Khartoum

Khartoum, where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile to form the river Nile. You can walk out to the White Nile bridge and see the two rivers join, although it's not that great sight to see I'm afraid. I have spent over a week here in Khartoum not doing a great deal, hanging out with Jonas and Ghazala, and James and Ben two English guys I met here and Dan the cyclist, who actually claims not to be a cyclist because 'cyclists are gay'. Although it is nice enough here it isn't a particularly special place.

The highlight of my stay here was going to see the whirling dervishes in the northern part of the city. They follow a Sufi branch of Islam. Everyone gathers round in large circle and then the dancing begins in the middle, with a loud drum beat and lots of chanting. It has much more of an African feel to it than an Islamic feel if that makes any sense. The dancing and fun continues long into the night and by the end we had been dragged into the centre for a good old shindig. It was a lot of fun although pretty tiring as the dances seem to go on forever, and you are expected to chant at the top of your voice, not so easy when you're completely knackered. Well the locals there were really very pleased that we had turned up to see them, and we got to meet the head Sheik and went into the mosque afterwards for a quick pray. I will never forget how friendly and happy everyone was that we were there, definitely a big highlight of my trip.

And so came Christmas eve, and after a lot of fear that it might be a dry a Christmas Jonas and Ghazala came up the goods and managed to procure three bottles of vodka from the black market. So Christmas eve was spent in our hotel room getting wankered. At about 2am we ventured outside and found a marching band with a big drum and we walked with them for a while, then back to hotel to pass out. Oh and if anyone was worried that I might be going without any presents this year, don't worry I got a giant water melon and some cotton buds for cleaning out my ears.

A large part of Christmas day was spent in bed recovering. I did get up and have a roast chicken dinner, followed up with a snickers bar for dessert. Not quite the same as Christmas lunch at home but near enough. Now it is boxing day. I've sorted out my Ethiopian visa, and got my travel permit for the rest of Sudan (more time, money and Sudanese bureaucracy), so assuming I make the 5am bus tomorrow I will be off to Port Sudan for some diving and then should be in Ethiopia in just over week.