50 000 km!

(English and photographs below)

Vandag het dit gevoel of my hart wou gaan staan.

Ek was nege-uur by die Egiptiese ambassade, vol hoop dat ek net my tweede paspoort met tweede Egiptiese visum kon gaan kry. Toe kom die nuus: Die konsul wou my eenuur sien.

Nou ja, wat kon ek doen? Ek het nie die heeltemaal reguit pad geloop nie, ek moes maar neem wat kom.

Ek het begin om my koerant te lees om die vier ure se wag om te kry. Een en ‘n half uur later het hulle teen die glas geklop en gewys ek moes kom. Ek is toe in die ambassade in na mnr. Said, die konsul. Hy het soos ‘n liggaamsbouer gelyk. Toe kom die vrae. Weer die waarom’s en hoekom’s. Na ‘n ruk was hy tevrede en het sy personeel opdrag gegee om vir my ‘n visum te gee! Ek kon die man soen.

In die Jerusalem Post is Eilat se temperature vir vandag aangegee as maks. 42 min. 30. Snikheet warm. Ek wou vroeg uit Tel Aviv wegkom om die Negev se temperatuur op die hitte van die dag te mis. Met al die vertragings is ek toe eers ongeveer 11 uur weg uit Tel Aviv.

Ek het die sg. slegte pad Eilat toe geneem. Wat ‘n pad, en wat se natuurskoon! Die woestyn daar is baie bergagtig met baie bergpasse en ook ‘n reuse krater. Vir ‘n groot deel van die pad het ek gekronkel en gevleg en op en af gery. Daar was nie kans om vir ‘n oomblik moeg of vaak te word nie. Die laaste 80 km was suid al met die Jordaniëgrens langs. Sieldodend. Kokendwarm.

Ek wonder hoe lank kan ‘n motorfiets se enjin in hierdie bloedige kokende hitte hou? Die KLR het darem al ‘n paar woestyne agter die rug.  Ek haal my hoed af vir die fiets. As Eilat by die Rooisee 42 grade is, wat was die temperatuur in die binneland?

Na 374 km het ek laatmiddag in Eilat aangekom. More is dit Egipte. Stap 2 van 4 stappe vir die Soedanvisum is afgehandel, twee om te gaan! En kort voor Eilat het die KLR sy 50 000’ste km gery!!

‘n Paar opmerkings uit my dagboek van vandag:

– Dit gaan ‘n eensame ry tot in Kaapstad word;

– Ek sal aan die hitte gewoond moet raak, dit was ‘n bloedig warme dag;

– Wat gaan aan met mense se koppe? In Egipte is ‘n wet byna gereed wat Egiptiese mans van hul burgerskap gaan onthef as hulle met ‘n Israeliese vrou getroud is, en in Israel beplan hulle ‘n wet om mense wat hulle nie met ‘n Zionistiese staat vereenselwig nie, van hul burgerskap te onthef.

Beautiful desert landscape

Ek wonder wat noem mens hierdie tipe bergbokkie?

If there were not so many warning signs ...

English

Today I thought that I would suffer a heart attack.

Just before at 9 o’clock I was at the Egyptian Embassy. I was so positive that I would just collect my passport with visa so that I could be on the way south through the Negev to Eilat. But it wasn’t to be. No passport, only a message the consul wanted to see me at one o’clock.

There was nothing I could do. I did take some short cuts and I wasn’t totally … hmmm … honest.

I started reading my newspaper to kill the next four hours until one o’clock. One and a half hour later there was a tap on the window. I should come into the embassy, the consul was ready to see me. The consul, Mr Said, looked like a bodybuilder. He started off with the normal questions, the why’s and where from’s and where to’s. After a while he was satisfied and instructed his officials to issue my visa. I could have kissed him!!

In the Jerusalem Post the minimum and maximum temperatures for Eilat were 30 / 42 degrees. Boiling hot! I planned to leave Tel Aviv while it was still early and cool. The delay at the embassy forced me to leave Tel Aviv for the Negev desert just before noon.

I took the road closest to the Egyptian border, the so-called bad road. What a surprise! There were sections that weren’t that good, but what a beautiful desert landscapes with mountains, canyons and for long distances never a straight piece of road! There wasn’t any time to become tired or bored. The worst stretch was the last 80 km south, close to the Jordan border. It was monotonous and hot as I have not experienced for many months.

In this heat I wondered how long a motorcycle engine can survive. The KLR managed quite a number of deserts already. I cannot but salute my trusty old bike. As an after thought, if it was 42 degrees at the Red Sea coast of Eilat, I wonder how hot it was in the desert.

After 374 km’s I reached Eilat late afternoon. Tomorrow I will cross into Egypt. I’ve managed the first two of four steps for the Sudanese visa, two to go. And the best of the day, just before Eilat the KLR did its 50 000 km!

A few remarks from my diary of today:

– It is going to be a very lonely ride to Cape Town;

– My body has to adapt to this immense heat;

– What is going on in the world? In Egypt a law is about to be passed, stripping Egyptian men of their citizenship if they are married to Israeli ladies, and in Israel they are considering a law that will strip people from the citizenship if they don’t sign a declaration that they identify themselves with a Zionist state.