World Cruise - Day 102 - Apr 23 - At Sea + Luxor Part 2

Sunrise wasn’t a sunrise at all, since it was at 5:15a and we got in late last night, so I didn’t get up until 6a to get this peek of the “sunrise” out the balcony:

It’s interesting how I can see the sun clearly and distinctly in the viewfinder, but the camera cannot (it just shows the sun as a white glow).

So back to Luxor and our pics from yesterday.  I have way too many pics (180+) even after all of my sorting (started out with over 600 from me and another 1,200+ from Noemi and Dan).  Thanks to Noemi and Dan for sharing their photos with me last night on the drive back.

This post is Part 2 (if you consider my post late last night as Part 1) of 4 to get all my pics posted from Luxor.  Sorry for the visual overload, but there were just too many good pics to cull them down further.

We arrived in Safaga to find that there were already two cruise ships in the main port and another one behind us that ended up in the last open berth.  We ended up being parked about 5 km south of the city on a lonely berth all by ourselves, nothing else around us:

We got picked up at 7:30a for our 3½ trip into Luxor.  The road along the way was an interesting part of the trip itself.  Egypt has a severe shortage of gasoline (although it is priced below $1/gallon, so it doesn’t take an economist to figure out how to balance out the supply-demand problem), with lines for gasoline being as much as 24 hours waiting.  Most people then fill not only the tank of their car, but also several auxiliary tanks.  Without gasoline, the other option for getting around is the ever-present donkey cart (you will see a lot of them in the pics to follow):

The outdoor markets are more basic than other outdoor markets we have seen in other counties:

Very common scene is that the men are gathered together out in the open, the women are mostly (although not entirely) hidden from view, except when they are walking from one place to another:

We saw some sailors from the Safaga port as we passed through the town:

Nearby mosque in Safaga:

Check out the guy riding on the top of what appears to be a load of garbage?

Not sure if this building is a mosque, but it does have the Islam symbol at the top and the loudspeaker on the right (for call to prayer), so probably that’s what it is:

Another mosque-looking building on our way out of Safaga:

Just outside of Safaga, if you look closely at the hills, there is a manmade wall at the top of the ridge, which was used similar to the Great Wall of China in ancient times to control movement between zones of Egypt:

This is the tomb of an Arab sheik from this area:

Three camels walking through the desert on their own:

We went through several checkpoints like this one on our way to Luxor.  They were manned by several policemen who weren’t doing much of anything other than smoking and talking.  The roads all have speed bumps, quite a few, very annoying, not every efficient for travel.

This guy was going to get his tanks filled, not sure if they were gas or water:

There are local markets at pretty much every intersection along the way into Luxor:

This woman had a more colorful outfit than most:

The “river” in the foreground is a Nile canal extending off the Nile for irrigation.  The landscape markedly changes once we enter a region watered by the Nile.  Tenements in the background:

We followed the canal for quite awhile as we drove to Luxor.  Luxor is located on the Nile, this is just a canal of the Nile:

Donkeys seem to be the mode of transportation of many:

Local farming included wheat, sugar cane and other crops.  Cotton is mainly grown in the Nile River delta to the north.

Workers in the fields and caught a bird flying in the left of the frame:

Two local guys standing in the road having a discussion:

This is an interesting vehicle, kind of a trike motorcycle with a carrier on the back:

This pic is somewhat out of focus, but I left it in due to the woman fully covered and the lady with a baby behind her:

Other side of the canal had a lot of small farming communities:

Goat walking along the canal:

I think those may be air conditioning units on the building, which would be unusual.  It was hot (mid-90s) when we were there, but we stayed out of the heat in the hottest part of the day when we ate lunch.

So many donkeys, it just doesn’t seem to be that efficient a way to travel, but they are used a lot:

Some auto rickshaws started appearing as we got closer to Luxor, although there are none in Luxor (apparently they could not get their licenses approved there):

Two local boys looking down into the canal:

Two local men, fairly common local dress, note the political ad behind them:

Locals walking on bridge across the Nile canal:

Auto rickshaws were not as common here as in India, but there were several in this town before we got to Luxor:

I’m not sure what this place is, but I liked their sign:

This one was an ox cart instead of a donkey cart:

Donkey carrying a couple people across the canal:

Donkeys and cattle across the canal:

Stone bridge across the canal:

I think this is sugar cane, although not sure.  It might be the reeds that they place on the roofs of the houses to keep them cool?

Same donkey cart, from the front.  Donkey is pulling full load plus 6 people:

This guy was chewing on a piece of sugar cane:

More loads of that straw/sugar cane/whatever it is:

Men are able to dress much more openly than the women, although we did see an occasional woman in pants:

Do you see the guy riding on the top of the load?

Riding donkey into town:

This was a river delta area across from the canal, not sure if it feed into our out of the Nile?

Train going by:

Some local boats on the shore.  The water of the canal provides life to the local area:

The two primary modes of local transportation—donkey and walking.

These boys were watching another boy in the canal on a tube.

View of the canal as we went across:

Motorcycles are used, but not as common as what we saw in SE Asia.

You have to be pretty well off to have a motorcycle, especially considering the gas shortage:

I caught the guy on top left picking his nose (he was doing it for quite awhile, it was an easy pic to take):

Look closely at the pic—this is the ancient highway between Karnak Temple (the largest temple complex in Luxor) and Luxor Temple.  Note all of the sphinxes on the side of the road.

Luxor is the modern name for what was formerly known as Thebes.  There are several historical sites, the most famous of which is Karnak Temple, which will be up in the next installment.