Blogs from North, Sudan, Africa - page 9

Forgot to update that I got my Visa to Ethiopia yesterday! yay.. went down again to the embassy in the morning at about 11am.. then they tell me the consul-general will not arrive till 2pm.. so i walked out and found an internet cafe to kill my time.. 130pm i was back at the embassy.. at 230pm, the guy that asked me to wait for teh consul general asked me into the office and told me to fill in the visa form.. and pay USD 20.. hey.. no need to see consul general already.. Embassy Letter of Recommendation rocks! 240pm.. they asked me to wait 30mins for my visa.. wait wait wait.. the 30mins became a full 2 hrs.. only got my passport back with the ethio visa at 445pm.. luckily they have BBCWorld on ... read more

Went back yesterday to look for my momobay.. hoping for a miracle.. and miracles being miracles.. they don't happen very often.. Mourned the entire afternoon.. evening.. and night yesterday.. couldn't sleep.. then the college kids camping at our campsite started their night activities.. night marching at 11pm.. and under all that noise.. i fell asleep.. i think i can't sleep when it's too quiet.. have to go burn all my photos in a CD.. i got lazy.. i got stingy.. going to do the prudent thing now.. burn 2 copies.. send one home.. keep one with self.. You know.. one bad thing about travelling with Dave on this 4WD thing.. is that we will have to stay at campsites either in the wild.. or at desigated campsites.. both far away from internet access.. another thing ... read more

After approx 1 week of travelling, i've finally arrived in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Let's see.. I'm beginning to lose track of dates.. this early in the trip? not good.. ok.. just looked at the calendar.. I took the ferry on the 26th.. Arrived at Wadi Halfa on the 27th.. I left Halfa on 29th.. so.. 5 days to khartoum total.. First off, Sudan is absolutely a great country to visit.. it's not dangerous.. the people here are just so simply fabulous.. friendly, helpful, jovial... good people.. beautiful country, with landscapes that seems so out of this world.. as i travel down the road, i keep getting images of Tatooine and Starship Troopers and other Sci-Fi space flicks.. travelling from the north to the capital is simply.. HOT, DRY, DUSTY, BUMPY.. and you can ... read more

We left hurriedly after the flies start attacking us again.. pttph.. pui.. .dig ear dig ear.. they are going into almost (and i say almost, not all) every hole i have.. We headed for Wawa, supposedly our first stop for the temple of soleb.. and we were aiming for Dongola by night fall.. ok.. sunset.. We passed by a village on the way to wawa, and saw this dome shape building, that looked impressive and old.. so we stopped our car and decided to take a look.. ahh.. another point for taking the 4WD instead of public bus.. my guess is that is some kind of mosque.. with a small cemetery beside it.. note the tombstones are all simple and undecorated.. mostly just rocks and sometimes just a piece of plastic.. i heard somewhere the ... read more

Wadi Halfa is a transit town.. where aeroplanes, trains and buses/trucks meet the ferry going/coming from Egypt.. It is a small town.. dusty.. at the southern edge of Lake Nasser.. the northernmost town of Sudan.. gives me an old western kind of feeling at first.. The ferry arrives in town on Tuesday noon.. and you need to register with the town's immigration office, which closes at 2pm-3pm.. The taxi ride from the ferry terminal to the town itself costs me a bluddy 500SD (Sudanese Dinars, 1 USD = 200 SD) maybe becos i was walking with some ang mohs.. there was Dave (whom I travelled with later) from South africa.. Dave from UK, who's has rode his BMW motorbike across Europe, down to Morocco, and across the north coast to Egypt, and now going to ... read more