Driving & Cell Phones

Not together…but I’m sure this will become a problem soon. 

Juba, is a very interesting place to be as it literally is being built (they just got lights by the airport and an ex-ray machine was also JUST installed there – yikes!) Anyway I will take and post pictures of ‘Juba town’ soon…but its fascinating. 

There are streets, a few paved, but mostly dirt with huge potholes and no street signs or even names for the streets (its leaving me a bit disoriented).  Some people drive on the right, some on the left, some cars have steering wheels on the left, some on the right, and a zillion motor-cycles which they call boda-bodas.  There are no rules.  It is a bit chaotic. 

Also of peculiar nterest...I needed to buy another phone (my ‘global’ phone wasn’t working, but now it is, but its best to have 2 here).  However, none of the phone manufacturers will sell real phones in South Sudan, there are only Chinese imitations that you buy literally in a black market.  Think phone brands like 'Mokia', 'Sansumg' and the luxury brand, 'Porsche'.  So I went with my South Sudanese colleague (because I tried to buy one the day before but the vendor refused to sell to me) to an open air market where he bargained in Arabic and SUCCESS!!  I got a phone that is half in Arabic, half in Chinese, with a crooked screen, a 2 hour battery life, and the whole thing vibrates when you use it.  It will probably break in 3 days.