Sunday, my day of rest

Resting up and consolidating my thoughts

Today is my day of rest at the Sudan Red Sea Resort; time for reading/planning and consolidating ideas. I have complete peace and quiet here and appeared to be the only guest (for my entire stay).

I started with a leisurely breakfast followed by a walk around the property. The property is pleasant apart from the non-existent beach. I wasn’t about to wade into the water as it didn’t look very nice either.

I think I’ve allowed the right amount of time here with 2d/3n which is enough for a day’s chilling and a day’s diving. If I factor in the cost of the place, I probably would have been better off with 1d/2n just for a day of diving and chilling somewhere cheaper with aircon, even if it is in a noisy city?

Separation of South Sudan

At breakfast, I spoke to the consultant chef who used to work at the Hilton in Khartoum (when it was still the Hilton). He is on a 3 month contract here to help them establish their restaurant to a certain standard.

I asked him how Sudanese felt about the separation of South Sudan. He said that Sudanese are in general unhappy about it and felt that Sudan as a nation has become worse off. It has lost a lot of good talent as a result.

In his line of work, a lot of good people are from South Sudan. Some may be illiterate but speak good English and Arabic (but may not be able to write); they work hard and make it to management positions.

South Sudanese now require a visa to be in Sudan and they cannot buy property. There is less incentive for them to be here and many have opted to go back to the south. They are being replaced by Ethiopians, Eritreans, Tunisians and Algerians. He said that these migrant workers may be lowest of the low and are culturally different from Sudanese. I thought the southerners were culturally/religiously different anyway, but he appears to consider them more to be closer.