Day 12: Douz - Tozeur

Day 12

Day 11: Ksour Essef - El-Jem - Matmata - Douz

It was pretty early in the morning when we woke up and performed Fajr; as we waited for Adel to be ready to send us to El-Jem. The original plan was for us to be picked up by the 4-wheel-drive desert convoy at the El-Jem's museum, but then after 1-2 hours waiting, we had to go over to the amphitheatre where the convoy was waiting. It was during the wait that we got to see the normal Tunisian going about their daily business, some still riding horse-drawn carts. At a coffeeshop near the amphitheatre, we had breakfast, took some pictures with Adel, kissed goodbye (believe me, it took some time to get used to, to be hugged & kissed by another man, but after a while it's seemed okay once we know the person) before we started with our desert tour.

Day 10: Ksour Essef - Salakta

Day 10 started late, we woke up totally unaware of the imminent events that followed for that day.

Luckily I had taken my shower and changed; because at 11.00 am, Nidam came with an entourage of cars to pick us to have breakfast at Amina's house. This part is a tradition of the locals, the groom's supposed to come over to the in-laws' place the next morning after the wedding, as a sign that he accepted the bride. Well I guess a lot of things happened in the night so there must be reasons why a man would accept or refuse his wife. Sounds intriguing but there were rumours that a few years ago in the same town, a man refused to accept his bride and did not turn up at her parents' place the next morning.

Timing was crucial because it was already 11 am, so I guessed Amina's parents were already anxious to receive their new son-in-law.

This time around, there was no drums whatsoever, so people in the entourage were just whistling, making lots of noise and the car horns were blasting away. This time I notice that all in the netourage are male, except for Jean-Pierre's wife. We "stormed" into Amina house to find 3 rows of tables set out with brunch served. It's a normal breakfast as we have experienced before, with coffee, biscuits and snacks. As we ate, the womenfolk from Amina's family beat the drums and danced away, to show their happiness that Nidam has accepted Amina as his wife.



After that, we proceed on to another part of the town for one of the last parts of the wedding celebration, that is the receiving of wedding presents and gifts from family and friends. The place where this was done was in an abandoned premise which used to be a kindergarten. It was all Nidam's male friends around, and they laid out a mat & some cushion pillows on the hard floor. I think we were there for quite a while, maybe 3-4 hours. Only at this time, that I called back home in Singapore to tell my family that I'm okay. Yeah right, what a filial son I am. The first and last call after a week into the trip. But alhamdulillah, my father picked up the phone; nothing to be concerned about at home, only he told me to take care.

Anyway, the few hours we were at that place, the boys were getting bored, rowdy & noisy as they started to beat drum, sing and pass around some snack & liquor. Then we moved off back to Nidam's house in Salakta to have lunch.

Lunch was the usual fare, the French team & us ate in the balcony, because it was crowded in the main dining hall and the boys were getting rowdier as some of them were getting drunk. They sang and danced on the table - I could only look in disbelief. Anyway, nothing bad really happened, just that a few people got too much to drink.

Since it was quite boring and we felt that the Nidam's family and other guests can do without us, so we went to a coffee joint by the beach to drink coffee and tea. There was a light shower so it a relief from the hot weather we've been experiencing since we've been in Tunisia. So we stayed around there until after Maghrib before going back to the house for dinner.



We hang around around the house, mingling with the Khanfous family as we all cleaned up the place. Once done, the Khanfous siblings were playing, fooling around especially Jalil, teasing and physically teasing one another. Then all of us bid our congratulations, goodbyes and well wishes as we would not be meeting them (Nidam's family & the French team) the next day; as we would need to be at El-Jem very early in the morning. I felt quite sad, having to know the family quite intimately from the days staying at their house - knowing full well that we may not meet again.

We returned to Ksour Essef very very late at night, I think after midnight, to wash up and sleep, but prior to that, we packed up all our things, since we would not be coming back to the house again...

Day 11

Day 9: Ksour Essef - Salakta

AS I had mentioned in the last part of the entry on the 8th day, Day 9 was the most exciting and unpredictable day of all. Why? Because we were not made aware of the programme for the whole day, so we were caught off-guard, not prepared & not properly-dressed for the actual wedding celebration itself in the evening. More details later on.

Anyway, we woke up with nothing much to do in the morning. We were expecting Nidam to go to the barber today, but it didn;t happen until later in the day. Luckily, Kamal was around to take us to look around at the shops nearby, and one of it was a furniture shop called Meublex (French label).

Anyway, after that we went to the coffee-shop for the umpteenth time, again waiting for something to happen. And when that something happened, we were made to walk to the barber shop across the street and found Nidam already under the mercy of the barber's blade. Now this was the first stage of grooming the bridegroom, and Nidam told us beforehand that he actually hired this man to help him in one of the crucial part of the wedding ceremony.



Now this barber was no ordinary barber; he's got a diploma (I think in barber's mastery) and he hung it on the wall to show it to everyone who enter his shop. After he was done with stage one of grooming, we followed Nidam back to his father's place for lunch before going to the Hammam or public bath.

Now this Hammam or public bath was like a sauna, where we were clad in just shorts, bermudas, or briefs only. It was hot and very humid inside, this being my first time in such a place. My spectacles got all cloudy and blurred (wanted to remove it before entering but I would not be able to see anything then). Even though it felt very uncomfortable to be in the steam room, but after a while I began to enjoy running my hands over my torso, getting rid of "daki" (hehe... Malay word for dirt and lint). Like it or not, I was in that place for almost an hour, alternating between the cold shower room and the steam room.

Then I decided that I had enough (Jefridin had long called it a day), took the most refreshing shower I ever had in Tunisia and then went back to the changing room. Then it was a waiting game inside that stuffy and still-quite-humid waiting room, though it was comfortable since it was furnished with mattreses and pillows (don't count too much on using them, since God knows how many people had used them). Nidam took quite a while to come out after that, because he had a session with a male masseuse who looked more like a bouncer) to really "stretch" him out and give him a good rubbing-down. Nothing beats a good massage to squeeze out those tired muscles in preparation for the big night.



Finally, when he came out in a white bath-robe, the guys were having some kind of bachelor party, with some food and drinks. They sung a few songs and just got kind of rowdy like those scenes in movies of the changing room after a rugby match. We must've spent like 3 hours or more in that place.

After Hammam, it was back to the barber's seat for Nidam. I thought it was already okay for him, since his beard was shaved earlier. Azron thought, the barber was going shave any other hairs in the body (someone had duped him into thinking that.. how ridiculous can it get, and how naive Azron could be). But the second stage of grooming was a painful one; the barber actually used 3 pieces of thread, gripping the ends using his 2 hands and his teeth and began a process of scraping Nidam's face with those, literally plucking out any acne or hair on the skin. My face was grimacing from the thoughts of being "tortured" like that.



We waited for Nidam outside the barber's shop, his best men (yes, 4 of them) were already preparing to be groomed as well. I should've accepted Nidam's invitation to be one of his sidekicks when he said he had an extra set of traditional clothes, but heck, I wouldn't be able to take photographs then. We waited until the sun set and until the sky turned dark. The barber-shop owner lit up some gas-lamp and arranged the flowers properly for the wedding procession later.


While Jefridin and I were lulling our time away (Jefridin was talking about work with Vincent, huh, in the middle of a holiday), Azron was busy taking pictures inside the crowded shop. It got even more crowded as Nidam's friends and relatives swarmed the place, turned up the volume on the radio and there was someone who came with those gas-horns, (you know those that soccer fans used to cheer their teams when they watch the match "live" in the stadium. There was pandemonium for the few moments and I thought there was going to be a riot.

At last, Nidam was ready, so we all moved back to the coffeeshop across the street to wait for Nidam's family to fetch the bride back from her father's place. They had already set up some tables facing the street with a nice table-cloth, and lit by the gas-lamps that I mentioned earlier. There were also some bouquets of flowers, a big one and a small one and 2 in a vase.


While waiting, they served out these bottles of soft drink (did I mention earlier that Coke, Fanta and Boga were the more prominent brands of soft drink here?)

Anyway, soon the cars were coming back from Amina's place, sounding their horns loudly and passed by the tables where Nidam was sitting.


By then there were already many people (all male) gathering in the coffeeshop as they prepare to commence with the procession back to Nidam's father's place.



Then the "band" began to play and Nidam and his best men were being led to the street, thus began to walk slowly. The whole procession took up all of the street, stopping vehicles that happened to be using that road.




Basically there was a lot of noises made, with the trumpet, drums, horns and whistlings. There were some who lit the mini fire-crackers and fire-lights, to add colours to the procession. (The streets were not as well-lit as the roads in Singapore) Then one of Nidam's uncles, fired two shots in the air with his rifle (it's a real rifle used for hunting... cool!)

Here's the gun held up by Ali, Nidam's cousin.

Anyway, the procession went on to proceed to Nidam's father's place first where he "collected" his bride.


But before the newly-weds could go to Salakta, they stayed in a room (together behind closed door with no one else, not even the family members) for quite a while. It's just part of the tradition of the wedding.

Anyway, soon they set off to Salakta, leaving the 3 of us behind waiting for the next empty car to fetch us. Then little did we realise that we're actually going to the wedding party, and I was still in my black T-shirt and pants and sandals.


Everyone had already left for Salakta except for us and Jalal (Nidam's brother, he's only 1 year younger than Nidam). We still hadn't had a clue where we were going later, because even Jalal was still in his shorts and Marseille jersey.....

Anyway, we were very surprised when we got to Salakta; everybody seemed to have changed in their best suit or clothes, and here we were in our ordinary clothes since daytime. Even the French team were in their formal wear with Robert in his white long-sleeved shirt with a nice matching black bow.


There was a whole lot of people already seated, and there was a "live" band already playing on the stage. The younger ones were already getting in a dancing frenzy mood.


I'd prefer to sit at the back enjoying the music and observe the environment. (I've left my dancing shoes behind a long time ago...) Anyway, I don't want to embarass myself or accidentally bump into some person or worse into a girl, and get into trouble.... There was some short pauses in between the music when the power just went off, I think they broke the circuit a few times; that time we managed to squeeze in our Maghrib and Isyak prayers. We knew it was going to be a loooooong night.


I think it already after midnight when Nidam invited his foreign guests (that included us from Singapore) to dance along. Like it or not, in order not to disappoint the hosts, I had to drag my feet to the dancing floor and start dancing. It was really crowded there. Being physically "different" from the Arabs and Europeans and being in our casual (a.k.a. "selekeh" in Malay) clothes, we got stares from the other guests. Jefridin was quick to overcome the initial embarassment and started dancing ala William Hung, complete with the hand movements. I just resorted to jumping around and following the rhythm of the music. I just couldn't match the agility and and dexterity of the other people, who were clearly enjoying themselves.

There was a feeling of relief once the song ended, I just went back straight to my seat at the back with Azron; later on we were asked again to dance but I chose to stay behind. Jefridin on the other hand was game for another round of wild dancing ... hehe...

The function ended around 3 am in the morning. There were some photo-taking with the newly-weds; families and friends taking turn to stand around both Nidam & Amina on the wedding stage.


The whole thing ended by Subuh... (not again).. and this time we went back to Ksour Essef to rest.....

Day 10

Day 8: Ksour Essef

One week in Tunisia already.... and it's Friday...

Again, because we only got to sleep after Subuh (about 4.30 am), we only woke up at 10.30 - 11.00 am. After breakfast (more like brunch), we just sat around, waiting for Zuhr, which was 12.30 pm in Ksour Essef. Nidam took us to Jami' Rahmah, the first mosque that we visited on our first day. I've decided to wear my dark-blue baju kurung (the top shirt only) over the NJC T-shirt I was already wearing for the Friday prayer. It sure was hot, but still can tahan (take it). Nidam's brother-in-law (Mohamad) was with us during the Jumu'ah (Friday prayers).

One cool thing I noticed was that the locals were coming into the mosque wearing their normal three-quarter pants (pants that reach well above the ankles, like a bermuda, only slightly longer). I said to myself, if it had been in Singapore, the older people would have scolded those who were wearing such things and asked them to wear sarong.

It felt strange to hear the adzan sounded so soft inside the mosque itself; I had to strain my ears to hear it. The arrangement of the speakers was such that adzan could only be heard from outside (which is actually correct, since the intention is to call for the people to come and do the prayer in the mosque; unlike in Singapore where the adzan may be heard only inside the mosque - and of course the people in the mosque are those who already have the intention to perform the prayer).

As expected, the sermon or khutbah was in Arabic. I tried my best to interprete what the khatib was saying (he was not reading from any text) - only catching the part on remaining steadfast to Allah's Commandments and to stay away from what He has forbidden, and the part on controlling nafs or desires. The rest was in Fusha Arabic and partly local dialect.

After Jumu'ah, we went back to have lunch and then went to the coffeeshop (again!) to wait for Nidam. He was going to register his marriage officially in Tunisia, in a small mosque nearby (not Jami' Rahmah), which he said that his family had helped to build, when they were still staying at that neighbourhood.

When we came to that small mosque, they were already praying 'Asar, so we joined in. After 'Asar, the people gathered outside where there were some tables and benches. Nidam with his father and father-in-law sat with some witnesses and 2 officials.


The whole process was done in a jiffy, Nidam signed a few documents followed by his father and his father-in-law, and then the witnesses and then after do'a (prayer, it was all confirmed, that Nidam was officially married! After congratulating him, we took some pictures within the mosque's premise.



Then we walked back to his father's place, where we found the womenfolk were already gathering for the next ceremony: the handing over of the bride's gifts. There were some women signing and beating drums.


The gifts were arranged on a small table covered with nice pieces of cloth. There were of course jewellery, a pair of shoes, some big bangles, some sweets and nuts. These were carried to Amina's place in another "crazy" procession: cars blaring their horns all the way to the destination, the 3-man band with their drum-beating, and the youths dancing in the street, clapping and whistling.



The "crazy" procession continued on even up into Amina's house; and her house was huge! Bigger than Nidam's father's place. They even have a nice staircase where the women looked over at the scene in the courtyard.



The hand-over was pretty swift, we were soon making our way back to Nidam's place again... Then at night I can't remember what we did (maybe Azron could help out here). But the following day promised to be the "craziest" day... So continue on reading...

Day 9

Day 7: Salakta - Ksour Essef

As I mentioned earlier on that for the night before, we didn't get to sleep until after Subuh. By the time we really woke up, it was already very warm, I think it was 11 am then. Nidam came with breakfast; coffee in a large flask and some biscuits and sugar cubes. He brought along his friend Kamal, who could speak German.

Here's the only picture of Kamal, the one standing on my right in red bermuda.

After breakfast, we set out straight to the beach, rented one of those umbrella shelters and started to have fun at the beach. Nidam left us there at the beach for about 3-4 hours until it was time for lunch. The 3 of us took turns swimming and looking over our stuffs. There was a group of young people who were swimming near where we swam; well they kept staring at us, giggling, whispering. There's especially this one girl who had her scarf on while swimming; she was always smiling (not that I fall for the smile), I don't know what she was thinking; but I did hear she said "syabab burtuqal" (syabab = youth; burtuqal = orange), so we're called orange-skinned/coloured youth. I guess the locals around here seldom see "orange people" like us. Then there were this 2 girls, who swam up to Azron and Jefiridin (it was then my turn to guard over our things and territory, so I was able to look around the beach and the sea) and it seemed that they had such a nice chat; I assumed they could speak English.

True enough when I jumped in to cool off (Jefridin had enough I guess) these 2 girls came near, and began to introduce themselves. They were sisters, must've been about 17-20 years old and they had a younger brother with them, who was wading near where we were. They were from Tunis, and they had come over to their grandma's place nearby over the summer holiday and would be going back to Tunis the next day. Anyway, I didn't feel comfortable talking with 2 girls especially when they were not fully dressed (they were in swimsuit) and especially in water, which looks obscene to me. Luckily after a while they said that they had to go back to shore to have lunch, maybe they could meet and speak with us again after that (yeah right...); hence I was able to freely swim in the sea again...

At about 3 pm, Nidam came back to the beach to fetch us back to Ksour Essef; for shower and lunch. Then at about 6pm, we went to the coffeeshop and waited for some procession to the bride's place. I still don't understand the significance of that procession because there were some kind of money offering for the person who would be representing Nidam.

All the men were going to Amina's place (Amina is the name of Nidam's wife - I found out the night before during the function at Salakta) which was also in Ksour Essef about 5-7 minutes drive; they went there either to inform the bride's family that they accept the invitiation or just to hand-over some gifts, or something like that. There was a lot of loud music, clapping, whistling and merry-making and the car hornins were blasting away as we drove all the way to the destination, then even after they have allighted from the vehivcles, they continued making music and noises and danced up till the threshold of the bride's house. Amina's house must've been at least 3 storeys high, and we saw women looking down on the "crazy" people who were dancing madly at the doorstep of the house. The whole thing lasted only 5-10 minutes. Then just as suddenly as people started to dance in the street, they were moving off to go back to Nidam's place again.

There was confusion as I tried to find Azron and the car that brought us there. In the midst of that, Nidam held me, Jefridin and some of the French guys aside, to meet and be introduced to his wife's family and explained to us that we would be looked after in the next ceremony later. There were some kids who got into a fight because they had accidentally bumped into each other while dancing. (Stupid kids.) But in the end we still managed to find a car to take us back and prepare for the next ceremony.

Since it was the 2nd evening of the wedding ceremony, the bride was supposed to have a party/function at her place; and the women who come to attend the function were to be in their traditional costume which consists of the traditional red-and-orange garb, with very elaborate jewellery and accessories. It used to be strictly closed-door, all-female affair, but now, even the male members of the groom's family may attend, but they have to sit at the back. Of course, as guests, we were brought along in order to see with our own eyes the whole colourful celebration of the wedding. Only Nidam was not supposed to be at that ceremony.

For an example, here we have Nidam's sister all ready to go; however her costume is distinctly different from the rest, maybe because she was pregnant. The womenfolk from Nidam's camp started to come in, one by one, some accompanied by an assistant who helped to fan her throughout the hot night. I imagined it to be so because I think it's going to be held indoors.

After about all 20 of them were there, they were all driven to Amina's place. We were also taken to Amina's place,albeit a bit later. By the time we reached there, the "party" was laready in full swing. The music were already playing and some of the womenfolk were already occupying the centre-stage to dance.



Unlike what I had imagined before, the event was held outdoors, and they really decorated the place nicely, with beautiful carpets hanging from the walls, and a canvas protecting the centre-stage and the platform where Amina sat.


The centrepiece of the event was of course the place where the queen or the bride sat:

She was accompanied by her cousins who were not married yet, that's why they did not put on any hats or head-dress, unlike those who were already married. They had to stay there for hours until the whole thing was over.....

I was sitting at the back with Amina's uncle and Kamal who explained to me the whole event in a mixture of Arabic and German; and on my part had to explain to Azron and Jefridin. They were especially focussing on the price tags for holding the wedding, including getting the clothings, the jewellery, the costumes, etc.

There were many local boys, also sitting at the back with us, - they seemed to be more interested in us than the "party" itself. They kept trying to ask us whether we could speak French or Arabic, whether we came from Japan, etc. So used to getting such unsolicited attention and stares. There was even a boy who tried to strike a conversation with us, asking "What's your name?", "Where do you live?"..... I replied quickly and then just tried to concentrate on figuring out what was happening at the dance-floor.

I think half an hour after we arrived, it started to rain, and man, the raindrops in Tunisia were sure big and paniful when they dropped onto your skin, but the rain was not heavy. The women were screaming and shouting and started to run for cover, but after 2-3 minutes, the rain subsided. Typical summer rain in Tunisia, one of the Frenchmen said.

During the supposedly-all-women's function, they sure had many intermissions in between the dances; after midnight during the breaks each time they hold some kind of a bidding process to raise money for the bride. The families from bride and groom challenged each other to see who raise more money for the bride by the end of the night. This process went on and on, with Kamal jotting down the ampunt each time there was a bid from either side. From the beginning it was a one-sided match with Amina's family raising much more than Nidam's side (customarily the bride's side would always win, because all the money would end up with the bride's mother, so she could bid large amounts of money many times without ever thinking of having to pay the money out.)

The whole event continued even when I heard the cocks crowing. By then it was already 4 am and the womenfolk were still dancing and attempting to put up bids. I was already drifting in and out of slumber in my chair, and in the brief moments when I was awke, I saw Azron and Jefridin putting up a barve front to combat sleepiness. Of course there were times when they served out cakes and tea to the guests, but even that could not help overcome my heavy eyelids. Finally, Nidam's sisters were moving off to go back home, a sign of relief at last.

By the time we reached Nidam's place, the adzan for Subuh could already be heard, so we slept only after that.........

Day 8

Day 6: Sousse - Ksour Essef - Salakta

It's Wednesday, a time to finally wake up sightly later, but of course Subuh was still in order.

By 8.00 am we were ready to go down and explore Sousse. When we first arrived in Sousse two days ago, I noticed a mosque and the medina somewhere quite nearby so we want to walk there. But first order of the day was to find breakfast. Lucky thing too, because breakfast was included in the 60 Dinars that we paid for the room each night. It seemed that we skipped breakfast the day before because we need to be elsewhere so early in the morning.



I was already short in Tunsian Dinars so need to go find a place to exchange US$. We've been told that in summer, offices are opened half-day, from 7.00 am to about 12.30 pm. It goes the same for the civil service too. So we need to find a bank fast before 12 noon. As we walked down the street, we saw many people including boys, girls, locals and tourists making their way down to the beach which was like 20 metres away. There was even a youth who walked some distance with us, "talking" to us, gesturing for us to join him for a swim. "Talking" here means using hand gestures without even uttering a sound. He must've thought we're from Hong Kong or China because he did some karate moves with his hands. I didn't think he's a mute; strange fellow, but that's how friendly people are. I was beginning to love Sousse!

Azron and Jefiridn found an ATM machine to draw out some money, while I waited sitting by the walkway.

"Ni hao?" I looked around and saw this big-sized and tall person wearing black T-shirt, orange bermudas and a cap looking at me. He seemed to be slightly younger than me.
"Hao?" In my mind was like, finally someone who knows Mandarin? "You speak English?" I asked.
"Yeah!" was his reply. "You know, you remind me of the Chinese family who live nearby my place last year."
"Yeah I guess so."
So here we have someone who's willing to be our guide in Sousse. His name was Bassem, still studying and living with his ailing mother somewhere nearby.


First he took us to the Mosque. We would ordinarily be asked to pay 1 Dinar for photography in the mosque (it's a standard fare across the country that whenever one neters a place of interest and take photographs in it, they have to pay 1 Dinar - applicable for those with cameras only), but because Bassem explained to the officials that we were his friends and we're Muslims, we got in FOC (free-of-charge). Hence we were able to freely take photos and did tahiyatul-masjid.


Right after that we went to the souk (marketplace) nearby. I told Bassem that I want to see the spices and raw food materials of Tunisia, and that's where he brought us to. There was a myriad of vibrant colours and nice scents as we ambled through the crowded shops selling spices, sweets and nuts. Then there were the cous-cous, fresh chillies, dried chillies and a shop that made its own olive oil and sold it in bottles.

Then we were taken to the "wet" market where fresh fruit and fish were sold.



Anyway, at the back of our mind, we had to race against time since we're supposed to check put of Jeunesse by 12 noon. We left the market at about 10.30 am, parted with Bassem, took some more pictures of the walls surrounding the medina
and some statues at the city centre


It was already very warm, and we had finished the mineral bottled water, so need to top up by buying 2 more bottles.

Nidam SMS-ed telling us that we'd be picked up by his brother Hisham at about 3pm at El-Hana Beach Hotel; so we asked the man at the Jeunesse's reception to allow us leave later; and he relented. So we got time to shower (again), perform Zuhr and 'Asar and maybe have lunch, which we did, afer we checked out at 2.30 pm.

Lunch was again at Kenza Fast Food, this time,we ordered light. What was written as "chapati" in the menu (which Azron ordered then) was not at all the chapati we recognise in Singapore. (For those who have never seen chapati, it's a piece of thin plain dough cooked on a hot plate and eaten with some curry). Mine turned out to be more of a chapati though it wasn't exactly what I expect it to be. You see, the menu was in French.... hehe....

As expected, 3 pm turned out to be 4 pm, but we didn't blame anyone, because we know Ksour Essef is definitely far from Sousse and the road wasn't exactly that particularly good. There was at least 3 hotels here with the name El-Hana so they could end up in the other hotels and still not find us. Hisham came in his dark-green Peugeot (with sun-roof! Cool!) with Widet (Nidam's youngest sister). He just arrived in his car from Marseille the day before (taking the ferry from there), so that was our first time meeting him. He spoke rather good English, since he have to interact with Americans in his work. The drive back to Ksour Essef was like about 2 hours non-stop. No traffic light, just bumpy roads.

Once we reached Ksour Essef, we met with the French team. Now the French team actually referred to the group of people from France who had worked with Nidam before he came over to Singapore. The company is called Thales-Is and in Singapore, Azron and Jefridin are woking in this company which helps in the running of the North-East Line (NEL Light Transport System (LRT). So all of them (French and Singaporeans) are colleagues, except for me.

Just to introduce the French team: beside Jefridin, there's Jean-Paul (pronounced John-Paul), Vincent (pronounced Van-Song), Frank (as in rhymes with the word "monk"), Robert (pronounced as Gho-ber as in rhyme with "go-bear") and Jean-Pierre (John-Pi-yeh). Jean-Pierre came with his wife (not in the above picture).

It was already almost Maghrib by then. We had dinner (can't remember what we ate cos' I'm not in a habit to actually care to memorise what we ate except when there's unusual events during the meal, I think it was then some meat and bread or macaroni). There's suppose to be an event at Nidam's house in Salakta to mark the first night of the wedding celebrations. I will insya-Allah try to narrate each and every part of the wedding no matter how elaborate and laborious it may be, because it is really something different, something unique which is not found in Asia.

At about 8 pm, we were driven to Salakta, where we found the empty space in front of the house lit up by many spotlights and already filled up with white plastic chairs all arranged neatly into two groups, with a large decorated tented stage in front. Nidam did tell us a few days' earlier that on the first night, there's gonna be some recitation of the Qur'an and prayers. It tuned out to be like what we have here called Barzanji. Only that here, they did the Barzanji with drums. (Barzanji is a function where a group of people usually men reciting out prayers and history of the Prophet's life from a book written by someone called Barzanji. There are many such groups in Singapore, and each group has their own styles, songs and melodies to accompany the recitations.)

Anyway, the group arrived and they prayed 'Isyak on the stage itself. Typically, they were following the Maliki school of thought. After sound checks and warm-ups, they began with the recitation of Al-Fatihah (the opening chapter of the Qur'an) and the first few verses of Surah Al-Fath. There were 3 rounds of performance altogether; performance here means the continuous chanting and recitation of praises to Allah and seeking blessings for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The first one was the longest and most boring, I was almost dropping off my seat. Luckily they were serving out tea and some cakes, so at least that helped to lift the tired souls.

Second round was better, the rhythm was faster, the signing was louder and more "kick". The "performers" began to rise from their seats, which is normal even in Singapore as the shalawat was being read. I expect the audience to rise as well, as a mark of respect too. Well some did, but to get to the front to start dancing! Hmmmm, a new phenomenon - Azron and I were looking at each other, amazed!

Soon everyone was like dancing. We were ultra-shy, but Nidam's sister pushed the 3 of us to the "dancing floor" anyway. And Jefridin was getting the hang of it and he really showed it.

Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, there were altogether 3 rounds and the whole affair ended at about 3 am in the morning. We didn't go back to sleep in Ksour Essef that night, we just went back to fetch our towels, change of clothes and toiletries. Didn't exactly sleep until Subuh (which was less than 1 hour when we finally manage to settle in).... So that's considered as 7th day story eh.....

Day 7