Back Live Again

I'm sitting up in the second floor lobby of one of the many high end, super gaudy hotels in downtown Khartoum, SUDAN. Indeed it was easy and safe to cross the south eastern dessert. My German travelling buddy and I sailed smoothly from Gonder up to Gederif Sudan in one long day. We parted ways in Gedarif where he went off to the Eritrean border crossing at Kassala, and me seven hours in air conditioned coach up to Khartoum. Three separate border security checks, and seven on route. Yes seven times on the road to Khartoum, I had to exit the coach and present my passport, travel permit, and registration in a hot dusty shack to some mildly suspicious, sleepy eyed immigration officer. I told them surely that Sudan takes more precautions against foreigners than the USA. In the end, there was only hassle, not harassment. Once when I took a picture of the sunset in front of one of the shacks, I was sternly reminded that pictures are not allowed in Sudan without a permit. Otherwise they simply wrote my name, passport number, profession, and nationality in some dusty log book and sent us on our way.

At Sudan-Ethiopia border of Metema-Galabat

Arrived in the city center yesterday afternoon around 4PM and set about finding a groovy place to sleep. Then I realized quickly that Khartoum isn't really the grooviest city on the planet. First off, to get similar quality accommodations to what I payed seven dollars for in Ethiopia, here in Khartoum the base would be $50. Food along with transport and all the other necessities are equally as out of proportion. The Sudanese pound was recently adjusted for inflation and now 2SP=1USD. This simply does not jive with the apparent poverty and quality of life I see all around me, so I can only assume I'm often paying foreigner prices. This is the classic double standard which I accept to a certain degree, but here it's a bit over the top. No worries though, I was well taken care of last night.

I checked in to the Khalil hotel which is actually more of a males only boarding house. These are called lokendas and they are the standard low budget option at 4.50 USD for a bed in a shared room. Last night, I was put in a room with three Egyptian dudes (Khalil, Hassan, and Sharif) who were in Sudan on some kind of construction based business endeavor. They were extremely friendly and took a keen interest in taking care of me. After I dropped my bag they suggested going out to their favorite Egyptian run cafe around the corner from the hotel. We ate the

classic Sudanese/Egyptian dish called ful, which is basically a bowl of brown beans with a bunch of condiments and fillers thrown on top such as egg, cheese, tomato, and really oily bland falafel balls. Sop it all up with a round of bread that is placed on the surface of the dirty plastic table. Follow bean gorge with super sugary juice drink and mysterious custard in a bowl, and yes you guessed it, wake up in agony around 3am and spend the next four hours running frantically from the the hot dingy room down the hall to the pungent hole in the floor. The porcelain squatting setups are actually physicologically beneficial, but not when it's a continual emergency situation. At last around seven, I went through the final oral trajectory and I was cured. A little low energy this morning, but extremely happy to have survived the ordeal in such a quick progression.

This morning, it also helped that I spent the morning strolling serenely down Nile Street. This street is a haven of trees and gentle breeze blowing south across the 1/2 mile wide Blue Nile before it joins the white one flowing north from Uganda. After taking a required detour around the enormous republican palace, I made it to the Blue Nile Sailing Club, the true haven where I'll pitch my tent later today and hopefully spend the rest of the weekend sailing around Khartoum. Incidentally, there is no way I would have thought to find a sailing club in Khartoum if I hadn't been gifted the Sudan Bradt guide by the french man at Belegez. In fact, this whole experience would probably be an enormous struggle without it, as only maybe 1 in 20 people in find speak a lick of English. Don't get me wrong, people are generally helpful and friendly. I'm learning Arabic by necessity and I'm certainly making my way smoothly northwards, but I gotta say it ain't nothing like the promised land I left behind.

My only need at this point is to get the train ferry connection so I can move northward to Egypt on Monday. The overland option on rubber wheels and fine sand roads through the northern dessert is not at all enticing. I tried to buy the train ticket today but of course Friday is Muslim rest day and after a 50 minute walk across the river through the industrial section of Khartoum North I was told to come back tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll take some better pictures tomorrow (without getting arrested) and update this Sudan posting with a little more optimism and appreciation for the details.