22 – Whirling Dervishes

18th Dec, 2045hrs, Hotel Al Nadi, Khartoum

Woke up at 9 in the morning, and walked. And walked from central Khartoum down across the Nile, where the confluence of the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers meet. Took some shots (I hope I am not breaking any Sudanese laws, I took extra care to avoid any building shots).

Made my way to the Omdurman area. Khartoum is actually 3 cities in 1, the Khartoum area, Omdurman area and Khartoum North area. The Omdurman souq is the biggest in Khartoum. It was interesting enough, both for the sheer amount of things that were being sold, and for the diversity of the locals wandering around. Dark skinned, fairer skinned, henna tattooed, some face bead tattooed, nose ringed. All sorts of characters.

After that, walked down to the Hamid Al-Nil Mosque listed in LP. There is the local troupe of whirling dervishes there every Friday afternoon. I found out exactly what it is they whirl: themselves. It was a fascinating show indeed. And that was where I met everyone else again. Ben, Kang, Andy, Z and the England.couple. Amazingly, Ben and Kang is staying at the same place I am staying. I moved into their room earlier tonight.

Tomorrow morning, the offices open again, so I will go down to the Eritrean embassy as well as the Humanitarian Affairs Office to see if i need to register for onward travel.