Since I am travelling a lot I see a lot of hotels, guesthouses and so forth. One thing that has always interested me in these travels is to look at architecture as well as workmanship. Some of this ofcourse comes from my father who has worked on construction-sites all his life and also because I have it in my mind to build my own house one day. I still remember the time when we one Christmas day 30 years ago got out all the sledges and started hammering away in the house to expand my brothers room and how much pride my father took in completing the work in full accordance with all the rules and regulations as well as to the full esthetical potential.. Mind you the walls in the house I grew up in was not necessarily straight… but after my father had remodelled you could measure it to a millimeters perfection.

I have just come back from a trip to Nyala Darfur and in 3 nights I actually shifted room 3 times. In the first the AC did not work. In the second I almost had a fire as there was a bad connection in the AC electricity plug. I was very lucky. I did not take any pictures in Nyala as the risk of ending up in trouble with a camera was too great. Mind you this was the “New” guest house.

I am now back in Khartoum and am staying in a very good guesthouse. Its referred to as the Southafrican guesthouse most of the time as the owner is from there. It is by far the best place to stay at present in Khartoum. For 90 USD you get 3 meals, all the laundry done once a day and wireless internet. There is a free gym with jacuzzi, swimingpool and a TV lounge. Quite a good package for the money you pay compared to anything else we have found so far.

I just moved in to a room on the top floor when I noticed a few things which just makes me laugh.

I try to go in to the bathroom and can not open the door properly as it is stopped by the washbasin as the distance is too short, so I have to squezze myself in.

Once inside I shave and while looking in the mirror I realize that it is offset from the center above the washbasin… (am quite sure the worker installing it did this as he did not close the bathroomdoor and thus could not easily get it centred, or was it because he was afraid to crack the tile?)

I then turn around and notice that on the floor there is one type of floor inside the bathroom and another outside the bathroom.. Except that under the bathroom door and going into the bedroom the bathroom tiles are sticking out!!

Then I look at the door out to the hallway and see that the guys putting up the wall for some reason decided to offset the wall by a few centimeters thus leaving most of the doorframe inside the room. None of this makes sense.

If they guys putting up the thin (non bearing) wall had put the wall where it was supposed to be, 10 cm further inside the bedroom and thus aligned with the hallway-door then the bathroom door would have perfectly passed the washbasin and that door would have opened all the way. Then no tiles would have been sticking out in the bedroom and the guy mounting the mirror could have centered it as is normal. Soo easy and yet so difficult.

I am also the only one in the guesthouse who have a balcony. I am sure it was supposed to be a glassdoor but it aint, yet there is windowblinds infront of the door.

Ofcourse I can not lock the door to the balcony as there is something wrong in the locking mechanism.. Atleast I am 4 floors up and no one else have access to the balcony so I should be ok.

Seeing these kind of things make me wonder… Is it just me being picky or is the level of pride people take in their work just not there? It sure seems like it for these construction workers, yet the staff working in maintaining this guesthouse is the most dedicated I have seen in a very long time.