Friday is the start of the weekend in Sudan.
In the afternoon, myself and a colleague went to the first shopping complex built in Khartoum. The place was called 'Afra' actually located near the airport.
The complex consists of three floors. The 1st floor had a supermarket and shops. The 2nd floor had retails shops and the third floor, a food court and offices. The size of the complex would be about the same as the Giant supermarket complex in Kelana Jaya, P.J. The retail shops were all closed.
We went to the supermarket. It was set up with like a hypermarket selling a range of goods like food, toys, TVs etc ala Carrefour and Giant. There is not quite the variety and quality found in similar hypermarkets in Malaysia but the basic stuff were there.
After we had completed our shopping (biscuits and some local food), we went out to find a taxi. The taxis here are yellow coloured and universally of ancient lineage and in semi working condition (no air-cond.).
As we made our way in decrepit taxi , 2 km on , the engines suddenly sputterred to a stop. We ended up on the side of a busy road. A policeman sauntered and asked the taxi to be moved to a side road. How was this task to be accomplished? By the two of us pushing the taxi and the driver handling the steering wheel. All done in 40 deg Celcius heat.
We assumed that the car had broken down and looked for a passing taxi to flag. The taxi driver opened the car boot and took out a small plastic container (about 2 Litre ). He gestured towards the container and looked at me, he said "Bensen". With his fingers, made the universal sign for "money". The answer the taxi had stopped - it had ran out of gas!. It seems this was a regular occurrence for this particular taxi driver , hence the plastic container.
Anyway we found another taxi and boarded it. I gave SND 500 (USD 2.00) to our previous taxi driver. As we moved off, I saw him walking no doubt to find petrol and later perhaps the next victims to push his ancient taxi when it stops again.
1 comment:
Dato'
It's so funny to read your posts on Sudan. I can relate to your experiences there. In 2002, at the Holiday Villa hotel, I attempted using the treadmill. It was so bad and was on the verge of collapsing that I stopped after 20 minutes. I also swam in the pool there. Let's just say that the water wasn't exactly clean- it looked like there was a layer of dust (or was it oil?) over it. It seems to be perpetually dusty there- probably due to the desert. As for food- I strongly suggest that it is really deep fried before you eat them. Then again- we don't know what oil is being used! Anyway eat in the hotel. It's slightly safer (although it has to be said that my boss and a client suffered from major food poisoning after eating the food there!) Anyway enjoy yourself. It is an experience.
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