At the entrance to the hotel there was a metal detector and another guard. I walked around the detector instead of through it. Brian walked through and set it off but we were both just smiled at and allowed to go on our way. At the entrance to the pyramids there was another metal detector. I set it off and the woman did not even look up. The guy with the gun on the other side just smiled and in I went. We were with a reporter from CNN on a break from reporting in Afghanistan and she set it off too... no big deal. The next day at the hotel gate we were stopped. They used a mirror on a stick to look under the car - but no dog.... I don't think there was ever a dog.
LUXOR
Woke up this morning and sat in traffic almost 2 hours to get to the airport. We passed an awful accident on the highway. A huge semi had rolled down an embankment and landed upside down. We were forced off the highway onto the road that ran along the bottom of the embankment. Once down there you could see another car that had been crushed by the truck. Not pretty.
We had a short flight to Luxor on a newer EgyptAir Express EMB 170. They loaded us on a bus to drive us about 20 yards out to the aircraft. People just looked at each other is disbelief- could have walked in half the time it took to load us up! Just stark dessert below us on the way there except for areas near the Nile. Miles and miles of brown, empty dessert as far as the eye can see....
We were picked up in a cab at Luxor that was probably from the early 70's with a driver named Abdul. Not all the doors worked. This thing was falling apart, the plastic around the lighter had melted like a candle and the dash was covered in fake fur. I was sitting up front (side door wouldn't open) and said "nice fur". As I touched it a huge puff of gray dust billowed out around it. Abdul said, "it is very beautiful". Brian and I smiled and nodded in agreement. The dust was no surprise. Everyone here smokes wherever they like and I saw people ashing directly on the floors of their cars.
Checked in to an old hotel built in the late 1800's here in Luxor. Hotel sits along the Nile and has beautiful gardens behind it. We just crossed the street and are sitting at an outdoor cafe along the river having lunch and enjoying watching the boats. Across the river are the steep cliffs of the West Bank where the Valley of the Kings is. We will see that and several temples tomorrow before we start our cruise down the Nile to Aswan.
Still getting used to hearing the call to prayer every few hours and can not believe the number of Mosques.... they are like Starbucks in Manhattan, seemingly on every corner!
BTW - Security check at our hotel in Luxor is also "optional", just tell them you are staying there, bypass the metal detector with a confidant look, throw in a smile and a nod and you are in!
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