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Cairo 21.11.11

Yupp, I’m in Cairo. I thought Syria would be the sketchy part, but the situation here in Cairo is much tenser than anything I experienced in Syria.

During my stay in Egypt so far I have had my issues with the military. They don’t want me to drive off the tarmac-roads at all, and I want to very much. They didn’t want me to see the Suez-Channel either, but I did. That resulted with me spending the next six hours with different officers and generals, and of course all my stuff, my camera and laptop and everything in my car was carefully searched.

A lovely camp

Except for the military taking some patience, things have been good here so far. The military is polite and nice; they just take a lot of time, and prohibit me from camping in the wild, and that sort of ruins a lot.

My time in Jordan was terrific. If you think of going to the Middle East, Jordan is the place at the moment, I’d say (without having been to Israel).

The Sinai-Desert

Early morning from mt. Sinai

In Jordan I decided to leave the tourist-stuff, and just do the “next best”. I went to the Dead Sea, but instead of paying 15 euro to enter a beach with facilities, I found my own “beach”, and went for a bath. To bath in the Dead Sea was fantastic. I have never been good at floating on the back without sinking (my theory is that I’m too skinny), but even though I’m skinnier than ever, the salty Dead Sea kept me up brilliantly. I could even do sit-ups in the water without sinking=). The disadvantage with dropping the facilities (and thus the shower), was that my hair got stiff and white because of all of the salt. I found a river some time later, but felt for many days that I was salty.

After the Dead Sea, I found myself a lovely canyon to hike in, instead of paying the horrendous 50 euro for Petra. I even did some climbing.

To complete Jordan, I went on the road to Wadi Rum, but headed into the desert some kilometers from the tourist-place, and found a beautiful spot to camp. I had gathered firewood at the Dead Sea, so I had a campfire, and even met a Jackal.

Not so fun camp - the Egyptians easily beat the
Turks in honking....

The ferry from Aqaba to Nuweba was ok, and I think a blowout on African bureaucracy can wait until I have reached Khartoum and experienced what I think will be the “highlight” of that…

So now I’m in Cairo waiting for a Sudanese visa. It’s hard to imagine that I walked around Tahrir-Square today, got myself some buddies, and had a good time, while Norwegian newspapers report about fighting and injured people. The mood in town is tense though. Opinions seem split, but everyone urges me to take special care. Things happen very quickly.

Anyways. I’m going to try to enjoy my final week here in Egypt, and hope to be on board of the Ferry that leaves Aswan for Sudan on Monday the 28. To get to Aswan should not be an issue, but to get a spot on the barge for Wombosi seems to be the biggest obstacle. Hopefully everything works itself out, as it has this far. God is good.

P.S: I'd like to thank Elisabeth Corneliussen a lot for good advise and two bags full of guide-books. They have been used, and will continue to  be!