Sudan Part II
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12th June 2004 Up early for tea and cake and then onto the Ethiopian embassy to re-new our expired visas – closed; we must return tomorrow. We use the time to email and sulk eating burgers at the reasonably priced ‘Kookie Burger’ bar in town. As a thank you to Hisham (Miami man) who kindly accommodated us in Wadi Halfa, we printed out some family photos for their walls back home. Back at the sailing club, an attempt was made to remove the out-of-control tuft on AD’s head and the tennis ball resembling growth on Ranger’s…. the clippers however, purchased on ebay, prove to be pathetic. We decide to kill time and cross over the river into Omdurman to find the Main Souk (market). After wandering around the three stalls selling watches, radios and shoes, we decide we failed to find the huge market, which apparently is difficult to miss. After driving back into Khartoum to search for a bank and discovering that one cannot get dollars anywhere in Sudan, we decide it’s time to find our saviour, Hisham, who has now arrived in Khartoum North after his crueling 50 hour train journey from Wadi Halfa. We drive over the Blue Nile bridge (headlamps must be turned off whilst crossing; the Sudanese fear US bombers spotting the bridge from the skies) into Khartoum North and eventually manage to find Hisham’s home where his wife currently lives – he is back from Miami to take her back to the US with him. We sit on the beds, in the living room, with his father (used to work on trains in Derby!) and munch popcorn and drink tea hoping for an invite to stay. In the end we present them with the photo prints, leave and crawl back for our third night at the sailing club. 13th June 2004 Up early again and rush to the embassy; no letter of introduction required which is good news and we are told we can get them this afternoon. We go and get a haircut in the ‘Gentleman Salon’ by a guy who blatantly hadn’t cut a white mans’ hair before – having a razor around the front hairline was a new experience! Back at the embassy, we sit happily in the waiting room watching the Telebubbies on ETV until we are told the Consul has been in meetings all day, is tired and has gone home! After a late afternoon of reading and moaning to some Germans, we leave the sailing club and give the Main Souk a second attempt. We walk through many stalls selling books, fruit and watches, eat a spicy beef and onion sandwich and drink some fruit ice drinks. Back at the club, we watch the lucky French beat the unfortunate English 2-1 in their first match in Euro 2004 – gutted. 14th June 2004 Awake late for breakfast under the beady eyes of Khartoum’s large black urban vultures circling high above. The next few hours are spent in the embassy waiting room for our Ethiopian visas which finally come at midday. We run to the vehicle and set off on the 400kms of decent tarmac to Gedaref, stopping briefly halfway at Wad Medini to have lunch between the diesel pumps of a Shell garage. The road is a truck route to Port Sudan scattered with burnt out fuel tankers and accidents. The roadside villages change to mud huts and we see urban baboons scavenging amongst them before AD locks the wheels and almost nails a goat, so to speak. As Gedaref emerges in the distance, we hang a right and set up camp for the night amongst the lorry tyres and fuel barrels in a ‘recommended’ fuel station used by truckers. After a hearty pasta, we watch Italy v Denmark (0-0) on a tiny screen in the forecourt with the pump attendants who lean on the pumps smoking cigarettes! We hit the rooftent early to the sounds of Bulgaria v Sweden (0-4). Distance travelled since London : 10234 km |
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As always click here to see the pics from Sudan part II!-------> Photo Link! |
