Burj Al Fateh Hotel Khartoum

... weeks in Sudan (the maximum allowed on our tourist visas). Days are filled with driving along the palm-fringed Nile, being invited into the local homes for shai (tea) and a shared meal of ful (bean stew), filling up the water tanks for the evening wash and looking at the pre-Egyptian Moroe pyramids and temples. Unlike other ancient monuments, Sudan’s relics of the past can be enjoyed in total peace – there is not another tourist or tout in sight. We walk ...

Khartoum to Wadi Halfa. First leg. Sunday 7 December First, we had to sort out conflicting information. There are two main routes from Khartoum to Wadi Halfa. One route follows the Nile for the last four hundred kilometres (Dongola to Wadi Halfa), the other follows it for the first four hundred (Khartoum to Atbara). A third option exists, and that is the one we have chosen. The most of both worlds. We wanted to visit the pyramids of Meroe. Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt but ...

... Cover her hair, it proved to be) She got in the cabin next to Tanja and showed us the hotel about 500 meters away. She gave her telephone number, in case we needed more help, and walked back by herself. Very kind indeed. The hotel overrates itself tremendously. It seems that the only justification to claim one or more stars is the availability of a colour TV set. We do not need warm water in this country, but clean tiles, sheets without holes, and enough ...

... of Wad Madani up the road. Some pointed vaguely. We took the road out of town after several suggested this was the right way, only to find the one and only direction sign in Sudan after 40km telling us we were on the wrong road. It finally took us over 4 hours to negotiate Khartoum. I awoke a few hours later to find we were pulling over. No air in the brakes and no accelerator. 7.30 and we were still 800km from Bahir Dar and Jo was due to land in 1 hour. It felt ...

It's too hot to move today. You shower and the water evaporates before it can even seep into your pores. I'm not even joking, but I wish I were. There were less bugs last night, but with no wind whatsoever it was incredibly stifling in our tent. It is very difficult to get to sleep when you are tossing and turning in your own sweat, trying to avoid minimal contact with your partner, who is also tossing and turning in his own sweat. There is nothing romantic about ...

... Your English is very good. Where did you study?" MM: "I have learning English for many years, study hard all self. I want to go abroad to live. I want to convert to Christianity so I leave Sudan and go to rich country." Us: "Oh, uh, well, you don't need to become Christian to go to another country. You can stay Muslim, that's no problem." MM: "No no no, I must change so I have more chance to go to England and Canada." Us: "No, these countries don't need you to change religion." MM ...

... the decisions. The man takes about 45 seconds to read our application, approves them for 30 day tourist status and hands them back. We go to window #2 and pay $20 each and are told to return at 3PM. Afterwards we take the long walk up to the Nile where Arvid gets caught by a couple plainclothes police officers while taking photos of the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. We had read that taking photos of the river was illegal, but could not believe ...

... Woosif, Sadig, Rodwan and many others and more tea I was invited to their village to spend the night under the stars. I had a lovely cool shower with 'luxury' soap and changed into a freshly laundered Jallabat (apologies, I am transliterating myself) that Ahmed's father, at whose house we were all staying, had lent me to wear. He afterwards insisted I keep it, as I looked so good in it, he said! We watched football on television with ...

WORK WHINERS 7 Canada's rank among 23 countries in a survey rating the "whininess" of workers. The French came out on top, followed by the British and Swedish, who tied for second. U.S. workers were next. FDS International Ltd. surveyed close to 14,000 workers

... I will leave this office and head to the airport, mobile-less, powerless to get anything more work done ... deliverance! Since January, a very strange thing has happened in that I've become a workaholic, which I thought was pretty cool since I've always admired workaholics for their endurance and determination. Turns out, it's not so cool and there are some reasons it's a "negative" word. Not only what I've written above ...