Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip
- Thread starter schalk vd merwe
- Start date
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
You got itLukasB9 said:
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Vir die eendjies en die skapegser said:
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Sudan
After the Egyptian side was finished I said my goodbyes to Camel and went over to the Sudan side where Mazar was waiting for me to help me through the Sudan side. These two border post were the only ones where I used a fixer and even with that it took 3 quarter of the day. After the Sudan side was finished I managed to do about a 100km into the desert from the border before Sunset. I found a place where the truckers overnight and rented a bed with no mattress for R5-00. I slept with my jeans on under the stars next to my bike with my shirt hanging over my bike. The next morning early I woke up and found my shirt hanging around a tyre a fair distance away as the wind was blowing fairly strongly in the desert that night. Beds were standing all around with truck drivers still sleeping under the open sky. I just brushed my teeth and left going South. The Zapp family has organized a free night with the owner of a fairly posh hotel in Khartoum for me. Not eating again and pushing through the desert I felled tied and found a watering point again where there are 4 clay pots with cool water in. It is a small building with the sides open with the clay pots on the one side and a bench on the other side. I then pulled the bike under the roof drank some cool water from the pots and went to lay down on the concrete bench to have a power nap in the heat of the day. I woke up later when a young guy came looking for shade as well. Although we could not understand each other he offered me a piece of dry bread. As I had not eaten yet that day I accepted his offer and drank water together with the dry bread. Later he pulled out a packet of dry two minute noodles and he offered me some of that as well. I turned that down and he started to eat it by breaking it into small pieces. It just boggled my mind on how good these people of North Sudan are and it was not the first time that they offered me food. He then left and a pickup stopped for him and he left without saying anything further. After that piece of dry bread I felled refreshed and got on the bike again to handle the scorching heat of the desert again. If I wanted to make it to Khartoum I would have to push because from where I slept the previous night to Khartoum is 840km with hardly anything in between except the town of Dongola. Once passed Dongola I past a section in the desert where hundreds of dead Camels were lying in the sand. Some of them were covered partly by the sand that was blown over them. I later heard that Muslims don’t touch dead animals making it clear why all these dead animals are left to rot like that in the sand. The reason for their demise can only be drought.
I pushed as good as I could for the rest of the day with my same ritual as before of stopping every 50 km and wet my clothes completely and also to drink a bottle of water. This really helps you to cool down. I found the roads running North to South through the desert slightly better than the Nubian Desert that I crossed from East to West as far as the heat concerned.
I made it to Khartoum just as the sun was setting and the traffic was chaotic. I now had to find the hotel which the Zapp family said I could stay for free for one night as they arranged with the owner. Amazingly it started to rain and this was the first rain that I saw since leaving Ethiopia 2 months prior. As I had no GPS maps for Sudan I paid a guy on a small bike to take me to the hotel in question. When I arrived at the hotel at about 8 pm I ask for the owner but instead was told that he is in America and the manager very rudely said that he knew nothing about the free night and that I would have to pay the full price of about R800 for the night. He looked me up and down as if I was a piece of trash although sleeping the previous night in my clothes I suppose I looked a bit of a sore eye. I then left to look for a cheaper place but to no avail. A guy at a petrol pump offered that I could sleep there next to the pumps on my mattress but as it was raining I tried some more to find a cheaper hotel. Eventually at 12 o’clock that night I found the Africa hotel at a reasonable price. It was a long day as I left that morning at about 6am and covered over 840km through the hot desert and all I had to eat the whole day was a piece of dry bread from the guy at the water pots and some Yogi Zips that I bought at a spaza shop next to the road.
The next day I was tied and decided to stay an extra day as the staff at the hotel were really nice. The following day I left early with the intention to make it to the Ethiopian border and I also wanted to go and see my old friend Mergni at a small town called Gedaref about 100km from the border. Old Mergni offered me a place to put my mattress down to sleep next to the petrol pumps when I came the other way 2 month’s prior. I arrived about an hour 15 min before the border would close in Gedaref and I went straight to the petrol station where old Mergni worked. He recognized me straight away and I bought a cold drink from him to quench my thirst. His story was still the same, he is looking for a ugly fat women as a wife and wanted to know if I know somebody like that whom he can marry in South Africa.
The next hundred kilometres to the border went quick but I decided to sleep on the Ethiopian side as I might be caught in no man’s land between borders when it is time to close.
The money exchanger organized an open air bed (no mattress) again for about R10 inside a yard where I could park my bike next to the bed. I then went to a spaza shop to have some goat meat stew. On returning I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately. At about11 pm somebody touched my feet to wake me up. It was the owner of the property and he said we will have to move my bed under cover as the rain is coming. We then moved the bed and my bike with all the luggage still on under cover. The roof consists of a wooden pole structure with plastic on top and Lala palm leaves on top of that. After moving everything the rain came down just centimetres away from head but being tied I slept like a rock.
After the Egyptian side was finished I said my goodbyes to Camel and went over to the Sudan side where Mazar was waiting for me to help me through the Sudan side. These two border post were the only ones where I used a fixer and even with that it took 3 quarter of the day. After the Sudan side was finished I managed to do about a 100km into the desert from the border before Sunset. I found a place where the truckers overnight and rented a bed with no mattress for R5-00. I slept with my jeans on under the stars next to my bike with my shirt hanging over my bike. The next morning early I woke up and found my shirt hanging around a tyre a fair distance away as the wind was blowing fairly strongly in the desert that night. Beds were standing all around with truck drivers still sleeping under the open sky. I just brushed my teeth and left going South. The Zapp family has organized a free night with the owner of a fairly posh hotel in Khartoum for me. Not eating again and pushing through the desert I felled tied and found a watering point again where there are 4 clay pots with cool water in. It is a small building with the sides open with the clay pots on the one side and a bench on the other side. I then pulled the bike under the roof drank some cool water from the pots and went to lay down on the concrete bench to have a power nap in the heat of the day. I woke up later when a young guy came looking for shade as well. Although we could not understand each other he offered me a piece of dry bread. As I had not eaten yet that day I accepted his offer and drank water together with the dry bread. Later he pulled out a packet of dry two minute noodles and he offered me some of that as well. I turned that down and he started to eat it by breaking it into small pieces. It just boggled my mind on how good these people of North Sudan are and it was not the first time that they offered me food. He then left and a pickup stopped for him and he left without saying anything further. After that piece of dry bread I felled refreshed and got on the bike again to handle the scorching heat of the desert again. If I wanted to make it to Khartoum I would have to push because from where I slept the previous night to Khartoum is 840km with hardly anything in between except the town of Dongola. Once passed Dongola I past a section in the desert where hundreds of dead Camels were lying in the sand. Some of them were covered partly by the sand that was blown over them. I later heard that Muslims don’t touch dead animals making it clear why all these dead animals are left to rot like that in the sand. The reason for their demise can only be drought.
I pushed as good as I could for the rest of the day with my same ritual as before of stopping every 50 km and wet my clothes completely and also to drink a bottle of water. This really helps you to cool down. I found the roads running North to South through the desert slightly better than the Nubian Desert that I crossed from East to West as far as the heat concerned.
I made it to Khartoum just as the sun was setting and the traffic was chaotic. I now had to find the hotel which the Zapp family said I could stay for free for one night as they arranged with the owner. Amazingly it started to rain and this was the first rain that I saw since leaving Ethiopia 2 months prior. As I had no GPS maps for Sudan I paid a guy on a small bike to take me to the hotel in question. When I arrived at the hotel at about 8 pm I ask for the owner but instead was told that he is in America and the manager very rudely said that he knew nothing about the free night and that I would have to pay the full price of about R800 for the night. He looked me up and down as if I was a piece of trash although sleeping the previous night in my clothes I suppose I looked a bit of a sore eye. I then left to look for a cheaper place but to no avail. A guy at a petrol pump offered that I could sleep there next to the pumps on my mattress but as it was raining I tried some more to find a cheaper hotel. Eventually at 12 o’clock that night I found the Africa hotel at a reasonable price. It was a long day as I left that morning at about 6am and covered over 840km through the hot desert and all I had to eat the whole day was a piece of dry bread from the guy at the water pots and some Yogi Zips that I bought at a spaza shop next to the road.
The next day I was tied and decided to stay an extra day as the staff at the hotel were really nice. The following day I left early with the intention to make it to the Ethiopian border and I also wanted to go and see my old friend Mergni at a small town called Gedaref about 100km from the border. Old Mergni offered me a place to put my mattress down to sleep next to the petrol pumps when I came the other way 2 month’s prior. I arrived about an hour 15 min before the border would close in Gedaref and I went straight to the petrol station where old Mergni worked. He recognized me straight away and I bought a cold drink from him to quench my thirst. His story was still the same, he is looking for a ugly fat women as a wife and wanted to know if I know somebody like that whom he can marry in South Africa.
The next hundred kilometres to the border went quick but I decided to sleep on the Ethiopian side as I might be caught in no man’s land between borders when it is time to close.
The money exchanger organized an open air bed (no mattress) again for about R10 inside a yard where I could park my bike next to the bed. I then went to a spaza shop to have some goat meat stew. On returning I went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately. At about11 pm somebody touched my feet to wake me up. It was the owner of the property and he said we will have to move my bed under cover as the rain is coming. We then moved the bed and my bike with all the luggage still on under cover. The roof consists of a wooden pole structure with plastic on top and Lala palm leaves on top of that. After moving everything the rain came down just centimetres away from head but being tied I slept like a rock.
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Similar threads
