Ok, so Travelblog just attempted to auto-save my really long update, but then the browser crashed, and there was no saving. Lame. So I won't be rewritting all i just wrote. Left Dakar at 6am, avoided most of the traffic jams, but not all. Car broke down in Kaolak, and so I got to see a bit of an untouristy Senegalize city. It was ok. Still children everywhere asking for money. Crossed the border with no problems (though it is the first time anyone has checked inside my bag). Got to Banjul and found out that the Guinea consulate has moved. [View Full Entry]

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So, I got another ride from the Spanish foursome and their fun van, but they were a little less fun this day because they spent the night at the police station because of some trouble with the locals (first the girls, then the boys). And they had to pay a bribe to not be sent to jail. If you combine that with the bribes they paid at the border and each police checkpoint you could say it is much more expensive for them to travel than me. Anyways, it took me just as long to get to the center of Dakar [View Full Entry]

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Got to the border in a very small car with 11 passengers including myself. At the border I ran into a van filled with 4 spanish guys who gave me a ride to Saint Louid for free! Good deal! It was nice to ride in the back of the van with the doors open and the countryside turning very quickly from desert to savana. Slowly all the light blue robes of the moors changed into the colourful dresses of the black Africans. Lots of colours. Monkeys and almost no camels Had a beer with dinner, unfortunatley not such a good brand. [View Full Entry]

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So I have finished up my time in the desert with a camel ride in the Sahara around Chingetti. Left at 5 am and arrived in the nice quite town for about 7am. Was waived through all the checkpoints because our guide is a popular man (as he told us when he first met us). Spent most of the day relaxing and getting to know our roomates Olie from England and Corey from Calgary. They were there to checkout the city but would be leaving the next day. Me and Maarten would be doing the camel trip alone. Another amazing experience. [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Nouakchott after a 6 hour ride in a small car with a soldier and some older funny men. Learned more about the history of Mauritania by reading my history section in the Lonely Planet I have been carrying around. This country is Desert almost completely so far. I hear it gets a bit more interesting on the border with Senegal. I have been thinking more about my last two major kind of adventures: The Iron-ore train and the camel ride. The train ride was exciting as I already noted. One of the best parts about it was being near [View Full Entry]

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Well, quite the experience. First I had to wait 6 hours at the train station because the shipment was behind schedule and it was more important than the passengers (makes sensen). Then when I finally got on the train, I began to experience the dust... My god. Lots of it. In my eyes, hair, ears, mouth. In all of my luggage. 12 hours. BUT it was a lot of fun. The train was an amazin experience. Now I am in Atar and tomorrow morning I leave for my camel ride! [View Full Entry]

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Wow, So I thought I was going to go into some kind of internetless void for a week or so because I was going to be too busy traveling and being tired. But then luck fell on me! So last night it looked like I was going to end up paying 350 Dirham to get to Nouadhibou, which takes 7 hours of driving plus border time. Martin and I were debating whether or not to try and hitchhike or take the offer from the man we met at the bus stop in Dakhla. We met a really friendly taxi driver who [View Full Entry]

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So Laayoune ended up being a great city at night Streets were full of people. Food and Coffee were cheap (3 course meal was about dollars? good coffee was 50 cents). Lots of fruit and amazingly colourful dressed people. And people didnt pester you trying to sell things for crazy prices. Sat on the bus today for almost 10 hours. Lots of checkpoints. I think 6, friendly police today, many smiles and hellos. Hopefully I can get some kind of ride to Mauritania tomorrow. Lots of camels here, maybe soon I will get to eat some of their meat and drink [View Full Entry]

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Well: not too much exciting stuff has happened. Got my visa for Mauritania in Rabat after lots of politics. Had a good time in Rabat but then spent almost 24 hours in Transit to make my way to Laayoune in the Western Sahara. Didnt spend any time in Marrakesh as planned because I met a new travel companion who had already been there. I decided that it was more important to travel with someone into Mauritania then to see the tourist city of Morocco. There is a lot of desert here, a lot of camels, a lot of police checkpoints, etc. [View Full Entry]

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Ok, So Fes was awesome. Spent my last day wandering around the Medina, stopped at my favourite coffee place and said goodbye to everyone. Got to the train station. On the train. No problem. It was getting off the train that was difficult. I had my nice seat because I got on at the beginning of the train ride. When I tried to leave I realized that I had to try and squeeze through the aisle that was filled with people, produce and bags. It took a lot of effort, fortunately living in China trained me not to care about others [View Full Entry]

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