The Turban Terrorist and the Temple of Dendara

We tipped the guy who made our twin beds into a double—he kissed John…
We were finally off the boat
Our first stop was at the Luxor Museum

Guide quotes: “The Japanese aren’t very smart…. When they’re separated from their group, they can’t think…”

We decided to make one more excursion to the Temple of Dendera. It was an hour drive outside of Luxor and we realized that we had the “Road Warrior” as our driver. It was a “brisk” drive down.

We had a great tour from our guide, Mohammed…The Temple of Hathor was built in the 1st century B.C and it is one of the best-preserved Temples in the whole of Egypt. Ptolemy VIII and Queen Cleopatra II built it, and then later, Roman Emperors continued to decorate it and honor the Goddess Hathor; the Goddess of maternity, love and music.

At 4:00, the tour was over… Mohammed took us for obligatory drinks--and gave us the news- “We have to wait for the ‘convoy’ before we can return". It would be about an hour…our new scheduled departure- 5:30
We retired to the dirt floor outdoor café and drank cokes and watched the water buffalo, donkeys and dust…

When we walked to the old water wheel, we were frantically called back by the restaurant owner—“stay in sight or go with your guide”…

We were beginning to get a little nervous- wondering why we needed a convoy to take up back to Luxor and why we couldn't wander anywhere without our guide. Then at 5:30, a red pickup truck pulled up. Two guys with jeans and AK-47’s hopped out. Not sure whether we were being taken hostage, we were told that they are the undercover police here to escort the tourist conveys between towns…. Oh joy!
Our new departure time - 6:15. The sun was going down, the cold setting in and still no motion to leave- just lots of Arabic chatter…
At 6:45, we got into the car and sat waiting for the convoy from the Red Sea to reach Quena. At 7:05 the convoy moved to Quena and waited…
The “Turban Terrorist” - our new name for our driver, was driving on completely dark, deserted roads with no lights on. The lead army vehicle appeared to abandon us and we were all alone with our insane driver with stretches of empty highway. Then, there was a sudden stop—we had a flat tire. The police van shown their lights on the way behind us…all the other cars sped off…
We were finally off - the Turban terrorist was driving well beyond a safe speed limit with a car with shot suspension, questionable tires. He was driving at top speed with no lights, passing cars, people—while he adjusted and readjusted his turban (driving with no hands) and staring at me in the rear view mirror… We were absolutely terrified.
We finally got to a slower speed zone in town. Our Turban Terrorist pulled another driver over and started screaming at him, then he turned to us and said calmly, “No problem”.
We jumped out of the car the second we reached the outskirts of Luxor.