FIXING PHILIP AND HIS BIKE

27 April 2008

Day 57

Dongola (Lord Hotel)

0km

SARAH: Today we fixed Philip and we fixed Philip's bike. The poor guy wasn't feeling so good this morning, which I think was due to dehydration and stress, so I gave him another rehydration sachet and Brenda and I cooked him a big tomato pasta. While he was recovering Bruce and Taco found a bike mechanic who amazingly said he could fix Philip's bike in 6 hours - 'no problem'. So we had a chilled day around The Lord Hotel in Dongola catching up on washing, photos and blog entries. It was enjoyable just milling around with locals and joining in with their laid back pace of life.

We collected Philip's bike at 4pm and for the first time that day he had a smile on his face. Although he wasn't so happy when the bike mechanic did a donut on his bike in the road to show him it was working again. I can't believe his bike is ridable again and the mechanic even welded a new bike stand on for him.

Bruce and I enjoyed some afternoon chai by the Nile River ferry crossing and sat and watched the going ons. Everyone is so friendly in Dongola. Afterwards we walked down the high street and bought some fruit, a tea strainer and tea where we were invited to join Mustav, the shop owner, for some more tea in his shop. We accepted his hospitality as he sent someone across the road to fetch us some chai. The chai is great but so sweet. Africa loves sugar!

Philip was finally back to normal and we cooked a pasta meal for dinner which we ate in our hotel room with fresh Tigerfish that Philip bought from the shop next door. I think I'm going to have to spend my Birthday travelling to Khartoum tomorrow as Philip needs to get there to fix his leaking water tank and temperature gauge. We've advised him to take the easiest and most direct route to Cape Town so that his 125cc bike makes it. Let's hope he makes it.

30TH BIRTHDAY AND DELIVERING BIKES TO KHARTOUM

28 April 2008

Day 58

Dongola - Khartoum

540Km

SARAH: I never imagined I'd have my 30th Birthday in little Dongola, but it turned out to be quite an eventful day revolving around Philip and his bike. Brenda had somehow organised me a 'cake' with chocolate sprinkles making the 30 and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me as we had tea and sweet cake in the lobby of the Lord Hotel at 7:30am. I even got some clogs on a keyring as a present!

After making a fuel stop, we left Dongola at 10am, and started out gingerly with Philip's bike. I had a great chat to my family and things were going ok with Philip's bike although we had to stop every 20mins to check the water level since his temperature gauge wasn't working. However, the day got hotter, and so did Philip's bike! When the cylinder head seal went we decided it was time we found him a lift to Khartoum. Philip was a little hesitant but we'd done enough waiting for broken bikes so Brenda and I got to work stopping cars and trucks for lifts. A pickup finally stopped with 2 young guys who were happy to take him and his bike. Before Philip knew it, his bike was being hoisted onto the back of the pickup, scraping the side. Philip didn't have any money either so we gave him 30 SP, a bottle of water, his passport and sent him on his way with two strange men. Of course they drove a lot faster than us, so that was the last we saw of Philip for a few hours.

Miraculously we caught up to the pickup on the outskirts of Khartoum and I noticed his bike had been repositioned in the back. The pickup then hit a bump, causing the wheel to slip over the edge of the pickup and I thought his whole bike was going to go with it! Seeing us behind them they stopped and announced they'd taken Philip as far as they could and a shaken Philip climbed out of the car. We then learnt that these 2 guys had stopped to roll a big fat joint and then smoked it whilst driving at 160km/hr. No wonder teetotaller Philip looked a bit startled and bewildered and no wonder his bike was half falling out!

Once again we were left with Philip and his bike on the road and once again Philip's bike would not start since he'd probably cooked the piston again. We were back to square one and it was getting dark and we'd spent the whole day driving on my 30th. By now our energy and patience was wearing thin and Philip managed to get another pickup to agree to take him and his bike in convoy behind us to the Blue Nile Sailing Club. We finally made it in one piece. Shoh - mission accomplished - we'd delivered Philip and his bike to Khartoum!

Meeting up with Andy and Noeleen again we all went out for a Birthday dinner on the Nile and to swap stories of the past few days. I had delicious grilled fish and discovered that Andy and Noeleen's transfer box had been damaged, but not too severely and everything seems ok. It's been a very eventful 30th Birthday!

CONFLUENCE OF THE NILE

29 April 2008

Day 59

Khartoum (Blue Nile Sailing Club)

0km

BRUCE: The aim of today was to get the spare seal for the swivel pin housing so we packed up camp and headed across Khartoum to a Land Rover spares place that Taco had a GPS waypoint for. It was down a little dirt side street and was a little place but well stocked. They had the seal as well as oil and fuel filters which we both needed. Whilst there we agreed with the local mechanic to do the oil and filter change for 25 SP which was great and saved us a dirty job. He also checked the diff and gearbox oil levels which was good. He offered to change the swivel pin seal too for 80 SP but I've decided to see how the leak goes when we head up tp Port Sudan. WE will be coming back to Khartoum anyway so I can get it changed then if required. After that we headed back to the Blue Nile Sailing Club and Se and I had a burger that William knocked up. It was awesome! Double patty, mozzarella, salad, egg, etc. After lunch we went to see the confluence of the two Niles and you really can see the difference between the White and the Blue Nile. The White is lighter and was flowing faster than the Blue Nile. We stopped off for ice creams on the way back to camp and turned in for an early night.

'YOUR PANTS ARE TOO SHORT TO COMPLETE THE PROCEDURE'

30 April 2008

Day 60

Khartoum - Meroe pyramids (bush camp)

234Km

SARAH: After reading the guide book we suddenly realised we had to get a travel permit to head north to Port Sudan and Kassala, so set about trying to organise this. Yesterday we'd had a laugh trying to find the Ministry of Tourism office in Khartoum and hailing a cab we all piled in and didn't know where to go. The cabbie was laughing with us and he was asking cars stopped in the traffic, to ask us, where we were going. It seems like all the official offices have moved buildings in the last year. Eventually we arrived at the non-existent building and another helpful car stopped to give us the Arabic address of the office which issues travel permits. That all happened yesterday, so today with a new address scribbled in Arabic on a piece of paper, we hailed another cab. At the Humanitarian Office we filled in forms but were then told we needed a letter from the Ministry of Tourism for our application. Another man then took one look at Bruce and Taco in their shorts and said 'your pants are too short to complete the procedure'.

At that we left and our luck turned as we found the Ministry of Tourism office. Bruce and Taco pulled their shorts down as low as possible without showing their bums and we went inside. As luck would have it Bruce met the Minster who said we don't need a travel permit but wrote us a letter just in case we needed to show this at a police check.

Khartoum has a very relaxed and safe feel to the city with a huge diversity of people. There is a mix of dark Africans with African features and lighter skinned Arabic people. Although there isn't much to do in Khartoum we liked the city and if the campsite wasn't as expensive (15$US/night) we might have stayed longer. We said our final goodbyes to Andy and Noeleen and after a brilliant fruit milkshake and hamburger Taco, Brenda, Bruce and I left, heading 4 hours north to the pyramids of Meroe. We arrived at sunset and Brenda talked the man into letting us in for half price. The pyramids were lovely to walk around and it's a pity some idiot in the 1800's decapitated most of them in an unsuccessful search for riches in their apexes. These pyramids are even older than the ones in Giza, but smaller, and we enjoyed the view.

Meeting Huge, an Irish biker who's been on the road for 1.5 years, we bush camped in the dunes behind the Meroe pyramids. Together we had tuna potatoes with salad and got an early night. Hugh is heading north along the dreaded and unforgiving road to Dongola and is worried about his slipping clutch. We swapped stories and it was a relief to have a coolish breeze instead of 40+ temps.

PORT SUDAN AND THE RED SEA

1 May 2008

Day 61

Meroe pyramids - Port Sudan (Hotel)

530Km

BRUCE: We packed up early this morning and after declining another camel ride form Abdul we said goodbye to Hugh and headed off to Port Sudan. The drive was long and uneventful and we got to Port Sudan at 6ish and went straight to the Hilton Hotel where the guide book said the dive centre was. The idea was to camp at the dive centre as Taco and Brenda wanted to do a few dives. When we arrived at the 'Hilton' the fact that its sign ad gone and the vague name stained onto the paint remained, should have tipped us off. We pulled into the car park and went into the posh reception only to be told that the Hilton was no more and neither is the dive centre. Not deterred Se asked politely if we could camp in the car park. The manager was a little taken aback and bemused but none the less showed us where we could park in the street near the security hut, but not in the grounds. While this was going on the receptionist had pulled out a flyer of a dive centre that was open and after a short telephone call we established that we could camp there and do some snorkelling (but the dive boat was in for repairs). Only thing was that they were 40km north of Port Sudan and as it was now dark we decided to check into a hotel. After much searching we checked into a crummy place that was ridiculously overpriced (60$US/room) but still the cheapest we could find and after a crappy meat pizza we turned in thinking that Port Sudan was an absolute dump.

RED TAPE AND MEETING THE GOVERNOR OF PORT SUDAN

2 May 2008

Day 62

Port Sudan- Red Sea Dive Centre Camp

34km

BRUCE: Well at last I was able to have a hot shower this morning after paying $60US for a lumpy bed in a dirty hotel room. We left the hotel and tried unsuccessfully to change money at the Hilton Hotel. Eventually we were able to change money at the Palace Hotel and Brenda called the lady at the Red Sea resort who was from Holland too.

We were not far out of town when we got to a police check point who wanted to see our travel permit!!! We explained that Khartoum said we did not need one but the man simply said ' Khartoum is Khartoum and Port Sudan is Port Sudan'. Anyway after a lot of discussing, the policeman eventually agreed to call Iman, the lady at the dive resort, and she convinced him to let us through. It was a close call and I really thought that we were heading back to Khartoum. The 30km drive there was on a tar road with massive sections of the tar missing or a dirt road with patches of tar, I'm not too sure. Arriving we were greeted by Iman, the lady who owns the place. It was not long before we saw a motorcade approach and she dashed off shrieking that the Governor was here and that she had to change.

The governor arrived in a land cruiser, escorted by 7 other vehicles including the press. There was much chaos as we were photographed with nearly his whole retinue! He asked to meet us and we had a brief chat about Sudan and what we should see. He had the same scathing comments about the first world press painting Sudan in a poor light but the longer I am here the more I see how people don't talk about the south. There are also so many aid agencies around that you just know all is just not as peaceful as they would have you believe. We have never felt threatened but I think there is some trouble (domestic) in the South that is just ignored by most of Sudan. It's such a big country it's easy to think of the problems as being far away. We had a good walk out to the reef which is about 100m from shore and saw loads of fish using Se's swimming goggles. Had a nice braai for dinner and a sheesha.

SNORKELLING AND RELAXING ON THE RED SEA

3 May 2008

Day 63

Red Sea Diving Centre

0km

SARAH: We all got a good nights rest with a cool breeze blowing and only got up at 9am. It's great to know we have nothing to do here. Hiring snorkelling equipment we walked to the reef's 6 meter drop off and did some great snorkelling with colourful fish. Brenda and I came in early as we were feeling sea sick in the choppy water. Wading in we nearly stood on a sting ray. We didn't do much for the rest of the day except relax in the shade and start planning Ethiopia. Since Brenda and Taco need to go back to Khartoum as well, to get their clutch cylinder fixed, we're going to skip Kassala and go back to Khartoum together and then into Ethiopia. They're really great people to travel with.

4 May 2008

Day 64

Red Sea Diving Centre

0km

BRUCE: Woke up this morning and saw that the tide had pushed right in so decided to do some fishing! I must be doing something seriously wrong on this trip though because again I caught nothing, only one little stickle back! It got seriously hot at midday with no shade around the cars and no wind so we went up to the main resort and chilled there, reading books. Did some car stuff this afternoon and hung a new net in the back and fitted another power socket in the front. It has been good relax but I am excited to get back on the road again and on to Ethiopia. Taco and Brenda have decided to comeback to Khartoum with us and have their clutch repaired. We will be taking Ubhejane in too to have the oil leak and vibration looked at. Early start tomorrow.

5 May 2008

Day 65

Red Sea Diving Centre - Meroe Pyramids (Bush camp)

630Km

SARAH: Well I didn't think I'd have to drive the most boring road in the world twice. Since we decided to skip Kassala we headed back to Khartoum the way we came which was on a straight road through flat desert sand. The only thing to break the journey was truck stops and the odd burnt out truck or car on the road side. We camped back at the Meroe Pyramids again and had a perfectly still night with no wind. After some sheep shops on the braai we got an early night.

BACK TO KHARTOUM

6 May 2008

Day 66

Meroe pyramids - Khartoum (Blue Nile Sailing Club)

256km

BRUCE: I was up for the sunrise this morning and it was great climbing to the top of the hill behind the camp and seeing the ancient pyramids lit by the rising sun. The peace did not last long though as a train of mules and camels arrived and set up a shop and camel riding centre next to our land rovers. We politely declined, had breakfast, filled Ubhejane from the jerry cans and hit the road! It took us about 3 hours to get to Khartoum and back to the Blue Nile Sailing Club where, loe and behold, Philip was waiting. His bike had still not been fixed and he was looking for an easy way back home with his bike to reclaim the carnet deposit. I was really sorry to see him still here as I was sure that he would have been in Addis by now but he has been let down by an old bike and poor preparation.I think that he has learnt a lot and I'm sure that he will have another go at getting to Cape Town. We were hoping that William at the Blue Nile Sailing Club had the map to the Land Rover garage that Andy had sued, but unfortunately he could not remember. So we had a place that he recommended and a place that Isam, the spares man, recommended and we decided to try William's one first. It turns out that they used to be the place but they sold the land rover franchise a year ago. So they gave us directions to the new place which was the same as the one that Isam had recommended. Along search followed and we eventually found the place down a back street after a visit to Isam for directions. Unfortunately they were closing so we have to come back tomorrow.

The good news is that Riaz has arrived in Khartoum with our book and we met him and collected it after a dinner of Willy burgers at the Blue Nile Sailing Club and some more fresh fruit juice! We also did all of our washing so we can head to Ethiopia with clean clothes and fixed Land Rovers. Khartoum and Sudan have been great but Ethiopia brings a new phase to the trip with real Africa as opposed to desert, Islamic Africa. Bring it on!