Notes from Land of Dusty Hollow

Yesterday, despite the fasting month, I tag along with a couple of my friends to search for dunes worthy of photo shots. It was an unpopular decision against every sleepy bones in my body. Oddly I did not sleep throughout the 135km or so round journey south like I expected. The road was straight as an arrow which could lull any unwary drivers into micro sleeps that have proven to be fatal.
The 360 degrees scenery is mostly flat dotted with bushes like these pictures. Cik Mad recalls it looks like the scene from High Chaparral a late 60s tv show. That will hint u his age. The one and only sign post you could find around here. If u happen to be driving around here, don't count on finding such sign post to aid if ur lost. There probably wont be any. Ur best bet is to drive straight and watch out for any Bedouins tent around to help u track back.
The sign post is fixed on hinges should strong wind blows, the whole thing wont just collapse as is common after a bad sand storm. The bush that dotted the barren land. The roots must be very deep into the ground where the water is. The soils here is very fine dust that rain water or flood takes a long time to dry and when it finally seeps into the ground, farmers or Bedouins can still retrieve it by a digging a bit. Our journey finally ends near this once fisherman village by the red sea. If we drive further south we could end up in Eritrea.

Last year when we came here, there were a few boats and fisherman selling their harvest under a tent. Now, we can only find these empty seashells left behind. Mabye its the Ramadhan, and they are on holiday or something.

Thats Ipin the Stingray Slayer. His the one who suggested we go on this trip for some photo shots. He thought this would be his last trip but I think he might have to come back and stay like the rest of us till March.. who knows if he finally got the lucky one way ticket trip. We wait and see..

We managed to find an isolated dune worthy of photo for Ipin to take home. U could see the wind blowing softly against the sand creating a hazy shade of color.Some small tree that could survive this desert condition. It sure adds color to this bleak sandy desert scene.
Heres more or less the geography of this Red Sea District. It is a contrast to the dark red soil, deep blue sky and green trees and bushes that one normally find in southern Sudan.

Me and Cik Mad who also has his own blog.

A building which purposes is lost to me. It lies by the roadside with nothing inside it. Too small for a medium size Sudanese to live in it. Probably its one of those temporary permanent building solutions by the passing Bedouins around this area.On our way back, we took a detour into the town called Suakin. Heres some pictures of the kind of houses common in the villages around the town. The houses are simply built out of dead branches sufficient to keep out the heat during the day and cold breeze during the night. It almost never rain here, so there probably no need of fancy house like we have.
Although more and more people with stronger economics capacity are opting for brick layered build up.
Yet there are the poor who live next door to a well to do neighborhood.
A small shop displaying its good out in the open.

Some build their houses out of wood rather than the traditional branches.
The main transport of choice is still the donkey. This one here is use to carry drinking water for houses.

Suakin is a town famous for its Fort City build entirely out of coral reefs. Some say it dated back to the period of King Solomon. Although another story recounted that the Turkish was the first people to build the fort here many hundred years ago. Will soon find out the truth next week, InsyaAllah when we return here for a visit inside the city. This time we were not prepared with the entrance fees. The picture above is just a sample of the crumbling ruin of an old house outside the gated fort city. This house here is also build out of coral reefs.

At the bottom here is some seashells i managed to scavenged from the trip. Its not that pretty yet, but wait till I clean them and drown it at the bottom of my in-laws pond.
Actually we tried to take more close up pictures with the local but unfortunately, they are somewhat hostile to a bunch of photo itchy tourist and refuse taking photos of them. I had a bad experience of being shouted at near Khartoum once. Cik Mad also had a harrowing experience with a local bully who threaten to report Cik Mad to the police for taking innocent pictures of the scenery.

My guess is as good as yours on to what kind of stigma attached to these local people on photography. In East Malaysia there are some tribe that belief their soul would freeze forever in time within the photo if other took pictures of them. Maybe they are just not well inform..