Tuesday,
30 January 2018
Ghardaïa-Sétif; Sétif-Djémila via El Eulma; Djémila-El Eulma; El Eulma-Batna; Batna-Timgad
We
reached Sétif just after 06:00 and yes, it was
pretty cold and doubly so because it was still very early in the morning and
because the city is in the highlands. When we disembarked, the conductor showed
us to a man who was also heading for Djémila and we
followed him through the bus terminal to the platform from where the buses to Djémila
would depart from. As we wanted to use the bathroom and perform prayers first,
we informed him so. A young man who spoke English appeared out of nowhere and
chatted us up. We told him we wanted to perform prayers and he led us back into
the terminal (it’s a pretty big terminal) but alas, while there’s a prayer room
for men, there’s no prayer room for women. I finally performed prayers in front
of the washroom. The man manning the bathroom fee waived us the fee when he
found we didn’t have any small change. Thank you, kind sir.
We went out again into the frigid morning and
after 15 minutes, the next coach to Djémila arrived. We put our bags into the
storage area at the rear of the coach and went in. The ticket cost 90 dinar. It
took an hour to reach El Eulma, which is the second largest city in the Sétif Province, and another 45 minutes
before we reached Djémila. It turned out to be well-timed as the Djémila
Roman Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had just opened for the day. We paid
100 dinar each for the tickets and asked the ticket man if we could store our bags in his office. He
agreed and I quickly took the opportunity to freshen up while waiting for the
guide to arrive and the municipal police to take our details down. The guide
showed up within minutes and he took us around the site. The site I must say
that I’m very glad we went there and didn’t listen to Nadjib and Faisal. The
site was well-preserved and I had a grand time there among the ruins. After the
site, we went to the museum (ticket cost 80 dinar) which houses the mosaic
excavated and saved from the ruins. We paid the guide 900 dinar each (it costs
600 dinar/person/hour and he was with us for about 90 minutes).
We collected our bags and the
friendly police showed us where to get the bus (which we already knew as that
was where we got down earlier) and boarded the bus to El Eulma (ticket cost 50
dinar). We had decided we would try catch a bus to Batna from El Eulma instead
of returning all the way back to Sétif. The journey back was slow as the driver
drove slowly to wait for and pick up passengers so we only reached El Eulma at
noon. From El Eulma, we caught a bus to Batna. I reasoned with CT that it would
be better to go to Batna and on to Timgad from El Eulma instead of going north
to Constantine and then go south again to Batna and Timgad.
I was not impressed with the bus
station at El Eulma. It was dusty and basic. A man showed us the platform for
the bus to Batna and the coach pulled up shortly. It took a while to reach
Batna (we did pay 200 dinar each which I thought was quite steep). El Eulma is
an industrial city from what I observed.
We were dropped at the new bus
station in Batna and to get to Timgad, it turned out we had to take another city
bus to the old bus station. Boy, what a day of getting up and down buses and
coasters with our bags! The bus ticket cost 25 dinar and we just about managed
to catch the bus to Timgad which cost us 70 dinar each. Batna produces ceramic,
tiles and marble from what I saw.
We finally reached Timgad at a
quarter to 5 and were immediately accosted by the police. They asked for our
passports and why we were visiting Timgad, where we were staying and so on. They
spoke French and Arabic and no English while we could only speak English and no
French nor Arabic. They seemed almost offended that we couldn’t speak French
and indicated that we should know how to speak the language. Well, sir, does
that mean I have to know Russian before I’m able to visit Russia? Do I have to
know German or Italy or Spanish before I could ever visit those countries? It
had been a long day and I was starting to get downright pissed. They also
wondered why we didn’t have a visa and we explained that Malaysians do not need
visa to enter Algeria. Heck, if we had, surely we would not have been cleared
by the immigration back in Algiers! Idiots! I told them they were wasting our
time and delaying our visit then stalked off and walked to the site to
determine the operating hours. Well, it was closing then. Bloody, bloody hell!
One of the policemen then ‘escorted’
us to a nearby hotel (I only realised it was a hostel when we were led to a
dormitory of six beds). We asked for a double room but either the police or the
hotel staff didn’t understand us or there was no double room at the hostel. We also
repeatedly asked for our passports back but we were told we would only get it
the following morning. So when the hotel staff asked us for payment for our
beds, we told him we would pay when we check out the next morning. Payment in
exchange for return of passport. The common bathroom for women was just nearby
but when I checked, there was no water. The hotel staff said he would turn the
water supply on shortly so in the meantime, I went down and used the bathroom near
the dining area. I then performed prayers.
Right after I finished performing
prayers, there was a knock on the door. The same annoying policeman was there
with a girl. She said hi and spoke haltingly in English with us. We asked if
she was also forced to spend the night at the hostel but she didn’t understand
us, instead saying she was staying with her family. She asked us many questions:
what were we doing there, what were our jobs, and even if we were Muslims (and I
was still sitting on my prayer mat!). I said yes, of course, and she asked me
to recite Al-Fatihah. Seriously, WTF. I didn’t have to prove to you or anyone I’m
a Muslim. Why, would they turn away non-Muslims? Moron. When she left, CT told
me she suspected the girl was sent to spy on us. When I went down to get some
water from the water dispenser, the girl was at the lobby and asked me what my
occupation was. I pretended I didn’t hear her. What business is it to you what I
do?
The water supply was finally
restored so we went to shower (the water was a very small trickle). We had
light dinner in the room. We were resting when there was a knock again and
before we could say anything, the door opened and the same annoying girl was
there. CT was patient enough to talk to her but I just ignored her. When she
asked if there was something wrong, I said, yes, you’re bothering me. She then
left and we quickly locked the door. When I went to the bathroom, I was not
happy to find the water supply had been turned off again.
Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Timgad-Batna; Batna-Constantine; Constantine-Algiers
I woke up and to my dismay, found
there was no water in the common bathroom. I then went down to the bathroom
downstairs to perform ablutions and freshen up. We left after a simple
breakfast in the room and went down to pay for our beds (500 dinar each). Passports
back in our hands, we walked to Timgad Roman Ruins, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. We paid
100 dinar for the entrance and just like in Djémila, asked
if we could store our bags at the ticket office. The ruins here are not as well-preserved
as Djémila. We spent about an hour there.
When
we left, we had to go through yet another check by a new set of policemen. The one
examining my passport wondered aloud why I didn’t have a visa for Algeria when I
had to have one for Uzbekistan. Well, that is not something I could answer. Maybe
having an Algerian visa would have made our trip smoother but why should we get
one when we are not required to? CT was subjected to even more questions.
We
then wheeled our bags to where we were dropped off the evening before and
before long, a coaster for Batna came by (70 dinar). We were lucky we boarded
the coaster when we did because at the next stop, a lot of people got on and filled
up the coaster. We were then on our merry way back to Batna and at Batna, we
had to get down and board the city bus to the new bus station for inter-city buses.
We arrived in time to buy bus tickets for the 12:20 bus to Constantine (240
dinar). The journey took about two hours and we reached Constantine, a city
which I had originally planned for but which I was prepared to forgo in case we
ran out of time.
After
purchasing the 23:00 bus ticket to Algiers, we stored our bags and went to the
prayer room. We had to pay 20 dinar to use the bathroom to perform ablutions
but found the prayer room locked (the bathroom was locked too and we had to ask
a chap to open it up). The same chap made some gestures and we were directed
back to the bus terminal. Finally, some policemen noticed us and we ended up
performing prayers in their office. And that’s the difference between Djémila and Constantine police compared to those in Timgad.
After
performing prayers, we thanked the police officers and set off for the city
centre. Constantine is also known as the City of Bridges due to the numerous
picturesque bridges connecting the mountains the city is built on. We developed
more calf and leg muscles walking up and down the city heading to the city
centre and I must say, I’m glad we did that because it was worth it. There are
many beautiful colonial buildings in Constantine and well, I love buildings, be
them ruins, colonial or beautiful buildings that look like cakes. We even
checked out the local market and were accosted by the local lads who wanted us
to take pictures of them. I’m glad they are gainfully employed instead of
loafing their time twiddling their thumbs! One of them though followed me around and repeatedly asked if I could give him a kiss.
At the market. These lads looked like they could easily belong in a boy band too!
We
wanted to perform prayers but neither Ibis nor Novotel had prayer rooms. We were
advised to go to a mosque and I asked if women could enter. The Novotel hotel
staff said yes but when we got there, we found that women are not allowed in. We
were deciding what to do when a guy asked us in English and said he would ask
the imam if we could perform prayers. I know it’s a different country with its
own culture and customs but having women pray in mosques is not such an alien
concept surely. We could perform prayers at Masjidil Haram and Masijid Nabawi after
all so why not in mosques in Algeria eh?
We
had dinner at a small place selling ‘Tunisian Chapati’ and the men running the
shop were so friendly and wanted to know more about us and where we came from. They
didn’t understand when we asked where we could take a bus back to the station
so we trudged back to the station. There was a beautiful full moon (which I later
found was blood moon) overhead.
We
were greeted by a police officer when we reached the station building and he
told us to sit nearby where he could see us. I looked around and saw that we
were the only females in the building so that could be the reason why he wanted
to keep us close. It was surprisingly cold in the station and we were soon
shivering. CT had the Turkish Airlines blanket so she wrapped it around her. After
a while, the police officer came out with a blanket which he draped around me. He
also asked us to connect with him on FB. What a friendly guy, so unlike the boring
gruff police in Timgad just the day before!
A
couple of other official-looking men then came and asked us to board the bus. It
was barely 22:15 then and I was not happy as I was reading and wanted to make
progress. I insisted to CT that we use the washroom first and we did exactly
that before boarding the bus. Oh, the bus only left at 23:00 btw.
To
be continued
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