Tayeb's car finally returned from the repair shop in the desert near Qena on Thursday evening. The old head gasket was sitting on the dashboard. It had been quite a difficult job to get a replacement up from Cairo. At least labour is not expensive in Egypt, but Tayeb has lost 10 days work over this repair.
On Friday he took some Egyptians up to the Valley of the Kings in the morning. He waited 4 hours for them, but the valley was busy and they didn't return to his car. This happens all too often, but he only ever takes payment at the end of a job so that is another wasted half-day. He was not happy!
The hotel is busy for a couple of weeks during the school holidays, but quite a large number of other tourists have arrived as well. We have taken in an overflow of 7 rooms from el Nakhil for a week. They arrived about 7 this morning. I hate the sound of wheeled suitcases on bare concrete corridors!