My first day in Tokyo was much less eventful than my plane flight over. Since it rained the whole day, making me a sad panda

I decided to go to one of my favorite places in tokyo, the nakano broadway plaza where I added another $200 worth of toys to my collection. Here are some of the random places I stopped during the first day wandering through nakano, shinjuku, and shibuya

Breakfast at Mister Donut!

And what would donuts be without some coffee made from a wicked cool coffee machine. Of course, coffee acts as a laxative, so I made a quick potty stop, and found this helpful sign in the restroom

Then, well fed and with a bag full of toys I walked off through the rain towards takashimaya times square and my favorite department store in tokyo, Tokyu Hands


I love drinking alcohol out of glass footwear. Beer from Das Boot, and Midori from Das slipper.

Crab People

After that it was time for lunch, cupcakes and sake

Why would I have sake in the afternoon...well let me give you five reasons

I did it to refuse the future. This was somewhere around my 6 or 7th trip to Japan, and at least the 4 or 5th to tokyo, making the journey a strange mix of new experiences and deja vu. I would wander the streets and find alleyways I knew I had been down before, and pictures I had taken, such as the sake reasons above, and it would stimulate my memory, helping me to find the right series of alleyways to track down my favorite ramen-ya in kabukicho. Whose Name I still cant remember, but it's three alleys up and one over from where I stumbled across that sign.


Even though my language skills have fallen off somewhat, my comprehension remained surprisingly intact...so while I am sure I sounded like an idiot with several conversations, I still managed to get around and communicate well enough. After Chicago and Los Angeles, Tokyo is probably my 3rd best known city...I am fairly familiar with its neighborhoods and what lies therein.

However in the interest of keeping posts short and readable, I will what I did in the evening for the next post. But hey look how good I did...the same day I came back I got all my pictures uploaded and even managed to knock out a post. That has got to be some kind of Josh record!

As our final few days in Arabia drew near we decided to head out to the desert, making a brief stop in route to Little Petra.

Far down in the valley below is the Petra we have explored the last several days. But while the majority of the ruins in Petra proper are charnel houses, little Petra contains the remains of the day to day buildings...the restaurants, the trading posts, the daily places of business.


Almost feels like jawas are about to pop out any minute, doesnt it?

This dilapidated staircase is an alternative pathway to the monastery we saw before. It is even steeper than the 800 steps we took, and takes about half a day to complete.

And of course, what would little Petra be without a little Siq?

That completed, it was off to Wadi Rum! Wadi is arabic for desert, and Wadi Rum is best known as being the adopted homeland of T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia

The title comes from proverbs 9:1: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars". While only 5 pillars are visible in this formation, the arabs and the desert itself make the last 2

Our transport was a 4x4, so we could drift, skid, and jump among the dunes

The sand of Wadi Rum is soft and yielding, not at all like the hard gritty gravel like sand I am used to in Los Angeles.

One of the bedouins who calls this unforgiving landscape home, and wouldnt have it any other way

The size of this sand dune is immense, although the perspective doesnt do it justice. So, being the mature traveler I am, I figured the best way to show you would be to climb to the top and then RUN DOWN!
 

minor slip, but I am okay

Wheeeeeee!

Once again I adopted the local dress over my usual Indiana garb. Xanga, meet Josh of Arabia.

During our mad max like tooling around the desert we managed to get a flat tire. Actually, whatever jeep had our guide Okla in it (guide pictured above) seemed to break down. You can imagine he wasnt too popular with us waiting in the sun to fix a flat

The house of Lawrence of Arabia, the british engineer who helped organize the arabs during their revolt against the ottoman empire in 1915-1918. (It's a bit of a fixer upper)

Aramaic Graffiti (Jesus wuz here)

The rock bridge, again not quite to scale

You know me though, I take it as a personal challenge from nature to do these things

As the sun began to set, we decided to head to our campsite for the evening

Pretty swanky, eh? Camping doesnt always have to be "roughing it"


Another one of my favorite shots of the trip

While I was busy getting my adventure on, Short Round was celebrating in his own way

by taking a nap and enjoying the scenery



hmmm...a fire pit?

MARSHMALLOW TIME!

after the marshmallows we had our almost nightly ritual by this point of smoking hookah and playing gin rummy before bed


Our tent.

Well it was time to set off for the village and from there home...

but with the 4x4s gone, how would we cross this vast expanse?


The way they did it in olden times...on camelback!

I was taught by my guide to click my tongue and pull on the reins to talk to anf guide my camel along the path. From my understanding my commands meant "hey camel, do whatever you feel like and periodically wander back in the right direction when the boss is watching or the other camels get too far ahead"

...And so came to an end my Road to Jordan. I had seen wonders of the world, explored ancient ruins, discovered the stargate and holy grail, swam in the dead sea and camped among the desert nomads. Truly no more adventures could be crammed into a single vacation.

I hope you have enjoyed my trip as much as I did. When next you visit, you can continue to read about my ongoing adventure, my medical Residency. Watch in awe as I puzzle out how to diagnose and treat patients! Be amazed as I resume sharing my medical misadventures! Wonder how anyone trusts somebody with only days of clinical experience with their well being!

THE ADVENTURE NEVER ENDS WHEN YOU ROLL WITH RVEBLADE

til next time...

***This is a continuation of Road to Jordan: The Red Rose City. Please read previous post for full trip***

Onward and upward we climbed, the sun beating down upon us at every turn, the steps becoming steeper, and the precipes more precarious by the moment until finally we reached the top, and beheld the Monastery gazing down upon us

Larger than even the treasury itself, the Monastery was buried deep within the hills of Petra

With slight trepidation did we walk through the cavernous entrance, only to discover...

...Absolutely nothing? It couldnt be. We had come so far, endured so much to be confronted at the end with what seemed a blank wall?? I, Indiana Josh, refused to accept such a defeat. Instead I decided to backtrack, convinced that whatever relics had once lain within the monastery had simply been moved to a more secure place to keep them safe from time and, well, people like me.

The Palace, one of three royal tombs carved into Petra, seemed a likely place to check next. After all, so many societies have king and clergy at odds, it seemed only natural each would want the treasures held by the other.

Through the cavernous opening I hesitantly stepped

Only to find within...

A room scarred with the evidence of prior inhabitance. While the red and white were the natural colors of the stone, the black on the ceiling was a remant of smoke from campfires, built by those who had usurped the caverns of the dead for their own abodes. But it appears that the royal tombs were not the location of holy relics either.

Then it struck me...of course I wouldnt find what I sought within such grand structures, for those were the obvious places to place something of value. If I wanted to find a treasure worth having, I needed to explore regions that were more succinct, more intiutive, and more inaccesible

When I saw this rickety scaffold bridging a cliff, I knew I was on the right track

Yes, that really is a single beam bracing a couple planks over a drop that extends much further than the camera reveals. And No, I do not use stunt doubles

A narrow escape from certain doom as the bridge started to crumble underneath my weight and the weight of ages combined. This aint no theme park ride, folks.

And on the other side...a relatively simple abode...and with it...

At last! Could I truly have found the grail??? But which one to pick?



I chose...poorly.

Luckily, right as I was about to drink from the deadly cup, short round came and pulled me away, causing me to drop my hat on the floor, and watch as the spilled water dissolved the surrounding stone. It was a lesson in humility, and the sign it was time to leave Petra with the setting sun...


Our group camped outside the city walls in our cliff hotel one more night, returning at dawn to briefly see the treasury again in its full glory. On the way down, we rode the famed arabian horses. Forewarned that for those without riding experience the steeds could be wild and uncontrollable, we retained a bedouin guide to lead us.

(Attn: animal lovers-scroll down to the pics, as you will not be amused by what happens next)
After ascertaining that we could safely handle the stallions at a walking pace, we convinced our guide to let us move up to a trot. In order to do this we needed to speed up the horses, and asked him the best way of doing so individually. My horse, Indiana Jones (whether or not I was being patronized, this was really the horse's name according to my guide) I was told to kick in the sides and click my tongue. Haydens horse, named Lucy Monroe, was a different matter. Hayden asked the guide how to make the horse speed up. The guide turned around, and without any warning, punched the horse in the side of the head.

I repeat: The man cold-cocked a horse.

It did in fact speed up, after a moment or two of looking mighty confused. When asked why my horse could be kicked, but Lucy had to be sideswiped to speed up, our guide looked as confused as we. We want horses go faster, he make go faster...what problem?

We kept our mouths shut for the remainder of the ride. After a couple snickers because cruel as it is in fact to punch a horse, it happens to be hilarious to watch when nobody, especially the horse is expecting it. Soon we arrived to take a final glimpse of what had brought us halfway around the world...

This is the definition of awesome, my friends.
I turned back once more to gaze upon the wonders I was leaving behind, wondering when, if ever, I would next return...


And as I rounded the bend, the city was once again lost from sight, from time, but not from memory, as I prepared to ride off into the desert to spend my final nights in the middle east among the dunes.

Morning dawned, and our group of brave explorers ventured down the same route we had taken the previous night to enter the fabled Red Rose City in the light of the morning sun
 
Well in advance of the entrance to the city proper stands this tomb. Like the rest of Petra, it is carved straight out of the cliff itself. In fact, Petra means "rock" greek.

The entrance to Petra requires a 3kilometer (1.5 mile) walk through the Siq, a narrow, naturally formed sandstone canyon whose walls tower above you. See how tiny we are?

The sheer scale of the surroundings is indescribable. It is unreal enough that nature created this pathway, but to think that there is a city hidden at the end of it? And those sharply defined horizontal lines you see toward the bottom of the cliff? Those are man made irrigation channels to carry water all the way to the city. Every house in Petra had running water thanks to the Nabateans irrigational talents, and it was that skill that made their desert city an oasis, and eventually, one of the 7 new wonders of the world

From one angle, this rock appears to be a fish, swimming happily in the Siq

Until you walk in front and realize it is, in fact, an elephant on a neverending caravan

Speaking of caravans, a close inspection of the cliff will reveal a man leading a camel to the city. A universal signpost perhaps? Can you tell him how to get to Sesame Street?


Just up ahead, and obscured in the harsh glare of the morning sun, the final bend before the entrance to ancient Petra

Welcome to Petra, The Red Rose City of the ancients.

The Road to Jordan has been long and arduous, but Indiana Josh and Short Round have persevered through countless trials to reach this point, to behold this wonder of the world. Come explore it with us, and see what mysteries we can uncover along the way...

That narrow crevice is where the Siq exits into Petra proper...hard to believe a modern city lies on the far side, isnt it?

The treasury, carved top down straight from the cliffs, and made famous as the resting place of the holy grail in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, is the first building that greets your eyes upon entrance to the city.

If Indiana Jones can find a grail with hokey 90's special effects, there's no reason Indiana Josh shouldnt be able to track one down in the REAL city. Let's gather up my trusty pack animal and set out to explore!

How many of you were expecting a picture of Short Round when I referenced my pack animal? Shame on you, he is my sidekick and used mainly as a decoy for danger, not a beast of burden.

Petra is a city of the dead crammed to overflowing with the living. The majority of the edificies you espy in the succeeding pictures are mausoleums and charnel houses. And since the method of construction in ancient Petra was to carve from the top down, there are countless more tombs hidden beneath the entire city, waiting to be uncovered by future generations

Let's take a look inside one shall we?

Who knows what evils could lurk within these tombs?

It's quiet as a crypt in here...and why are all these graves open?

OH NOES! THE MUMMY HAS FINALLY TRACKED ME DOWN!

Heh, just kidding, folks, no need to worry. Indiana Josh is not so easily defeated, especially not by anything with zombielike properties. Let's get out of this tomb and up to higher ground , shall we?

Short Round and I made it up the cliffs with minimal danger and found a cave leading further into the mountain

A Pleasant Peaceful Petra Panorama

From the top of the hill, we could see clear to the coliseum, the first structure we had seen in the city NOT built for the dead. Carved out of the mountain like everything else in Petra, it could supposedly accomadate 7000 people. Dont think it is big enough...take a good look at how high up we are..see the tiny camels and people? Yeah, it's that big

The steps above led to an area called the temple, at the end of the market street

We continued on our way, climbing ever higher

Not every resident could afford fancy tombs such as those we saw earlier...some just cut holes into the rock and tossed their dead into the DIY catacombs. However, the sandstone of Petra was not only handy for burial purposes, it also contained a variety of colors

Being students of the waste not, want not school of thought, the Nabateans took these natural rock pigments and made makeup from them. Cant imagine how that would look? Hey Short Round, c'mere a sec...

Doesnt that yellow eyeshadow just scream elegance?

Leaving behind the caves, off in the distance we spied the three grandest tombs of Petra



However, we decided to continue our journey onward and upward to the monastery,  before returning to the dwellings of the dead.

Join us next time as we climb the 800 steps to the monastery and unlock one of mankinds greatest treasures...

Leaving Egypt behind, I had to cross not a desert, but a sea, to reach Jordan. The Red Sea, in fact. You think waiting at Airports can take a long time? We arrived at the Egypt side of the ferry at about 1pm. We hung out playing cards in the waiting area until about 4.

After boarding the ferry, we had our passports stamped, a thermometer inserted into our ears to supposedly check for swine flu and then we waited for another hour while everyone else boarded. Then we had a 90 minute ride during which I became much more proficient at gin rummy.

Take Heed would be adventurers...most of adventuring involves waiting. and card games. Do NOT leave home without a deck of cards.

Sunset from the Jordan side of the Red Sea.

I checked into My Hotel. (a 3 star by Jordan standards beats a 5 star in Egypt...then again, Jordans dinar is more powerful than the american dollar, so there you go).

We had a rooftop dinner in Aqaba, where I treated myself to this mint lemonade which I have thus far been unsuccesful in recreating. I also ate a LOT of lamb in Jordan. more on that later.

Our group had once again shrunk, this time from 16 to 6, two of whom were short round and I. Now while I am fairly pale skinned, I planned ahead appropriately and brought my spf 3000, which is why for the first time in my life I tanned on this vacation from a translucent white to a ruddy chocolate brown. Short round however, forgot to cover one or two key areas...dont think you need sunscreen kids?

Think again. Beautiful isnt it? He had a matching one on the other arm. But enough of injuries, lets get back to the ADVENTURE

That right there behind me? That is the Dead Sea, so called because of it's complete absence of life. This is mostly due to the fact that this sea has no outlets, so the water runs in and then evaporates in the desert heat, leaving behind only more highly concentrated saltwater. The Dead Sea is 33% salinity, more than 10 times the amount of salt of any other body of water in the world. It is also shrinking at the rate of approximately 1 meter per year, so in another 50 years or so, The Dead Sea will no longer exist. That white coastline you see? ALL SALT. Delicious sea salt which I now cook with.

This pillar of salt is the wife of Lot from the bible. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Lot was a denizen of Sodom (as in Sodomy!) one of the five sinful and doomed cities God destroyed for their wickedness. Angels came to warn Lot to leave the city, and when they spent the night at his house, the people of Sodom came to rape the angels despite being offered Lot's virgin daughters. As a thank you for not being raped (where are the hallmark cards for that) Lot and his family left Sodom before fire and brimstone rained down, but they were told not to look back. Lot's wife turned around, and became the pillar of Salt you see in the pic above.

Moral of The Story: Women, learn to follow directions

But now that we have seen the Dead Sea and some salt touristy things, how is the water?

I Know what you're thinking...OMG The Josh is swimming! Yes, for the first time in over a decade, I am swimming...remember? It's the DEAD sea. Nothing lives in it to bite me. This is the one place on earth I am perfectly safe from the evil machinations of Sea Life.

Look Ma, No hands!

No feet!

No back!

Now I know exactly how all those flying superheroes feel. It really is ridiculously easy to float.

In fact, it was so easy, we formed our own synchronized swimming team.

You just walk in and lay back, and you are practically forced into the position by the water itself. Oh, but, fyi? Saltwater burns, and if you enter the dead sea, you will quickly learn about cuts you did not know you had. Also do not under any circumstances put your face into the water. From what I hear, it is like being maced, and I know thats unpleasant (erm...ahem.)

Instead, I opted to go for the mud pack treatment from the famous dead sea mud.

Surprise! Who needs blackface when you have body mud!

So I did my war dance

Terrifying, isn't it? You are lucky I am of such a peaceful nature.

After spending about an hour swimming and another 40 minutes eating the best buffet lunch evAr, we hopped back into our tiny tour bus and traveled to Mt Nebo



In the Bible, while Moses is the one who leads the Israelites out of Egypt and to the promised land, he was not allowed to enter the promised land himself. However, God permitted Moses to see the promised land his people would enter as part of the covenant, and Mt Nebo is from where Moses saw the end of his people's years of wandering.


Thats the Dead sea in the background

All the things Moses could espy from the mountaintop. However, his gravesite has still never been found....

...and I wasnt going to be the one to find it. I had enough on my plate, and my trail was leading me ever closer to the holy grail. I could tell I was close, for the next stop on the tour would be the Red Rose City...

So Where was I? Ah yes, avoiding certain death trying to return to the bottom of Mt Sinai. And what do we do when we wish to avoid certain death? We phone a friend...namely, god.

This is the church on the very top of Mt Sinai, adjacent to the cave wherein Moses was supposedly given the ten commandments. It is only open twice a year for christmas and I forget.

This is what it looks like inside...neat trick, eh?

This little door leads to the cave where Moses stayed on Mt Sinai

Notice how this adjoining mountain is lacking a proper mountainly point? As the story goes, Moses asked God to reveal himself, and God said, I dont think you're ready for this jelly, and instead struck the top from the mountain to demonstrate his all-mightiness

By the way, for those of you wondering, cell phone reception was FANTASTIC out here. That was also my flashlight and radio for the trip...yay android

I realize that you will not get the appropriate perspective of how steep parts of this climb were...however consider this...those jumbled stones? They are steps. And those tiny little colored blobs at the very top? They are people. And that is merely the last section before reaching the top of the mountain

Of course, that is the price you pay for views like this.

Again, please not the sheer drop to the side of the tour group, and the woman with her donkey going the opposite way. When I climbed the mountain in pitch black coldness, I was not aware exactly how close I was to the edge. This is probably for the better, and the reason I suspect they advertise hiking Mt Sinai as a night activity

This is what the hotels/waystations on the mountain look like. Stone walls with carpets hung everywhere, and a goodly supply of candy bars and coffee. Actually its more comfortable than it looks. Which is why our group spent the night on the cold hard ground on the summit. Comfort is for sissies

The Mt Sinai Taxi Service, for those unable or unwilling to make the climb under their own power

Look! an honest to goodness camel caravan!

Mt Sinai as seen from the bottom. Sinai is apparently a derivation of the Hebrew word for teeth, and the mountain was named because it looked like a range of broken teeth. Not a bad accomplishment to tack onto the 100 list, is it?

And at the foot of the mountain (but not in between its toes) lies the monastery of St Katherine. It is a greek orthodox monastery, supposedly the oldest christian monastery in the world, and named for Catherine of Alexandria, daughter of the governer of Alexandria. Catherine (aka the pure one), who converted to christianity supposedly had the ability of a used car salesman, to convince anyone who spoke with her to convert, whether they sought her out or came to kill her. She was sentenced to be broken upon the wheel, but when that didnt kill her, she was beheaded. Angels then came and flew her body to the top of Mt Sinai. Around the year 800, monks from the Mt Sinai monastery found her remains and renamed the monastery
 
Mt Sinai's monastery holds a number of distinctions, among them most expensive gift shop in all of Egypt. The things the tourists care about however is that it is a holy site to all three major faiths, with written documents of protection from Muhammad (yes, THAT one) and Napolean Bonaparte, the well of Moses, and the legendary burning bush. The library holds the largest collection of codices and manuscripts in the world, second only to the Vatican itself.

This is the room of bones in the monastery, wherein lie all the skulls of the monks who have lived and worked there ages past. It is a reminder to those still there in humility, for when their time comes, they too shall be added to the catacombs with nothing to distinguish them from their forebears. Except the 10 founding monks who get special shelves on the other side.

The famous burning bush, wherein Moses was commanded by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan. So why isnt it on fire? Well, the Hebrew word seneh used in the bible and translated into english as bush more closesly approximates the word brambles. A bush in the desert that is green year round and has no root system is already pretty miraculous, but why is it not on fire?

Well according to the church, the bush itself was never on fire, but when Moses was commanded by God on his mission, Moses was permitted to see the uncreated energies or glories of god, which appeared to consume the bush without actually causing it damage in the same way that Mary became pregnant without her hymen being consumed. That or Moses was tripping on ayahuasca, a hallucinogen native to the area. Believe whatever tickles your fancy

The Burning Bush's brambles are believed to still be able to grant prayers, such that if you are touching one and make a wish, it will come true, provided the wish is not for the harm of another in which case it will double back on you. Being the superstitious fellow that I am, I made a few wishes and just for good measure stopped into the church itself and made a few donations with my prayers as well. Never hurts to cover all your bases, right?

Well, while Moses wandered the desert for 40 years, I dont have that much time, so next time we will be leaving Egypt and continuing on to Jordan to visit the Dead Sea. Will Josh go swimming? Tune in next time to find out!

Leaving Dahab late in the evening, our group arrived at Mt Sinai approximately 11pm. We gathered our gear and prepared for the long hike up the pitch black mountain to see sunrise from the summit

This was about the extent of visibility, so I cant share many pictures of the night climb with you, other than to say it was dark, cold, and my trusty cell phone flashlight is much brighter than I give it credit for.
In case you are wondering, that is a camelhair blanket on rock hard dirt adjoining the wall of the monastery at the top of the mountain. I watched several shooting stars and identified several constellations before catching a restful 90 minutes of sleep before sunrise. Just like being on call!

Waiting in the predawn for the arrival of the sun, one of my favorite vacation activities
 
The mountains lit up in the moments before sunrise

See that tiny little path snaking its way around? I climbed that in the dark...it took about 4-5hours. good times

The sun was having a little trouble getting up, so I decided to give it a boost

Thanks be to The Josh, the sun begins another day. good job me!


It is located deep within the human psyche to leave our names as a means of proving our existence. In 1865, the greeks who explored here didnt have spray paint, so they had to carve we wuz here into the stone itself


Good Job me....another mountain summited. This one was a lot harder than Fuji though

More mountain vistas. Why didnt any of these propets ever get visions in holy valleys, or holy suburbs? They always had to go out to the middle of nowhere, it's enough to drive a man crazy. And on the heights that can be a dangerous thing


Dont panic! I know it looks like I am jumping from the mountainside, but in actuality, I can fly, so I am in no real danger

If I had known this cave was here when I arrived on the mountain top, I assure you i would have spent the night there

People of the lord, I bring you these 15...

erm, these TEN COMMANDMENTS.

Well, I have shown you sunrise on the mountain, maybe we should start to head down before it gets too hot. But be careful!

To even reach this sign, I had to climb into several areas I probably should not have been. On the way down the mountain, our guide regaled us with tales of all the people who had died climbing the mountain, particularly in the dark, where you cant see the sheer drop offs and one misstep or wrong turn can spell your end.

Awesome.

til next time...

Have you been getting fidgety stuck in Dahab for several days? Now you know how I felt....in order to liven things up a little, Short Round and I decided to join a biker gang


Ready to set out to terrorize the desert dwellers and admire the beautiful scenery

The Village of Dahab from on high

striking through the mountains en route back to the coast


Short Round loves it when you call him big poppa...

respectful word to your mother...
 

ATV's are awesome...after about 5 minutes on one you are actively steering for bumps and potholed because it is so fun. Eventually we made our way to a hidden oasis

Short Round and I stopped briefly at the Oasis to take shelter from the heat of the day

From there, Short Round and I parted ways for a while, him to go scuba diving at the blue hole, and me to spend the evening hiking the biblically known Mt Sinai...

After the sweltering 115 degree heat (in the SHADE!) of Luxor, it was time to head up the coast and kick back for a few days by the Read Sea. So Short Round and I hopped into the transport for an 18 hour overnight ride to Dahab, city by the sea.

Delicious and totally not copyright infringement

*cue music*


Come with me to a land in a faraway place

Where the caravan camels roam


Where they cut off your ear if they dont like your face, it's barbaric, but hey, let's go!

Dahab is famous mostly for it's diving, seafood, and proximity to Mt Sinai. But more on that last one later. Each morning, we had to catch the hotel shuttle to the town, or call for a cab, as we were about too far away to walk there


Dahab is a tourist resort town, and outside the tourist areas, this is how most people live. On the whole, they seem to be doing rather well for themselves, as Dahab is usually a chilly 90 degrees with its proximity to the water
  
When the winds from the east and the sun's from the west and the sand in the glass is right...

c'mon down,

stop on by,

hop a carpet and fly, to another arabian niiiiggggghttttt


Fresh caught fish from that morning...guess they are no longer "under the sea!"

Mezes, or appetizer, a series of salads to whet your appetite before the meal

Some Shrimp, red and white snapper, and a bunch of grilled veggies were our fresh caught dinner

Short Round could barely contain himself

Next time: ATV's and ninjas!

Returning from the Valley of the Kings, Indiana Josh had but one more stop to make in Luxor before leaving the temples for a much deserved break.

Mighty Karnak, largest ancient religious site in the world.

The row of sphinxes leading to the temple. The reason Karnak is so large is because something like 30 different pharaohs added on to the temple during their reigns.
You see, Ancient Pharaohs tried to build elaborate pyramids, but they got robbed. Then they built elaborate hidden tombs to show their greatness, but they were robbed again. So the only way of keeping up with the joneses (or thoths as the case may be) was to make previous temples even greater during their reign. Ramses II usually won these contests, because he built temples to HIMSELF. That guy was awesome

The sacred lake at karnak. Real holy water! Still no swimming!

The scarab of Amenhotep III. Legend has it if you walk around the scarab 7 times clockwise, you will meet new love, if you are in a relationship and walk 14 times you will soon be engaged/married and if you walk 7 times counterclockwise you will lose the love you had. As soon as I remembered which way clockwise was (curse you digital age!) I increased my chances of finding a lady friend this year...hey, whatever works, right?

A fallen obelisk. Perhaps pointing the way to the Scorpion King? (The Mummy Returns was partially filmed here, pop culture dropouts ;-P)

Because these hieroglyphics were hidden from the light of the sun, they still retain most of their original colors...pretty neat, eh?

Intrepid and only slightly narcissistic adventurer Indiana Josh taking more photos of himself.

Another Stargate entrance!!!

Hypostle Hall with over 122 columns all standing over 10 meters tall...these created enough shade for the common people who gathered in this open air temple to worship Amenra

In the ancient days, the tops of these obelisks would be coated with gold so as the rising or setting sun hit them, they would reflect a glorious light, calling everyone who saw it for prayer. Pretty darn effective

But alas, all good things must come to an end. Ancient Egypt was to be left behind, along with roughly half of our original tour group, whose journey had come full circle. The remainder of us (roughly 16) would be continuing on to a slightly more modern egypt, sans the best tour guide EVAR, Sam

Whom, although he will never read this, I would like to thank for helping to make learning fun!

So for those of you who were all templed out, let's hit the beach and then do some mountain climbing!