Wednesday 30 April (day 61)

Queensday in Holland! Unfortunately no feast in Hungary. We wake up around 7 am and take a hot shower at the hostel. Admittedly, these are worthwhile showers. We have a self-made breakfast and head into town. First a long walk to Buda: up castle hill to the Hungarian National Gallery. Thousands of paintings over five floors from every era showcased. After we have our fill of paintings of old white guys and scenes of Jesus and Mary we walk back across the Danube and stroll through the shopping streets of Pest. It is springtime here and the flowers and trees are in bloom. In the afternoon we wander along the Danube past the fanciful Parliament building and through the winding streets before our early dinner at Arany Pince. We find this small cellar serving Hungarian food near the hostel. Niels has paprika chicken with dumplings, Stanley has fillet medallions with mushrooms, peas, sausage (Hungarian style) and Julia has fried goose leg with champagne cabbage and mashed potatoes. The fried goose leg is the best meal Julia has had in a long time. If you are anywhere near Budapest get to Arany Pince (1072 Budapest, Dob u. 4) near the Red Bus Hostel and get the fried goose leg! Hard to believe we only have a couple of days remaining in our trip. We could happily keep going although Eowyn has now mastered the phrases "Me do it!" and "No don't want it!" which she uses liberally so maybe it is for the best that we are ending this particular adventure soon.

Monday 28 April (day 60)

It is Orthodox Easter Monday. Anguel and kids collect us from the hotel around 10am and take us to a bakery. The entire front room of the bakery is filled with Easter cakes waiting to be collected. We have a strong coffee and smoked salmon sandwich chased by a glass of tap water – we are truly back in Europe now. Then we caravan about an hour outside of Sofia to where Anguel's family has a cottage and where we will celebrate Easter Monday with his family. We have really picked the right day to be in Sofia. The cottage is in a small village in the hills – a beautiful location. Niels and Stanley put on their overall and Anguel a flashy "Shell suit" and together they do a full oil change of the car. Work had to be conducted fast because lunch was being prepared. Lunch consists of meatballs, sausage, an amazing lamb and rice stew, salad, bread, feta cheese and a paprika sauce. Bulgarian wine and beer is flowing – the red wines are EXCELLENT. After a huge lunch we have coffee and Easter bread and something that is similar to chocolate covered baklava. After all of that we make a walk through the hills before returning to Sofia. One stop at the local super market to stock up on Bulgarian wines before going to bed.

Tuesday 29 April (day 59)

We leave Sofia early heading to Budapest 800 km away. For the border crossing into Romania we would have to go East first, so we decide to go through Serbia which is West and North and looks to be a faster route. The only consideration is that Serbia isn't part of the EU and thus not covered under our new 388 Euro insurance but we decide to chance it. The result was that we had to pay 130 Euro for insurance (valid for a month) and 30 Euro in road toll for a few hours. Scenery doesn't change much, it's just an endless road. Kilometer after kilometer we try to keep the spirits up, but Eowyn really became fed up saying: "mama…… mama……. mama…… mama…… mama…." etc. For hours, no matter what we replied in a soft understanding way or a shouting angry voice, the next word was "mama…".

At around 8 pm we arrive in Budapest trying to find a campsite, but given the busy traffic and poor maps, we decide (read "where forced") to go to a nearer hostel: Red bus. It is a quiet place conveniently located in the middle of town, but otherwise not very inspiring. But before arriving at the hostel... We drove on one of the main streets and needed to go to the left. On these streets you are only aloud to go straight or once in a while turn right. How to solve this while almost driving off the map... Stanley suggested to just make the left turn, so Niels did. Not so perfect timing, all traffic started to drive, ambulance with sirene coming to the crossing and just infront of us a police car turning on his lights... Better to make a stop at the side. Police man came to the left front door of the car, Julia being the copilot and we driving a right handed car. Police man started talking to Julia, she tried to say the right side had the driver, and the police man continued: "Madame, YOU!" but soon realized the stiringwheel... The police man asked Niels: "What do you do and where do you need to go?" He told us left turns are not aloud and gave directions to the hostel. Never met such friendly police.

Sunday 27 April (day 58)

We leave Istanbul heading to Bulgaria. The exit from Turkey is so easy we don't realize it is over until we see the Bulgaria sign. You don't even get out of the car. The Bulgaria entry is equally easy. The Immigration official (at the drive through immigration window) says "you drove from where!?" The next customs window: "you have any whiskey?" – No " you have any guns?" –No " You have any drop?" – Stanley could not answer, wondering why the officer would be interested, but Niels and Julia quickly replied: "No, we don't have drugs either". Must be the cravings that amend the hearing…"We only need to get out of the car to purchase a 'green card' – 3^rd party insurance for the EU. One month is a whopping 388 Euro!! But with no alternatives we shell out the money. We have one question on the fine print and the agent has to make some phone calls to get the answer. While we are waiting she looks at us and asks "Are you Christians?" No, it isn't possible!. We are having flashbacks to the doctor in Aswan and we stand there dumbfounded and half expecting her to launch into a Christian speech. Instead she says – today is a really big holiday (I guess explaining why it is taking time to get the answer). Really? "Which one?" we ask. She has to look it up on line because she doesn't know the English word. It turns out to be Easter Sunday. Not being diligent Christians we have no idea although we thought it was Easter in March. Maybe this is a different one? We'll have to look it up on line when we get the chance. We are heading to Sofia to meet up with Anguel, a good friend from Rwanda. He meets us on the side of the highway just before Sofia when we get there around 8pm.

Saturday 26 April (day 57)

Rest day in Istanbul. Julia heads for the Hammam (Turkish Bath). If anyone needed a Turkish bath it is us after 8 weeks driving from Kenya there is plenty of dirt accumulated. After reviewing the list of options she selects the Luxury full treatment. Any possibility for extras? Yes, the clay face mask – She'll take that too. Stanley's only comment before leaving is "why am I not surprised?".

Julia's Hammam

You leave all your clothes in the 'locker room', take a cloth wrap and enter into an enormous domed steam room and lay on a massive warm round marble slab. I lay there relaxing for a while until I heard someone barking in Turkish and looked up to see a large half naked woman with 3 teeth shouting at me. In other circumstances I would expect she might be mugging me but she obviously had no weapon and I obviously had nothing to take. This must be my bath attendant. She scrubbed and soaped until what I thought was my hard earned tan was almost completely gone. When she finished she said "wax?". Ok, I could use a bikini wax, I guess. We leave the bath area, I get wrapped in warm towels and she tells me to lie down. She comes back kneeding something that looks like a cross between tree sap and silly puddy. The she starts to "wax". It is the most painful process ever. She basically uses this sap to extract the hairs one by one and as she does it stretches into a long strand. When it gets to long she retracts it in a nun-chuck maneuver and goes at it again. The practice of Hammam is centuries old and this must be their primitive waxing treatment. Luckily I survived. Then on to the oil massage, clay mask and then back into the steam room for some more relaxing. After a couple of hours I am cleaner than I have been in months and very relaxed. My next point of business is a haircut. The wind, sand and general lack of frequent showering has left my hair in a state. I go to a salon around the corner from the hotel. The stylist asks me what I would like to do – in perfect English. I make an explanation and point out some pictures in the magazines. Little did I know that "what would you like to do?" is this guy's ONLY English. The result is a very short haircut. Niels thinks Stanley and I now make the perfect couple with our cheap, road trip, marginal quality haircuts. Unfortunately, both of them are so short there isn't much we can do but wait for them to grow out..!

Niels, Eowyn and Stanley stroll the grand bazaar in the morning hours: kilometers of small shops that sell everything that tourists potentially could buy from fine silk to carpets, from copperware to quartz vases, and from Turkish delight to shish kebabs. The small alleys made that we got lost quite rapidly, but that is exactly why we brought the GPS. Eowyn got bored rapidly and did her morning nap while seated in the rucksack.

In the afternoon we meet up for some shopping. There is so much on offer in Istanbul but it isn't cheap. We wander around looking at carpets, ceramics and trinkets. In the end Julia and Stanley end up with a carpet and by the time that is done it is almost time for dinner.

In the evening Niels went to the Hammam for the Luxury package (didn't go for the mud addition). It was just perfect to relax and it was nice and quite except for the loud echoing sound of the metal bowls falling on the floor… When everybody left it was just perfect!

Friday 25 April (day 56)

In Cappadocia there is too much to see for just 1½ day. We had to move on today but made some time free in the morning to see the Open Air Museum. These are churches, monasteries and tombs from the 15^th century together in a small area, but what made them special was that they were all carved out in the stone pinnacles! Some of the churches still have the original drawings painted directly on the walls which was an amazing sight.

Time for diving again, and this time it would be far. We pushed on to reach Istanbul to spend an extra day there. The landscape and scenery were very beautiful and Ankara seemed enormous since it took a long time to drive past. Coming to Istanbul we read that it has 16 million people living there, to have a reference point, the same amount as the whole of the Netherlands. Turkey has beautiful roads with almost no traffic until you reach Istanbul.  Today was the first day we had to use windshield wipers in 8 weeks and the first traffic jam.  We made it to the old town of Istanbul around 8pm and had to find our way around and find a place to stay – both very difficult  If you are coming to Istanbul try to make a reservation for accommodation.  We finally found one room (with a double and single bed for 35 Euro – which is a bargain) at the Nobel Hotel near the Blue Mosque.

Thursday 24 April (day 55)

When we woke up we could finally enjoy the beauty of the impressive landscape of Cappadocia. As you read everywhere, nobody was yet able to express how amazing the views are. So, when you really want to know about it, I suggest you to visit the area and see for your self!

After breakfast we went back to Kaymakli where you can go into one of the 50 (or more yet to be discovered) underground cities in the area. The underground cities where first build around 4000 years ago by the Hittites and served as a refuge in time of war. The city we visited has eight floors and approximately 800 houses in addition to many communal areas. Our guide estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 meters of tunnels. During the peace times the inhabitants lived above ground and cleaned the city underground and supply with fresh food. Everyone had to pay taxes and the richer the family, the higher the ceiling of your house underground was (and a location higher to the surface). We took a guide to show us around and tell us a bit about what all the rooms were used for. We had the guide Moustafa and were done in half an hour… A bit to fast (his excuse was the Japanese group behind us) for the € 17.50 we had to pay him but it was always nice to get a bit of information.

After an excellent lunch back with chorizo-sausages, cheese and a recommendable white wine from Lebanon at the Flintstones pension, where the rooms are carved out of the volcanic rocks, we took a walk through town. Actually, we wanted to go to the open air museum but took a wrong turn and ended up on the hills with a perfect panorama view of Göreme with the pinnacles. These rock pinnacles, in which houses were build, was formed by erosion of the softer rock with the harder rock on top of it (sometimes it is just a small stone on top). It is like what you can see with rocks on melting snow only much bigger (Ap, thanks for pointing the snow "pinnacle" to me last summer in the Alps).

Wednesday 23 April (day 54)

Julia and Eowyn woke up at 6 o'clock with a clear head and with big plans for the day. Niels and Stanley on the other hand enjoyed a great evening in Aleppo town. After so many non-alcoholic days in the Muslim world, the 6 beers pp attacked the brain cells as never before. Niels and Stanley thought that an additional viral infection must also have played a part although that illness remained only for the day. Without pity the NLL was mobilized to leave early as a long drive was ahead of us across the border into Turkey. After some moaning and pushing we left Aleppo at around 8 am. The drive to the border was quick and easy as most people in Syria don't make an early start and the road was relatively quiet. Niels was lucky as he got the backseat and managed to get an additional hour of sleep. Checking out on the Syrian side was friendly although we had to pay another 100 USD for driving a diesel engine car, same as on entry. In principal not strange to pay taxes, but on both entry and exit was a bit much, certainly if you realize that you can hardly buy diesel in Syria.

Entering Turkey was entering the first world: highly organized and luxurious buildings everywhere. The first language is Turkish, second seems to be Arabic and if they speak another language it is German.  Almost no one spoke any English at all (bit of a bummer since Julia was doing the paperwork) but everyone was in love with Eowyn (who sat in the insurance office coloring and emptying the tissue box while all the smiling insurance guys looked on).  Although it all went straightforward it still took us 2 hours to unpack everything including all boxes and unpacking the roofrack. At around 13:00 we finally left the border and still had to drive 600 km to our next destination in Cappadocia. At our slow "Landy-pace" this meant that we arrived at 22:30 in Goreme.

Tuesday 22 April (day 53)

We leave Hama late morning and make the 1 hour drive to Aleppo. The traffic in Aleppo seems even more maniacal than in Damascus. We find one room available at Zahra tar-Rabie drop off our stuff and head to the Souq! This is a very local souq with much fewer tourist stalls. If you want to stock up on souvenirs Damascus is the place to do it although Julia seemed to make out just fine with the silver jewelry and silk scarves. In the evening we stop at the Baron Hotel for a beer (or two). This old colonial building that was host to such people as Charles Lindberg and TE Lawrence (it even has the bar bill from TE Lawrence outside the bar). Eowyn sits at the bar like a natural (drinking water)! At the bar we meet up, again, with the Oasis Overland (with destination Beijing). Apparently they have the same itinerary as we have and most likely we will see them tomorrow again in Turkey.
The hotel is in a beautiful building with an internet café and the staff are helpful but our room seems to be next to a shop that is banging around oil drums and requires someone to shout the entire time. It is relatively early still so am hoping that will settle down…

Monday 21 April (day 52)

We manage to get everything on/in the car by 10am and head out of Damascus to Krak des Chevaliers (Crack de Chevrolet). This is one of the best preserved Crusader castles in the world (Duncan, you would love it!). It remains in such good condition because the Christians abandoned it, despite the fact they had 5 years provisions, so it never went through a massive attack. It sits on the top of a steep hill with magnificent views over the green valleys below. Walking through the rooms (we recommend going with a guide) you can imagine what it may have been like to live there. We drive to Hama in the late afternoon and check into the Cairo Hotel. Great place – clean rooms, hot water, and friendly staff.

Sunday 20 April (day 51)

We woke up at the campsite for another day of strolling the souq, but this time we had set goals! We took the spare tire from the roof, placed it on the front hood to make room on the roof rack, and we made a plan on the map with the first stop being souq Saroujah. The car we parked at Bab Touma gate in the Christian quarters, where the dress-code for women does not include a headscarf. When we reached the souq, we already walked for more then an hour, the legs began to get tired from yesterdays souq-marathon and the desired shopping list still long. After looking around and eating lunch in this neighborhood, that unfortunately did not have that many nice markets, we decided to go to familiar grounds.
Soon we made some good progress in old town, but needed help to carry all the stuff back to the car (20 minute walk). After the first load, the only question that arose was how to fit everything in the car and already the second load was being packed,… I would say, problem for later!Back at the campsite Stanley talked to a German couple driving a Land cruiser. He comes back with the news that diesel is a very scarce fuel in Syria due to our friend Bush. Gas stations that sill have diesel will have enormous lines of people wanting to fuel-up. Since we are almost out of diesel, about 50 liters left, an option was to buy from the campsite owner. He had a fuel truck come by to fill jerry cans. We bought 100 liters for a total of $ 33!!! After Stanley took a sip of diesel, from looking at his face it didn’t taste too good, we could siphon all into the car.

Saturday 19 April (day 50)

Shopping Day!! We get in the car and head to the Souq. The drivers in Damascus are maniacal. Traffic moves and people drive fast but there is no concept of a lane and people will pass on any side. At one point in what would appear to be a three lane road there were seven ‘lanes’ speeding down the road. There are lines on the roads but that only makes it more confusing as they don’t seem to correspond to anything. Sometimes there are three lanes demarcated by lines but one lane will be too small for a car (usually the one in the middle), sometimes the lines criss-cross diagonally across the pavement. It is as if some guy was told to “go put lines on the road” but having no concept of why one would put lines on the road they just randomly decorated the tarmac. Kenya driving has taught us well and we make it to the old town in good time and even find parking (not legal parking in many countries but it worked in Damascus).

The walk to the souq is lined with small shops selling beautiful wood carved furniture with inlay of shells, bakeries, butchers, stone carvers, tea shops, and hardware stores. Many of the shops are so small you can’t actually go in them you just stand on the sidewalk and browse and point. We stop along the way and pick up some fresh juice which we drink standing on the street and some croissants which we eat on the way. The souq is amazing. There are tourist stalls but it is very much a local souq where people come to buy whatever they need. Where we enter there are bridal shops with frothy sequined gowns, musical instruments, head scarf stalls with every imaginable color and decoration, lingerie shops offering the skimpiest of ware. That was a strange juxtaposition – the head scarf stall next to the lingerie shop which seemed to specialize in g-string and bra sets with fuzzy trim. The ones on display in the window had a tiny smiling sunflower with yellow fuzzy trim which would hardly cover anything… Moving on – spice stalls, nut vendors, pots, pans, fabric, furniture, ice cream, kids toys, and on and on and on and hundreds and hundreds of people mostly locals shopping. We wind through the first part of the souq to get to the Umayyad Mosque. We get out tickets and Julia has to put on a long robe with hood. We take off our shoes and can enter the courtyard of the great mosque. There are hundreds and hundreds of people both for tourism and praying. The Umayyad Mosque is said to be one of the most magnificent and important buildings in Islam. There are beautiful golden mosaics on the walls and ceiling of the courtyard. We are allowed to enter the enormous prayer hall (with separate sections for men and women) which has a shrine with reportedly the head of John the Baptist (who is a prophet Yehia to Muslims). There were hundreds of people but it was such a peaceful atmosphere and so beautiful. After the mosque we stop for a shawrma and then move next door for some tea and sheesha before returning to our browsing. We also stop at the Azam Palace which is a complex of buildings, courtyards and gardens built between 174 and 1752 as a private residence for the governor of Damascus. The rooms are well preserved and set up with furniture and mannequins depicting life in the palace. After a full day of browsing the souq we only have several kilos of cashews, almonds, pistachios and dates to show for it – but we know we’ll be back tomorrow…

Friday 18 April (day 49)

We drive to Amman on our way to Jerash. We are on the highway just passing through when we see “Carrefour” in bright lights. With squealing wheels we exit the highway to go shopping! With a lot of self control we make it out of there for just less than 50Euro. We continue driving to Jerash. There is a lot of produce being sold on the side of the road but the most prevalent (and popular judging from the number of cars pulled over) is something green. We try to get a look as we fly by. Green beans? Okra? Curiosity gets the better of us and we stop. It is 1.5 Dinar per kilo for whatever it is. We try one and still don’t know what it is. Something bean shaped, green and fuzzy and people can’t get enough of them. Megan?? You’ll have to let us know. In Jerash we were hoping to see the chariot racing demonstration with army formations and gladiator ‘fighting’ as the warm up. Maybe Julia thought that Russell Crowe might make a cameo appearance. Alas, it is Friday so there is only one showing and we’ve missed it. We decide to drive on to the border and cross to Syria. It is amazing the distances we can cover with the good roads and tame traffic. 600km would have taken us 3 days in Ethiopia! Jordan immigration and customs for departure is even more pleasant and efficient than on arrival. First to immigration where we pay departure tax (5JD per passport and for the vehicle), then we are stamped out by immigration and then customs stamps the carnet. The guys at customs share their pumpkin seeds with us and ask us about our trip and then we are on our way. We drive through the no mans land and Stanley wonders about the possibility of camping there (for free?). Syria Immigration is the first building. Julia, Stanley and Eowyn all have the Syria visa in a second passport and it is the only visa or stamp entered. The official takes one look and says “you have other passports”? We do and hand them over. They are looking for any evidence that we have been to Israel/Occupied Palestine (depending on who you’re talking to). If they have any evidence or even suspicion that we have been there we will be refused entry. We haven’t so we don’t expect a problem even with the double passports. We are asked to sit and wait while they review all the passports and we need to fill in some forms in duplicate. After we have completed the forms we are called back to the counter and the officer says “Go back to Jordan”. Uhhhh, what? “Go back to Jordan and get the departure stamp in the passport with the Syrian visa”. They were very pleasant about it but explained they can’t issue their stamp without a stamp from the previous country in the same passport. So we get back in the car and drive back to Jordan. They officials on the Jordan side didn’t seem surprised that we’d been turned back and asked what the reason was. They were very helpful and one of the officials at the entry gate accompanied us through the offices to explain what we needed. We had to pay the departure tax again but we had the new stamps in about 15 minutes and were on our way back to Syria.

After we get stamped into Syria we go to customs. We were met by and agent (who didn’t identify himself as an agent which was confusing because we thought he worked there) but it is not necessary at all to use an agent as the officers working there are helpful and the process straightforward. At first glance customs seemed to consist of three men sitting around a small table drinking some strange tea. They looked at our Carnet and sent us into a building. In one building there is a currency exchange and a window for the insurance and a road tax. The man at the exchange calculated (correctly!) what we would need for insurance, road tax and diesel tax. It is necessary to change that amount of money at least as you must pay in Syrian Pounds. The diesel tax is $100 and the insurance and road tax $51 for our vehicle (for 1 month which is the minimum amount of time possible to purchase). There is one final stop to get the carnet stamped and we are on our way. We make the drive to Damascus in about 3 hours. Find the campsite (after a lot of looking!) and cook up a delicious late meal with all our goodies from Carrefour. (New Kaboun Camping N33˚ 31,781; E36˚ 21,889 after Skoda Dealer).

Note: There were 3 American guys waiting at the immigration in Syria (two sleeping and one reading a book - indicating they had been there for some time)... It turns out they arrived at the crossing without a visa. We saw them the next day in Damascus and said they had been able to obtain a visa at the border but it took about 15 hours (required faxes from the Embassy, etc) so it isn’t fast but in their case it was possible.

Thursday April 17 (day 48)

The sun is shining but it is COLD.  We just put the warm jackets deep in the roof rack a couple of days ago because we haven't even thought of putting them on and they've just been in the way.  Now it is blowing wind and cold and we're only at 1,000 meters.  We make ourselves get out of warm bed (and wonder how we'll be able to live in Europe….) and head to the castle.  Karak is on the ancient caravan routes and this area (before the castle was here) was even conquered by Tutmose III and Ramses II of ancient Egypt.  The Karak castle is now most famous for its importance during the religious crusades in the 1100 and 1200s AD.  It is a massive castle with beautiful views over the entire valley and down to the Dead Sea and only costs 1JD to get in.  From there we head to the Dead Sea.  Karak is only 30km from Dead Sea and we descent 1,300 meters in 30km.  The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth (apparently) and it is hot and dry (thankfully – as we thaw out from the morning).  We stop at what we thought was Amman Beach the public access beach.  After we pay and enter the complex we see that Amman Beach is next door.  This place isn't mentioned in the guidebook and must be new.  The Leasure Resort looks a lot like the public access beach but has two swimming pools and large shower and changing rooms.  We pay 10 dinar per adult to enter and 10 dinar per adult to camp.  As we're writing this it is quiet here and very busy at the public beach.  If you are looking for a place to camp it may be with checking the public beach (cheaper).  We went swimming in the Dead Sea!  Well, more like floating because you can't easily swim.  It is such a strange feeling.  Everything is the same as getting into any other body of water until you try to swim or float.  You can't sink, you sit up in the water!  We floated around with Eowyn sitting on our bellies.  Floating on your stomach is even stranger because you easily have your head above water and your feet sticking up in the air with no effort.  As the beach clears out we set up our tents on the sand and the lights of the West Bank start to appear across the water.

Wednesday April 16 (Day 47)

We wake up at 6 am in order to be at the entrance to Petra at 7.  We've heard that the busses arrive at around 9 so if you want some peace and quiet to go in early.  Well, as we pull up there are throngs of people heading to the gate.  Bus loads of Russians, Italians, Americans.  Julia was in Petra 15 years ago with Megan and they more or less had the place to themselves except for some of Megan's colleagues excavating at the church and temple – it is an amazing difference!  We decide to take a hike up above the royal tombs.  This was a workout for us having been sitting in a car for the better part of 6 weeks!  But gave us a beautiful and largely private view of Petra including spectacular birds-eye view of the theatre and the treasury.  We then spent an hour or so at the Byzintine church filled with beautiful mosaics before heading out at noon.  We stop for one more chicken shorama and then head north along the King's Highway to Karak.  We arrive late afternoon and check into the Tower hotel which is around the corner from Kings restaurant – cheap and great Jordanian food, and around the corner from Karak castle.

Tuesday 15 April (day 46)

We woke up in one of the most serene environments on earth. The sun lit the desert mountains in the distance with a dark-yellow morning light. Eowyn further developed her climbing skills by climbing up a steep rock behind the camp. From where she sat, she had a beautiful view over our camp, the desert and the hills in the distance. The morning was near perfect with only the coffee tasting like re-filtered sand. Anyway, near perfect is not bad.

At about 9 am we had the tents packed up and made our way north through the sandy desert towards Wadi Rum town and then on to Petra. In town we managed to stock up on some veg and fruits including 3.5 kilos of oranges. From this Eowyn learnt her new word "kilo" with which she expected to receive another piece of orange. We tried to kill some time with Stanley throwing an orange peel through the opposite window where Niels was driving and Julia was trying to put that on picture (I don't think it ever worked). It was either this or continue to stare at more sand dunes. After about an hour of driving while Eowyn was doing her daily 9-10am nap, a sudden change in scenery occurred from rocky desert to glowing hills with green vegetation (green is a big word here). Niels thought we suddenly arrived in Ireland. He was wrong: we were getting closer to Petra. At lunchtime we had arrived in Wadi Mousa and enjoyed a lovely Shoarma which was drowning in garlic sauce. I am not sure how this sounds, but the taste was great. In the afternoon, we entered Petra. We had two day passes and needed to fill in name and date.  Stanley asked "what's the date?" which set Eowyn off saying "date!? Date!? DATE!?"  She really loves the dates here.  As a very prosperous town in the 1^st century AD, the hidden city of Petra earned lots of money from the caravan trade between the Mediterranean, China and India. It is incredible that this was lost in Western minds till the 19^th century. Entering Petra was an amazing experience. A large ruined gate cut out from the rocks is only the beginning of an alley of over 1 kilometer. Walking in a partially natural and partially manmade gorge with beautiful natural colour decorations and shrines until the end where the well known treasury of Petra shines glamorously between the rocks. An absolutely amazing site: an entry to a city as never seen before. With the first building, which is one of the best preserved, you enter in this lost city which is still being excavated and (re)discovered. The first few hundred meters are mainly tombs from Nabataeans Kings and some Roman officials, but soon a theatre, a fountain and a temple arise amongst other things. Truly wonderful.

The evening we set up camp next to a hotel on a rocky carpark. Not the nicest place to stay, but surely the cheapest in town and the toilets are actually fantastic. What else could we have wished.

Monday 14 April (day 45)

Eowyn digs into leftovers for breakfast.  She has taken shining to the food – falafel, hoummas, foul, bread and chili!!  Oh yea, and oranges and dates, especially dates.  We take a quick walk around Aqaba in the morning.  Stop in a wonderful bakery to pick up fresh bread and some sweets then stop for a coffee and fresh juice.  It is already hot and only 8am…We drive the hour or so to Wadi Rum.  Before we drive in we ask about camping restrictions.  None – we can drive anywhere and camp anywhere just no burning of fires.  Great! This beautiful Reserve is famous in the West as the place where Lawrence of Arabia hung out but has a rich history of the Bedouin otherwise and is stunningly beautiful.  Eowyn is reflecting our vocabulary and now says "ooohhh amazing" of "ohhh beautiful" "look! A mountain!".  Stanley is now getting her to ass "papa" at the end of the amazing and beautiful sentences so now she says "ooohhh amazing papa".  We spend the day driving through sand dunes (and getting stuck) and winding through the valleys lined with (oooohhh) amazing (papa) rocky mountains and hills.  In the late afternoon we find a spot to watch the sunset and set up camp. It is great to be back out camping in the desert with space, silence and the stars. 

 

Info to date: Current elevation 1,074 m. Trip distance: 7,961km.Moving average 50.8km/h.  Max speed 113km/h.

Sunday 13 April (day 44)

Today we are leaving Egypt and are praying that it will be easier getting out than it as getting in.. We make an early start to go the 70km to Nuiweba where we will get the ferry to Aqaba, Jordan.  First we must get tickets (for people and vehicle).  The main gates to the ticket building are closed although there are people inside and out with many people crowded around the gate pushing money and papers back and forth.  We jostle to the front and are told to go around to the side where there are open gates (not sure why everyone else is working through the closed ones).  We find out line and someone moves us to the front of the line.  $465 we are told and the ferry leaves at 3pm today.  Hmmmm.  Nothing earlier?  We ask several ways.  The guy behind the counter is doing a lot of shouting – not at us- but we don't want to get on his bad side since he has just taken our passports, carnet and $465.  It seems that truly there is only one car ferry today and it leaves at 3.  That's going to be a boring day in the port of Niuweba….

 

In the port of Nuweiba, we were friendly guided to the first booth ad then to the next. We could even nicely pass the line of truckers! Only to hear that they could not help us and we needed to go to a police building. Here of course no one could help us also, we need to go to this other building… To make a long story short, we drove a round the complete harbor complex a few times before we found out that the Tourist police helps us with the paperwork (read another few laps) thanks to the Oasis Overland crew. Finally, everything is done at a cost of only ~ 100 EP and man hours in the heat, while we expected to get 50 pounds back!

 

On the boat we are upgraded to first class.  We arrive in Aqaba and are met by the most pleasant immigration official on the planet.  We don't already have a stamp? (apparently you can get them somewhere on the boat as it goes along).  No problem, he takes our passports and tells us to meet him at the passport office.  We hesitate a moment only because we are waiting to be shouted at or asked for money but he just smiles and tells us that really it is no problem, to go on in the lounge and wait for him and welcome o Jordan.   We wait inside the terminal and eventually the immigration officer comes back to us, takes us up to the immigration counters and gets our passports stamped.  No fees, no hassle.  A very warm welcome to Jordan.  As we are waiting for the car ferry to arrive we are approached by the chief customs official on duty just to have a chat.  He has a Masters in Political Science and is interested in what has been going on with the politics in Kenya.  Another genuinely pleasant and helpful person who tells us a warm welcome to Jordan.

 

As the evening is wearing on and the car ferry hasn't yet arrived Julia and Eowyn decide to head to the hotel.  Julia goes through customs and asks the nice man from before about arranging a taxi.  He won't hear of it.  One of the officers on duty arranges to have another officer drive her to the hotel for free and off we go.  Julia gets dropped for free at the hotel only to discover that it is the wrong hotel (there is a Petra Hotel and Petra International Hotel in Aqaba!  She goes outside to catch a taxi who takes her across town for 1 Dinar (1 Euro) with no bargaining or hassle.  On arrival at the hotel as she is registering one of the hotel attendants goes to a shop around the corner and comes back with snacks and juice for Eowyn.  It seems Jordanians will surpass Nubian Sudanese as THE nicest people on earth.  The Lonely Planet doesn't do the Petra Hotel justice.  Maybe they have had a revamp recently (or maybe everything is relative) but the triple room for 15 Dinar with hot water, a/c, fan and TV is in great condition.  Once the guys arrive with the car they go out for take away and come back with Houmas, foul, falafel, bread and fresh mango juice.

Saturday 12 April (day 43)

Eowyn sings: "Happy birthday to pappia!"   

 

Today the birthday-boy and Niels go diving in the Red Sea! While Julia and Eowyn play on the beach and lounge in the Bedouin-style beach lounge with carpets and cushions under palm fronds on the beach with someone bringing them fresh mint tea.  A lazy, lazy day which finds us back at our hotel around 4.  Julia and Eowyn take Stanley out for some birthday cake – a fried Mars bar with ice cream and some apple crumble (burrrp!).  Later that night we are back at the Thai restaurant (and the supermarket for cold beers) but have an early night in anticipation of an early start to make the crossing by ferry to Jordan.

Friday 11 April (day 42)

We leave the hotel as late as possible, maximizing our stay with a long buffet breakfast and another move and a shower before we hit the road around 11.  We cross the Suez canal by going under it in a tunnel.  Not too much hassle just slow traffic as we go through several police checks on the way.  On the other side we are on Sinai and there is nothing but white sand as far as we can see and a long straight road.  We are traveling the 360km to Dahab on the Red Sea coast.  The first 200 km are though the flat white sand and then we start to wind through rocky hills sometimes coming across a small oasis of palm trees and sand.  It is very, very beautiful.  Dahab is a touristy town but small and laid back. We walk along the boardwalk to find a small hotel that was recommended to us it is conveniently located right next to a tiny Thai restaurant called Blue House.  There are only 5 tables and two employees.  As you order she starts chopping up the ingredients.  We are able to get to the supermarket in the meantime and pick up some cold beers and sit overlooking the Red Sea sipping cold ones while we wait. It takes a while but is worth the wait for fantastic yellow and green curries.

Thursday 10 April (day 41)

Again we took a convoy this time to Hurghada. Coming to the convoy, we could neither see the start nor the end of the line of busses and placed the car somewhere in the middle. Impressive how many busses. One could think that if there was an attack on tourists it would be in a convoy like this… But once again the police drives fast out of town and along all other traffic that is stopped. Half way up the road we meet the convoy going south to Aswan and Stanley counted 109 vehicles, meaning a few thousand tourists are being moved up and down the road every day!

Lunch we had in a cosy restaurant overlooking the green-blue sea(but expensive and the name sounds like Je moet niet lullen) in Hurghada. We decided to keep on driving as far as possible and at night we stopped in Suez. There were only 2 hotel options available, the cheap one in a bad-looking neighborhood without secured parking. The not cheap option was a 3 star luxury hotel… We took the latter one and enjoyed a night of satellite TV, hot showers, etc..

 

Eowyn writes: gqfd c vbg ymn uhhvbv bbv bdrco       ooof55555kkkkk]=\\\\\\\\\\. And says now Finish.

 

In the guestbook there was a request for a birding update. Today we had a bird encounter on our way to Hurgada. Niels killed a Hoepoe… The bird flew against the front window while we drove around 90 km/h, giving it no chance. L

Wednesday 9 April (day 40)

Stanley and Julia's 3^rd anniversary!  They both remember the day and the number of years they have been married this time (unlike last year when both forgot…). We have a rest day in Luxor and meet up with our guide to visit the West Bank of the Nile – the side of the dead.  We pass the Collossi of Memnon on our way to Habu Temple.  The guide explains that temples were only for the dead.  Most of what you see in Egypt are the temples to the gods (and pharos) or for the dead.  That's because they believed that the current life was short but the afterlife was eternal and therefore much more important.  Habu temple is a series of temples added to but successive kings and queens.  There are enormous stone buildings with courtyards, columns and remnants of statues – usually the pharaoh seated next to one god or another. The walls are filled from floor to ceiling with reenactments of greatness (battles won, lands conquered, etc) during the reign of the pharaoh and hieroglyphs telling the story.  There are over 3,000 characters in Egyptian hieroglyphs and the life and times are now well known because all sorts of information was so well recorded in these temples.  It is even described which architects was used, how many men it took to construct, etc.  From there we went to the tombs of the nobles to see two very well preserved tombs.  The tombs are underground with no visible sign that they are there from above.  The painting is almost entirely intact in these tombs with vibrant white background and stories told in pictures in blue, yellow, red, black beautifully drawn out.  These tombs are from between 1,300 and 1,500BC.  From there we go to the temple of Hatshepsut (or as some call it Hat-chicken-soup).  This was at the wife of a pharaoh who died and the mother of his son who was to take the throne.  The son was too young when the father died so she assumed the throne – and took a liking to it - and stayed as Queen for 20 years.  It is said she ruled like a man even dressing as a king although that didn't keep her from consorting with her favorite architect (not a bad choice of consort given how many monuments a ruler needs to have built for themselves!).  The exceptional craftsmanship, the sheer size of most of the monuments and the antiquity continue to amaze us.  As much of a hassle as Egypt is Luxor is really worth the effort to visit.

 

In the evening we visited the Luxor museum. Many beautiful statues are displaced in this fabulous museum. It doesn't have too much and is nicely ordered and even shows how some statues are restored. The detail in some of them are just amazing and truly worth the visit.

Tuesday 8 April (day 39)

Up early for another convoy!  This time we are heading north to Luxor.  We meet up with the convoy at 8 am and drive the tarmac road along the Nile.  The convoy has its advantages, the police pushes you to drive as fast as possible (while the speed limit is 90, everybody goes 120km/h if possible) and all other traffic is stopped until the whole convoy has passed!

We arrive in Luxor and go camping at the only campsite in town. They also have rooms and while Eowyn is still throwing up, a room will keep the tent clean…

After a salty lunch we go to Karnak Temple. At the ticket office we hired a guide to show us around. The guide, Khaled Helmy (Phone +20106339849, email khaled_helmy@msn.com, Web http://khaledhelmy.spaces.live.com), was an Egyptologist and works also at current excavations in the Valley of the Nobles. We paid him for 1 hour 50 LE (Egyptian pounds) and it was well worth the money, give him a call when you're in Luxor. Khaled explained to us many of the stories written on the walls and he could even read the hieroglyphics! Karnak temple was first build 3000 BC and was dedicated to the god Amun and later Amun Ra. Most Pharaohs built a temple here in honor of Amun Ra and the complex is magnificent and very large.

Back on the campsite we met 2 German bikers heading south to Sudan. We told them, from our own experience, that they will have a really nice time in Sudan and Ethiopia!

Monday 7 April (day 38)

We decide to drive to Abu Simbel.  280km in convoy.  We leave Aswan at 9 am.  Within 10 minutes the convoy is past us except for one poor bus which has obviously been assigned to stay with us traveling the long straight tarmac road south.  We are there in about 3 hours and go immediately to the site.  We can't see anything from the parking lot just a mountain of sand and Lake Nasser as we come around on the pathway we see 4 huge statues of Ramses II….We only have 1.5 hours to look around as we have to travel back to Aswan in convoy as well.

Driving back it is dusk and then dark on this long, straight unlit road through the desert.  At dusk no oncoming cars or trucks have their lights on and as it gets darker they still don't!  Sometimes you can see the parking lights in the distance.  As the vehicle comes closer they start flashing their lights and fiddling with their indicators – left, right, left, right – then just as they are approaching they turn on their brights before going back to the parking lights.  This seems to be the norm as many cars and trucks do this.

Sunday 6 April (day 37)

Another day in Aswan. Julia, Stanley and Eowyn all woke up a little recovered from the illnesses that had pestered them, though the lack of strength remained. Niels was therefore once again requested to finalize the paperwork in order for us to reclaim our vehicle, while the others visited the tourist police to arrange for the police escort that could hopefully bring us to Abu Simbel and on to Luxor.  Oddly enough, no one at the tourist police spoke anything but Arabic.  They were able to phone someone who spoke English who could give us the information we required.

 

Niels' administrative day 2

This could be an exciting day since we can get our vehicles back! Carlo and I were picked up from the hotel at 9 am, probably we have to do a lot before everybody goes for lunch. After the 5 stops from yesterday, number 6 was again the Traffic Police were Carlo and I waited patiently outside at the back. The Policeman turned out (strangely enough Mahmoud did not this) to be Christian and on Sunday's he had to be in church till 10 am. Thus time for Shay and back to the waiting outside the office. So far we only had to pay 50 EP for something at the police. The next stop was at the government insurance building, where we again were waiting for something important… Then it became time to get back to the police station for stop number 8 where we had time to eat some nice shoarma. Stop 9 brought us back to the insurance office for paying 511 EP for the insurance all in Arabic. Back to the police for picking up the plates and finally by 14am we arrived at our cars where we could make ourselves useful for the first time today by mounting our new license plates on the cars! You would think this can be done more efficiently, but this just is the procedure…

Saturday 5 April (day 36)

Disaster has really stricken and this time no April fools joke. After a sleepless night of vomiting and diarrhea (16 times), there was no alternative but to take Julia to the hospital. While Eowyn was having a blast with her new Dutch friends Dunya, Bloem and Hiya.  Niels and Carlo go to start the clearing process for the vehicles. 

 

Julia and Stanley go in search of the German hospital which reception assured us was close by and a good hospital.  As we started down the street the usual offers began "taxi?", "Felucca? (boat)", "trip to Seheyl Island" coming at us from every direction.  The hospital is close to the hotel but there was a turn onto a side street and Stanley asked one of the hecklers for directions.  He said "I can take you there in my taxi" but we knew we were close so Stanley said "no, my wife is sick and can you just tell me where the hospital is".  He said maybe…. but could we consider a felucca ride later? As we walked away his conscience took hold of him and he said "All right!  It is just beyond that building on the left".  Once there we could see the sign but the entrance wasn't clear.  Again we were approached for a felucca ride (why anyone would want Julia in their felucca looking they way she did is unclear) and again Stanley explained he was looking for the hospital.  This guy took us in, waited for us to get through the registration process and then said "After you're finished, maybe you want to go for a ride?"  No, not today, my friend……  The hospital was old, open air, very busy but friendly and efficient.  We were shown to the doctor and first impressions were good, older guy, great English and the history and physical began.  After the usual questions there was a pause and he said " I don't know what your life has been like in Africa"….  Ahh Julia thought, now he'll ask about HIV risk and maybe suggest a test - no problem.  Instead he started with "God is everywhere.  You may consider taking the opportunity to pass on the word of Christ.  As a Christian it is important to share the word of God and if you are not a Christian it is not too late".  The sermon continued for an unknown length of time – as the state of shock does not allow for the accurate calculation of time….  Julia was catching flies with her mouth hanging open until she regained her senses.  He said "maybe you think it is strange to hear this from someone in a Muslim country", Julia said " I think it is strange to hear it from my doctor in the middle of a consultation regardless of the country.  Nor do I think I'm the best person to be passing on the word of God". Good. Everyone's opinions out in the open we continue with the consultation.  Very weird though.  The end result is amoebas.  Prescriptions given and we are back out the door to the hotel.

 

Niels' day

Together with Carlo and Anna, I went to the office of Salah Mohammed near by. After talking to a person we at first thought was Salah (I explained that Julia was going to the hospital and he called a friend at the hospital to help them, after talking to him he appeared to be a surgen…), we met the real Salah (or at least he said he was Salah). He told us we didn't need his help and it would only cost us money, "Just go to the port!" And so we did.

At the port we met our new friend the Sheik, who we were told arranged the insurance guy to work today so the clearing would be finished today, and a cousin of the brothers Mahid from Sudan called Mahmoud and he was going to help us. After entering customs we had to wait and why not take a cup of Shay, tea. The Sheik could only use a few words English, so my Arabic Mafemtish, don't understand, came in hand! After using a translator we found out that the Sheik was actually just only a car-salesman... So much for the influence. A friendly man from customs, who really needed a pair of glasses (reading the papers at a distance of a few inches from his eyes), went through all the Carnet paperwork stamping and writing. Price 3 Egyptian pounds each. Then to the cars for a quick check. So far so good! Then we needed to pay at the customs an amount of 522 EP.

After customs we got into a taxi (same kind of Peugeot with the two back seats) together with Mousar, the driver, Sheik, Anna, Carlo and I.

Apparently we went to the Traffic Police in town. The back of the building was closed so we entered in the front and after a lot of yelling (everybody seems to stress a lot and screaming to each other, but you get the feeling that in the end nothing happens…) we paid 11 EP and could leave again. This time we had a guest in the car, someone from the police office, and we made another stop at what appeared to be a driving school. Some guys were doing their finals by driving 1 km/h past 4 markers. After some yelling and smoking, another police-looking person joined our tour back to the port. They two policepersons checked the cars and the forms were filled in within the hour!

The only administrative task that was left for today was bringing the police back to where we found them and the insurance was for the next morning.

 

After a good afternoon nap and a nice stroll through the town, we took a cab to the island of Philae. Build from around 380 BC, this temple dedicated to Isis, the goddess of magic and protector of the dead, was an incredible sight in the evening. By Roman times, Isis had become the greatest of all the Egyptian Gods and was worshipped as far as Britain, and continued till long after Christianity had been embraced in the region. With the sightseeing of the complex, the relaxing time was over as Eowyn started her vomiting display as soon as she was put to bed.

Friday 4 April (day 35)

Our first day in Aswan after a good night of rest. Julia was feeling a little better after having started some antibiotics. As Friday is a weekend day in Muslim countries, there was no way we could process any of the paperwork to get the car from the boat. Therefore, we didn't do much and walked around town a little. It was very clear that we have left Africa and entered a different world of shops, luxury, fast cars and stress. Luckily, the (rare) availability of beer to counter the stress was an advantage. Aswan has a large Souq (market) with millions of tourist-curios and an equal amount of tourists. The hassles the Egyptian salesmen gave us while strolling the streets seemed endless. A brief "no thanks" did not stop the taximen to explain all the places he could bring you too, or the sailor to tell you that he can give you a cheaper price per hour. If that would be all, Aswan would be a lovely place, but the shameless attitude seemed everywhere and all the time. It was not possible to buy a bottle of water, a cup of tea, a shoarma (very nice!) without having to strongly negotiate before during or after the purchase.

Tuesday 1 April (day 32)

Disaster!!  The car is leaking oil.  There is no way we can push on.  Because we are in a lone desert site there isn't any way to get oil and we won't make it t Halfa in time to get the weekly ferry! 

Ha, ha.  April fools.  We pack up the car and drive the final stretch into Halfa.  There isn't much to the town and as we pull over and are wondering how to find our contact – he finds us.  All immigration and customs for Sudan to be done here and arrangements for the ferry to Aswan as well.  We meet up again with Carlo, do some paperwork, get some provisions and head back out into the desert for a last night of camping in Sudan.

Monday 31 March (day 31)

We stopped in Abri – the largest market town north of Dongola in search of brunch.  We are befriended by a local Nubian (who now lives in Khartoum but is home for the wek).  He speaks excellent English and guides us around.  Firt to a small place that serves us coffee, tea, ful (beans) and fried fish for breakfast.  And then to the butcher, baker and a secret sour to get some Nubian cheese (like soft feta).  With our provisions in hand we head off agin winding thorugh the small villages along the Nile.  We stop at the 3^rd cataract.  The lookout point is a steap, rocky climb, and we put the Landie in low diff lock and drive up the slope.  We love this car!  As the afternoon wears on we pick a site on a bluff overlooking the Nile and make camp.  We will do the final kilometers to Wadi Halfa tomorrow.