Hello,
So this is it then, 2 months of brutality, slogging it the length of Africa followed by a little bit of work! It's been fun, but I feel exhausted and don't really know if i'll cope with the madness of Uni life. I have been told off for making it appear like i'm just partying in SA, so i'll do my best to make it look as if we have behaved otherwise!
Anyway, continuing from where I left off, we headed to cape town on the luxury, overnight greyhound.The journey was broken briefly at midnight for me and Martyn to sing happy birthday in recognition of Nick's 21st, but asides from that we just crashed out.
Cape Town is a beautiful city, and the first day was a beautiful, sunkissed, heat fest. We checked into our Hostel, Ashanti, and grabbed Geoff. Heading out into the sunshine we took the opportunity to head up the looming presence that is Table Mountain. The views were immense both from the summit and the cable car, and I was having a lovely time until someone suggested absailing down the side of the mountain! Somehow I survived this madness and after quaffing a couple of cokes each in celebration at still being alive, we headed down to celebrate Nico's birthday in style. A good night on Long Street was had by all, in spite of my managing to lose half the group and wandering into the blackest, roughest club in in the Western Cape with an extremely blonde companion in Candice. Naturally we were accepted and loved by all, further enhancing my opinion the black Saffas are generally nicer than whites.
The next day was another scorcher, so we grabbed more Marine Biologists and headed to the cricket for a bit of Pakistan v Bangladesh. It was a pretty good game and we managed to get a lot of chat going on with the dancers. For our Thursday evenings entertainment we headed to Ignite, in Camp's Bay, for what has been described to me by every Saffa I've met as the best night immaginable. It didn't disappoint as, after bribing the door staff to over look our scruffy trainers and lack of 21 year olds, we found ourselves at the international launch party for Gucci sunglasses shmoozing with the beautiful people of Cape Town.
Friday saw us hitting the markets and generally having a bit of a mince around Cape Town in the morning before heading to Stellenbosch in the afternoon for some lovely wine tasting and chilled out studenty times watching bands at the uni bars. We stayed at a friend's in Stell, and I managed to get properly scared as, hearing noises by the door from my bed in the living room, I wandered up to have a look out of the window and found a rather large fellow attempting to break in. He ran away, while I hid in the double bed with Geoff and Eric. The next morning we caught the train back to cape town, with poverty winning over safety, and managed to avoid being robbed/stabbed/thrown off the train by being the rowdiest people on there and generally scaring the good people of the cape. To be honest I don't think its as dangerous as people make out, but apparently 5 white boys shouldn't get the train, ever. Saturday was the semi-finals day in the 20/20 cricket so we headed down for yet another Pakistan game at Newlands this time wearing faux Mexican moustaches. We looked damn cool. The game was good and aside from a little bit of rain, the mexicans had a great time.
The next day saw us head down the cape to Simon's Town, where we watched whales from the beach and hung out with the epic African Penguins. We also had lunch at the epic Cape to Cuba, possibly my favourite restaurant in the World ever, before heading back into Cape Town for the Sunday markets and to watch TV.
Monday was heritage day in Safa so we took advantage of the free museums to take in the national gallery, the South Africa museum, the slave lodge and of course the aquarium.
I now realise the problem with trying to write a blog 2 weeks after events occur as I can't actually remember what we did on the tuesday, but i'm sure it was amazing!
Since then we have been on our fieldcourse (the entire reason I came out here apparently). Which had entailed days hanging out bird watching in the lagoon, doing studies on rocky shore species such as the Mediterranian mussel or a type of Whelk that I can't remember the name of, creating studies for Cape weaver birds, counting springbok, watching zebras, fighting toroises against each other and playing cricket every free momment of time we could get.
The showers were cold and the accomodation pretty basic but the food was outrageously good and plentiful, so much so in fact thatwe've all put on around 3 kilos in a week!
"The lads", as our lecturers call us, had a fantastic time working hard on a critically aclaimed study on whether the Cape Weaver female prefers older or newer nests (result of which is we are 85% sure it makes no difference if the nest is old, but hey the marks are in the process, not in the result, these are wild animals don't ya know) and the highlight of the week was our group dominating everyone else on the course in the Marine Biology/South African general knowledge quiz! (I'm pretty sure they all thought we were gonna come last and have to clean the vans, instead of which we walked away showered in glory!)
We got back to Kaapstad yesterday and all died of exhaustion within around 3 hours. Boredom is rapidly settling in and with it the freying of tempers and to be honest I would rather like to fly now! Hope everyone has enjoyed my Blog!
LOL
Jx
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Monday, 17 September 2007
Jeffery's Bay, September 17th
Howdy,
Tomorrow will be my last day/night of travelling as we're going to travel in style on the luxury overnight Greyhound bus to Cape Town for Marine Biology related madness/the 20twenty cricket semi-final/going to see the penguin colony (work is secondary to play, obviously).
In my last blog I mentioned that me and Nick were staying at Tekweni, with its reputation as something of a Party place, and this nearly proved to be our downfall.
After leaving the Internet cafe we headed straight to Spider surfboards to collect Nick's rather flash custom boards and since the prices were disgustingly cheap I found myself parting with 50 quid for a second hand, (it's in very good condition) 6'9", monster of a board! Duane at this point proved himself to be more then just a legend for giving us a lift as he threw in free fins, leashes, bags, wax and most importantly T-shirts!
Once back at Tekweni, and having packed for our 7am bus to Coffee Bay, we hit the bar. At some point, I'm not sure when, Nick pretty much passed out and was led up to bed, while I continued the night with some German girls and another lad from Bristol. We ended up at Casablanca club which was rammed with a combination of Durbaners and hookers. The moment that summed up the night was when, (having been informed it was the best drink to get) I asked a bar girl for a ZB at which point she recoiled in shock and told me that she wasn't a hooker, but the other bar girl would be able to take care of my needs. She looked pretty disgusted, even after laughing at me while she got me a Castle, so I'm interested to know what I actually asked for!
Getting home after 4 when you know there is a bus to be caught at 7 is probably not the smartest idea and me and Nick seemed to be the only ones surprised that we slept through both alarms and woke up at the annoying time of 6.55, just too late to have any chance of making the Greyhound. Naturally we paid for another night, booked on to the bus for the next day (no extra charge, Legends!) and went back to bed.
Surfacing at around 11 I was greeted with a general chorus of "you're still here?" Which really improved my mood, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the 20/twenty world cup was in town! I woke up Nick and we wandered down the road to Kingsmead, stopping to pick up Wimpy burgers on the way. The cricket was awesome! It was the first day of sun I had experienced in South Africa and as we supped a few castles interspersed by the occasional bottle of water, Scotland and Pakistan put on a great display of batting with sixes flying everywhere. All this cost one pound sixty, while the beers set us back an extortionate 60p a pop!
The day of sport continued back at Tekweni as we watched Fiji-Japan in the rugby, Zimbabwe devastating Australia in the cricket and finally England's masterful dismantling of Russia in the footie, good times!
After receiving assurances of wake up calls from assorted well wishers, staff members and our dorm mates, we felt secure enough to hit the town again and this we did in the shape of Durban's "80's bar", probably the only 80's bar in the world not to play any music from the decade after which it is named. An exclusively white middle class crowd were extremely welcoming to our English/Welshness (I have got into so much trouble for replying that we're from England without thinking!) and after teaching some girls how to do gas chambers and the robot we managed to secure a lift back to the hostel. We definitely didn't have enough money for a cab, and it was a long, dangerous walk!
The next day we slept through our alarms yet again, but thankfully our Irish dorm mate was on the ball enough to wake us at 6.30 and we scrambled on to the greyhound just in time and promptly fell asleep in our huge seats. We both woke up on and off through the journey, mainly to scarf free drinks, admire the scenery of the Tran-Skei and to watch the epic "kids in America." (It's a little pretentious, but very watchable which has almost nothing to do with a very attractive cast) We got to the biggest dive in South Africa Umthatha and were met by Coffee Shack representatives with whom we waited for the Baz bus contingent. (You wouldn't see me within 20 miles of that thing, but hey if you're scared of public transport and have enough money to waste on a minibus charging double the price...)
Coffee shack itself is a lovely hostel in rural coffee bay surrounded on one side by the sea and by the epic rolling hills of the Tran-Skei on the other. It is over-rated. Hugely. We spent our first day at coffee bay catching up with Jordi, chilling out and just enjoying the view, playing pool and also getting washing done. The next day we got up early and spent the morning trying out the new boards, while pretending to see sharks before hitting the showers for at least 45 minutes to an hour, a disgraceful misuse of hot water. In the evening we headed to a Xhosa village (Yes they are the people who talk in clicks,for example thank you is N'Click'Gosi and beer was something barely intelligible) where we watched some cool tribal dancing, ate delicious Xhosa food and chatted to the villagers, all done on a brutal time limit because everyone wanted to watch the rugby. We probably should have stayed in the village.
The rugby was rubbish! We watched the game in a bar surrounded by Saffa Farmers (I say surrounded there were far more English than Saffa, but we seemed to be in the thick of the home fans) and I headed back to bed in disgust while Nick stayed at the bar for a bit.
The next day we some how managed to get a bus, no thanks to the coffee shack staff who basically didn't want anyone to leave so they would keep adding to their tab, which is the most annoying thing to have hanging over your head, and eventually arrived late night in the surfing mecca of Jeffery's Bay.
J' Bay is sublime. We woke up in surfpackers hostel to glorious sunshine and being jumped on by our good buddy Martyn fresh from the beautiful UK summer. The waves were pretty good as well and so while Nick headed out to the 10ft waves at Supertubes in J' Bay proper me and Martyn set up camp at the newly christened "MJ' Bay" where we devestated waves in the category of 2-3ft and on shore. For some reason we had the whole place to ourselves... We cooked an epic meal of Bunny Chow for lunch and then headed back out to the waves before crashing out after a hard days play.
This morning we got up and hit the factory outlets of all the major surf companies, each leaving with our wallets lightened, though not that much as the strength of the pound makes Billabong jeans, Quiksilver hoodies and Reef shoes all under a tenner. (I may know these prices because I am now the proud owner of the aforementioned items...) Shopped out, this afternoon we hit the waves again, myself and Martyn once more enjoying tiny waves while Nick and our roommate Dave the German bossed it with the pros. We then had a group hot water session in the barrel shower, which is totally not gay! Then this evening we have eaten the lushness that is sweet and sour sausages before chilling on the beach watching bio luminescent plankton and shooting stars. It's been lovely.
Tomorrow the boys are going to do the World's highest bungee jump. I no longer have the funds to join them and that's the only reason I'm not going. Honest. Then more wave riding action will be had before we say goodbye to J' Bay and hello to the bright lights of Cape Town.
That's it then for journeys, I reckon it must be over 10,000 miles and all on public transport, some good, some horrendous, but at least the last one will be in style!
LOL
Jx
Tomorrow will be my last day/night of travelling as we're going to travel in style on the luxury overnight Greyhound bus to Cape Town for Marine Biology related madness/the 20twenty cricket semi-final/going to see the penguin colony (work is secondary to play, obviously).
In my last blog I mentioned that me and Nick were staying at Tekweni, with its reputation as something of a Party place, and this nearly proved to be our downfall.
After leaving the Internet cafe we headed straight to Spider surfboards to collect Nick's rather flash custom boards and since the prices were disgustingly cheap I found myself parting with 50 quid for a second hand, (it's in very good condition) 6'9", monster of a board! Duane at this point proved himself to be more then just a legend for giving us a lift as he threw in free fins, leashes, bags, wax and most importantly T-shirts!
Once back at Tekweni, and having packed for our 7am bus to Coffee Bay, we hit the bar. At some point, I'm not sure when, Nick pretty much passed out and was led up to bed, while I continued the night with some German girls and another lad from Bristol. We ended up at Casablanca club which was rammed with a combination of Durbaners and hookers. The moment that summed up the night was when, (having been informed it was the best drink to get) I asked a bar girl for a ZB at which point she recoiled in shock and told me that she wasn't a hooker, but the other bar girl would be able to take care of my needs. She looked pretty disgusted, even after laughing at me while she got me a Castle, so I'm interested to know what I actually asked for!
Getting home after 4 when you know there is a bus to be caught at 7 is probably not the smartest idea and me and Nick seemed to be the only ones surprised that we slept through both alarms and woke up at the annoying time of 6.55, just too late to have any chance of making the Greyhound. Naturally we paid for another night, booked on to the bus for the next day (no extra charge, Legends!) and went back to bed.
Surfacing at around 11 I was greeted with a general chorus of "you're still here?" Which really improved my mood, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the 20/twenty world cup was in town! I woke up Nick and we wandered down the road to Kingsmead, stopping to pick up Wimpy burgers on the way. The cricket was awesome! It was the first day of sun I had experienced in South Africa and as we supped a few castles interspersed by the occasional bottle of water, Scotland and Pakistan put on a great display of batting with sixes flying everywhere. All this cost one pound sixty, while the beers set us back an extortionate 60p a pop!
The day of sport continued back at Tekweni as we watched Fiji-Japan in the rugby, Zimbabwe devastating Australia in the cricket and finally England's masterful dismantling of Russia in the footie, good times!
After receiving assurances of wake up calls from assorted well wishers, staff members and our dorm mates, we felt secure enough to hit the town again and this we did in the shape of Durban's "80's bar", probably the only 80's bar in the world not to play any music from the decade after which it is named. An exclusively white middle class crowd were extremely welcoming to our English/Welshness (I have got into so much trouble for replying that we're from England without thinking!) and after teaching some girls how to do gas chambers and the robot we managed to secure a lift back to the hostel. We definitely didn't have enough money for a cab, and it was a long, dangerous walk!
The next day we slept through our alarms yet again, but thankfully our Irish dorm mate was on the ball enough to wake us at 6.30 and we scrambled on to the greyhound just in time and promptly fell asleep in our huge seats. We both woke up on and off through the journey, mainly to scarf free drinks, admire the scenery of the Tran-Skei and to watch the epic "kids in America." (It's a little pretentious, but very watchable which has almost nothing to do with a very attractive cast) We got to the biggest dive in South Africa Umthatha and were met by Coffee Shack representatives with whom we waited for the Baz bus contingent. (You wouldn't see me within 20 miles of that thing, but hey if you're scared of public transport and have enough money to waste on a minibus charging double the price...)
Coffee shack itself is a lovely hostel in rural coffee bay surrounded on one side by the sea and by the epic rolling hills of the Tran-Skei on the other. It is over-rated. Hugely. We spent our first day at coffee bay catching up with Jordi, chilling out and just enjoying the view, playing pool and also getting washing done. The next day we got up early and spent the morning trying out the new boards, while pretending to see sharks before hitting the showers for at least 45 minutes to an hour, a disgraceful misuse of hot water. In the evening we headed to a Xhosa village (Yes they are the people who talk in clicks,for example thank you is N'Click'Gosi and beer was something barely intelligible) where we watched some cool tribal dancing, ate delicious Xhosa food and chatted to the villagers, all done on a brutal time limit because everyone wanted to watch the rugby. We probably should have stayed in the village.
The rugby was rubbish! We watched the game in a bar surrounded by Saffa Farmers (I say surrounded there were far more English than Saffa, but we seemed to be in the thick of the home fans) and I headed back to bed in disgust while Nick stayed at the bar for a bit.
The next day we some how managed to get a bus, no thanks to the coffee shack staff who basically didn't want anyone to leave so they would keep adding to their tab, which is the most annoying thing to have hanging over your head, and eventually arrived late night in the surfing mecca of Jeffery's Bay.
J' Bay is sublime. We woke up in surfpackers hostel to glorious sunshine and being jumped on by our good buddy Martyn fresh from the beautiful UK summer. The waves were pretty good as well and so while Nick headed out to the 10ft waves at Supertubes in J' Bay proper me and Martyn set up camp at the newly christened "MJ' Bay" where we devestated waves in the category of 2-3ft and on shore. For some reason we had the whole place to ourselves... We cooked an epic meal of Bunny Chow for lunch and then headed back out to the waves before crashing out after a hard days play.
This morning we got up and hit the factory outlets of all the major surf companies, each leaving with our wallets lightened, though not that much as the strength of the pound makes Billabong jeans, Quiksilver hoodies and Reef shoes all under a tenner. (I may know these prices because I am now the proud owner of the aforementioned items...) Shopped out, this afternoon we hit the waves again, myself and Martyn once more enjoying tiny waves while Nick and our roommate Dave the German bossed it with the pros. We then had a group hot water session in the barrel shower, which is totally not gay! Then this evening we have eaten the lushness that is sweet and sour sausages before chilling on the beach watching bio luminescent plankton and shooting stars. It's been lovely.
Tomorrow the boys are going to do the World's highest bungee jump. I no longer have the funds to join them and that's the only reason I'm not going. Honest. Then more wave riding action will be had before we say goodbye to J' Bay and hello to the bright lights of Cape Town.
That's it then for journeys, I reckon it must be over 10,000 miles and all on public transport, some good, some horrendous, but at least the last one will be in style!
LOL
Jx
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Durban, September 11th
Hello,
So we haven't actually left Durban, but hey it's been pretty chilled! I am in fact writing at the same computer, in the same net cafe, in downtown Durban.
The last 5 days have been an action packed roller coaster of spending and frankly all concept of a budget has gone out the window. Me and Jordan spent a happy day wandering around Durban, taking in the Indian Market on Victoria street, assorted shopping centres and the town hall, before emerging out onto the beach front and hitting up the massive new sea world at Ushaka theme park. We spent the afternoon watching penguins, turtles and ragged tooth sharks being fed and generally had fun looking around the vast underwater world! As a result of the park being so good we were late back to the hostel where we met a thoroughly unimpressed Nick.
The next day we took it easy, rising around 11, before heading into Durban so Nick could have a look around. A good day was had by all and we ended up at Safari surfboards, the factory of Spider Surfboards and while Nick was ordering custom made boards I even met legendary shaper Spider Murphy(?) himself, apparently he is famous... Thanks has to go to Duane (doo-ann if you are Welsh and can't read) from Safari who gave us a lift 30km out of town, as we were not exactly looking forward to trying to find a taxi in central Durban after nightfall
Arriving back at the hostel we had the first of many Braiis and cooked up a storm with Boerwurst being the choice of meat, before hitting the hay in anticipation of a great few days diving on Aliwal shoal.
At dive fever Nick and Jordan had elected to take their open water dive courses, while I decided to take my Nitrox and Rescue diver conversion courses. This I did not realise involved a lot of workbooks so while the others splashed about in the pool, I sat and did dive table calculations or basic first aid questions. Eventually I was allowed to join the others in the pool, only to discover it was freezing! That night not feeling like cooking, we had a healthy meal of biscuits, chips, burgers, chocolate, crisps and for some reason salad. It was delicious and I'm not even sorry!
More diving adventures were scheduled for the next day and we all took the opportunity to hit the ocean proper. I wasn't really awake for my first dive at 7am, but despite shocking visibility (it was like diving in England, only with fish present) I saw the awesomness of a 3 metre ragged tooth shark along with copious other aquatic wildlife, including turtles, huge brindlebass and more aggressive clown fish; Finding Nemo could well be the most misleading film of all time as the angry little hermaphrodites go for you if you get anywhere near them. The second dive was again epic with plenty of fish and cool looking rock formations around, but the water is really, really cold out here!
Nick and Jordan also had an awesome day, seeing ragged tooth sharks, dolphins, flying fish, clown fish and too many amazing fish to list! They also managed to complete all of their open water sea skills in one day leaving them one fun dive the next day, I could accompany them on to get my Rescue conversion and some laps of the pool for punishment against mistakes made over the course. That night we all slept well and dreamed of fish...
Bright and breezy we again wandered in to Dive Fever, not really knowing what was going on, but we were soon woken up by the awesome boat journey on which we saw flying fish, minkie whales and even got within 5 metres of southern right whales before they swam under the boat. Eventually we made it to the shoal and despite the dive instructor's assurances to Jordi that it was the wrong time of year to see Manta Rays, we dived down straight onto four huge specimens! The ensuing dive was a fourty minute ocean Safari with a massive profusion of fish, lobsters, nudibranchs, moray eels and most other aquatic species present. After I did my rescue qualifications we raced our rib across to
a tiger shark feeding boat and despite certain people being more than a little afraid, because aparently bright fins attract the sharks! We had a snorkel with lots of dusky and blacktip sharks which also are attracted by the bait. We headed back satisfied and all passed our respective exams first time before a large celebratory braii to end our time at Blue Sky Minning Backpackers.
Me and Nick are currently staying in the Florida district of Durban, at the "party hostel of South Africa," Tekweni, in order to pick up the surfboards and 20/20 world cup semi-final tickets!! While Jordi is heading down the coast to our next stop Coffee bay where hopefully we will rendevouz tommorow!
LOL
Jx
So we haven't actually left Durban, but hey it's been pretty chilled! I am in fact writing at the same computer, in the same net cafe, in downtown Durban.
The last 5 days have been an action packed roller coaster of spending and frankly all concept of a budget has gone out the window. Me and Jordan spent a happy day wandering around Durban, taking in the Indian Market on Victoria street, assorted shopping centres and the town hall, before emerging out onto the beach front and hitting up the massive new sea world at Ushaka theme park. We spent the afternoon watching penguins, turtles and ragged tooth sharks being fed and generally had fun looking around the vast underwater world! As a result of the park being so good we were late back to the hostel where we met a thoroughly unimpressed Nick.
The next day we took it easy, rising around 11, before heading into Durban so Nick could have a look around. A good day was had by all and we ended up at Safari surfboards, the factory of Spider Surfboards and while Nick was ordering custom made boards I even met legendary shaper Spider Murphy(?) himself, apparently he is famous... Thanks has to go to Duane (doo-ann if you are Welsh and can't read) from Safari who gave us a lift 30km out of town, as we were not exactly looking forward to trying to find a taxi in central Durban after nightfall
Arriving back at the hostel we had the first of many Braiis and cooked up a storm with Boerwurst being the choice of meat, before hitting the hay in anticipation of a great few days diving on Aliwal shoal.
At dive fever Nick and Jordan had elected to take their open water dive courses, while I decided to take my Nitrox and Rescue diver conversion courses. This I did not realise involved a lot of workbooks so while the others splashed about in the pool, I sat and did dive table calculations or basic first aid questions. Eventually I was allowed to join the others in the pool, only to discover it was freezing! That night not feeling like cooking, we had a healthy meal of biscuits, chips, burgers, chocolate, crisps and for some reason salad. It was delicious and I'm not even sorry!
More diving adventures were scheduled for the next day and we all took the opportunity to hit the ocean proper. I wasn't really awake for my first dive at 7am, but despite shocking visibility (it was like diving in England, only with fish present) I saw the awesomness of a 3 metre ragged tooth shark along with copious other aquatic wildlife, including turtles, huge brindlebass and more aggressive clown fish; Finding Nemo could well be the most misleading film of all time as the angry little hermaphrodites go for you if you get anywhere near them. The second dive was again epic with plenty of fish and cool looking rock formations around, but the water is really, really cold out here!
Nick and Jordan also had an awesome day, seeing ragged tooth sharks, dolphins, flying fish, clown fish and too many amazing fish to list! They also managed to complete all of their open water sea skills in one day leaving them one fun dive the next day, I could accompany them on to get my Rescue conversion and some laps of the pool for punishment against mistakes made over the course. That night we all slept well and dreamed of fish...
Bright and breezy we again wandered in to Dive Fever, not really knowing what was going on, but we were soon woken up by the awesome boat journey on which we saw flying fish, minkie whales and even got within 5 metres of southern right whales before they swam under the boat. Eventually we made it to the shoal and despite the dive instructor's assurances to Jordi that it was the wrong time of year to see Manta Rays, we dived down straight onto four huge specimens! The ensuing dive was a fourty minute ocean Safari with a massive profusion of fish, lobsters, nudibranchs, moray eels and most other aquatic species present. After I did my rescue qualifications we raced our rib across to
a tiger shark feeding boat and despite certain people being more than a little afraid, because aparently bright fins attract the sharks! We had a snorkel with lots of dusky and blacktip sharks which also are attracted by the bait. We headed back satisfied and all passed our respective exams first time before a large celebratory braii to end our time at Blue Sky Minning Backpackers.
Me and Nick are currently staying in the Florida district of Durban, at the "party hostel of South Africa," Tekweni, in order to pick up the surfboards and 20/20 world cup semi-final tickets!! While Jordi is heading down the coast to our next stop Coffee bay where hopefully we will rendevouz tommorow!
LOL
Jx
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Durban, 6th September
Civilization at last!
When I last wrote I was hapily bumbling around Malawi, possibly the most chilled out country in the world, since when I have covered vast distances to make it to the intense seedy metropolis that is Durban. So here's how the last week went.
Leaving Lilongwe, I headed across country to Malawi's second city Blantyre where much revelry was had at Doogles Backpackers. Blantyre itself was nothing to write home about, but Doogles is a very nice hostel (with a great bar!) and I got some good advice from other travellers about Mozambique and even picked up a Belgian couple as companions for the long Journey South to Tofo.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the border by crowded minibus. For the first time on my travels I managed to secure the "death seat" next to the driver, and honour wasted on me as I slept all the way to the border. On arrival at the border my Belgian companions were shocked to discover my lack of visa and following a brief discussion it was decided that they should cross first in case I was denied entry or it took too long. As it is it was a painless 15 minute process and cost me less than half an advance visa.
The Border crossing safely negotiated we jumped in a passing truck and bombed along yet more disgraceful roads towards Tete on the banks of the Zambezi. Tete has this reputation as hell on Earth on account of the ridiculous heat (it was a cool 38 degrees centigrade when we arrived) and so a decision was taken to try and escape town as rapidly as humanly possible. LUckily the first truck we found was heading South and thanks to my bargaining skills in mongrel Portuguese/Spanish (basically Spanish but you say s as shhh, girls love it) we were given a ride by our new Mozamiquinho friend JJ. Luckier he had one of these massive trucks with Beds in the back! So we travelled in style for the rest of the day.
In the evening we stopped in the town of Chimoio for chorizo and chips washed down with Dois M lager, before heading back to the truck for some well deserved sleep. the Belgians shared the bottom bunk while it was down to me and JJ to share the top bunk.
The next morning he woke us up far to early as we arrived in Inchope, as far South as his deliveries took him and we jumped onto the first bus heading South and promptly fell asleep again. From what I remember it was a very long day and Mozambique is far too hot! That night we still had not made it to Tofo and once more found ourselves attempting to sleep on a cramped bus jus 90 kilometres from Inhambane, the turn-off for Tofo.
Arriving the next morning we clamboured aboard a Dhow, getting thuroughly soaked in the process and headed to Tofo. Tofo is amazing. Beautiful beaches with the sun shining all day long, even though it was winter, and best of all you can see Humpback whales jumping from that great viewpoint of the beach. I stayed at Fatimas and after attempting to surf in waves far to large for someone of my abilities gave up went to sunbathe and arranged some diving for the next day instead.
Diving Tofo was immense. It started amazingly with a mad boat dash out over the huge waves past 3 pods of dolphins, 4 humback whales and while we didn't see any Whale sharks (The biggest thing in the ocean), the actual diving was sublime, with huge manta rays, moray eels, reef sharks, devil rays, green turtles and an array of other (some very large) colourful fish flying around us throughout the two dives. It was so good that I decided to go again the next day, also in the vague hope of seeing the elusive whale shark!
That evening however I was corrupted by my fellow dorm mates and in spite of my numerous protestations found myself drinking an unhealthy amount of local rum which when mixed with coca-cola tasted weirdly like vanilla coke. In fairness i'm pretty sure my dorm mates were all CIA agents as they had the most ludicrous back stories I have ever heard; There was an English couple who lived on Cromwell road (does anyone even live in Bishopston any more?) and them asides it was a strange crew; there was Kelly a 6 foot 3 brunette former model for Revlon in Paris, with an Ivy-league degree in Psycology, who had decided modeling was too shallow and had joined the peace corps instead. Adel from Israel who was on Holiday from his new business bringing solar power to the people of Botswana. Ian from America who had Drama degress from universities in London, New York, Berlin and Paris and who was working as an advisor to the Mozambique government as well as doing some teaching and who had performed at the Scoop London in 2003 just like my little sister. (He was also the campest guy I have ever met and the funniest momment of the evening was when he announced that he had learnt the word for fairy in Portugeuse).
After being kicked awake on the beach by one of the dive instructors I left my companions watching the whales from our "bed" and headed to the dive centre. For once it was overcast and this minimised our chances of seeing Whale sharks or as a South African divemaster put it: "we're going to have to run the bastard over." Anyway the disappointment was short lived as I encountered yet another phenomenal dive spot on Manta reef (lots of giant fish, rock lobsters but no mantas though so why the name?) and came up afterwards in glorious sunshine no longer feeling the effects of my hangover and on the drive back we saw it, the magical whale shark shadow! We all dived in with snorkels and while it was only for a few minutes being in the water with an 8metre whale shark was amazing! The dive school does summer interships where I can get my divemaster qualification for free, in exchange for working for them, so next summer is looking good!
That evening I managed to drag myself out of bed and head to the local bar, Casa Barro, where two marine Biologists did a great talk and slideshow on the Manta Rays found in the area. they too run summer interships and so Tofo is looking like the place to be!
Another day on a bus took me to Manzini, Swaziland (apparently Base Maputo wasn't worth staying at) and after a night in a hot tiny room with no fan or mosquito net I was ready to hit South Africa! Yesterday was a pretty easy ride into Durban, but then I discovered the effects of a spiralling crime rate. I tried to get to our hostel in Warner Beach, outside Durban, by train, but was phsically stopped by some South Africans who informed me that I would definately be robbed. I then grabbed Bunny Chow for lunch, a durban specialty of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry, and while I ate the woman hid my bags so once more I wouldn't get robbed! Madness. Eventually I found a bus heading out to Warner Beach, and, despite driving through huge gated communities with signs advertising their armed security, there were still Monkeys in the trees and the woman next to me still had a chicken on her lap. TIA for sure.
Walking up the steep hill to the hostel I thought I recognised the small blonde girl sitting outside drinking Castle and I was delighted to discover I had found Jordan! She was even nice enough to pretend to be happy to see me and we have spent the day in Durban itself waiting for Nico to arrive at 2.30. Let the adventures begin!!
LOL
Jx
When I last wrote I was hapily bumbling around Malawi, possibly the most chilled out country in the world, since when I have covered vast distances to make it to the intense seedy metropolis that is Durban. So here's how the last week went.
Leaving Lilongwe, I headed across country to Malawi's second city Blantyre where much revelry was had at Doogles Backpackers. Blantyre itself was nothing to write home about, but Doogles is a very nice hostel (with a great bar!) and I got some good advice from other travellers about Mozambique and even picked up a Belgian couple as companions for the long Journey South to Tofo.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the border by crowded minibus. For the first time on my travels I managed to secure the "death seat" next to the driver, and honour wasted on me as I slept all the way to the border. On arrival at the border my Belgian companions were shocked to discover my lack of visa and following a brief discussion it was decided that they should cross first in case I was denied entry or it took too long. As it is it was a painless 15 minute process and cost me less than half an advance visa.
The Border crossing safely negotiated we jumped in a passing truck and bombed along yet more disgraceful roads towards Tete on the banks of the Zambezi. Tete has this reputation as hell on Earth on account of the ridiculous heat (it was a cool 38 degrees centigrade when we arrived) and so a decision was taken to try and escape town as rapidly as humanly possible. LUckily the first truck we found was heading South and thanks to my bargaining skills in mongrel Portuguese/Spanish (basically Spanish but you say s as shhh, girls love it) we were given a ride by our new Mozamiquinho friend JJ. Luckier he had one of these massive trucks with Beds in the back! So we travelled in style for the rest of the day.
In the evening we stopped in the town of Chimoio for chorizo and chips washed down with Dois M lager, before heading back to the truck for some well deserved sleep. the Belgians shared the bottom bunk while it was down to me and JJ to share the top bunk.
The next morning he woke us up far to early as we arrived in Inchope, as far South as his deliveries took him and we jumped onto the first bus heading South and promptly fell asleep again. From what I remember it was a very long day and Mozambique is far too hot! That night we still had not made it to Tofo and once more found ourselves attempting to sleep on a cramped bus jus 90 kilometres from Inhambane, the turn-off for Tofo.
Arriving the next morning we clamboured aboard a Dhow, getting thuroughly soaked in the process and headed to Tofo. Tofo is amazing. Beautiful beaches with the sun shining all day long, even though it was winter, and best of all you can see Humpback whales jumping from that great viewpoint of the beach. I stayed at Fatimas and after attempting to surf in waves far to large for someone of my abilities gave up went to sunbathe and arranged some diving for the next day instead.
Diving Tofo was immense. It started amazingly with a mad boat dash out over the huge waves past 3 pods of dolphins, 4 humback whales and while we didn't see any Whale sharks (The biggest thing in the ocean), the actual diving was sublime, with huge manta rays, moray eels, reef sharks, devil rays, green turtles and an array of other (some very large) colourful fish flying around us throughout the two dives. It was so good that I decided to go again the next day, also in the vague hope of seeing the elusive whale shark!
That evening however I was corrupted by my fellow dorm mates and in spite of my numerous protestations found myself drinking an unhealthy amount of local rum which when mixed with coca-cola tasted weirdly like vanilla coke. In fairness i'm pretty sure my dorm mates were all CIA agents as they had the most ludicrous back stories I have ever heard; There was an English couple who lived on Cromwell road (does anyone even live in Bishopston any more?) and them asides it was a strange crew; there was Kelly a 6 foot 3 brunette former model for Revlon in Paris, with an Ivy-league degree in Psycology, who had decided modeling was too shallow and had joined the peace corps instead. Adel from Israel who was on Holiday from his new business bringing solar power to the people of Botswana. Ian from America who had Drama degress from universities in London, New York, Berlin and Paris and who was working as an advisor to the Mozambique government as well as doing some teaching and who had performed at the Scoop London in 2003 just like my little sister. (He was also the campest guy I have ever met and the funniest momment of the evening was when he announced that he had learnt the word for fairy in Portugeuse).
After being kicked awake on the beach by one of the dive instructors I left my companions watching the whales from our "bed" and headed to the dive centre. For once it was overcast and this minimised our chances of seeing Whale sharks or as a South African divemaster put it: "we're going to have to run the bastard over." Anyway the disappointment was short lived as I encountered yet another phenomenal dive spot on Manta reef (lots of giant fish, rock lobsters but no mantas though so why the name?) and came up afterwards in glorious sunshine no longer feeling the effects of my hangover and on the drive back we saw it, the magical whale shark shadow! We all dived in with snorkels and while it was only for a few minutes being in the water with an 8metre whale shark was amazing! The dive school does summer interships where I can get my divemaster qualification for free, in exchange for working for them, so next summer is looking good!
That evening I managed to drag myself out of bed and head to the local bar, Casa Barro, where two marine Biologists did a great talk and slideshow on the Manta Rays found in the area. they too run summer interships and so Tofo is looking like the place to be!
Another day on a bus took me to Manzini, Swaziland (apparently Base Maputo wasn't worth staying at) and after a night in a hot tiny room with no fan or mosquito net I was ready to hit South Africa! Yesterday was a pretty easy ride into Durban, but then I discovered the effects of a spiralling crime rate. I tried to get to our hostel in Warner Beach, outside Durban, by train, but was phsically stopped by some South Africans who informed me that I would definately be robbed. I then grabbed Bunny Chow for lunch, a durban specialty of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry, and while I ate the woman hid my bags so once more I wouldn't get robbed! Madness. Eventually I found a bus heading out to Warner Beach, and, despite driving through huge gated communities with signs advertising their armed security, there were still Monkeys in the trees and the woman next to me still had a chicken on her lap. TIA for sure.
Walking up the steep hill to the hostel I thought I recognised the small blonde girl sitting outside drinking Castle and I was delighted to discover I had found Jordan! She was even nice enough to pretend to be happy to see me and we have spent the day in Durban itself waiting for Nico to arrive at 2.30. Let the adventures begin!!
LOL
Jx
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Lilongwe, 29th August
'bo,
(coolest African greeting. Fact)
Hope everything is going well in England? I hear it was actually sunny the other day. Also West Ham to sign Adriano? Madness.
Anyway, back to where I left off, the train from Dar to Mbeya was fun if a little slow. It was an ancient Chinese relic where nothing seemed to work, but the Tanzanians understood exactly what was necessary and I was of course upgraded from 2nd class sleeper to 1st class a/c at no extra cost. Lovely. I am however the only person ever to get sun burnt sitting on a train due to my fondness of sitting in open doors observing the local population. It doesn't help that I was wearing a sleeveless vest style top and now have some quality tan lines. My carriage companions were very friendly Zambians and after chatting for a while, I pretty much slept from nightfall 'til midday the next day, though lariam and and trains aren't a good mix as I had numerous vivid nightmares. The best one involving me lying on a car roof while another car flipped onto me and bounced off, can anyone interpret this?
Arriving in Mbeya I quickly jumped on the first bus to the border and found myself in Malawi in no time at all and headed down the lake shore to Karonga. Malawi is absolutely stunning. It is one of the poorest 5 countries in the world, yet the people are the most friendly I have come across in Africa. This was evident from the start as my fellow passengers happily chattered away to me in English and tried to teach me Chichewa. One of them, Eric, helped me find a Hotel and then we headed out into Karonga to watch the Madrid derby and munch freshly caught and fried lake fish.
Waking up early the next day I headed further down the gigantic lake to the stunning Nakhata Bay. It is incredibly beautiful and the hostel I stayed in, Mayoka Village, was probably the most idyllic location I have ever seen. The people looking after the hostel, Matt and Clare were of course from the equally idyllic Bishopston area of Bristol and much time was spent discussing home. The first day I spent snorkeling around (a German guy gave me a snorkel for free!) chasing the colourful lake fish and generally messing about on the beach with some of the large American volunteer contingent found everywhere in Malawi. I traded all my books in (except dark star safari, which is probably more useful than my lonely planet) and kicked off a new reading marathon! The evening was spent at the hotel bar drinking Carlsberg Special Brew, which sadly isn't the same as the English version, and watching movies on one of the volunteer's black MacBook. I want one. A lot.
The next day was more pure wasting, the key components being snorkeling, drinking(though not at the same time obviously) and playing Frisbee, and the weather seemed to get even better! In the late evening after drinking too much Special Brew I fell asleep in a hammock by Lake Malawi, a fitting end to my time in Nakhata Bay.
I felt very relaxed ahead of the supposed 3/5/7 hour drive to Monkey Bay. The time difference is because no one in Malawi knows how long any journey takes. I have to go to Blantyre today and that apparently will either take 3, 4 or 5 hours. It was a horrible journey for so many reasons. It took 9 hours to get within 6 hours of Monkey Bay at which point I sacked it off and came to Lilongwe instead. Sitting in the back of truck itself was nice and sunny and the views over the lake were phenomenal, but the presence of Christian missionaries, seemingly on a rotating cycle who wouldn't leave me alone or stop telling me that all Africans are sinners and need to be saved, kind of ruined the ambiance. I would now like to apologise to the poor girl, who upon being the 6th new person that day to ask me if I had heard the word of Christ, received a response along the lines of "unless that word has four letters and is followed by off, then, no I don't think I've heard it." It was very hot and a not so small child had just thrown up some pink mush all over me (I mean all over), but that doesn't excuse my flippantry. I think the kid was scared I was going to give him a beating when I dragged him off the bus, but he seemed to enjoy the full blown water fight I initiated in order to get him and me clean. He has however ruined my favourite new T-shirt, which has "white boy" in Swahili emblazoned across it.
Arriving in Lilongwe after dark I checked into a nice backpackers in the suburbs and hit the bar. This morning I had a bit of an explore, checked out the large market, ate a locust, and established that my snapped in half Visa card did work twice but then half of it got swallowed and I had to cancel it. I blame the banks for only letting you get out $40 worth of Kwacha at a time.
It is nice being back in the city, but I think I'm going to head to Mozambique tomorrow as I have a brutal schedule to keep to in order to meet Nick and Jordi in Durban a week tomorrow! The highlight of Mozambique for me should be Base Backpacker's Maputo as hopefully our notorious gap year antics at Base Auckland will have travelled the continents leading to a massive security clampdown around all walls and computer parts not bolted to the floor.
LOL
Jx
(coolest African greeting. Fact)
Hope everything is going well in England? I hear it was actually sunny the other day. Also West Ham to sign Adriano? Madness.
Anyway, back to where I left off, the train from Dar to Mbeya was fun if a little slow. It was an ancient Chinese relic where nothing seemed to work, but the Tanzanians understood exactly what was necessary and I was of course upgraded from 2nd class sleeper to 1st class a/c at no extra cost. Lovely. I am however the only person ever to get sun burnt sitting on a train due to my fondness of sitting in open doors observing the local population. It doesn't help that I was wearing a sleeveless vest style top and now have some quality tan lines. My carriage companions were very friendly Zambians and after chatting for a while, I pretty much slept from nightfall 'til midday the next day, though lariam and and trains aren't a good mix as I had numerous vivid nightmares. The best one involving me lying on a car roof while another car flipped onto me and bounced off, can anyone interpret this?
Arriving in Mbeya I quickly jumped on the first bus to the border and found myself in Malawi in no time at all and headed down the lake shore to Karonga. Malawi is absolutely stunning. It is one of the poorest 5 countries in the world, yet the people are the most friendly I have come across in Africa. This was evident from the start as my fellow passengers happily chattered away to me in English and tried to teach me Chichewa. One of them, Eric, helped me find a Hotel and then we headed out into Karonga to watch the Madrid derby and munch freshly caught and fried lake fish.
Waking up early the next day I headed further down the gigantic lake to the stunning Nakhata Bay. It is incredibly beautiful and the hostel I stayed in, Mayoka Village, was probably the most idyllic location I have ever seen. The people looking after the hostel, Matt and Clare were of course from the equally idyllic Bishopston area of Bristol and much time was spent discussing home. The first day I spent snorkeling around (a German guy gave me a snorkel for free!) chasing the colourful lake fish and generally messing about on the beach with some of the large American volunteer contingent found everywhere in Malawi. I traded all my books in (except dark star safari, which is probably more useful than my lonely planet) and kicked off a new reading marathon! The evening was spent at the hotel bar drinking Carlsberg Special Brew, which sadly isn't the same as the English version, and watching movies on one of the volunteer's black MacBook. I want one. A lot.
The next day was more pure wasting, the key components being snorkeling, drinking(though not at the same time obviously) and playing Frisbee, and the weather seemed to get even better! In the late evening after drinking too much Special Brew I fell asleep in a hammock by Lake Malawi, a fitting end to my time in Nakhata Bay.
I felt very relaxed ahead of the supposed 3/5/7 hour drive to Monkey Bay. The time difference is because no one in Malawi knows how long any journey takes. I have to go to Blantyre today and that apparently will either take 3, 4 or 5 hours. It was a horrible journey for so many reasons. It took 9 hours to get within 6 hours of Monkey Bay at which point I sacked it off and came to Lilongwe instead. Sitting in the back of truck itself was nice and sunny and the views over the lake were phenomenal, but the presence of Christian missionaries, seemingly on a rotating cycle who wouldn't leave me alone or stop telling me that all Africans are sinners and need to be saved, kind of ruined the ambiance. I would now like to apologise to the poor girl, who upon being the 6th new person that day to ask me if I had heard the word of Christ, received a response along the lines of "unless that word has four letters and is followed by off, then, no I don't think I've heard it." It was very hot and a not so small child had just thrown up some pink mush all over me (I mean all over), but that doesn't excuse my flippantry. I think the kid was scared I was going to give him a beating when I dragged him off the bus, but he seemed to enjoy the full blown water fight I initiated in order to get him and me clean. He has however ruined my favourite new T-shirt, which has "white boy" in Swahili emblazoned across it.
Arriving in Lilongwe after dark I checked into a nice backpackers in the suburbs and hit the bar. This morning I had a bit of an explore, checked out the large market, ate a locust, and established that my snapped in half Visa card did work twice but then half of it got swallowed and I had to cancel it. I blame the banks for only letting you get out $40 worth of Kwacha at a time.
It is nice being back in the city, but I think I'm going to head to Mozambique tomorrow as I have a brutal schedule to keep to in order to meet Nick and Jordi in Durban a week tomorrow! The highlight of Mozambique for me should be Base Backpacker's Maputo as hopefully our notorious gap year antics at Base Auckland will have travelled the continents leading to a massive security clampdown around all walls and computer parts not bolted to the floor.
LOL
Jx
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Pictures -Ethiopia to Rwanda
This is a horrible picture of me sitting on a cattle truck in Kenya. Just before I was threatened by a wack job Kenyan for taking pictures of scenery.
He asked me to take it.
The view from my window in Kampala.
Gorillas. Although I actually prefered the baby gorilla walking towards the camera. Swap it please dad!
It's amazing what you can do with photoshop these days.
Ethiopian countryside.
I forgot to mention the guide didn't like me to much after I asked what would happen if a person went in wearing a gorilla suit.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Dar-Es-Salaam, August 24th
Hello,
I feel the need to write another blog as a method of preventing certain members from my family from having me flown home. I'm not dying, I don't have malaria or aids, so everyone just relax!
Anyway, I was well set for my diving last weekend and woke up far to early being worried about missing the boat. The weather was atrocious. Full blown British style light drizzle with no sign of sun. Having been introduced to my Spanish dive crew, who conveyed the impression of all the gear, no idea, we set off for big wall. Thanks to a frankly miniscule swell (In comparison to Plymouth) the dive was moved and so I found myself off the Mnemba coral atoll.
It was awesome! Sea turtles and reef sharks were everywhere and I had a great time chasing the turtles and pretending to fly on them. However sharks and turtles are very nice, but only one fish really caught the imagination. I saw 5 napoleon wrasse! Highlight of the trip! They weren't huge, but still pretty formidable. However I went mad and chased them around the atoll and to my disgust my air was soon gone and I had to go and sit in the boat while the Spaniards, who I'm pretty sure didn't breathe, carried on diving for a further 20 minutes.
The dive was sufficiently spectacular that we decided to go down again after a short break to swim with a passing pod of dolphins. Once more we swam around with more giant sea creatures, this time including barracuda and once more I found myself sitting on the boat waiting for the Spaniards. They can't have been breathing.
After a typical african carbohydrate-fest for lunch, we headed down for one more dive in some shallow coral with a few rays and some smaller types fish. It was nice, but nothing on the two previous dives.
On arriving back at the hotel, I met up with some English guys, Drew and James, and we decided that, even though it was a wet Sunday and the power had gone out, we should probably check out the local nightlife scene. We chilled at the hotel having deep discussions with our rasta hotel owner, Shadrick, while he smoked so much dope I was suprised he didn't pass out and then hit up the Zanzibar cult establishment Cholos beachbar. A good time was had by all.
The next day everyone missed breakfast, I discovered exactly what bedbug bites look like and the weather was still crap. We headed to the beach. There were short periods of sunshine. We drank conyagi and went to Cholos. Thats about it for the day.
The next night was my last in Nungwi, not out of choice, but because I had run out of cash. So another day on the beach was followed by another night at Cholos, this time in the company of some girls from Leeds Uni and once more a good evening was had.
At some point over these three days I managed to get Amebaisis and/or chronic dysentry, which has given me a hilarious pot belly and some rather less hilarious stomach cramps. I also probably have worms. Medical advice has been obtained and assorted medication taken. I should be fine in 5 days. I think I'm still gonna eat streetfood because it tastes so good and is the only decent value food around here.
Getting back to Stonetown was a bit sad as I could have easily chilled on the beach for some time. Still the girls are all heading back to England today so we all went to Forodani Gardens for more outrageously good sea food.
Today I got the early ferry to Dar, a fast cat that thankfully did not take 6 hours and my train to Mbeya in the South is at 3 arriving 12.30pm tommorow. With a bit of luck I should be in Malawi by about 3pm tommorow probably for more chilled out backpacker antics by Lake Malawi.
Looking back its been a pretty boring week, but it has been nice to chill out and stop travelling overland for once!
LOL
Jx
I feel the need to write another blog as a method of preventing certain members from my family from having me flown home. I'm not dying, I don't have malaria or aids, so everyone just relax!
Anyway, I was well set for my diving last weekend and woke up far to early being worried about missing the boat. The weather was atrocious. Full blown British style light drizzle with no sign of sun. Having been introduced to my Spanish dive crew, who conveyed the impression of all the gear, no idea, we set off for big wall. Thanks to a frankly miniscule swell (In comparison to Plymouth) the dive was moved and so I found myself off the Mnemba coral atoll.
It was awesome! Sea turtles and reef sharks were everywhere and I had a great time chasing the turtles and pretending to fly on them. However sharks and turtles are very nice, but only one fish really caught the imagination. I saw 5 napoleon wrasse! Highlight of the trip! They weren't huge, but still pretty formidable. However I went mad and chased them around the atoll and to my disgust my air was soon gone and I had to go and sit in the boat while the Spaniards, who I'm pretty sure didn't breathe, carried on diving for a further 20 minutes.
The dive was sufficiently spectacular that we decided to go down again after a short break to swim with a passing pod of dolphins. Once more we swam around with more giant sea creatures, this time including barracuda and once more I found myself sitting on the boat waiting for the Spaniards. They can't have been breathing.
After a typical african carbohydrate-fest for lunch, we headed down for one more dive in some shallow coral with a few rays and some smaller types fish. It was nice, but nothing on the two previous dives.
On arriving back at the hotel, I met up with some English guys, Drew and James, and we decided that, even though it was a wet Sunday and the power had gone out, we should probably check out the local nightlife scene. We chilled at the hotel having deep discussions with our rasta hotel owner, Shadrick, while he smoked so much dope I was suprised he didn't pass out and then hit up the Zanzibar cult establishment Cholos beachbar. A good time was had by all.
The next day everyone missed breakfast, I discovered exactly what bedbug bites look like and the weather was still crap. We headed to the beach. There were short periods of sunshine. We drank conyagi and went to Cholos. Thats about it for the day.
The next night was my last in Nungwi, not out of choice, but because I had run out of cash. So another day on the beach was followed by another night at Cholos, this time in the company of some girls from Leeds Uni and once more a good evening was had.
At some point over these three days I managed to get Amebaisis and/or chronic dysentry, which has given me a hilarious pot belly and some rather less hilarious stomach cramps. I also probably have worms. Medical advice has been obtained and assorted medication taken. I should be fine in 5 days. I think I'm still gonna eat streetfood because it tastes so good and is the only decent value food around here.
Getting back to Stonetown was a bit sad as I could have easily chilled on the beach for some time. Still the girls are all heading back to England today so we all went to Forodani Gardens for more outrageously good sea food.
Today I got the early ferry to Dar, a fast cat that thankfully did not take 6 hours and my train to Mbeya in the South is at 3 arriving 12.30pm tommorow. With a bit of luck I should be in Malawi by about 3pm tommorow probably for more chilled out backpacker antics by Lake Malawi.
Looking back its been a pretty boring week, but it has been nice to chill out and stop travelling overland for once!
LOL
Jx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)