Pa Lu Bin Cheng: Luxor(east bank), Egypt

After an hour short morning flight from Cairo going down south, we reached Luxor the world's greatest open air museum just in time for lunch. Woo Hoo! Upon arrival our hostel driver was already waiting for us at the exit :)

our Luxor hostel (Qasis hotel) the room was great with our very own private bathroom. Price: 50EGP / night for 2 person....i know! it's cheap and clean, a good bargain indeed

after checking in, the hostel manager suggested us a restaurant nearby for yummy lunch with reasonable price

this chicken stuff rice cost 25EGP

my grill fish for 35EGP

was really yummy

all these appetizers were free :) but only for the 1st time because the 2nd time we went back

we were hopping to see the luxury appetizers again but sadly only free bread but nonetheless it's a restaurant i would recommend going

since we have the whole afternoon free after lunch, we then decided to cover the east bank of Luxor.

There were 2 choices either with the white and blue taxi or the white and blue minivan.

As we love to blend in with the local so we took the minivan to Karnak temple which only cost 1EGP / pax

the distance from our hostel was just about 15-20 minutes drive away

we have arrived the world's largest temple, Karnak Temple!!!

it's large because it contains a group of Temples which were built by different pharaoh such as the Great Temple of Amon Ra, The Temple of Khonso, The lpt Temple, The Temple of Ptah, the Temple of Montho and the Temple of the God Osiris ....... yup alot!! :)

the front entrance of Karnak Temple. Price: 35EGP/ student and 70EGP for normal ticket

as we enter there was a ram headed avenue of Sphinxes, which was built to protect the Temple. If i am not mistaken there are about 20 rams on each side

ram headed Sphinxes

WOW

the open court. A completely different feel from the pyramid we saw in Cairo.

see that huge column in the middle right? that is known as the kiosk of Taharqa who ruled during the 25th Dynasty. This bud papyrus column is the only column left from a colonnade that once had 10 columns.

on the left side of this Court (as u can see little Boon) there are 3 chapels, which were built by King Seti II for the "Triad of Thebes". On the other side if the Temple of Ramses III

Boon @ Karnak Temple

going in to the #1 highlight of Karnak Temple the Hypostyle hall.

Started by Seti 1 and finished by his son Ramesis II

infos @v@

love the details

look up and down...simply amazing

the column is freaking HUGE

the highest of this giants is 23m tall and 15m in diameter

there are exactly 134 gigantic papyrus bud columns

side view

one of the 2 obelisk still remain standing

....this place is like a huge labyrinth

this area was the main entrance of the Court of Tuthmosis I during his reign. He erected 2 obelisks but only 1 still standing

Boon cho siao

the Botanical room.

I think this is the wall that were decorated with scenes of plants, animals and birds, which were brought from Syria to Egypt by the king

but i only see birds carving @v@

we came across a collection of statues of Ramses II and Tuthmosis III

panorama view

not sure this is unfinished or destroyed

deep inside the temple there is a sacred lake

just in front of the sacred lake, there is a scarab a.k.a Khebry, which they said to be the biggest scarab left from Ancient Egypt. It's freaking huge alright.

many people circled Mr Kheby and make wishes. we did the same too. Didn't know how many rounds that we supposed to do, i think i did 10 rounds. Well more round more wishes.....kekekeke

the never ending restoration...really salute the archaeologist putting all this pieces together to one big giant puzzle

Panorama view at the back area

some narrow pathway leading to the Hypostyle hall

we stopped by the Temple of Ramesses III on the way out to the front entrance(which is also the exit)

it was designed as a miniature of Medinate Habu (@ west bank, Luxor) on the open air court, there are 2 rows of The Osiride statues of Ramsses III. Though most of the head are gone, but it's still impeccably impressive

there are 3 rooms which is gorgeous but a little spooky as there are no other tourist when we were there :S

BOO~!

one last look before we headed to Luxor temple

panorama view of the front entrance

tip: best time for photos is during sunset ;)

like many of Egypt's famous ancient spot, Karnak Temple also have Sound and Light Show

which cost around 75EGP

We then took cab for 10EGP to Luxor Temple which was only 5 minutes away and the cab driver didn't even drove us to the front entrance.....$%$&* saying it's out of the way

Luxor Temple. Price: 25EGP / student and 50EGP for adult.

The Luxor Temple is way smaller that Karnak Temple but it one of the beautiful temple in Egypt that one must not miss it

just in front of the temple King Nektanebo built the Sphinx Avenue

Amenhotep III, son of Habu built Luxor Temple, the architect and oversee of the works of construction of the temple.

There were originally 6 standing statues in front to the Pylon, but only one on the right is still in place

this 2 seated colossi representing King Ramsse I, seated on his throne

in front of the Great Pylon of Ramsses

but only one of them remains standing. The other was transported, in 1819, to La Place de le Concorge in Paris as a gift to King Philip Louis of France by Mohamed Ali, after he was given a French clock, which they said has never worked properly even to this day ....kekeke

there is also a mosque(Mosque of Abou El-Hagag) inside, that the Muslims built in the 10th century

just beside the mosque is the place for worship made by Queen Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III, dedicated to the sacred boats of the " Triad of Thebes"

then open court of Ramsses II leads to the Colonnade, which was built by Amenhotep III, and decorated by Tutankhamen and later, Horemheb, Seti I, Ramsses II, and Seti II all recorded their names there