over 120km/hr for the 2-3 hr drive, get there at 7am, have a little over 2 hrs there, then take the same crazy drive back. It was worth it though - Abu Simbel's one of the most impressive monuments we have seen, and even more amazing is how they managed to move it to a new location when they built the high dam at Aswan and it was going to be flooded. The Fellucca trip was full of ups and downs- the sailing was relaxing, with lovely scenery, very peaceful....but no toilets wears pretty thin after 4 days, I can tell you. :) Boy was I glad to see my hotel room this morning!!! It was relaxing, but forced inactivity is not my style for so long, so I am glad to be mobile again. We have spent so much time on the water though, that now this computer and chair feels like it is rocking gently. I was beginning to think the comment function wasn't working, till I heard from Nat today (Hi Nat!). Please feel free to leave comments - its much easier for me to read than plowing through the spam in my email to find the real stuff.... Tonight we take the night train back to Cairo (yuck, very uncomfortable!) at 11pm and tomorrow we have another free day in Cairo, before we head off on the 2nd leg of this trip - the Sinai Peninsula. We are merging with a larger group tomorrow, as our tour director is not continuing. We have been running into them as we go though, so we already know a few of them. OK, only 6 min left online so I had better run....