Greetings all...

We are currently in Marsa Alam which is a couple of hundred km's down the coat from Hurghada. We've been here for six days now and apart from the frustration of no cell phone or internet communication over the weekend, everything has been normal.

We filled our diesel tanks to the brim today without issue and the hsops are fully stocked. We've been diving every day and the resorts and operators are carrying on as normal.

The advice from the locals here is to stay out of Cairo, Suez and Alexandria, but even Luxor seems to have quieted down a bit.

We have had no ATM issues either.

For those using the Wadi/Aswan ferry north, MR Khamal is your man as far as fixers are concerned. He charges $30 for the pleasure, but got us through within four hours of the car arriving. He even shouted at the police who wanted to search our vehicle. His local number is: 0105322669.

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Dawie du Plessis
www.pictureafrica.org
www.photographersa.co.za

Hey Dawie. Good to see you and Kat are still alive and still heading north. If that truck of yours were any slower you'd be going backwards :-) Cheers from cold and wet Crete. Neville

News from Mathias, who ist still stucked in Alexandria:

Mathias Schmid
From Alexandria .. Egypt . ;(
The Ferry to Venice is deffently cancelt until whenever .
The Road over the Sinai to Israel is in the Hands of bandits .
And the Dessert Road to Cairo is blockt by Military .
So ... gonna keep Google it , how to get the "F" out of here..

Mathias Schmid | Facebook

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Best wishes
:-)
Ralf & Eva

http://www.Motorradnomaden.de
around the world on 2 motorbikes

The homepage has a translation service!!

Now imagine all the things you guys missed along the way...

Our plan is basically to dive the red sea until the Alexandria Ferry runs again... Or turn around and drive back to South Africa.

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Dawie du Plessis
www.pictureafrica.org
www.photographersa.co.za

I'm currently in Alexandria, and the ship left this morning, without me onboard. No replies from Visemar's agent in Egypt, and very hard to get any information.

Trying to find out when the next sailing will be, the Italians say the 20th, while their good man in Alexandria says the 27th.

It's peaceful here now, but we'll see tonight. The biggest problems from Luxor and up has been police and army that's paranoid and not too clever and can hold you up for hours. Else, there's sometimes a problem with civilian mobs if you park too long time at a place, but they haven't been violent.

All in all it's not bad here, I've even found an open bar nearby the center of the riots so you can have a and watch the match if they are playing again tonight.

Will post more information as soon as I know something more.

Tormod
[url=http://www.kccd.no]KCCD - Kong Kr

Just another thing, if there is any other motorcycle travellers here in Alexandria right now it would be cool to gather, maybe start our own demonstration. It's me, Klaus and Jochen staying at the Hotel Acropole right now, close to the Saad Zaghloul. Drop by or send me a message.

Tormod
[url=http://www.kccd.no]KCCD - Kong Kr

Hello from Luxor. Just arrived here this evening (11 Feb).

First leg was Dahab to Hurghada. Lots of checkpoints (staffed by military, including APCs and sometimes tanks), most asked a few questions and studied my passport and other paperwork. Before entering the tunnel that goes under the Suez canal, they did a very thorough search of all of my luggage, also had a dog give everything a sniff. I was wanded. Then they wanted to look through my computer and camera. Then another fella in uniform had my passport in one hand, and his cell phone in the other, and had me talk to someone who was asking my why I'd overstayed my visa. Which I hadn't, and I told him so, and it seems the original guy had misread my visa. Anyway, they were polite, and even apologetic, but thorough.

Second leg was Hurghada to Luxor. Took the coast road south to Quseir, only to be told that the road from Quseir to Qift (just north of Luxor) was closed. I saw a big truck and a tour bus coming off the road, so I assume it is closed to private vehicles. I backtracked ~75kms to Safaga and then went west from there.

Petrol & food were never hard to come by. The only hassles were the many checkpoints and having to backtrack because of the closed road. I haven't been out & about here in Luxor, but from what I can see & hear the mood is good; everyone seems to be happy about the exit of Mr. Mubarak.

I am in the Oasis hotel, which has secure parking for the bike inside the building. Super-nice staff, EGP50 per night with bathroom/shower in-room, including breakfast. I'll post up coordinates when I get a chance. It is also listed in the LP Middle East guide.

I'll post back once I get a chance to get out and see some of the sights and try out an ATM machine!

Cheers all
Sean

After Mubarak's stepdown yesterday things has quiet down totally. Latest news from Visemar Line in Italy now is that the next ferry will be the 20th of Feb, and they sound like they believe it.

However, their Egyptian counterpart still says the next will be the 27th, so we'll see.

Attaching some pics shot last night in Alexandria.

Tormod

Great information, thanks I am in Hurghada thinking of catching the ferry next Sunday 20/2 ,Visemar Italy told me it was coming! Who knows?Any info on the security on the roads, are there any police about? and fuel availability. Thanks

Okies, here's the deal now. Both the Italians and their not-so-trustworthy agent Walid has agreed that there will be a ferry the 20th. Before the weekend the Italians said yes, and Walid said no.

Walid never replies on emails, I suspect he might be illitterate or something. Anyways, he says he need all docs 48 hours prior to departure, but I would not take any chance with being this late, he has not proven to be easy to deal with so far.

For road safety and fuel; fuel seems ok allover. For safety, yes and no. Alex is calm, even the police and army behaves. However, it seems like outside Alex both police, army and people seems to be paranoid, stupid, and annoying.

Today me and Klaus went towards El Alamain, but got taken by the police after just 20 kilometers. Big crowds came to the place, and for the first time I've seen the army load the weapons and switch off the safety and waive with the guns. About 200 people were around us shouting.

The luggage were searched twice, and they took some pocket knives, hard disks and memory cards and took us to an army base. We had a soldier on each bike, and mine were waiving the hand gun all the time, uncontrolled. At least en times I had to shout to him that he should never point a gun at me unless he really meant to do it. I never seen worse gun handling by people that are supposed to be trained on weapons. I never felt threatened by that he wanted to shoot me, but I knew it was not unlikely he might shoot me accidentally.

Anyhow, we were locked up with two kids in a cell, a cell with an open window. Says a bit about the competence here. The kids looked beated up and about 12 years old. After a half our they let us out and said they would have to take the knives, but gave us back the rest. We demanded a receipt, which they refused. It had taken about 4 hours now, and to get back to Alex before dark we said **** this shit, keep them but we'll destroy the blades then so we broke them off and left.

Our German friend made it to El Alamain but had a similar incident with the army, but got out of it after an hour and without getting searched.

So, safety wise, there is not a problem, but you can expect quite some shit from stupid army and police that really don't know what they are doing.

If you make it to Alex we'll most likely be at Hotel Acropol, close to Plaza Saag Zaghloul in the city center. Parking in front of the building and about 30 Pound per person, but you must negotiate. Also decent wifi here.

Tormod

Hi,

I have just come from Sudan to Egypt on the Wadi Halfa - Aswan ferry. Apart from the usual hassle with Egyptian Customs no problems so far. I met several other overland travelers who crossed Egypt on the way south without problems.

Best wishes
H