Nile Cruise -- day four

We got up at 4:20 am and met in the lobby. Our guide met us there and led us out to a waiting van. We drove through the dark streets to a hotel. We got out, walked through the lobby where there was a guy videotaping us and saying "say good morning" we walked down a ramp and onto an open air ferry boat. We sat at tables with several others of various nationalities and were served tea, coffee and cake as we crossed the Nile to the West Bank. There we were reloaded in waiting vans and drove through the town, then through one of the villages, down lanes barely wide enough for the van and by pens with livestock.

We emerged into a big dark field where we could see the glow of our hot air balloons being filled! We stood in the field and watched large crews of Egyptian men in galabeyyas (long robes) fill the balloons and adjust the lines. A car drove up and 4 men wearing shirts like airline pilots climbed out and walked to the different balloons--standing very tall, purposeful and important :-)

Just before dawn, we climbed into the basket of our balloon, having received instructions for landing from our captain, Goda, along with jokes of what we could expect, smooth-Egyptian landing, bumpy-American landing, etc. Goda used the burner to fill the balloon until it started to rise up over the field. It was incredible--we watched sunrise. We flew over the temple of Ramses--just barely above the top, the Valley of the Queens, Colossi Memnon. We flew over villages and farmland. We went to 1,000 ft. at the highest. It was very smooth, peaceful--and a smooth Egyptian landing!! We took the van, boats back to our ship. We were awarded certificates :) and our guide privately gave us t-shirts "just for us":).

After breakfast, we met Bedwan for our last day of touring to Luxor temple and Karnack Temple--both very impressive. We were met by Bedwan's boss. Don't know why, if it was routine or to smooth things over, but he invited us for a drink in a cafe, we chatted with him for a while then went back to the boat to pay our final payment and make arrangements for the ride to our evening train. Then, finally we were free.

It's nice to have a guide but intrusive at the same time-always needing to go someplace on schedule. Actually glad that part is over, but we do appreciate all we learned (most of which we've forgotten).
We went and had an excellent leisurely lunch in a very cool 1930's house in Luxor--beautifully decorated with antique Egyptian furniture (from the 1920's and 30's) We did some shopping in the souk. It's hard to just shop, there are sellers constantly calling to you to come to their shops. People call it touts or hassles, but many are very creative and funny and no one is aggressive. Things like "I've been waiting for you" "High prices, low quality" "How can I help you spend your money?" If they make you laugh, they laugh with you and say have a nice day. They try to guess your nationality and approach you in that language. We usually get English or German, but once, Italian. They like to use accents. Several sound like Dick Van Dyke on "Mary Poppins". For the most part we enjoy it and are pretty good at being pleasant and just walking on. On guy put his arm around Mark's shoulders and kept talking to him. He wouldn't leave. I finally grabbed Mark's arm and walked off quickly. We shook that guy but the next one said "Is that your wife? Lucky man" we cracked up, Brie and Joe got the same line!

It is sad to see the children approaching you to sell things, sometimes with a man lounging around behind the stall, yelling at them to try harder. If you buy something from them, you are then surrounded by others, so no easy way to deal with that one.

We went back to the boat (they gave us a cabin to relax in even though it was after checkout). We sat on the deck and relaxed until Bedwan picked us up and took us to the train station for our night train from Luxor back to Cairo.