The last 60 km to Luxor were fun; Eventually I had the feeling that I had mingled in the real Egyptian traffic. A small road, alongside the Nile, crowded with cars, donkey cards, Chinese motorbikes, goats and people crossing anytime. I installed myself in a characterless hotel, too tired to really care and enjoyed the dusk and sunset on the rooftop, promising myself that tomorrow I would look for a nicer place on the West bank.

Karnak was my first temple. As I was the first visitor, not many tourists decide to wake up at 5:30 am: I had to entire complex to myself. It is huge and impressive. The main hall has massive papyrus stem shaped pillars packed together in order to look like a water field. In its days of glory the temple would inundate with the Nile floods. You could only wonder what an amazing sight that must have been.

I crossed to the West bank and found this amazing little hotel with a quite garden and perfect rooms, a ten minute drive from all the major sites in the Theban mountains. I puffed through the midday heat in the shadow of a palm tree and in the breeze of a fan. Around 4:00 pm I took the bike and drove to the historic sites. Luxor, and the Theban mountains in particular are considered one of the hottest place on earth, and they are. Over the last two years I have been working in some pretty hot places, but damn this was really hot. I ended up visiting the world renowned temple of Hatshepsut just before closing time, so once again I had the place to myself. Magical.

The following days I stayed put in the hotel and spent the morning hours visiting the major sites in the valley. I would show up at six in the morning, buy the tickets for the sites I wanted to visit and stay there until the heat would become so oppressive that the only sane thing to do was to retreat in the shadow and read or doze until the hottest part of the day would pass. I went to the Valley of the Kings, the valley of the Nobles, the temple of Ramses III and the ruins of the workmen’s village of Deir al Medina. Once I had seen all these sites I couldn’t be bothered anymore by any old stones, temples or ruins. There is only so much a man can take. Of course you are overwhelmed by the grandeur of all these monuments, but in the end they lose their mystique. You can just go on exploring Luxor, there is a reason why it is called the largest open-air museum in the world. Egypt has been one of the first countries on earth to welcome such a number of tourists. 160 years ago Thomas Cook started bringing in the first groups of tourist to see the marvels of Egypt and until today people from all over the world keep on pouring in on organized tours, being shuffled around as cattle. This means that everywhere you go as an independent traveler you get hassled all the time, you are reduced to a walking ATM machine while visiting the sites. All the time you will be confronted with an Egyptian insisting on receiving baksheesh for bringing you somewhere, for pointing something out, for telling you a story… It is part of everyday life in Egypt, even Egyptians have to put up with it, and on some days you just don’t mind on other days you just want to hit them in the face. In the Valley of the Kings I climbed out of the valley to walk over the cliff, towering over the Hatshepsut temple, and even there, although I was totally on my own, a ‘policeman’ would materialize and ask for some money….After three days of responsible cultural tourism it was time again to get on the bike.