This place is full of shit....

is what Kelly Rae said upon entering Temple Karnak yesterday - and truly it's full - of temples, monuments, blocks, pharaohs, statues of all kinds - and tourists. Tons of tourists. Luxor, famous for all things old, dead and amazing in Egypt, is full of tourists - like any town anywhere and you'll get hassled for any and everything.

Today we took a guide to the West Bank to visit tombs of kings and queens. I had been to the Valley of the Kings and Queens before but I had been a recent Peace Corps volunteer and couldn't afford a guide. This time around, we went with a group from our hostel. It's amazing to relearn some of this history about Ramses, Hatsheput and others. (So far it has been the highlight of our trip to Luxor- this tour.)

Of course I have a million other things to write about like the view of the Nile from our rooftop balcony of our hostel, the less than comfortable ride on the "sleeping car" from Cairo, our near death experience taxi ride complete with the worst music in the work (a very remorseful readings of the Koran - oh Allah - it was painful), smoking shesha (hooka) and drinking Turkish coffee, haggling for every single thing (I was so much better at it years ago), eating our way thru Alexandra (which is where we were for the weekend), walking along the Mediterranean, blue skis, rivers, and oceans, dust, dust and more dust- sunrises on the Nile and being awoken at 5 a.m. to the Call to Prayer.

A late night train tomorrow takes us back to Cairo...and if I'm lucky I'll find my misplaced glasses and write more from Luxor before I go...