'ensh allah' (arabic for 'if god is willing')

Hawkers on the street of cairo go for anything out of the norm. Aparrently my boots are out of the norm. People keept shouting, nice shoes! after me. But no more, Got my self a pair of new favorite shoes. brand new pamus (the blackmarket version of pumas) which are really great. I feel like a ninja in them and the hawkers seems to think that I am a student living in cairo. This is certainly more of a blend in than crocodile dundee. I guess its a modern world after all. Indiana jones is far more exotic on the streets of cairo than the hip camden youngster. Of coarse the boots does well in the desert. Aparrently there's no camels in the western oasis, so I have gone south along the nile instead. Meet lots of nice people in cairo but the air polution is slowly killing me, don't really matter thought, you're quite likely to get killed in traffic (cairo traffic is total kaos) Beetween noon and 4 pm the whole inner city is completely jammed with old vehicles at stand still honking hornes. When it rains in cairo, its supposed to be black rain because of the polution. It doesen't happen alot thought. the place where I am at right now (aswan) haven't had rain for 3 years straight. I meet a cool traveling 55 years old irishman in cairo, who I kind of were supposed to meet up with in dahab (sinai). it's icredible how many atractive offers you meet on the road. And since I goes with the wind, I can really just go for ity if I want to. As always have I meet awesome canadians and I really must go to Vancouver one day. By the way, I am not going to India, not now anyway. did apply for a visa though, so I can pick it up in cairo if I make it back there. The plan is to go to asia next winter, probably India. I really want to go there, but now I got to go with the moment.

Climbing a desert ruin for a better angle with my camera (photographer: Haukur Sigurdsson)

I have meet two crazy enough guys from Iceland.

Haukur & Nonni http://afrikout.wordpress.com/

We have traveled south from cairo together. Did a great trip down the nile for 3 days on a feluca (traditional nile boat) with captain Fanan, his cousin Tarek (the provider) the captains apprentis and chef Ramadan (who is on his fourth of 8 years of shooling to become a feluca captain. We've had a absolutely amaising time. slowly drifting down the nile (the mother of life) wathing farmers grow crop and kids herd animals. Bonefires, Irish tea (whiskey + hot water), beer and shit & shit. Dancing, singing, playing music and sharing increadible stories. The captain is a great guy who has been around. wathing the stars over the desert. We even experienced a burning inferno of falling star, that lit up the whole sky. If anyone is nearby, ever. i highly recommend going to Aswan and taking a feluca trip down the nile with captain Sayed el fanan (also a great singer of traditional nubian songs).

There has been a lot of partying and life is good. (photographer: Haukur Sigurdsson)

Luck follows me as usual. In Aswan (16 hours south of cairo by train and in the middle of the desert) there was an embassy and I managed to get a visa, without the obligatory letter of recommendation in 20 minutes and in time to get a ticket to the ferry we are taking on monday. Through (the supposedly incredibly but man made)lake nasser and then a 50 hours train ride (highly recommended by the national geografic as one of the coolest train stretches on the planet) further south into the deserts.

We expect the following travel to be warm, nice and safe. Someone said that you can get a AK47 for 6 USD on the south side of the boarder. So like in america its probably very safe. The plan is to buy a couple of camels and go out on a caravan through the desert, hopefully all the way to the coast. There might be beautiful beaches in eritrea. Train has definatly been the most comfortable transport so far. I hate buses. Galloping in the desert on a horse was awesome but tireing. Omars(Donkee in arabic) are nice animals but small. Supposedly a camel can go for 40 days without water or food. So we just fill 'em up and the camels will most likely outlive us in the desert. A camel is a hell of a uncomfortable ride though, we have come up with a solution for this. I will probably never want to see a camel again, ever, IF we make it out of the desert. We are also discuising different means of transportation for rest of the travel. Bikes are the most calling, and we did want to ride them to the baeches of Zanzibar, but since rain season ion east africa kicks in, in a month or so, we woudn't come far. More likely, IF we get bikes, which are inexpensive, is that we try to ride them back to europe. Althought, all of us are at the moment totally unlicensed for such form of transportation and therefore would unregistered and uninsured be the only option, which most definetly will cause problems, how big of problems, I guess we'll find out. Don't expect to hear from me in a while, probably not until the caravan is over. I have updated my online photo gallery with pictures from egypt. http://www.ringo.com/explore/member/album.html?albumId=41364519

I am very exited. This will be fun! Sunny sudan here we come...

'ensh allah' - landstalker 070119