Nairobi

I arrived in Djibouti from Eritrea and found a cheap flight to Nairobi leaving the next day. This seemed far more preferable to spending a minimum of seven days on a bus to get to Nairobi and so I took the easy option. I arrived at the airport and got mobbed by loads of touts but shook them all off and got a taxi to very nice hostel. The first thing that struck me was how many travelers there were here, but that was very welcome after meeting very few people in Eritrea.

Within a few hours of being in Nairobi I managed to get myself some work as an extra on a Russian film set being shot in the Shaba national park in the north of the country. We drove up the next day, but our drivers spent ages sorting stuff out in Nairobi and we didn't make to the park in time to stay at the plush lodge and instead stayed an ok hotel in Isiolo. The drivers took two girls with them and we were fairly sure they had stalled us on purpose so they could stay with the girls.

We got to up early the next and made it to the film set and we all got kitted out as Russian soldiers. We were all given guns as well and one guy was handed a machine gun with live ammunition in it. We were then told that we wouldn't be able stay at the lodge in the evening and would have to go back to Nairobi. We weren't too pleased about this especially as we hadn't made it to the lodge the night before so we formed a union and refused to go on set unless we could get accommodation at the lodge and get paid more money. Our little mini-strike worked and our demands were met.

The scene we were in involved us chasing an imaginary monkey around. It was a fairly short scene but took all day to shoot. I think it may be the most boring job I have ever done. It was however good fun to be on a film set and the in evening we stayed in the lodge and had a swim in the pool and then had great food at the buffet. The best feed I have had since I've been away.

I'm back in Nairobi now where I have caught up with Dan the crazy cyclist again. Dan broke his shoulder in Ethiopia when he a had a crash on his bike. After the crash he was stoned by an angry Ethiopian mob and then put in jail for murder despite the fact no one was dead. He managed to bribe his way out and got his shoulder fixed up in Nairobi. He has been working at an orphanage here, while he recuperates, which I went and visited. Other than that I have just been relaxing in my hostel, drinking Tusker beer and eating well while I decide what to do next.

Eritrea

First port of call in Eritrea was the capital Asmara. It's a pretty nice place, the architecture is heavily influenced by Italian occupation and Asmara unlike many other towns in the country avoided heavy bombing in war with Ethiopia so most of the buildings are still in tact. At an altitude of 2300 metres and clear blue skies every day the climate here is perfect.

There isn't a great deal to do in Asmara in terms of tourist attractions, but I spent a couple of days wondering around viewing the architecture and sipping on juices and eating pastries. I wondered over to the railway station to check out the possibility of traveling on a steam train. One had just left earlier that day, but I did meet a very nice guy called Yemane who works on restoring the tracks and the steam engines. Now I'm not really a train buff (honest) but it was intersting to the steam engines; they have four in working order and are restoring a couple more. The only shame is that they hardly ever seem to be used.

From here I took the short bus ride to Keren, a couple of hours away. I spent a couple days here and visited the Maryam Dearit Chapel, a chapel that has been carved out of the inside of a large tree. My plan had been to go from here to Nakfa to visit the underground city that was built to during the war with Ethiopia, but the government aren't letting tourists go there at the moment.

So it was back to Asmara where I caught up with Yemane again, but still no steam trains running, so as I was running out of things to do I decided to pay a visit to the monastery of Debre Bizen. The monastery is a two hour a walk up a moutain from the village of Nefasit. A couple of local kids ran out of school and offered to guide me to the monastery. I politely declined their offers and off they went back to school. Then another guy started following me, imposing himself on me as my guide. He proved a lot harder to shake off. After I told him I didn't need a guide abot two hundred times, he told his long list of woes: his father was 88 and couldn't leave the house, his mother had ovary cancer. When I was unmoved by this he then revealed that he had just tested positive for HIV, and his brothers had been killed in the war. The somewhat incredulous list of mishaps contiued until I gave him 10 nakfa (thats about 30p) and he finally left me alone.

It was a very pleasant, peaceful walk up the mountain once I was finally on my own. As I reached the top the clouds came in, but I was above the cloud level and the monastery looked great above the clouds. I was admitted to the monastery and had my feet washed. I was fed and given drink and showed round the place by a young boy. I gave the monks a gift of some candles, which turned out to be a fairly useless as they now have electricity, and also donated some money for the upkeep of monastery. I was hoping to spend the night here, but for some reason they didn't seem to want to let me stay and I ended up having to scuttle back down the mountain to make it in time for the last bus back to Asmara.

After one night in Asmara I headed down to the coastal port of Masawa. Masawa was carpet bombed in the war and it hasn't really recovered. There were a lot of derelict buildings and the ones that are still standing are riddled with bullet holes. I met up with two Slovenians here, Vesna and Dusan. We had been hoping to do some diving here, but the German dive instructor had just left town the previous day and the costs were a bit prohibitive anyway. The wet season apparently had just started the day arrived, at completely the wrong time of year, so it was dull and overcast for the two days I spent here. The highlight would have to be the Sellam restaurant which served great fish cooked in a fire.

So it was back to Asmara again, after queuing three hours in Masawa to get a bus out of the place, and time to think of something else to do. After a day off, spent eating pastries and drinking juice, I met up with Vesna and Dusan again and we hired a four wheel drive to go to Dankalia, the low lying region in the south of Eritrea. We had to take a driver with us which was a bit of a shame, because he didn't seem to like us and we didn't like him either. We had a brief stop in the vilaage of Foro and continued onto Irafaeli. Not many white people make it here and we were met with a few curious glances. The villagers, apart from a few of the kids, were actually very shy and not very forthcoming - one of the only place been in Africa where no one asked me for money. We continued the same day to Galelo. This was another very small village, but for some reason unknown to us there was a huge hotel and helipad just outside the village. The hotel was pretty plush but had no customers. At just over $10 we decided to stay here for the night.

We carried on the next day to Thio, after a bit of a sulk by our driver because he wanted to return to Asmara. There is an old military base in the village which is littered with rusting vehicles. We had a bite to eat here and were served some coffee by the locals. Before leaving we left them some gifts of salt and sugar which were gratefully received. By this time we had just about enough of our driver, so we decided to cut our trip short and asked him to drive us back to Asmara. Our driver got in a mood about this as well despite the fact it was he who had originally wanted to return Asmara earlier in the day.

After a couple more days in Asmara, I was able to take the steam train to Nefasit and back. I had already traveled by road to Nefasit but it was nice to take the steam train and a more leisurely pace to take in the mountain scenery.

My last trip in Eritrea was to Barentu, a small, quiet, laid back muslim town in the west of Eritrea. If you look on a map it actually isn't that far from Kasalla in Sudan where I was two months, but because both the Sudanese and Ethiopian borders are closed it has been a long trip to get from one to the other. There wasn't a great deal to do in Barentu but it was a nice place just to hang out and sip tea in the shade. I met a German guy here and we took a bus together to the village of Tocambia. I don't think many white people get out here at all, but having said that we didn't cause much of a stir in the village and the people we did approach were very polite and friendly. We walked across a dry river bed to an orchard where they grew crops and relaxed in the shade for a while before heading back into the village for a quick cuppa and then we hopped on a bus back to Barentu.

On return to Asmara I met up with Yemane again and was invited to his house for the coffee ceremony where I also met his family and was treated to the traditional feed of injera.

And that was pretty much it for Eritrea. I'm back in Asmara and will fly back to Djibouti tomorrow, upon which I will have to decide where to go next. I came a little out of my way to go to Eritrea and spent a fair bit of money getting here and wasn't entirely sure whether to come here or not. I can't say my expectations of the place were the same as my what I actually experienced here, and in terms of activities I did a lot less here than I was expecting. But it has been nice to get off the tourist trail and spend time in a country where the locals are genuinely glad that you have decided to visit their country and where there is virtually no hassle. And as with any place you will never know what it's like unless you actually go there.

Ethiopia, Part Two

One thing I forgot to mention in my last update was our last night in Mekele. Girmay took us to a local club for some traditional dancing to finish off our Timkat celebrations. We all got up and had a bit of dance, shaking our shoulders in the traditional style. A little later in the evening a local singer came on who was very popular. People kept getting up and sticking money on his head. There seemed to be a bit of competition as to who would stick the most money on forehead. Afterwards a drunk Russian got up and started singing. He was part of a group of Russians who are here training Ethiopians to fly Migs. It was a bit surreal to see a Russian singing melancholy songs at an Ethiopian festival. I got up and stuck 1 birr note to head (worth about 7p) but was outdone by a local who went and stuck an even more worthless coin on his head.

From Mekele it was a two day bus journey to Lalibela. The main draw here is the rock hewn churches. They have been carved out of the rock in the ground, so that the rooves are at ground level and do look rather impressive, especially the chuch of Saint George. Lalibela was also notable for its lack of fruit and pastries. Thankfully there was beer in town though. From here it was another two days on a bus to Addis Ababa, still traveling with Nick. When we first got on the bus there was a massive scrum for seats and a bit of a crush on the bus. As someone squeezed past me something didn't feel right and I realised that my wallet had gone from my pocket. Luckily because the bus was so full the thief wasn't able to get off the bus. I accused him of taking my wallet and then found it still in his hand. I took it back from him and made sure everyone on the bus knew what he had been up to - ha ha!

On arrival in Addis I can't say I was too keen to get on a bus again in a hurry. I worked out that in the previous three weeks, seven days had been spent on buses. I had to sort out my Djibouti visa, which took a few days and needed a letter of recommendation the UK embassy again, at a cost of 40 quid (more than twice as much as the cost of visa). Before coming away I had always thought that one of the roles of an embassy was there to help out its citizens when they are abroad. I now realise that the British ones, at least, seem to be in the business of robbing there own citizens blind.

Other than spending lots of time running round embassies, I also ate well in Indian and Italian restaurants, drank plenty and watched a few games of Premiership football. The locals here are mad for the premiership. I they think televise more games here than they do at home and all the kids can tell you just about everyting you could ever want to know about the league. I've met a few guys who have heard of the mighty Watford.

After Addis I went to Harar and caught up with Nick, who had gone the day before, and Sean (South Africa) and Nave (Israel) who we first met in Addis. There isn't that much to do in Harar so we spent three days doing not a lot. There was a really nice German guy in town who is the brewmaster at the local brewery, which explained why the Harar beer is the best I have had since I've been away. He invited to the brewery and showed us round, then we all got pissed for free.

The real reason for coming to Harar is to see the hyena man, who feeds the hyenas every evening. We all took it turns to feed the hyenas. It was quite strange because they were quite timid and none of us were at all scared of feeding them. It was quite a surreal experience and I had to remind myself of what I had just done afterwards.

Harar pretty much spelt the end of my first journey in Ethiopia (I will be coming back after Eritrea). From here myself and Nick went to Djibouti. Most people have never heard of this place and there's not too much to say about. It's just a necessary stop for me to pick up an Eritrean visa and Nick to get a boat to Yemen. It was actually nice to get my Eritrean visa. The consul at the embassy was really pleased I had chosen to go to Eritrea and invited me for coffee and asked me to call back when I return from Eritrea - I think the UK embassies could learn something from this. I was planning to get a boat up to Eritrea, but got very disillusioned with idea very quickly and took the easy way out and bought myself a flight, said goodbye to Nick, my travel companion of the last month and flew off to Eritrea with my expectations high.

Ethiopia, Part One

Well it's been a little a while since I updated the blog and I've now left Ethiopia, temporarily at least and am in Djibouti where the internet is usable again - hurrah! Anyway here's part one of what I got up to Ethiopia.

My first port of call was Metema which is the border town between Sudan and Ethiopia. I don't have much good to say about the place, but had to stop here for a night before moving on the next day. Well the big highlight of Metema was having a beer for the first time in God know's long. It was also my first introduction to injera, a kind of sour pancakey type thing the locals eat served with undercooked goat meat. Well I wasn't too impressed but over the last few weeks injera has grown on me although I do avoid it most of the time. Metema was also memorable for when I woke in the middle of the night to find a rat chewing a hole in my backpack to get at my stash of peanut butter.

I was quite happy to leave Metema, and leaving meant my first introduction to the fun of getting buses in Ethiopia. It doesn't matter how long or short your bus journey in Ethiopia is or what town you catch a bus from, they always leave at 6am. And to be sure of getting a seat you quite often have to be at the bus station at 5am or earlier. Incidentally time works a bit differently in Ethiopia. The days starts at 6am so this for them is midnight, then 7am our time becomes 1am Ethiopian time etc. It can be a tad confusing at first, but you get used to it after a while. They also have thirteen months in the year here and on top of that the year in Ethiopia is actually 1998. So anyway I got to the bus station at 5am (or 11pm if your Ethiopain) and then spent a joyful couple of hours waiting for the bus driver to sell everyone tickets and load stuff on to the top the bus. It all took rather much longer than it needed to. Luckily a local guy looked after me and ensured I didn't get ripped off for my bus ticket. He had also helped me out the night before when some little brat tried to overcharge me for a hotel room and give me a bad exchange rate.

Anyway I finally arrived in Gondar, after the slowest bus journey ever, later that day. Gondar is overrun with kids on the street trying to sell you stuff or "help" you in some way or another, and I met quite a few of them as I looked for a hotel room. I was a bit tired and this was all a bit of a shock after the tranquility of Sudan. I finally got a hotel and after a bit of rest realised that actually the hassle wasn't that bad and some of the kids were actually quite funny and entertaining. I spent five days in Gondar not doing much in particular. I visited the castle and met up with the crazy cyclist Dan again.

I also met Nick (UK) and Carlos (Brazil) here. The three of us headed off together to do a trek in the Simien mountains. You need a scout kitted out with Kalashnikov to trek the mountains just in case a cheetah attacks. As well as this we had a guide, cook, and two muleteers making a rather large entourage of five people for just three trekkers. Now a lot of people's idea of Ethiopia (including mine until not long ago) is of war and famine and desert. The reality is surprisingly different. I'm not sure many people realise there are mountains in Ethiopia and the Simiens are very beautiful. I also got to see the Gelada baboons which for a monkey man such as myself was very exciting indeed.

After the Simiens Carlos went to back to Gondar and I continued round the "northern circuit" with Nick, next stop Axum to see the stelae. The Stelae date back 2000 years and yet they look very modern and don't seem to have aged at all - well the ones that haven't fallen over that is. There wasn't much else to do in Axum, except eat pastries and drink juice or beer, so the next day we continued on to Mekele.

We met a local guy, Girmay, on the bus to Mekele who runs an english school there. He became our guide for our time here - somewhat of a mixed blessing. Now there isn't that much to do in Mekele, except eat pastries and drink juice or beer, but myself and Nick managed to spend four days here. On the second day with Girmay's help we visited a couple of rock hewn churches in the area. One involved a climb up a rockface to get to it (it sounds more intrepid than it was). The priest showed us the church and some humans bones as well - not sure where they came from. The rest of our time was spent in Mekele where Girmay took to his school to meet the pupils and showed us around town and generally wouldn't leave us alone.

We spent the festival of Timkat with Girmay. We ate with his family and drank some kind of alcoholic beverage that resembled pond water, and then had coffee. It was good to spend Timkat with locals and Girmay was very kind to us, even buying myself and Nick a couple of quality Ethiopia wallets when we left.

From here it was onto to Lalibela and more rock hewn churches, but that is enough for now. I will endeavour to complete the story of Ethiopia in due course...

Kassala

From Port Sudan I backed tracked to Kassala. It’s a really nice chilled out place. The people here were very friendly even by Sudanese standards and I had most of my meals paid for by people I met in town. I didn’t do much here other than wander round the market and spend one day exploring the mountains on the edge of town. I was in Kassala for New Year’s Eve, and asked around extensively about any festivities that might be going on, but was told everyone would be tucked up in bed by 11pm and sure enough that was the case so I was tucked up in bed myself and fast asleep when the new year came in.

Kassala is my last stop in Sudan before crossing into Ethiopia, and I have to say I have been really struck by the friendliness and hospitality I have experienced here. It far surpasses any other country I have been to, so I will be a little sad leave.

Port Sudan

I left Khartoum, early in the morning to take the 5am bus to Port Sudan. After lots of hassle trying to buy my ticket, and a fourteen hour bus journey, exacerbated by a bout of diarrhea I finally got to my destination. It was about 10pm when I finally got to Port Sudan and I had a lot of trouble finding a hotel as everywhere was full. Luckily a guy called Baabood drove by and gave me a lift and after taking me to a few hotels (all full) offered to put me up for the night; a very welcome bit of kindness after a long arduous day.

My plan for Port Sudan was to do some diving, but it soon became apparent that it was going to be difficult to sort this out as the dive centre in town had shut down. After a few days of phone calls trying to sort things out I decided to give diving here a miss. I stayed at Baabood’s house for my whole stay and was very kindly treated by his family. I also got pretty ill here and spent a night in the toilet with vomit coming out of my nose – very pleasant! I’m feeling much better now though. Baabood’s son and nephew, Mohamed and Ahmed, took me to the salt plant outside of town and I spent a very pleasant day there doing some fishing. This also meant that I did at least do something in Port Sudan other than get ill.

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.

Meroe

Just a couple of hours outside of Khartoum are the ancinet pyramids of Meroe, the remains of a royal cemetery from the Merotic kingdom, dating back to 300 BC. Although not as grand or imposing as the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the advantage here is that when you turn up no one else is there, well apart from the four people I traveled up there with; Jonas and Ghazala who I have traveled down from Wadi Halfa with, and James and Ben from England who I met in Khartoum. Unfortunately about 100 years ago a French guy turned up at Meroe and knocked the top off all the pyramids in the vain hope he might find some gold. It's really annoying actually because the pyramids would have been even more beautiful if still intact. But despite that the peace and quiet makes the experience a far more pleasant one than Giza.

We arrived in the late afternoon and watched the sun set behind the pyramids. Once the sun was down we set up a camp fire and spent the night in the desert and saw all the stars come out. First thing the following a morning a bunch of guys on donkeys turned up and started setting up a little market by our camp. We hoped they might have bought some tea and breakfast, but alas all they had was crappy handicrafts. We spent a bit more time around the pyramids in the morning and then hopped on top of a lorry and went back to Khartoum. All in all a very pleasant little excursion.

Wadi Halfa to Khartoum

Well I finally left Egypt a few weeks ago, via the port of Aswan to take the ferry to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. As I went through security on the Egyptian side an official saw a penknife in my back pack and apologized but said I could not take it on board the ship and confiscated it. Well I was a bit pissed off but walked through without it. On telling another traveler what had happened I was encouraged to go back and demand it back, which I did. Upon doing so the guy gave me the knife back without any argument. The cheeky fucker was just trying to nick it! Well perhaps that was a fitting send off from the country of scams and hassles. Good riddance I say.

We got on the ferry at 10am but it was another eight hours before the ship was finally loaded up and ready go. We went up on the top deck found a patch floor and put our sleeping bags down. There were just a handful of tourists on the boat, including a German couple who are biking down Africa, and an English guy, Dan, who is performing the ridiculous task of cycling from London to Cape Town. You can follow his progress, if you wish at http://www.londontocapetown.co.uk. The rest of people on board were mostly Sudanese and very friendly.

After a gruelling trip we finally got to Wadi Halfa at 2pm the following day. There really isn't anything in the town, but it was peaceful and I spent the evening sipping tea (there is no alcohol in Sudan) on street corners meeting up again with some of the locals from the boat who refused to let us tourists pay for any of the drinks. Despite there being nothing here it seems like paradise compared to Egypt. The atmosphere is just very laid back and friendly.

The next day was my first introduction to Sudanese bureaucracy, when I was obliged to register with police as all travelers are. The process involved toing and froing between different offices getting an array of stamps and signatures, handing over passport photos and, of course, coughing up money. This was unfortunately an experience I have had to go through a number times of since, on arrival at new towns and when applying for travel permits onto other towns or permits to see archeological sights.

The other little niggle with Sudan is the money. They used to have the Sudanese pound but the government, in a misguided attempt to curb inflation, divided the currency by 10 and renamed it dinar, so 100 pounds becomes 10 dinars. All the locals still quote prices in pounds and to make matters worse seem quite happy to add or remove of few zeros from the number when quoting a price, saying 2 when they mean 2000 for instance. It's a good thing everyone seems pretty honest as there is a lot of scope for confusion when you first arrive.

From Wadi Halfa I traveled onto Abri on the top a lorry with a Swedish couple called Jonas and Ghazala. There isn't too much to say about Abri, it is a quiet little town with not much going on. I ended staying an extra day because there were no buses running, but it was still nice to just to hang out and chat with locals at the hotel. We did get taken on a boat to go crocodile hunting Steve Irwin style. After being initially skeptical about our chances of seeing a croc or that there actually were any in the Nile I was surprised to see a huge croc slither off a bank and disappear into the river. No swimming in the Nile for me.

After Abri I took a Toyota truck, still with the Swedes, to Dongola. This was another long journey and our driver clearly he thought he was Colin McRae, as he sped down the desert roads terrifying us all. Dongola was another quiet laid back town. I spent a day walking out to the ruins at Kawa and then it was another long bus trip to Khartoum. It has been quite a long haul from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, so I will spend a little time here resting and more than likely be here for Christmas.

Sudan

Just a quick post to let you all know I'm now in Sudan. I'm in Khartoum at the minute where I plan to spend christmas, although it's looking like it may have to be an alcohol-free christmas with Sudan being strictly muslim. I'm having a great time in Sudan, the people here are the friendliest I've ever met and I really mean that. Well I will post more details when I get time but for now I just want to wish everyone a happy christmas wherever you may be and all the best for the new year.

The Western Desert and Goodbye to Egypt

Assuming all goes well at the Sudanese border tomorrow this should be my last post from Egypt. I am now back in Aswan awaiting the ferry that will take me up the Nile to Sudan.

Anyway after a few relaxing days in Dahab, I went back to Cairo to sort out my visa for Sudan and was pleasantly suprised to receive my visa very quickly and efficiently in just a couple of hours. I wasn't quite so pleased at the US $100 it cost me though. I had given myself a few days to sort out the visa and now found myself with a few spare days on my hands and rather than spend them in Cairo I made a trip out to the western desert and the oasis of Baharia.

Baharia itself is not such an exciting place, one the attractions being a hot spring, which is actually just a petrol powered pump spurting out hot water. I'm not entirely sure why this is thought to be a tourist attraction. But Baharia is the base to do a trip out into the white desert and spend a night under the stars. I set off with my guide Ahmed in a rather dilapadated 28 year old 4x4. Somehow the jeep made the journey into the desert and as I watched the sun set Ahmed cooked us a great meal. After dinner over a shesha he told me his tail of woe; his wife has been ill for six months. This in itself didn't seem to upset him too much, it was more the fact that in all this time he wasn't having any sex. After the sun went down the stars came out and the desert looked great lit by a half-moon.

The next day I made the journey back to Cairo and then straight onto the night train to Aswan. I have enjoyed my time in Egypt, but have to say it can be hard work at times putting up with the hassle. It seems to slowly wear you down. It is a shame that, although there are only small number people in this country trying to hassle or scam you, they are the ones you seem to meet most. I have been told that this will not be the case in Sudan so I look forward to leaving tomorrow with a sense of relief and excited expectation.

Feluccas, Luxor and Dahab

After three days confined to my hotel in Aswan, I was thankful to be feeling well enough to get out of the place. I hopped onto a felucca for which I was to spend the next two days and nights. Also on board a couple of chilled out Aussies and a Kiwi (Attila, Stu and Jenny), a grumpy German couple (names not important), our rather mad Felucca captain Mohamed, and his mate who funnily enough was also named Mohamed. In actual fact about every second bloke you meet in Egypt is called Mohamed (and I'm not exagerating) and the ones that aren't are generally called Ahmed.

The two days on board the felucca were very peaceful and relaxing, Mohamed cooked us great meals and in the evening we set up fires by the riverside while bongos were played the shesha was passed round. On the second day we pulled up by the riverside and I was entertained by a bunch of kids given their donkey a wash in the Nile. The poor donkey lay down and played dead as the kids dragged it down the bank into the river and then dragged it back out of the river back through all the mud again.

The end of the felucca trip seemed to arrive way too soon, and for the next couple of days we were ferried around a bunch more temples in Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor; you can check out the photos if you're interested. By now I was suffering from what is known as temple fatigue and didn't take in the grandeur of the magnificent ancient monuments, the one exception being the Karnak temple in Luxor which most people seemed to agree was the best of the lot. I spent one night in Luxor and have to say it as unpleasant as Aswan and I was glad to get the bus and head to the backpackers Mecca that is Dahab.

The overnight bus to Dahab was an event in itself taking seventeen hours, in cramped uncomfortable conditions, to get there. The journey would've been much quicker except for the numerous ID and ticket checks that went on. There are lots of checkpoints on the roads in Egypt, and Egyptians are very restricted as to where they can and can't travel in their own country, with very few being allowed into Dahab. Although this is not so good for Egyptains, it is good for the travellers as it means Dahab is not full people hassling you and trying to rip you off.

Dahab, on the Sinai coast, seems like paradise after the bustle and hassle of Cairo, Aswan and Luxor. I have the spent the last three days chilling out relaxing and doing plenty of scuba diving. The diving here is great and with it being low season the dive sites at some locations have been deserted. This is a great place to hang out and do absolutely nothing, which is exactly what I intend to do for the next few days.

Aswan

Only a week into my trip and already I have managed to fall ill. My own fault really as I wasn't being particulary fussy about where or what I ate, and came down with a bout of the trots. I was due to leave Aswan a couple a days ago on a felucca (an egyptian sail boat) but didn't really fancy the prospect of having to hang my arse over the side of the boat every five minutes so I have spent the last couple days recovering in Aswan. Luckily there is a pretty good hospital in Aswan with english speaking doctors and I have got some medication and am well on my way to recovery. With any luck I will be on my way again tomorrow. Getting ill is generally part and parcel of going away on a trip like this, although I had not expected to fall ill quite so soon. It can be a pretty miserable experience at the time when you are on your own in a foreign country but it usually only lasts a couple of days and once you get better you pretty much forget it ever happened.

As you have gathered I've now left Cairo and took the overnight train to Aswan. I have visited the Aswan Dam which wasn't particulary exciting and the Philae temple, which was fairly interesting. The next day I had to get up 2:45am to join a convoy escorted by armed police to make the three hour drive to Abu Simbel. I'm not sure why this convoy has to leave so early or indeed if an armed convoy is that necessary since once we were on the road it was every minibus for himself and if you were too slow you got left behind. Abu Simbel is a very impressive temple with four large statues outside and lots wall carvings inside. The temple was actually submerged under Lake Nasser when the Aswan Dam was built, and I have no idea how they managed to fish it out and plonk it an island. Anyway I was very impressed with the temple and for my money it was better than pyramids.

In the evening I returned to the Philae temple for a "sound and light show" which I went to with rather low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The temple complex looked great lit up at night. You can see the photo above; click on the photo to see more pictures.

With the sights done there isn't much else to do in Aswan, so it has been a pretty boring place to be holed up for the last two days. The hassle here is a bit worse than Cairo, and you have to haggle for absolutely everything including such things as buying a bottle of water or getting internet access. I must say I won't be too sorry to leave.

Cairo

I have been in Cairo for four days and have to say despite the hassle, congestion and pollution and I have really enjoyed it. I arrived at the airport late in the evening and after breezing through immigration got a cab into town with a complete psycho of a taxi of driver, although to be fair to him he was driving just like everyone else. Getting a cab Cairo is quite a scary affair. You really do fear for your life at some points as lane markings and traffic lights appear to have no significance whatsoever and road users appear completely oblivious to any other traffic as they tear around at 80 mph.

The people seem to be genuinely friendly and welcoming here. In fact you can't walk ten meters down the road without someone saying "Welcome!". You do get a bit of hassle, well quite a lot of hassle, as I was expecting but I have to say it's not really that bad and if you say no a few times they do leave you alone and don't get at all aggressive or nasty as I have experienced in other countries.

I have of course been to Giza and seen the pyramids which were spectacular. They are right on the edge on Cairo and the smog filled city does make for quite a strange backdrop. I also visited the Egyptian museum which is literally packed with artifacts but unfortunately also packed with visitors and noisy school children. They have some mummies on display here, it is quite eerie to see bodies that have remained intact for thousands of years.

I have spent today discovering the joys of trying to get a visa in Africa. I need to get a visa to visit Sudan. On visiting the Sudanese consul I was told that first I would need a letter recommendation from the British consul. Luckily the British consulate was just over the road so I spent two hours queuing here to find out that the British consul doesn't issue letters of recommendation but for a small fee of 200 Egyptian pounds (thats about 20 quid) I could get a letter from them saying they don't issue letters of recommendation and apparently that would do the trick. By the time I had finally gotten this letter the Sudanese consulate had of course shut. I'm booked on a train to Aswan tonight but it looks I may be returning at Cairo some point to continue this saga...