14 – Luxor’s east bank and the Karnak Temples

11th Dec, 1140hrs, Boomerang Hotel, Luxor

Reached Luxor, at around 9am in the morning. Here in Upper Egypt, the weather for once is not teeth-chattering cold. I had time, so picked around for a good place to stay. Boomerang, around 5-10 minutes away from the train station was perfect. It’s a new 2 month old place Egyptian / Australian owned (25 EGP for dorms). Probably the best place I’ve stayed in so far. The owners were helpful and the place had a nice relaxed feel to it. I’ll probably put in a positive review at hostelworlds.com later.

Took a walk up the corniche towards the Karnak Temple. I picked that one to go to. Just looking at the map of Luxor and the surrounding areas, there’s so many sights here (looks like > 20). I’ll burn a big hole in my pocket if I go for every single one. Karnak Temple (65 EGP) is located around 3km north of the train station. I’ll do that and walk around town. Sounds like a plan.

Plenty of tourist buses here as I entered the parking area. Karnak itself is a huge series of temple ruins, covering 2 sq km. The main temple to Amun is large, with its 10 pylons and strucutures that were added on by subsquent generations of pharoahs. Couple of obelisks, one hippostyle hall, a  colonnade area, two chapels and a scarab monument later, i was done. After wowing myself silly, took a stroll back down to town.

Finally had my grilled chicken dinner at a nice restaurant outside (20 EGP). Also realised I forgot to book the ferry ticket to Wadi Halfa back in Cairo…Emailed a guy who works with the Nile Navigation Company on Thorn Tree forum and he tells me I can get tickets at Aswan (2nd class only). On saturday i will need to rush from Luxor to Aswan before 2pm when their office closes so that I can get my ticket. Oh, the guy takourny@hotmail.com really works at the place. Met him in person and got my ticket on Sat.