evidence: What a difference a ferry ride makes. One day we were jostling with throngs of people in the mayhem of Egyptian life along the Nile, and the next we were rolling into the dusty, frontier town of Wadi Halfa, Sudan. Everything about Sudan is much lower-key than Egypt. It’s quieter, less crowded, slower paced, and overall just more relaxing to cycle in Sudan. We reveled in the tranquility of the desert, and the soft-spoken hospitality of the Sudanese people we met. [...] Wadi Halfa, Sudan (pop. 15,725) is a modest-sized frontier town. All of the businesses and services are jumbled together within about eight blocks on several, parallel streets. That made it pretty straightforward to find all of the things we needed on arrival: a new SIM card for our phones, some descent food (it’s generous to say that the ferry food was unappealing), and supplies for our first ride across the desert. While we were shopping, we ran into the senior police officer, otherwise known as a superhero to us, who helped us hunt down our passports on the ferry. He greeted us warmly, and even suggested a restaurant on the main road for our dinner. We’re not sure we ended up in the right restaurant, but we had a satisfying chicken and rice meal, regardless.