Sudan where we thought finding the TV to watch the World Cup would be the hard bit

 So it's been a while since I've been able to update, this is mainly due to lack of towns/internet/electricity etc.

Our truck actually arrived in Wadi Halfa about an hour after I wrote that last post so that was good, I think everyone was pretty relieved to get on the road again.

From Wadi Halfa we headed south following the Nile. The road was much better than we expected (and much better than last time Karl had been here), apparently it's all UN money. It's a strange sight – brand new black tarmac roads stretching for miles through the desert. The next two days were pretty much spent sweating in the truck, stopping to try and find food in random small towns, wishing they sold beer at drink shacks next to the road and cooling down in the (possibly crocodile infested) Nile. We spent two nights bush camping just off the road in the desert, we slept outside under the stars and it was awesome. The second night, Alice and I painted our England flag, it was a pretty surreal experience sitting in the middle of the desert trying to hold down a towel and paint a straight line whilst not getting red paint all over ourselves. The next day was June 12^th which was England's first match against the USA, as with the two days before we continued to drive south stopping at the pyramids of Meroe. Originally we would have been in Khartoum by then but because the truck got stranded we were a few days behind schedule. Just off the side of the road was this deserted, slightly sinister, semi built new hotel complex, determined to watch the game, Mandy (who is also English) headed to find some people to ask if they knew of a town/tv close by where we would be able to camp and watch the game. The nice hotel guy said that we could sleep on the roof of the hotel and he had a huge flat screen tv with cable. We were all so excited until it got to 9.30 when the game was supposed to be starting and we were watching the same MTN advert for the umpteenth time and it turned out that the game was only on the pay per view cannels which this TV didn't have. It's funny because we thought that finding the tv would be the hard part! It was still cool to sleep on the roof of the hotel though and because there is so little around, the stars, like always, were amazingly clear.

The next day we arrived in the capital, Khartoum to our slightly sketchy campsite. Khartoum is really nothing to write home about. We got offered alcohol in our campsite which smelt like gasoline (alcohol is illegal in Sudan and is punished by 40 lashes), tried to avoid the ridiculously hot sun, went to see the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (although it was more like brown and more brown), tried to avoid taking illegal photographs (seriously the list of stuff you can't take photos of is crazy), went to a deserted 'family fun park' and got them to turn on the Ferris wheel for us and hung out at the 'air conditioned' mall which was a cool 35 degrees instead of the 50+ it was outside. I think everyone was pretty happy to leave Khartoum as there's not much there. From there we had one more night bush camping, where Briar, Matt and I climbed a huge rock to watch the sunset (I have cool pictures), I almost killed myself coming down (Briar was rushing me down as we could see the rest of the group eating) and we sweated ourselves to sleep (seriously I think this was the hottest night we had endured yet, we had to sleep in the tent because of bugs on the ground – who knew it was possible to sweat out of your ankles/elbows/shins!).

I'm running out of internet time now so will continue soon. I'm in Ethiopia at the moment where it's about 25p for a beer so I am going to find some others now and embrace that Ethiopian tradition!

Quick update from Khartoum

So two days ago we stopped in this tiny little town on the Nile to try and get some food for lunch. The owner of the only shop in town (who was Sudanease) had lived in Edinburgh for 21 years, on North Bridge which is basically round the corner from where I lived. Turns out his favourite clubs were Medina and the Bongo Club and he liked the food in Native State, he was a little disappointed as well when I told him Massa had changed its name. It was probably the most surreal conversation I've ever had.

 

 

Will write more in a few days when I have more time on the net/a better computer

Waiting waiting waiting in Wadi Halfa, Sudan

So I actually have internet in Sudan!! We're in this tiny little village and they have an internet cafe with super fast internet...crazy! I also am trying to kill some time as our truck (with the majority of our money, clothes, tents, basically everything we own) is stuck on a barge on Lake Nassar, somewhere between Aswan and here. Also, as this is Africa nobody seems to know when it will actually be arriving so we've just got to sit around all day and wait, on a positive note however I had bread and laughing cow and lemon juice for breakfast today and it was amazing. Anyone who traveled with me/had to listen to all my boring Vietnam stories will understand how exciting this is for me.

Back to Aswan then - we took a two day felucca (sailing boat) down the nile which was awesome, we got to swim in the Nile as well which is something I never thought i'd get a chance to do. The boat was cheap but the food was amazing, it was cool as well as the 'deck' was just a big mattress so we just layed there all day reading and sleeping and then at night just all got our sleeping bags out and slept out there. The two days flew by and we were all sad to get back to dry land. The night we got back we got on another boat and crossed the Nile to a local village where we had a tour of this guys house and they made us dinner. The food was amazing there as well and as the people were Nubian (as opposed to Egyptian) they were so friendly. Back at the hotel we headed up to the roof to finish off the rest of the alcohol as we couldn't take it into Sudan. We also had to say goodbye to Kate as she was leaving us in Aswan. There were quite a few of us at the beginning but as the night went on/the alcohol dwindled there were less and less people. At about 1am there were just three of us left (me, Tom and Keith) and we had about 2/3rds of a bottle of Raki (which if you haven't tried is disgusting), not to be beaten by two Aussies (Tom was ready to give the Raki to the hotel guy), I poured us all drinks and we stayed up there until we finished the bottle. I got back to my room about 3.40am, proceeded to fall out of my bed (although as the blankets were all tucked in I actually ended up getting stuck in between the side of my bed and the blanket), got back in and giggled to myself for a while and fell asleep knowing that I had to be up at 7.30am for the ferry the next day (N.B. heres a piece of advice...if you have to get an 18 hour ferry the next day, don't get drunk and stay up til 4am).

So the best way to describe the ferry is by an hour by hour run down, I was recording this on my mobile but unfortunately the battery ran out in the evening so most of it is from memory.

8am - breakfast at the hotel, we are told to get enough water to prepare for an 18 hour ferry ride
8.30am - we head to the shops, buy water and some diet cokes which we are going to save for later
9.30am - get picked up in a (semi air con) minibus from the hotel to take us to the port
9.45am - arrive at the port, it was crazy with hundreds of people just milling about all over the place with loads and loads of luggage (apparently all teh Sudanese buy stuff in Egypt to take back to Sudan).
10am - 10.30am - Passport control. This basically just consisted of us having to queue in about 5 different queues each requiring a different form/amount of money, it was a good job we had Karl directing us where to go as it would have been so overwhelming otherwise.
10.40 - get onto the ferry and rush up to the top deck to find a place in the shade (It was impossible to get cabins on the ferry so the plan was to just sleep on the top deck under the stars). We managed to get two spots underneath the lifeboats in the shade and sat down to wait for the departure. It is about 45 degrees in the sun and about 30 in the shade.
11.30am - still waiting for departure, move around a little to follow the shade
12.30pm - still waiting for departure, move around a little to follow the shade
12.40pm - decide we need something to look forward to, arrange with Alice and Briar that we will have a "Diet Coke Break' at 2pm
1pm - still no departure, decide to check out the toilets with Briar, they are nowhere near as bad as we thought.
1.15pm - bored so play shithead
1.44pm - start counting down the minutes until DC time.
2pm - DC time! It was everything we wanted and more
2.30pm - we still haven't left, play some more shithead and had to move to find more shade again
2.45pm - go to the toilet again, a man in a purple shirt slapped my arse and then high fived his friend, I stuck my middle finger up and told him to fuck off but he was too busy celebrating. I hate Egyptian men.
3pm - decide we need something else to look forward to, we find out they sell cold drinks on the boat, arrange for a Sprite break at 4.45
3.05pm - some men come up and start shouting at us, turns out they need to 'test' the lifeboat which basically involved lowering the boat into the water and getting grease all over our stuff.
4pm - we are still sitting in the port, we have had to move to the other side of the boat because the lifeboat is still in the water, we decide we should go and eat (there is a cafeteria type thing on board) partly because we were hungry but mainly because we had nowhere to sit.
4.45pm - back up on deck....Sprite time!
5pm - still waiting for departure, the sun is actually getting a little cooler, around 40 degrees
5.50pm - they have decided to (hand winch) the lifeboat back into position, we can move back to our original spot
6pm - still waiting for departure, purple shirt is playing cards next to where we are sitting and he keeps looking over.
6.35pm - WE ARE MOVING FINALLY, there is actually a bit of a let up in the heat as we get a bit of a breeze.
6.50pm - we pass a barge with our truck on....it was supposed to already be half way there so it would get there the same time as us. Obviously Africa had other plans.
7pm - dinner time, the food is suprisingly good considering how dirty the boat is.
8.30pm - time for bed, it is actually cool enough on deck to get in my sleep sheet, we arrange ourselves so the boys are sleeping on the outside and the girls in the middle. Egyptain men are not afraid to stare at Western girls, even if you are completely covered up.
10.30pm - wake up as someone is taking pictures of us sleeping....jerks.
12.00am - wake up again, the stars are amazing.
4am - Call to prayer, so loud, all the men get up, move everyone out of the way, face Mecca and pray, strange but cool sight.
8.55am - woken up as Alice was prodding me on my ass, apparently we are about to pass Abu Simbel which is this awesome temple carved out of the side of a rock, they had to move it as well when they damed the Nile which makes it even more impressive.
9am - climb up to the top of this lookout thing at the top of the boat with Matt, Charley and Galybn. Get some great pictures of the temple, also we're in the shade as well...bonus.
9.30am - 11am - hang out with Matt at the top of the lookout point, moving around to avoid the sun. Talk to a random Sudanease guy who lived in the states apparently. For some reason he appears to have a Jamacian accent.
11.20am - we can see land...woop!
11.30am - we seem to have stopped...boo
12noon - my back is sore and I'm bored, Alice and I decide to take ibuprofen and rehydration sachets to numb the pain/boredum. They work!
12.40am - get told we all have to take tests to prove we don't have swine flu. All treck down to the 'doctors'  (which appears to just be a random cabin) and have our temperture checked. Mine is apparently 34.5, Alice's was 37 or something. Pretty sure the thermometer is incorrect
12.50am - we are sill not moving and the effects of the rehyradtion sachets are wearing off, suddenly we seem to be getting attacked by thousnads and thousands of greenflies.
12.55am - can barely see for the swarm of bugs, have to head inside. Everyone is super nice and moves up so we can sit down. Already like the Sudanease people so much more than the Egyptians.
1.25pm headed back up to deck, the bugs are gone.
1.40pm - we have to go through more passport control/immigration. Fill in yet ANOTHER form.
2pm - it's too hot on deck so we go back below to chill out with the Sudanease.
2.25pm - Purple shirt is back.
2.40pm - we have started moving again. Alice and I have two more rehyrdation sachets to celebrate. People are looking at us like we are crazy, we think they think we have some kind of strange powdered alcohol.
2.55pm - YES, purple shirt got up, was staring as us and didn't realise there was a bag on the floor and has just fallen on his face....KARMA!!
3pm - we are moving again
3.05pm - we've stopped again, apparently we have hit some mud
4pm - we're moving again
5.20pm - we are in the port....we're not getting off. Apparently (I shit you not) they can't open the doors.
6.55pm - the doors have opened!
7.25pm - we have pushed and shoved our way onto dry land!!

From there we got a bus (which was an experience in itself with all the pushing and shoving, Chris basically had to be lifted on by the back of his shirt) to the customs (which involved them opening the top of my bag and sticking a red sticker on it) and then into a pickup truck to the town. Door to door we had been travelling 35 hours, we were smelly, sweaty but fairly happy.

We checked into the hotel (if you can call it that, it's basically dirt floors and 40 year old beds/sheets) had food (and amazing lemon juice) and headed to bed. Man it was so hot, I was sweating in places I didn't realise you could sweat (ankles, elbows etc.), we had a fan in the room but it didn't do much good. We got up the next morning to see if there was any news of the truck. There wasn't, Karl said we should meet back every two hours for updates.

11am - no truck
1pm - no truck
3pm - no truck
5pm - no truck
6pm - the truck will be arriving at 9am tomorrow morning.

In between the meet ups we explored the town, the peopel are lovely and a million times nicer than Egypt. Alcie and I went on a mission to find England shirts but they only had English club shirts so we decided to buy red paint and a white sheet to make a flag. It was pretty difficult but then we met this super nice man who could speak English and he took us to all the right places and then gave us a lift home in his truck ( Alice - "if this is a kidnapping, it's the worst kidnapping ever. If he starts driving us out of town we can just jump off the back). The town is also surrounded by large hills so later in the day we walked up there to see the town and watch the sunset.

I went to bed early and chose to sleep outside, it was so much better, the stars were amazing and I slept so well.

9am - Karl has gone in a taxi to get the truck!
10am - Karl is back, the barge is not here yet, someone was lying.


It's now 11am and there is still no sign of our truck.....

Air Con and McDonalds in Aswan

Yesterday we arrived in Aswan which is our final Egyptian destination. It is basically the last civilised place (i.e. town with shops and stuff) we will be until we get to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan in about 10 days, and man we are enjoying the amenities! There are no campsites here so we are staying in a really nice 3* hotel (this is all included in the trip) with a rooftop swimming pool and (wait for it....) air con in the rooms (!!), we also have a fridge which is amazing as we've got so used to drinking warm (i.e. 40degrees) water and there is hot water in the bathroom although to be honest it's so hot the thought of a warm shower makes me want to cry, it's useful for washing clothes though. I have caught up with laundry and I even painted my nails today (it's so much easier when it isn't so dusty), this evening we have to go shopping to get 6 days worth of water and lunch as there's no guarantee in Sudan we'll be passing through towns for lunch. The other thing we've been enjoying in Aswan is the air conditioned McDonalds, for 9.50 EP (which is just over a pound) you can get an ice cream cone and a large diet coke and sit in the air con for as long as you want. The one here has really nice views over the Nile as well and the toilets actually flush and have toilet paper...bliss!

Right, enough about luxuries, on our final day in Luxor we got up early (5.30am - I was not in the best of moods) to avoid the heat and hopped on a boat to cross the Nile to the Valley of the Kings. We (well I say we, I actually mean a guy called Troy who is in my group) had previously negotiated a deal with a minibus driver so we had him driving us around. The Valley of the Kings is basically a collection of tombs built by the various Egyptian rulers over a 500 year period from about 16th century BC. The tombs are just phenomenal, the fact that they were built so so long ago yet they are still intact is just unfathomable (this makes Angor Wat look like a new build!), we went in three different tombs, the first was amazing because the first part was all finished and all the walls were pained (in really bright colours) with hyrogliphics, they haven't restored it either so it's exactly how it was found (minus all the treasure obviously which was looted years ago!) unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures. The back half of the tomb was unfinished as the pharoah died early so there were hyrogliphics but they weren't coloured in and loads of the pictures were unfinished. The second tomb we went in was one of the earliest built and the hyrogliphics were so different, they basically looked like stick figures, and it was all black and white, so interesting to see how it all moved on. That tomb was so hot though (even though it was buried under the ground) and you had to walk up loads of steps to get in. It was actually cooler outside in the 45 degree heat than in the tomb! The last one (I will find out the names and add them in later) was fairly unremarkable especially after seeing the other two but it was still cool and it's just crazy to think how old these things are. We headed though the sea of market sellers (conveniently located at the end of the Valley of the Kings) but with a bit of preservation I managed to get a pretty good deal on a scarf. We headed to another temple Rameses II I think which is the second biggest, it was really cool and there were again loads of huge huge pillars and hyrpogliphics both painted on and carved into the walls. After a quick ice cream shop we headed back across the river to the sanctuary of the pool back at our campsite. 

The next day we drove all day to get to Aswan and then chilled out on the rooftop of our sweet hotel last night. Today, we headed to to Nubian Museum which is so modern by Egyptian standards and actually had some sort of air conditioning (!). There was loads to take in but the most interesting bit was about how they built a dam on the Nile in Aswan in the seventies and because of this they had to move hundreds of temples and towns so they wouldn't get flooded. The most famous of these is Abu Simbel which unfortunetly I won't be visiting but when we get the boat to Sudan we will sail right past it. 

Tomorrow we will hopefully visit another famous temple that was moved onto an Island and then we've got a 2 night boat trip down the Nile for some R&R before we head into the craziness which is Sudan. 

Sudan is going to be amazing, and so different from Egypt - we have an 18 hour ferry ride to get there and then about 5 days of desert driving and bush camping, this means no showers, no electricity and no alcohol (Sudan is completely dry) - wet wipes are going to become my best friends I think. The people in Sudan are supposed to be really nice and they're not used to tourists so there should be much less hassling (and ripping off) from people than in Egypt. There's quite a lot of alcohol on the truck which needs drinking before we get to the border so I think the boat trip may turn into a bit of a booze cruise!

Next update (hopefully) from Sudan!