Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip

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Happyfeet said:
Jy doen briljant! Sterkte met die finansies en veilig bly.
Dankie sal darem more seker weer geld hê, dan kan ek weer die pad vat. Ek kan mos nie so dae op een plek sit nie. Groete
 
Veilig ry - Jy gaan nog baie terug verlang na hierdie dae....

Geniet elke uitdaging en frustrasie  :thumleft:
 
Ek kan nie glo dat jy al so vêr is nie , ons volg jou met groot belangstelling.

Uitstekend gedoen Schalk  :thumleft:
 
HB 9 said:
Veilig ry - Jy gaan nog baie terug verlang na hierdie dae....

Geniet elke uitdaging en frustrasie  :thumleft:
Ek sal seker nog verlang, frustrasies word darem nou minder. Baie warm hier al klaar 29 grade 8.15am in die oggend. Groete
 
Update 10/07/15
It is today 2 month and one day since leaving on the trip and so much has happened.  Back to Khartoum. I eventually collected my tyres for the bike and the money from the Embassy on the Sunday which is a working day for them. That same afternoon I left as I could not afford the hotel anymore. I travelled towards Atbara as I wanted to sleep in a tented camp at Meroe where there are some Pyramids. I could not believe the amount of rubber from the rethreads of the trucks that was lying next to the road for hundreds of kilometres. Just about every metre or so there are complete rubber material which came off the truck tyres. As it was dark I missed the place where I wanted to camp and ended up about 30km South of Atbara. They had beds outside which they rented out for 3 Pound (R 6). I only had breakfast that morning and went straight to bed complete with my clothes on as you sleep in the open hot air. My bike was standing next to my bed. They played their TV until 2 O Clock and truck drivers would come in and rent a bed just to leave in the middle of the night again. A Donkey and it owner came past my bed at about 1am. I had little sleep that night and did not know what was waiting for me the next day. The next day I Left at 6.15 and headed north to Atbara. There I asked some directions  to Wadi Haifa through the Nubian Desert but and old guy recommended that I do not take that road as it is 613km long with no petrol in between and just about no people staying in between. Instead he recommended that I rather first go through Bayuda desert to Karima 283km then through the other part of the Nubian Desert to the town of Dongola. They told me to take lots of water along as there are also very few people staying in these two deserts. I filled all the empty bottles that I could find and left. The first desert was rockier and extremely hot. I decided to stop every 50km and then pour one bottle of water over myself and then to drink some water as well. It took just 20km for my cloths to dry and then the heat is back and then you have to stick it out for the next 30km again before the next stop. I carried on with these stops until I reached the town of Karima and although it was still extremely hot I think this is the only way you can cross these deserts at this time of the year as the sun is directly overhead at about 45 C. I then tackled the 2nd desert named the Nubian Desert which was just sand dunes and I had the same procedure of stopping every 50km wet my clothes as much as possible drink half a bottle of water and go again. The water that you pour over yourself feels like it burns you and you can be sure the temperature of the water gets to 45 C within 50km. The water that you drink is also hot like hell. I think if you get stuck in one of these two deserts without water you will be dead within 2 hours. You get a feeling here of solitude like nowhere else. I only saw 2 cars the whole day going the same direction than me and one overheating truck coming the other way. After over 600km for the day and two deserts with no food for two days and very little sleep I made the town of Dongola. I booked into a cheap hotel and ask the owner where I can get food. He told me that I should go across the street at 8 PM. As it was Ramadan the Muslims were getting ready to eat and they invited me to join them on their mats on the ground across the road. I told them no I am okay but they eventually dished up in a separate dish for me and brought it over to me where I was sitting at a table in the street opposite the hotel. Afterwards they gave me some strong coffee in a small cup which was quite nice. After their prayers a young guy came to chat to me and he spoke quite good English. He was working on the mines nearby. I went to bed then as I was tied after those two deserts. The next day it was also part of the Nubian Desert but the landscape was rockier and there were other cars on the road as well with filling stations and lots of watering places with clay pots. One place I stopped to buy a Yogi sip for breakfast and the owner wanted me to stay and chat some more but I had to move on. Again I did the same 50km then stop and pour water over me and also drink a bit every time. Later on I stopped for a Coke and all the Muslims were lying around on beds with one bed open. I was a bit tied and they offered me the bed (no mattress). I took a power nap and after 30 minutes I was on the road again in the unbelievable heat. I made Wadi Halfa just before sun set and met up with some truckers. Again they invited me for dinner and coffee and that night I slept in front of the trucks on my self-inflating mattress next to my bike.
The next morning I was off to the border and was there before 8am but they only open at 9am. A guy by the name of Mazir approached me as he was one of the guys that help people through the border for a fee. He knew Johan Bardenhorst from the Voetspore team he took my passport and told me he will sort it out soon. Later he came back and told me that I was supposed to register within 3 days after entering the country and now my passport will have to be send back to Dongola 400km away with forms and a photo. Mazir told me I could sleep at his house that night and at 12 I went back to Wadi Halfa to spent the rest of the day there. I went to sit at a corner shop to have a cold drink and chated to the owner. I felled tied of the heat and after 10 minutes he invited me to his house to come and have a snooze as he was going to have one as well. He switched on a powerful fan that really worked and I had a keep. When I woke up he brought me a plate of soup with meat in. These Muslims here in Sudan are just unbelievable good people. Mazir later fetched me from the shop and we went to his house and again I had to go with him for dinner in the street due to Ramadan. After dinner it was back to his house. A while later there was a knock on his door and in walked Herman and his wife Candelaria from Argentina with their 4 kids. They have been traveling around the world for 15 years and all their kids have been born on the way in different countries. They travel in a 1928 model car that is still completely original. We all slept in the garden that night on beds as Mazir was going to get all of us across the border the next day. The next day by 12 we were finished on the Sudan side and went across to the Egyptian side where a guy by the name of Kamil was waiting for us to assist us through the border and to get the Egyptian number plates for our vehicles. By 2 O’ clock we were through and on the way to the ferry to cross over to Abu Simbel. The Argentinians and I slept the night in the same hotel and we intend to spend a day or two together.
 
Photo 1 In a taxi with the red Indian on the way to the Mall
Photo 2 In the taxi on the way to collect my tyres and the money from the Embassy
Photo 3 At last my tyres from SA
 

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Photo 1 My bed for the night the first night out of Khartoum
Photo 2 Crossing the Nile at Atbara
Photo 3 Crossing the Bayuda Desert
 

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Photo 1 Crossing the desert
Photo 2 Water clay pots with cool water
Photo 3 Palm trees close to Karima at the end of the first desert
 

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Photo 1 Old Bedford truck overheating. There are thousands of these old trucks in Sudan
Photo 2 Truck broken down and the owner is sleeping on a bed in the shade of the truck. Check how many water tanks he has next to his truck
Photo 3 Crossing the Nile again at Dongola Sudan
 

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