Sudan

[nwhyte]

Well, I have very nearly caught up with myself after my 17-day trip which included five countries, five hotels and three overnight flights. I can't write much here about the actual trip to Juba, but I can share with you some of the photographs I took (below the cut):

Comments

[annafdd]

What amazes me is not the lizard, it's the fact that the electric outlet is British. I don't know what I expected, continental plug maybe?

[yiskah]

They actually have a mixture of the two in Sudan (continental and British), but more modern buildings seem to verge towards the British system.

[nwhyte]

Sudan is a former British colony, as are neighbouring Uganda and Kenya which supply the city of Juba. Having said that, inside the hotel rooms the sockets were ingeniously designed so that three-rectangular-pin British, two-round-pin European, and two-thin-pin American plugs could all be used.

[tortoise]

I'm surprised that it's possible to make a socket that accommodates American plugs as well as British/European ones; do you know if there's something clever they do to get around the voltage difference, or are you just supposed to hope you don't fry anything?

[nwhyte]

The latter, I suspect!

UK sockets and plugs

[ext_4434703]

Besides the very convenient off-on switch that is incorporated into the sockets pictured (not all UK sockets have switches), the main safety feature of the UK system is built into the UK standard plugs, which all have a fuse. The capacity of the fuse is chosen for the appliance attached to it, and would cut off the current in an overload situation, and a short circuit.

So, if you dropped a hair dryer into a British bathtub, there would be a brief flash at the plug - then nothing.
In the States, you might be dead!

[annafdd]

Yes, that was what I realized looking at the picture. Of course I should have known it, among other things because my own Amnesty International group was specifically tasked with bringing Sudan to the attention of the mostly totally indifferent Italian public, so that I should know more about Sudan than most. (In those days, Sudan's wars and demographics and ethnical makeup were not fashionable, and our efforts were met with resounding indifference, apart from the memorable small meeting we organized in the town hall, which turned out to attract every Sudanese in Padua, who then thanked us for this unprecedented recognition of their often incredibly tragic past.)

For me, the British plug is still a weird, noticeable thing, in its bulk and with its very British safety switch both comical and tender. It represents the unlovely but civic-minded look of many things British. Recognizing it as a mark of past colonialism is... well, it made me pause.

[matgb]

The thing that got to me was that that plug design wasn't introduced until the late 40s and wasn't widespread at all for ages after that (my grandparents finally re-wired in the 70s and their house was built after the new plug was introduced).

And I'm told a lot of former Empire countries kept the old British standard plug arrangement. So seeing the current silly UK one with inbuilt safety and stuff seemed wrong, somehow.

And yes, I also took more notice of the plug than the lizard...

[annafdd]

I think a socket that could accomodate British, Continental, Continental-German, and probably Weird Shit Scandinavian plugs would be a DAMN JOLLY GOOD IDEA.

Just sayin'.

[annafdd]

I'm (being Finnish) pretty certain German and Scandinavian are exactly the same thing. But other than that, yes, this.

plugs

[zdover]

This may seem a terrible, off-topic question from a neophyte world traveller, but which pin configuration do you enjoy most?

Re: plugs

[saare_snowqueen]

The one where-ever I happen to be at the moment.

Re: plugs

[nwhyte]

I'm a Euro-chauvinist on this one. Despite having grown up with the British version, I now agree with annafdd about its weirdness, and the American one seems flimsy - and for such a wimpy voltage too!

Re: plugs

[zdover]

I'm a Euro-chauvinist on this one too, though I have to confess that I've only used a British plug once, in Heathrow, so I really can't talk with any authority about the ins and outs of British plugs.

I'm American, born in North America, and I've always been irritated at how easy it is to pull out cords in America. Living in Europe was a revelation, electronic-plugically speaking.

I agree about the crummy 110V in North America. What the hell?

[ceemage]

My brain is obviously wired in the same weird way as yours, as that was the same thing I noticed first. (You do realise "weird" is a compliment around these parts, yes?)

[annafdd]

Yes. I am about 75% certified nerd.