Whirling Dervishes, Camels, Aliens

This is the first cloudy sky since I've been here.

On Friday we saw the Sufis. They have a party, technically its not a a party, its a ritual worship frenzy, with drumming and dancing, every Friday for 45minutes before evening prayer, and apparently it then continues after prayer until 10pm.

Sufism is manifest here as a deviant branch of Islam. Focus is on mysticism and a direct communion an

d experience of the divine. I've heard that Islam arrived in this part of the world via the Sufis, peacefully, rather than via the sword as happened elsewhere, and that here the Sufis are quite well respected and hold positions of power.

The Friday ritual is a lot of fun. There are smiles all round. A free-for-all of dancing and chanting and whooping and waving hands and sticks in the air and encouraging each-other to dance and chant with more vigour. There is a definite party atmosphere.

The Sufis wear bright green, with various other bright colours, as opposed to the uniform white of Orthodox Islam.

There was one old man in particular, who looked like a Saddhu from India, with his long grey beard and long hair. There was one guy that looked like many a government minister or something, seemed to have a clique around him, and wasn't wearing the green garb. There were several people with huge smiles and with a slightly crazy excited look in their eyes.

We only stayed until prayer time, as we had to get back to see our friends. Next time we will stay and see how the ritual progresses.

The Sufi ritual is in Omdurman. Khartoum is divided into segments by the three lines of the river: Khartoum, Khartoum 2, Omdurman.

Our taxi took us to the outskirts of Omdurman, to an area called Libyan Market or something like that, and beyond. We were looking for the camel market. I realised it was going to be a sad affair, as the camels are sold for their meat. We found them, and other animals, under makeshift shade on desert ground. Donkeys carry huge cannisters of water for t

he other animals. It is the first time I saw baby camels. Cute of course, and very stubborn like their parents. We took some photos, and then later we hassled for money for the photos (SDP10 they wanted!). We felt like aliens arriving there on the distant outskirts, on the fringe of the desert, just to look at the camels, not even to buy one.

After the Sufi ritual the taxi weaved its way back to the other reality, on the other side of the river, to the far other side of town, Riyadh, land of the rich where we pretend to live. In the Chinese supermarket we found tofu! Good quality, nutty taste, and cheap. We've eaten tofu every day since.

At our friend's flat, on a projector, we watched 'District 9', the sci-fi movie about Aliens in Johannesberg, which is entertaining but rather cheesy; Swiss cheesy, with all its logical holes, vague plot designed around action scenes, but good if you suspend analysis. After watching so many Werner Herzog films, almost everything else seems rather vacuous.

Not as funny as the Southpark Gooeybacks episode, where people from the future travel back in time looking for a job, they save a little money, put it in the bank, where it gains interest for a thousand years for the benefit of their family back home.

The UN has hundreds of cars parked that nobody uses. Norma's team have to share one car between three people. Who gets the car for the weekend?...that is negotiated by the hour. So we had the car on Saturday morning, then a colleague needed it in the afternoon, then we had it again in the night. We had time to go to change some money - there's one shop that gives a better rate - to buy another 50litres of drinking water - and to buy some veggies from a shop not too far away. We weren't confident we would actually find the proper market on our own, and anyway this shop turned out to have even some prices lower than at the market. There are good tomatoes here (SDP7/kilo). Nice apples (SDP1/each). But we are missing the rocket -- at the market they sell big bunches of spicey rocket thats really good.

In the evening we went to O-Zone. A local billionaire bought a traffic island and turned it into the latest chic cafe experience. Circular garden, with grass -- thats the only grass I've seen here, everywhere else is dust -- surrounded by a sprinkler system spraying a fine mist. The clientelle, mostly groups of young rich girls, site underneath the mist spray, presumably getting quite wet judging by the puddles on the floor. This is a new concept for me, a restaura

nt where you can have a shower while sitting at your table. We picked a dry table.

I've got a cold; again; I had one in Cairo also; this one is worse; I blame it partly on the aircon on Friday night. A blocked nose could ruin our diving plans next week. I tried diving with a blocked nose in Malysia, it was extremely painful, something ruptured in my sinus, and my mask filled with blood. Reverse block, where you cannot surface because of pressure block in the sinuses or ears, is a nightmare.

Four more days in the Khartoum then we're off to the sea.

Norma on the phone...

Some impressive horns...

Photo of Sufi ritual...

Photo of Omdurman Libya neighbourhood...

My First Habuk

Last night the wind whipped up into a sand storm - known as a Habuk.

It was a small one... and at night... so I didn't see the full impact... I've seen daytime photos of a impressive mountainous wall of red dust...and I hear that visibility drops to zero.

And it rained! (albeit briefly)

Afterwards the smell of rain drops on hot ground, and some puddles. This morning everything is dry again of course and it looks extra dusty.

As usual, I can hear chirping of birds, maybe starlings, from the flat, and occasionally a squeal of an eagle or some other large bird of prey. I woke with the thunder of a jet engine. The airport is closed between 8am and 3pm, so lots of flights land or take off before dawn.

Its very hot this morning.

This is the end of my second week here.

Meanwhile in Sudan

It was cool for a few days. Then it got warm again.

Here's an oddity. The mains water is so hot that to take a shower I have to cool it down with tepid water from our 'hot water tank' (thats switch off) .

Norma has an interview today for a big suit job in New York New York. She's a finalist with up to 6 other candidates, and the job spec looks like it was written for her personally.

The local supermarket here is full of stuff from the UK. Some things still have the UK price stickers. Plus a Sudanese price sticker at 2.5 times higher price.

GB£10 for a bottle of non-biological washing machine detergent. It would have been cheaper to buy a supply of Ecover in England and pay the excess baggage.

Another bizarrity. I think it caused by the dry air... If I do some washing up, or use shampoo, it removes the oil from the skin, and whereas in England it would be restored in half a hour, here my skin remains dry and wrinkly for DAYS. Wrinkly, tight, sensitive, uncomfortable.

United States of Europe

Apparently the UK signed the Libson treaty (Guardian, BBC), and so did the rest of Europe (Wiki), putting us one more step closer to a Federal Europe, the often obfusticated goal of the EEC, EC, EU since its conception.

I completely overlooked this piece of news and I'm a bit shocked. I happened in March 2008.

Only one country, Ireland, had a referendum. Actually they had the same referendum twice. First the Irish said NO. Obviously NO was the wrong answer, so they were asked again. 16 months later, and with the rumours abounding that the Irish Prime Minister Berty Ahern might be the European President if the treaty is ratified, the Irish said YES.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again... This has been the strategy of the Federal Europe project throughout its history. Most recently the European Constitution was rejected, so they changed the name and made it sound more boring, less controversial. We, public , humans, politicians, have a short attention span, and a short memory. Eventually it is the next treaty is accepted and we tighten the ratchet one step further towards the United States of Europe.

I know many people are totally in favour of the concept of total union - a single country called Europe. I am a little bit sceptical. Before making the EU more powerful, it should be fixed. Serious corruption. Lack of transparency. Lack of accountability. Excess of bureaucracy. Impractically. And the basic dishonesty of misleading the public with promises of 'trading partnership' when the real objective, of a Federal Europe, was known all along. Good foundations for a monster.

"There will not be a blueprint for a Federal Europe" (Ted Heath 1970)

Green Trees

Now I have noticed that there are actually trees here. The green is quite brilliant against the red dust ground.

The weather has changed. Last week it was mostly 43C+ in the daytime, with peaks at 47C, and 39C at 10pm at night. I would wake at night drenched in sweat, and fortunately the bed is so big -- super king size -- that I could roll over to find a dry patch.

Now in the morning there is a cool breeze. Don't even need the noisy air conditioning now. Room temperature is 31 - 31C.

The house wireless internet is working now, and its only 500kbps. We also just got an alternative mobile internet dongle with the top package from "Zain". They sell it as 7mbps, but that is a joke, as it mostly that runs at 500kbps, and only once I saw it reach 1mbps. Its slow, but it is double the speed of the dongle from "Sudani / Sudatel". Sudan is at the end of the line, there is a single cable running under the Red Sea from the gulf, so everyone has 500mbps. But its enough to get by.

I can't get a multiple entry visa. Each time I leave the country, I'll need a new visa to get back in. The 1 month tourist visa costs US$100 plus £30 for a 'letter' from British Embassy, plus the hassle of filling in forms and standing in line and it might take 24 hours each time. Then each month I have to buy visa extensions, USD$75 per month. I can stay up to three months that way, then you can stay a fourth month by paying a daily fine of £1.25 per day, prepaid, for overstaying. Each of these transactions means a hassle, a taxi ride, a visit to immigration. Sudan has the most expensive visas in the world. Visitors are not welcome.

But then the UK residency cost £900, and citizenship a further £900, that ain't cheap either.

So far the upcoming election hasn't been publicized and many Sudanese people haven't heard about it. Others are skeptical, they think its just theatre. And some will vote for the incumbent purely on the basis of 'better the devil you know' - at least for the rich or the comfortable.

The pre-election process seems to be progressing in earnest. Staff are being trained, and are keen. There is a possible shortage of resources, mainly cars and people, and difficulty in communication between local departments and the UN. The process is delayed and maybe the election will be postponed again.

In the last week I have seen:

* The neighbourhood around here, Riyadh area, the back streets are quiet, unpaved bumpy red earth, with trees, the grand houses of the very rich, and embassies.

* An unlikely social space.... There is a new road that leads to nowhere. It looks like an airport road, smooth, straight, with palm trees in the middle. It is near the river, and at night the air is fresh and moist. People park their cars and set up picnics, barbecues, make tea, generally just quietly hang out along the roadside. Some cars us the straight road for drag racing, and occasionally some racers roar past. About 11pm we stopped for a coffee, a man with a tray, with glowing coals to keep the coffee pots warm, little are metal pots with a bulbous bottom and narrow neck, and tiny cups. Sat on the curb I got three mosquito bites on my ankles. Apparently there isn't much malaria here, but there's dengue and west nile fever.

* Bachelor pad of the very rich. Huge glowing HDTV, cinema projector, 7 speaker surround sound, and every luxury. Our hospitable host told how he couldn't bare to stay in Sudan for more than a couple of weeks at a time, he finds it too boring, and spends more time overseas.

* Decent Lebanese food. Restaurant full of men, many foreigners. Good thick hummus, plenty of bread, delicious stuffed vine leaves.

* Mostly I've just seen the inside of the apartment, and this computer screen.

* The UN car park. Hundreds of cars just sitting there unused, and Norma's group have to haggle of who gets to use the pool car. Maybe the cars are knackered. The Nissan Patrol that we had the other day was misbehaving, the horn alarm kept going off, and we had to drive it to the UN compound at 12:30 at night to abandon it there.

* US$1200 cash rent money

Last night we had a mosquito in the bedroom. Woke up itchy, sprayed repellent, then woke up with more bites, took a while to identify it as a mosquito and wake up properly to set up the mosquito net.

!We've booked a holiday diving in the Red Sea in Egypt! In Cairo Norma will see the pyramids and museum I saw already. I will see the Sudanese Embassy Visa Section again.

Power cuts and traffic jams

Yesterday I witnessed fantastic traffic jams and chaotic junctions tied in knots as cars push forward despite red lights. The middle of the junction becomes a free-for-all jam of cars and nobody can move. I watched an ambulance stuck in the jam; nobody moved aside to let it pass, and it didn't venture onto the wrong side of the road to get ahead, maybe it wasn't in a hurry; then five minutes later, a police convoy went through at speed, everyone gave way. To pick up my passport from a downtown travel agency 3 miles away, took 2.5 hours round trip. The house guard here, (they're very friendly, two students alternative 2 hours awake/asleep from 7pm until 12noon watching the house and the cars), helped find a taxi for me, there and back cost 25SP = 6.25GBP. The driver had glasses even thicker than mine. With my GPS I was able to give directions to the taxi. When I got in the taxi for the return trip, it wouldn't start, key turned but nothing happened. With a screwdriver somewhere under the side of the van the driver somehow hot wired the motor, and we were off, at speed of less than walking pace again. I saw a totally knackered car on the road, it had been patched so many times it looked like it was held together with yellow paint, the lights were out, it hung down slightly to one side, and clunked and creaked.

In the afternoon the power went off. The house has a big generator, but there was about 30minutes without power. The generators stayed rumbling until late at night. And this morning they're on again. But it looks like, at least while the generators are on we don't pay for the electric, as the meter is also dead.

Coffee shop last night, dusty 30minute walk with traffic, cigarette smoke and big screen football upstairs, downstairs a white familiy, and local girls wearing trousers (thats punishable by 40 lashes) and makeup and without their hair covered. Outside a guy sat alone with a serious face, the image of an Afghan fighter (minus AK47), with a white ring turban, beard, incongruous to the shiny European coffee shop, and I imagined, in disapproval of the frivolous scene, but maybe he was just quietly enjoying his espresso.

Someone I met yesterday told me that there is a visible trend toward more liberalism. He told me they saw two local girls, with hair uncovered, dressed provocatively and drinking beer from direct the bottle - which are a series of sins - you wouldn't have seen before. I hear also that things here have improved, because basically they couldn't have got any worse, the state, and the police had annoyed so many people that they reached saturation point, they hassled and annoyed absolutely everybody, and from there things could only get better.

But it is also still normal here for local families to genitally mutilate both their daughters and sons. Though they themselves remember the pain and suffering, they still subject their own kids to the same pain and disfigurement. The social pressures are very high. If a girl isn't mutilated then she cannot be married off. Prior to the wedding there is a ritual where the bride has to squat above a fire of a certain type of wood smoke in order to dry her insides and tighten her muscles, so that subsequently sex will be as uncomfortable as possible; and already mutilated it is guaranteed that she will be incapable of physical pleasure. In some cases she is sewn up to ensure virginity, and has to be surgical opened up just prior to marriage. These accounts come from a good source who has talked to local women. It is beyond my comprehension. But we humans are capable of all kinds of things.

Hot Dust

Unreal at first, finally being here, seeing Norma again, standing in our new apartment, after so much anticipation.

I was ready for the heat but not for the dust. Fine red dust is thrown into the air by passing cars, and habuk= sand storms. In the evening we ventured out for food. The local food was good - fool=beans, tamia=falafel, and bread, , all tainted with the fine red grit. (No cutlery; fiddly trying to break bread without using the forbidden left hand). In the light of headlights the dust looks much worse and I realised I was breathing it and eating it. That night, as the dust hurt my eyes, and irritated my throat, I felt a rising panic. What am I doing here? I'm in a dusty city in the middle of the desert...when I could be in a cool green English countryside...or under a palm tree on a pristine coral white beach in the Andaman Sea. Why indeed.

The weekend was good. I met most of Norma's new friends here. Very genuine and nice people. Yesterday four of us went to the market. Plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. A whole field of water melons (that I can't eat, as they taste like cucumber). A boy followed us with a wheelbarrow collecting our purchases. Mostly its not cheap. You are supposed to bargain, and Norma successfully knocked a few Sudanese Pounds off here and there. Mireille speaks Arabic, so that helped a lot as without her we often wouldn't have understood the price. Very sadly it looks like I just missed the mango season.

My Arabic vocabulary is growing slowly. I can now count, also slowly, to 100.

It is very warm. Yesterday daytime 43C, and at 10pm it was down to 39C. With plenty of water, light clothes, shade, ceiling fan, occasional AC, it certainly beats shivering. I have the laptop on its end like an open book to get more circulation and avoid overheating.

The flight here was smooth. The check in guy was absent minded, didn't charge me for my excess baggage. Neither did anyone object to me carrying a 19" monitor as hand luggage. We flew south between the Nile and the Red Sea, that looks like a black stain or scar in the desert monotony. Arrived in the nighttime. I could see the Nile split into two. The Blue Nile flowing from the East, from Ethiopia, is half the width of the White Nile. The airport has is one of the nicest, simplest, quickest of any capital city. No queues. No hassle. But greeting Norma, we weren't allowed to kiss, thats taboo here, apparently its illegal to kiss in public, and forbidden to even hold hands. Sometimes laws are simply wrong.

The first two nights I didn't sleep well. The heat, the clickety click of the ceiling fan, the busy mind and the praise to Allah every few hours kept me awake. But last night I slept well. I did wake twice to hear Allah's song, though the nearest mosque is far enough away to moderate the volume. This particular singer's chant and nasal tone remind me very much of some distant Hindu temple in India, such positive association with travelling, adventure and open road. We're fortunate, as many mosques have terrible loud hailers and tuneless rants. I was quickly able to get back to sleep.