Day 106 - 111 - NORTH ETHIOPIA We eventually left Sudan and entered Ethiopia - a process that took an extra long time since it was a Saturday and we were now entering a Christian country who have their weekend on Saturday and Sunday. After rousing the man with the stamp from his house where he was having lunch we got through the immigration, customs and registration processes (waiting patiently at borders is something we are getting used to). It was extraordinary to see that the date stamped on our papers was 16th March 1998...Camilla's 22nd birthday! The Ehiopian's work to a Julian calendar which is seven years behind ours - they have 13 months in the year and a twelve hour clock (when we think it is 6am it is 12 o'clock in Ethiopia) - all this made it very confusing. Our first impression of being in Ethiopia was the number of people - they were everywhere. Everyone shouted "you you you" as we drove past and the vast majority of them held out their hands demanding money "give me one birr". The landscape was spectacular - lush green mountains with terraces blooming with crops - not at all what we had imagined. We had heard it is impossible to bushcamp in Ethiopia due to the number of people around but had no choice as we drove through the north towards Gonder. We had had two disturbed nights so were in need of rest and so found a hidden spot and set up camp. In the morning as we unzipped the tent there were six people standing watching us! We don't know how long they had been there, or what they had been staring at...it was quite awkward trying to get washed and dressed, go to the loo and get breakfast ready whilst every move was being watched! I suppose this is what animals feel like when people go on a safari! We drove along more bad roads but through beautiful scenery to reach Gonder - a lovely town which feels very like an Indian hill station. As we arrived in the town two teenage boys chased us to the hotel where we were going to camp in the courtyard - they told the owner they had brought us there so that they got commission! Rich went straight to a yard to get the roof rack welded and although this was a job which should have taken a couple of hours, seven hours later he was still not back. The garage insisted he paid forty dollars for a job which should have cost about ten...and when he refused they locked him in the compound! Eventually he managed to get out but still had to pay. We drowned our sorrows at a restaurant which served draught beer and the local Ethiopian food called injera - a huge grey maize pancake which tastes like a soggy bathmat. We spent the following day sorting out the dust situation in the car - making a curtain out of a groundsheet for the back door and sticking foam around the door frames - hopefully we won't have an inch of dust on everything now... Pleased to be away from the sound of mosques in Muslim countries we hoped to sleep well in Ethiopia. However, camping in the hotel courtyard we were kept awake by howling dogs and men fighting kept and then at 5.30 am every morning every one in Ethiopia seems to start their car engines and leave them running for about an hour!