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12/05/2009

The whole day is spend trying to find a shipping company that can ship us out and trying to get more information on a visa to Saudi Arabia. The mood is tense and the tempers are short.

It is a wasted day because we are not making any progress.

11/05/2009

Our attention now shifts away to get out of Sudan. We only have a 14-day visa which is expiring on Monday the 18th. We don’t even consider extending the visa. Sudan is too hot and officials are a real pain. No alcohol contributes to a bad sense of humour and with Allen and Monica gone, and no other travellers to talk to there is nothing in Sudan to keep us.

Although we have a visa for Egypt we do not have a carnet so we know we can’t get in there. Allen and Monica told us about a South African couple they met in Aswan that arrived with the ferry from Wadi Haifa with their carnet and then the Egyptian official discovered a discrepancy between the carnet and the chassis number. Apparently the carnet had an 8 instead of a 6 printed on it. The couple had to wait for 3 weeks in Aswan for a new carnet to be sent from South Africa. We would never have been able to handle that, so Egypt is not an option.

We have narrowed down our options to getting through to Saudi Arabia, shipping from Port of Sudan to Europe or returning home. This is an option that not one of us is keen on!

We go to the Saudi Arabian embassy to try and get a visa. Zelda and Zante as conservatively dressed as they can. The Saudi’s are all friendly and we make it through to the office of the head of the consular section. A very friendly guy who listens patiently to our story.

Eventually the answer is no, they cannot help us. Off we go. Now we are down to shipping out or driving back.

I phone around for shipping companies, we drive around to shipping companies, we search the internet for shipping companies. The choices are limited from Port of Sudan. There is only a ferry going to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Because our car is too big for a normal 20ft container we are quoted ridiculous prices of $12000 dollars shipping to Italy or $15000 to Aqaba in Jordan.

The consular at the Saudi Arabian embassy gave us the number for the Al Tayyar travel group who we can try and arrange a visa through. Problem is they are in Jeddah and numerous phone calls later we are no closer to getting more information.

10/05/2009

It is Sunday and back to Toyota. This is getting tiring and boring for the children. We are spending our time between Toyota, Blue Nile and Solitaire. In between there is a bit of shopping for food and we discover a really good Turkish pastry shop, Al Abd, which have really good confectionary which is sold by the kg. Our 500gr cost 10SGP and all of it was excellent. The children are not that in to Turkish confectionary and as Zelda does not eat sweets it is more for me.

We had a good evening with Allen and Monica and sharing travel stories. They have been all over, from working in Iceland to visiting China. Eventually all travel stories must descend into lavatorial humour and they told us some funny stories about sharing toilets in China and Mongolia, but that might be a bit much for here.

The car is finished at last and after paying 1200SGP we can get away from Toyota.

09/05/2009

Saturday it is back to Toyota. They have found a center bearing and are replacing that. Allthough we spend the rest of the day here there is not a lot of work going on around our car.

Toyota have a staff canteen and we enjoy their lunch of pita bread, lamb and fuul. It is very cheap.

The evening it is back to Zakharia for another coffee ceremony.

08/05/2009

As it is Friday it is a no work day for Muslims. We need internet so early morning we are at Solitaire coffee shop where we find free internet and expensive coffee.

Later the day we try and find the German club because I thought if there is one place you will find beer it will be at the German club. We find it but I think the German club has now become the Italian club because there is an Italian restaurant on site and not a single beer anywhere. Non alcoholic beers are everywhere but that takes all the fun out of it.

The rest of the day is quiet. When Sudan close down they close down everything.

As a family we have started our own challenge to see who can buy the best, or most, of anything with $1. At this stage everybody is still playing a strategic game of waiting to see what the other guys are going to buy.

We have also met some really nice people from Europe that has said to come visit them once we reach Europe so we decided to extend our One Dollar Challenge to any person, group or company that feel like making a contribution to our trip.

It basically works like this. You offer us anything you want for $1. We decide whether we want to accept it and if we do then once we meet up we will give you $1 in exchange for whatever you offered.

Example: You offer to buy us a beer when we reach Paris. When we reach Paris and contact you we will exchange you our $1 for a beer.

Of course you can offer anything. Maybe a room for a night, a meal, a guided tour or whatever you are prepared to exchange for $1. Once we take you up on your offer we pay you $1.

If you have something to offer us please e-mail us on ericus@north-bound.co.za Keep in mind we are 2 adults and 2 children.

You can enter your own offer here. Just remember to send us your contact details as well.

We will display everything that anybody has offered us on this page and our heartfelt thanks to everybody that has taken the time and trouble to respond.

Play along. It can be fun.