The bike and have made it safely to Cairo. Was a bit concerned that the bike might not hold up to the journey. Some people spend hours wrapping and boxing their bikes before putting them in the hold. I just rolled up. Very easy and even got a behind the scenes tour of the airport as the bike didn't fit on the conveyor belts.
Cairos been pretty manic. I've been running around from embassy to embassy collecting visas for Sudan and with a bit of luck Ethopia (hopefully picking it up tomorrow morning). Visas for anywhere seem to involve sitting in long queues and filling out endless paperwork - and knowing how much the Africans bureaucrats love paperworks and stamps I wasn't lookig forward to it.
The best fun is getting the Sudenese visa. They ask for a letter of recommendation from your embassy so first stop the British Embassy. A half hour wait to queue through security and another half hour queing to chat up the lady at the desk and your there. Not to bad really and the queues are very British. Everyone stands in an organised line in silence.
Once you reach the lady at the desk you pay her 30 pounds sterling and in return you don't get your personal letter of recommendation fro the ambassador but instead get a standard print out (with that all important stamp) saying that the British don't issue letters of recommendation to the Sudanese but because I have a British Passport I must be a decent enough chap to be let in.
Round the corner to the Sudanese Embassy you don't have to queue for security (no need its camoflauged as a squatters den) you scrum down and fight to the front. Once there you collect your forms, scrum down again ony to get sent back to have the photocopies, scrum down again handover some dollars, wait until everyone whose paid a little backshesh overtakes you handover your passport and hope for the best. No reciept no proof of who on earth you gave your passport to. I just hope its there tommorrow morning with a big, shiny visa in it.
Collecting visas is always a hassle but it's gone far smoother than expected. I've heard rumours that when you apply in London they post your passport off to Khartoum for approval and your lucky to have it pack within six weeks if at all.
Besides chasing round Embassies (I also got my Etheopian visa under my belt) I've done my sightseeing battled with my taxi drivers and stocked up on Pizza Hut. I've not yet taken the bike for a proper spin amongst the 18 million Cairoeans or their 3 million cars but as this is the continents biggest city the traffic can't be worse anywhere else.
One of the most ridiculas things I've noticed is the number of policemen. They are just about everywhere and sit around all day looking very bored. One of their jobs (infact they have a whole branch of the police force dedicated to it) is to look after tourists. Sounds good to begin with and I'm sure its well meaning but I can forsee problems. They don't normally alow foreigners (well Westerners anyway) to travel around outside of cities without an escort. If they have to drive along at my pace they will be even more bored than usual. I just hope they don't force me onto a bus.
Policemen and visas aside I'm really hopng that tomorrow afternoon I'll be lining up underneath the Spinx and heading south...
Cairos been pretty manic. I've been running around from embassy to embassy collecting visas for Sudan and with a bit of luck Ethopia (hopefully picking it up tomorrow morning). Visas for anywhere seem to involve sitting in long queues and filling out endless paperwork - and knowing how much the Africans bureaucrats love paperworks and stamps I wasn't lookig forward to it.
The best fun is getting the Sudenese visa. They ask for a letter of recommendation from your embassy so first stop the British Embassy. A half hour wait to queue through security and another half hour queing to chat up the lady at the desk and your there. Not to bad really and the queues are very British. Everyone stands in an organised line in silence.
Once you reach the lady at the desk you pay her 30 pounds sterling and in return you don't get your personal letter of recommendation fro the ambassador but instead get a standard print out (with that all important stamp) saying that the British don't issue letters of recommendation to the Sudanese but because I have a British Passport I must be a decent enough chap to be let in.
Round the corner to the Sudanese Embassy you don't have to queue for security (no need its camoflauged as a squatters den) you scrum down and fight to the front. Once there you collect your forms, scrum down again ony to get sent back to have the photocopies, scrum down again handover some dollars, wait until everyone whose paid a little backshesh overtakes you handover your passport and hope for the best. No reciept no proof of who on earth you gave your passport to. I just hope its there tommorrow morning with a big, shiny visa in it.
Collecting visas is always a hassle but it's gone far smoother than expected. I've heard rumours that when you apply in London they post your passport off to Khartoum for approval and your lucky to have it pack within six weeks if at all.
Besides chasing round Embassies (I also got my Etheopian visa under my belt) I've done my sightseeing battled with my taxi drivers and stocked up on Pizza Hut. I've not yet taken the bike for a proper spin amongst the 18 million Cairoeans or their 3 million cars but as this is the continents biggest city the traffic can't be worse anywhere else.
One of the most ridiculas things I've noticed is the number of policemen. They are just about everywhere and sit around all day looking very bored. One of their jobs (infact they have a whole branch of the police force dedicated to it) is to look after tourists. Sounds good to begin with and I'm sure its well meaning but I can forsee problems. They don't normally alow foreigners (well Westerners anyway) to travel around outside of cities without an escort. If they have to drive along at my pace they will be even more bored than usual. I just hope they don't force me onto a bus.
Policemen and visas aside I'm really hopng that tomorrow afternoon I'll be lining up underneath the Spinx and heading south...