This morning the lads were up before the birds to go on a Hot Air Baloon tour of the Valley of the Kings, home to some of Egypts most famous Pharaohs. We were escorted by bus to the landing site, stuffed into a massive basket and before Rhys even woke up, were in the air.
A half asleep Rhys gets a rare view of what a sunrise looks like!
Other than the burning heat from the balloons flame, the whole experience was incredible, cruising around some of the ancient ruins and soaring to 2,500 feet with stunning views of the Nile and a golden sunrise.
Tomo lights up
After another few hours sleep, we hit the road for Hurghada. However after only 15 minutes outside Luxor, we were stopped at yet another checkpoint and told by the official that for safety reasons there was no way we could continue to Hurghada unless we were in an official convoy. With this not really being an option, we decided to find our own way through the back streets of small villages. After half an hour of driving through farmland roads and getting directions from men on donkeys, we eventually found our way back on to the motorway and past the checkpoint via and old train track.
One of the lads that offered us help!
After a few hours and several more bewildered looks from checkpoint officials, we arrived on the outskirts of Hurghada on the Red Sea Coast. We had read in travel guides that Hurghada wasn’t the nicest place but when we arrived, we realised that this was a massive understatement. Strewn with tacky and half-finished resorts, the predominantly Russian package holiday makers that come here seem to be oblivious to this locations nightmarish existence. The place is literally tourism gone wrong!
The first thing we did after driving through hell hole was to try and find a way out of in the form of a car ferry to Sharm El Sheikh, another Egyptian Red Sea Resort. However we were devasted when told that there was no car ferry.
Surprisingly enough, there is actually a Ministry of Sound club in Hurghada so we decided to stay for a night. After checking into a nearby run-down hotel we made the most of it at a half empty Ministry of Sound for the night.
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