Hello AGAIN!

It seems like we are sending a LOT of updates lately...way more than we anticipated. Internet is just way too easy and cheap in the areas we are travelling to, which was a surprise. Right now, we are in Khartoum, Sudan enjoying a rest day before heading into the hardest week of the tour. We spend 3 days getting to the Ethiopian border and then 3 days in Ethiopia climbing up and over a huge mountain range. We are told that day 2 in Ethiopia is the hardest day of the tour. The past 4 days since Dongola have all merged into one long stretch of desert in our minds. We are getting stops and camp sites mixed up in our heads because they all looked pretty much the same. A tent and thousands of square kilometers of Sahara desert. When we crossed the Nile River in Dongola, we went from the Nubian Desert to the Sahara. It is strange thinking that when looking West, there is nothing but sand all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The cycling has become slightly mind-numbing as a result of this very barren landscape. In the Nubian Desert, there were a lot more hills and entertaining terrain, but here, it is nothing but flat, newly paved roads and sand. We kept our sanity on the long rides (142km, 142km, 157km and 105km over the past 4 days) by talking a lot. In fact, in order to ensure we have stuff to talk about, we have made a rule of not having any interesting conversations at camp but instead writing the topic down and discussing it the next day while riding. It worked to get us to Khartoum, though there were some times when we felt like just getting on the truck to make the sand go by faster.

We have noticed people getting slightly less friendly the more we move South, and instead of always being eagerly waved at, we usually have to initiate the wave. It is an interesting spectrum to see change slowly while we go by at our pace. Khartoum is a very big city that reminded us a lot of Delhi, but with slightly less people and traffic congestion. The air is very dry and today was the hottest day of the week, reaching 50 degrees. The heat is actually quite bearable until you start to move but the sun feels like someone is holding a hot plate to your arms.

Last night was a very enjoyable one in Khartoum and it involved bowling and then watching and taking part in a dance-off with some local police cadets that are housed in the same grounds as we are. They played a game where one person stamps their foot to a certain beat, then challented someone else to that beat. Whoever loses the beat first is disqualified. It was a lot of fun and we were not too bad either!!! Today, we took a bus to a YMCA compound which houses some IDP (all children) from the South and the West of Sudan. One of our riders works with the German YMCA which is quite close to the one in Sudan. We were all able to help hand out some mosquito nets to about 300 children (mostly orphans) that were purchased as a result of the fundraising and the joint YMCA efforts. We are still taking in and going over everything that we saw and how it made us feel and we will most likely write more about this in the future. It was quite something...

Lastly, we wish would could get more pictures up, but we are having a hard time getting around the size of the pictures as well as the internet connection speed. If there are any travel savvy or tech savvy people out there who have a suggestion for getting more pictures up, please let us know.

Our next rest day is on February 6 in Gondor, Ethiopia where we hope to update once more!

Ciao!

Judy & Andrew

1400km - Dongola, Sudan

Hello everyone!

So we are in Sudan safe and sound. The hype in the media really throws you off about this place, at least the part we are in. People are incredibly friendly and welcoming, everyone says hello when you are walking down the street (without trying to sell you something or asking you for money) and no one tries to rip you off when you are buying something from their little shop! So much different from Egypt. Sudan is evolving everyday, which is why although we were told that there would be no internet access we found some and it is the fastest yet. They are even running Pentium 4s here! All for a cost of about CAD $0.75 per hour.

Cycling is getting a little tougher as the weather gets hotter and hotter, and we still have 2 more countries until we hit the equator. Not only did Sudan bring hotter weather, it also brought the first non-paved roads meaning we have to exert ourselves much more to get the same distance. Imagine trying to cycle 100km through a beautiful sandy beach...when its 40 degrees...minus the water to cool off in. Subsequently we've had our first bout of sickness, quite likely caused by minor heat stroke and missed one day of riding. We are all better now though and looking after ourselves, enjoying a rest day in Dongola.

We have gone over 1400km now and have 4 more days of cycling before reaching Khartoum and then we should cross the Ethiopian border on February 3rd. The food continues to be delicious everywhere we go, and nothing beats a giant bag of falafel from a roadside vendor (for CAD $0.60)!

If there is any aspect of our trip that you are curious about (ie. the people, food, technology, etc.) let us know and we will try and include some info on that topic in our next update.

Andrew & Judy

Greetings From Luxor

Hello Everyone!

I know we keep saying that we are trying to do updates as often as we can because internet will be scarce, but this time it is pretty likely. We are just about to end the part of our journey through Egypt, as in three days time we will be entering Sudan. We spend the next two days riding to the border, and then hop on a 10+hour boat ride across Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa, Sudan. Should be an interesting ride for sure! We're pretty excited to be getting close to our second country!

We have very little to update since our last blog in Safaga, the road conditions between here and there were phenominal! And the heat hasn't been too extreme so far, though as we are constantly riding south, the right sides of our bodies are distinctly more tanned than the left! Right now we are staying at Rezeiky Camp in Luxor, which is really just a hotel whose grounds have been invaded by 50 tents. We had the option to pay and stay in the hotel, but we figured we've only been camping for a week and a half, so it wasn't time for that yet. We spent our first rest day doing laundry, maintaining our bikes and preparing for Sudan. Stew, so far, Judy and I have had some of the least amount of issues with our bikes...seems that we got some good quality parts, equipment and advice from you, thanks a lot!

One thing that was interesting was that in cycling from Safaga to Qena, we were heading towards the Nile and as we got closer, things got greener and people started appearing along the roads (the desert was very sparsely populated). It is amazing how water changes everything. In Qena, there were SOOO many people everywhere, especially children who knew very little English. "Hello" and "Money" were the most common things that we heard. Almost all of them were very friendly though and we felt like celebrities waving to either side as we rode through packs of children.

We have added a few pictures here as well, so enjoy! As we mentioned briefly, we have no idea what internet is going to be like in Sudan, but we will try to get another update as soon as possible.

Judy & Andrew

500km Down...11 400km to Go!

Hello!

Well, we just completed Day 4 of our journey and are in a small little town right on the Red Sea called Safaga. Our tent is set up literally on the beach 20 feet from the water. We have travelled just over 500km over the past 4 days and are happy to say that as a team, at least one of us has cycled every kilometer so far (not necessarily both of us, but fatigue and soreness does get in the way). We don't have much to report on stuff that we have seen as it has pretty much been all sandy desert on the trip so far. We were very happy to be cycling right along the Red Sea for the past 3 days, it has been beautiful. For those that want to figure out our route, we went from Cairo to Hurghada and are now in Safaga. Our first day of cycling was very tough...not only did we have to deal with the hectic traffic in Cairo heading out, but as soon as we were out of the city we were on a long uphill out of the Nile valley...with a headwind. Even the most experienced riders said it was quite the challenge. BUT, we both managed to cycle the entire 130km to camp, just before the sun set. It was tough. The worst part was that day two was 168km. Luckily, when we woke up, the winds had changed and we had a tailwind for the whole thing. We met up with the Red Sea on Day 2 and camped within walking distance of the water. We didn't get a chance to take a dip, however, as we were exhausted and went to bed at 8pm. On day 3, it was another 133km, but again, the tailwind was a life-saver. We were in to camp by 2pm and had enough time to go for a swim this time! Today (Day 4), was only 100km and we were into camp before noon (hence having time to search for an internet cafe in town). Went for a swim again and had a chance to have a shower at a local hotel as well (and a beer).

So far, we have adjusted well. The cycling was difficult at first, but we are getting stronger and more settled into our saddles and shorts as we go along. The food so far has been absolutely amazing. The chef they have on the tour is incredible. We were thinking about going out to a restaurant for a "real" meal tonight, but decided not to as the camp food has been just as delicious.

We can't upload any pictures where we are so far, but if you are interested in what we have seen, just google "Egypt - desert", nothing much else.

In two days we will be in Luxor where we will have our first official rest day and might sent another update then. Then we are off to Sudan on a boat...it is all going so fast!

Thats all for now, ciao!

Andrew & Judy

And so it Begins...

We don't have much time to write right now as we are madly packing the truck and getting ready to start cycling tomorrow. We just want to let everyone know that we have enjoyed our time in Cairo and have stayed healthy and are 100% ready to go riding tomorrow morning (at 6:30am). We have gone on three practice rides just to get used to our bikes and the traffic, etc...just 20-25km. All went well.

We are riding 128km tomorrow starting at the Pyramids and going to a camp in the middle of the desert. We are really excited and ready to go. Hopefully, that spirit can be maintained after a few days of hard riding (the day after tomorrow is 168km!)

We might not have internet for at least 5 or 6 days (or more) but if you want daily updates, go to www.tourdafrique.com. They will put an update up daily with pictures when possible so you can know how everything is going or if there are any setbacks etc.

Our internet is about to run out, so that is all for now. Sorry we could not write more. Hopefully on our next rest day we'll find a nice cheap internet cafe and have a good amount of time to write lots and put up pictures.

Ciao for now!

Andrew & Judy

Happy New Year

Firstly, a huge Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully everyone enjoyed some new years parties, the Sheikh here in Dubai cancelled "all" new years celebrations as an act of solidarity to the Palestinian cause. That being said, a lot of places got around that by having loopholes, and I think a lot more private parties were held. That and Abu Dhabi, which is only an hour away must have made a killing off of all the last minute plans from the people of Dubai.
Over the last few days we have crammed in a bunch of sight seeing, and had a few good laughs over Dubai. They seem to want to have the biggest and best of everything in the world:
Burj Tower - World's Tallest Man Made Structure
Dubai Mall - World's Largest Mall
Dubal Mall Aquarium - World's Largest Single Pane of Glass
Dubai Mall - World's Largest Indoor Christmas Tree (its 4 stories tall!)
I'm sure the list goes on...but thats all we saw.
Today marks our last day in Dubai, and the start of our journey to Africa. In 3 hours we catch a plane to Cairo, and from there, the biking starts which is the real point of the trip. We finally finished packing, and how we did it is beyond me. We started out from Canada with 4 checked bags, 2 carry-ons and Andrew's parents carrying tons of our stuff in their bags. We shipped our bikes to Dubai in advance. Now as we depart for Cairo we miraculously have only 2 checked bags and our bikes, plus carry-on. I guess over the course of the past 3 weeks we have become somewhat of packing experts! We have yet to see if the airline deems our bags to be overweight, as we weighed them with a bathroom scale, and they are always off! As it stands right now, our two bags as well as both bike boxes weight between 22.5 and 23.5 kg...the max is 23...so hopefully the airport scale is kind to us!

A few more donors to add to our list!
Heather Shonoski
Pat Griffith & Family
Carol-Ann Beson
Colin McLellan
Asha Padmanabhan

We also want to thank the entire Padmanabhan family here in Dubai for the generous hospitality and kindness. They made the final moments before Africa comfortable, and being away from our families so much easier.

So we are off, we are just going to load everything into the car and head to airport. We're not sure how reliable the internet will be throughout Africa, so this may be the last post for a couple of weeks. We hope everyone is well, and we promise to be safe. Happy New Year to everyone, and remember to enjoy the ride!

Judy & Andrew