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JAYNE WITH A WHY |
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Thursday, May 29, 2008LUXOR LITEWe thought we got a pretty good deal, both on the flights & 5 Star hotel in Luxor. What airlines don't tell you is that while their flights to interesting destinations may indeed be cheap, one does pay a higher price by means of having a 4yr old child seated in the row behind you. Sit sed 4yr old on a sofa or at a chair at the dining room table & the little angel's feet don't touch the floor. Stick it in an aircraft seat & the little fuckers feet reach the back of the seat in front of them, so they proceed to kick it. Upon discovering that their legs are indeed longer than they ever imagined, the little gits then take great delight out of kicking a steady rhythm, which under normal circumstances, would give even the best gymnast cramp in their calves. We were lucky. This particular brat obviously wanted to live longer than the 2hr flight & after a couple of polite requests, the kicking ceased. Upon exiting the main terminal at Luxor airport, we were surrounded by what looked like an angry mob of goat herdmen, shouting at us to take up their "special" taxi fares. The mob lasted all of about 45 seconds before a swarm of white uniformed police officers made them beat a hasty retreat into the carpark. There was much arm-waving, gesticulating & no doubt swearing. We stood for a few minutes, enjoying a smoke & just taking in the atmosphere. As we approached the carpark, we were once again pounced on by several sweaty men, offering good prices for their taxi service. After a short haggling session, we agreed on a price & were escorted to what can only be described as a pre-war (no guessing as to which war though) clapped-out-hand-painted looking Peugeot stationwagon. The rear windows were opened by means of brute force, courtesy of a fellow driver, who pushed the window down far enough to wedge his body in through the opening & then using his body weight to get it down just that little bit further. The interior of the doors were literally held together with tape & the door locking device looked suspiciously like an allen key. The flooring in the rear passenger part was made up of an assortment of bits of shagpile carpet - circa 1972 - plus a strip of lino flooring from around the same period. I suppose we should be grateful no one had to physically push the vehicle to get it started. The driver was friendly & naturally wanted our life history, all whilst driving on the wrong side of the road, honking at anything resembling man or beast within 200m & occasionally remembering to keep his hands on the steering wheel. It was an interesting 15 minute trip to the hotel.  I won't be in a hurry to complain about the state of taxis in Abu Dhabi! We checked our hotel without hassle.......until we found we'd been booked into a non-smoking suite. We specifically requested a smoking suite, which was evident on the booking confirmation that we handed in at reservations. Apologies were given & another suite was arranged, but despite many attempts, the door wouldn't open. By the time we got back down to the nice lady at reservations, we were both pissed off. We didn't complain, however we did tell this nice lady that this holiday was a much needed emotional break.We were upgraded to a superior suite, compliments of the hotel. Readers of my drivel know that wherever we go, The Kids go too. We have an addition to our Kid family, who is simply known as Grandma's Puppy. When Grandma died, we placed her stuffed puppy with the rest of our 'kids' & this was his first trip abroad. So naturally, first thing out of the suitcase is the Kids. They were well happy & spent their days out on the balcony or watching TV.  Our days were spent on personalised tours, seeing the amazing sights of Luxor. (I'll put up a heap of photos in the next post) We saw things that we'd only seen on National Geographic programmes & in a nutshell, the historical side of the East & West banks of the Nile are absolutely awesome.
Sadly, Luxor seems to be attracting plane loads of 'tourists' who wouldn't know a pharoah from a ferret. I suppose it had to happen - cheap flights, hotel deals & 'British Pubs' offering the 'footie' on widescreen TV's are popping up like toxic mushrooms. Why travel all the way to Egypt to buy 'Delboy' jewellery, when you can get it "dahhn the markit"? Talk about a clash of cultures.
 
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