Second Time Right....

The expression usually goes Third Time Right.... but luckily for me.... its stops at no. 2. So, with only a 30mins delay I finally headed off to the Fezzan Area and Desert City of Sebha.......

My previous Airport buddies, turned out to be quite handy, as i sat in the cafe while they cordially did the check in for me and conducted me to the gate without the hassles of the queues and pushing....

the fortress splat in the middle of Sebha... they say that the colonel started plotting his revolution here!!

As soon as I got to Sebha, I met up with a friend of mine who whisked me off to the beginning of the Sahara, and thus the little city of Teterkiba where we stayed in one of the 'Camps'..... we actually stayed in the room of the manager, as there was no room available and the Manager nicely offered his room!!! :) Unable to sleep due to the attack of fleas, mosquitoes and flies, we spent the night, chatting, looking at pictures and exploring the little village at sunset.....and looking for breakfast..... please note that it is impossible to find a soul on the street at 6.30am in the village of Teterkiba, thus do not attempt trying to get breakfast any time before 9am!!!!

the old city of teterkiba

The night passed and the 1st day of our adventure began..... we hired a 4x4, and an excellent driver from Gabraone and attacked the massive sand dunes of the Libyan Sahara..... the Sahara never stops amazing me!!! It's vast, beautiful and somehow overwhelming..... its also extremely hot and butt breaking.... whether you are travelling by 4x4 or even camel!!!

the end of teterkiba and the beginning of the sahara.... its amazing the way it starts so abruptly

So we explored the Ubari Lakes.... from Umm Maa, to Gabraone to Mandara and some other lakes whoese name I can't recall......

the late of Umm al Maa - notice the great contrast between the little vegetation and the vastness of sand...amazing

Its amazing.... you see this vastness of sand and mountains of sand, to all of a sudden find a patch of green with a little bit of lake....... the lakes are extremely salty..... the density is as high as the one of the Dead Sea. I courageously attempted a swim...... however if you try standing or cycling in the water the density is so high that it automatically pushes your feet behind you, thus plunging your face in the water.... not extremely fun especially if you get water in your eyes...... so after learning my first lesson of swimming in a salt lake, I enjoyed the rest of the swim floating on my back and enjoying the view.........

posing at Lake Gabraone with our Gabroanian driver!!!

The next day was a relaxing day, strolling around the old city of Germa and Sebha.... until my flight came (please note only a 10min delay... getting better!!!) and rocketed me back to Tripoli!!

finally found some shade!!

As my camera went caput at certain point in time I do not have an extensive amount of pictures to show.....but this should suffice as a glimpse of Sebha and its surroundings...... now off to pack my bags for my trip to Egypt...... Cairo here I come!! :)

enjoying the Sahara Sun

the conquerer of the city of Germa!!!!

playing with the old italian trains in the city of Germa!!! They still work!!!!

Myth Buster

Have you ever, while watching cartoons, watched a scene where someone put too much soap into the washing machine and water as well as soap started flowing out of the washing machine.....???

While watching this I always laughed, thinking that it was extremely funny..... and imagine if this happens at home.... knowing that this is something on TV and just as if I push my brother out of the window he will not fly like superman, then the soap will not flow out of the washing machine....

Unfortunately last Saturday I got the opportunity to find out whether this is true or not..... to my dismay the myth is true...... I quite accidentally put in way too much soap into the washing machine.... I promise not intentional, I usually scoop it out but this time, somehow couldn't be bothered.... the clothes were dirty anyway.....

About 30mins later, I started hearing weird noises coming out of the washing machine, and ran to the kitchen where my machine lie, to find it foaming with soap from the soap drawer and water seaping out from the machine door. When I looked through the washing machine window to see if my clothes are ok, I could only see white soap...... after recovering from the split second shock of a flooded kitchen I burst out laughing and left my washing machine to fight off the soap on its own and the water to eventually dry out...... another mark in my long history with washing machines.....

I wonder if I could still try throwing my brother out of the window? Do you reckon he will fly????

There is always a first time

For the second time this month I got to spend a number of hours in a an airport..... the second worst international airport I had ever flown from.

Being Easter weekend, and thus a long weekend as I get to have Sunday off, I decided to spend it in the tranquillity and beauty of the Libyan Desert.

The weekend was all planned.... I was to catch a plane to Sebha.... South West of Libya..... where a friend would be waiting for me and we'd head off to a camp outside Sebha and thus a 2 day tour of the amazing Salt Lakes, Sand Dunes, and city of Jerma.

The planes to Sebha run by Libyan Airlines, are very well known for their remarkably long delays, thus I was very surprised, when at 19.30 - the time the flight was supposed to take off, I was climbing up the stairs to our Libyan Airlines Aircraft. After a little argument between the air hostess a passenger the plane decided to take off..... I sat back tied my seat belt and got ready for my Libyan Desert Adventure.....

Alas... the plane drove around the run way for about 15mins then decided to stop.......they let us off the plane, boarded us on the bus, then took us back to the gate. The rule in Libya apparently is either not to give any information, or to make it a point not to know anything.

I was not surprised about the delay, though slightly disappointed, but it somehow met my expectations of flights to Sebha...... apparently the weather in Sebha was bad, as there was a Sand Storm and thus poor visibility, so the plane could not depart...... when asked how long would the delay be we were told 'about an hour or two.... inshalla'..... I have learnt to hate this word with all my heart.......a word used to mean 'God Willing', however also very often used as 'depends if I feel like or not' or 'It will not happen'. A word I also learnt to hate throughout these passing hours was 'shwejjah' which is supposed to mean ' a little bit', but in this case mean 'I have no idea' or ' a couple of hours'...

So we waited for 2hours when suddenly we were given new boarding passes.... which was very hopeful..... and then we were chucked out of the gate and moved back into the airport.... which was not at all hopeful.......
This was very frustrating, nobody knows anything.....nobody spoke English, and whenever we tried asking in both broken Arabic and sign language ' when will the plane leave' we were told 'bad weather in Sebha' 'shwejjah' and 'one hour inshalla'. By 11pm all the tourists were frustrated, the Libyans were sitting calmly on their chairs and still nobody knew...... some of the foreigners got some of their Libyan friends on the phone to speak to the people in charge..... the answer was once again 'one hour inshalla'........

Then they started letting us in the gate again... hopes were up again people were smiling and laughing..... only to discover they brought us in to give us horrible airplane food, and chuck us out of the gate again into the airport.......

Once again such an experience encourages you to bond, especially between foreigners...... I met a group of French people living in Libya and working with the French Embassy...... wonderful people...... I made friends with 3 English one of them being a young HR Manager in one of the multinational companies here in Libya..... a new buddy for the next couple of months...... and finally also enjoyed some good laughs with 3 middle aged Italian women......

It was now 2am....people have opened their sleeping bag and made themselves comfortable on the chairs, tables and floors....... a group of children made themselves comfortable on the airport mosque carpet..... and a hysterical French woman was shouting at the airport people in Arabic, French and English demanding the airline to pay a room at the Corinthia and a pick up when the plane decides to leave. The airport people insisted that 'inshalla' the plane will leave, when the weather improves.

My patience only lasts so much...... the Libyan passengers seemed to be very passive and did not do anything....... the airport people didn't understand a work of English or French so just amused themselves with the ranting woman..... so I stood up and went to ask what is up. They told me that the weather is bad so the plane will not leave, and they told me no plane tonight........ and to go home...... so I told them, OK, refund my ticket..... and they tell me no, we will not refund the ticket because the plane is not cancelled, so that is when I demanded to speak to the manager...... the once again laughed and told me to wait here 'shwejjah'..... an hour later.... now 3am..... thus 10 1/2 hours in the airport, the same airport people I spoke to called me to go with them and speak to the Manager, which, followed with one of the French diplomats I went to do.
The manager listened, then said.... its not a technical problem its a weather problem, it is not my problem and the plane is not cancelled. However the most frustrating thing is that after having spoken to my friend waiting for me in Sebha, I found out that the weather has calmed down...... no wind, and clear visibility...... so why won't the plane leave.........

All of a sudden the hysterical French woman turned up and started shouting again........ the manager got angry, walked off and closed himself in his office!!! oh no!!! nobody knows if there will be a flight or not, the airlines refuse the cancel the flight or give us a time it will be postponed to.....

I had by then given up..... and demanded to get my ticket back so as to try getting a refund..... they did accept to give me the ticket back..... but then, being 4am I had the problem that there were no taxis in the airport..... the only people around were the flight people....... when I voiced my problem the manager once again stated...... take a cab and go home.....when I told him that it is dangerous for me, a woman to be driving around in a cab at 4am in Tripoli, and besides there were no cabs.... he once again arrogantly stated..... the plane is not cancelled, its not my problem, its the weathers..... inshalla it will be better..... arghhh
So I'm stuck in the airport whether I like it or not...... I spent the rest of the time drinking coffee, running up and down the stairs of the airport trying to find out what time the flight is leaving...... and actually also energetic enough to try and keep all the other people's hopes up....... I was kind of hoping that once its sunrise (which would only be in an hour or so) the sky would clear then we could depart.......

At 6am the international flights started...... the airport people, forgot all about the Libyan Airline Sebha people and went off to handle the international flights to Morocco and Milan..... I had by then lost hope and crouched into one of the airport metal chairs......... The Italians stated 'La Nostra Thea ha perso speranza.... il aeroplano non parte'.......

At around that time...... the German group who were very quite accept for the occasional question asking if there are any news ........flipped!!! One of the elderly men..... walked up to the manager, a new who had just arrived...... the man asked if we will ever be going to Sebha..... and the manager said 'shwejjah' 'soon inshalla'...... I think this was the cherry on the cake...... we now had a hysterical German screaming at the Libyans in German (his screaming was scarier than the French woman's.....) and was almost close to punching one of them......

I think this is the point in time where they finally decided to take a decision....... - they decided to cancel the flight....... All hopes of getting to Sebha were lost.......13hrs in a lurid Libyan Airport for nothing....... when I told him that if they did this earlier we could have taken a car there...... they said 'it is very long, it takes 7hrs it is not nice'.... ahhh I got really angry..... and said.....'why 13hrs sitting in an airport is better and not even anywhere close to Sebha is better????'

I was really disappointed.......A number of mixed emotions passed through me throughout the night...... happiness, hope, despair, hope again and then final disappointment and extreme anger..... the disappointment was massive.... more cause the hopes were so high, rather than the fact that I did not get to go to Sebha after all......

I had never spent so long in an airport in my whole life....... I guess there is always a first time!!!!

The Pyramids of Sudan

Although I've left Sudan, and am now in Ethiopia - actually about to leave Ethiopia too after an amzing week of injera, beer, and friends, I though I'd still write about my last two events while in Sudan.......the pyramids, and an authentic Sudanese dinner.

a little market outside Khartoum

Considering that there are pyramids and pharaoh's temples all along the Nile in the deserts of Egypt, it was not surprising to find out that Sudan also has its fair share of pyramids and temples in its desert along the Nile. Thus last Saturday, Maha, the person I am training to take over HR in the company in Sudan, organised a trip up 2hrs north from Khartoum.

Stocked with a 4x4, a driver, loads of shawerma and falafel sandwiches and a cooler with packed with ice and soft drinks, we headed up to a place whoses name I forgot, but which is known to hold the pyramids of Sudan.

The pyramids were not as big as the ones I've seen the Egypt, but that is because they were built at a different era, and also, the guide told us that the while the pyramids in Egypt were big because the chambers were built above the ground, the pyramids in Sudan were small because the chambers were built below the ground, under the actual pyramid.

We thus enjoyed a stroll around the pyramids, a peak in a couple of them, being scorched by the hot 40 degrees sun and a final camel ride to the car.

the guy was trying to convince me that the Camel is strong enough to carry me!!! I finally gave in and put myself in his hands and the ones of his camel

The rest of the day was spent in the Sudanese Market, which is obviously much smaller than the Ethiopian one, though similar in style. We walked around the shops and I bargained my way through various ebony statues which I'll use to decorate my future home! :)

Dinner At Maha's

On my last night in Sudan, Maha decided to treat me to a real Sudanese dinner. So she invited me to her home in Khartoum for dinner with her family. Her family was amazing. Although English was limited, my little Arabic and their little English ended up in explosions of laughter.

I chatted with her sisters, her sisters in law, her mother as well as her little niece.

As is the custom in Sudan, and quite often in other Muslim countries, when there are female guests, these are entertained by the females of the family while the men are in another room, and vice versa when there are male guests. So I was warmly entertained by the women of the house.

The little 3yr old niece performed live entertainment consisting of some dancing and singing to her favourite songs.

her little neice attacking the food before everyone else does

Dinner was great, a large table cloth was placed on the floor, then the women started bringing plates full of food, salads, falafel, grilled lamb, and this funny Sudanese dish which was slimy and a bit sour, but not too bad!!!

come to table....

bidding my farewells