HAPSHETSUT
When we got to the Tomb of Hatshepsut we loaded into a little tourist train that took us close to the monument. The train let us off and we walked the rest of the way. The sun was high in the sky and it was quite hot. The temple sits at the bottom of a very tall limestone cliff. It was another short walk to the ramp. Upon reaching the top there were regal statues of the female pharaoh including her royal beard which was required whether they were male or female.
The Tomb of Hatshepsut Inside the royal mortuary there are the surviving statues and other important stones. Many have been smashed and ruined down through the ages by people who did not agree with the religion of the ancient Egyptians or for other reasons.

THE VALLEY OF THE QUEENS
Next on the agenda we stopped off at The Valley of the Queens. There are several tombs at this burial site. The place looks like nothing of any significants, but I imagine that it was calculated this way. All these tombs in Egypt were meant to be hard to find or not found at all. I went into only one of them while I was there. It was quite a distance from the entrance but it was well worth the walk. The chamber was hewn from solid rock and it quite a depth into the earth.
To begin with you had to go down a long, steep staircase. Once inside it was quite clostrophobic since it was hot and also cramped with people, but the walls of the four rooms were covered with reliefs and heiroglyphics that were in remarkably good shape. In one room there was an empty coffin carved out of solid rock.

COLOSSI OF MENMOM
As with many ancient temples in Egypt, and all over the world the Colossi of Menmom is the ruins of two ancient statues of men which was plundered for building material down through
The Colossi of Menmomthe ages. They were also ruined from the yearly flooding of the Nile River until the Aswan Dam was built in the early 1960's. For many centuries the wind used to blow through a hole in one of the colossi early every morning, emitting a whistling sound, but after an earthquake and the subsequent repair the whistling stopped. As on many of the ancient landmarks in the region there is graffiti carved into the base of the two massive structures, some of which gives information about the landmarks as well as other sites in the Luxor area.

After all this touring we were on the bus and on our way back to the ship. This gave me an opportunity to look at the houses the people lived in. The guide explained that the people in the country side take their time building their houses. They build them little by little over the years. That was the reason there were so many houses that were only half built along the way. The people do this so when their children grow up they can continue to live with their parents with enough room for their spouses and children. They are not in a hurry go get their offsprings out of the house as is done in parts of the western parts of the world.

While we were riding along the guide mentioned that it doesn't rain very much in Egypt. Sometimes it won't rain for about four or five years at a time. That was an interesting piece of information to me. I didn't know that but I can believe it since 90% of the country is desert. The only place where there is foliage in that country is along the Nile River and at a few oasis' in the desert on the western side of the Nile.

BACK ON THE SHIP
There is some kind of activities going on in the upper deck of the ship everyday. One the first day we were there, there was the Captain's welcome coctail. Everyone would go up and sit around the tables and drink cocktails. The next day would be the afternoon tea. There was
Little Boat on the Nile something different every day. On the top deck there was a covered area at one end and a swimming pool at the other. Some people would spend their time when they weren't touring either swimming or lounging around on the pool furniture in the sun or in the shady area.