Egypt continued VIII...Mt. Sinai

Mt. Sinai

Egypt continued...VII Sunset

Egypt continued...VI Hard Rock Cafe Cairo

Surprise lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Cairo. All of the servers came out, blasted music and invited everyone to dance along. Kaylie and Alli were getting down!!!

Egypt continued V...back to CAIRO

We took a overnight train back to Cairo from Luxor. May not have been the most comfortable ride, but it was not bad at all. They even served us food which I did not eat much of. They even came and woke us up REALLY early in the morning for some breakfast and to tell us that we were almost in Cairo. We were not the best smelling group of people around. 

The great Nile River

A Coptic Christian church that we visited. This site is supposedly the place where Mary and Joseph fled to with the baby Jesus. You see the Arab/Muslim influence in the intricate motifs on the wall and ceilings of the church. 

Egypt continued...IV Karnak Temple Complex

Here we have the Karnak Temple complex, which is the largest temple complex in the world.

Karnak Temple is found in the heart of Upper Egypt in the city of Luxor or called Thebes in the ancient days and is located on the east bank of the Nile River. 

Most likely, Moses, one of the great prophets of the Old Testament spent much of his early life here in Thebes. Ramses II is thought to be the Pharaoh during the time of Exodus, and Thebes acted as 

Ramses II's capital city.  

The oldest parts of the temple complex date back to the Middle Kingdom age which is roughly around 2040-1700 BC. The ram-headed fertility god, Amun, was the focus of worship at this temple. 

The columns soared 5-7 stories high...it was amazing. They also say that back in the day, the whole hall was roofed. 

This Egyptian hypostyle hall is also the architectural origins/ancestor of the Roman/Christian basilica. 

                                        

                                        

Anna Daines amidst the great hypostyle hall

The obelisk that Hatshepsut erected. She is mentioned in my previous posts (about her mortuary temple).

Egypt continued...III The Nile

I'll start off this post with a night shot of the Nile river with the Luxor Temple on the top left corner. I think I already posted this pictures earlier, but I'm going to post it again because its one of my favorites.

Here are more pictures of our boat ride on the Nile at night. You can see the Luxor Temple lit up in orange.

The Luxor Temple is located on the banks of the Nile River on the east side. Luxor, anciently known as Thebes, was once a capital of the Kingdom and thrived with economic activities.

Another one of my favorite pictures. An Egyptian sunset with camels.

Lauren R., the Allens (who tried to get all of the Jeru kids married to each other every change they got) and Richie B. sporting their scarves they scored for a super deal after our camel ride.

This is Ahmad, my camel tour guide. I think my camel's name was Elvis. Other camels had funny names like Ferrari...Ahmad and I talked our whole camel ride even though his English was very limited. He taught me a lot of new Arabic words! Super good kid.

Countryside we took our camel ride through.

Here's Jeremy P. aka J-Perk/Massagya...looking flyyy

and

Our procession

It was the perfect afternoon under the hot Egyptian sun.

All the workers waiting to give rides to the huge group of Americans.

The Nile itself was dirty, but the surroundings were beautiful.

Ancient Egypt depended heavily on this river for its development and thriving.

Yes, if you didn't already guess, we sailed on the Nile, and I got to steer the sail boat.

Kaylie T. + Alli B. = Awesome girls.

Beautiful Saturday afternoon in Luxor Egypt. In the morning we had our sacrament meeting in a party hall of the hotel. Chairs were set up as chapels usually are, and pita bread like bread was used for the sacrament bread. If I remember right, James G. and Jane N. gave the talks that day. I also had the opportunity to sing a musical number with Jon R. Kali C. and Anna D. It was one of the most powerful and spiritual sacrament meetings I had ever attended. There really is something about a group of saints meeting together, oft, to worship our Heavenly Father in a country where you are the minority of the minorities.