Four Hours Away From South Sudan

Life at site is not as rosy but we make things lively. For instance, we do try to keep fit here. But I admire my fellow colleagues creativity. We can't afford to import a proper gym set but we can still create one.

This body builder toy is made of solid concrete. Really terror! 

This is your pumping bench made of simple steel and a wooden plank.

Even the small dumbbell is made of solid concrete. More effective body exercise.

The long cabin container.

The dining area.

Other blocks of cabin containers.

 

My shared room with just two beds, a table and a aircond plus a toilet.

Cows rampaging up to the road at a very slow pace.

The cows couldn't be bothered by our car. We just moved slowly and you better don't injure any of it.

Some of the cows that had passed through earlier.

Tags: Cows, Southern Sudan, Project Site, Body Builder, Pumping Bench, Dumbbell, Solid Concrete

Is Language Important?

Going about in my daily work and we saw this signboard.
The signboard has already mentioned that it's the wrong (salah) langues school for you to attend. Don't say that you have not been warned. Salah means wrong in the malay language, Malaysia's national language.

Anyway, they should have standardised the proper language. Langues is a french word for languages but then they should have used école (in langue française) instead of the word school. Well, this is a language school, not a grammar school.

To improve on your grammar, you would have to attend another school as highlighted in my previous blogpost.
Tags: Language School, Grammar School, French Language, Langue Française

Is Grammar or Spelling More Important?

Noticed the signboard as below while on the road. It was an advertising signboard for a grammar school. My colleague commented this - "For grammar, you can register at this school but for spelling, I think you better register at another school."

Didn't get the picture?

Won't be listing down the name of the school in this blogpost. A picture is more powerful than a thousand words.

Reason being, I was traced via my blog when I posted a funny comment about the name of a business entity that existed in Sudan here. That company's legal personnel actually emailed me where he requested me to delete the name of their company (based in Turkey) from my blogpost or face a legal letter.

Not that the company was well known but how in the world did they bumped into my blog (of course I didn't ask how they found my blog).
Tags: Grammar School, English School, Spelling

Yemeni Dish in Sudan

Went hunting for lunch and we thought of a Yemeni dish.










Their cooking method is unique where they will put the briyani rice, lamband chicken meat into a pot.

Thereafter, it will lowered down into an underground oven. A steel lid will then cover the hole and the dishes would be "cooked" for the next three hours to get the perfect taste.









The mixture of lamb and chicken meat on a trolley.











Up come the briyani rice.
















The aroma of the briyani rice was superb.















This was another oven that was being prepared to cook the next batch of meat.

They use traditional method - burning wood it is.












We ordered a tray of briyani rice with lamb meat for three persons.

The greeny stuff on the next tray is actually chilli. You take a bite of the fresh chilli if you want some spicy taste.










The lamb meat was really excellent as it's so tender.

The briyani rice is very soft and it will melt immediately in your mouth.







Got the owner to take this picture the second time but still blur. Never mind lah.

The owner joked with us that we are not supposed to open this kind of restaurant back in Malaysia, after taking all these pictures of his shop, without having him as a partner.



This lunch was so heavy. Burped two hours later and I could still feel the same aroma. Fantastic meal indeed.
Tags: Briyani Rice, Lamb, Chicken, Yemeni Dish

The Simple And Extravagant

A super exposed picture but nevertheless caught the essence of it. Friends partaking Sudanese style food.

We had this at the Kandahar market area.

That's the grilled lamb in the middle of the lot. Fresh vege salad right in front of me. The one of the right is a mixture of tomatoes, cucumber with mayonnaise, pepper and a mixture of some local spice. Really good taste. The one at the top is fried lamb liver.

This is the simple meal. It comes with a concocted mixture of local yoghurt / 7-Up that made it nice and soothing after a heavy meal. It cost about 90 SDG (US$1 = 2.60 SDG). Yeah, you wouldn't believe the cost of living here.

The extravagant has to be tasted at a much more stylo place. It has to be in a local hotel. We chose the better hotel known as the Burj Al-Fateh Hotel. A new hotel owned by Libyans.

Even this swing door (forgotten the name used for this kind of door lah) is nicely decorated with animals (made of wood) placed in between glass panels.

The internal architectural design while looking up.











We went to the Mugran Restaurant which serves buffet dinner. What else man.










About thirteen colleagues were together for the once in a while gathering. Need to de-stress at times. Not de-stress from work but more of the life here.








The colleague who can't hide her excitement in seeing so much food. The food, in terms of choices, being served is akin to those 4 stars hotel in Malaysia.








Saw this floor guide in the lift and I seldom see people use "negative one" to signify a floor level.

You can tell it has links to Libya by the names there.











The nice facade taken outside the hotel.











This hotel is really quite grand with its architectural design and it shows that Sudan is progressing towards a better lifestyle.

Albeit, at a higher cost of living as well.

Exposed picture again. Took this from within the car as we were leaving.
Tags: Kandahar, Burj Al-Fateh Hotel, Buffet Dinner In Khartoum

Grown Up Doggies

From little puppies way back in April 2009, our doggies have grown up a lot. Since most of us are not based in Sudan nowadays, we had to give it away to another Malaysian who is running a business there.

Once in a while, we will visit Leo ....... whose ears are always down.















Kujo will have one ear up only ........ that's how we differentiate them right from the first time.
Tags: Doggies, Puppies

Pro Movers in Khartoum

What's that guy doing up there? I thought I saw a long pole hanging there.










True enough that a long pole was being pulled up. My friend was saying that hiring a crane would have done the job in one hour. Maybe they tried to save cost.













Few strong men at the road on ground zero. They pulled not only one but about a dozen of it. They took turns to jump higher up the thick rope and hoped that their weights would make pole go higher.

I saw one of smaller size guy jumping up to pull but the rope didn't budge hahahahaha. He held on to the rope and his feet were dangling. If I could have capture the whole scene many people would be rolling on the floors.
Tags: Strong Men, Professional Movers

Viagra in Liquid Form

Went to Beetles cafe after dinner yesterday and thought of having some fresh fruit juice for a change. But I saw something unexpectedly, the Viagra in liquid form!?!?!?!?! And if Viagra is not strong enough, they have the Super Viagra ready for you hahaha.

Don't know why they name it Viagra as the ingredient itself comprise Dates, Honey, Milk & Ice Cream. The Super Viagra drink comprise Watercress, Dates, Banana & Kiwi fruits. Weird!

No, I didn't order the Viagra drinks ...... no point.

I tried the Batout instead. Now, when I saw that word I pronounced it as "Bat" "Out" to the waiter. He looked at me blur blur. I repeated my order and he said something else after I pointed the name of the drink to him. He might not be able to catch my english slang I thought.

When he repeated our orders, he read something which stunned me. He pronounced the drink as "Ba" "Tout". You tell me who's correct.

After the waiter left our table, we laughed. Looking at the menu again, almost all the drinks are in english names. How in the world could he pronounced the drink as Ba Tout instead of Bat Out!?!??!?!?!
Tags: Viagra, Super Viagra, Viagra Drink, Liquid Viagra, Fruit Juice, Batout

Leo & Kujo Session

My two puppies became 'larger' lately. Their appetite are growing too, gulping larger portion of food.










Good thing they do consume white rice too, if not the cost of feeding them will be really high.














Leo chewing on a small piece of chicken bone much to his delight.











Playing time after meal.
Tags: Puppy, Dog

Eat, Eat & Eat

There were three birthday celebrations every other day within the week. Stomach grew much more ..... sigh due to non-stop eating.

One of the birthdays .......... we were treated to a buffet dinner at Rotana Hotel in Khartoum. Whacked the food as usual.

You don't get to eat such quality food in Khartoum unless you are willing to pay for it. These are the Khartoum office colleagues.










Everyone just loves to pose for the cameras.











The dessert area. Most of the food items here were too sweet for Malaysian tastebuds. But Fairuz likes sweetness ............














I took the mixed fruits served in a bowl. Grabbed the cup that looks weird with its fillings (the one on the right).

It was really awful. Caramel top with sugar and cinnamon mixed with it. The white stuff is sweet milk???!?!?! Too sweet for me.

They have finished their food but I was still enjoying mine.

They ordered coffee and tea ..... no no have to leave space for my dessert.

Yeah, the big boss on the right, the birthday boy. His treat! The bill came up to around 1,600 Sudanese Dinar (240 SDG = US$100).









The next day, it was Stephanie's, our project secretary, birthday.















Both Nazril and Aditya were trying to hide the plastic plate that was full of food initially. We had pasta and murtabak chicken for our lunch .......... stomach grew a little bit again.













This three fellas were awaiting to attack the table with food as the front two guys are blocking them.










One of the colleagues, Abeir, who is supposed to be on diet.















Alan, who wants to be on diet but fails everyday.

Don't worry, there's always tomorrow to start all over again.

Tags: Rotana Hotel, Buffet Dinner, Pasta, Murtabak Chicken