That was a gathering made in the garden of a school named The Purple Crayon Infant School, Manshia, opposite MTN building Lots of different foods, cookies, drinks; ornaments, frankincenses, souvenirs and a very good band : "Sudan Roots Band". They play "Reggae, Um-Reggae-ga". Here are the band members:
Their webpage : http://www.sudanroots.webs.com/ Also facebook fan page : http://www.facebook.com/sudanrootsband
I had chance to speak to 2 Mohammeds at the band, they are really nice guys, very friendly and very close to the people in Sudan. Also some songs were really meaningful, the ones about Sudan and The World itself. If you have a chance to listen them, don't miss it. Here are some photos/videos from the event, also a few performance videos of Sudan Roots Band.
I was at Rashid Diab Arts Center with some friends that day in the evening. Nice place that you can smell Sudanese Culture really. We watched a great drum concert and also saw impressing pictures of Sudan from the years between 2006 to 2011.
Thanks to Nancy for giving me chance to see that drum performance by Mustafa Khogali and his students, also thanks to Tim Mckulka for great book and exhibition. All photos at this section are taken by Tim Mckulka.
Yes, I was always lucky in my life :) That real story proves it once again :p (?). In Sudan, Friday and Saturday are offical weekend days and Sunday is the first working day of the week so we don't have "Monday Syndrome" here, we have "Sunday Syndrome" :) It was Saturday and I was planning to have a trip around the city but I was lazy, it was 1PM already and I was still in the hotel. Suddenly I realized that there was no electricity cause my notebook was not being charged. I tried to use the phone to call the reception to learn when it would be back but phone wasn't working too...and I said myself: "Okay, I have 3G Modem and I have enough battery for 1h more, let me go to toilet and keep writing my blog there." ( Sorry but I like to surf in toilet :p )
Just after 2 minutes, I heard that someone is knocking the door really strong and I just didn't care as I could check after 5-10 minutes...but I heard that they just crash my room's door and started to run around in the room. I opened my toilet door and they said: "Fire! Go Go Go! Up Up!". I just realized at that moment that my room was getting filled with smoke. Yes, the electricity was gone because of the fire started in the hotel!!! I took a deep fresh breath in my room as it was clean there at that moment and started to run with Sudanese soldiers and hotel workers I met there before, to the 7th Floor (top floor) from the 1st floor. I was so lucky that I was at 1st floor, again :) I didn't breathe any smoke but it took me around 2 minutes to reach top floor. Yes, I was running with my lovely pink underwear and a tshirt, no shoes, no socks, and the notebook in my hand :) When we reached to the top floor terace, guys gave me a blue worker dress that you see at the picture here :) We jump to the building next to the hotel and came to downstairs from that building. There were 3 fire trucks, lots of soldiers and police, also lots of local people watching the fire. The Safety and Security team of the company I work for came really fast and there were 7 more guys working for the company and staying in the same hotel. 2 of them were out of hotel, so we were 6 who were effected by that fire thing and everyone was okay. 1 guy was from Egypt, and 4 others were from Malaysia. The company took us to a hospital for health check even we were fine and those pictures are the memories from the hospital :)
I was also planning to go for a haircut/shave that day that's why I look like a funny caveman here :) After medical check, we went back to the hotel to pick our bags etc, then the same hotel group arranged their aparts for us and we moved to there around 7PM. That aparts are really great, I am staying with one of the malaysian guy, a very good guy, at each part, you have 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room...very comfortable at Sudan conditions I can say.
I really appreciate Sudanese people and soldiers who helped me at that adventurous moment. Noone was injured as a result, but I met really great people now, also a better place to stay :) I would set fire at the hotel the day I come if I had known the results :p
The hospital was also nice, clean, very polite people too. I had doubts before I come to Sudan but I feel more and more safe and comfortable day by day. It's not like you see on the news, read at the internet. Yes, I agree, some parts of Sudan have problems still, but in general everything is fine here. Maybe just some more entertainment needed, but I will find some soon and share here. My first weekend was not a calm one, hoping to have a better weekend next time :)
I was asking people I meet about a place that I can smoke Water Pipe. I couldn't get a clear answer and in the end I just learnt that there was a Water Pipe place just next to my hotel. It was around 11PM but there was no light at the cafe. I was surprised but there were around 30 people having chat, drinking tea/coffee and smoking water pipe. I ordered one and also a tea and shot that dark video.
After 20 minutes, the guys working at the cafe started to collect water pipes in a hurry and the guy told me : "I will give it back in 10 minutes". They used a lot of spreys around to get rid of the smell also. I had a chance to talk to him for a while and I asked him why they do that. Then I learnt that "water pipe is forbidden in Sudan". He got some info from secret person that police would come to check the cafe so he collected all :) I couldn't get the reason but some others said that it's illegal just in Khartoum, not in other cities. I knew that African countries are always proud of that they serve good water pipes, but the situation is different in Khartoum. An another information is that it became forbidden a few months ago, so probably it will be normal to sell and smoke water pipe soon again. I say lots of people smoking it in front of their houses, restaurants etc in fact.
After 10 minutes I got my water pipe back and my pleasure of water pipe went on around 1h more :) I really suggest to try it in Khartoum, it was really top class :)
There are also some other restrictions that you should be aware of if you plan to visit Sudan. You cannot use PayPal, also some of the websites in Sudan. Google, Facebook, Youtube are fine. You cannot download Google products like Google Chrome browser, but there are lots of web sites you can download the .exe file and install it, then you have no problem to use the browser. One of the most important is that "alcohol is strictly forbidden" in Sudan. Do not bring it to Sudan, do not look for it around, do not drink and do not ask to buy, even you can find do not buy it. You will have really big trouble.
