Heron on the Nile
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  Friend to Stay Time is Tight. Sun 20 Mar 2005  

Sun 20 Mar

We awoke in the delightful, irrigated village of Nuri. There was a freshness in the air. All about us were trees and birds. This close to the Nile the water is diverted to supply the gardens. There are water channels alongside the village paths. It is green and moist.

The 7:30am call for the bus doesn't happen, so we enjoy a lazy breakfast of sweetened milk and cake – neither an obvious choice for me. Elham takes us to visit her mother's mother and sisters; they live in a house nearby.

Time is tight. Unfortunately too tight to visit the pyramids of Nuri – but we've been assured they add little to what we've already seen. Eventually we hear the klaxon. A curious tradition in these parts – you buy the ticket the night before and the bus comes to collect you the following morning. It seems to work.

Our transport this time is a minibus – the luxury buses are booked up days in advance. David habitually checks the bags go onto the roof. We collect a few more people and then stop for fuel and paperwork. Our first hour is a rollercoaster ride over piles of earth alongside the new highway. One travel sick junior passenger needs to be let off. David takes the opportunity to climb on the roof and make double sure our bags are secured.

We stop, once again at the half-way "services". This time we meet Midhat's brother returning with some vehicles from an aborted tourist trip into Libya. We find ourselves back in Khartoum early afternoon – time to catch up on some emails and food shopping.

In the evening we join assorted friends for one of our notorious outings to the Ethiopian restaurant. It's not really a restaurant, and on reflection we rarely get a satisfactory meal there. It is in fact a plot of land, a compound where Ethiopians congregate. Our loose community of expatriate friends like to meet here too. It's a chance to sit around a big meal table and find out what everyone's up to. There's usually loads of people around, chattering on neighbouring tables, so all-in-all a social atmosphere. Also, it's not unusual to have a television or music system blaring out so as to force a shouted conversation. Invariablly there are newcomers so it's also a chance to get to know each other. We sip Coca Cola or chilled water and we wait for the food to come. Sometimes there is injera, sometimes there are vegetarian dishes and sometimes you can get special fried "tibs"… but rarely are all these available at the same time. It's not unheard of to send out for supplementary dishes. This evening with David is no exception. I'm sure a visitor would wonder why we're so keen on the place.

The tradition continues afterwards with a visit to Amarat street one where there are a line of enticing eateries – in particular an Egyptian pancake house – I think they call them fatar – wafer thin pastry with savoury or sweet filling – the sweet ones oozing with condensed milk pseudo custard and sprinkled generously with icing sugar. Always a pleasant way to round off the evening.

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