Zijlstras on the move!!

Thank you

2008-08-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our adventures during this trip.

It was a lot of work, and sometimes a lot of frustration with Internet that was slow, slower, slowest, but in the end it was also a rewarding job. We heard that many people followed us during the trip, which is a nice feeling and for us it will be a nice memory.

But now Bart,Evert and Helma have to get ready to start their life in Holland while Ed, for the time being, will work in Malawi. We all feel a bit homesick: To have no obligations, to wonder around the earth beautiful places, to meet so many kind and helpfull people on the road and in all the countries. This trip is something we will never forget and carry with us the rest of our lives.

Ed, Evert, Bart and Helma

Bye Bye!!!!

Here we are

2008-08-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

The Bovenstraat 21 in Rotterdam

View from our house in the Benedenstraat

We made it!!!

Home sweet home.....

2008-08-21T03:49:00.001-07:00

The next day, 6 hours driving and we entered the Netherlands.

We were almost home. The sun was shining although it was ,compared to all the countries we visited, cold.

The first stop was to see Oma, Helma's Mum and then to the Bovenstraat. It was so strange to be back in Holland again.

Black Forrest

2008-08-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

They love cuckoo clock in this part of Germany. We even saw the Biggest clock if the world.

In the centre of the Black Forrest, Titi see, we ate a nice sausage and enjoyed the views. Our last stop over was in a Gasthof where we enjoyed a very good meal, with apple sauce bought by Helma in the LIDL...

How many countries in one day?

2008-08-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

Italy, Swiss, Austria, Lichtenstein and Germany!! We had forgotten how beautiful Europe is and we enjoyed to trip so much.

The Swiss were very thorough and they gave us a good check-up before they would let us enter the country. Woo. Those mountains and snow on top it was a great view. We ended that day at the Boden see were we managed to find a place at a farm.

Como

2008-08-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

We spent some lovely days at the lake. Although the camping place was more cramped then we ever experienced during the trip the view was wonderful, the lake and the mountains. The water was rather cold but refreshing. The boys were very active learning to sail on the splash from Frits and even to do some windsurfing and swimming, while Helma and Ed relaxed and tried to catch up with the dutch news and the dutch newspapers.

In the end Bart and Evert could cross the lake with the splash which was a major achievement.

Road to Italy

2008-08-21T03:09:00.001-07:00

The next day travelling went fast. The road were in a good condition. It was green, overwhelming green, something we haven't seen for a long time. We drove through Croatia and ended in Slovenia, the border post to the European Community. However, we noticed nothing. Without any checking, except the passports, we could enter the EU,

We spent the night in Slovenia where we were in holiday country and we even found the first LIDL. We did some shopping there but Helma had to be stopped, because the car was full.

The next morning not the mosque but the church bells woke us up.

Once in Italy, no borders, the traffic was hectic. Traffic jams, something we really have to get used to. So it took us some time to reach Lake Como. Como was beautiful. Although the roads were narrow and there were lots of tourists it maintained its caracter.

Once we reached Pianello Frits was the first relative we saw in a long, long time. But there were more relatives so it was a wonderful reunion.

Finally Europe!!

2008-08-21T02:39:00.000-07:00

After our last night in Turkey near the sea where we saw dolphins and cruis ships, it was time to move on. Italy was waiting! The trip was OK and even the formality at the Turkish border was quick. In Bulgaria it was different. We went to 6 different stations. At the first one they gave us a flash card with our details and we had to give that to every station. It was confusing and at a certain point we thought we could keep this flash card. At the last station we had to give it back, but we were in Bulgaria. What a difference to Turkey. Small roads and it started to rain. Our last rain was in Khartoum. It was getting cold as well. So we felt we had to rush on. What is the point staying in Bulgaria. We managed to get to the Serbian border in time, although we had to wait 45 minutes. It was their supper time. But again formalities went smooth. Serbia was in a better condition than Bulgaria. The roads much better and the houses gave us the idea of being in Austria. We managed to find a nice hotel and slept for a long time, because the day after we realised that it was 1 hour earlier.

Photo's from Gallipoli Peninsula

2008-08-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

Troy- Gallipoli Peninsula

2008-08-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

After Pamukkale we drove to the sea again, the Aegean Coast. We made the decision not to go to Istanbul but to Troy instead. By that time we received an e-mail from Frits, Helma's brother who planned to camp at the Como lake in Italy with the question if we could drop by. The boys were very excited, because from Istanbul to Frits was "only"2000 km.

So we choose to skip Istanbul and went to Troy. Troy famous for Homer's Iliad is a nice historic place. Not too big because 6 cities were built on top of it. You can understand that it must have been a tremendous job to identify which city were the found ruins from. Of course is the horse of Troy the most important thing. You also had a nice view on the Dardanelles. The water was very blue and in the distance we also saw the ships heading for the black sea.

After Troy we took the ferry to the Gallipoli Peninsula. This is a very famous historical place. It was visited by many people. During WWI the allied troops fought against the Turkish army led by Ataturk. At that time the Russian were "our" allies and to ensure an entry to the black sea the allied troops wanted to control the entrance to the black sea. In 1915 many soldiers were sent to this place, from India, Australia, New Zealand, UK and so on. The allied forces lost. The casualties were horrendous so they were withdrawn. In the end more than 20,000 soldiers were unidentified. In 1918 after the war the allied forces came back to bury their soldiers. Most of them are now burried in huge graveyards, but there is a impressive memorial for all these young boys.

Of course many Turkish soldiers died as well. So now it is now a place to visit all the cemeteries, swim in the sea, visit the battlefields. We thought it was an overwhelming experience.

Pamukkale

2008-08-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

Pamukkale is renowned for the gleaming white ledges with pools with shining blue waters in pools that flow over the plateau. On top of the mountain is the Roman city of Hierapolis, long ago also known for the spa's. Even in that time the mountain was white due to the calcium in the waters. It was a spectacular view but it is not as beautiful as it was a couple of years ago. Apparently less water comes from the spa's and the calcium dries up and disappears with the wind. That is actually very sad.

The Turkish government tries to slow down the process. So there is police with whistles and they whistle every time if people go to far on the ledges or if they walk with their shoes on.

Some places were still intact, but they have built some swimming pools especially for the tourists. In the past you could swim and soak in the pools but those days are gone. It was wonderful that we could see it because the future for Pamukkale is uncertain.

HOME

2008-08-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

Dear all,
It has been a long time since we updated the blog. Believe it or not, we are HOME.
As soon as we have our internet working we will update the blog with our last adventures in Turkey, Bulgaria, Servia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Swiss, Austria and Germany.
Ed, Helma, Bart and Evert.
e-mail adress: e.e.zijlstra@gmail.com

Sick Bay in Antalya

2008-07-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Helma suddenly suffered of lower back pain, Ed had a strained shoulder, Evert had a sore tummy and we were stuck in Antalya. We have to admit there are worse places to recuperate. Antalya has a wonderful old city, with lots of historic things to see and to do. So it was time for a time out!!

We are staying in a nice pension with a swimming pool in the middle of the old town. But tomorrow everyone is ready to move on because we still have a long way to travel.

The Mediterranean Sea

2008-07-24T05:03:00.000-07:00

Camping again, sunbathing, swimming.The water was crystal clear, fish everywhere. After 2 days we had to continue to ...Antalya. Only 400 km, but it took us a full day. We camped at Side with sea view. But otherwise it is filled up with package tours. So there are nicer places, although without sandy beaches. But something came up..

Uchisar rock citadel

2008-07-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

Castle at UchisarLunchtime!

Again we climbed a rock citadel, but it was well worth it. We had a beautiful over the whole area. the next day we visited the underground city. it was very impressive, very deep underground there was a church cut in the form of a cross. the boys thought it was great, but for Ed was it a little bit too much so he climbed out of the city as soon as possible.

Hard work on the field

We visited the Ihlara Valley, which is a beautiful canyon full of rock- cut churches. The road to the valley was wonderful. But Ed and the boys will the Valley always remember as the place where they all got stung by wasps. Helma was lucky this time. And in the background we saw the Mount Erciyes, a huge volcano like mountain with snow!But it was time for relaxation again so we headed for the coast.

Fresh apricots for sale.

Kapadokya

2008-07-24T04:31:00.000-07:00

Deep in the heart of the country lies a fairy tale world. There are ancient churches, cave dwellings and all kind of geological wonders. And suddenly you are in the middle of it. It consists of a soft volcanic tuff that has been sculpted over thousands of years into fantastic shapes by water and erosion.. There are huge stone mushrooms, deep valley, pigeon holes, caves. It was a wonderful place to explore and just look and walk around. we slept in a cave. most pensions are built in caves. Although it was hot outside we needed our duvet in the night because it was chilly.

We slept in the middle of a town called Goreme. In the area are so many things to see. It was a good thing we had our own car and visited some lovely villages like Urgup, the Zelve Valley and Mustafapasa.

Adana

2008-07-24T04:17:00.001-07:00

The lake at Adana

Along the road fruit stalls with veggies and fruits

Finally, we are in Turkey. Jordan is not big, the distance we have to cover in Syria is also limited, but who ever thought we would be home once we reached Turkey is wrong! it is a huge country and there are so many historical things to see and to do. But our party notices that we are a little bit tired. Thus we have to be realistic and only do and see some things in Turkey and skip the rest for another time perhaps.

Turkey is modern, good roads, nice people and for the first time Helma can walk in shorts without problems. Turkey is great!

The Adana Mosque
Our first stop after the border is Adana where we tried to camp, but the campsite had ceased to exist, so it was a room again with a very nice swimming pool. The swimming teacher used the boys as guinae pigs to demonstrate all the strokes for their pupils. we noticed that is was humid hot, but nice. Our lights of the breaks were not working so we stopped at a Nissan dealer where we treated, with lunch, watermelon etc. What a service and they fixed the car as well! After all that it was time to move on to Kappadokya.

What can you buy in the souq?

2008-07-23T09:13:00.001-07:00

You can buy everything at the souq. here is an impression, but mind you, it is only an impression. You don't smell the odours, hear the noise and feel the heat. They make soap from olives, they have lovely spices, silk and brains.... just enjoy.

Lattakia and Aleppo

2008-07-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

After the castle we headed to the Mediterranean Sea. It was a highway so we arrived there very fast. We couldn’t find a hotel that was at a beach because in town it was all harbour, so we went into an apartment. We went to the public beach. You could go to a hotel but then you had to pay 10 euro per person. Well, it is unlike Jordan, high season. It was very crowded and the water was in the beginning very dirty and not refreshing, it was warm. At the beach you could also smoke a sheesha (water pipe) and no one lay on the beach they sat on a chair. Helma bought some tomatoes, onions and cucumbers to make our dinner. After a delicious home made macaroni meal we went to bed. But it took a long time to sleep because the Syrian people enjoyed their holiday with disco’s everywhere. The good thing was that they stopped at 11 pm.
The next day we left to Aleppo. It was a beautiful trip in the mountains with some fantastic views according to my parents. Bart and I were reading (!). Halfway we tanked at a petrol station where a man was smoking while tanking as if there was nothing wrong, rather scarry, but luckily no accidents occurred.

When we arrived in Aleppo we could not find the hotel but a friendly man helped us to find the way. The streets were very narrow and it was difficult to find a parking space. They have especially for Aleppo very small trucks that can even drive in the souq. At last we managed to find a parking spot at the tourist centre. This was especially for tourists, but the people of Aleppo were a little bit annoyed, too many cars with an Iraqi number plate use it as a parking spot. They are refugees and definitely no tourists, but they have a nice parking spot in the city centre. We settled in and went for a walk in the old city. It was a lot like Damascus, although here the souq is world heritage site. The things they were selling were incredible. One butchery shop even sold sheep’s brains. We also saw the lungs, liver and spleen, heart and windpipe. Helma thought it was a nice biology lesson, but Bart was not interested. Helma enjoyed it a lot and bought some silk and apricots but Bart and I didn’t find the souq much and we did not stay long. Aleppo also has a citadel, but we saw enough I guess, or we were a little bit tired and left it. We drank something at a very famous historic hotel ‘Baron’ and ate on top of a roof of another restaurant. The waiter did not understand English but he was very nice. He brought Helma some fresh fruit while she expected some fresh fruit juice. We stayed in a backpacker’s hotel and had a room with 4 beds for 15 euro, basic but OK. Lots of backpackers slept on a roof mattress. It was a mattress on top of the hotel with no privacy at all. I think there were about 20 mattresses. The good thing was that it was very cheap and cool because of the blowing wind. Unlike our room that was rather warm.

Your reporter: Evert

Crac des Chevaliers- photo's

2008-07-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Crac des Chevaliers

2008-07-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

After easily finding our way out of Damascus we set off on yet another highway to the Crac (castle). This was one of the castles which the French king of Jerusalem made to protect Jerusalem. A Chevalier is a knight, so in English Crac Des Chevaliers is castle of the Knights. The crusader knights largely expanded the castle around the middle of the 12th century. When we arrived at the Crac we couldn't believe our eyes, it was almost complete. A huge castle with more than six towers standing high in a inner and an outer wall. The reason was that this castle was never truly breached, despite several attacks. they just gave it up. it was too difficult to defend it when it was surrounded by the armies of the Islam. They had supplies for 5 years, but after one month under siege the Crusaders agreed to depart in return for a safe conduct.
When we came in through the main entrance(which was a bridge) it was not easy to find our way, with underground tunnels and houses leading to more underground houses, stables and wells. Once on one of the towers, we had a fantastic view, according to mum and dad. After walking around the castle on its walls we went back down to explore the inner part of the castle.
Once in we saw broken remains of a church and even a mosque. When we had seen all the remains of a kitchen, a hall, a market place and a dining room we climbed up another tower where we sat down to eat a sandwich. The only negative point of this castle was that inside people were building a kind of theatre (which made a lot of noise).
When jumping back in the car we all thought that this was the best castle we had seen so far. Looking back at it once again we set off to reach Syria’s main sea port Lattakia.

Damascus

2008-07-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

Al Amayyad Mosque

No comments on our blog, so we will keep the truth a little longer from you, or is nobody reading it anymore?? We hope the reason is holiday and in that case we wish you all a perfect holiday. It won't be too long now before we reach the Bovenstraat, but we still have a long way to go.

But first Damascus........

Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world. The guide book says that Damascus is one of the most architecturally significant cities in the Middle East. We just thought it was wonderful. It has a nice mixture of tradition and modernity.

We wondered through the Souq al Hamidyiyya in the Old City that is surrounded by a Roman wall. We went to the Umayyad Mosque, where even Helma had to were a grey outfit, which was rather uncomfortable and very hot. We tried to find our way through all the little streets while Evert was guiding us and we had a look in the Azem palace which was built in 1749. Of course we also saw the treasures from the National Museum and even managed to find a sticker with the Syrian flag for the car. The souq was amazing they sold everything, but you will read about that later.

We saw the tea sellers in the souq. On Friday it was quiet but on Saturday it was so busy. It was wonderful. The only thing we did not do was a hammam. There are different days for female and male and the boys could not be persuaded to enjoy the service of a bathhouse.

Where are we now???

2008-07-22T06:30:00.001-07:00

Damascus at night

Although you´ll see a nice picture of Damascus by night the question is where are we now? Publish a comment with your answer and we will reveal the truth tomorrow the 23rd of July

Good luck

Barty

Jerash

2008-07-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

Roman soldiers and the colonnade

Artemis temple

As we are planning to see Damascus, we skipped Amman and drove direct to Jerash, a well preserved Roman city. It was very impressive. Imagine, we walked on the road that Emperor Hadrian and Alexander the great walked on. A lot of walking though, but it was well worth it. Most beautiful was the temple of Artemis.

We also saw a show with roman soldiers and chariots in the hippodrome, fun. now we are stranded in Irbid, the university town in Jordan and tomorrow we will cross the border with Syria where Internet seems to be a little more problematic.

Spiritual Jordan

2008-07-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

Map in St George Church

You tend to forget that Jordan is a place for many pilgrims. You can visit many places which were named in the Bible. So very close to Israel, but if we want to come home by car we are not allowed to have a stamp of Israel in our passport. So we visited Mount Nebu, the place where Moses just before his death saw the promised land. We also saw the river Jordan where Jesus was baptized. It is a very dirty and small river these days, but in the past it was a big river. The other side was Israel, with some practise you would be able to jump over the Jordan river. In Madaba many churches are decorated with mosaics. The most famous one is the St George church (again, we already met him in Ethiopia). It has a map for the pilgrims on the floor with all the biblical sites. Especially in the past very useful because maps were rare. These days Madaba is still the centre for mosaic, you see them everywhere and they even have a special school for making mosaics.

View from Mt Nebu

Dead Sea

2008-07-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

The dead sea is very salty so you can float without help. If you get the water in your eyes they will start burning. It happened to Evert and Helma, they rushed out of the water to rinse their eyes under the shower. It also tastes foul and makes you very thirsty. The sea is clear but no fish are in this sea, too salty. For 3 euro you can put the mud on your body, they say it is very healthy, but we declined. You actually can walk in the water, it is a very strange experience. The first time you enter the water you feel a pressure that makes you float. We enjoyed it very much, but what was a good thing was the pool. It was a good thing the beach had a shower to rinse off the salt and then jump into a very big nice pool for some proper swimming. Suddenly floating is much more difficult. We had a wonderful day at the dead sea. You could see salt all along the beach and the funny thing was that the rocks also had a coating of salt. We pulled some off and let it dry in the sun, perhaps we will be able to use it on boiled eggs....

The Dead Sea

2008-07-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

The king's Highway

2008-07-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Heavy stuff, Bart!

secret tunnel

The King's Highway is the historic route to Amman. The views are stunning and you can see Crusader castles in Karak and Shobak. Shobak was very small but had a very interesting secret tunnel. Our torches were not good enough to try to leave the castle this way, but still it was nice to venture around this castle. History in practise because there were arrow slid windows according to Bart and lots of armoury like the very heavy bullets for the catapults.

Karak castle was much bigger, with nice views, we even could see the Dead Sea. It also had a nice museum which told everything about the crusaders.

On the way up north we had to cross 3 wadi, or rivers. It is also known as the Grand canyon of Jordan. It is a spectacular valley about 1 km deep and over 4 km from one edge to the other. We found a hotel in Madaba, a very nice town, that also happens to be the centre of Byzantine mosaics. It is also the most important Christian centre in Jordan and there are many churches.

But we cannot wait to go to the Dead Sea.

Karak Castle

The wonderful Petra

2008-07-08T11:31:00.001-07:00

Treasury

Petra is a Unesco World heritage site. We had no idea but it is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataens, Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago. Apparently it was a junction for all the trade routes and linked China and Egypt. It was left by its people. reason unknown but most likely due to earthquakes. Anyway, to enter this city you have to walk almost 2 km through a very narrow kind of canyon known as the Siq. If you have seen the movie : "Indiana Jones and the last crusade", which was featured here, you know what we mean. Of course lots of tourist, but once you enter the city you are rewarded with a wonderful view of the treasury or Al-Khazneh. It served as a tomb but if the sunlight radiates this tomb it is really breathtaking. After that you enter the city, however, most of it is still under the grounds. There is a street of facades, a 7000-seat theatre, lots of tombs, a colonnaded street where the market used to be and various temples. we climbed up a hill (yes, again) to see the monastery (yes, again) of Al-Deir, a long rock-cut stair case but with some rewarding views.

The next day we returned before the crowds arrived and were all alone in the Siq. On the way back the boys had a lift on the horses and after that in the hotel a nice shower, breakfast and into to car up north driving along the King's Highway.

Welcome to the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan

2008-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ahlan wa sahlan,

We had no idea that Jordan has so much to offer.There are some world famous historical and cultural sites, but also breathtaking nature and pilgrimage routes. So you can say Jordan is an eye opener.

The people of Jordan are very friendly and although the Bedouins are traditional and still live in tents (while we cannot camp in the wild), although next to the camel a 4W car is parked, the other half of the population is rather modern. Furthermore they are all very tolerant. Christians and Muslims live together, along with a lot of Palestinian refugees. Everywhere you see the photographs of their King and the former King Hussein who died in 1999. Everyone is very proud of their royalty.

Crossing borders

2008-07-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

As we feared problems with the ferry to Jordan, they were not necessary because we had assistance from lovely people and a very cooperative tourist policeman, who, according to Ed, really deserved bakshees, but refused. Well, the intention is there. But of course it does take a full day to get the tickets, pay tax, remove number plates etc. In the meantime Helma and the boys did some homework. Once the ferry arrived we saw so many overloaded cars, and we thought we were heavy!

The trip to Jordan was swift, only 1 and 1/2 hour, so we were in the fast ferry. No one was able to tell us this fact, but of course we did not complain. It was a much better trip than the Wadi Halfa- Aswan ferry.

In Jordan everything went smooth. They even scanned our cars. OK, it took some time to finish all the formalities, but at 5.30 pm we realized we did not have to spend a night at Aqaba so we rushed to Wadi Mousa to visit Petra. At the port we saw long queues, because also in the Middle east it is summer holiday. So many cars who wanted to cross the red Sea to Egypt. We were sure they all had to wait a long time and we were so happy that we drove in the opposite direction.

Jordan, quiet, clean, expensive compared to Egypt, friendly, no hassling. Jordan was and still is a wonderful experience.

Sinai

2008-07-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

On Mount Sinai

Time is flying, we have to get going otherwise we won't reach Holland in time. On our way to the Sinai we stopped at Suez to see the Canal. Indeed we saw the Canal, but unfortunately no ships. They were all in the distance. We did not want to wait so we moved on through the tunnel underneath the Canal which was actually very short. We were in the Sinai. After seeing the Red sea again we went through the desert to St Katherine's Monastery. This monastery is very close to the Mount Sinai. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the 4th century. We stayed in the guesthouse and went to bed early. As many other people we wanted to climb the Mount Sinai, the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. It is also a place of pilgrimage for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

At 2.30 am we started our walk and we were not alone. Lots of people took a camel and walk down, but not this family. It was dark, no moon and actually it was good that we could not see the road we were taking because it was long and steep. Especially the last 750 rock hewn steps are killing. But we made it and saw the sunset. The sunset coloured the mountains red in an unforgettable manner.

After coming back around 8 am, we had our breakfast and saw the monastery which had a very beautiful chapel.

Then it was time to relax and we hurriedly drove in 1 hour to Dahab, a nice place close to the reef. Lots of divers stay here for diving courses and so on. But we wanted a sandy beach and a windsurfers paradise which we found. Relaxing, reading, surfing, Bart and Evert are getting a feeling for it now, and sunbathing, what a bliss.

On Saturday we are on our way to Jordan. We were told that leaving Egypt is as difficult as entering Egypt. Not something to look forward to, but we will let you know.

Cairo

2008-07-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

The entrance of the museum

We went first to the famous National Museum. It was overwhelming, so many statues, artifacts, too much to take in. The boys enjoyed the Royal Mummies and of course the Mask of Tutankamon and his carriages, because they were also put in his tomb. Incredible. But the museum is a bit overcrowded with items and it is sometimes hard to understand what you see. Nevertheless it was a highlight!

Then we went to pick up our parcel that had followed us from the Sudan. It contained apart from lots of goodies... mmmm Dutch Cheese and liquorice, also our 'green card', the insurance card for the car in Europe. We were all very pleased.

What did not lift our spirits was the embassy of Syria. We don't know if they will give us the required visa and we will only find out at the border. What can we do...Just go there and hope that they will give us a transit visa, and for now enjoy Cairo.

We saw the Islamic Cairo, the nice souq, the mosk, the citadel with nice view over the city. We walked along the Nile at night and enjoyed the colourful boats and of course the Pyramids.

First we drove to Saqaara to see the step pyramid and the wonderful museum. It was a try out for the famous pyramids in Gizah. We also saw some others and climbed in side the pyramids and it was very claustrophobic. You have to bent down and after a long hot walk you enter the chamber and you realize you are in the middle of the pyramid... quiet something.

At last we went to Gizah on a camel. The boys were overjoyed, but Ed and Helma had another feeling, especially Helma who had some blisters on a special place from the saddle, very uncomfortable. Anyway, it was hot so it was nice that we were taken there by 'the ship of the desert'. The Sphinx was rather small compaired to the pyramids but close by it is very impressive. What an experience.

Mask of Tutankamon

Step pyramid

Cairo, here we come!

2008-07-04T05:36:00.001-07:00

The family at one of the temples of Luxor

On our way to Cairo we had to travel in convoy. We tried to avoid it, but the police was not to be bribed, we were sent back and we just had to wait 1 hour before we could leave Luxor, maleesh. We were in front of all the cars, which was nice although we really had to fight to keep that spot. Unbelievable that cars, although they cannot overtake the police car, still try to overtake each other. Anyway, half way to the Red sea we could leave the convoy and while all the other cars had a break we carried on to Hurghada. We found a nice place, had a swim in the crystal clear waters and we decided that the next day, after some more swimming we would continue to Cairo.

To road to Cairo, along the Red sea and through the desert was dull but once we were back along the Nile it became very busy and even dangerous. Donkeys, cars on the wrong side of the road, reversing, whatever, we have seen it all. And we saw the first pyramids, the step pyramid and some that were really in decay.

We were lucky it was Friday so the roads in Cairo were not blocked and in a family joined effort we reached our Hotel Windsor, the old English Officers club. It was a wonderful place to stay and also very relaxed. Once you were outside the door you would blend in with the locals who were using the streets as their terrace. So we had some lovely mint tea, coffee and fresh juices.

The Famous Giza Pyramids and Sphinx

Luxor

2008-06-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Wall decorations in a tomb in the Valley of the Queens

Valley of the Kings

So many things to do..... We started with the Karnak Temple. A huge temple that used to be connected to the Luxor temple in the middle of the town. Lots of tourists, but because it is so enormous you hardly notice them. Of course we are approached by guards to show us something special in exchange for some bakshees. They all want some extra money. We were allowed to sit on the feet of Ramses II. Then we went to the museum. The luxor museum is a gem. Everything well displaced. Very nice to walk around for some time. And the mummification museum, which was a bit scary with all the mummies lying there. They also mummified cats and crocs, imagine that. They explained how the process worked and some tools were shown. All the viscera, dad explained that they meant spleen, liver, bowels and so on were put in 4 special jars and the brains were removed with a kind of spoon. A bit spooky to see these very old mummies.

Of course we made use of the Egyptian Ferrari, much cheaper than in Aswan and we took a felluca, a sailing boat to see the sunset on the Nile.

But the nicest things were to see on the other side of the Nile. The Valley of the Kings. With a small train you were driven to the valley and there you could choose 3 tombs for one ticket. Of course was our first not much of interest but the guard told us which one to see. A lot of climbing. The only things you could see were the decorations and sometimes the sacrophage. All the other artifacts that were once in the tombs are in museums all over the world. But nevertheless a very hot and wonderful experience. On the west side we also saw some temples, the Collosi of Memnon, two huge statues and the Valley of the queens. There are more then 20 tombs you can visit in the Valley of the Kings, but there are only 3 tombs to be seen in the Valley of Queens. But they are the best. Beautiful drawings and still very colourful. And once back in the hotel a nice dip in the pool!

The big statues are guarding the valleys on the West side of the Nile

10.000 KM

2008-06-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Driving from Aswan to Luxor is only allowed in convoy.In the past there were some awful attacks on tourist and now the Egyptians are very, very careful. Police is everywhere on the streets, roadblocks everywhere especially where tourists are. A lot of protection at all the sites. It is not uncomfortable but driving in convoy makes you a sitting duck. Furthermore it is no fun to see some big coaches in front of you. William sent us an sms that convoy could be avoided to luxor. We tried our luck to skip the convoy and just left, with no problems. Only we had to avoid the word Luxor. We were city hopping first to Kom Ombo then Edfu were we visited a really nice temple and Esna. In Edfu we were all alone, well of course with a lot of protection. But this temple was really worth a visit. We even discovered the Nilometer. This gave the people in the past an idea whether they would have a good harvest or not. The Lonely Planet proofed to be a good guide. We enjoyed the beautiful carvings. There was even a laboratory. All the recipes were carved in the wall.

Twenty kilometers before Luxor we reached our first 10.000 km, we are halfway!!

We drove along the Nile valley, palm trees and the desert in the distance, it was a nice trip, arriving around four in Luxor were we found a nice hotel with rock bottom prices: air co, fridge, swimming pool, continuous Internet, including breakfast for 35 US dollars for 4 persons. We only had to blend in with the tourists. This is a rather difficult exercise because you either need a tattoo or a piercing, gold chains, short shorts and open shirts. Luxor is a kind of Costa like you have them in Spain, so this was and still is a culture shock. We better get used to it.

When will we get the car??

2008-06-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday it was time for Ed, together with our English friend

William with the help of Mazar to tackle Egyptian bureaucracy to retrieve our car. It took the whole day, sitting, smiling, drinking tea, paying money and to have patience.
Meanwhile Helma and the boys moved hotel with some more luxury and a swimming pool and that was it. Of course we were on the roof to enjoy the views. But homework and playing computer in a cool room is sometimes very appealing. That night we all had a go at the water pipe although Ed is the only one who really enjoys it. But no, no car yet.

Finally the next day during lunch hour Ed showed up with the car with Egyptian number plates and also with a new driving license. Meantime the other party took the Egyptian Ferrari , horse carriage, to the unfinished obelisk, still lying where it was abandoned thousands of years ago, because it cracked. In the afternoon William left for Cairo and we took a trip on the Nile together with Mazar to see the first cataract. The Nile has seven cataracts, six in the Sudan and the first in Egypt. The cataracts contain lots of stones and small islands. The current is very strong and even with a motorboat it is difficult to tackle the current to reach calm waters. On the shore we saw camels and Nubian villages. You can visit the villages but we saw plenty in the Sudan. It was time to carry on. Luxor, the Zijlstra's are on the move.....

Aswan Dam

2008-06-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

Panorama of the Aswan Dam

Nothing compares to Egypt

2008-06-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

Salaam aleikum.
We are in Aswan and it feels like we are back in civilization. Luckily we were picked up by Mazar, so we hadn’t to worry about getting into town. The next problem was which hotel? At last we went into the hotel where Mazar was staying.
After settling in we walked through the tourist market where there were many tourists all walking with very short shorts, totally not trying to fit in with the Egyptian Religion. Everywhere people are trying to get you to buy something from their shop, it is quite annoying. On the Nile there are boats everywhere and almost every single one of them has got tourists on board. After eating alongside the Nile we went back to the hotel and jumped into bed, although not all of us as one just couldn’t resist having the chance to smoke the sheesha ("water pipe")……

Ma' salama Bart

Next day we went to the Nubia museum, all about Nubian history. This culture almost vanished with the opening of the Aswan Dam. People had to leave their houses and were displaced in other parts of the country. It was all very well displaced and interesting. On the way back we wanted to see the 'Old Cataract Hotel', the hotel Agatha Christie wrote a famous detective, but it was closed, it is off season.

Resting during the hot hours and at 19.00 we went to Philae island for a light and sound show. Of course for tourists but we are tourists now as well and it was actually very well done. It seems if the stones were moving due to the light effect. The story was educational, so for the boys it was a kind of very nice history lesson.

A mummy of a priest rescued from flooding at the Nubia museum

some photo's

2008-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

At night everyone slept outside or smoked, it was so smelly. We saw Abu Simbel at night, very impressive.

Not our car on the photo, but this is the manner the cars are transported to Egypt. Of course lots of chaos during unpacking and loading, but everything went well, our car arrived safely in Aswan. To get it through customs and immigration is another story. You need patience, money and patience and of course Mazaar!

2008-06-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Ferry at Dongola

Wadi Halfa - Aswan

2008-06-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we thought we could drive our cars on the ferry ourselves but of course things changed as the unloading was still not completed. In the end we left with our cars still on the ferry landing. They would be driven on the boat by other overlanders who arrived from Egypt. So again we had a chance to exchange addresses and met someone who was driving all alone on his way to Blantyre. We went through immigration, customs and were dropped on the boat where we had a cabin with airco. Later on we saw the situation on deck and in the second class and happily withdraw to our freezing cold cabin. We actually had to go on deck to warm up! It was a centralized system which we could not adjust, what a luxury? Anyway, they had some blankets which we needed desperately. The meal was not very exciting with 1 slice of bread and hard boiled eggs and some brown beans (fuwl). After 4 hours we passed Abu Simbel, a temple for Ramses II. This temple was saved from flooding by replacing it some place higher land inwards and everyone was on deck to see the temple that was flooded in light. After that the trip was long and dull.
On Thursday we arrived in Aswan, Egypt, where we due to the poor organisational skills of the Egyptian authorities were kept aboard for another 2, 5 hours. Tired, cold, hot and frustrated our first impression of Egypt was not too good. Finally they let us go and we were one country closer to home while we had overcome yet another major obstacle.

Wadi Halfa

2008-06-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

Which road now?

Although we were close to the main road we heard no cars or buses at all. We left early. The first bit was washboard so we made slow progress, and we saw hardly any villages. Again alone on the planet… No, suddenly we were among lots of trucks again in road constructions. And so we reached Wadi Halfa on a tarmac road. It was completely different than Helma expected. Old Wadi Halfa has disappeared under the water of Lake Nasser. The new Wadi Halfa has big spaces between houses so the wind can cool you down. We met our contact person Maghdi. As the hotel was not very impressive he invited us in his house with his family. That was wonderful. Everyone was very kind. We slept outside with the family and it even was chilly around 5 o’clock in the morning. And now we had to wait until Wednesday while Maghdi did all the paperwork to get our car on the ferry for us.
We spent a very relaxing day at Maghdi’s place. We did homework. In the afternoon William and Christine, our English friends, also showed up to stay the last day in this house as well. We saw the train from Khartoum coming, loaded with people who would also join us on the ferry. It was a good thing we were advised to book a cabin.
No football again. We could have gone to another place but again it was at 9.45 and by then we were all already asleep.

Kerma – Wadi Halfa

2008-06-22T05:23:00.000-07:00

Camping in Kerma
Almost full moon, lots of noises in the night, goats, cows, donkeys and three different imams in the mosques that woke us up early the next morning.
We went back to the souk to try to fine the way to Abri, which was also difficult because of the road constructions. We wanted to go along the Nile, but the Sudanese only want you to take the shortest road. Anyway, in the end we were on the same road we left the day earlier and had to skip the third cataract of the Nile. For 40 km we were in the desert, no proper road, stones, and sand. The good thing was that the haboub had stopped. We finally saw some blue skies.
At last we saw the Nile again. It is an impressive sight, all sand except a string of palm trees and the Nile. Now we crossed lots of Nubian villages. Ed and Helma were able to exchange some Arabic greetings. On the way we were invited to a wedding, 2 times for breakfast and some tea or water. We hardly met other cars so it was very lonely and hot.
Then we reached Abri, our target for the day. In the souk we found our English friends again. As we were supposed to be on the same ferry it was good to see them.
Although there was a place with air cooling and cold drinks it was tempting to stay there but Ed was overruled. We wanted to camp for the last time along the Nile. We found a wonderful spot. In the evening the villagers came back from their gardens and gave us unions and lemons. Tomorrow Wadi halfa.

Khartoum - Dongola - Kerma

2008-06-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

At last we leave Khartoum. Everything is organised, plenty of water so that we could hardly sit in the back seats and after saying goodbye to our dear Sudanese friends we left for Dongola. The road was all tarred so it was an easy drive. Today we learned to rest between 2 & 6 o’ clock because then it gets very hot. We also met an English couple who have done a journey to all 4 corners of the world and are now on there way back to England. That night we slept in a hotel where we could watch the football games Romania vs Italy and Holland vs France and so we went to bed at 24 o’ clock.
The next day we got up early because we had to be in time for the ferry. It was haboub weather and there were some rough waves on the Nile. Mum was scared of course. Lots of cars and donkey’s and people were on the ferry. We met some Sudanese people on the ferry who were also going to Kerma and he said we could follow them. First some tar road and then road constructions, and now it becomes tracks in the sand. Because of the wind it was hard to follow the car before us, which was going very fast. So, on the way we lost him and we went the wrong road and had to ask people the way. They said that we were on the way to Abri. So we had to decide what to do. At last we went back to Kerma. In the souk we found a place with fresh fruit juices. Dad ordered from another place traditional breakfast: foul, brown beans, jibna that is cheese from the goats and eggs. It was nice and we also had a good view on the Nile. The place filled up with men in jellabia, those white dresses, and boys to see us eat our fatuur. But it was not annoying like it had been in Ethiopia. Then we drove of and found a quiet place along the Nile. We rested there because it was too hot to do something else. After 5 hours relaxing close to the Nile and under the palm trees, we set up camp at the edge of town. And with eating our usual pasta meal we were able to call it a tiring day.

Evert

Khartoum – 2

2008-06-12T08:29:00.001-07:00

It was nice to return to the hotel, the shower and the air co. But alas, no European championship football on television. We have more than 200 canals but no football. So we missed the wonderful start of the Dutch team.
The next day again haboub and rain. It cooled down very well, but Khartoum is not used to rain. Immediately all the roads were flooded. The next day we heard that the weather also had had consequences for the air traffic. A plane had crashed, burnt out completely and there were many casualties. We can virtually look on the air strip but hadn’t heard or seen a thing. Today Khartoum was quiet, no planes coming in or going out. And it was cloudy but still very hot.

It was wonderful to relax here in a nice hotel, getting used to the heat before we continue with the next part of our trip. Thank you all friends in Khartoum, for your hospitality and for your company. It was great to show the boys the city we have so many fond memories of. We have had a wonderful time!

On Thursday 12 June we had a last meeting in Soba hospital. Helma was showed the pediatric department with the new dialysis ward, very impressive. We managed to find a sticker for the car and did some shopping. We went to the Chinese for our last meal in Khartoum.
On Friday 13 June we will leave Khartoum for Dongola and Wadi Halfa. Next week Wednesday we will take the ferry to Aswan, it only runs once a week. Until we are in Egypt I don’t think we will be able to update our weblog.

Bart in Omdurman souk, and NO we did not buy it!

Meroë

2008-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

A tarmac road brought us to Shendi where we visited the faculty of medicine. Ed, as guest of honour was allowed to cut the ribbon to open an exhibition of paintings made by the students. The faculty is next to the river Nile and it is cooler in Shendi than in Khartoum. They wanted us to spend the night in the guesthouse, but we wanted to try out our camping gear in the desert.
Before that we visited the pyramids of Meroe, where we were the only visitors; in Egypt this will no doubt be different as there will be thousands of other people. Bart and Evert made a trip on a camel, which was far more scarier than on a donkey´s back. Camels make a strange sound and they spit saliva if they are angry. They are of course also much bigger animals.
It was good to see that Meroë had not changed.
At the other side of the hills we put up our tent and made everything ready for camping. The moment the sun disappeared it is not so hot anymore. We are very well organised. Everyone has his or her own task and that works quite well. Within 30 minutes the tent was all ready for sleeping and we were having our hot meal.
At that moment a car drove directly towards us.. police? No, again other overlanders, this time from Belgium. We spent a nice evening together with giving each other addresses and telling about our adventures. Katrien and Peter had spent a long time in Egypt and had met our German friends on the road in Wadi Halfa.
When we finally went to sleep it was very hot, hardly any wind. In the middle of the night finally some cold wind which changed rapidly to a haboub. Fortunately the tent was strong enough. The next morning Ali the camel driver was waiting for us. Yesterday I gave him the left over pasta and when he left suddenly his cell phone rang. Strange experience to see a man on a camel with a cell phone! Because of the wind we were not interested in another trip on the camel. We drove back to the guesthouse in Shendi for a nice shower and Ed went away for a meeting to return with a carton box full of very nice mango’s and some other presents from the Dean of the Medical school as well.

Khartoum-1

2008-06-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

It was hot! Between 41-45 degrees Celsius. The road to Khartoum gave us no problems. Near the city we noticed that Khartoum had expanded tremendously compared to 1995 when Helma was here the last time. Nice buildings, big offices etc. And they have traffic lights with counting signals, so you know exactly when to be prepared. And the road was busy. We met our friend Ahmed Fahal who drove us to a hotel in Amarat, Kazar Hotel. Nice with air co, TV and good Internet connectivity.
Here we were settled for the coming days. Ed disappeared to see all his colleagues and went from one meeting into the other. Helma did the laundry and supervised homework with the boys and as treat they had fast Internet. In the afternoons we drove around the city to see the Nile, Omdurman and find a place to eat, which was not hard at all because fast food is now very common in Khartoum. We had a swim at the international Club, which had not changed compared to 1991 when we visited it during our MSF days. From our hotel window there was a good view on the airstrip in the middle of the town. Bart has become an excellent spotter.
On Wednesday the boys celebrated their birthday, with a swim, nice food at the Chinese restaurant and ice cream at an ice cream parlour. The next day we were invited by prof El Hassan and had a very enjoyable time with his family in a Turkish restaurant. Other people celebrated a birthday party. There was so much noise that they gave us also a piece of the birthday cake as compensation. That was a good idea because now the boys had their birthday cake also. On Friday we were invited at our good friend Ahmed Fahal´s house. At that time there was a haboub, a sandstorm and some rain! Rain in June is very exceptional. But of course this comes along with power cuts. So we had a late, but very nice Sudanese meal in the garden. It was cool due to the earlier rain. The next day we went to Omdurman to visit Salah Ibrahim (another old friend) and his family. We showed them our blog. The boys played football on the top floor of the house with the other children. After our brunch we had a look in Omdurman souk, the market which was still excellent to visit. We saw the tomb of the Maghdi and the Kalifa´s house, the last part of the Omdurman city wall and went looking for the camel market. Unfortunately they had moved, but what we saw reminded us of the Sudan from the nineties.
The next day we went to Shendi and the pyramids of Meroë.

Lekker slapen in Kassab

Kassab

2008-06-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

Formalities went smooth and it was hot. We had left the highlands and for the coming weeks we had to get used to high temperatures.There were regular police road blocks and our passports were checked several times. But Ed found soon the place where we would spent the night: research centre and hospital Kassab about 30km before Gedaref. From our old friend El Tahir everyone in the hospital people knew that we were coming. He had shown them pictures from 14 years ago! The welcome was very warm and they all looked very well after us. Cold drinks were available and pretty soon we were talking about the ‘old’ days in Um- Kuraa when Ed and Helma were working on a kala azar project. A nice diner was served. We slept outside under a mosquito net. Dr Brima asked if we wanted to use internet. Internet in the middle of nowhere? We were a bit sceptical after our experiences in Ethiopia and we tried our blog. Within seconds it showed on the screen, unbelievable! The boys were happy, meaning that they would be able to play games on the internet again in Khartoum.
The next day we visited the hospital and everyone wanted us to take photographs. It was very impressive. More surprises lay ahead. We went to the market to buy items for our breakfast ´fatuur´, and they even had yoghurt! All soda drinks were available, even our favourite Fanta Black Currant and all kind of nice juices. Things must have changed in the Sudan, would we still recognise Khartoum?

Gonder

2008-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Never alone in Ethiopia

On went the trip to Gonder, the ‘Camelot of Africa’. We had no idea Africa had castles at all. Emperor Fasilidas around 1650 started to build the first castle: the royal enclosure is now in the middle of the city. Every emperor built an additional building, banquet hall, sauna or something else. It was still in a good shape. What was most interesting to us that they kept lions in a separate building. Every ruler used to have his own tame lions, Abyssinian lions, in a special house, called the lion house. Even Haile Selassie had his tame lion and the lions accompanied him on every trip!
We also went to the royal bath which is still used in January every year. The river will flow through the bath, about 4 meters deep. The water will be blessed by the priest and then all the people jump in the water ! It is an ingenious system because afterwards they let the water flow back to the river. Again our ‘babies’ were free of charge to enter into the bath. Bart and Evert are not too happy by the fact that everyone calls them babies. As you can see on the photo is taking a taxi in Ethiopia always a lot of bargaining and of course are the children watching and shouting :'you, you' and 'babies'.
Lastly we went to Debre Berhan Selassie church which was created around 1690. On the ceiling they painted lots of angels. We thought it was the nicest church we have seen, mainly because the fact that our taxi driver together with the priest tried to show us in very basic English all the paintings on the wall and their meaning. It was really touching. But that was enough. So much for culture and churches. Sudan was waiting.

Debre Berhan Selassie Church and the angels on the ceiling

The trip to the border was again a battle of dust and detours, but we knew tarmac was waiting in the Sudan. The villages we drove through were poor and underdeveloped. The immigration office was in a kind of shed and no computers because there was no electricity. We spent our last Birrs on water and biscuits and crossed the border into the Sudan.

Lake Tana

2008-06-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Again another 180 km to Bahir Dar and Lake Tana on bad road. But Bahir Dar was a lovely place, with wide lanes and palm trees. And Helma is always pleased to see water. On this lake there are lots of small islands and an each island there is a monastery. We hired a boat and visited 3 monasteries. For the first one we had to walk about 20 minutes through a lovely area with coffee trees, oranges, avocado’s and mango’s. The church was OK but the little museum of all the equipment people used in the past was very nice. We saw how they made the ‘tej’ and played on some instruments. On the second island only men were allowed. From the pictures Helma knew she missed something. In this monastery they kept very old books and ornaments. The monastery on the last island was very small and very new with beautiful drawings. The last stop was the outlet of the Blue Nile; here one says goodbye and wishes the river well on its trip to the Mediterranean Sea, a trip of more than 5000 km. We would see it again in Khartoum. It was already an impressive river and the current was enormous. Luckily we were sitting in a motor boat otherwise it would have been impossible to reach the hotel again. On the lake we saw again lots of pelicans. Some boats were really exotic made from straw as they must have done thousands years ago. Children sold mini boats made from straw to tourists. We thought the real one was much better.
At the hotel Bart was followed by a nice monkey. At first he was a bit afraid, but later on he didn’t mind even if the little creature jumped on his head. No picture available, the camera was not stand by.

Due to the public holiday we stayed at the hotel where we had a good view on the lake, for a boat show. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to high winds. Never mind, we enjoyed and played a lot of Cluedo and cards.
Not far away were the Blue Nile Falls. But after seeing the Vic falls, we decided to give it a miss because people warned us it was not so impressive anymore. They built an electricity plant and that reduced the width of the falls enormously.

some more photo's

2008-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Priest at the church

Tired??

Evert on the mule

2008-06-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Lalibela - 2

2008-06-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

Monday 26 May
Then it was our turn to have some fun. The night before we arranged for a trip with mule donkeys which would bring us up the mountain to the church and back. At first I thought the donkeys couldn’t do it, but they did, all the way! We did have to walk a few bits but mostly they carried us. Of course my mum didn’t participate, because she was scared of heights and falling off, but dad did. It was a good thing she wasn´t around because it was sometimes really scary. Amazing really but they carried us on the top of cliffs, we could almost fall down! The church wasn’t much, but it was king Lalibela´s first rock hewn church. Going down we walked most of the way. And not to forget Evert´s donkey was the fastest, mine got the whip a few times but it was ok. These Mules are much more comfortable than a horse but not faster. It was fantastic. Yes indeed!
Bart

Lalibela-1

2008-06-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

On our way to Lalibela, the place of the rock hewn churches, we were again confronted with detours, road constructions and dust eating. The Chinese are everywhere in Africa, constructing new roads. We saw them in Malawi, Kenya and now in Ethiopia. We also realised that we have made this trip a little bit too early; in five years time the whole road from Cairo to Cape town will be tarmac. Never mind, we just continued. The views were excellent although we had again our regular traffic jams due to the cattle.
On Saturday 24 May we reached Lalibela after a climb of more than 2 KM. The views were stunning. On top of the plateau again Chinese to fix the road, but compared to what we have been through we could only comment that the road was not too bad. The last 20 K were even tarmac. That was the airport road. People who are flying in have no idea what an achievement it was to arrive in Lalibela by road.
Lalibela, also known as the second Jerusalem of Africa, was the capital of Ethiopia in the 12th and 13th centuries. King Lalibela had either a vision, or had been in Jerusalem, history is not clear about that, that he wanted to create a new Jerusalem for all Ethiopians to visit. It is very isolated ( it took us 2 days) and on 2630meters high. Nowadays it is a World Heritage Site. And we have to agree, it is very impressive. It is the centre for pilgrimage for many Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.
In total there are about 11 churches which are connected by tunnels. Unfortunately most tunnels are closed now, but the one we have seen was quite scary and pitch-black. Every rock hewn church has a priest and every church has its own cross. Some had a very nice interior with paintings, others were just impressive as such. You see us in front of Bet Giyorgis, the masterpiece, a church in the shape of a cross. Around the church there are many caves for pilgrims. We were a bit shocked when we saw three mummified corpses of pilgrims from the 16th century. The guide told us all about the special meanings of the crosses and the drawings and so on. It was a very interesting tour, well worth the trip.

Addis Ababa - 2

2008-06-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

That evening we enjoyed our first traditional meal: injera with all kind of nice side dishes. It tastes a bit like sour bread. It is spread as a large pancake and the food is just heaped on top of it. It can also be served rolled up; so it is important not to mistake it for a napkin. It is usually made from tef, an Ethiopian cereal only grown in the highlands. It is rather filling. You just wrap a piece of injera around some food and eat it. Usually a “pancake” is shared with other people. And to be honest this was far more then we could eat among the four of us. For drinks Helma tried the wine made from honey `tej´ which was rather powerful, so she had a good night sleep.
Although our Sudanese visa were arranged it took us 3 days and a lot of money to retrieve them. But with the Sudanese visa in our passports we were ready to go. The boys were happy because they were able to see the final between Manchester and Chelsea. After the match there was a big after party on the streets in front of our hotel.
The next day we had a nice but ice cold swim in Ghion hotel and had for 4 euro a very filling meal including drinks for the 4 of us. Can´t complain about the prices in Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa -1

2008-06-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

The road to Addis was excellent. We managed without major difficulty to drive into the city. Big road, very widespread, no traffic jams and everywhere the white and blue minibuses or taxi’s. We stayed at Taittu Hotel. The oldest Hotel built in 1898 by the Emperess Taittu. Very historical, rundown, but with a nice atmosphere. Big rooms and very cheap, and a safe place for the car.

Everywhere are cafe´s where you can eat and drink lovely juices. We never tasted a better and tastier cheeseburger then here. We went to the museums, well worth the visit and saw Lucy, a fossiled hominid discovered in 1974. She is the oldest hominid found who walked on two legs, some 3.2 million years ago. How small our ancient ancestors were. We visited the St. George Cathedral and Museum. We went shopping and bought some tourist things and walked and walked all the way up to the Sheraton Hotel. What a artificial place in this wonderful town. Although the Piazza area, the area where we stayed, is relatively safe, in other parts pick pocketing occurs. You have to be careful as they are clever; two boys started to fight and yes they managed to take some change from Ed’s pocket. Luckily we were prepared so they only got some 1 shilling notes but nevertheless it is not a nice experience. Ethiopian around us were genuine shocked. This behaviour gives Ethiopia a bad name for tourists. But we know it happens in all the major cities. Bart was very impressed because he saw it happen.

Moyale – lake Awasa

2008-06-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

Moyale is a dreadful bordertown. Although formalities went smooth, they are even computerised and could scan our passports and our barcodes, the town was not very exciting. It was too late to go to a next place, some 100 km further on. The good thing is that Ethiopia is very cheap. Hotels, very very basic but only 4 euro per room do make a difference. Also petrol is half the price of Kenya. In the end we stayed in a grubby place, with the idea to get up early and drive as fast as we could to a nice place at lake Awasa, run by a German- Ethiopian couple. Only 500 km and on tar road but through mountains and lots, lots of small villages. Everyone uses the road and so do the donkeys, donkey-cards, goat, sheep, cattle and lots of children, shouting: “faranji, faranji”, foreigner or “you, you, you”. Once we were stuck in a kind of procession and after 10 minutes or so we were able to drive past them. Lovely scenery again, exotic people, so different from the Black Africans. From green rift valley places to dry white sandy places with lots of termitehills. They gave us the idea we were in a statue garden.

In Awasa we had difficulty to find our camping place but with some help we managed to enter a lovely garden where our German friends already were drinking ‘St George’ beer. One day of cleaning the car, laundry ( by hand), relaxing and recovering of 1000km hard work. Evert was all exited because in the garden 1 huge and 2 smaller turtoises lived. In the evening we walked to lake Awasa. A nice lake but you could not swim in there because of the hippo’s. We decided to give the boys a treat and the next day we went to lake Langano, 100 km furtheron, a lake with brown, tea like water, but you could swim. So we did and we water cycled and relaxed.

Marsabit - Moyale

2008-06-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Samburu women

Mount Kenya in a distance

We left early to make it in a good time to the border. We drove through the Kaisnet desert and the Dida Galgalu desert, a very rocky road. We were really scared for our tyres. And we hardly saw a car. Close to Moyale we met two cars going south to cheer us up that we were almost there. Quickly we exchanged addresses and back to driving again. And finally after 6 hours and 250 km we drove into Moyale. Then we had to wait because the immigration officers were having lunch, so that is what we also did and waited for them to appear. After that formalities at the border went smooth. The immigration officer told us that Ethiopia is a unique country. They have a unique language, different time, different alphabet, different calendar; they are now in the year 2000 and celebrating their millennium! And so on

And you know what... he was right. Ethiopia is unique!

That awful road!

Isiolo- Marsabit

2008-06-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

If people had told us the 257 km from Isiolo to Marsabit is just like the dirt road to South Luangwa in Zambia we would have slept better. It was like that. Hunderds of kilometres of unpaved road, sometimes smooth, mostly with rocks and sometimes wash board. Some people say you have to drive very fast over washboard, but our experience is that the car would start sliding so for us that was no option. The average speed was 30-40 km per hour, maximum. As Mr Pitt from Newlands Home would have said: “endure it” and that is exactly what we did. Hang in there, shaking, eating dust and keep going, hour after hour. Every kilometer counts! . Again the scenery was breathtaking beautiful, mostly volcanic. We saw beautiful birds, some gazelles and very exotic people, the Samburu. We also saw our first camels and in the Losai Nature reserve we saw also the Gerenuk. Funny gazelle with a tiny head but a very long neck. That was the animal lacking in Evert’s experience, so he was very happy.
On the road we met a German couple, on the road since November last year, coming from Germany first along the West coast all the way down to South Africa and now up to Germany again in the eastern part of the continent. It was nice to know that you are not alone on the Trans- East African Highway !!
Very close to Marsabit we met Swiss Henry. A relief worker who never left the area, married to a local girl and now he has his own construction company. We were already planning to go to his place where you could camp or stay in a masaai hut, very convenient and very cheap. He also had fresh eggs and bread. What a wonderful place to recover from the road. But next day would be even worse, that is what all the travellers and books promised us.

Nairobi- Isiolo

2008-06-02T04:34:00.000-07:00

We left Nairobi without problems. The road was in a good condition and the scenery in the Rift valley was wonderful. We hoped to see Mount Kenya but it had disappeared in the clouds. Slowly the vegetation changed and became more dry and the soil white instead of red. We passed the Equator!

We stopped at a nice place called Gadissa Lodge run by a Dutch couple. Unfortunately the pool was green, so no swimming for the boys. The next morning we finally saw Mount Kenya from a distance. Although we could have visited some more game parks we wanted to go ahead. A difficult road lay ahead. Of course the boys were disappointed, but sometimes choices have to be made.

Ed relaxing after a long day driving

Nairobi

2008-06-02T03:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday 11 May we arrived in Nairobi. It was very quiet in town so we managed to look around for a place to stay. As we are allergic to rain we decided against camping and found a nice family room, with breakfast at the Heron Hotel. Memories from long ago came back to Ed and Helma. We were placed in this hotel as MSF Aid workers. It was at that time also cheap but definitely not suitable for children because of the nightlife. The hotel has changed and is now excellent for families. They also have a nice swimming pool. In the afternoon we met Paul Dieleman from Malawi and were invited to his place where the boys had another swim in the pool attached to his compound. The next day we were busy with internet, homework and shopping. They have nice shopping malls in Nairobi so Ed was able to buy books that had disappeared in the container and a new roadmap because the other had disappeared somewhere in Tanzania. But most of all we enjoyed ( yes again!) a nice meal at Golden SPUR in Holiday Inn hotel. On our way back we were stuck in one of the famous traffic jams of Nairobi on Uhuru Highway. That evening we met “Dr Hofman, I presume”, also an old friend from Malawi.
The next morning while Ed was busy to obtain our visa for Ethiopia and collecting information from other “overlanders” we went to the Giraffe Centre where we had a lovely time kissing Giraffes, making photo´s and gaining some info about Rothschildt Giraffes. We quickly had a look in Karen Blixen´s House but the entrance was so overpriced we did not enter the place, but the security guard showed us the old coffee machine which was interesting. This was never showed to tourists so we felt very important. Then we had our farewell lunch with Paul and Jan and left yet again a small bag with items with Paul to bring to Malawi or Holland.

We finalized our packing and shopping and were in the evening prepared for the difficult road that lay ahead.

Nairobi- Addis

2008-05-22T01:59:00.000-07:00

Dear all,
We are now in Addis, Ethiopia. Internet is a problem. We have to update another time. Tomorrow we are going upnorth to Lalibela, the rock hewn churches. We almost have our visa for the Sudan, even with connections it is sometimes difficult to obtain. But Addis is great. So much culture, nice musea, wonderful food. No traffic jams, nice people. Although the boys get fed up with the "hey you, you, you" other children shout. Hope we will be able to update soon.
Helma

Lake Nakuru National Park

2008-05-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

At the gate I left my window open and suddenly there were monkeys in the car. Everybody ran to the car and tried to get them out. In the end they stole liquorice and our tomato's. We had to go back to the market to buy new tomato's. At last we were in the park in the camping area where I spotted something big in the distance. It was a white Rhino! We jumped in the car and saw the Rhino but we also saw something else.... Lions!! and a dead zebra.
The lake is known because of the lesser and greater flamingo's and pelicans. It was a beautiful sight. After we finished photographing the lions we toured around the lake seeing a spotted hyena, lots of water bucks, buffalo, baboons, elands, impala's, gazelles, giraffes and even my favourite animal the warthog. But I don't know how many Rhino we saw, more then 15!! imagine that. The next day the weather was not so nice and we thought we lost the way. The road was terrible but Ed saw his favourite animal: the tortoise! I was the happiest person although Ed and Helma have seen enough safari parks now. Now we're off to Nairobi. Evert

Kisii - Nakuru

2008-05-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

We had the idea to reach Lake Nakuru because we had made good time at the border. But how kind all the Kenians were, the policemen, the immigration officers : Jambo, Jambo, welcome, the roads were in a very bad state.
We managed to drive through the first city Kisii. It was chaotic and so busy, nothing compared to our Limbe and Blantyre. The road was jammed with many minibuses or matatu's but the views were excellent. We spent the night in Kerochi in the middle of all the tea estates. in a way we felt like we were in Thyolo. But even this small city had a huge supermarket, even bigger then Shoprite.
The next day we thought we could reach lake Nakuru in 2 hours, it was only 107 km. How wrong we were. It took us about 4 hours. We never saw put holes like in that road. When we finally reached the highway, the connection between Kenya and Uganda, we thought things would change. Wrong again, another 25 km dust eating before we reached the lovely place in lake Nakuru.

Lake Victoria

2008-05-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

The next day we left the park at the west entrance and headed for lake Victoria. Musoma was a nice and quiet village with beautiful views on Lake Victoria. It was a bit difficult to find accommodation. Ed thought that the place close to the lake was : "3x niks". But in the end it was our best option. The sunset was beautiful. But no swimming in the lake.. too much bilharzia. We had a very good night and fell asleep with the sound of the waves which reminded us of the Venraay cottage in Malawi.

The next day we left. The road was in an excellent condition and border formalities were done quickly. Yes we were in Kenya. Now there is no return possible. We have to move on.

Serengeti-2

2008-05-13T06:18:00.005-07:00

After a delicious breakfast at Serengeti Serena lodge, we headed for the Wildebeest migration, but we are not alone. We have a guide with us, his name is Hamis. After surviving a long history of the Serengeti, we arrived at a waterhole where a lot of zebras were very panicky to drink. When we started the car the zebras that were drinking quickly stopped and ran away as fast as they could.
Then we saw "meat" in a tree. That meant a leopard was nearby. And yes after waiting we finally saw my leopard. As extra we also saw 3 lions in a tree relaxing. Further on we saw elephants with a really tiny baby, it was so cute. Then we went looking for the migration of the wildebeest. We saw several small groups who were trying to catch up. They walked, ran, jumped in a straight line. We also saw 5 baby's without a mum. That was very sad, we knew that the hyena was nearby. And we saw it relaxing near the water after a long day following the wildebeest. In a distance we saw the migration, but we were unable to get closer. Wow.. I love the Serengeti. Bart

Serengeti-1

2008-05-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Monday 5 May we finally went to the Serengeti. Yes, a lot of money but well worth it. First a long dirt road with beautiful views, back to the Crater. Then we visited a Masai village. Yes, very commercial but well arranged. Take as many pictures as you like. They told us about their culture and visited their cottage. The boys were horrified of all the flies, although inside there were hardly any. It is not difficult to understand why there are so many flies, everywhere is cow dung. Evert was invited to dance with the Masai men. He jumped very well. In the end we exchanged our football for 2 bracelets. It was a very interesting visit.
We still had a long way to go. The views were excellent and Helma was very happy to see finally a big group of giraffes, more then 20! In the Crater there were none, because no trees. We saw lots of Grant and Thomson gazelles and everywhere warthogs which made Evert very happy. it was hot and dry. After entering the park we saw our first reward; 2 adult female lions and 6 cubs. Beautiful.
The only problem in the Serengeti were the Tse-tse flies. perhaps they were attracted to our blue car. They enjoyed Helma's blood the most so she could hardly walk the next days because of the swollen feet. Never mind, we were sitting in the car anyway. Because of the low season we stayed for a good bargain in an upper class lodge: Serengeti Serena lodge and we enjoyed it!

Ngorongoro Crater

2008-05-12T03:21:00.001-07:00

We were advised not to go into the Crater using our own car because it was very steep and our car is very heavy. We had to hire a guide anyway, because you cannot visit the Crater without a guide. A good advise because it is easy to loose your way and now Ed had the chance to use the video. Although it was very cold and hazy, around 11 am it cleared and the views were wonderful. We saw flamingo, lots of zebra and wildebeest, buffalo, eland, water buck, warthog and so on and so on. But we also saw lions. One was on the road, we could not miss her. When we stopped the car she saw a shadow and moved next to the car, we could have touched her! We also had an encounter with an elephant which was quite scary. It was a wonderful day which we all enjoyed very much. We only missed Anneke, who usually makes the photo's when we are on safari. Now we were so busy to do it ourselves. But I think we managed well.

Some photo's from Marangu area

2008-05-12T02:59:00.000-07:00

The market in Marangu and relaxing at the waterfall.
We left Moshi for what it was. The weather was not nice, raining and we could not see the Kili anyway.

Marangu - Arusha

2008-05-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

We spent 2 days in the house of Dille, a friend of Kitty. He and his wife run a village education project, with school developments for the English language, computer skills and vocational training skills. We visited a primary school and a vocational centre. Very impressive. We also hiked all the way down to the village. Trough the villages and the banana trees and the waterfall. The market is very colourful. And the evenings were very cold.
Dille gave us also information about places to stay near the Crater. He had students everywhere and cell phones are so handy!!
3 May we arrived in Arusha. Also a big city, lots of traffic and the gateway to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. And Shoprite is the place to be to meet other overlanders and to buy your goodies. We met 2 Dutch couples also driving back to Holland. One couple comes even from Rotterdam. It's a small world after all.

From Dar to Marangu

2008-05-12T02:11:00.000-07:00

On Queensday we left for Marangu. We wanted to take the shortcut to Msata. Unfortunately we heard there that the road was closed because of flooding! A D-tour of 200 km. Back to Dar, through the chaos of that big city with all the trafic jams. Then 100 km to Morogoro. We were lucky, not too much traffic but it mend we could not reach Marangu that night. The road was in a good condition. The views were excellent. We passed lots and lots of sisal plantations and the boys were reading.

In Marangu the scenery was beautiful. Totally unexpected rain forest and very green. OK, it was raining a lot. That is why the Kili could not be seen. But the moment you see the Mount Kilimanjaro it changes everything. What an impressive site. We had the idea to walk or hike to the first hut. But the fees of the National park were huge. 60 USD for 1 person, only for a walk of 4 hours? No, we arranged a guide and did our own tour.

Even Nederlands

2008-04-29T01:12:00.001-07:00

Auto klaar voor vertrek, maar waar is Bart? Misschien moeten jullie de foto even uitvergroten.

Voor alle Nederlandse vrienden even een babbeltje in de moerstaal. Hoewel het de bedoeling is dat de jongens de weblog bijhouden doen die liever spelletjes op het internet. Het is wel een ervaring in een internetcafe de tijd doorbrengen. Het kost ongeveer, met deze verbindingen, 8 minuten om een foto op de blog te zetten. Geduld moet je wel hebben.

In ieder geval is de auto weer voorzien van nieuw materiaal en nieuwe banden en moet ons dus verder kunnen brengen. Morgen vertrekken we naar het Noorden van Tanzania en gaan dan eindelijk de beesten zien. En wat betreft mijn vijfstigste verjaardag..... Dat 'vierden' we in Mbeye en in de auto. Wel een kadootje van Kitty gekregen, via de jongens, een tas die precies bij mijn broek past. Misschien vieren we het uitgebreid bij thuiskomst of op mijn 55ste, toch ook een mooi jaartal!

Vandaag gaan we naar Dar es Salaam met als hoogtepunt een maaltijd bij de SPUR, kunnen de jongens er ook weer even tegen. Hoewel de echte regenbuien over zijn, komt er nog heel wat water uit de hemel. Van overstromingen heb ik verder niets meer gehoord.

Ik weet niet wanneer we de volgende keer kunnen schrijven maar nu zijn we in ieder geval up to date. Groeten aan iedereen Helma

Some photo's

2008-04-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

Evert is ready

Moving Malawi style

Moving and Farewell

2008-04-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

Friday 6 April the movers came to collect all our items to send to the Netherlands. On Saturday the “leftovers” were moved in a Malawian way, leaving us with a very empty house. Although the boys were thrilled: “you can play football inside the house now!”
Fare wells
We had to say goodbye to our staff and to some of the animals. Whitesocks moved in with Letwin and the cat Misty and the dog Jip went to Anneke Meursing’s house where they settled in nicely. We had lovely farewell dinners with the Surtee- Tomsons, the Sacranies and the Kitty-Willies.

Radio interview
Bart and Evert went to the FM 101 studio for a radio interview.

We’re off
After the car was fixed finally we could leave on Monday 21 April. Evert is packed!
We even found a place for Bart.
Heavy loaded but we’re off. Bye Blantyre, bye!!

Photo's will follow ( difficult here in this internetcafe)

Chinteche – Dar es Salaam
We spent one sunny and one rainy day in Chinteche where we camped at the Chinteche Inn to get organized. The 24 April we arrived in Mbeya in Tanzania. We spent a very comfortable night in Karibuni Centre. Evert calculated our expenses to 2 euro per person per night.
The next day to Mikumi. The rainy season has not stopped yet, so we had quite some rain. The next day from Mikumi to Dar es Salaam. Our first 1500 kilometre!
Unfortunately again some minor problems with the car. That is no problem because we are very comfortable at Maua Garden, a Swiss B &B in Kunduchi beach. On Sunday Ed had his first experience in an internet cafe while Bart and Evert were sliding and sliding at Wet and Wild Water Park.

Sorry for the photos. I hope it will be better next time

last day in uniform

2008-04-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

Easter holidays

2008-04-17T03:29:00.000-07:00

End of March was the last day at school. Leaving with mixed feelings. But the boys were looking forward to the easter holidays and the big trip.

The little holiday at the lake before closing up the house was wonderful. As always we went to the Venraay's cottage where we spent some nice days with Kitty, Willie, Uma , Joyce and Mike.

While the children were busy playing, swimming and relaxing, Helma and Kitty worked hard to finish the farewell tablecloth, designed by everyone who was present at the lake.

Then back to filling cartons and checking if the camping gear was OK. The boys enjoyed that very much and camped 3 nights in the tent in the garden together with their best friend Courtney. The weather was great and they woke up early to continue their games on PSP and Gameboy.

Packing up

2008-03-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

Learning how to blog at St.Andrews International High School, is one of our first steps to leaving Malawi. We are kindly instructed by IT teacher Mr. Stewart on how to update, use and enjoy our first blog, while Bart died playing a game on the Internet.