Go back to Sudan.
Go back to Meroe.

Khartoum.
From Meroe, we drove straight to a clinic to get our Covid tests done; that one day before departure requirement recently imposed as a knee jerk reaction to Omicron is a real pain in the ass. You want to get more skeptics to get vaxed? Show some fucking carrots – i.e. wave the re-entry test requirement for the vaccinated. Anyway, we did a bit more sightseeing in the city; spent an hour filling out some exit forms; had one final dinner with Osman and then headed for the airport for our 1:30am flight home.
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Thank you Sudan!
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Rest of the trip home went smoothly and included a looooong layover at JFK; long enough where we Ubered into Queens in search of some Malaysian food (man, I’d never ever want to move back to the NYC area). Well, once again thanks to Alaska, the domestic leg got us home about 4 hours behind schedule.
Photos

On the drive back to Khartoum, we stopped at this place for coffee and (DIY) breakfast (Dec. 2021).

Shirley and Osman hitting the breakfast spread (Dec. 2021).

Back in Khartoum, we headed straight for a rona test clinic since we were supposed to fly out later that night (Dec. 2021).

Khartoum graffiti with a sociopolitical message no doubt (Dec. 2021).

Khartoum graffiti (Dec. 2021).

Khartoum (Dec. 2021).

Last coffee stop. Don’t mind if we do (Dec. 2021).

Osman and Shirley enjoying their coffee (Dec. 2021).

Corinthia Hotel in Khartoum (Dec. 2021).

Khartoum (Dec. 2021).

On the way to check out the museum (Dec. 2021).

One of those cute little African vans with some wanker providing scale (Dec. 2021).

The place was actually closed but we persisted (Dec. 2021).

At the museum (Dec. 2021).

Picked up some street art (Dec. 2021).

Another one of Corinthia Hotel (Dec. 2021).

Tuti Island in Khartoum on the way to see the confluence of the Niles (Dec. 2021).

Tuti Island – a slice of rural heaven in the middle of an urban jungle (Dec. 2021).

Heading for the (true) confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers (Dec. 2021).

Almost there. The Blue Nile is on the right (Dec. 2021).

A boat on the Blue Nile (Dec. 2021).

And there it is (Dec. 2021).

Shirley, Osman, and some fishermen at the confluence point (Dec. 2021).

Osman and Shirley (Dec. 2021).

A sailboat on the Blue Nile with the Corinthia Hotel in the background (Dec. 2021).

At the confluence point, looking down-river with the Shambat Bridge which connects Omdurman (left bank) to Khartoum North (Dec. 2021).

Our last sunset in Sudan; this one, over the White Nile (Dec. 2021).

One last dinner in Khartoum before we head home (Dec. 2021).

Scoring some crack in Portland? No, settling a dinner bill for three in Khartoum (Dec. 2021).

I guess we can go home…Covid mass retardation continues (Dec. 2021).

Khartoum Airport. Lines, lines, and lines. And I got to do them twice (Dec. 2021).

Thank you Sudan!
Go back to Sudan.