Egypt: Valley of the Kings & Hatchepsut Temple

Today, we went to the Valley of the Kings. I explored the tombs of Tut Moses 3. After a long climb up steps and down steps into a boiling cave, I came across hieroglyphics, that looked as if they had been drawn on stone with felt-tip pens. The tomb of Sety 2 was more impressive. The hieroglyphics were carved on the walls and their original colours of red and blue could still be seen. There was a mirror beneath the sarcophagus, which showed the statue on the bottom of the sarcohagus lid.

Then, we went to Hatchepsut Temple's. This was a few minutes drive from the Valley of the Kings and was in resonable condition. Queen Hatchepsut built the temple and pretended to be a man by wearing a beard. She claimed to be the offspring of a god and was both male and female. However, during her son's reign, he destroyed part of his mother's temple.

We also went donkey riding. It seemed I was on the verge of falling off but I managed to stay on. The donkeys liked overtaking and undertaking each other and squeezing into non-existent gaps left by their friends. I learnt that pulling on the right rope could make the animal go right. However, stopping was beyond it. Fortunately, the owners stopped the donkeys with a shout. It was fun, once I got used to having my legs splayed out wide.

In the afternoon, I and 2 others booked a balloon trip over Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Our tour company wanted EGP600 but we found a company in town charing only EGP250. I know our tour company makes a profit but to charge more than double is ridiculous. We will be flying tomorrow. Let's hope we don't come down with a bang on a budget.