From the Press Office of Dr Samir Farag

Mr. Laurent Gbagbor, President of the Republic of Côte Difoarbziarh visited Luxor on Wednesday after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit with also a group of official delegations from African participants in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit from several states who were keen to watch the various archaeological sites in Luxor before leaving Egypt to return to their country
Gbagbor began his tour accompanied by Dr. Samir Faraj President of the Supreme Council of Luxor, during which he visited the Temple of Luxor, the Museum of Mummification watched and watch the presentation of sound and light at the Temple of Karnak
He also expressed his deep admiration for the beauty of the ancient Egyptian monuments the pharaonic tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Queens in the West Bank of the Nile as he visited the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in the monastery Marine and two statues of memnon

Benz the best resturant in Luxor IMHO is closing for 3 months, Ben the owner has to go back to the UK to sort out some stuff. He will cme back in 3 months probably in a new location.

Had a mini update on the excavations going on here. The Redfords are leading a field school, lucky students, and excavated the front of these tombs which had been entered via a robbers entrance. By excavating the original entrance and courtyard they hoped to learn more about the owners. Not a lot of luck there but they have found some nice stuff, including some beautiful 18 dyn carving of hair. What an opportunity for these students to be on an actual dig.

Some recent guests of mine got a lunch box takeaway from Arkwrights. It was roderedthe night before and picked up at 6:40am in time to catch the Aswan convoy. I got a report back this morning.

Highly recommend Arkwrights - Delicious, Fresh & VERY Yummy!

So anyone doing a day trip can get a nice lunch from there. Great if you are not staying in a hotel and can not use their services

Just got the following via Goggle alerts and also the Redfords are in the tombs of the Nobles.

Newswise — Follow along online as Johns Hopkins University Egyptologist Betsy Bryan and her team of graduate students, artists, conservators and photographers expand their investigation of Mut Temple this summer, turning their attention to the temple’s Sacred Lake. Bryan and her crew are once again in Luxor, Egypt, sharing their work via “Hopkins in Egypt Today,” their popular digital diary offering a virtual window into day-to-day life on an archaeological dig.

With new posts appearing daily through mid-July, visitors to “Hopkins in Egypt Today” at http://www.jhu.edu/egypttoday/ will find photos of Bryan and her colleagues working on site in Luxor. In collaboration with the American Research Center in Egypt, which also supports Johns Hopkins’ work inside the temple proper, Bryan will excavate on the northeast arm of the lake after ARCE’s engineers have drained the lake. Excavation will proceed from the region of an ancient stone dock in a swath around 20 meters in breadth down into the basin of the drained lake. Any materials found in the lake bed will be conserved and desalinated near the bank of the lake before being transferred to a protected environment. The primary goal of this brief dig is to develop procedures for more extensive excavation of the lake next year. The lake will be refilled with less saline water after the work is completed in July and will be drained again next winter when the dig resumes.

The team will consist of former Johns Hopkins graduate student Violaine Chauvet, now a lecturer in Egyptology at University of Liverpool in England; photographers Jay Van Rensselaer and Will Kirk; Hiroko Kariya, stone conservator; Will Schenck and Keli Alberts, artists; Lotfi Hassan, conservator; and three Johns Hopkins graduate students, Ashley Fiutko, Shaina Norvell-Cold, and Meredith Fraser, all of whom are finishing their first-year studies.

Joining the team in Egypt later this month will be Edward Bouwer, Abel Wolman Professor of Environmental Engineering and chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins. Bouwer’s role will be to provide advice and recommendations on water management and contamination issues. The water quality in the lake is poor because of excess nutrients and salts and potential contamination from herbicides sprayed to control vegetation, Bouwer said. The water supply and quality issues influence the disposal of the water, and there are concerns about exposure to the excavators. Bouwer will also help with a plan to maintain good water quality in lake after the restoration project is completed.

The goal of the “Hopkins in Egypt Today” Web site is to educate visitors by showing them the elements of archaeological work in progress. The daily photos and detailed captions emphasize not only discoveries, but the teamwork among Bryan, her colleagues, students and their “gufti,” the local crew members who are trained in archaeology. That teamwork is essential to a successful dig, Bryan said. The Web site typically garners more than 50,000 hits every winter, when the dig ordinarily is active.

According to Bryan, modern-day Luxor is rich in finds from ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom, like the major discovery made by the Johns Hopkins team in 2006: a 3,400-year-old nearly intact statue of Queen Tiy, one of the queens of the powerful king Amenhotep III. Bryan has said that the statue is “one of the true masterpieces of Egyptian art.” Bryan is the Alexander Badawy Professor in Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Johns Hopkins. Her work is funded by grants from the American Research Center in Egypt and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Related Web sites:
Department of Near Eastern Studies: http://www.jhu.edu/neareast/

I received the following from the press officer of Dr Samir Farag

Within the work on the comprehensive development plan for the development of Luxor city to become the biggest open museum in the world and to develop tourist trade zones the work on major project to develop tourism Street Market was completed , one of the oldest and most important street in the tourist city of Luxor which located in the heart of Luxor in the main tourist area in the centre between Temple of Luxor and railway station The architectural work on the street turn it into technical masterpiece impressive the
Tourists and Consistent with the cultural and aesthetic form that is currently working in the city
The investment cost of this project nineteen million pounds for street landscaping, which reaches to the length of 1950 meters, where gates have been working on PHARAONIC forms of reinforced concrete facade to the street and the front gates of the side streets overlooking the Temple of Luxor and Abu El Hagag mosque plaza, which have been expanded
Also all the facilities street from a sanitary drainage
, electricity, water and telephone have been renovated

The attributes of decorative shops were preparing plates of uniform lighting for all shops to standardize the pattern of lighting shops with printed concrete floors until show the wonderful work on the street, and made a wooden chivalry and providing all shops with modern banners with a nature historic painting
Also developing and painting all the facades of existing buildings and shops
And also to implement an integrated project to achieve full insurance to protect citizens from the shock of electricity and fires resulting from the fall of electric cable result of excess loads and the abolition of all illegal connections and to give the cultural
to give the cultural and aesthetic form to the place where the removal of all lamp-posts and air cables and wiring has been indiscriminate digging and D agencies within Anabet Underground along the 18 km and 117 connect to the distribution of electricity has been painting in mind the establishment of a self-extinguishing fires in order to avoid the occurrence of any fires in this place of inspiration for the development of the tourism field Umm Kulthum famous in the street to build a cafeteria at the highest level and toilets to serve the tourists after it was used to be a place to collect garbage
… And the historic importance of the street says Dr. / Samir Faraj President of the Supreme Council of Luxor that the Market Street is one of the oldest commercial street, which maintained the same professions, exhibits, which has been known for decades since it includes antiques shops that sell antiques and gift products from Khan El-Khalili, which demanded by tourists as well as significantly Shops selling statues of Pharaonic replicas, which is famous Qurnah area in mainland western Luxor, products and handicrafts from carpets and Clem and Alabaster as well as shops selling perfumes and spices, beans and hibiscus, Sudanese and Egyptian Municipal hennaed and renovated

Last week there was a major accident at one of the balloon companies, Viking, storage depots. You may have read about it on the news. There have been a number of other accidents recently involving tourists. I have long been an advocate of not choosing your balloon ride on price but checking safety records, insurance etc as well.

Hod Hod Soliman have recently published this response to the accident and I have invited other balloon companies to also respond. If I have missed any company, apologies and I would welcome your response. Please email me and I will publish it on this site.

This is Hod Hod Soliman’s comment BTW the quotes are from EgyptMad http://www.egyptmad.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9292&hl which is an open discussion forum and other balloon companies can make comments.

“Hod-Hod Soliman Balloons built a compound to store their balloons and refuel on farm land on the west bank about 9 years ago. It was completely isolated.
Over the course of the last few years many illegal villas and blocks of flats/small hotels have been built in the area, finally right next door.
So Hod-Hod Soliman moved their gas to privately owned land on the east bank where they have a temporary custom built refuelling and storage building. It is near the middle of a 5 acre garden, with an unimpeded slope of about 100 metres towards the river boundary. Nitrogen, which is of course inert, and no fire risk was stored at the original site until it was discovered that locals thought it was butane gas. It has now been removed.
No smoking and no fires are allowed on the present site and no balloons, lorries or other highly combustible materials are stored there.
Hod-Hod Soliman have suggested to the authorities that re-fuelling should be carried out at the local government approved depots for storing gas for re-distribution locally. The authorities have yet to take action.
Hod-Hod Soliman have been actively trying to find a suitable site, where it can be guaranteed that housing whether legal or illegal will not encroach in the future beyond the bounds of safety. This has proved to be a very difficult task. It is understood that some of the present ballooning premises were originally in isolation, but are now surrounded by housing.
All members of staff of Hod-Hod Soliman have received certificated training in fire-fighting from the local fire service as part of their in-house training.
Constant vigilance is necessary by all who are dealing with highly combustible materials of any kind.”

From my own point of view, I appreciate that balloon companies employ about 60 men each and there are 5 large companies. In addition they use large numbers of microbuses and river launches, so contribute significantly to the local economy.
This is not the first time there has been an accident of this kind. A few years ago there was an incident with Balloons Over Egypt, now known as Sky Cruise, where at least one member of their crew subsequently died of their injuries.
I really don’t think that too much care can be taken. I think the idea of refuelling at a gas supply terminal is a good one. Al Hamdulillah, as far as I know no other company has had a re-fueling problem, including Viking Air.

It is unfortunately true, that no matter what safe-guards are in place, the human factor usually plays a part in any disaster of any kind.

Jane, internationally Pilots are recommended to take off with full gas tanks, with enough fuel to last for twice the expected requirement. Just in case they need to fly for longer due to not finding an appropriate landing site.
They use the first cylinder until there is only 10% left then change to the next, and so on. Usually they have two nearly empty tanks and two full ones at the end of the flight if they start with four. Obviously there are contents gauges on the gas cylinders.

editted with further comment from them

In answer to your question, Hod-Hod Soliman started in 1993. Since then there has not been a claim on their insurance. Al Hamdulillah.

There is a Preferred Code of Practice - Hot Air Ballooning, issued by the major tour operators which is pretty detailed. In one section it says:
“Ballooning is by nature a potentially dangerous sport, all participants must be made aware of the risks involved and the correct actions to take while ballooning. Participants should note that although very remote, the risk of injury still exists and they should not participate in the sport if they are unhappy with the fact.”

I cannot speak for other companies, but I hope that all companies give their passengers an information sheet before the flight, which includes the pilot briefing, and guidance on those who should NOT fly. Included in this should be an opportunity to declare to the supplier or pilot in confidence medical conditions which could affect them or other passengers during the activities.

In spite of this agencies still send people in wheel chairs, on crutches, in plaster - either arm or leg - and visibly pregnant, although very definitely no pregnant woman should fly. The first the balloon company knows about this is when the passengers turn up for the flight!

The information sheet should also make it clear that the company cannot guarantee to fly over a particular area ( as they are borne by the wind) cannot guarantee the length of the flight, as conditions whch are not obvious to the untrained may necessitate a longer or shorter flight for safety reasons.

The care that a company takes over the selection and training of it’s pilots and their supervision after they have qualified in my personal view has a direct bearing on the safety record of the company.

Their email is hodhodoffice@yahoo.co.uk

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First of all for all non UK people Arkwrights was the name of a small grocers in a sit com set in the 1970’s. The use of the name reflects the market this shop is going after, ex pats and tourists.

The staff were all extremely willing, spoke English and very friendly. They all wore uniform t-shirts and the preparation area for the sandwiches was spotless.

It is expensive but you pay what you get. For example I bought a bowl of salad for 7.70 LE, about 70p, now that is really expensive compared to the price of the products but unless you are making for 20 you could not beat the price. My salad had lettuce, rocket, peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, cucumber all sorts. I could have bought all that much cheaper but not in a quantity for one person. I would have spent the same amount (actually probably more) and ended up throwing loads away because I could not use it. Other things reflected that fact they were imported. So not somewhere you would do you regular shopping but perfect for tourist lunches and ex pat special treats.

Layout was spacious and fridges in full working order It was spotlessly clean and they even had their own packaging.

All together I was very impressed, spent loads more than I intended. I bought a baguette and it stuffed with filling, really tasty. Also some lamb and sauces, they had lots of sugar fee cereals, gingernuts. There was also some great bread, multi grain, loaves, baguettes, French sticks.

They also had this totally willing boy with a name badge Granville, so amusing (if you are a Brit) he really looked the part, well a younger version.

Whoops nearly forgot location it is on the road by the St Josept hotel

At a recent lecture we were told by Mansour Boraik of the SCA that they have started to look into a dewatering project for the West Bank. The proposal would be to have a pipe from Medinet Habu to Seti I. It is certainly needed. These recent photos show the situation at the Ramaseum and Seti I

I have been contacted by the owners of the Luxor West Bank website who are in the process of updating and relaunching the website. It is a German/English site and a good resource for everything on the West Bankhttp://www.luxor-westbank.com/indexe.htm