Aliah's reward...

I am really grateful to Allah because by His Grace, Aliah managed to fast fully during Ramadhan. Last year, she managed only 23 days. So, instead of giving her a money reward, we promised her a cruise on the Nile if she persevered. Alhamdulillah, she did it and of course being Nur Aliah Zahra, started hounding us on the first of Syawal itself... sigh...

We kept on putting it off because of various programmes. So, to be fair to her, last Friday (17th Oct), we went on the 'cruise'... It was a hot afternoon, we asked Haithem to accompany us on the trip. He did the haggling for us as well. It was not a proper cruise...It's just one of the boats to ferry people to and fro from an island ( I've forgotten its name...). At first my husband was a bit sceptic of the safety of the boat, but well, while in Sudan... do what the locals do... hehehe...

I was planning to take pictures of the place where the White Nile meets the Blue Nile, but I've forgotten to recharge the battery of the camera, so I only managed to snap a few pictures. It's an hour on the boat (from 3.30 to 4.30)... In the beginning, the kids were a little bit scared but halfway through, they got accustomed to the gently swaying motion.

I brought along some fried rice and drinks, so Amir and Hadi had lunch on the boat. I was amazed at the place where the Niles converge. You can clearly see the differences in the currents. Haithem also acted as our tour guide, telling us about the places that we passed. You could see how people pumped up water from the Nile for their daily use. There's one instance where we could see a man drinking the water straight from the Nile. Haithem laughed at us and said, ' See sir, no soba, no sofea' (Soba and Sofea are the two brands of mineral water that Malaysians normally buy...hehehe)... My husband tapped his tummy and said, 'Not good for my tummy, Haithem'... Hehehe, we are kind of 'soft' compared to a sudane.

Anyway, the people we saw along the river were friendly and the kids would wave at them and they would wave back. Most were spending the afternoon fishing. By the end of the journey, we were wilting under the heat. There were two instances when the engine died on us, my kids were playfully shouting, 'help!help!'. Aliah melodramatically said, ' we're going to die in the middle of the river'... Hehehe. We safely landed at 4.30 pm, enriched by the experience... alhamdulillah.

Amir rearing to go...

Amir's rosy complexion...

The boat's rickety floor... heheh
My husband and Aliah kept on switching sides (trying to escape from the sun)

Haithem and Hadi
Hadi and Amir are so attached to Haithem and it makes shopping for us very easy because Haithem would carry the kids... hehehe

This a picture of a truck and a boat that fell in the river...

I'll tell you something about the above picture. When I showed it to Syikeen, she said they saw the same truck when they joined the cruise last February. That means the truck had been in water for at least 6 months, maybe longer... hehehe... Do not be surprised because that's what they do. Some vehicle would be left to rot on the road if they're involved in an accident and it was expensive to salvage... The concept might be shocking to us, but here it's the norm.

If given the chance, I'd like to go back on the Nile, maybe on a 'real' cruise... and during 'cooler' weather... and bring a camera with battery...sigh...