Some artwork Im playing with...

*Updates to my travel*

Cairo, Egypt-

Well Im so close to leaving for Sudan I can taste it. It took about a month for the whole process to result in success but it was worth it. About a month ago I visited the Sudanese embassy in Cairo to inquire/start the whole application. The embassy has an atmosphere that expects chickens to run past at any moment and is usually packed full of Nubians. I took a collegue of mine to help with the language barrier and to generally grease the wheels with her charm. I just recently read an article on lonelyplanet.com from an American who didn't get his visa... I wonder if its because he didn't take a pretty girl with him? Anywho, the first visit cost me $50 and two passport photos which after submitted with the application I was told to come back in two weeks. That was Jan 20th. I had a couple weeks to waste so I made for El Arish. 

Recently, as most of humanity hopefully knows, Israel launched an offensive on Gaza lasting for 20 something days which resulted in the offical number of 1300 dead Palestinians (I believe its closer to 2000). Over half of them were women and children. I was just returning from Siwa Oasis which is in the Western Desert of Egypt where Egyptian and Libian culture has mixed into a unique culture, language, etc. I was in my hotel in Alexandria when the news began to show bombs and carnage in Gaza. Photos of dead babies were everywhere. This was about a week or two deep by the time I made it to Sinai. Egypt borders Palestinian territories with only one place to come and go: the Rafah crossing. Rafah is about 20 miles from the next town, El Arish. The purpose of my visit to El Arish was to visit a Bedouin friend of mine whos family land was there. I stayed with him in the house his great grandfather built on a huge piece of land that was still unencroched by villas and beach resorts. The mud house has 3 foot thick walls and is right across the road from the Meditteranian Sea. The land is vast sand dunes peppered by hundreds of 50 ft. palm trees. These trees were planted 3 generations ago and made the perfect setting for finding hidden lamps containing djinn. Only 25 min away people were being bombed. 

The road in front of the house is one of the most ancient routes in human history. Sinai is a small arrowhead shaped land that literally creates a bridge between the massive African and Asian continents. This was supposed to be the road Jesus and his parents took when escaping to Egypt while male children where being slaughtered in his hometown. Quite the tradition they have in this part of the world. While in El Arish, the ceasefire was finally called and trucks bearing food and supplies as well as medical services began to make for the border. The air was palpable with the feeling of suffering so close. After about a week staying out all nite and sleeping in the day I decided to leave my vampiric lifestyle and head for the Red Sea. I had never been to Dahab but had heard it compared to the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. I had a great time in Thailand at the Full Moon Party so I decided to check it out. Dahab was lame. Maybe it was just the off season and as such no people but the beach has been consumed by resturants that all look the same and in Thailand there's no one to hustle you as you walk by. I missed Taba with its serenity and nature. Four days later I arrived at my favorite spot in Sinai. Moonlight Camp. 

From Sinai '08

After a week of swimming in the sea and eating the best food it was time to make for Cairo and to get my visa for Sudan. On Feb 5th I arrived at the embassy only to be told there was no reply from Khartoum. I still didn't know if I was denied or approved. Keep hope. Since last year when I was in Egypt there was one place I anticipated seeing, the White Desert. 

I jumped on a bus in crowded chaos, aka Cairo, and headed for Bawati Oasis. 5 hours later and I arrived late in the night to the center of town. I paid 5 times too much for a quick taxi ride to my hotel where I forwent the actual rooms and just set up my tent in the garden. The next couple nights proved to be extremely windy but the location of my tent was protected for the most part. On the third day the hotel staff decided to clean the sewage tank which was underground so they began to pump the water to a nearby ditch. I realized they had flooded the garden in the process and went to check my tent. Yup, they had flooded me out. My backpack was soaked with water but my sleeping pad and blankets were still dry. The owner put me in a half built utility room that was covered in dust and gave me a huge straw mat so I could lay my stuff out to dry. Fortunately my artwork was spared the water damage and it was only a matter of drying out my pack and some clothes. That night was colder than usual so it was nice to have four walls around my tent for shelter. 

The following day a couple of Japanese and one French traveler were headed to the White Desert on a cheap tour which lasted one night in the desert with dinner provided so I jumped in with them. We got a late start of about 4pm so most of the daylight was gone when we arrived. The setting was none the less breathtaking. 

Located between two oasis, the White Desert was once under water. The area is full literally of white calcium "sculptures" that the wind and elements have has millenia to work on. (pics to come soon) Some of the statues look like massive white mushrooms that are 40 feet high. Others look like animal faces... hawks and foxes, etc. BurningMan anyone? The ground is solid white calcium as well but covered with patches of off-white sand and sprinkled everywhere with black pieces of iron which when closer inspected are actually fossilized plant pieces. Berries, cones, and stems of plants which have over the last several million years turned to pure iron. Closer looks are rewarded with shells and what looked like teeth. This whole place used to be under the sea. As the evening gave way to the night the sky exploded into the most 3 dimensional experience of the stars I have ever seen. I climbed one of the huge calcium towers which was about 30 feet high and looked up at the sky. It felt like I was floating in outer space. One could actually see which stars were closer and which were further away. At times I had a feeling of vertigo like I could fall off the face of the Earth. Ever been stuck upside down to the ceiling? 

My compainions on the safari were all very quiet and so the night in the desert was extremely peaceful. I slept late under the stars after watching the moon rise and woke early to see the sun rise. The landscape was morphing from white blue to pink orange and then back to pure white in the Sun's rays. We made a quick breakfast, packed camp, and then made for the Black Desert. A quick climb up a mountain to see the entire landscape (again pics to come...) and then back to Bawati. I stayed one more night in the hotel and jumped on a bus out of the oasis. There were no seats available so I just sat on the floor in the middle isle for 5 hours headed back to mayhem. Cairo. 

It was now two weeks later or one month in total that the Sudanese embassy was giving me the runaround. This time they claimed that the paperwork was lost and that they couldnt help me. We asked to speak to someone in charge and they sent us around back to the director. We were led upstairs to a nice office where a man sat behind a big desk. He was kind but firm and asked me why I wanted to see Sudan and what have I heard of his country... "Everyone tells me not to go but none of them have ever been. The few that have been said that the people are the kindest in the world and that the land is still pure. I wish to see this." He said he would help me if they couldnt find my papers. Infact they had lost them so I filled out a new application and he signed the approval then and there. I was instructed to come at 9am sharp the next morning to pay the last $100 and deliver my second batch of photos. I arrived at 9:15 which IS 9 'o clock Egyptian time. The actual workers didnt arrive until 10:30. After giving me some more hassle, I paid and they took my passport telling me to come back at 4pm to collect my visa. I arrived at 4:01 to find the doors locked and one of the workers standing outside smoking. I asked to obtain my visa and he said they were closed. I told him they said 4pm and he said the passport was ready at 3. I repeated that HE said 4pm and so he asked what time it was. 4:03. His face betrayed him. He was caught. He then decided to question me. "What is your job?" "I teach peace to children." I guess that was enough so he took me through another door where a worker led me to a huge safe. 30 seconds later I was doing my victory dance in the street. 

3 days later a bomb went off in Cairo. The bomb was in Old Cairo where a huge bazaar sells all kinds of random stuff to whom ever is sucker enough to buy it. I had heard about the bomb on the news and some friends called to give the latest report on the situation. My friend whom I was staying with asked if I wanted to go to the place where the bomb went off to see what the situation was. I was down for an adventure so I said why not and we went down to catch a cab. The taxi driver overheard where we were going and refused to take us all the way. The streets were unusually empty and eerily calm. We got let off a few blocks away and began to make our way up to the bomb site. Its in the middle of a huge square with a large hotel on one side, a huge mosque on another side while a major street bordered the rest of it. This part of the square was off limits to any but foot traffic. Apparently someone had dropped two bombs from the top floor of the hotel down on the people drinking tea below. One French teenager was killed. She was 17 and a friend of mine was hanging out with her the night before. The same friend, Mido of Old Cairo, was dragging people to safety and sending wounded in taxis to the hospital. That night the police had the whole area closed off and after walking around the square we started to wander in the old old old streets of Cairo. This was one of the original areas of Cairo. Tiny dirt alleys and ancient stone and mud buildings propped up by wooden beams to prevent collapse all decorated by random coffee shops and small food stands for locals. This was another world and at one point we had gone so deep into the neighborhood that they told us to leave. After a couple min we were scooped up by a group of boys who took us to some friends playing cards. We sat and had tea and I won the card game on my first try much to the hurt pride of my teacher. They were all very kind and it turned out we were only right arround the corner from my old hotel. A hotel that I couldnt find when I stayed there one night and I kept getting led to another hotel with the same name: El Hussien, the very same hotel the bomb was dropped out of. 

Mido of Old Cairo called us to meet up at a local coffee shop that is popular with artists and writers and we all sat and heard his story over some beers. He was freshly showered and said that his clothes had blood on them before he changed. A wierd night in Cairo. The following day all was back to normal for the most part. Cairo was on the chaotic move. 

Its been about 4 or 5 days since I got my visa and Ive been waiting to see if some work is gonna start before I leave for Sudan. It would get me a little bit of needed cash but in typical Egyptian fashion, there has been no word. Im thinking of leaving for the south in a day or two if no work comes. It's time to bounce outta Egypt for awhile. Sudan has some crazy things going on right now. The president is being pursued for war crimes in a possible indictment. Darfur is clashing as always... and there is magic in the air. I cant wait.