Hello,

Now Thursdayevening 18th Jan I prepare to go to Abu Simble tomorrow morning.

But first what transpired since Luxor.

The owner of the Memnon hotel in Luxor, mr Sayed had warned me against the police escort and advised to go early to avoid them. Also , in case I would be stopped and questioned just to say that I go to the Christian Church.  Do not know why but I did all this and it worked.  Was , in fact,  hardly asked anything at the many roadblocks and flew through. 

Mr. Sayed was really a nice man and very helpfull.   I had the problem that in Sonag at the Nile boat they charged my visa card but later said it did not work so I paid 50 dollars to the boss.  No invoice nor receipt. Stupid of me cause the following day in Luxor I check the Visa account and it was debited so double pay.  I say this to mr. Sayed who got very angry and said he would get my money back.  He phoned the culprits and did as if he was a policeman.  In no time they were prepared to return the money but did not know how.  In the meantime Sayed also informed the tourist police who also phoned them and put pressure on.  At the end they send the money to Sayed who will keep it for me till a next time and I am happy we taught them a lesson.

So now in Aswan.  When I arrived here I went to my booked Nubian Holiday house who indicated to have parking.   It was way out of Aswan and had no parking . It also looked a bit very local to my liking so I said that they had cheated me to pretend to have parking.  I said they should not try to take cancellation fees.    Wonder only what I could do in case they would do but so far no debits. 

In the meantime I was in touch over the phone with Kamal Muawad who is a fixer to get me over the border.  For him this holiday house was also to far from Aswan to see me.  Hence I took off again and after another hour over all the motabs I arrived in Aswan and phoned Kamal for a hotel.  I stopped a taxi driver to use as Tom Tom.   Kamal told him where to go over my phone and off we went.  This way I crossed Aswan completely to 4 hotels that also had no parking.  Than I made it clear my way and they understood.  That’s why I am now in the Basma hotel with a separate parking next to the front door for my HD.  

I took an extra day in Aswan to go to the Traffic court to get a Certifcate of no fines in Egypt .  Without this one is sent back from the border  to get it .  Another 2 to 3 days delay.

So this morning I went with him and upon arrival we jumped all the cues and headed straight for the ones who issue the certificate.  But soon it became clear that something was wrong with my Egyptian bike license.   We went from office to offce and finally it became clear that I had a taxi license .   Sorry but in Cairo they gave me that and I cannot even read it. All-in Arabic.   They told me to get back to Cairo.

Of course my adrenalin level went way high bit I kept quiet.  Kamal did all the talking etc.  At the final end after visiting 6 offices ate least 4 times each I paid 550 LE = 26 euros and all was done.  Yes, with receipt.   Was not such a nice start of this beautiful Sunny day.

Kamal  brought me back to the hotel and said we will meet in Abu Simbel on Saturday morning at 06.30 hrs to go to the ferry and cross Lake Nasser to go to the border.

He also guides 36 cyclists from all sort of nationalities through the border.  Actually they are peddaling to Abu to cross to Sudan possibly also on their way to South Africa.

The hotel is an old bit British rundown place but the food is good and the beer is excellent so what the heck for the rest.

I checked the tiewraps underneath the bike and they are still fine.  Bit looser but I pushed them a bit tighter again.

Checked the clutch cable beacause its a new one and it might loosen up a bit and need adjustment for the freeplay but the recommended  gap is not too large so I leave it for the moment.  If it becomes too loose the gearshifting will tell also by becoming more difficult and noisy.  Clunk, clunk, etc.

Tomorrow I want to go early to avoid the heat after 12 noon and to have the time to see Ramses that was saved by a Dutch consortium from Lake Nasser and put higher up the lake shore. Otherwise it would have gone under water.

Also I want to see where the ferry leaves and what state the ferry is in.  Do I need swimsuit or not as underwear.  No worry mate,  the moment you hit the water you become croc finger food.

Ok, fine for now and may be tomorrow more.

In Sudan you might consider me on Holidays cause there will not be much Internet/ Wifi  available.

May be we have to wait till !st Feb when I intend to hit Gonder in Northern Ethiopia.   I was there in 2015 and had a hotel with wifi and cold beer , the Essentials.

Till than I will keep record of all my mistakes and other people’ s.

Cheers.