Wed 17 Dec
The second night was not nearly so dusty and it was a lot colder. I was pleased I had got my sleeping bag.

At first light we were evidently getting near to Wadi Halfa. Some vehicles were racing along the desert sand beside us, headlights blazing, but I couldn't discern why. In Halfa we queued first at the station to buy meal tickets for the ferry (yes really) and then with a few of my railway family I walked into town and did the admin: paying port tax and getting immigration clearance to exit. Back at the station we waited a few hours before moving our baggage to the ferry terminal. I boarded MV Sinai around 1500 and put my luggage in my first class cabin, which disappointingly had no window. There were two other westerners on the boat: Michael, a Canadian and Carla, a German.

Michael had spent the past four months in western Sudan waiting for and eventually joining a camel caravan to take the "40 days road" to the Egyptian border. I enjoyed exchanging stories and before long we were told that if we didn't mind sharing we could move to a cabin with a window.