Well, if we thought Egypt had impressed us before today, we were in for another jaw-dropping experience in Luxor.

We started the day by visiting the magnificent Karnak Temple.

Before we got onto the bus today, we noticed our tour guide speaking to a machine gun-toting police officer who escorted us to the bus. I asked Wael what he was speaking about with the officer, and interestingly, he explained that the police track all tourists. He was writing down the registration number of our bus and the destination. Once we arrived at Karnak temple, the tour guide informed the police there that we had arrived, which was then radioed back to the first police officer. Just one of the security measures the Egyptians now have in place to hopefully keep tourists safe, although I don't know what difference this would make.

Having just seen the Luxor Temple on the previous day, we thought that was impressive. The Karnak Temple was like Luxor Temple times 100. This place is simply too big to fathom and, given its age, in surprisingly good condition. There is so much to see there that it is hard to know where to look. Two rows of ram-headed sphinxes lead to the main temple, where enormous columns, statues and obelisks are enclosed in massive walls, all adorned with bas relief friezes, many in almost perfect condition. Simply stunning. There were even sections where the colours still remained. After 3,500 years, this is unbelievable. It must have been stunning in its heyday.

After this it was back to the boat to begin our cruise. Our first stop was Esna, where we disembarked to see the Temple of Khnum, the ram-headed god. They are restoring the colours in this temple using new technologies. Not by painting, but by removing the centuries of dirt and grime to reveal the colours that still exist beneath. The results are incredible, and although this was a small temple, the bas relief friezes and colours were impressive. Apparently, the condition is still good because the temple was almost buried by mud and silt until recently. Every year the Nile would flood and the locals would not have the resources (or desire) to clear away the mud and silt left behind. It has only been recently that the Egyptians have realised what they have beneath the mud and began to unearth it. Tourist dollars probably help with the motivation to do this.

The following day we woke at 4:45 to the sound of the call to prayer. They play these chants loudly across every city five times a day. We were in Edfu and after breakfast went to shore to see the Temple of Horus. This was another example of a 3,500 year old temple that is still in amazing condition, except for the fact that the Christians chipped off all of the faces of the carvings in the friezes. A real shame that they had no care about the history, art and workmanship they were destroying.

Then it was back on the boat to go downriver to Kom Ombo. We arrived there after dark and went ashore to see the Temple of Kom Ombo, which is dedicated to the crocodile God, Sobek. It was a beautiful, ethereal sight, seeing all of the carved walls and columns lit up. We took some fantastic photos, including a carving of ancient surgery tools much like those of today such as scalpels and forceps.

Kom Ombo also had a museum containing mummified crocodiles, unbelievably preserved. There was a huge rock outside the museum and I asked our guide, Wael, if that was the "Crocodile Rock". He had obviously never heard of Elton John, because he didn't laugh.

Back on the ship we had an Egyptian night, where we all dressed up in traditional gallabayeh which we bought earlier. I had a nice white moo-moo on, and Lidia a very fetching bright blue number with red embroidery of scarab beetles, eag and King Tutankhamun heads. Gee we looked hot.

After dinner they put on Egyptian music and taught guests how to dance like an Egyptian. This quickly descended into the usual macarena, YMCA, etc. They also played a song called "Wobble" which must be popular overseas. There were a couple of people doing the choreography to "Wobble, Baby, wobble, Baby". Me and our new friend, Hip tried to do the macarena with varying success. I think Hip was actually having some sort of fit rather than dancing. I laughed so hard I butt-slapped when I should have hip-slapped.

The next morning we arrived in Aswan where we saw the unfinished obelisk still laying in the quarry where it was carved before splitting and then took a boat to an island containing the Temple of Isis. This temple was similar to the last couple, with the distinction of being in the middle of a man-made lake. When the Egyptians built the dam, rather than flooding the temple, they dismantled the whole thing (and it is massive) and re-built it exactly as it was on higher ground.