Luxor

This morning I got up at 4am to do a sunrise hot air balloon ride over The Valley of the Kings in Luxor. It was pretty freakin' amazing. We took off right by El Ramesseum Temple, soared over temple ruins and statues, sugar cane and seaseme fields, local houses, which don't have roofs so you could see right inside them and even see people sleeping. The sun rose over the Nile, but it was really hazy. I don't know if it was pollution or what. (probably) I had never been in a hot air balloon before and the guy that was operating it was really funny and was cracking jokes about it being his first day on the job. It was a really cool experience, to say the least!
Yesterday, we basically just cruised up the Nile, stopping at a few temples along the way. At Edfu, we rode in a horse drawn carriage, which I also don't think I've ever done before. I must be super super allergic to horses, because I didn't touch it or anything, but my sinuses got all stuffed up and I started having an asthma attack. And I didn't bring and inhaler or anything, because I haven't had asthma in years. So I was kinda freakin' out, but then it went away. And I took some allergy medication and was fine. The rest of the day, I just sort of relaxed on the deck of the boat.
Oh, I didn't even tell you about the drama with our boat. We got back to our boat the other day and our cabin was like 115 degrees. I asked about the AC and he said it would be working in 30 minutes. 30 minutes went by and I thought I was going to expire from the heat. Just laying there I was all red and hot and sweaty. Not cool. So I went and asked again and they said it was broken and wouldn't be fixed for days. I was grumbling to our guide and he talked to them, and they basically offered us free drinks and to eat our meals on the deck if we stayed. Our other option was to get a hotel and then to take a bus up the Nile, but we didn't want to do that. So we decided we stay on the hot boat and try to deal with, but I'm sure I made it quite apparent that I wasn't too pleased with the situation. Our guide made some phone calls and came back and said that Top Deck, (the tour company we booked with) was going to pay the extra money to upgrade us to a 5 star boat that had some available rooms. So we packed up and moved, and the boat we are on now is super nice. They really handled the situation well. My roommate thinks, it might have something to do with the fact that they are trying to impress me, (like how they gave me the free camel ride), but I don't know if that's true. I can't imagine it would really make a difference, but I'm happy all the same to be sitting here now in Luxor in the AC, with free wireless, yippee!
Today we are site seeing all day around Valley of the Kings and Queens and Luxor. Then tonight we hop on a 9 hour night train back to Cairo. We have one more day in Cairo, and then I'm off to London.