The Al Bairat Family Clinic Bring and Buy

Lesley Hulme and a group of other ex-pat held a Bring and Buy in Al Gezera village to support the work of 

The Al Bairat Family Clinic There was obviously a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes as everything ran like clockwork. Some of the kids that use the centre were there together with their parents which was really nice. I hope a lot of money was raised, I really enjoyed myself, although the climb to the roof was hard work lol. The food was scrummy, the company wonderful and I won a box of Thorntons chocs in the raffle.

Flats in Luxor guestbook

Before Facebook and Trip Advisor we had a guest book, it is lovely reading these old reviews. Hope to have lots more in the future.  



Flats in Luxor Guestbook: I just wanted to thank you for a fabulous time in Luxor. Your
arrangement of our flat, transportation, locations and tour guides was
top-notch. Kicker and I were completely satisfied and very happy with
our trip in Luxor/Aswan. You can tell you run a great travel agency and
that your staff really respect you because I heard from many they have
worked with you for years...You are clearly good to them and having good
employees will help your business continue to flourish! So, just wanted
to thank you. Everyone was great, both meals superb, absolutely the
best! and Hussein, wow, he is just the sweetest man, friendly,
incredibly bright but at that same time very professional. He is the
perfect tour guide, my favorite of any tour both trips. And I forget the
name of our guide for the Donkey overthe ridge, (aswah? or something
like that?) well, he too was fabulous and so bubbly and entertaining!
And Saber and Ali for falluca again, was great! Everthing was so
organized and perfectly planned and I thank you for that ! If (i hope) i
go back to Egypt again I will seek your services again for sure!!! (but
i'll try not to drive you too crazy with planning again :-)

Well, thank you. I will miss you. Wish I had more time to just sit and
drink beers and chat about life. You are very fun to chat with... Keep
in touch and let me know if you need anything from me! Its 1230 am,
which a few days ago I was leaving right about now to ride a donkey, but
instead Im half a world apart, deliriously tired writing on facebook
after working all day from 9 to 8 pm. I better go to bed! LOL. Take care
of you and thanks for everything!!!

Love Teresa and Kicker

Howard Carter's watercolours

I had a discussion on Facebook about Carter's watercolours and wondered if there was a collection of them. This post is the results of that discussion. Do you know of any more, or a published collection?

Carter started his working life in Egypt as an artist and only later became an archaeologist. His father was also an artist and Carter inherited his talent. Carter; having originally painted an image for the purposes of scientific recording, subsequently  sold images like this to tourists.

1) Griffiths

The Griffiths Institute in Oxford has a big collection of his bird pictures.This is an example of one of them but there are lots more on the website. Howard Carter's watercolours of bird and animals

2) Highclere Castle
They have a fabulous picture he painted of the temple of Hatshepsut, this is a poor quality scan of the back of their guide book.

 

3) The Egypt Exploration Society 

EES have a number published on this link  http://www.ees.ac.uk/userfiles/file/Images%20in%20Word.pdf .

 

4) From the excavation manuals of E. Neville's exploration of the Deir al Ba'hri.Here is one example.

 

Holidays in Egypt: Taking a baby to the Valley of the Kings is child's play | Mail Online

Holidays in Egypt: Taking a baby to the Valley of the Kings is child's play | Mail Online



What a great way of getting rid of hassle, I had a guest once who used her native Welsh, this is even better.

Having been to North Africa before, I expected hassle from hawkers on the street, but it has been considerably clamped down on. Most offenders are either carriage drivers or, at the places of historical interest, people selling information booklets.



We posed as famous Icelandic archaeologists, which foxed the pamphlet sellers, at least. They have materials in a plethora of languages, but not Icelandic.



Besides, if one is an archaeologist of international standing, who needs a rudimentary pamphlet? 'Haven't you heard of us?' we'd say, leaving the hawkers uncharacteristically lost for words.

If you want more info about taking a child to Luxor, try my book "Hidden Luxor for Kids"

State Information Services Antiquities Minister opens new archeological sites in Luxor Saturday

State Information Services Antiquities Minister opens new archeological sites in Luxor Saturday: Antiquities Minister opens new archeological sites in Luxor Saturday.



With the Mut temple reopening you may be wondering exactly what there is to see. If you have bought my book Hidden Luxor you know as I included it. The temple has been scheduled for reopening for some time and I have been lucky enough to visit there several times thanks to Mansour Boraik. That is why I included it.

If you want to know even more the following links will be of interest

http://www.jhu.edu/egypttoday/ Dr. Betsy Bryan of the John Hopkins University excavated there

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/features/mut/ The work of Brooklyn Museum at the site

http://www.osirisnet.net/monument/temple_mout/e_temple_mout.htm Excellent description by the guys at Osirisnet; maps (copied above), photos and description

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/templemut.htm Tour Egypt page on the temple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precinct_of_Mut Wikipedia entry

 

Thomson Flights – Manchester to Luxor ressumes

Green shoots of recovery on the flights :) 
Thomson Flights – all the assurances and service you’ve come to expect from Thomson - Flight timetable