Farewell Khartoum - Hello Dubai

My flight is at 11.20 am.... I am packing and weighing... all the food I am taking with me:
fresh frozen fish, white cheese, dates, kerkede, grapefruit, sweets, etc. and all the souvenirs I bought.... According to the scales I have 29kgs....but not sure how accurate these scales are....

I am sad to leave Khartoum and to leave Mahassin and the family.... I love it here.. Khartoum is full of life despite or rather in spite of the poverty and struggle... I want to come back!

Things are difficult for people in Sudan, basic foodstuffs are getting expensive - sometimes prices vary from one day to the next - Mahassin was looking for yoghurt, but the shops didn't stocked it any more, as it doubled in price overnight.  But on the other hand there is construction and projects happening....progress...only time will tell.

Ah yes, construction here is interesting - Sudani style:  I was thinking of my sister and her house building exercise.... the Germans would be 'impressed'...

Walid and Mahassin take me to the airport.  Salma, Souad and Ahsan call to say good-bye. It is difficult to leave.

My luggage makes the weight check 28.6kgs - wow - Flydubai are being very strict with weight, as any no-frills airline - this is how they make their money.  Next time I buy 50ks worth of weight... so I can do all my shopping!!!

The plane is full, I am again the only khawaja on the flight....it is a good and uneventful flight, I sleep - am not even hungry - brought some food (ha ha)...but just sleep.

We land at 4.30 pm at Terminal 2 - it is not busy and the luggage comes through quickly. I go to the Dollar car hire desk to pick up my car hire. And for the first time it all goes well!  I get a new Yarris - love it!

I call Basma on my way home to arrange our evening out for sheisha... have my priorities right!

I am a bit sad my trip is over... this was the last leg of my year off! I made it actually to 9 months of travelling. I am now officially broke and out of money and need to start working and earning my keep again.  Learning to live on my own and to make it on my own (well with the help of my wonderful and dear friends and families!  - without them I could NOT make it!)  and Hisham is still there for me - in spirit! Bless his soul.

Lots of love to everyone! From the Khawaja wearing the thoab.....

Sabine, Dougal, Lionheart

My last day in Sudan

My last day in Khartoum, tomorrow I have to leave and return to Dubai... what a shame.  I love it here.... People are so friendly, and Khartoum is buzzing with people, traffic and life.  There is a lot of poverty unfortunately, people are not happy with the government, and the young people are trying to leave for a better future. Still I love it.... it's real life here, compared to the riches and artificiality of Dubai.... quite a contrast.

Souad is taking us back to Bait Khalifa for a proper tour through the house.  The staff who promised me the book, he did get it for me, but he charged me 30 SDP - well I guess there is no such thing as a free anything.....  Still I was happy!

Bait Khalifa is quite big, you wouldn't think so from the outside...  and lots of great original artifacts.... very interesting.

Beit al-Khalifa, is situated opposite the Mahdi's tomb. Once the home of the Mahdi's successor, the house was built of mud and brick in 1887, and is now a museum. It contains relics from Mahdiyya battles, including guns, war banners and suits of mail. An interesting collection of photographs depicts the city of Khartoum at the time of the Mahdi's revolt and its subsequent occupation by the British.

The Mahdi tomb itself (rebuilt in 1947) is closed to foreigners, but can be viewed from the outside.

A great system for the bath's water supply.....

After the great viewing and a bit of a history lesson, we go back to where all the sweet stalls are.  The guy where we bought the sweets last time, sees us and recognises us immediately (I am famous... hi hi) - so we go back to him and I buy more yummie sweets to take with me....

We go home, I change and Mohammed Suleiman's daughters Enas, Enar, Elaf and Eman, pick me up to go for lunch.  It is so nice to see the four girls again - girls, they are all young ladies now, studying and working.

After lunch we stop at a bakery to get some sweets and then off to Nile corniche for a Sudanese coffee with the buna ladies (sitchai).  Such nice atmosphere.  While we have our coffee, the girls get their car cleaned, one way for people here to earn a living (just like in Dubai...)

Unfortunately, there is a stream of poor people coming to either beg or sell something... a couple of little dirty children also come and beg... what a sad sight. The girls tell me that you have to be selective and give to the ones that really look poor, as it is a never ending stream....
People are very industrious, selling things - trying to survive, better than begging....

The girls tell me about life in Khartoum - do's and don'ts etc.... interesting ....from can a woman wear trousers (there was a political incident recently) to can a women smoke sheisha (well yes, but your reputation might be shut if someone sees you in those places), to working in the hospital having to deal again with poor people who can't afford to pay for treatment.... to doing charity work: http://www.facebook.com/TSWL.Sudan, to the political situation and the split of the South. I really enjoy hanging out with them, and get the 'young' peoples' view of the world!  Again a petty we can't spend more time... next time....

Then we spot the 'sheisha man' at the edge of the river.  He works with literally nothing....  it takes him forever to prepare a sheisha.... but at least they have sheisha here.... again.. next time for me.

Then Walid calls to say that the family has arrived at our dinner venue.  Not that I can eat any more... had a big lunch and sweets.... oh well, see how I go.  This is Omer's hospitality to farewell me - it is so sweet.  We go to Phoenicia at the Nile - very nice venue!

It was quite a task to get Mahassin up and down the staircase.... She doesn't do stairs or even steps.... but there was no choice...I am very proud of her for doing this!  Even though we created a traffic jam on the way out... hi hi....

No babysitter - so the kids came along.  The little one was fast asleep.... bless him.


What a nice finish to my visit!

Thank you everybody for looking after me!

Sabine, Dougal, Lionheart