11th Dec, 1140hrs, Boomerang Hotel, Luxor
Reached Luxor, at around 9am in the morning. Here in Upper Egypt, the weather for once is not teeth-chattering cold. I had time, so picked around for a good place to stay. Boomerang, around 5-10 minutes away from the train station was perfect. It's a new 2 month old place Egyptian / Australian owned (25 EGP for dorms). Probably the best place I've stayed in so far. The owners were helpful and the place had a nice relaxed feel to it. I'll probably put in a positive review at hostelworlds.com later.
View of the west bank from the corniche
Took a walk up the corniche towards the Karnak Temple. I picked that one to go to. Just looking at the map of Luxor and the surrounding areas, there's so many sights here (looks like > 20). I'll burn a big hole in my pocket if I go for every single one. Karnak Temple (65 EGP) is located around 3km north of the train station. I'll do that and walk around town. Sounds like a plan.
Plenty of tourist buses here as I entered the parking area. Karnak itself is a huge series of temple ruins, covering 2 sq km. The main temple to Amun is large, with its 10 pylons and strucutures that were added on by subsquent generations of pharoahs. Couple of obelisks, one hippostyle hall, a colonnade area, two chapels and a scarab monument later, i was done. After wowing myself silly, took a stroll back down to town.
Finally had my grilled chicken dinner at a nice restaurant outside (20 EGP). Also realised I forgot to book the ferry ticket to Wadi Halfa back in Cairo...Emailed a guy who works with the Nile Navigation Company on Thorn Tree forum and he tells me I can get tickets at Aswan (2nd class only). On saturday i will need to rush from Luxor to Aswan before 2pm when their office closes so that I can get my ticket. Oh, the guy takourny@hotmail.com really works at the place. Met him in person and got my ticket on Sat.
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