I had been traveling through Europe and Africa for 3 months on the $600 I left the States with, when I arrived in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, at the southern end of Lake Nasser. I had taken a boat from the Aswan dam in Egypt down the lake to its southern end at the Sudanese border.
After a few days in Khartoum, I took a train to Kassala, a jumping off point to enter Ethiopia. On the train I was joined by a couple of other travelers who I had met at the hostel in Khartoum. One of them had some smoke, either hash or grass, I don’t remember which, and we climbed on top of the train and enjoyed smoking while getting some relief from the heat in the carriage. It was a delightful experience riding on the roof of the train, with the wind blowing as we traveled down the tracks at a steady, but not fast, pace.
When it was time to go back down into the carriage I stood up. The next thing I knew I was slammed down on to the top of the train and was stunned. I was lucky that I landed on the top and was not thrown off. My head, my face, my eye were throbbing. Unfortunately, probably somewhat due to the state I was in after smoking, when I stood up, I didn’t see that we were approaching some kind of cable hanging across the track. Seated we were out of danger, but once I stood, I was in its sights, and whamm!
Later on, when I was in front of a mirror, I could see that the cable had hit me on the side of my head from just below my ear, above my neck (fortunately) and across my cheek just beside my eye leaving a heavy black line. I suppose it was not a cable but a power line, something that was covered in black rubber. I sat on the roof for a few minutes gathering myself before climbing down and into the train car.
After settling in at Kassala, I went to the Ethiopian consulate in order to obtain a visa to enter the country. At the consulate I was told that although there was a land border crossing, I would only be able to travel to Ethiopia by air. This was a major bummer because it meant that I would need to return to Khartoum and arrange a flight to Asmara, Eritrea, Ethiopia (Eritrea was part of Ethiopia at that time) and my money was running low. I just couldn’t afford to spend the money on an air ticket. Regardless, I went ahead and got the visa anyway on which the officer wrote in ink, “valid to travel by air only.”
Transportation was available from Kassala to the Ethiopian border for the locals going back and forth. On the spur of the moment, I decided to take the risk and ride to the border. I hoped that the border guards would not be able to read the English written on my visa. As an extra precaution, I crossed out the words that the officer had written.
The terrain to the border was rough and extremely dry. I don’t remember exactly what kind of transport it was that went to the border, taxi or pickup with seats in the back, but I do remember looking out at the landscape and hoping that I don’t get stuck out here not being able to cross the border. We arrived at the border and the officer looked at my visa, turned it one way and then the other and stamped me through. I spent the night at the town of Teseney just inside the Ethiopian border and made my way to Asmara the following day. Arriving in Asmara I was rewarded with a cold beer and a plate of pasta, thanks to the Italian Eritreans.
Three years later after many more adventures on this same trip I arrived in Poona.
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To read more about the continuing journey see From Lemurs to Lamas: Confessions of a Bodhisattva.