Luxor – hotter than Cairo, and something of a tourist-trap. Sadly the current town has very little to recommend it (even moreso than Siem-Reap), since everyone is here for exactly one reason. Fortunately all the large hotels are on a single drag south of the real town. Cycling around makes everything much more pleasant, since you’re harder to hassle. Of course the roads and traffic are bad, but that’s just as true in Edinburgh. A better bike (working brakes, some gears, a saddle with some remaining padding) would be nice but would probably get stolen rather fast.
Spent day one looking around Karnak and the Luxor temple, both of which are stupendously large, impressive and rammed full of tour groups. Returned to the Luxor temple in the evening, when the flood-lights are on – the combination of cool air, a black sky and the lit ruins is excellent. The pharaohs would have paid quite a lot for decent lighting I think; bas reliefs look awesome with some up-lighters, statues are really enhanced by rim-light / back-light.
