Luxor-on-the-go

Train to Luxor 6am. The 3 hour journey passes in sub-zero temperatures created by the AC. Get to Luxor tired and chilled to the bone. The touts and guides swarm around us, and I progressively get more and more annoyed at people trying to rip us off. We haven’t had breakfast, and sitting down at a café near the station, I get so annoyed at the waiter refusing to give us a menu because they clearly had different prices for tourists, that I refuse to order anything. We end up buying our bus tickets to Hurghada for 2.30pm, and wander off to Luxor Temple. Get there and realise you can see the entire thing from beyond the gates, and since we’re not really Ancient Egypt buffs we take a few cheat-shots: ...From in front of the fence and bugger off to Karnak Temple in a horse carriage. The horse carriage guy tells us its 5 pounds, and we’re like SWEET! Get on and turns out he meant 5 English pounds. Now why in God's name are you giving me English prices? This time we convince the dude that I really do have a student card, and somehow manage to get in at half price (25LE). Awesome! Go in, walk around, go ooh, go aah, and leave after 45mins. It’s too hot and frankly, you’ve seen one long column built 3000 years ago, you’ve seen 'em all.

So we make our way back to the bus ticket office, and the dude who sold us our tickets decides to hitch a ride with us in our taxi to the station. He tries sitting too close, and starts telling me about the sad story of his life, “I see so many women everywhere all day, and when I go home my wife asleep. Problem.” I give him an evil look and inch my way closer to the door and away from him.

We finally get on the bus, endure a constantly-feeling-damp 6 hour journey from 3-9pm to Hurghada with no A/C — and finally we’re there. So that’s Luxor khalas. Maybe I’ll come back for the Valley of the Kings, maybe I wont. But it certainly isn’t a priority anymore.