18th November 2010, 15:46
| #331 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Nile Ruby After the tiring hot air balloon (getting up at 3.30AM) and West Bank visits we checked in the cruise and retired for the day. Pics of West Bank monuments after the Cruise pics...           |
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18th November 2010, 16:02
| #332 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN
Posts: 6,314
Thanked: 9,906 Times
| @TB - Whoa!!! I love to see more pics on the cruise, pls, post more pics (or all that you have). The pics are simply superb & does this how the cruise looks inside? No wonder Wifey agreed for the cruise  . Keep the pics flowing. |
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18th November 2010, 16:34
| #333 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Ruby Quote:
The accommodation was on two floors (decks). Basement was the restaurant. Some souvenir and daily need shops on first floor deck area. Above second deck was the bar and entertainment room. On the top was the Sonnedeck. Most of the people in our ship were Germans, probably booked in a group. Some more Europeans and two Indian families. The food was excellent 5* with huge variety. First Night was tanurra and belly dancing, second night was Gal'a dinner (candle light) and third night was Sonnedeck Barbeque  .Sonnedeck in Action    Sonnedeck out of action in early morning   A Unique Soccer game for 2 players   View from bedroom window    | |
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18th November 2010, 21:04
| #334 |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Cruise : Visit to West Bank Luxor We were picked up from the hotel right after the Hot Air Balloon with packed breakfast at 8AM. There were some 6-7 other fellow tourists. The plan was to visit following and check in the cruise at 1PM:- Colossi of Memnon : free being on the roadside. Valley of Kings - Three tombs out of 63 excavated : 90 LE + Valley of Queens - Two tombs of open : 40 LE Temple of Hatsheput - 40 LE Visit to alabaster factory Cameras are not permitted beyond the Visitor's centre in the Valley of Kings and Queens. So obviously no pics. Valley of Queens is really small and may be skipped. Famous and beautiful tomb of Nefertari is closed. Its supposed to house some extremely intact and beautiful reliefs. The two open tombs are very small and dont offer much value. In one of the tombs there is a mummy of a small child. The skeleton can be seen. Valley of Kings is huge and takes a lot of time to explore. Most of the tombs follow similar type of structure and reliefs, so visiting few suffices. The ticket allows one to visit any three temples in the valley except that of Tutankhamen and Aye for which there is separate ticket. Temple of Hatsheput features in the Jee Karda video of Singh is King. Also there are many other monuments of Luxor. This temple is awesome and belongs to the famous lady pharaoh. Colossi of Memnon  Compare the size wrt human beings  Farming just few metres from the Colossi.   More pics follow... |
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18th November 2010, 21:48
| #335 |
| Senior - BHPian | Alabaster Factory We visited the Alabaster factory, one of the many located in the West Bank area. They claimed all the items with them were hand made, which I highly doubt. There was a comparison of Chinese made (poor quality and easily perishable), machine made (crude and heavy) and hand made (light and fine). There was a briefing on how they make their items with hand. Then he took us inside to show us his products made from 3-4 different type of stones. Although very good but very expensive and I was in no mood to bargain.       The broken piece a Chinese piece, broader vase machine made, slim vase hand made and decorated one made of limestone.      |
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18th November 2010, 22:45
| #336 |
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19th November 2010, 12:30
| #337 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Temple of Hatsheput A very modern looking temple, its about 3000 years old. Built by the lady Pharaoh Hatsheput. She managed to beat many of the famous Pharaohs finally.     Katrina and Akshay  The Lady Pharaoh, the beard means a pharaoh    Cart to take visitors from Ticket Office to Temple entrance, same as in the Valley of Kings  View from the Temple  Quote:
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19th November 2010, 13:10
| #338 | |||||||
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN
Posts: 6,314
Thanked: 9,906 Times
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19th November 2010, 13:30
| #339 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Thanks for the reply. Answers to your questions are in bold in the quoted text. Coming more... Quote:
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19th November 2010, 14:59
| #340 |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Cruise Once we came back from the visit, we checked in the Cruise. We had lunch. There was a display of towel work by the staff in the reception area. This was a regular feature in our bedrooms when the staff cleaned the room and made a new figure.         The rest of the day was spent in the bedroom and on the deck. The ship set to sail from Luxor at 5PM sharp. There was belly dancing and tanurra show in the evening after the dinner in the bar. The performances were poor compared to the dinner cruise I had in Cairo. Pics of this part coming soon... |
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19th November 2010, 17:02
| #341 |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Cruise There was a belly dancing and tanurra show in the evening. A glimpse of that. Just have a look at the first two pics and the reaction of the musician. Did not realise this while clicking but did now.  Don't know where to look?      |
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19th November 2010, 23:25
| #342 |
| Senior - BHPian | Day-3 Nile Cruise : Karnak Temple The next morning with cruise docked at Luxor, we went to the East Bank. Only two places to be covered but the most important ones - Temple of Karnak and Temple of Luxor. Lots of pics coming up for that. Karnak Temple map courtesy PlanetWare Travel Guide - Hotels, Attractions, Pictures, Maps & More  Yours Truly on the Avenue of Ram-headed Sphinx (The Avenue is supposed to be 3km long joining Karnak Temple with Luxor Temple, presently under excavation)   Temple Layout model at the Visitor's Centre  Walk to the Entrance of Temple (Entrance built by Alexander the Great)   Entrance built by Alexander but not completed    Ramses II with Nefertiti (Supposed to be the statue which gives best view of her face)  |
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20th November 2010, 11:46
| #343 |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Cruise : Karnak Temple Balance set of pics from the Temple of Karnak..  The Columns    Cartouche of Ramses II    Obelisk of Hatsheput   Obelisk of Seti II  Both Obelisks  Another Obelisk of Hatsheput (broken)  The Sacred Lake  The Ominous Scarab (It brings good luck if you circle it 7 times). People doing it!   |
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20th November 2010, 18:28
| #344 |
| Senior - BHPian | Nile Cruise : Luxor Temple After the Karnak Temple it was Luxor Temple. Another big temple on East bank. It represents three religions. Old Pharaonic religion, Islam and Christianity. Temple layout from the net.   One of the two Obelisks, another one gifted by Mohd Aly to Paris where it lies now. Statues of Ramses II.     Mosque in Temple Complex. The temple was buried in sand till the base of Mosque till it was excavated.   Ramses II  Tutankhamen with wife  |
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22nd November 2010, 10:08
| #345 |
| Senior - BHPian | Luxor Temple Here is the balance set of pics from Luxor Temple...  The scratched Cartouche depicting change of Cult    Used as a Church in modern times. The walls were plastered and scenes from Jesus's life were painted.   Some reliefs depicting offerings etc   Amun Men, men of fertility      Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt  Avenue of Sphinx which was all the way to Karnak Temple  |
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