London! Final Destination!

And then there was London.

Well this is it. It’s over. I can’t believe it.

I have reached London on Nov 27th, 2009.

That’s about 35000 km, 23 countries and 198 days later after I landed in Cape Town last May. I was initially not planning on driving all the way up but one thing leads to another…and there I am now in Paris near Le Musee du Louvres writing what will possibly be the last “official” entry for this trip.

The final destination – and also my first time visiting. I really enjoyed it despite of the bitter cold and it was awesome to reunite with my girlfriend and some old friends.

Classic British humor in an excellent pub.

Poor guy woke up with a tree on his hood.

So I guess this is it for now.
The truck has been sold and I am heading back home over the next days.

Time to start planning the next adventure…

France. What can I say. It’s France…my ancestor’s home. Everything is amazing. Castle, road, people. It’s unreal.

I actually don’t know France very much so I was excited to be back.

I drove through Monaco on the way to Paris and then across the Alps.

On the freeway I saw this racing team – looks like they were getting ready for the Dakar Rally. It also looks like budget is not a problem – they had 6 trucks alltogether.

My friends have a fabulous appartment next to the Louvres museum so it’s a great place to relax and visit the city.

I reached Italy and spent a few days exploring Rome with a very close friend and his family. Rome is probably another highlight of the trip. And after 6-7 countries in which I could not speak the local language (Arabic, etc), it was really refreshing to be able to communicate – if only partially.

Being in Italy is a fantastic experience.
The entire city of Rome is like a outdoor museum.
I even saw the Pope itself on Sunday when he gives his weekly speech in 7 different languages.

I drove along the coast all the way to France.
A bit demanding at time with a huge Land Cruiser diesel…roads there are better suited for the new Fiat 500.

I stumbled across this kitesurfing spot. After the quiet, warm and blue water for of Egypt, this place looked rather extreme to me.

I couldn’t leave without checking out one of the most famous Italian places!

The last portion of this adventure was rather fast but noneless very interesting.

I passed first through Greece where I had my first flat on the journey.
It happened on the Autobahn in a tunnel…what a wonderful place.

With big trucks speeding behind me, I had to keep driving until I could pull over.
This is the result. Don’t think I will try to get it fixed.

I must admit I did not see much of Greece as I was hurrying to meet my friends in Italy (Rome) the next weekend. But the little I saw made me want to come back very soon.

As you can imagine, it is getting cold and rainy in Europe…and there aren’t many tourists right now…

Well, it is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words so here you go.

This is pretty much what I will remember of Syria.

I only drove a few days through the country but I cannot say that I have been impressed. I thought that Egypt was pretty bad with their trash everywhere but it was nothing compared to Syria.

Fortunately there is always a “jewel in the rough” somewhere.

Old Damascus is one of the most magical place I have been in my life. It’s a complete labyrinth of small alleys which makes you step back in time about 200 years.

All the building are original and in various state of degradation or restauration.

Aleppo was also another extremely interesting discovery.
The covered market is absolutely unbelievable – apparently it’s been in operation for hundreds of years.

Too bad the rest of the country is not like this. Back on the road to Turkey.

Even the border crossing is full of garbage. No kidding.

How come you never see the real side and only the “postcard” pictures of a country? I have some ideas…

The weather has also changed dramatically since I have entered Syria.

It is gray, rainy and clowdy.

After Egypt, Jordan was quite a nice experience.

Everything works, it’s clean and people are extremely friendly.

The border crossing was rather straightforward. The “fast” ferry between Egypt and Jordan that is supposed to take 1.5 hour did take over 8 hours and costs me another $300US… but we finally made it.
Getting out of Egypt was much more easier than getting in but we still had to run around for a few hours.

My friend Marc is now gone – he had to go back to Montreal to take care of some business and he is heading into Iran. I traveled through Jordan with an American guy (Ben) that I had met in Egypt.

First stop was the Wadi Rum desert – a beautiful sight!

The Bedouins trust their Land Cruiser

Next was Petra. I had big expectations but it lived up to it.
Actually, Petra is one of the major highlights of this trip.

From Petra we headed to Amman where I could appreciate the local version of “Pimp my ride” – they love their old Benz there.

For those of you who wants to experience the Middle East, I would suggest Jordan over Egypt.

After Amman, it was time for Syria.

A love-hate relationship is a personal relationship involving simultaneous or alternating emotions of love and enmity. This relationship does not have to be of a romantic nature, and may be instead of a sibling one. It may occur when people have completely lost the intimacy within a loving relationship, yet still retain some passion for, or perhaps some commitment to, each other.

Well, I think it can also be applied to Egypt.

Love:

-Sights. Amazing temples, great ruins, tremendous history.

Crazy old monasteries that have been build in 300 AD and are still being used by monks who loved to hear about my trip!!!

-Tourists everywhere. After Sudan where Marc and I spent 6 days talking to each other in Khartoum, it was a relief.

-Diving/Snorkeling in Dahab. One of the best reef coral in the world. Crystal clear water.

-Kitesurfing in Dahab. One of the best spots in the world for learning.

-Egyptians. Very relax and fun to talk to and argue with.

-Road conditions. For the first time since a very long time, nice long paved road.

Hate:

-Sights. Everything around the sights. They build a mosque in the middle of the Luxor temple. Come on.

And when they did good with the pyramids, they lost their sense somewhere along the way.

There is a major string of unfinished buildings dotting the Red Sea coast. The entire coast. Literally hundreds of them. Apparently the gouvernement handed over free land under the condition that the developers build on it within 2 years. They build the structure just to grab the title and are sitting on it.

-Tourists everywhere. Packaged in big tour buses.
Like this women from California who asked us in which country she was right now or these russians all snorkeling in the same spot.

-Diving/Snorkeling in Dahab. Diving with a bunch of tourists in speedo. Coral is melting away as everyone stepping on it.

-Kitesurfind in Dahab. Over a period of 9 days, only one day has proper wind. Apparently unusual for the season.

-Egyptians. They are so relax they put their trash everywhere.

And they will come up with anything to make a buck.

Egyptian driver: You like Egyptian bana?
Marc: What?
Egyptian driver: You want Egyptian baanaa?
Marc: Do I want what?
Egyptian driver: You like Egyptian banaana?
Marc: Egyptian banana? I did not know Egypt has its own kind of banana.
Egyptian driver: Yes, pointing down below in his pant. You like it?
Marc finally realizing: Not really. I think I’ll pass for tonight.

Or the harrassing vendors who overcharged on everything.

Me: I want airtime for 10 pounds. Handing over 20 pounds.
Vendors: Here it is. Give me one pound. Holding a 10 pound bill of change in one hand and the airtime card in the other.
Me: Why one pound?
Vendor: It’s 11 pound.
Me: It says 10 pounds on the card and I asked for a 10 pounds airtime.
Vendor: You owe me 1 pound.
Me: Listen, I don’t have time for this right now, grabbing both the 10 pounds bill and the airtime card from his hands.
And then walking away as he is yelling something in Arabic.

This is an everyday recurrence.

-Road conditions. In some place, they poured down fresh bitumen over several kilometers but they never finished the pavement. Nice coating under the truck.

I guess I could go on forever…visit at own risk and expenses…

next stop Jordan.

There is only one entry point from Sudan to Egypt.

It took us a week to cross it.

Even though it may seem like fiction, everything here is true….

Day 1 – Monday

9:00 : We are in Khartoum. We go to Egyptian embassy to get our visas.
The line is around the corner. It is going to take all day.
We decide to leave and get visas at the border, 1000 km up north.

13:00 : We stop to see the Pyramids in Sudan. There is no one around.
Stunning.

20:00 : We have driven 600 km so far. The pavement ends. We get lost.

23:30 : We finally find the road to Wadi Halfa. It’s a desert track for 350km.
It’s too late to keep driving tonight.
We turn around and sleep in the closest village as we need to buy supplies tomorrow before we leave.

Day 2 – Tuesday

5:00 : Wake up in a beautiful surrounding.

We buy some more waters and cookies and start driving.

7:00 : We reach the desert track that runs along the railroad.

9:00 : There is a guy running toward us in the desert. His truck is stuck about 400 meters away.
They have spent the night there. We try to push him out. No luck. We get the shovel and tow strap and we tow him out.

10:00 : More and more sand. Sun is get higher. Outside temperature is over 40C.
We have covered about 100 km so far.

10:30 : Sand is getting deeper and deeper. Engine temperature is also getting higher and higher. Not good.

11:00 : It is getting hot. Too hot. We have to slow down.
We need to find another solution.
We decide to follow other tracks and drive on the railroad.
We will have to suffer the vibration for 200 km.

Eventually Marc decides to walk…

14:00 : We get stuck a couple times but we finally reach Wadi Halfa.

We drive straight to the port to start the ferry arrangement.
Some local guy take us to the Mr. Fixit (Mr. Magdir) to get the paperwork sorted.

He also tells us that there is a new paved road that goes all the way to Wadi Halfa.
We have missed the junction last night – it wasn’t on our GPS. Great.

14:30 : We get to Mr. Magdir house. Our friends we had met in Nairobi are there! A couple (Brian/Diana) from South Africa and 4 bikers (Alex/Axel/Owen/Hans). Great time! Tomorrow we will all board the ferry together.

Day 3 – Wednesday

9:00 : Mr. Magdir is running all over town with our passport and carnet. We are chilling at his house.
He is charging us $30 including accommodation. We found that the price for the car barge has now dropped from $600US to $200US. Awesome news.

12:30 : Time to drive the vehicles to the port. We go through Customs.
We have to leave our vehicles (and keys) to Mr. Magdir. The cars are going on a different barge.
Mr. Magdir has convinced the captain to put the motorcycles on the passenger ferry so the guys can get their bikes right away after we arrive in Egypt.

We load the bikes on the boat, by the entry way, in a little corridor. Tight fit for 4 big BMW motorcycles.

Everything is smooth and easy so far.

17:00 : The boat is leaving Wadi Halfa. Officially we are done with Sudan.

Day 4 – Thursday

8:00 : First sign of Aswan, Egypt.

9:00 : The boat arrives. We are stopping in the bay. Not sure what’s going on.

10:00 : The doctors are on board. They are checking every passenger for H1N1 virus. There are about 300 people on the boat.

12:00 : The custom officers are on board. They are checking every passport. It is taking forever.

14:00 : They start letting the passengers out, one by one, after calling their name from a list.
If they don’t find the person, the process stops. This is going to take the rest of the day.

14:15 : There are about 15 workers from the cleaning crew who want to get inside the boat.
They are arguing with the customs outside.

14:30 : The custom officer who is calling name is getting angry. He can’t walk around the motorcycles.

14:45 : He orders us to take the motorcycle out. This is our chance. We grab our bags too.

15:00 : We get the first motorcycle out. The custom guys are pushing people back inside the boat.

15:15 : We get the second motorcycle out. The cleaning crew is pushing the custom officers back inside the boat which is then pushing passengers back against the bikes (and us).

15:30 : We are trying to get the third motorcycle out. The cleaning crew is rushing inside, the Sudanese are trying to get out the boat, the custom officers are yelling and we are holding the bike. All Hell breaks loose.

15:35 : Everyone is pushing each other. It’s pure chaos. The cleaning guys are getting into a fight with the bikers.

15:40 : We finally got a third bike out. Someone stole Alex’s wallet.
The captain will find it later – with no more money in it.

15:45 : The last bike is in a corner. We make a plan. We get the bike out.
The custom guys now want us to go back inside the boat as he hasn’t reached our names yet on the list. No way.
We are not getting back in there. We argue and he finally let 4 of us go. The other ones have to go back to get their luggage. We won’t see them again that day…

16:00 : We met Mr. Amman, the custom officer who is in charge of stamping our carnet. My carnet is technically not legal for Egypt. I really need to be friend with him or else I am in big trouble and my car will end up like this one we saw in the parking lot.

We also met Kamal, the taxi driver who will help us with the paperwork. So far so good. He let us out.

16:30 : We are officially in Egypt – but without my truck. It is on the barge that should arrive tomorrow.

Day 5 : Friday

9:00 : Friday is a weekend day in Egypt. Everything is close. We relaxed and checked out the town.

Day 6: Saturday

8:30 : Kamal arrived at our hotel to pick us up. We all crammed in his 1956 Peugeot Station Wagon.
There are 9 of us (Brian and his wife, Marc and I, the 4 bikers and the driver).
It’s hot in there.

9:00 : We all go to the police station with Kamal. There are various fees and windows to get to. It is the big building in the background.

Eventually after spending about 50 pounds each we get a stack of papers all written in Arabic.

10:00 : Kamal needs to pick up Mr. Amman, the custom guy. He needs to get another taxi.
Even though there are hundreds of taxi in town, we have to wait for his friend to arrive.
Mr. Amman is not answering his phone. It seems like he is still sleeping.
Kamal seems like is high on something.
It’s most likely the diesel fume from his car. We have to convince him to turn the engine off.

10:30 : Kamal’s friend arrives. Half of us goes with him to the port while the other half is still waiting for Mr. Amman.

11:00 : We get to the port. We are waiting for Kamal and Mr. Amman to arrive.

11:30 : They arrive. We get into the custom.

We tried to see if our barge has arrived but no sign of it.
Marc and Diana go back to the hotel.

12:00 : Mr. Amman starts the paperwork for the bikers. He can’t see very well. He puts his face about 2 inches away from the carnet. That’s good news for me. He won’t be able to see that my carnet is not valid.

13:00 : They are finished with the carnet for the 4 bikers. Apparently our cars will arrive at either 14:00 today or tomorrow. Inch’Allah. They can’t do anything more for us as they need the car to be there to check the chassis number before proceeding further. Brian and I go back to the hotel.

18:00 : The bikers come back. They were not able to get their bikes today. Mr. Amman put an incorrect date somewhere so they had to go back to the customs to fix it. They are pissed.

Day 7 : Sunday.

9:00 : Kamal comes back to pick us up. He is totally loaded on something again.
He is in a very good mood. The barge has arrived overnight.
We all crammed in his Peugeot again and drove over to inspect the cars.

10:00 : We get to the custom building with Mr. Amman. He will be stamping my carnet now. And Brian’s with his Land Rover.
That’s it. I got the stamp! Only 525 Egyptian pounds ($100USD).
The bikers are waiting outside the office.

11:00 : Mr. Amman is finally done with our carnet. It took a bit longer as it was hard for his secretary to understand what he says when he speaks with his mouth full of bread.

Bikers are still waiting.

11:30 : Kamal has been authorized to read the chassis and engine number by the police. Apparently the police engineer who came yesterday to check the motorcycle VIN number was slightly incompetent. Another good news as my engine number is impossible to find.

12:00 : Kamal and Brian are now going back in town to get insurance for the cars and license plate for the bikers. Insurance is another 518 pounds ($100USD). Nice.

13:00 : Kamal and Brian came back. With the 70 years old engineer. Since Kamal only checked the VIN number on the chassis and not the engine number, the engineer has to come back to get the engine number. Great. They both spent 30 minutes under the car and never found it. They are arguing in Arabic. Finally the engineer goes back seating in the car.

Bikers are still waiting in the hall. Apparently there is a problem with the computer (!!!) and Kamal could not get their plates yet.

14:00 : Kamal and I are going back to town. We also bring Mr. Amman, the secretary and another guy. We stopped to get the plates for the bikers which is in a different location than the plates for the cars. Go figure. Then we go back to the police station for more paperwork. Kamal comes back 30 minutes later with the plates. He is extasic. I think he smoked something with the cops. Now he is driving back like he is doing a rally – with a 1956 Peugeot. There is so much smoke coming out the engine that my eyes are burning.

15:00 : We arrived at the custom. The bikers are half dead.

We have one hour left to put the plates on and drive to the police station for the final technical inspection.

15:30 : We are good to go. We just need to pass through the gate with the 8 custom guys who saw us passing by for the last 3 days. Everyone wants a backsheesh. Hans is getting furious. He starts racing around with his bike. Dropped his bike. Ouch.

16:00 : Brian and I and our trucks are out. The bikers are still in. Everyone is arguing. Finally they are out. Alex is flipping them off as he passes the gate.

16:05 : We must rush to the police station. We can’t go back the same way as they have covered the road with fresh bitumen this morning. Ridiculous. We go over the dam. The bikers are riding in front of us, following the taxi at high speed. There is a gate on the dam. No one stops. By the time Brian and I arrived, the officers have thrown a gate on the road in front of us. We must stop. They have guns. Great. A few apologies and 120 pounds later, we are free. Kamal is waiting on the other side of the dam. Thanks.

16:30 : We drive around town. Kamal took us back to our hotel. The whole technical inspection thing was a joke. Great.

17:00 : Time to pay Kamal. He wants more money because it took longer than he thought. Right. One last argument.

18:00 : We are free. We are in Egypt with our cars, new license plates, new driver licenses and insurances. And about $500US poorer.

Finally.

Almost everyday brings its share of adventure, but not all are equal.

Once in a while, you get that true feeling of discovery.

You’re a bit scared, a bit excited, and you can feel the adrenaline rushing through your body.

That’s exactly what was happening to me as we were walking down the dry bed of the river in a remote corner of Southern Ethiopia.

Marc, our local guide Azucar, the Hamer policeman we had picked up at the local market and I had been driving off road and walking for almost 3 hours.

We were trying to find the location of the Hamer bull jumping ceremony.

Everything started a few hours before. We had been driving for a couple days now and sleeping in the most basic accomodations in order to reach one of the few remaining area of Africa that has not been developped (although the Chinese are now building some new roads there too – hurry up before it’s too late).

Along the way we stopped a few times to meet local tribes, even corrupting some of them with my Ipod.

And testing the local drink.

The Hamer are one of these tribes who – despite of daily contacts with modernism – have sticked to their traditions.

We first met many of them at the local Hamer market.

I had brought my portable printer so we could exchange pictures (digital for us, printed for them) and facilitate the interactions. Distributing free pictures, we soon became hugely popular and almost had to run away…

One of these Hamer traditions is called the Bull jumping and is described as a ritual to celebrate the passage to manhood and the readiness to get married. In order to prove this readiness, the man has to jump 4 times over a row of about 7 bulls and cows. This happens after the local women have been whipped for hours in a demonstration of their proud and love for the courageous man. Some of these women are not older than 8 or 9 years old.

This is not for the faint of heart. You may or may not agree with this tradition (some human rights association are trying to stop it) but as a privileged guest, you must obey by the rules.

It did not take long for the Hamer to realize that they can generate some money by “inviting” tourists to come and take pictures in exchange of nice pesos. And it took even less time for a couple local tour operators to start bringing Land Cruiser full of Spanish and Italians to the ceremony.

We saw about 10 of them at the market. Marc and I did not want to join them and see a diluted version of the event.

So with the help of the local policeman and our guide, we ended up in a remote area where we were the only 2 foreigners.

After parking the truck after the trail had vanished, we had to walk down the river for about 40 minutes to eventually see our first sign of life. It became quickly clear that we were entering a whole new world – almost a different planet.

”

We stayed put for a while, exchanging signs with some people sitting near by on the rocks. From there we could watch everyone getting excited, getting dressed, a group of about 20 women practicing their songs and the men sitting and discussing.

Eventually we were invited to paint our faces for the event and about 30 minutes later we started walking toward the site of the ceremony.
We were allowed to bring camcorder and camera.

I gave the camcorder to the local guide – a proven strategy.
My experience has shown that local people are much less disturbed when the person shooting is not a foreigner.

The whole experience was surreal. Line of women were passing us singing and shooting, their back still bleeding from the fresh lashes they had just submitted themselves to.

The site of the ceremony was itself worth the hike. It was an open space on the top of the hill from where you had a 360 view of the surrounding plains and hills, with not one human being or construction in sight.

For the next hour or so, things seem completely unreal.
On one side, a group of women singing, sitting, discussing.
Some of them would stand up and start haggling some local guru, asking to be whipped.

”

Then one other side, a group of elderly chatting together.
In the center, the men are gathering the cows and getting everything ready for the actual jump.

One of the steps involves making sure the candidate is not too nervous…missing and falling bring a lifetime of shame and humiliation on the participant and his family, so much that the last time it happened the poor guy almost got killed by his father and was kicked away from his village. Talk about social pressure.

Eventually the activity started and things happened very quickly.

Luckily for him (and for us, seeing the number of guns around here), the guy succeeded in his mission.

From there on, they left for the village to celebrate for the rest of the night.

For us, it was time to get back on the road and drive away – our next adventure was awaiting…