Day 6 - Jan 14

Today was a great ride starting out from the desert camp still in the mountains.  We rode about 30K through the stark desert mountain scenery and then made a turn towards a city.  It went from desolation to population very quickly.  Drivers in cities in Egypt are completely insane.  They drive up one way streets without a care, they have no notion of lanes or staying in them and they do not hesitate to pull out into oncoming traffic to pass.  They simply lay on the horn.  There is so much horn honking that I cannot see how anyone can detect a reason or react to it.  There was one driver that epitomized an Egyptian driver...  He was talking on a cell phone with one hand, a cigarette in the other while he was pounding on the horn.  There were no hands on the wheel but he was speeding through congested traffic.  Speaking of cigarettes, smoking is everywhere here young and old, in restaurant and bars.

With all that traffic and insanity you can imagine what it was like navigating through that on a bike in a group.  Once we got out of town and headed south along a canal of the Nile the scenery turn lush.  Deep colors of green filled the valley.  It was quite beautiful and stark contrast to what we had seen since Cairo.  We were told we needed to stay in groups for the day for our safety.  I was riding in a peleton of about 12 riders.  An army escort was at the front and back of our group.  We had a very pleasant ride for a couple of miles and we began to come into some small villages along the canal.  The children would come out of the huts and houses and fields and line the roads all chanting, Hello Hello, Hello Egypt.  It was if we were the biggest thing to happen in the village in a long time.  One rider said he now knew what a rider in the Tour d'France feels like.  The good feeling lasted for awhile but then turned rapidly.  The kids went from Hello Hello to Money Money, you give Money.  They would hold there hands out and when you road by they would slap you.  One teenager hit me so hard on the arm my bike veered off course and I had to quickly correct before I took out a couple of kids.  They would jump out in front of your bike to get you to stop.  It was quite dangerous.  But it got worse.  The further we traveled some of the older kids threw stones. I was at the end of the peleton and I saw a kid wind up and threw one at me.  He missed but then about a half dozen more commenced.  You could hear them hit the bikes and guard rails.  A group that was behind us said they got hit by several rocks.  Also, some kids would hit them with sugar cane stalks.  A couple kids even attempted to shove a sugar cane stalk into the front wheel spokes of their bikes as they rode by.  It certainly put a dark tone to what was a fantastic day to that point.

Once we traversed the gauntlet we arrived at Luxor.  It has so many treasures and things to see here.  You could spend a couple of days here and not see it all.  A couple of us went to the Temple at Karnak.  All I can say is WOW!  It was amazing.  The Pyramids and Sphinx were amazing but Karnak took it to a whole different level.  We had a guide and what is there and what the people built 3,000 years BC is breathtaking.  The scale, the detail, the massiveness is unbelievable.  You just can't imagine how it could have been accomplished.  I have so many photos but none truly capture it.

Last night a group of us went out to a local restaurant and had a great time trying different food.  At this point I am so hungry I'll eat just about anything.  Then we walked the local market and took a carriage ride back to camp.  All in all a stupendous day!

This is a king with his protector at his feet

The line of columns that leads into the temples of Karnak

The colorful paintings on the walls of an off limits area the guide took us to.

The wall that held carvings of all the peoples that the Pharoah had conquered and subjugated

The monoliths that they built to connect the god of earth and god of heaven