We spent the latter part of the afternoon strolling around the market in Luxor, where fresh produce from the farms was displayed on carts, often with the donkey still attached. 
Small birds sat cowering on top of a basket and whole carcasses of animals swayed in the breeze outside butcheries. People were friendly and polite and no-one was urging us to buy anything. We did buy some delicious looking bread to have with our cheese for lunch and experienced a new taste sensation when it turned out to be a large sweet pastry.
Small birds sat cowering on top of a basket and whole carcasses of animals swayed in the breeze outside butcheries. People were friendly and polite and no-one was urging us to buy anything. We did buy some delicious looking bread to have with our cheese for lunch and experienced a new taste sensation when it turned out to be a large sweet pastry.A stroll along the corniche (Nile waterfront on the East bank) showed us the richer side of the tourist experience with the grand Winter Palace Hotel standing out. Agatha Christie wrote ‘Death on the Nile’ partly in that hotel and partly when she stayed in Aswan, no doubt in between dining on small birds and strawberries and sailing about on feluccas. We ourselves dined with our tour group in a Chinese restaurant where there were two waiters, a bit like the funny man and the straight man in a comedy team, with the straight man treating us like school children and insisting on checking our orders. No doubt he has had plenty of experience with the frustrations of dealing with large groups of tourists in holiday mode and, in our case, when he read back the orders, some of us had already forgotten what we had asked for. We enjoyed the meal and retired at a reasonably early hour.
A ferry captain came to pick us up in the lobby next morning but we were unable to open our door to get out. Keith rang the reception desk and, after a couple more calls, someone came up to help us. Meanwhile I was jiggling all the handles and managed to burst through the door just as our rescuers arrived. Later that evening it turned out that the handle was for looks only and that there was a different knob for actual door opening – just a little tricky since the non functional door handle acted just like a broken one. We sailed over to join the rest of the tour on the West bank of the Nile. They had risen early to take a hot air balloon flight but were unable to go up due to the windy conditions.
Our mode of transport this time was the donkey – much closer to the ground and no roaring. My little white donkey was gentle natured and initially showed a great preference for walking sedately at the back of the group. Keith’s, in contrast, was a born leader and insisted on passing every donkey ahead of it in the same weaving and speedy way as a Cairo taxi driver. We trotted alongside tour buses and local traffic for a while as we worked at mastering steering, staying on and pretending to have some control over speed.
A ferry captain came to pick us up in the lobby next morning but we were unable to open our door to get out. Keith rang the reception desk and, after a couple more calls, someone came up to help us. Meanwhile I was jiggling all the handles and managed to burst through the door just as our rescuers arrived. Later that evening it turned out that the handle was for looks only and that there was a different knob for actual door opening – just a little tricky since the non functional door handle acted just like a broken one. We sailed over to join the rest of the tour on the West bank of the Nile. They had risen early to take a hot air balloon flight but were unable to go up due to the windy conditions.
Our mode of transport this time was the donkey – much closer to the ground and no roaring. My little white donkey was gentle natured and initially showed a great preference for walking sedately at the back of the group. Keith’s, in contrast, was a born leader and insisted on passing every donkey ahead of it in the same weaving and speedy way as a Cairo taxi driver. We trotted alongside tour buses and local traffic for a while as we worked at mastering steering, staying on and pretending to have some control over speed.
It was a great relief when we turned off onto a rural road and a most enjoyable and interesting trip passing through the farms beside the irrigation channel. Cane trucks and motor bikes regularly drove in the opposite direction and drew anxious calls of ‘Keep right, one line,’ from the donkey owners who accompanied us. At this stage my donkey decided to have a second speed and galloped forward, forcing its way between other riders and bouncing me up and down rhythmically. As with the camel ride a few days earlier, I couldn’t help thinking about how useful stirrups would be and why hadn’t the Egyptians thought of that. Later Mamdoh said that stirrups are bad because, if you fall off, the donkey keeps going and you would be dragged along. He also said that people regularly fall off and that one woman riding at the front in another tour group fell off and all the donkeys behind kept going, luckily stepping over her so she wasn’t injured.
Leaving the rural track we were back on a major road, which seemed to be partially closed and had some bunting and a crowd lining it. People were waving, which we thought seemed to be an excessive reaction for a group of tourists struggling to trot along on donkeys. We all waved back and smiled graciously anyway. Suddenly a group of about 30 in-line skaters, decked out in matching lycra, flashed by. Next we trotted past a sign announcing that the Egyptian Marathon was on and, unable to leave the road, we mingled with a group of veteran runners and appeared to be racing with them. One poor lady could not outrun our donkeys and was trapped by us for at least a kilometre or two. One of our donkey riders even collected a free bottle of water at the drink stop. We continued to confuse the crowd by waving to them, and the contestants by making encouraging comments in English. At about this stage we could see the desert and mountains opening up ahead of us and knew that we were close to our destination – the Valley of the Kings.
We never found out why this sign was so prominently displayed in Luxor.
These goats were grazing on the roof of a house in the market area of Luxor.
Luxor caters for many wealthy tourists and some businesses make sure they feel right at home. The sign on the right is for Murphy's Irish Pub.
In some Egyptian towns there is a display showing how long it is until the traffic lights change colour.
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