Neil's in

Hi there!

Well, since my last posting, we discovered that Kim’s wrist was in fact fractured. Our very kind host in Khartoum (Abdelsalam a.k.a. “Mr. President“) is very well connected and one of his friends was a doctor; who just happened to be in the workshop when we turned up, he quickly identified from the X-Rays that she had a fine hairline fracture. He suggested a 3-4 week rest in a cast.

In the great scheme of things, it meant that we no longer could hold back and wait for her wrist to get better. By we, I mean: Craig, Cam, Ed and I. Dave & Stef are on a different time-scale trip and said they’d hold back, as they were waiting on a friend still in Egypt. Meanwhile, in Mr President’s workshop, the men were compiling a bike transporter to fit on the back of the Landrover.

Anyhow, the four of us are now officially in Ethiopia and that’s a whole different story. From Khartoum to the Ethiopian border is roughly 600km, and we successfully covered 500 of those in one day. This morning however, we managed to do the remaining 100 by 9:30. This is where the games begun; firstly our fixer who was very friendly (by the name of Getch or something similar), got us to do all the ups, downs, lefts, rights of getting out of Sudan, across the bridge into Ethiopia he lead us to the passport control, but shortly after that he disappeared. From the passport control the locals pointed us in the direction of the customs, but this is where things got tricky, and let it not be said we were warned about this in advanced. Dylan the Swiss guy from Khartoum did mention quite explicitly and repeatedly about this and arrogantly I shrugged it off and carried on.

So, the complication arises with the customs not accepting a Carnet de Passage, despite the Carnet de Passage clearly stating that Ethiopia is covered. The customs in turn require either a 35000-50000 Bir deposit, or a letter from our respective Embassy stating our vehicles are guaranteed to enter the country. The long and the short of it; us brits got ours quite quickly, the kiwis who sadly don’t have an embassy in Ethiopia got a little screwed over, especially given that lunch time fell the time they were trying to get in touch with Australia, Canada and G.B. embassies. I did what I could, by forging on photoshop a copy of the letter Ed and I received from the British embassy, but by this point the customs were already working a different angle: $200 US each to make the problem go away. After much reasoning this was taken down to $50, but suffice to say it was totally unnecessary. We ended up leaving the border at 15:45 after arriving at 9:30. Woot what fun!!

So back to the here and NOW, I’m currently eagerly typing away this blog post on a rocky bit of Ethiopian highlands inside my tent next to the road side. Let’s not point any fingers here but riding at night never is a good excuse, even if you REEAAALLLY want to get to a name on the map for the sake of saying you got there… and we’re here because now, because Ed has a flat tyre after riding over a large rock. I guess it could be worse….the puncture could have been mine (and I don’t have any tools).

Anyhow, crossing the border was like entering a different world, the desert ended, the mountains started and the temperature has now finally dropped.. I’m cozy inside my sleeping bag feeling a little chilly, it’s bliss! We’ve been in a desert landscape since Alexandria a month ago suffering heats exceeding 30 degrees at night, it’s finally nice to be somewhere fresh and green.

Heya!

It’s proving harder and harder to get online now, apologies for the long wait!

Well we decided to take the desert route to Abu Hamed from Wadi-halfa with 300+ kilometers of sand tracks across the desert. The tracks follow a disused railway and I wasn’t wild about the idea with the prospect of carrying 2-3 days worth of water and food on my piddly little bike with a very limited luggage capacity, but it was what the group really wanted so I was happy to follow along, my life was made easier with Dave and Stef who offered to carry my water and food for me. The prospect of camping under the stars in the middle of the desert really did sound very appealing. The track started off really difficult; we were still in sight of the police check point at the start of the road when we all started taking tumbles. Cam went down in the loose sand, I was right behind him in the same bit of track, I went down too. Further behind, Kim did an impressive over-the-handlebars stunt, after a brief dust off; we ventured further and after passing the first station Kim out-did her previous trick and managed to do a cartwheel, this time wrecking her bike, and her composure… or better said, managed to bruise herself left, right and centre, and damaged her wrist and hurt her leg, she was in shock and in a bad way. We had to stop everything and apply some First Aid.

We had to regroup, and figure out what to do with regards to what to do next. Matt on the spot said he (and Kim) couldn’t carry on, Dave & Stef now were the group ambulance and said they’d return to Wadi Halfa too, I said I’d do the same, not sure if it was the monotony of keep falling over for the next 3 days, or just the prospect of following a different road which was paved, scattered with villages and maybe shops, Ed followed suit. Craig and Cam were still very keen to carry on with riding the desert, so there we left them there. I rode Kim’s limp bike back to the first station a couple of kilometers back, and then rode back my bike with the others (minus the kiwis).

So after rushing Kim back to Wadi-Halfa to look for some medical attention, I decided to call in a favor on the police Captain whose computer I fixed the day before (remember??). I got taken to the Major who spoke good English and he thanked me for my deed the day before and took me to another police station where he found someone to drive me back into the desert to retrieve the damaged bike. Meanwhile Kim, Matt, Stef, Dave and Ed went to the hospital.

The good news was that nothing was broken. After a small arrangement with a fixer to get Kim’s bike transported down to Khartoum, we hit the Nile route down until sunset. We managed to knock out 250 kilometers in the 4 hours we had.

Anyhow, I wrote that a few days ago, we’re now have been in Khartoum 4 days. We wild camped on our way down from Wadi Halfa twice on our 3 day ride down. Kim is feeling much better, and to add to the positivity of that, I should mention: I bumped into a guy (Khalid) at the traffic lights, when we were trying to find the “Blue Nile Sailing Club” (a famous camp site) as we arrived in Khartoum. He lead the way, and then gave us his business card, and told me that his brother (Abdelsalam) has of a workshop for repairing overlanding vehicles, useful meeting people eh?

Soon after we arrived at the camping, Kim’s bike arrived, we checked-out the camping place, which despite being famous, and mentioned in the Lonely Planet and Bradt and suchlike it was a complete dump; with appalling facilities, and extortionate rates ($8 a night!!) and the prospect of a noisy night as they were setting up a concert on the hard paving really didn’t sell the place to us. We took a walk, to look for cheaper/better quality accommodation and were very shocked with the prices of accommodation here in Khartoum (most places wanted about $40/night each), European/U.N. rates, for African standards. A quick call to Khalid, regarding getting the bike repaired and he came and picked us up, took us to his brother’s workshop, and found us a flat to rent, arranged to start repairs on Kim’s bike the following day.

Everything now has been repaired; wheel balanced, luggage frame re-welded and straightened, and steering corrected. Me, I’ve got my Ethiopian visa issued, that took two days, and the kiwis have finally returned from their grueling ride through the desert. They managed to do 110km in the first day after 8 hours of riding, and from the sounds of it, I’m glad I didn’t go, despite their photos looking amazing. The both look like they lost a lot of weight.

A couple of days ago, I noticed my exhaust pipe end had sheered itself off right where the dB-eater sits (the bit that quiets the thing down), I took advantage of the workshop and had my exhaust welded too (for what worked out to be £5). Since we’re no longer in vehicle taxing England, I’m pleased to say I have removed the dB-eater out, and roaring down the streets of Africa with a little more horsepower than before.

Yesterday, we added one more to our injured list: Ed decided to put a screwdriver through his hand trying to repair a foot pump. So we’re now 4 bikers and 4 car goers. He should be riding again at some point soon.

Last night we heading out to have a meal with the Abdelsalam (the workshop owner, who likes to be called “The President”) and his friends who are all into overlanding and very keen to practice their English prose on us, despite not letting us get a word in edgeways, it was a good night. The host’s house: Taha, is a old British Victorian house, and many features were very reminiscent of home, especially the cutlery we ate with. Taha explained to us that his grandfather brought the Sheffield cutlery back with him after he left England (Leeds) it’s the same set of knives my granny has. The food was not served until 11pm after much chatting and photoshoots holding shotguns/assult rifles and babies and the like (you know, the usual thing you do). Food was delicious. Although, by the time we left, military curfew was in effect (do remember Sudan is in the middle of a Civil war), and out of the 8 of us only Kim and Matt had their passports, silly of us to forget. Our convoy speeding through the empty streets of Khartoum was a riot and very surreal to have a whole city to yourselves, we were lead by the hosts back to our appartment and explained our situation at the various check-points on the way, it was very safe (and fun).

I should mention, despite Sudan being in the middle of a civil war, there seems to be NO sign of any political tension anywhere, no signs of any unrest. The military/police presence at every street corner is not discimilar to that of Egypt and by now we’re quite used to waving at the bored soldiers who are more than keen to wave back and cheer on zealously at our vehicles. I do like Sudan!

With regards to prices we pay, it’s now no longer tourist rates we pay (like we did in Egypt), it’s U.N. rates. There is a lot of U.N. here in Khartoum, and for being white we get charged at U.N. rates, not exactly fun but it’s something we have to live with.

Anyhow, not sure what to tell you about when we’re leaving from here to Ethiopia is 2 days away, and I look forward to being a little cooler than this oppressive heat we are suffering. We are sort of waiting for the injured to heal.

I’m very pleased to tell you that I’m finally in Sudan, the standard of living has gone down, the cost of living has gone up.. but finally we’re not longer in Egypt… and that is a good thing!

Back-tracking a week; we left Luxor on Thursday and arrived in Aswan a few hours later, and by this point I should mention we’re now a convoy of 8, yes eight. Dave & Stef (in the Land Rover defender), Matt & Kim (couple since Cairo), Cam & Craig (the kiwis) and Ed and I.

We arrived in the midday sun of Aswan (about 42°C), and the expression of: “hot like a hair-dryer” no longer applies, the air is so hot when moving, it’s cooler with your skin covered, or when you’re not moving.

After finding somewhere to stay the night at Adam’s Home a (sand pit 20km out of Aswan with no facilities), we rushed off to find where everything was, e.g. the ferry ticket office, traffic police station, traffic court building. I decided after the hot ride down from Luxor to ride in shorts and a t-shirt and here is where I discovered that it’s hotter riding with your skin un-covered than covered. Visor down on the helmet is more refreshing than with it open, I don’t think you can imagine the intensity.

We had a small incident with Ed loosing his only Egyptian number-plate on that trip into Aswan; which lead us to go on a wild-goose chase around Aswan looking for somewhere to re-fabricate us a set of number-plates. However, already knowing we had problems having only 1 plate (which we were issued in Alexandria), we were already interested in getting duplicates made in order for us to have less hassle at the ministry of transport. Pictures shows us at a metal workshop waiting for the paint to dry.

Saturday, we spent the entire day waiting for our paperwork to be processed in order to clear our Egyptian plates from any traffic offenses (as you cannot leave Egypt unless you’ve paid any outstanding traffic debts). This was followed by a ticket purchase for our ferry that evening as soon as we finished at the court. We met a lot of overlanders here, some we already had met in Luxor, some in Alexandria, some just new faces.

Monday, we left Aswan (only just). After waking up at dawn, with no time for breakfast we rushed off to the traffic police station, in order to hand over our Egyptian number-plates, this took us a few hours of standing around getting hot, seeing all the other overlanding types all over again. Then, from police station we drove in convoy to the Aswan high-dam port to get processed for the ferry. At this point the convoy was of about seven 4x4s, and eleven motorbikes. Imagine this being a very subtle and tranquil activity that didn’t involve the locals at all. It had a feeling that like the circus had arrived to town, everyone cheering, waving, tooting and at times all three at the same time. It was fun.

Then arriving at the port… I can tell you now, this was the most confusing charade I’ve ever beheld: go to that man at the booth there, get a paper, go to a man in an office over there, get a stamp on the paper, go back to the first guy show him the stamp, pay him xyz, then throw away the paper. Queue up to have your luggage X-Ray scanned, whilst everyone else jumps the queue, then go and see some man, get another form, fill it out, pay for it and then throw that one away (this is how it felt even if the details aren’t exactly accurate or in true order). Many, forms later, and much emptying of my wallet we were done. Eventually by dusk, having drank 3 liters of water and not eaten anything I (we) was (were) eventually through. I was dehydrated (again) and not feeling particularly good I put the luggage on the passenger ferry; which ladies and gentleman, is a joke that only one would find funny having experienced it first-hand and long since forgotten about it. People were hauling fridge-freezers, 14″ televisions (yes 20 of them all boxed), sauce-pan sets, TV remotes, you name it… it was there. And, no, they didn’t put this in the ship’s hold, this was on the deck, down the corridors, in the cabins, everywhere!! People trying to sleep everywhere… and we’re not even set sail… trying to clamber aboard this boat was the last thing you want to do at any time of the day, in any state of health, in +40°C with dehydration, a banging headache, and frustrated from a day of African paper-work clowning you around and trying to place your luggage somewhere safe, was not fun. Thankfully, Matt and Kim had some hydration sachets and accompanied with some paracetamol we were back down looking for the barge to park our vehicles on, this joke continued for another few hours until finally it was discovered that there wasn’t enough space on the car/bike barge for 3 of the bikes, mine being one of them. I ended up putting my blind faith in Mr Salah (the barge organiser man) and leaving my bike parked on a cargo barge that’s heading to Wadi-Halfa. The barge was already stacked to its loading capacity before I and two German guys (on military KTMs) zoomed our bikes on it. No need for straps here in Africa, just don’t block the way for the barge driver to get into his cab.

Back on the passenger ferry: sleeping, was a free for all, 8 of us cramped into a tiny space we managed to reserve about 1.5 metres x 2 metres with all our luggage, situated on the top deck beside the bridge. I eventually found a ladder to the roof of the bridge and made it my bed for the night, staring at the starry night, with a warm breeze i was comfortable just in my t-shirt. Although after an hour or so someone else caught onto the roof idea then more and more people started cramming on and then by about 10 we were all told to get off the roof, and again at 11 and at 12, I slept through the night quite well all things considering.

Tuesday: well waking up at 4:30am with the “call to prayer” by the most enthusiastic tannoy speaker you’ve ever heard, didn’t really shake me (despite being right under the loudspeaker), but later by about 5 or 5:30 I was up, taking photos of the sun-rise. We crawled by Abu-Simbel a few hours later not that it was all that, and by midday we at a small jetty (our final destination) of Wadi Halfa. This is where the circus jumped back into action, all of a sudden we needed to fill in forms again before we could get off the boat, and of course this queue was in the middle of the ship where everyone stood with their luggage (TVs, Fridge-Freezers, Saucepan sets, you name it). Obviously, it wasn’t this couldn’t of been done in the 17 hours before arrival, or in an office building off the boat, it had to be done then and there, holding all our luggage being shoved and pushed and with a heat and humidity intensity that makes paper floppy and ball-point pens to not work. Eventually, after much shifting about from one deck to another and passing our luggage out through the toilet window, we were on Sudanese soil.

Once on dry land, it was just a case of customs and then we were free to be extorted on a taxi run into town in a rickety Land Rover whose doors didn’t close, the steering wheel would vibrate into a wobble where the driver had to slow down for and generally gave you no confidence at all to sit in… in order to find ourselves a hotel for the night, oh yes, we went for the cheapest: 4 of us crammed into each room, launch-pad toilets with a hand flush from the watering can, showers come as a bucket and an old tin-can, and the beds are strung… with a bamboo roof. This is Africa after all!! I guess we’re finally here.

Let’s see when our bikes arrive… and if mine come with the others.

Anyhow, I’ve got to rush back to the Police station to please the captain, I seemed to have been reeled in to fix his computer and said I’d rush back. In short, this is what I’ve written, I’ll add pictures soon!!

So it’s my great news to tell you that I’ve now arrived at Luxor; all right, 2 days ago…  my first impression  whilst riding down the Neil Nile from Qina was: “Wow! Egypt has greenery!!”. However, going for a leisurely walk later, after pitching up at our campsite, and being harassed by every Egyptian we crossed paths with my growing hatred of Egypt near on critical, I decided I no longer wanted to see anything else here. So yesterday, I spent the day hiding in our campsite.

</rant>

Here’s some photos of our ride to Luxor from Hurghada:

So anyhow, after a sleep on it and comforting myself with the notion: “I’ll never have to come back here again”, I thought it only fair that I visited the Valley of the Kings with Craig. Sure enough, we didn’t get far at all before we were accosted by Egyptians following us.  We ended up using them.

So we got there just after 8:30 this morning, it was by this time already very hot. It was quite amazing to think about whilst driving up there and then the little walk up to the tombs that someone was daft enough to be looking for these things, when the rolling barren landscape looks all the same. Nuts! It’s more crazy to think about people crafting these amazing tunnels perfectly formed, beautifully decorated if the heat was anything like what it was today… and we’re not even in summer here.

The ticket we had only allowed us to see 3 of the tombs,  we went to see Thutmes IV, which was perfectly crafted, tunnels perfectly straight, floors perfectly level… then we ambled up the impossibly steep steps to see Thutmes III the queue was long, the temperature there was almost unbearable, and that was before we descended inside, once inside, the temperature must have gone up by about 10 degrees, I’m not sure if it was the heat, but I wasn’t all that impressed, the Thutmes IV was more advanced, but then that’s obvious isn’t it? (Roman numeral and all) Lastly, we went to see Tausert & Setnakht which in my opinion was the best, the wall decorations began immediately, vibrant with colour and the vaulted ceilings really gave a sense of atmosphere with all the colour, if also felt much larger. Sadly we weren’t allowed to use our cameras so the only shots I took were on the sly.

Quick description:

1. Luxor Temple, we didn’t go inside but passed it on our way to the ferry this morning,
2. Thutmes IV – luckily empty,
3. Thutmes III after coming out, just look at us, we’re completely drenched,
4. Not sure which tomb this one was, could be inside any of them they all were decorated the same like this on entry,
5. Tausert & Setnakht, see, colour!!
6. oh did i mention we have kittens on the campsite??

So yesterday we arrived in Hughada around midday, we had set off at 7am as mentioned in the previous post. (I’ve written two posts if you haven’t noticed).

(Campsite photo belongs to: Matt & Kim)

Our ride down the coast, was somewhat boring, but at the same time had it’s perks: we pulled over for a swim in the red sea, I filled my tank for 30 L.E. (£3.30), and lastly, we got to Hughada midday and got our lodgings for 25 L.E. each (£2.65) a night.

Picks of the day:

Anyhow, today we’ve been out diving.Well, personally I’ve been snorkelling but Ed and Craig went the full hog with the diving gear. I can’t tell you what reef we were off of, but it was gorgeous, and a great experience. I’m glad I only did the snorkelling, the diving gear from what we heard was a little iffy and for what I paid just for the snorkelling, it was cheap if just for the on-board lunch.

Pics of the day:

The internet still proving impossible. I’m currently writing this on Matt’s laptop’s . I am somewhat sun-burnt and a little tired, so I’m calling it a day for now. From Luxor I made the pictures bigger and added more. Enjoy!!

By the way: Today is my first day on the Malaria tablets (Doxycycline).

So since Cairo, we (the famous 6 of us), set off at 10am rode up to Ismalia to see the Suez Canal, spent a good while looking for a view point. Eventually found something similar and settled for it.

We later rode on south until dark (just past Suez) and then found somewhere to camp. Our camp of choice in the dark resulted us with a nice abandoned quay, the ground was sandy with sharp rocks but made for a good camp ground once the sharper rocks had been kicked off. We were in bed by 9…

…and woke up just before 6, set off by 7.

Picks from the day:

Hi all, I’ve now been in Cairo for 7 days!!! I have managed to get 1 visa. Woot! The bad news: tomorrow is some holiday and the Ethiopian embassy wont be open until Thursday. However, the visas will not be processed until after the weekend (keep in mind Arabic weekends start Friday and end Saturday), other bad news is that after calling Mr Salah, in Aswan, regarding the ferry for Monday, he’s informed me that it is fully booked and that we’ll have to catch the next sailing, the following Monday (18th October).

On the good side of the bad news, I met a Swedish couple in the Sudanese embassy who were collecting their visa at the same time as me, and we discussed the problem with the Ethiopian visa, they said that they were assured by the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo that the visas could be processed as easily in Khartoum. Which has filled me with confidence and added a jump to my step. This means we can leave Cairo finally tomorrow morning. We’ll head firstly to Suez, see the canal in some shape or form and then head down along the Red Sea.

I’m not sure I mentioned my awesome fantastic arabic watch yet, I should it’s an unmissable smile raiser on my trip it cost me 35LE which in real money works out to be about £3.85.

Another detail of much joy has been the kitten I almost jumped on on my was back from the Sudanese embassy.. it was as small as a fist curled up as a ball on the step of a shop. It’s a hard life for kittens in Egypt.

Anyhow, I look forward to camping on the beach and swimming in the Red Sea tomorrow!!

So, yesterday we (6 of us: Matt & Kim, Craig, Cam, Ed and I) went on a rollercoast ride with a Egyptian named Ali, who took us to his home village to meet his wife, eat his food and give us a closed-doors tour of the step pyramids at Saqqara (which are now not open to the public anymore). The day was probably the best eye-opener of our Egypt experience we’ve had so far. Aside from from my dehydration, it was a good day.

We got to dress up in Galapeas and ride in the desert and obviously see the pyramids at sun-set without any other tourists. It was great.

Sadly, the visa situation is proving a mare. My Sudanese visa was not processed today, and the others now have to wait for mine to materialize tomorrow. With lucky everything will work in time for our ferry on Monday next week.

So today, Craig and I went off to see the sphinx and ended up seeing the pyramids… and the sphinx… OK it cost me a little more than I wanted to part with, but I guess it’s not everyday you get to ride a camel in the desert, haggle with Egyptians over things you DO NOT want and end up getting them for about a third of the price and thoroughly enjoying it.

Anyhow, we’ve been mostly enjoying the sun up on the roof top pool to be honest:

Anyhow here are the pictures from today:

Tomorrow we’re moving from this hotel to another since they cannot book us here another night. However, we have already a reservation at another place where a couple who are having the problems as us on our visas. I look forward to seeing new faces!

Well, the news is that we’ve been to the Sudanese embassy this morning, and submitted our visa applications and have been told that they’ll be processed and ready for collection Monday morning. We then, need to zoom off to the Ethiopian embassy and apply for that visa. So we’re currently stuck here in hot clamy Cairo.

So the picture above is of the sub-urb of Giza from our roof-top overlooking the pyramids, I tried many different things but regardless of what I did I couldn’t get the Pyramids to show up in photos, you can see them perfectly fine with the naked eye but no joy taking the shot. Anyhow, something fun to remark is that all those roof tops in the foreground, have cattle grazing. We’ve spent ages staring at goats, chickens, even cows all on the roof, looking for shade.. it’s nuts!

Not many photos available, I just don’t feel that secure with the cameras out.

Here’s the view from the other side of the hotel roof of the Neil… i mean the Nile