OVERLANDBIRDS ON TOUR - A DRIVE AROUND THE WORLD IN A LAND ROVER DEFENDER
SEARCH BLOG
only search overlandbirds

Composed by Nelly, Posted by Dad

31/12/2011

 
28/12/11

No blog entries from Sudan as Sudan is banned. We are trying to bypass this and i think i might have got a way round it but the net is so slow it might not be possible from my mobile. I've asked my Dad to try to update it and will send Emails with blog stuff he can post. Also if you notice the twitter box to the right of the blog page i can try to use that for daily updates in Twitter style. Fr that i need to get twitter for my phone and with a slow connection this is difficult. When i say slow, i'm talking 1992 speeds!


So we arrived in Wadi Halfa...the ferry trip was less than great. We slept
on deck and arrived to the boat early at the request of the fixer. This was
as it turns out a VERY good idea. We secured a space under one of te life
boats and this became out home for oer 24 hours. The boat gradually got more people on board. At the end there wasn't one square meter of deck space. Gangways filled, stairs sat upon and boxes piled on boxes all over. If you'd been unlucky to arrive late then you had little chance of getting anywhere to sit let alone lay down for the night. Our spot was suggested by my Mum. Thanks Mum !!! It was partially fenced off so there was little chance of being pushed out of the way which was attempted in normal Egyptian style. The middle east and africa have no concept of space, personal space of quiet. Everything is loud and everything is NOW! The push and heave and cannot queue at all. When we were boarding we were first so not much of a push but still and BIG push. When getting off we waited a long time for the rush to subside. There was to customs processes on board and one of them was as you get off so a big problem. This involved a short interview!

The trip itself was OK and we managed to get some sleep. A pretty good
nights sleep to be honest and had i not been using a very nobbly bag as my pillow i think I would have gotten 8 hours of proper sleep. IT was cold and we needed the sleeping bags. We didn't eat the free food.....our travel
companion Henning did and he said it was surprisingly OK. The restaurant wasn't though. I hate boats and they are never clean and this was a whole new level. The toilets get a 2 on the 1 to 10 toilet scale. 1 is
unusable....2 barely useable and 10 is the ones in Japan and one of the ones in a department store in Japan ! Our one at home is an 8....Karen needs to try harder. (Kelly cleans our house and is Jellys sister for those who do not know).

The barge with the car has still not arrived....
the car left Sunday at 15:00 and we departed at 17:00 Monday. We arrive in Wadi Halfa at 11am on Tuesday and the car still isn't here as i type this at 17:30 Wednesday. It may not arrive till tomorrow. I think they towing the barge with a row boat.

We got a permit to take photos for $10usd and got our permit to travel and registered as a tourist at the police station, this was £230sud (£115sud each). This took about 2 hours. We can now drive around Sudan anywhere and take photos...no Abu Simbel incidents here!


29/12/11

Another night in the hotel. Its too damn noisy. There's some unspeakable
grunts and throat clearings in the morning from 6am and these continue until all the locals have cleared their nasal passages. The toilets are 2 meters from our window.

The car is meant to be coming today. This is allegedly "for sure". Well I'm
not sure that their "for sure" means the same as it does in Formula 1.

The car came about midday and took a few hours to unload. The Customs process was easy using the fixer, allegedly the same one Ewan and Charlie used and this i believe as there's only two here. The car was untouched and we could at last sleep in the car again. A reasonably quiet night.

30/12/11

Omelette for breakfast again with the Danish biker Henning. He's almost
become part of the trip and we've just made him Spaghetti in the desert.
He's staying in the crappy hotel in Abri and we are outside of town. This
could be the last time we see him as his trip is longer than ours so unless
we run parallel in Sudan we might not see him again for a few years. We
could bump into him in South America as he also plans to go there next.

For those that need to know the new Sudan mobile is +24 99 60 11 62 38
complete with its super slow internet access. Text messages received are
free. Email is also working to the usual birdmail addresses.










Comments
    Get notifications of new Blog Entries by filling in the box below. No risk.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    TRANSLATE BLOG

    SHIPPING RoRo OR Container Shipping with IVSSUK
    $25 OFF Shipping

    Archives

    June 2020
    October 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Car Prep
    Central America
    North America
    Paperwork
    Social
    Trip Africa
    Trip Asia
    Trip Europe
    Trip Prep
    Trip South America
    Web Site

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • HOME
  • WINDOWS
  • BLOG from 2011 on
  • SHIPPING
  • About Us
  • Get in Touch
  • The Big Plan
  • PHOTOS
  • Our trip in numbers
  • How Can You Afford This?
  • The Costs
  • Fuel Costs
  • What About When You Come Back
  • Preparations
  • Medical
  • Paperwork
  • Where are we?
  • Log on to Weebly for Admin
  • VIDEOS
  • LAND ROVER FILES
  • HOME
  • WINDOWS
  • BLOG from 2011 on
  • SHIPPING
  • About Us
  • Get in Touch
  • The Big Plan
  • PHOTOS
  • Our trip in numbers
  • How Can You Afford This?
  • The Costs
  • Fuel Costs
  • What About When You Come Back
  • Preparations
  • Medical
  • Paperwork
  • Where are we?
  • Log on to Weebly for Admin
  • VIDEOS
  • LAND ROVER FILES