Time for a stroll around the lovely Muscat harbour and lively market before a night of cards and wine waiting for the clocks to tick over to 2011. 
A drive around to the old part of Muscat for a walk around the bay and past the Ruler's Palace.
Hitting the road again further east, to the most eastern point of the Arabian Peninsula. We stayed at a fun little camp in the desert, just down the road from one of the best turtle nesting spots in the world.
Unfortunately we had a big drive back to Dubai via Muscat - plenty of time to admire the scenery!
Spending time in and around the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and the view from the top: 
Evening dune bashing and dinner at desert camp:
We only had two nights in Dahab, but immediately wished we had more time. We spent the day inbetween snorkelling the red sea, in what surely must be some of the world's best (wish I had an underwater camera). And the hotel itself was amazing, right on the sea in a great spot just out of town. 
Saying goodbye to small friendly Dahab we got the hourlong flight back to chaotic Cairo. An uneventful night before meeting up with our weeklong tour nice and early for Day 1 of the tour - Cairo. First stop was Saqqara to see the oldest major stone building in the world, the step pyramid, built around 2600 BC.
Back into Giza for the compulsory pyramids (bigger than you'd think) and sphinx (smaller than you'd think).
A fully tiring day, and by the time we got on our overnight train to Aswan at 11pm we were beat. So beat in fact that we actually got some decent sleep on a very jerky non-sleeper train.
Time the following morning for another quick swim and a trip through the Aswan markets before jumping on our felucca early afternoon.
Arguably the highlight of the trip, the Felucca brings you back to basics. Our home for the next two night, the Felucca is just an old sail boat with a thin mattress, where we ate, slept, and chilled out in the sunshine while Captain Bob (so-called because of his love for Bob Marley and his dreads, his real name was probably Mohammed) zig zagged his way down the Nile.
We parked up the first night next to a local house for shisha and henna tattoos (and a bathroom), awokened way too early the following day with the sounds of morning prayer dishing out from the nearby mosque. An extremely relaxing day with nothing to do but read our books and chill out. Here we are parked up for lunch...
About 5pm the wind died, and an hour later it got dark, so we were stranded in the dark with large cruise ships narrowly missing us as we drifted down the nile looking for our pre-arranged park-up spot. We finally made it safe and sound for a bonfire night on the sand.
An hours cruising the next morning (so we were told, we were still sleeping!) before we said goodbye to our crew and got back into temple hunting.
...followed by Edfu temple, with a huge facade.
A few hours in the bus north to Luxor. We stayed in an amazing hotel right on the river bank, with a heated pool and 5 (Egyptian) stars. 
A swim in the pool (and the obligatory beer at the swim-up cocktail bar) and we were back into it, this time Luxor temple at night. All lit up, its quite mystical...
Across the road for some quick bargaining at the Luxor markets.
Another early morning for a trip to the Nile's west bank and the Valley of the Kings. Its a series of underground tombs where Kings were mummified and buried with all their possessions. Most of these are now empty, but the carvings on the walls, still colourfully painted were well worth the trip. Unfortunately no cameras allowed.
Here's our legendary tour guide Hady explaining the designs - most showing various kings offering goodies to the gods.
Dinner in Luxor before our return sleeper train, again not a bad sleep all things considered. Time to check into our hotel in Cairo and the necessary coffee before hitting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Home to a bunch of scary mummies and lots of sparkling treasures, most from Tutankhamun's Tomb (apparently a fairly un-noteworthy King, other than the fact that his tomb was never discovered and robbed by the robbers, so was found in its full glory in the 1920s). 
We spent the afternoon shopping, first at a perfumery and secondly at the Cairo Markets. 
