What a date to write a last entry

• Robertandtanja's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Heemstede

Trip Start Oct 11, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Feb 20, 2009

  Heemstede, Netherlands
Friday, February 13, 2009

From Prien am Chiemsee to Schifferstadt, and onwards to The Netherlands

Lots of rain, a bit of sun and suddenly we were stopped by a police car for control by the German Customs. We did not have any stuffed animals, were not smuggling narcotics, we definitely do not smoke or encourage smoking (apart from salmon and eel) neither do we drink buckets full of hard liquor, so we went scot-free. They had a mobile X-ray machine with them in their van, big enough for suitcases. When we opened the rear door and they saw all the camping equipment they let us continue with the journey.

No problems, they didn't even ask about car insurance (we were still on our Macedonian two week temporary insurance which is probably not valid anywhere else). So we decided that as soon as we crossed the border into The Netherlands we would have to try and get another temporary insurance. We spent an uneventful night in the little town of Schifferstadt near Ludwigshafen, where we had some very good tapas.

We crossed the border the next day at Venlo and it was clear that there were no more customs facilities to be found. Great for travelling within the EU but how to deal with a Kenyan truck with Dutch owners without a known residence...

We decided to continue to Teteringen and surprise Robert's mother by arriving one day early. The next day we continued to Heemstede which is going to be our base for a while.

The weather is still pretty awful; we've had rain and snow and everything in between but warm welcomes from family and friends make up for a lot. A feeling of relief that we actually did it and a lot of very fond memories of all the countries we passed through. Here are some of those in a totally random order:

The biggest national flag was in Jordan, but in Turkey almost every house has it's own flag. The best Turkish coffee we had in Syria and Egypt definitely got the prize for the biggest cauliflowers (40-50 cm diameter). Best mechanics were the Turkish mechanic who repaired the air leakage in the fuel system and the 6 mechanics in Shire, Ethiopia, who repaired the front suspension. Luckiest guy we met, the Sudanese driver who got stuck, we could push him out and he survived the trick to restart his car (Sucked fuel straight from the fuel line and spit it back into the carburettor) Actually, the very sick passenger dozing on the passenger seat was even luckier, good chance that he has reached the doctor in time without the bad taste of fuel in his mouth. Cheapest fuel, Syria, 25 eurocent per litre.

We crossed the longest tunnel in Austria (10.5 km) and explored the longest cave in Postojna, Slovenia although the deepest cave was the Asthma cave in Silifke, Turkey. Our first snow we encountered in Syria and the highest temperatures were definitely in Sudan. The lowest point of the journey was the Dead Sea in Jordan (410 m below sea level) and the highest point was between Woldiya and Lalibela in Ethiopia (3550 m above sea level).

Turkey had the cheapest toll highways and the best oranges but Jordan had the best beer, Petra, out of the forty plus brands that we sampled on our trip. Sudan proved to have the best pink grapefruits, for excellent brown bread you have to be at the Mombasa mini bakery and Syria has great dates. Surprisingly, our quickest non-EU border crossings were in and out of Albania and the highest speed we reached with the truck was 104 km/h in Turkey.

We also have very fond memories of sharing a meal of Lake Nasser fish with the locals in Wadi Halfa and a lunch with the Nubians along the way, the one meal we accepted of the tens that were offered for free. Everywhere in Sudan and Egypt water was available for free, stored in amphora like earthenware containers with cups hanging next to them. The "Crescent of Hospitality", as named by an unknown writer in a restaurant logbook.

The longest distance in one day was on Monday 12th of January, we drove from Palmyra via Deir Es Zor to Aleppo clocking 564 kilometres. The shortest distance in one day on tarmac was exactly two months before; on the stretch from Isiolo to the bush camp in the Kaisut desert we crossed three bridges that had a tarmac or concrete top, lets be generous, 150 meters. Longest traffic jam, four hours in Nairobi. Shortest stay in one country, Bosnia, 10 km, maybe 20 minutes.

Most welcome help was in Jordan where a truck driver stopped, got us going again after providing tea.

Now that the priorities have changed from finding an overnight spot to finding a school for the kids, finding a house and a job (in that order) we are slowly getting settled again!

Will we do it again? Not the same journey, definitely, but something different, maybe. Many places we went past valid a day or a weeks visit, more than we could spend on our trip.
While we were hearing all the stories about difficult crossings through Sudan we contemplated a detour over Jemen and Saudi Arabia, the crew of the Gunwiltruck even advised going through Oman, the Emirates and Iran. Must be a tremendous trip. But a boat might be a good mode of transport, solar powered?
We'll keep you informed. Thanks for reading so far, it helped to motivate us as well.

Share

Previous Entry