Once again in civilisation and had a shower :) Driving into Khartoum we were like celebrities and waved at everyone. People are so friendly and break into a big grin when you smile and wave at them and then they yell - hello, how are you? Bit hard in moving traffic to get a 'hello, wonderful thank you' back. I think I am the biggest waver and smiler on the truck, but I just love the response from the people.

Brian (aka Germish due to living in German but being Danish) has joked that he is not coming out with me in towns anymore because I get all the attention and he doesn't get enough. I tell him that he just has to be friendlier and that I don't try to get all the attention... problem is that we mostly see men and they are mesmorised by western women. Sudanese people are so much friendlier than the Egyptians and no where near as sleazy or constantly trying to sell you stuff. They just genuinely want to say hello.

Our campsite in Khartoum is basic and the shower for the 12 of us has either a dribble of water or no water, so we are bucket showering, but after no water it is not all bad. It was hilarious when I washed my hair and let it air dry. Tegan said - wow, what have you done to your hair? Me, ahhh this is all natural - that was to describe the fluff ball on my head. Tegan burst our laughing. I have now learnt that a scarf on my head after it is air dried settles it just enough, however we have the luxury of electricity at our site so it was time to break out my straightners. Don't feel too bad as there are 2 other sets of straightners on the truck and honestly those girls have straight hair already!

Germish, Lotte and I are cooking tonight so Germish and I hit the market this morning. It was amazing, we were like celebrities. Everyone wanted to say hello and have their photo taken - got some great shots. Sorry, bit slack with uploading photos at present, but figure that everyone wants to know what I am doing when I have precious internet time and not to waste time uploading photos. Will work on putting together a slide show in coming days when I have some truck time, so watch this space - photos soon. Think I have taken about 800 so far!!

Back to the market. It was huge with seperate sections for shoes, handbags, jewellery, food, fruit, meat, etc. It is all outdoors and rather filthy but loads of fun. We got fed free cucumbers, sweets, bubblegum, am not sure what celebrities complain about - it is great being noticed by everyone and treated like royalty. The Sudanese love having their photos taken and really love when you take a close up of their face as they are expecting a long body shot and get a real shock when you show them their face so close. They also loved when I said 'wow' and giggle and repeat it over and over.

The heat is again debilitating so we are sitting in an air conditioned mall this afternoon drinking a coffee and using their free wifi. It is just too hot to be outside walking at 40`. Back to the campsite soon to make chilli concarne for 18 people and then up tomorrow morning to cook pancakes for everyone. We do cook group in groups of 3 and have to do dinner, breakfast and lunch. We have a budget and have to shop on the day we do dinner. We get free choice over what we cook, but have been warned that we will be doing lots of vegetarian meals. Any recipe ideas that can feed 18 people and done on a fire (we have pots and pans and grill) will be greatfully received. I downloaded a damper recipe so plan to do that before our time is out.

We leave Khartoum tomorrow and are headed for Ethiopia. I think we have 1 or possibly 2 bush camping nights coming up - depending on how long it takes to get our visa's at the border. Have some hotel accommodation in Ethiopia and so hope to provide an update. We have lots of activities coming up including a night in the Simien mountains which we have mules to haul our goods and are hoping to buy a goat/lamb to have on a spit roast... but we will see as afterall this is Africa!