• It has been a long two days

September 10, 2004

L to R: Team members Zulkarnain Othman and Mohd Saifuddin Abdullah pitching in to help paint the walls

Yesterday, after roll call at 6.30am, the team made a quick exit out of Cairo heading north to Alexandria. An easy drive, lots of traffic but two lane highways all the way.

The team fulfilled some of its corporate and community duties. Firstly, together with VIPs and the local press we were briefed on Egypt’s largest petroleum project. We were taken for a tour of PETRONAS’ future LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) plant just outside Idku, a small town near Alexandria.

After lunch, the team made their way into town for the community relations programme. Joyce Simson had her PETROSAINS demonstration, while the rest of us painted the walls and put together some sewing machines for the local vocational school. The team doctor also found some time to set up a clinic nearby.

About 4.30pm the team headed for Matruh, our last stop in Egypt. Matruh is a quaint little town where locals come for holidays. We met many friendly Egyptians as they strolled along the beach in the cool night air. It’s a pity we didn’t have much time to enjoy Matruh. Fearing the border would close on Fridays, the team left very early this morning, at 5am!

The Egypt-Libya border was about 200 kilometers away and we managed to get there by 9am. The border crossing took six hours … at least we didn’t have to wait in the sun. After declarations, permits, insurance, number plates and the normal customs and immigration procedures were sorted out, we were glad to be on the road again.

The drive to Tobruk was quite easy. Traffic was light and roads were good. According to Sandro Arada, the handler, the adventure will start tomorrow when we head for the desert.

For the team, Tobruk gave members a chance to stock up on fresh food and water for all the camping they will be doing in the desert.