It’s been a bit of a rough start to the trip so far.
A quick internet update on the morning of departure revealed 59 officers and militants were involved in a shootout, a few kilometers west of Cairo leaving all the officers and very few of the insurgents dead. Honestly it shook me up a bit.
I was really looking forward to the western route up the Nile, but I think I better try the easter route to Sudan. I’ve been asking around and it sounds like I should be able to find a convoy, maybe with a group of truckers headed to Aswan. There is a fine line between the unstable Red Sea State of Sinai peninsula and the Nile River valley. Hope I find myself on the right side of it.
I didn’t realize at the time of booking, but I had to take an Air France flight from Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo. Plane was nice and new, but the French were pretentious as ever. The last time I spent time around such a supercilious bunch, I was in the North Gobi desert and ran into a pack of ’em – not a big fan.
Hotel is nice. Surprised to see ISIS has their own suite on the same floor, luckily I’m blending in pretty well with my white boy Irish complexion. I guess when you run the largest terror organization in the world, you get a few perks at some choice hotels. Hopefully they aren’t looking for a place to stay with the recent fall of Raqqa.
I spent the last couple of days at Cairo Airport Customs mingling with the SFR’s (Sneaky F*!#ing Russians) Agents, trying to get my bike out of jail. No such luck yet. Its a crazy scene down there, quiet the experience, and let me tell you, this is a rough crowd of men. I’ve been pulled out of the crowd of SFR’s by the police and frisked several times, not to mention had my backpack taken yesterday until I left the grounds – kinda crazy. I look like Howdy Doody compared to these guys, I guess racial profiling goes both ways.
I know it sounds odd, but after a couple hours with the French and a couple days in North Africa and I’m already looking forward to Sudan.
Chad Rothacher 