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Published: March 30th 2007
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Lady of the Mosque
She's quite a good model We left hurriedly after the flies start attacking us again.. pttph.. pui.. .dig ear dig ear.. they are going into almost (and i say almost, not all) every hole i have..
We headed for Wawa, supposedly our first stop for the temple of soleb.. and we were aiming for Dongola by night fall.. ok.. sunset..
We passed by a village on the way to wawa, and saw this dome shape building, that looked impressive and old.. so we stopped our car and decided to take a look.. ahh.. another point for taking the 4WD instead of public bus.. my guess is that is some kind of mosque.. with a small cemetery beside it.. note the tombstones are all simple and undecorated.. mostly just rocks and sometimes just a piece of plastic.. i heard somewhere the sudanese believe that when they die, they are all equal.. whether or not you were rich or poor when you are alive.. hence all tombstones are created equal..
We went in to take a look.. seems like a mosque.. and there's a donation box.. so i put in 2 USD for taking so many photos of it.. when i got out.. a
woman approached me and asked me to take some photos.. i of course happily obliged.. turned out pretty good.. happy.. then her friends came. .and ok! photo for everybody! hail to the mighty bungholio... We left after for wawa
Wawa is a small village.. we found the ferrymen pretty easy enough.. and he asked for 2,000 SD each to take us across.. we bargained it down to 1,000SD each.. the journey thru the farmland to the river is nice.. the ferry ride across the Nile is shiok...
After reaching the west bank of the Nile.. we also have to walk across some more farmland before reaching the temple of soleb.. the temple is in ruins.. forgot when it's supposed to have to been built.. supper longer ago like 1200BC or 2000BC or something.. the temple looks out across the desert beyond the Nile.. quite a nice desolate setting... didn't go into the site.. cos to enter into tourist sites cost 10USD per sit per person for the permit.. but sometimes, you can get away with no permit if no khaffir is there.. hee..
After we got back to the east bank.. the ferryman invited us to his
place for lunch.. it's part of the Sudanese hospitality.. we had a hearty meal of bread and many different dishes.. makes me guilty of bargaining with him down on the price.. hehe.. no, you do not have to pay for the meal.. it's just sudanese hospitality... nice..
back on the road after.. helped somebody pump up his flat tyre on the way.. and had a look at the 3rd cataracts of the Nile just north of Kerma.. a big decent size town.. at the cataracts. we saw some chinese workers there building something.. woohoo! chinese!! so i went up for a chat.. China is helping Sudan build many of the its infrastructure.. dams.. roads.. bridges.. telecoms.. etc.. many of these projects uses chinese workforce.. and this team that i met are from Hubei province.. Went into the mama store in Kerma to stock up on water and have a cold drink.. and wah! the Sudan mamak put a picture of Deng Xiao Ping in his store!! man.. this verifies that Sudanese love Chinese.. haha.. cos Chinese help them build up their country! oh.. supposedly, when Hu Jing Tao came to visit Sudan, he came into this shop as well..
Dongola is about 2-4hours south of Kerma.. and we do not think we can hit Dongola.. Dongola is the capital of Northern Sudan.. and is across the river on the west bank.. i've read that Dongola is nice.. with many palm trees.. and internet cafess!!! wanted to be able to stay there overnight and log into some internet.. but dun think we can make it.. so we continued down the road.. but we can't seem to find a campsite.. cos the road is through endless and endless villages..
In the end.. it got a bit dark.. and we had no choice but to turn into what looks like public grassland but also look like somebody's backyard.. when we stopped.. a group of guys on donkeys came up to us.. and we asked if we can camp there.. they said no.. we were dismayed.. they said no, you can't camp here.. but you come with me, i bring you to a place where you can sleep.. and they brought us to a nice little courtyard and asked us to stay there.. so nice!!
They then offered us to use their family shower.. ok.. i've a confession.. i have
At the courtyard
Under the moon.. with a nice lamp.. trying to communicate.. haha not showered or changed my clothes since i stepped onto the ferry to Sudan.. haha.. i was so used to being dirty.. and dusty.. why clean up? but ok lah.. i think 5 days is a bit much.. so i went to use their bathroom.. which piped water directly from the nile.. and wooh!! the size of their shower head! it's a freaking rain shower bigger than what 5 star hotels have.. and the power of the water.. shiok siah... thoroughly enjoyed my shower that night.. wah! Big.. strong... therapeutic.. I'm finally clean after 5 days of being covered all over in dust!!
Since i'm clean.. why not wash my dirty clothes since water here is so good.. so i washed them.. and hung them out to dry.. and how dry is the weather? i didn't wring too much water.. but after just one hour, they are dry and ready to be packed.. woah.. instant laundry.. haha.. you dun get the wet clothes in backpack kind of shit.. yay..
after shower.. they invited me to join them for supper.. sudanese have breakfast at 11am.. and supper at 9-10pm... dave was getting sick so he decided to sleep.. so
i adjourned to their home.. watched some arabic tv with the entire tv.. and then supper was served.. 3 men joined me in the supper.. in Sudan.. they eat communally in a big bowl.. the bowl had some flour things that looked like pancakes.. and then we washed our right hands.. and they poured warm milk into the bowl.. haha.. we just pinch and tear on the soaked pancake thing, with half our hands in the big bowl of milk.. milk bath for hands.. a bit disgusting.. but cannot don't eat right.. luckily the milk taste really really fresh and good.. yummy.. The pancake thing is called goraza.. and milk is laban.. so we had goraza bi-laban for dinner.. after the pancakes were gone.. they brought in nice roti-prata tissue crepe look alike thing.. they call it roti.. woohoo.. that thing in the milk is nice..
After dinner wash hand.. go back to the courtyard.. and slept... really really nice night.... and you can't get that experience unless you travel on private transport.. but if on public transport, i'd have been in dongola the day before.. haha.. by this time.. i succeeded in not thinking so much of the
limited 3 months i have.. just enjoy.. if necessary.. can catch up later in the south whre rail networks are existent..
took some photos of the place the next morning.. before thanking the family profusely and setting off.. you can give the family some money to show some appreciation.. but sometimes they'll refuse.. just give whatever you can.. a good guide is no less than what you'd pay at hotels.. and remember. .there's dinner included! =)
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erni Phoea
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snapshots for NG
those women tot u from National Geographic or what? they really like to take pictures hor.