Luxor
TOMB RADAR
I catch a 6-hour train ride south of Cairo, alongside the Nile, to Luxor.   What we know as that cool black-pyramid hotel in Vegas is named after the city where the Pharohs built temples and hid their tombs. Or at least tried to. 

Note: if you take the train, get First class, which equals Third class everywhere else in the world.  Or better yet, the sleeper car.

Tomb Tour
I ride a boat to the Nile's West bank and join a tour group to check out the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.  These are a bunch of tombs in the desert where the Pharoahs hid their tombs from graverobbers, located about 10 minutes drive West of Luxor.    Except, it's no wonder graverobber found the tombs, I complain to our guide, cause I notice that all the tombs are built at the base of distinct rock formations.  You see some interesting rock outcropping in the valley, and yep, chances are there's a tomb underneath it.  Call it my tomb radar.  Walking down in to a tomb is kinda surreal at first, with the hieroglyphics, the antechamber and the main chamber where the sarcophagus was placed.   But in the 95 degree heat (and those who know me know I get heat-sapped), 6 tombs later, time to go. 

Karnak temple, very cool, and Luxor Temple, lit up nicely at night.   Then I grab dinner at Anubis, this boat restaurant on the bank of the Nile.  While I'm eating, this meowing cat comes up to me begging for food.  For some reason, there are a number of cats wondering around in Egypt - there were some on the ferry to Jordan, and a bunch walking around Nuweiba.  Guess when the animal's sacred, you let 'em walk where they wanna walk.  Like the cows that roam the streets and train stations in India I guess.  Anyway,  I feed the cat a french fry dipped in wicked hot sauce which he kinda eats and walks away.   After dinner, I notice the 

Mummification Museum is next door so I read about the 10 steps on how to make a mummy (brain-scooping, sorting organs into amphora jars, very CSI-ish), which just about makes me give an afterlife to my dinner.  There's even a mummified cat (and fish, alligator, baboon) on display which makes me think I should've been friendlier to my dinner visitor, like let him have the whole plate of fries.  Anyway, tombed and templed out, I head back to Cair o.

 

CULTURE, PEOPLE

Overall, Egyptians are really friendly and always say "Welcome to Cairo" after introductions.   Well, at least all the ones in the tourism industry do.  I was kinda nervous saying what country I'm from at first, but after several people give me this "hey, cool" look when I say I'm American, it's fine.  Or maybe they wanna try to hustle me to get me to buy some souvenirs.  At any rate, many can speak English (along with Arabic), and like to chat about American movies.  Many would like to visit.   

 

After Luxor, I head to Petra, Jordan