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.