Luxor - the gold coast of Egypt

Street after street of cheap tourist trinkets; a line of caleche (horse carrages) lined up like one big taxi rank taking unsuspecting tourists for a ride (in more ways than one); the consant call of "hey mister what your name" or "where you from" then a somewhat intimidating arm direting you into their shop. My first impressions of Luxor are not the most flattering and gives an indication of some of the negative things tourism can bring to a country.

Round 1 began the minute we arrived at the airport. Being well used to avoiding porters we pushed passed several who were physically trying to take the bags out of our hands and headed for the taxis. Round 2 commenced with the bombardment of 257 taxi drivers and commnced hard negotiation and finally agreed a price. Rond three was a new one to us as reinforcements arrived from ring side swooping on the bags to lift on the roof of the taxi and again demand money. By this stage wee were fully punch drunk but thought we had the upper hand until we realised that the person we negotiated with was not actually a taxi driver but a middle man who then demanded money for negotiating a price. By this stage it was time to throw the towel in but yes - we did get to our hotel somewhat less in cash than when we arrived.

Not being compleatly defeated, we threw the bags in the room and decided to try the local mini bus into town instead of a taxi. Costing the equiv. of 5c Aust it is surprising that none of the tourists use this. But the people most surprised were those in the mini bus when 2 white toursits and their children squeezed in. We made our way to Luxor Tempe on the bans of the Nile. An unbeleivable temple with huge carvings of pharaohs and walls covered in hylogriphics. For a temple 1500BC it is amazing how much remains in tact.

But after travelling for 3 weeks we really came here to relax so time to get back and find that pool!