Have been in Khartoum for the last couple of weeks assisting one of the oil companies to review upcoming contracts.
Whilst that is not exactly my favorite type of work, it was actually quite pleasant. All the people in the office were very pleasant and helpful and the 2 weeks passed quite quickly.
Although I have passed through Khartoum several times, I have never spent any real time there before. This time at least I got to walk around a bit. The area I was in was the old British Colonial part of Khartoum. There are still a lot of old buildings that can be seen, but sadly most of them are falling into disrepair, and none are open to the public.
One of the things that struck me when wandering about was the creative driving techniques of some of the local people. Having worked in many places over the years, I thought I had seen almost everything when it came to driving, but Khartoum is the only place I have ever seen anyone reading a newspaper when driving! It does have the effect of making you look twice each way when crossing the street.
I had hoped to get to the National Museum when I was there, but unfortunately it was closed every time I went. This was very disappointing to me, and I find it all a bit strange – I would have thought the best time to open a museum was when people could visit. Anyway, on my last day I tried again, and of course it was closed despite it being early afternoon and the sign saying it should be open. One of the guards did allow me to look at one of the outside exhibits though (for a price), which only piques my interest. If I return to Khartoum I will try to get there again. Some pictures in the Photo gallery.
The next job looks like back in Oman.