It had rained shortly before this photo was taken. Because of this, there are many more colors and patterns that can be seen.

Six pyramids. At the base of the pyramids is the Nile River and in the backround is Cairo.

This photo shows great perspective in relation to the pyramid's size. The anitquities and tourism guard shows the immense size of the individual stones. The great pyramid is seen in the background.

The Khan al-Khalili Baazar. This open market has been around since 1382! A wonderful place to find a good bargain!

The Blue Lotus Flower. The photo was taken at the Cairo Museum. When ever you see carvings where the people are smelling flowers, it is this flower. The fragrance is beautiful!

Petra. Best know to some as the temple seen in the movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". This city was carved into the cliffsides. They had paved the entire canyon with limestone blocks. They had carved a tunnel that was 8' in diameter and approximately 30' long into the hillside to divert the water from the canyon so they could build their city in it. The "modern" name for this building is the Treasury.

This is one of the larger building within Petra. The colors are more vibrant because of the setting sun.

The city of Amman, Jordan. It is built on seven hills like San Francisco. The Jordanian Flag is seen. The homes in this area do not have street but instead have foot paths! Most everyone relies on public transportation and will walk up to these homes. Our tour guide, Khalil, said he used to live in this area. When his refrigerator quit working he decided to move rather than deal with having to carry it up this hill!

Jerash, Jordan. This is a very large Roman city that is approximately 2,000 years old. In this city they had running water and an underground sewer system! This road still has the ruts created from the Roman Chariots!

Mt. Nebo. This is a very holy site for both Christians and Jews alike. It is considered to be the mountain that Moses stood on when he saw the Promised Land. From here, you can see Jericho, the River Jordan where Jesus was baptized, the Dead Sea, and on the far side of the valley, there is the mountains where Bethlehem and Jerusalem are.

Abu Simbel. This temple was cut apart in the late 1960's by U.N.E.S.C.O. and moved to higher ground due to the completion of the Aswan Dam. The mountain seen is completely man made.

This is a normal farmer's home along the Nile. They are mud brick, have no electricity, no running water, and they have large kettles out front for cooking. There are animal pens lining the edge of river. I have never seen so many donkeys in all my life.

Philae Island and the Temple of Isis. This temple was also moved by U.N.E.S.C.O. in the late 1960's. It was the unfortunate victim of the French Military. When viewing the temple from the front, the entire left side had the engravings shot out for target practice! The outlines of the figures are still there, but the detail is long gone. They started on the right side, but fortunately for us, they were deployed elsewhere.

St. George the Dragon Slayer Church, Mastaba, Jordan. This church was built on the remains of a home that contained a mosaic tile floor that had a large map of the known world, Only parts remain, Jerusalem, the River Jordan, and the Dead Sea.

The Temple at Karnak. There is a mosque that has been built inside of this temple and was made from stones that were scavenged from the temple. The matching obelisk was taken to Paris by Napoleon and sits in the Plaza de Concorde.

This photo was taken at Saqqara. The two local girls were riding a donkey with a homemade saddle made from a tarp.

Tongue and Cheek Humor. The camel decided to be a critic of my picture taking and stuck out his tongue at me!

The temple of Queen Hatchepsut. There is a wonderful view of the Nile Valley from this temple.

Cairo, over looking the Nile River. This photo was taken around 3:30 am so the Nile was as smooth as glass.

Remember the god Horus from the begining of this page? This is what he looked like prior to my reconstruction. He was green from the florescent lights, there were cracks from movement, and there were chips everywhere. I even had to replace his fingers. If only the original could be fixed as easily or better yet, still look as good as it did. This photo was taken in the temple of Dendera, Egypt.

Timeless Egypt. These men are making alabaster pots by hand. They bury them up to the top edge after the outside is done, and they use a hand drill that looks like an old fashioned egg beater to drill out the inside. These pots look great with a candle burning inside them. You can see the light shinning through because the pots are so thin.

These photos were made possible by Lotus Travel and Mohamed Anwar. www.lotustravel.com Thank you Mohamed for making a life long dream turn into a trip of a life time!

I won an award at the Alameda County Fair for this black and white version of my picture.