From Asswan to Port Sudan

I had to travel to Port Sudan to recognize how cheap and comfortable the public transport in egypt is. the ferry trip from asswan to sudan on lake nasser was still nice, as the ship was not full and one could walk around anytime. somehow the captain took a wrong way at night and it took 28 hours for some 300km. but then the road (actually only a track) from wadi halfa, the port on the sudanese side, to atbara lead through empty sand desert. the average speed was around 35km/h but the road was so bumpy that the passengers were shaken into the air and hoped to land on the seat again. a lot of dust entered the bus. after some 3 hours the bus got broken and we were stuck in the desert for about 7 hours untill a car arrived to repair it.

one not only has to suffer on the busses, one also has to pay prizes of almost european standard, 42 euros for about 1000 km, compared with 10 euros for about the same distance in egypt.

police controls are much tighter here, foreigners have to register in the numerous checkpoints. on my upcoming trekking trip in the red sea mountains i chose a legal way with a permit that allows me to trek there even alone. but i m still a bit afraid to get arrested for "spying". the police doesn t hesitate to put foreigners in jail for ridicolous reasons. a british teacher was arrested for a few weeks because she allowed her students to call a teddy bear mohammed. in the streets of khartoum crowds of people even called for her execution.

hassan, my "couch surfing" host in port sudan, who was visited by the teacher before, spent some hours in custody because he carried plastic bags on the suq, which is forbidden because the goats on the market might eat them and become sick!

now i m stuck in port sudan because i m out of money and no visa card is working here because of the US embargo. somebody in asswan told me that it s actually working so i carried very few money to sudan. in this week the banks are all closed because of the hajj holiday, so i have to wait untill sunday untill i can pick up the money my father sent me by western union.

port sudan is not very well worth seeing, it was built by the british some 100 years ago as the main gateway to all parts of the world. it's mainly inhabitated by the beja, the local tribe, but also by many different ethnics from all over sudan. many foreigners lived here, mainly greeks and indians but most of them have left since the islamic regime of the current president, omar al bashir came to power. but they left behind some katholic, coptic and greek orthodox churches.

the people are less curious than in egypt, it's much harder to get in touch with them.
on the streets women are more present, most of those working serve shay or coffee on the wayside.

after i hopefully soon picked up the permit and the money i'll be off in the mountains for maybe up to 3 weeks. so don't worry if there's no blog entry the next time.

Asswan

asswan

So now I stayed 6 days in Asswan, and as intended, I leave all the temples, tombs and whatsoever behind without a visit, and I don't think that I missed out on anything. asswan is quite a busy city, but one just has to take the ferry from the city center across the nile and one enters a very calm, peaceful nubian village. though many families here depend on tourists, who take a ride on their fluka (sailing boat) or their camels next to the monuments, they've never tried to make any business with me, when i walked through the lanes and the paths along the water channels, that irrigate the fields, but tried their best to make me feel like at home.

most of the irrigated area is used to plant some kind of clover. they cut it bimonthly to feed their cattle, goats and camels. of course, there also grows much other stuff like banana, lemon, mango, marihuana and much more. they already discovered the pump there, but i also found some water mills run by a cow.

there also live some crocodiles here, they are said to become as long as 3 meters here, i've only seen a baby that disappeared in the high grass before i could take picture.

somehow there are no fishermen at all along the nile (on the leg i visited), they fish on lake nasser. some i met there on the lake told me that there's a predatory fish who sometimes even hunts fishers from their boats, reaching a length of 8 meters. due to the language barrier, they couldn't describe me what kind of fish this could be.

arabs and nubians live here together in peaceful harmony, conflicts between them are unknown. somehow the nubians are still discriminated by the government, as they have to adopt arabic names when they apply for a passport. their language exists only oral, and much vocabulary is removed by arabic words. for example they don't know a nubian word for "thank you".

melodies of nubian music reminded me of ethiopian sounds. i've not seen any group playing, they just showed me tracks from their mobile phones, modern arrangements with syntesizer. i've watched some arabic bands in asswan in the evening, sometimes quite good ones, but also here, all instruments except the drums were gathered in the synthesizer, like in a wonderlamp.

also in asswan the people are not irritated by the many tourists at all, i was often invited for a shay and shisha in the coffeeshops and they strictly hindered me to pay the bill, what made me feel ashamed, as it's not so easy to survive here and i have enough money spending a 1-year holiday. but my conscience was cleared when i paid something in any shop and recognized that they cheatet me, as they convulsed with laughter after i left.

from suez to asswan

from suez to asswan

so, i finally arrived in asswan, the city on the nile, where i have to wait for the ferry to sudan. the ship is the only legal alternative to reach sudan from egypt, if one wants to avoid the airplane. ferries go only mondays and friday, and as the ferry tomorrow is full, i'm stuck here untill friday.

on the way i couldn't avoid sightseeing entirely ;-) i visited 2 coptic monasteries near al Zafaranah, 2 hours south of suez , namely sant paula and sant antonius. st. paula, where i arrived first, was closed to visitors when i arrived there, but on the 12km i walked there from the highway i met a very nice guy who prayed and volunteered at the monastery, and helped me to enter. so i could enjoy the spirit of the monastery in silence, but on the other hand, some places were not accessible for me, as the monks were praying there.

i had a very nice time with the volunteers there, i just had to keep secret that i 'm an atheist as i might have got expelled if they found that out. some of them are tattooed with a cross on the aorta.

the other monastery, st. antonius, was only 21km away, but with a big mountain range to cross. by road one drives some 100km, but i took the direct way, afoot. the monks and volunteers were very worried about me, because some years ago a tourist died of thirst after he got lost on the way. after i showed them how to navigate with map and GPS they tried to frighten me with horror stories like man-eating beduins, but failed.

on the way i didn't meet any people at all, a very sad mountain desert. it was very cold, even though the sun was shining, i weared a bonnet and gloves. so i was very happy to find a small cave in a steep slope, to escape the icy storm overnight.
i arrived at st. antonius on a friday, so it was quite crowded by christian egyptians. after the visit it was very easy to find a car driving me to cairo. i didn't intend to stay in cairo, and drove straight to the railway station. the ride to asswan took 14 hours.

asswan and it's environment is full of temples and museums to visit, but i'll mainly relax, and take walks along the opposite side of the nile, where it's very calm and i can enjoy the fresh air of the fields, after i breathed in only "desert air" during the last 2 weeks.

the population here is mixed with arabs and nubians. seems like some tourists here have their own way of getting to know the nubians, as during the first 24 hours here, i had 3 encounters with nubian boys offering sex to me. something i had not expected in a muslim country.

Trekking in Sinai Mountains

sinai

Ok, after 12 days trekking in the mountains of sinai i finally found my way back to civilication, to write my first blog entry. rather i had the opportunity on my first day in dahab, but somehow it was already past midnight after i finished my last preparations for the tour, and i wanted to start very early in the morning on the next day.

I was a very exciting tour. before i started i was pretty worried about 2 obstacles: first i had to manage not to be seen by the military when i walk through the mountains, as it is required to take a guide here. some told me that they are patrolling quite freqently and everywhere. the other challange was to find water. but both turned out not to be a problem.

I met people only once during the first 4 days, because i avoided to walk through wadis (valleys) accessible by car (military). afterwards i didn't have to cross any single dirt road but met plenty of beduins everyday. everywhere i was cordially received and invited to drink shay. i returned the favor with gifts like postcards from austria, medicaments, food (muesli and pumpernickel bread is something exotic here),etc., and sometimes with cash, when i stayed overnight.

They talked very open about their occupation: 100% of the people i met in the remote mountain valleys were opium farmers, occasionally they also plant marihuana. it's not a high risk to do so here, the police is very easy to bribe, they told me. their traditional activity, to raise camels, seems to have almost vanished, though the camel is still the most important means of transport, at least here in the mountains. in a way they are still nomads, as they frequently have to return to their principal residence, to stock up with food and to visit their families. some of them have 3 or more houses in different places, if one calls these simple constructions a house.

the sinai mountains seem to have an endless groundwater reservoir. i supplied myself with very clear water from wells, not deeper than 4 or 5 meters. once i also found an open spring. one should consider that there was no rain since 25 years, and the beduins pump plenty of water to harvest opium twice a year.

the few women i met were not shy at all but very curious, bombing me with questions like their male relatives. their job is - of course - the household and to lead the goats (if they have some) to their grazing plains. somehow, here only the eldery women hide their faces entirely, except the eyes, the younger ones did so only in the cities i passed by on the way to suez.

all together there was only one unpleasant encounter, when some kids in a beduin village demanded money from me, threatening to throw stones on me. i gave them, what they claimed (about 35 euro) but soon received it back after i told my host(who knew the boys) about it.

i haven't seen much mammals on the way, besides the domestic ones. only some wild donkeys, and once the horn of a capricorn. the lattern one might become extinct here soon. many beduins told me they wouldn't hesitate to shoot a capricorn, if in sight, as their food is very expensive here.

now i still have 1 week, to go from suez, where i'm writing write now, to asswan. there are a lot of monuments on the way, but i have no motivation to visit them. i even passed by the saint kathrin monastery without a visit. some people might not understand this, but if i want to make a sight seeing tour nowadays, i make it on google earth. i prefer to walk through untouched landscape, and get to know the life of the local people.

ok,only for those who know the sinai and are interested about my itinery:

i started about 5 km north of the shahira pass between sharm and dahab. from there it took me 2 days to wadi kid, another 2 days to wadi tarfa (east of djebel tellot al djamal), then climbed on djebel umm shomer, descended through wadi seraikia, chareita and mear to the beduin village abu gedda where i arrived after 1 week. then through wadi hebran, kabrin, barabug to djebel tarbush, down to wadi slaf untill wadi feyran, where my tour ended. would be easier to show it on map, but they have no scanner here.