This morning we all had to troop down to the Sudanese Embassy to hand over our passports to get our transit visas for Sudan. Before we did that there were some goodbyes to be said. Siobhan and Shannon would have to stay in Addis and get the passport situation sorted out. Their cab arrived and I gave Shannon a hug and Siobhan waited until last to say goodbye to me. As soon as she hugged me I just lost it, first time I've cried on this trip. She has become like my little sister, I told her not to take any s*** while I'm not there. As if that wasn't bad enough I then had to say goodbye to Rachel, who has almost become like my partner in crime, she is leaving the trip as she is sick and needs to go home to get better.

After the goodbyes we all got in cabs and headed across Addis, to this embassy, which was really no more than a fancy shack. The process was much more efficient than I ever would have imagined and after we left our passports there, we headed back to the hotel.

After arriving back at the hotel Dave sent me and Sharyn out to do some food shopping. We went around the corner and managed to get about everything he asked for, except milk and cheese, not big on dairy in Ethiopia. I even managed to buy some meat, from a shop with carcasses just hung up inside it.

We sat around at the hotel and had a bit of lunch and then we set of for Denjen, a town in the mountains, in the truck. As Sarah has to stay in Addis to get the passports back, I asked Dave if I could sit up front in the cab with him. He said I could but I would have to help him navigate out of Addis, fun I'm back in the hot seat I thought. It wasn't too hard, Addis Ababa is pretty well laid out and I didn't get us lost.

It was great being back upfront and I remembered what this felt like from my days as a tour leader. It reminded me of the freedom I once had and felt when I was with Fez and made me realise I was craving to have it back. I miss the long road stretched out in front of me, driving into the Cappadocia sunset and the seemingly endless horizon.

We drove through the mountains and around this corner and were faced with a spectacular gorge, the sun was just peeking through the clouds and the rays we shining down into the chasm before us. We got to make a stop to take some pictures. I also got to be the DJ today, so heavy metal music was blasted through the serenity of Ethiopia, I always seemed to have it up too loud, even though I was trying to keep it at a somewhat normal volume and Dave kept having to adjust it, he remarked, "You like it loud, I feel like your Dad turning it down."

We reached Dejen, which seemed a lot further from Addis than it did on the map and some people set up camp and I chose to upgrade, as it was only 50 birr for your own room with a bathroom. 50 birr is about $5. We went to the restaurant and had dinner, I had trusty spaghetti again and then went back to my room and watched Red Dwarf for a few hours. It was the first time I had had my own room since Kuala Lumpur now, something which seems like I was on another planet, twenty years ago now.