Luxor and Valley of the Kings

Hello. Sorry for not posting anything yesterday the internet wasn't working. Yesterday I took a 7:30am convoy by bus from Aswan to Luxor. On the way we made stops at the Temple of Kom Ombo and the Edfu Temple. Both were beautiful and situated along the Nile so they had great views. I've noticed that all the Temples are starting to blend together. They all seem to be set up the same with inner and outer chambers and antechambers with pylons, nilometers, ect. They are all in pretty good condition which is shocking since they had to survive the flooding of the Nile for thousands of years. They all have huge columns with hieroglyphics covering them. At first it was really interesting to see all the different hieroglyphic signs and different drawings of the rituals performed in the Temples, but like I said, now they are all kind of starting to blend together.

Today I took a ferry to the West Bank of Luxor which is where the Valley of the Kings, Tombs of the Nobles, Valley of the Queens, ect is located. I rented a bicycle for the day (much cheaper then renting a taxi all day) and headed to the Valley of the Kings which is about 11 kilometers from the ferry dock (these ferries actually somewhat resemble ferries except they are basically huge metal fishing boats with wooden benches to sit on and a second story to the ship. It's not inclosed at all though). The bicycle ride today was so enjoyable. The breeze from riding helped to keep me cool in the HOT, HOT sun. I visited three tombs in the Valley of the Kings: Ramses IX, Ramses IV and Tuthmoses III (lots of the tombs I originally planned on visiting were closed for restoration) and also the tomb of King Tut (which I had to pay extra to see), which had one of his coffins (he was buried in four coffins one inside the other, which I saw the rest of the coffins at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo). His mummified corps is still in the tomb too, so I got to see him. King Tut's tomb was rather small. I entered down some stairs and immediately came across two chambers (one with the coffin and one with the body), there were two other small chambers which we weren't allowed to enter but they were empty and were the rooms where all the treasures that now lie in the Egyptian Museum were located. The room with the coffin had heiroglyphics and drawings all over the walls. It showed Tut as short and fat, which I found really amusing. I'd known he was short, but not fat. I think I know how he died (granted it's just my theory), all the kings were so imbreed from marrying their sisters/mothers that he probably had hemowhatever (that causes the blood not to clot, a common trait of imbreeding) and he cut him shaving and bleed out. The other tombs were more impressive with long entrance chambers, some with steep staircases and huge pits (to prevent thieves from robbing them) that they've now built walkways across. The walls are covered in colorful hieroglyphics (the coloring of the walls and cielings are still vibrant and amazing) that tell the lives of the pharoah and have drawings of the ceremonies surrounding his entrance into the afterlife. From the Valley of the Kings I rode my bike to the Valley of the Nobles (which is where the high ranking officials were buried). The hieroglyphics and drawings in these told the story of what they did during their lives as well. I visited the tombs of Serrenof and Rehkmet there. After that I rode my bike back to the bike shop near the ferry. It was getting to be midafternoon, so it was scorchingly HOT (but surprisingly I've managed not to get sunburned yet, but also have managed not to get a tan at all either, oh well). I don't think I'll be visiting the Red Sea like I originally planned because the bus schedule is silly, but we'll see. I have decided to take a hot airballon ride over the West Bank during sunrise however. I've always wanted to ride in one and I'll never find it so cheap to do again. Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting Luxor Temple and also Karnak Temple. TTYL. LoveYa.