Getting in and out of Asem's courtyard was a bit of a mission... It took four of us to lift the unloaded Big Fella up these stairs...
Asem and I went to a small coffee shop around the corner from his house and enjoyed an espresso, before we headed back and got the bike prepared for the day’s ride…
Getting it back onto the street was a bit hairy, as I had to ride through narrow doors and down a few steps and then bump off the pavement before I could get to street level…
Masoud arrived a little later than expected, as he had slept through two alarms!! I couldn’t blame him, as he had spent four straight days riding from one side of Libya to the other, and back again…!! We loaded all my gear and then after refueling, headed for the Tunisian Border, 60 kms away…
Once again, Masoud took care of all the formalities on my behalf, while I sat quietly in a restaurant at the border of Ras Ajdir…Before I arrived in Libya, I had bemoaned the fact that I had to have a guide, but I can now say that without Masoud, I would still have been somewhere back in Libya, probably hundreds of miles short of this border post… He made it possible to push as hard as we did, and all in the interests of buying me a day’s time, after I explained how much time I had lost in Egypt… This hard ride not only saved me a few thousand rand, but I had also made a firm friend…
It took a little longer than we expected to get everything cleared and sorted, but eventually, I was through, and after a fond farewell and promises to keep in touch, I left Masoud standing in the shade of the large six-laned passport control and headed into Tunisia… I was delayed here while a visa was sorted out, and had to pay TDR 10.00 for the documentation… This is about R50.00, and I had to find a money-changer to pay in the local currency… One of the plainclothes policemen accompanied me to ensure that I was not ripped off, and got me a far better rate that I would have got had I been on my own… If fact, I think we may have ripped the money-changer off !! He seemed rather intimidated by the fact that a policeman had come to him to change money…
Leaving Zuara and heading for the Tunisian Border... Asem ran on ahead to take this photo...!!
French is widely spoken here and my few words of French (Oui, and Carla Bruni…) weren’t going to be of any assistance…!!
My Arabic got me a few smiles, and after that, it was hand signals and grimaces of non comprehension for me… But I made it through, and began my ride through Tunisia…
I had planned to get as far as Gabbes on my first day here, but managed to ride a lot further and eventually got to the seaside resort town of Sousse at about 6.00pm. It took me over an hour to find a suitable hotel, by which time I could have ridden to Tunis, which was only 115 kms to the north of Sousse…
Who would have thought that Olive Trees could grow out here in the desert...?
The roads in Tunisia are well marked and suitable for high speed riding… I passed through the village of Ben Guerdene and then the town of Medenine, before turning north and riding through Arram and Kettana, skirting the Gulf of Gabbes and then zooming straight through the town of Gabbes itself… The area I had ridden through was still all desert, but planted all along the road, were huge groves of olive trees… Some of the villages manufacture raw Olive Oil, and occasionally I would get a strong whiff of the stuff, which reminded me of many tasty meals cooked back home…
Roadside Diner... Tunisian Style... Notice the sheep hanging under the awning... Flies certainly did...!!!
Pottery shops are a common sight in all the smaller villages... I bought a Dinner Service for six, but the Big Fella wouldn't let me load it...!!
Tunisians love their blue and white... Many houses and building are painted in these colours...
All along my route, little stalls were set out where you could stop for coffee or a cold drink, and then select a piece of mutton from a carcass hanging from the frame of the gazebo, and then watch as it was cooked to your specification… The meat tasted OK, so I assume that the animal had been hung up there earlier that morning… At some of the stalls, only the “woolen jacket” of the sheep remained, indicating that the stall had done fairly good business that day…
I tore around the edges of the Gulf, heading for Sfax, which I hoped I would reach before having to refuel, but the speeds that I was riding at made this impossible… Having ridden just short of 350 km on Libyan fuel, it was time to pay a far higher price for some of the inferior Tunisian stuff… I stopped in Mahares, and took on 19 litres and paid the equivalent of R6.75 / litre… No more R1.18 for the Libyan fuel… Very sad…!!
Collection of distance markers just outside the town of Medenine... I had a little ways to go yet, if I was to reach Tunis...!!!
Just say "NO" to Hachichina !! Strange names abound in Tunisia... One village went by the moniker of "Fondouk Habani"... Laughed into my helmet at that one...!!
At the service station, a young guy advised me to push on to El Jem, or even Sousse, as Sfax did not have many decent hotels to stay in…
“Halfway to Sousse, you will pick up the new highway, and then it is a good fast road all the way to Tunis,” he said…
Fatman and Robin take on the Big Fella... Sans helmets, but at least they had suitable footwear....for the bloody beach, that is...!!
What he did not tell me, was that it was a toll road, and as I had used the last of my Tunisian Dinar to refuel, and intended getting to an ATM in Sousse when I would need cash again, you can imagine my consternation, when I arrived at a massive toll gate, with heaps of traffic piling up behind me, and having to explain to the lady at the booth that I did not have any money…
After a burst of French which I did not understand, she fiddles around behind the counter, and then handed me a slip, pressed a button and the boom shot up… She gave me a sweet smile, and waved me away… Phew…!!
A few kilometres later, two guys on a Kawasaki cruised up next to me… They were both wearing slip-slops and neither on them wore any protective gear, not even helmets…!! The pillion rider waved and with hand signals showed me that I was going too slow, (I was doing 120 km/h!) and that got up the Big Fella’s nose a bit, so we picked up the speed and hurtled past the Kawasaki…
For the next 80 kms, all the way past El Jem, we rode together, at speeds of over 160 km/h… First they would take the lead, and then pull over to allow us to ride past, before sitting behind and tailing us for a while… It was good fun, and we managed to avoid the Radar traps set all along the double-laned highway… The speed limit was 110 km/h, and most drivers seemed to be obeying it to the kilometre… A heck of a difference when compared to Libyan drivers… Even the Libyan registered vehicles were sticking to the speed limit, which was astounding… At the next toll gate, I pulled the same stunt, this time riding up the lane marked “CARDS ONLY”, and feigning ignorance again… Once more my confused look and the cars hooting behind me got me through without paying… I should try this back home…!!!
Had I not wasted so much time looking for a hotel in Sousse, I would have made it to Tunis...
All the trees in public areas are given the flat-top treatment...
Once I was settled in my room at the Claridge Hotel, I took a walk down the busy main street, looking for a supermarket to buy water and snacks to eat in my room… I had been without internet since Marsa Matrouh in Egypt, and had ridden through Libya without getting an opportunity to do any writing… I decided to take a day off and spend it catching up… The wide double doors in my room opened onto a narrow balcony, and from there I could keep an eye on the bike, which was parked on the pavement directly below me… I had not chosen the quietest place to take a break… The pavements on either side of the road were jam-packed with tourists, all dressed in costumes and t-shirts… The beach was a block away, and from there, many people wandered back to their hotels, stopping to eat or drink coffee at the many sidewalk cafes…
The clip-clop of horses hooves on the tarmac echoes down the street and up to my room...
Gaily decorated carriages, pulled by horses which looked well cared for, clip-clopped their way down the street at all hours of the day and night… The only time things got a little quieter was after 2.00am, when most people settled down for the night… The little supermarket around the corner from the hotel, closed at 3.00am every day… The owner spoke a little English, and he helped me with directions and advice on where to get a decent meal… This made my stay in Sousse a lot more enjoyable, and whenever I walked around the corner he would come out of his little shop and greet me with a handshake and a happy smile…
“Amigo, amigo… You come watch football tonight in my shop wiz me…? Hollander play Uruguay…!!”
“Maybe I will see you later… Have you turned down the thermostat on your fridge like I asked you to? The bloody cold-drinks are luke warm…!! Better I find another shop with a better fridge…!!”
“No, no… I make extra cold jest for you… Come later, you will see…!!”
“Yeah, yeah… Pull my other one…!”
“Ooooh, my friend…! Why you doubt me? And why you no find a nice Tunisian girl and stay here? She can cook and clean and make you very happy… I will try and find one for you…!”
“Just make sure you sort your fridge out… And besides, women are a problem I can do without…!”
“Yes, yes…! You are right…! Zat is why I work such long hours in my shop, too many problems at my home…!”
Rue April de 12, Sousse, Tunisia... View from my balcony...
And so it went, joking with him every time I passed by… It made me feel like a local, as I am sure that people passing us must have thought we were old mates…
©GBWT 2010
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