Marhaba ya marhaba!

Day 12: Douz - Tozeur

2006-06-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

Day 12

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

2006-06-16T23:12:00.000-07:00

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

2004-09-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

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

2004-09-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

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

2004-09-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

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

2004-09-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

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

2004-09-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

Day 5: Sousse - Carthage - Bardo Musee - Sidi Bou Said - Tunis

2004-09-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

Day 5's another great day, but we started off on a wrong foot.

We waited for the tour bus at El-Hana Beach Hotel, which was about 50 metres in front of Jeunesse 21 where we stayed the night before. The bus was punctual, arriving at 6.40 am. By that time it was already as bright as the 8 am that we normally experience in Singapore.

We might have paid for the tours to Mufidah on the first day we set foot on the country, but we didn't have the tickets to show that we've done so. So the guide was kind of irritated, and insisted that we get off the bus; but a series of phone calls to Mufidah and some agents saved us from being thrown out of the bus. It must be because of this episode that my brain may unconsciously refuse to remember the guide's name. It must be our luck too that it was the same coach driver (Redha) as the tour the day before.

After picking up many other tourists from other hotels in Sousse and Port El-Kantaoui, the coach made its way back up North towards Tunis, some 150 km away. First stop was at Carthage. Now, Carthage (pronounced "Qarthaj" in Arabic) might sound familiar to some people, especially those acquainted with ancient civilisations' history. Remember Hannibal who crushed the mighty Roman army? Well, Carthage was where he built his capital city. Carthage is also where the international airport is. Basically, Carthage is an archaeological site. We visited the amphitheatre site in Carthage, which was supposed to be similar to the one we visited in El-Jem. But this one in Carthage was not restored yet, so it was very much flattend save for some Roman columns which have undergone replacements and restoration, "some parts were manufactured in Hong Kong" as quoted from the guide. I bet under some those restored columns, there's the "Made in Hong Kong" stamp somewhere.

Beside the Carthage amphitheatre site, stands the President's palace. The guide had already warned us against taking photo in the direction of the palace. There were soldiers guarding in the site, so that warning was worth heeded. Towards the end of our visit there, Azron was standing over a ledge, TAKING PHOTOGRAPH IN THE FORBIDDEN DIRECTION! Jefridin and I immediately ran for cover, thinking there's some snipers out there looking for errant tourists who chose to disobey the warning. But Alhamdulillah, nothing happened.

After that, we went to a cathedral located on top of a hill nearby in Carthage. Despite having a minority of Christians (less than 1% of the total population and all are Roman Catholics), the grand size of the cathedral is enough evidence of religious tolerance in Tunisia.

There were some statues outside the church, remnants of Roman temples, I think, and some of the statues were vandalised, so we took this picture to show just one of such instances.

Sidi Bou Said came after this. Sidi Bou Said is the symbol of Tunisia. The village, situated on the slope of a rather steep hill, was once where many famous artists and artisans of Tunisia and from Europe stayed. The white-washed walls and blue windows or grilles has become an icon for the African country. However now it has become so much of a tourist spot, where you may meet French, German, Spanish, Italians, etc. And the souvenir sellers here really know many European languages, but none could actually say anything in Mandarin or Japanese (again we were suspected to be from China or Japan).

One of the houses there has been turned into a museum, showcasing the daily life of a Tunisian, with mannequins posing in different postures, positions and situations. We had tea in the tea-house section of the house. (Tea was included in th entrance fee of the mini-museum)

Lunch came after that, in a more exquisite restaurant than the day before. we sat with a Belgian man with his 2 sons (they were vegetarians so they did not eat the chicken main course meal) and 2 young ladies from the Netherlands. Then we realised that this time round, there's more English-speaking people than the day before...

After lunch, we went to the famous Bardo museum (or Musee in French). This museum stores some of the cultural remains and art piences of the past civilisations that had once been in Tunisia, from the pagans to the Romans, and finally the Muslims. Many of the statues on display were heavily mutilated. The guide said that when invaders took the area from the Romans, they went on a rampage to humiliate the Romans; by vandalising their statues. Since most of the statues are half-naked, or fully naked, the obvious places to cut off are the genitals and breasts. The noses and heads were also cut off, since these symbolise the pride of a person.

Some of the artwork were truly magnificent like this one, which shows the pastime of the people in the past to hunt wild animals.

In the Islamic cultural section, displayed were some Qur'anic verses witten in beautiful calligraphic styles on scrolls and pieces of animal skins. Couldn't get a decent photograph because the place was poorly-lit.....

After Bardo, we're off to the last destination: Tunis, the capital of the country. We alighted the coach near some government buildings. In fact we walked past a door which said Prime Minister's Office. I wanted to take photo of that but a security officer in suit and tie forbid me to do so. We were shown the old medina where the narrow alleys are long, narrow and very crowded. There were so many things on sale here, it's a shoppers' paradise, though it was not air-conditioned. I was on a look-out for the famous Zaytuna Mosque, but it was nowhere to be seen. Once we came out of the souk or marketplace, we heard the adzan loudly broadcasted from a nearby mosque, signalling the time for 'Asar (late afternoon prayer). It must've been a big mosque but we couldn't pinpoint its exact location.

We've got more or less about one-and-a-half hour to look around the area, namely, Ave Bourghiba. This road is similar to the Orchard Road in Singapore; there were trendy shopping centres, sidewalk cafes and boutiques; basically people walking around either sightseeing like us, or shopping or just going about minding their own business.

Again, we did receive the odd stares, and sometimes a friendly "Ko-ini-chiwa" greeting or overheard whispers saying "Sinn" (China) - by then I was already used to that; but sometimes I replied back with salam, or "Guten Tag!" or a teasing "Arigato gozaimasu"....

After a while, we decided to look for the "invisible" mosque, but could only find a cathedral along the Ave Bourghiba.

When we asked around for Jami', they led us to a Jami' which was like 800 metres away and by the time we got there, it was closed or the caretaker might had fallen asleep. In the end we took wudhu' in the toilet of one of the hotels along Ave Bourghiba and did our prayers sitting down in the coach, on the way back to Sousse.

In Sousse. we took dinner at Kenza Fast Food Restaurant, near our hostel, ordering a whole grilled chicken and a meal dish for each of ourselves. We like the ambience of the place and the owner was very friendly too. We didn't realise that the whole chicken was a meal of its own, until it came served with french fries, bread, sauce and of course the chicken itself. No wonder the waiter was like stunned when we ordered extra food after ordering the chicken.

After dinner, I think (because I cannot remember) we went back to our room, took shower, and did the usual laundry. Another long day.... The next day we're supposed to get a half-day free-and-easy in Sousse before we were suposed to be picked up to return to Nidam's place in Ksour Essef.....

Day 6

Day 4: Ksour Essef - Monastir - Kairouan - El-Jem - Mahdia - Sousse

2004-09-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

Guten Tag! Ko-ini-chiwa!
Day 4 was one of the longest days we've had on the trip. We travelled from morning until well after sunset.

The day started when we waited for the car to come back. It seemed that Adel had to drive off from the wedding place in Tunis at 4 or 5 am in the morning. We felt bad upon seeing his tired face. "Fatigue" (In French pronouced as far-tee-gay) was all he could say - that sums up how he felt at that moment.

Anyway, we rushed off in Nidam's father's car (Peugeot) to Sahara Beach Hotel in Monastir, some 50 km from Ksour Essef. We were scheduled to be picked up by a guided tour bus. We got there on time (7.00 am but it was so bright already that it looks more like 9 am in Singapore); but we had to wait for the coach for at least half-an-hour. Here we got our first lesson on how time works in Tunisia. Anyway, it was also the first time we were in contact with the tourist side of the country. Sahara Beach Hotel was just fantastic, with beautiful trees and plants filling the entire entrance-way. It's a 3 or 4-star hotel and there seemed to be plenty of Germans around.

Anyway, the bus did come (at last!), and the guide Hassan welcomed us. It was a tour organised by the Tunisian Travel Service. As we made our way up north to Kairouan, we were shocked that Hassan began to explain in German! Azron and Jefridin were thinking, oh no! we chose the wrong group. So with my whatever little I have of my German, I explained to Azron what the guide just said. Fortunately, it turned out that it was a mixed German-English tour group but we found ourselves to be among the minority of people on board that bus who understand English. (There was a Polish family on board too, and they don't understand German) Hassan speaks impeccable German with a kind of relaxed tone, and an equally-good English. As we made our way to Kairouan, he spoke of the status the city as one of the "holy cities" in Tunisia, because there are many mosques and mausoleums around the city. He also explained about Islam and the 5 pillars of Islam too. (Kinda cool because he did it twice - once in German, then in English in exact order as though he was reading from a script)

First stop was a touristic spot overlooking the Aghlabid Basins, 2 large pools that supply water from the aqueducts to the city.

Then we made a visit to the first mosque ever built on the African continent; the Okbaa bin Nafaa Mosque. It was built by a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him - pbuh) by the name of Uqba bin Nafir, who came to Tunisia after the Prophet's demise. With mosque as the centre of activity, it was also to serve as military command centre and barracks for the Muslim soldiers. The city was protected by thick high walls and evidence of this could still be seen around the city, mosque and the medina. In fact the architecture and construction of this mosque and city was used as a model for other cities, including Tunis, Sousse, Mahdia, etc. The early Muslims were clearly threatened by the hostile environment and enemies which mostly consisted of the Byzantine empire, which was already time in the decline.

The design of the mosque is heavilty influenced by Roman architecture. There are thousands of Roman columns within the mosque premise alone!

Azron, Jefridin and I went into the prayer hall to perform the tahiyatul-masjid; and had to pay 1 Dinar each to take wudhu' in the washroom. (The most expensive toilet entrance fee I've ever paid - imagine paying S$1.40 to enter toilet once!). The inside of the mosque was so peaceful unlike the hustle and bustle outside where tourists were thronging and taking photos. The floor was covered by straw mats and had that nice smell to it. There were a few brothers who were having Halaqah and a few boys were busying themselves memorising the Qur'an in the corner of the hall.

After the mosque, we went to a mausoleum of one pious man, whom I didn't remember the name.

It was a very elaborately-decorated building and the walls and ceilings were covered with design of tiles with Andalusian influence.

We then headed for the old medina of Kairouan where there were plenty of shops selling souvenirs and of course carpets! Kairouan is known for its quality carpets' production.

In fact I bought 2 carpets from one of the shops in the bazaar, one for 58 Dinars and the other slightly bigger one for US$50.00. So now I got to add the weight of the 2 carpets to my backpack.

Before we head for El-Jem, we had lunch at one of the restaurants by the roadside. It was a standard restaurant, with a very large dining hall. Food was included in the package, we only had to pay for the drinks. (2 dinars plus for a bottled mineral water). I managed to start a conversation with the German family (a couple with their teenage son) who shared the same table with us. They were from Dresden (of course in Germany). After the normal introduction, stating where we are from, etc., I had trouble trying to tell them that we're actually staying with a Tunisian friend who's getting married. The word "marry", marriage" is not in my mental German dictionary (it was verheiraten as I found in my dictionary later). That was the first and last conversation I had in German for the whole tour! Embarassing!

Soon we made our way down to El-Jem. El-Jem's actually not that far from Ksour Essef, about 20-30 km away. When we reached the place, it was HOT! We quickly seeked shelter in the shadows of the magnificent amphitheatre of El-Jem.

I got teasing calls from the stall-vendors, calling "Yaban" (Japan in Arabic), "Sinn" (Chinese), Jackie Chan, kung-fu, etc. Then I realised people must have stared at us thinking we're from China or Japan (must've been my slit eyes and rather fair skin, no fault of theirs, even many people in Singapore thought I'm a Chinese or have Chinese blood of which I don't have any, just ask my parents). It seemed that Asians hardly go to Tunisia and throughout our whole stay there it is rare to see a Japanese or Chinese tourist.

About the amphitheatre, we tend to call the Roman amphitheatres as colosseums, which is not correct.

Hassan (our guide) told us that there is only one such place with that name; and that is the one in Rome (the amphitheatre in Rome was built with a colossal statue of the Roman emperor Nero near it, hence it's name Colosseum); nevertheless, all the amphitheatres built by the Romans served the same dark purpose of entertaining the people with cruel sports.

We spent about an hour or two walking through the dark underground chambers where the gladiators used to prepare before the fights and where wild animals were kept, and the high terraces of the amphitheatre.

Built in the 3rd-century BC, this amphitheatre must've been at least 5 HDB-flat storey high in its glorious days, but it became heavily damaged from the wars and plundering over the tumultuous centuries.

This serves as a lesson for man, that no matter how large and glorious an empire may be in its golden days, it will still be susceptible to destruction, if not from human enemies, then by the forces of Nature.

Last stop that we made after El-Jem was the scenic sea-port of Mahdia which is nearby.

We entered the old medina through a dark tunnel. It used to be the only entrance to the walled city, to protect against invaders from the sea. Because it was already late afternoon, there was not much for window-shopping. Most of the people in the our tour group sat in a cafe. We did Zuhr and 'Asr in a nearby mosque.

I almost got chased out, because the caretaker thought I was a Japanese tourist trying to take pictures inside the mosque. Luckily, Azron saved my neck by saying "Nahnu Muslimun" (In Arabic means "We're Muslims"), thank God. After prayer, we talked to some elderly men sitting outside (in Arabic), and they seemed happy when we said we're from Malaysia.....

The tour ended with us alighting in Sousse, another town by the sea. We dropped off in front of El-Hana Beach Hotel which is really near the beach, and tried to look for Jeunesse 21, a hostel where we're supposed to stay for 2 days. Mufidah (remember Mufidah from the 2nd day?) said the hostel is behind El-Hana Beach; well, we were given wrong places to go, and in the end we managed to find the place after walking around for about 2 hours. We spent some time just to shower and wash some of the dirty laundry. There was not enough space in the room to hang the wet/damp clothes, so we hang them across the room. Hah, what a day!

Day 5

Day 3: Ksour Essef - Salakta

2004-08-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up greeted by the dark surrounding of the room. It was still dark outside but I knew it was already Subuh. I fumbled across the room looking for the light-switch. Jefridin was already up, he said he heard the adzan at about 4.15 am.

Right after Subuh, we slept again until the sun was already fiercely shining. After wash-up, we savoured the first breakfast in Tunisia with thick coffee and milk. There was real sugar cubes (the first time I saw anything like it, though I knew they existed)

After breakfast, Nidam showed us the whole house. What we thought was a single house was actually 3 houses under the same roof. The ground floor was Nidam's father's house while the other 2 houses were on the 2nd floor, one was Adel's and the other one was Hisham's, another elder brother of Nidam.

Here just to introduce the host family (the Khanfous):

The couple in the centre (in black-&-white) are the parents; Mr Mohamad Khanfous & his late wife or mother of the 8 children. The families around this couple are their children with their respective families. On the top-right corner is the eldest, Adel with his wife Ahlam and their children: (can't remember the name of the eldest daughter), Salim and Qamra; the second is Hisham (top-left corner) with his wife and 1-year-old daughter Syrina, the third is Nidam who just got married with Amina (below Adel's family); fourth is Jalil the clown in the family (below the parents) ; fifth is the eldest sister (didn't catch her name) with her husband Mohamad (the couple on the left, right below Hisham's family, obliterated by the indoor light); sixth is Jalila with her husband Mohamad (below Nidam & Amina).

After Jalila (the one in white), comes Fatin (here the one in pink)and Widet the youngest (the one in purple) - these last two sisters are still not married yet. They also have a cousin who I can't remember her name (here the one in blue) who has been living so close with them that she's considered as one of the sisters. She's the one who spoke splendid Fusha Arabic with us, having been educated in Tunisia. One family member not included in the picture is Nidam's grandmother, who is an adorable lady.

Okay let's get back to my story: where were we? Okay, now I remember; the part about Nidam showing his father's place. As I had mentioned, it's actually 3 houses or apartments combined into a 2-storey building, here showing you the main door (or the only door besides the garage) of the house.

We also took a look at Adel's and Hisham's apartments, which were built on the second floor of the house facing each other, each with their own front door, own kitchen, own toilet/washroom and living room (here is the living room in Adel's apartment - we stayed in this room for a couple of days):

Then Nidam took us to see the Jami' (or mosque) nearby called Jami' Rahmah:

Unlike the mosques in Singapore, here they put the speakers on the minaret itself so that the adzan or call to prayer may be heard from far.

After this short visit to the Jami', Nidam took us to see the splendid beach near Ksour Essef, specifically in a place called Salakta. There was a beautiful blue lagoon further south the beach, and Nidam took us to see some of the beautiful houses and villas built lining along the beach. He said that this stretch is a non-tourist zone, meaning that there was no hotels and only the local people come here, so it was not so crowded with "ang-moh" ("European" in Mandarin) tourists.

Only after that, then Nidam took us to see his own house in Salakta, which was about 7-min drive from his father's place and of course much nearer to the beach and Mediterranean Sea. It would also be the venue where he would have his wedding celebrations later on Sunday:

It's actually the same concept as the father's house in Ksour Essef; it's 2 apartments combined into a 2-storey building - the apartment on the ground level is Nidam's and the one on top is his brother's (Jalil). We asked Nidam how much it cost to build this house and he simply replied: "A lot of money!". (We found out later from Jalil that it cost them US$60,000 altogether!)

Nidam explained that in order to get married, the man must first provide his wife-to-be with a house, hence the need to have his own house. But cool! He chose the location at a place so near to the beach which is just 3-min walk away.

After lunch in Ksour Essef, we (together with Nidam & Salim) took a taxi back to the Salakta beach to enjoy "the sun, the sand and the sea". As we walked down the beach, the local people stared at us, because we Malays have different set of facial features as the Arabs, African or European per se. In fact many might even think I'm a Chinese or Japanese. But that can be elaborated later.

It was a rough-sea day; the black flag was up.

But we swam anyway, shared the only snorkelling gear (which we lost after the swim), built sandcastles, and took turns burying ourselves in the sand.

It's a nice way to relax and pass the leisure time we had, and I personally hadn't had any opportunity in years to do so while in Singapore.

At night, after dinner, we went out again, this time to the coffee-shop nearby Nidam's father's house. Besides getting into the relaxed summer atmosphere, enjoying coffee, tea, Coke or Fanta, we played Domino too. And Salim made fools out of ourselves, and he won many of the games that we played.

Before we went to sleep, we prepared our bags for the next 2 days' package tour. We had got to be at Sahara Beach Hotel in Monastir (about 50 km away) at 7.00 am, the next morning. Nidam would drive us there, but we had to wait for the car to come back since his father and brother had to attend a wedding in Tunis that night. We can only hope the car would be back in Ksour Essef in time for the next morning.....

Thus ended our 3rd Day in Tunisia....

Day 4

Day 2: Bangkok - Istanbul - Tunis - Ksour Essef

2004-08-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

The transit in Bangkok was about an hour or so. The flight to Istanbul took us about 9 hours, passing over the Indian Ocean, India and Iran. We got very little sleep, because it was cramped and not very comfortable sitting in the middle. We also got woken up 1 or 2 hour after we just lift-off from Bangkok by the stewardesses for the cold-meat night snack. Tasted kind of weird but we wolfed it down just the same because we became awfully hungry all of a sudden.

So when we arrived in Istanbul circa 7 am (local Istanbul time), we were kind of dizzy but still wide awake because our bodies are still not accustomed to the local time and it's already 12 noon in Singapore. I was experiencing my first jet-lag. 7 am in Istanbul is like 9 am in Singapore because of the shorter nights and longer days in summer. There were also other incoming flights from Europe and Africa at the same we arrived, so there were many people in different shapes, sizes & colours.

We waited about 3-4 hours in the transit lounge, first looking around at the things sold in the duty-free shops. In the end we just find seats in the waiting area, joining the many sleeping travellers who were also in transit like us.

Security before boarding the plane was very tight, tighter than in Changi. I guess the metal detector was set to the most sensitive setting, so much so that most of the male passengers had to take off their belts and for some, even their shoes. But when I looked at the adjacent waiting lounge which was the flight to Chicago, each passenger had to undergo double security checks; in the first check they had to take out everything from their bags and purses and had to be body-searched, and the second one is the routine X-ray and metal-detector check. I just felt sorry for the people who had their undergarment taken out of their bags to be checked....

The flight to Tunis itself was uneventful, except that there was a cute blue-eyed blonde toddler was playing with his brother along the aisle. We also had a junior soccer team from Saudi Arabia in the same flight. We passed Greece (Olympics coming soon) and southern part of Italy,

and we landed safely in Tunis-Carthage International Airport at about 11.30 am (local Tunisian time). Immigration and custom clearance was almost a breeze; the 2 female immigration officers who were checking my Malaysian passport had to ask their superior or colleague whether I could enter without visa, and luckily, he said "yes", otherwise, I'd to stay in Tunis airport for 2 weeks...

After we went out of the arrival hall, we exchanged US dollars to Tunisian dinars. 1 US dollars gives about 1.25 dinars so that translates to 1 dinar being equivalent to 1.3-1.4 Singapore dollars. What amazed me (later on though) was that each currency exchange must be accompanied by an official computer-printed receipt and that you must show the receipt when you want to change back from dinar to other currencies too. It seemed that the Tunisian government control their currency and this I guess contributes to why the dinar currency is relatively stronger than ours.

Almost at once, we met Nidam and his eldest brother Adel. Nidam had came over from Singapore to France and then Tunisia about a week before us. As we zipped through the highway in Adel's French-registered white wagon(Tunisian roads are left-hand drive, opposite of Singapore), we saw neat rows of olive trees planted on both sides of the road as Nidam explained to us more about his country.

You may find more details on Tunisia in the following link:

But before we set off for Ksour Essef which is about 200 km from Tunis and 11km from Mahdia, we drove to Hammamet to meet Mufidah. Mufidah, I found out later, was the sister of Nidam's sister-in-law. She runs a tour agency, and with her help, the 3 of us could spend the days when we're not in Nidam's place, visiting places of interest all around Tunisia. Nidam gave 2 options, one where we rent a car and drive around, but it's going to be expensive and I don't think Azron or I could drive a left-hand-drive car (Azron tried to drive once but he couldn't even get into the reverse gear). The second plan was for us to go on guided tours with English-speaking guides of course but we had to tag along with other tourists as well. Naturally we chose the latter, because we've got limited budget and it would be better that way, I mean, to see Tunisia with reliable guides around, who could explain in a language we can understand. Azron and I can understand a little bit of Arabic (but it's Fusha Arabic or international standard Arabic: "qalil jiddan" - very little, but the Tunisians don't speak the standard Arabic), Azron learnt French for a few months while for my German which I learnt for 4 years for my O-Level, well let's just say that I last learnt it 7-8 years ago. Jefridin's stuck with English and Malay only (which is hopeless because it's already difficult to find Asians here, then what about Malays). So English is still our only hope.

The first tours we chose (or were chosen by Mufidah) were the Kairouan-El-Jem-Mahdia one-day tour (46 dinars per head) and the second day we're supposed to go for the Carthage-Sidi Bou Said- Bardo Musee-Tunis, also a one-day tour (56 dinars per head). Accomodation would be in Sousse in a hostel called Jeunesse 21 which cost 60 dinars per night for bed and breakfast included. So that settled it for our 3rd and 4th day in Tunisia (2nd & 3rd August). Since the wedding would only start on the night of 4th August (Wednesday) and end on Sunday (8th August), we still got another week to confirm. It's either a 2 or 3-day tour to the desert in the southern part of Tunisia or just plain free-and-easy-holiday, but that we would settle later.

So after that we continued our journey down Tunisia through the highway, passing through some toll-gates. One thing we did notice as we made our way was the frequency of policemen/ policewomen standing alongside the roads. There seemed to be at least one or two of them at every exit and every bridge and they had uniforms of different colours (green blue, brown - unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of them, didn't want to get in trouble). The weather was very hot, I tell you, much like Singapore only that you can feel it was not humid, but still it's hot, and I don't understand how these people could stand in their uniforms in the sun until sunset I guess.

Anyway, along the way we did stop at a drivers' rest-place, much like Machap or Pagoh along the Malaysian PLUS Highway, and had the first taste of the local food, something like tortilla or shawarma with meat and chilly inside, and it's really hot. I for one, do not like hot food; they make my scalp itchy. Need a big bottle of mineral water or Coke along.
Entry and usage of the public toilet there is like if-you-want-to-pay-then-pay-if-not-don't-pay-at-all.

We arrived in the town of Ksour Essef (pronounced in Arabic: Qasur As-Saff) after about 3 hours drive. It was almost 6pm local time when we reached the house of Nidam's father. Nidam's sisters were busy making plastic flowers as gifts for the the guests to the wedding. Nidam's family welcomed us mostly in French but they did attempt to speak English too. Usually the Arabs would greet guests with "kissing" two times on the cheek, "kissing" here implies just the touching of the cheeks. It seems normal even for two people of the opposite sexes to do that as a welcoming gesture. 2 "kisses" means that the 2 persons have known each other before and have not met for quite some time. I guess one of Nidam's niece wanted to do that when we first met and shook hands; but we're just not used to being "kissed" what more by a teenage girl, so she looked somewhat as shocked as us. Well I don't blame her, it's just their culture.

It was also quite a shock that we had to continue to wear our footwear even inside the house and inside the room, which is not common in a Muslim home in Southeast-Asia, but we adapted pretty well, taking care not to step on places where it is carpetted and where we want to perform our solat.

We rushed to perform our Zuhur & 'Asr at the corner of the house. Maghrib came soon after (no problem, because we can see the clear sky from the courtyard, and we can hear the adzan - the call to prayer, from the nearby Jami' or mosque/surau as we call it in Singapore). After we performed both Maghrib and Isyak (jama' qasr prayer - combine and shorten the solat), we had dinner, washed up and then started to unpack our bags before turning in to rest for the day.... It's been a long first day; I calculated that we had travelled non-stop for more than 24 hours and we've seen more than 15 hours of daylight. (We left home at 8pm Singapore time on 30th July and reached Ksour Essef at 6pm Tunisia time on 31st July or 1am Singapore time on 1st Aug). In addition to that, we didn't get proper sleep during the journey. We estimated that Subuh the next day would be around 3.30 to 4 am..... Well that would be story for the next day.....

Day 3

Day 1: Singapore - Bangkok

2004-08-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Marhaba! Ya Marhaba! Those were the first Arab greeting I heard upon entering Tunisia. Alhamdulillah, here's the first instalment of my account on the Tunisian holiday. And insya-Allah I'll add in a day at a time so that whoever reads this might get a bit of the experience that I had over the unforgettable 14 days in the beautiful country of TUNISIA.

Friday 30th July 2004 - the date that Azron, Jefridin and I were scheduled to depart from Changi Airport at 2210h. I've known Azron and Jefridin since the days in campus; they're actually my seniors by 1 year but from different faculty (I was in Science, they were in Engineering). I was already quite close to Azron for a number of reasons, one because he's one of the Budak-Decent (BD) gang and we meet quite often on those guys' (used to be single-guys-only) outings to Beach Road to eat sup tulang, and he was quite active in society's activities; but as for Jefridin, well, he's the quiet, reserved and introvert type and I didn't know him quite well enough until this trip. Azron and Jefridin work at the same place in a French company doing software programming and testing for the North-East Line (NEL) in Singapore. Their office is near the mosque where I'm working in.

The trip was originally an idea of Azron; he posted in the BD mailing group that his colleague, a Tunisian who goes by the name of Ahmad Nidam Khanfous, was getting married in his hometown in Tunisia in early August and Azron wanted to attend the wedding. As someone who had never gone further than Java, Indonesia, this was a golden opportunity not to be missed. I still got 20-days annual leave and the trip looked relatively cheap, and being the single and adventurous (and foolish too!) person that I am or was at that time, I decided to tag along with Azron.

Preparation was kind of hasty and last-minute. There were the air-tickets to buy, money to exchange, things to buy, leave to apply and visas to obtain from the Tunisian Embassy in Jakarta. Luckily, unlike my 2 companions, I did not need a visa to enter Tunisia... The wonders of being a citizen of an OIC-member country. (OIC = Organisation of Islamic Conference).

Okay, to cut the story short, so on D-Day we met at Changi Airport Terminal 1 at 8.30 pm. I still had to work at the mosque on that day until 3pm, too many things to hand-over last minute; I left my office feeling that I must've forgotten something but then like what my colleagues said, forget about work, enjoy yourself! Well I did, and almost forgot about work throughout the trip! (Luckily I did not forget to return to work after that!)

After Maghrib (prayer after sunset), and after kissing my parents goodbye, I went to Changi Airport alone in the white Man Utd long-sleeved away jersey, cargo pants and track shoes; carrying my oddly-monstrous-looking and heavy backpacking haversack (this haversack weighed 17 kg on the airport scale when I checked it in - see below)

while Azron came in long-sleeved shirt, long pants and sandals, coming with his parents and sister, lugging along his trolley bag, a relatively heavy haversack with a laptop inside (to store our digital pictures & movies) and a cooler for Nidam's family. Jefridin came slightly later and he was a surprise: He came in a smart office-wear with matching black shoes and a relatively small duffle bag. So here we were, starting our journey like an odd bunch: Azron with his trail of baggage, Jefridin with his business pack and me with my backpack ready for anything ahead.

It's great that some of our BD gang: Hazlee, Faizal and Tasha drop by at Changi to bid us farewell. After exchanging a few jokes, like we always do, it was time to part. So the 3 Musketeers set off on a journey in Turkish Airline flight TK0061, which would be well beyond their wild expectations and imagination.

We wanted to perform Isyak in the musollah inside the Changi Transit Lounge but the announcement to board the plane came almost immediately. Only in Bangkok, after a 2-hour flight from Changi on flight TK61 (Airbus A340-30), did we have time and space to do Isyak and it was already past midnight.

Day 2