Since I came to Khartoum, I've been to the 'mall' only once. Surprising isn't it? Heheh, for a shopoholic like me, that in itself says a lot... The Afra Centre is situated in the middle of town. It is quite big, sprawling actually.
As I mentioned before, we went to Afra to take passport photos. The first thing that greeted us was the 'security gate'. 'Security gate'? huh? at the entrance of a mall? It was actually a metal detector and also a security guard who stood there checking people out. Heheh, but it was put there just for show because everyone was waived through. It didn't matter if your pocket was full of metal or whatever because it was there just for show, I guess.
The next thing that hit me was the heat, there was no air-condition in the mall. To put it mildly, shopping in a non-air-conditioned mall, in a middle of african summer is not my cup of tea at all. We braved the stores though, because we wanted to buy slippers for Aliah. We were sweating, the kids were not happy...
The final straw was the prices of goods. It was ridiculously expensive. No wonder there were not many people around, because who can afford the goods. If they were designer goods then I wouldn't say a thing but those were made in china products. From my observation, the mall is not thriving at all. It reminded me of Plaza Phoenix or some such place. Sad really with all the space...
But, they do have Gloria Jeans Cafe. We had to appease the kids by buying them ice-cream. It was good and served by filipino girls who could speak English. So, that ice-cream saved the day. Heheh...
Notice of Shipment 7 - 2018
5 years ago
2 comments:
As Salaamu Alaikum; Who would believe that that "mall" two years ago could rival any mall anywhere? Were the escalators working when you went? And the supermarket or whatever that huge store is...did you see the cats running all over the place...and the meat?
I bought ice cream for the kids upstairs near the cinema. $35 USD.
I was living far from there...in Kalaka! My son would not eat anything but oatmeal. So each time we ran out of it (or of toilet paper) I made that trip!
Truth be told though, I loved it because it was the only place that was remotely similar to my home. I know what to do in a mall. I do not know what to do with a gas tank on a stove or that squatting toilet.
Dear Amina,
Thank you for visiting my blog. Have you been to Afra lately? They've installed air-conditioning and 2 weeks ago they have a sale so the products were not that expensive... Are you still in Khartoum? Where are you from? For icecream (really good icecream!), I'd suggest you go to Ozone (10 scoops for 30 SDG)... it used to be much cheaper (20 SDG) only.
I've heard that Afra used to be really good (when it first opened), but when I first came, it was really disappointing). Now, it's getting better but still pricey. Anyway, keep on reading my blog and please leave comments...syukran...
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