Travel: A hot air balloon ride in Luxor

Were the ancient Egyptians to revisit Thebes these days, writes Nagwa Abdel-Hamid, who knows what they would make of their descendants (and others) surveying the centuries-old necropolis in colourful hot-air balloons? Last week, in the warm winter of Luxor, photographer Mohamed Wassim and I set out to the west bank of the Nile at 5.20 in the morning, too early for anyone to want to get out of bed. Yet we were too excited to pass up the opportunity, so excited we were positively eager to wake up.

A microbus took us from the hotel to the shore, where we crossed the water from east to west in a small boat, and there, gathered around 15 rubber marvels at a conveniently central spot, we joined some 200 people, technicians and workmen as well as passengers and Balloonists -- as the balloon operators, pilot types who take their jobs more seriously than you would expect, are called -- united in the drive to compete with the birds and see the ancient world from above.

The moment we leapt into our balloon came all too abruptly, and before we realised what was going on, our Balloonist Bahaaeddin Ahmed was reciting the safety instructions (my personal impression of the experience, for the record, is that it is safer than flying, driving or even, as in the case of Cairo, pedestrian transportation).

A few minutes before departure Ahmed set off a small helium-filled balloon to determine air currents and wind direction, as he explained, which helps him choose the best itinerary; it rose in seconds, quickly disappearing into the skies above. And then, the fires roared, propelling us up over 1,000 feet into the air, and we were surrounded by a foggy dark dispelled gradually by the first light. A magnificent scene: the sun rearing timidly from the east bank, warming our trembling bodies as drifts of birds started their day, with the mountain-flanked desert glittering gold and red in the distance.