Sudanese Pyramids

They have them here, rather small compared to the ones in Egypt, but beautifully formed, and free from touts trying to get you on Camels. Only locals enjoying their Friday evening stroll.

Alfadil's family

Staying in Argo with the family was one of the most gratifying parts of our trip so far. Lovely family of 4 boys Ahmed, Mohammed, Mahmoud & wee Hamed, Aida the beautiful mother and Alfadil the kind & wise teacher father. They took us around to visit so many friends and neighbours, we attended a village wedding (confusingly only the bride was present, the husband was in Saudi, and the ceremony was between too old men, members of the respective families) They killed a chicken for us, and the next night at a friends house they killed a pidgeon. The pidgeon tasted better. They also took us on a wee trip to some castle on the Nile, not exactly ancient but in a beautiful setting. That's where the picture is from, Mori mixing with the fellas, Alfadil on the left.

teaching in Argo

Whilst staying n Argo I was asked to help some students with their upcoming English examinations. Twas fun and an interesting wee insite into the English teaching world here. Seems the normal style here is more to lecture, and they were suprised that I would actually want to hear them speak, answer questions and so on. Very geared towards grammar points, the students were asking me to explain about conditionals and modal verbs (mainly by pointing at the text book) when they could barely string a sentance together in the simple tense. Great experience though, and getting enlarged for my c.v. I think! Picture shows me confusing some young ladies.

Chai Beauties

If you are a Sudanese lady who loses her husband, down on luck, you become a chai lady to help pay the bills. Many of them are stunningly beautiful, especially with their mysterious air of silent grief. I'd take one for my second wife if I was allowed (by laws, Mori, and one of them obviously) A beauty who makes great chai (with mint) What more could a man need?

Khartoum

After two weeks making our way along the Nile in Northern Sudan we have reached the country's capital, Khartoum. Sudan is a formidable place to visit, for the outrageous friendlyness & beauty off its people, the starkness of its deserts and the lack of comfort available in transportation! The truck through the desert from Wadi Halfa (the border town, where the boat from Egypt lands) to the town of Kerma took 20hours squatting or standing on bags of cement, so much dust, heat and emptyness. Still for all the inconvienience it felt great to be that far out, at least for the first few hours, and the people here are so welcoming it makes up for any discomfort. We stayed with a teacher and his family in the lovely little town of Argo for a few days which was a great experience, and also managed to fit in 2 weddings!
Will get some pictures sorted online in the next few days if possible, got some pretty ones of the pyramids, and the people!

A Gentalmans Pleasures

One of the delights for me of being in a cheep country is I can actually afford to have a shave at a barbers every few days. Used to do it in India long time back, and have also been able to do it in Egypt. Had an excelent shave from a chirpy christian chap in Luxor the other day. As well as the normal clippers for the head, strait razor for the bristles, he had an interesting string method which involved using fine cotton thread to rip out surplus hair on on the cheeks, ears and around the eye brows. Afwul painful, but left me smooth as a Kashmiri's sales pitch!

Enough Egypt

Tomorrow we will be catching the boat from Aswan to Wadi Halfa in the Sudan. Although we will not actually enter Sudan until tuesday, we will be leaving Egypt for all intents and purposes tomorrow. To be honest Its not a day too soon. We have enjoyed this country in parts, Dahab in Sinai, older areas of Cairo and camping in the white desert were all wonderful, but at the moment we are sick to the back teeth with the nagging dishonesty that acompanies the tourist trade in Upper Egypt. Fair enough people are gonna try and con you for Feluca trips or the like, but when the fruit sellers in the market would rather not sell to you, than sell to you at a fair price then things are just getting silly. Whether this is a consequence of what happens if you have big money tourism in a basically poor country over a long period of time, or whether Egyptians (and especially Nubians who tend to be the worst) have an especially large capacity for ripping people off, its hard to say. Whats disapointing is that the hassle here made us unwilling to put in the effort to see some of the admitadly spectacular sights just cuz of the hassle we'd have to got through to get there, and whilst there. Much better the deserted remains of Syria, slightly less dramatic maybe, but oh so much more atmospheric.
Having ranted about that, and having met so many wankers, weve also met so many nice folk, that restore some faith in the place just when I want to write it off completely! So thats that, Ill leave it with a photo of Aswan at dusk, undoubtably pretty.
Not sure when the next travel update will come, as not sure how Hitech Sudan is. I'd expect not so, but then this is 2006.

Nihonjin Yado 2

Thought Id just add a picture of Uenosanso to comeplete the story bellow. Us with Mrs Ayako Ueno, Trucha the dog and friend Kimi.

Nihonjin Yado - Japanese Hostels

Have been an intereting feature of our travels. You find them all over the world, generally the cheepest places to stay, swap info, eat comunal Japanese grub and for me to make sure I dont forget what I learnt in four years in Tokyo. Although we didnt stay in Safari, the famous hostel in Cairo, we went round for the dinners on a number of ocasions and ate well for a pitance. Not the cleanest place in the world, but a friendly home from home, and the Gyudon (Beef on Rice) was delicious. At less than $2 per person its very cheep to stay. Some other notable bargains are the hostel in Paris (Shiroimon - white gate) which is 13Euro per night including all meals, which in Paris is amazing, and the hostel we are in now which is $3 for a double with en suit. The Yado in Vina del mar, Chile (Shiomiso) is 5 mins from the local port, so you can buy very fresh fish direct from the fishermen, and take it back to the yado and have sashimi till its coming out of your ears, they have the right knives, Soy sauce and wasabi in the hosatel. The oldest one in the world is in San Paulo which is maybe the most dirty, but the ultimate has to be in Ushuaia, Tierra del fuego, Argentina, the southern most city in the world. Run by an 86 year old Japanese lady (still very genki!) who emigrated there 40 years ago. It has a proper japanese bath, lovely dog and amazing views of the surrounding sea and mountains. To reach there is a target for many travellers, and we had a great time there last year. Btw the photos are of Safari Yado, Cairo.

Around the Desert Oasis

Merhaba. Just spent a week in desert oasis' to the west of the nile valley, the so called New Valley. Bright burst of green amid some spectacular empty spaces, driving hours and passing nothing. Camping in the white desert was rather special, sleeping under the stars, oohing and ahhing at shooting stars. Ive included a couple of snaps here, for more go directly to http://photobucket.com/albums/y133/berusplants2 which is where these photos are linked from. One is obviouly me in the desert, the other is our camp at dawn in the White Desert.