We spent a week in Stone Town, and met a guy named Eddy (Mohamed), who was eager to find business now that high season has come to an end. We agreed to take a tour of Stone Town with him, and he was great. Saw the old slave markets, fabric market, fish market (night time with bbqed everything that ever swam), and fruit/spice markets. He's a good guy with three kids, one of whom had just come down with Malaria. He himself almost died of malaria 3 months back. It's a big problem in Zanzibar, and luckily we could help with the Malarone (preventative/treatment medication for malaria) we hadn't taken, plus some mosquito repellent. His daughter was playing with her friends again in 4 days, and it's because of this simple medication that saves lives!
His friend, Ali, also joined us and we ended up meeting up with them every day for dinner or lunch or a drink, etc. We gave him Malarone as well. Ali asked for some money to start a bank account ($15 USD). OK. Then he needed $50 for a passport. Hm.. Then we gave him the $5 he saved us by negotiating with the ferry office. Then he needed more because life is hard. I told him I'd love to help everyone in Zanzibar, but we're not money bags. It's disheartening to feel that that's how you appear after buying sodas and french fries for people every day for a week. I guess it was our own doing? He did buy us some spices (black pepper, pili pili - chili, and some spiced teas), which was really nice (he first asked what we use most when we cook). I guess desperation can make good people seem unappreciative. I was sad to leave on that note, regardless.
Eddy, on the other hand, was happy to accept the $20 we gave him for the tour, plus the Malarone (quite a lot), mosquito repellent, some airline socks, etc. He even bought us each a shirt. We gave him an extra $10 the day we left for showing us the old Sultan's baths and taking us to the ferry station from our hotel. He never asked for anything else, and was near tears when we said goodbye. He's 40 years old. He said he almost never meets tourists as nice as we were to him. He doesn't have an email address. We'll be staying in touch via postcard.
We came back to Dar es Salaam on the 13th (the day after the Zanzibarian Revolution holiday), and had to take care of some business. G needed more pages in his passport from the US Embassy, and we decided to change our flight out of Dar to Addis a few days sooner (from the 22nd to the 17th). Tanzania is great, but expensive. Dar is a port town, typically no more than a stopover, and here we are for 4 days. We'd love to do a safari, but have to wait until next trip ($150 minimum per person per day). Kenya will also be another trip.
We'll spend from Jan 17-23 in Addis, hanging out with G's uncle (who we barely saw when we were visiting Ethiopia...we were running around the north and east, and he seems to be busy every day, so we plan to catch up on this leg of the trip). Then we fly to Cairo for 2 nights and back to home sweet home...Newark Airport (:-P). Can't wait to be back in NYC. Though my father reminded me yesterday in an email of the subfreezing temperatures (after I was complaining about the extreme heat-even at night- here).
Here we have a couple boys we met on our first day here, in transit to Zanzibar. We met with them last night and went to Tom's house (in what he calls the "ghetto") and watched old school rap videos. He wanted to take us to the beach today, but we're going to do it tomorrow instead (small island off the coast of the mainland).
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
They're.....ALIVE!
Hello!
We're still alive and kicking and apologize about the lack of blog posts!
We spent one awesome month in Ethiopia and were well taken care of by G's family. Also...everything is so cheap! And the food is amazing of course. We miss it now.
We've been in Tanzania since Dec 27, Zanzibar since Dec 28. Spent Dec 30-6 in Kendwa beach up north. Had a great time and meeting lots of other travellers up there, and lots of locals in Stone Town.
Hope all is well with you, too!
xo
L and G
We're still alive and kicking and apologize about the lack of blog posts!
We spent one awesome month in Ethiopia and were well taken care of by G's family. Also...everything is so cheap! And the food is amazing of course. We miss it now.
We've been in Tanzania since Dec 27, Zanzibar since Dec 28. Spent Dec 30-6 in Kendwa beach up north. Had a great time and meeting lots of other travellers up there, and lots of locals in Stone Town.
Hope all is well with you, too!
xo
L and G
Monday, November 24, 2008
Day 20-21 - Sick, Ticket Cancellation, Internet (Nov 24-25 Mon and Tues)
I wasn't feeling all that well, but G and I wandered around and got lunch at a hole-in-the-wall type of place (across from Cofe Shop Diana - after Princess Diana, with old photos of her and rainbows on the awning). We found an internet cafe and spent a few hours uploading pictures and checking email, etc, before heading out.
G and I walked around on the way home and went in search of some tennis shoes. They all appeared to be fake leather, so we didn't bother. We went home and I went to sleep early, as I still wasn't feeling too healthy.
The next morning, the sickness I suspected was realized. I was sick all morning, and slept in till about noon. We packed up and had some errands to run before our flight at 10:15pm. I decided to quickly check my email, and I learned that our flight had been canceled by the company we booked through (because it was an American company, and only foreign departures/arrivals). I was in tears. Already feeling terrible health-wise, and now this. We tried calling them, but they were no help. I ended up going back to bed for a few hours and G booked two more nights at the hostel.
After a nap, I'm feeling a good bit better. I haven't been able to eat all day, though. We're now at an internet cafe, and we made reservations with Ethiopian airlines. We have to go pay them at the office in Cairo tomorrow morning, then *hopefully* will be flying out at 2:30am on the 27th (Thurs). Fingers crossed!
From what we've been told, there will be limited and SLOW internet connections in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. I'll post as often as possible, but they'll probably be much shorter (which I'm sure your eyes will be happy about ;).
G and I walked around on the way home and went in search of some tennis shoes. They all appeared to be fake leather, so we didn't bother. We went home and I went to sleep early, as I still wasn't feeling too healthy.
The next morning, the sickness I suspected was realized. I was sick all morning, and slept in till about noon. We packed up and had some errands to run before our flight at 10:15pm. I decided to quickly check my email, and I learned that our flight had been canceled by the company we booked through (because it was an American company, and only foreign departures/arrivals). I was in tears. Already feeling terrible health-wise, and now this. We tried calling them, but they were no help. I ended up going back to bed for a few hours and G booked two more nights at the hostel.
After a nap, I'm feeling a good bit better. I haven't been able to eat all day, though. We're now at an internet cafe, and we made reservations with Ethiopian airlines. We have to go pay them at the office in Cairo tomorrow morning, then *hopefully* will be flying out at 2:30am on the 27th (Thurs). Fingers crossed!
From what we've been told, there will be limited and SLOW internet connections in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. I'll post as often as possible, but they'll probably be much shorter (which I'm sure your eyes will be happy about ;).
Day 19 - Alexandria to Cairo (Nov 23 Sun)
We woke up and were out of the hotel by 10am to try and leave ourselves enough time for the remaining sites. We found a place for breakfast (I had another Egyptian veggie pizza), then grabbed a cab to Pompey's Pillar.
The pillar was misnamed, but is very famous indeed. It is rumoured to have once hosted a party of 22 on it's capital, and apparently Louis XIV wanted to take it home to put a statue of himself on the top of it. That didn't happen, though, as it still sits in its original home, surrounded by ruins of baths and sanctuaries (used for ceremonial sacred cleansing, it's thought). Entrance was supposed to be 10LE each, according to the guidebook, but was 20LE each.
From there, we walked up a tiny street to the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Suqqafa (also supposed to be 10LE each). When we arrived at the ticket booth, they wanted 35LE each. We were not prepared to pay that, and decided to say "no, thank you." We walked around the side of the site to see what we could see above ground, and a very large opening in the wall (big enough for 2 or 3 busses to fit though) basically welcomed us in. We wandered around the small grounds, and down one set of stairs, which led to a large open room of square holes in the sides for coffins. When we exited there, I saw another entrance, to what appeared to be the catacombs themselves. There was no one there, so we went down and looked around for about ten minutes. We were even taking pictures until someone told us we weren't allowed to. It was very hot and humid down there, but quite interesting. Lots of burial chambers in Greco-Roman-Egyptian style. We made our way back to the surface of the staircase that spirals around a well, and headed to the same exit (the same way we entered). We were almost out when a slightly overweight and intimidated cop came and asked us for our tickets. We obviously didn't have them, and Martin just kept walking so we followed behind him. The cop called for backup, but no one really came. When Martin spotted a taxi, we all ran towards it, and were out of the compound. We made it out without getting in trouble, but it was definitely cause for some fast-beating little hearts!
We took a cab down to the corniche (road along the harbour), and were walking towards a mosque when we saw our carriage driver, Mimi "Jimmy". Apparently we tipped him well the last ride, because he offered to take us to the mosque for free.
Again, Alice and I had to enter separately, and were in a small space where we couldn't see much. The boys had much better views and photo ops, so the pics were taken by them. When we left, Jimmy took us to our hotel to grab our things, then we stopped for food on the way to the train station. We had bought our tickets the day before, and had no problems finding our car (although some guy asked for our tickets, offered his help, then wanted tips).
We had an uneventful train ride back to Cairo. Alice and Martin were trying to buy 2nd class tickets to Aswan (because we learned that they actually recline a lot farther, and are half as expensive - 45LE vs. 90LE). They were sold out, however, and when they discovered there were also no 1st class tickets, they decided to just get a cab to the airport and hop a flight. We all said goodbye, then G and I got a cab to our hostel area, bought tickets to Ethiopia, and headed to bed.
The pillar was misnamed, but is very famous indeed. It is rumoured to have once hosted a party of 22 on it's capital, and apparently Louis XIV wanted to take it home to put a statue of himself on the top of it. That didn't happen, though, as it still sits in its original home, surrounded by ruins of baths and sanctuaries (used for ceremonial sacred cleansing, it's thought). Entrance was supposed to be 10LE each, according to the guidebook, but was 20LE each.
From there, we walked up a tiny street to the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Suqqafa (also supposed to be 10LE each). When we arrived at the ticket booth, they wanted 35LE each. We were not prepared to pay that, and decided to say "no, thank you." We walked around the side of the site to see what we could see above ground, and a very large opening in the wall (big enough for 2 or 3 busses to fit though) basically welcomed us in. We wandered around the small grounds, and down one set of stairs, which led to a large open room of square holes in the sides for coffins. When we exited there, I saw another entrance, to what appeared to be the catacombs themselves. There was no one there, so we went down and looked around for about ten minutes. We were even taking pictures until someone told us we weren't allowed to. It was very hot and humid down there, but quite interesting. Lots of burial chambers in Greco-Roman-Egyptian style. We made our way back to the surface of the staircase that spirals around a well, and headed to the same exit (the same way we entered). We were almost out when a slightly overweight and intimidated cop came and asked us for our tickets. We obviously didn't have them, and Martin just kept walking so we followed behind him. The cop called for backup, but no one really came. When Martin spotted a taxi, we all ran towards it, and were out of the compound. We made it out without getting in trouble, but it was definitely cause for some fast-beating little hearts!
We took a cab down to the corniche (road along the harbour), and were walking towards a mosque when we saw our carriage driver, Mimi "Jimmy". Apparently we tipped him well the last ride, because he offered to take us to the mosque for free.
Again, Alice and I had to enter separately, and were in a small space where we couldn't see much. The boys had much better views and photo ops, so the pics were taken by them. When we left, Jimmy took us to our hotel to grab our things, then we stopped for food on the way to the train station. We had bought our tickets the day before, and had no problems finding our car (although some guy asked for our tickets, offered his help, then wanted tips).
We had an uneventful train ride back to Cairo. Alice and Martin were trying to buy 2nd class tickets to Aswan (because we learned that they actually recline a lot farther, and are half as expensive - 45LE vs. 90LE). They were sold out, however, and when they discovered there were also no 1st class tickets, they decided to just get a cab to the airport and hop a flight. We all said goodbye, then G and I got a cab to our hostel area, bought tickets to Ethiopia, and headed to bed.
Day 18 - Library of Alexandria, beach (Nov 22 Sat)
After the previous evening, we slept in a bit. Alice came to wake us up when they were on their way to use the free WiFi at McDonald's, but we passed and recovered a bit more, and did some laundry in the sink. After a while, though, we met up with Eddie (who had gone for a run that morning), and the three of us met up with Alice and Martin at McD's.
We parted ways with Eddie back at the hostel, then walked to the Library of Alexandria (bibalex.com). The building itself only opened in 2006, and is quite impressive. Their site has great aerial photos of the disk that is supposed to represent the sun rising over the Mediterranean. We asked for Abdallah's friend ("brother"), Dr. Salagadeen, but he wasn't available. We did meet another hospitality guy from the library, though, and he arranged for us to have free entry and a free tour. He also invited us to his friend's party at a hotel at 9pm that night, but we ended up being too tired to go. The tour was rather short, but we got to learn more about the building, the library's history, how they're digitizing books, and saw an exhibit on old maps and photos of Alexandria.
After our tour, and a bit of photo-opping, we headed down to the beach. The sand was very oddly fine, so you sink down about five inches or so with every step. It was right at sunset and quite beautiful, and after about a half hour or so of romping around and getting our feet wet, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.
We bought some beers around the corner at a place called "Drinkies", and found that they were only 6LE each! Not to mention, when you bring the bottles back, you get 1LE each as a deposit refund. Sweet! We had a few beers in the billiards room of the hotel, then made our way to a guidebook (and Canadian tourists in the lobby) recommended restaurant named Mohammed Ahmed's. The food was tasty and incredibly cheap (just over 40LE for four of us, including drinks). After dinner, Alice and Martin split a gelato, and G and I had espressos at the famous Brazilian Coffee Shop. Proper coffee! It was amazing.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed another wedding. This bride was all in gold. hmm.
We parted ways with Eddie back at the hostel, then walked to the Library of Alexandria (bibalex.com). The building itself only opened in 2006, and is quite impressive. Their site has great aerial photos of the disk that is supposed to represent the sun rising over the Mediterranean. We asked for Abdallah's friend ("brother"), Dr. Salagadeen, but he wasn't available. We did meet another hospitality guy from the library, though, and he arranged for us to have free entry and a free tour. He also invited us to his friend's party at a hotel at 9pm that night, but we ended up being too tired to go. The tour was rather short, but we got to learn more about the building, the library's history, how they're digitizing books, and saw an exhibit on old maps and photos of Alexandria.
After our tour, and a bit of photo-opping, we headed down to the beach. The sand was very oddly fine, so you sink down about five inches or so with every step. It was right at sunset and quite beautiful, and after about a half hour or so of romping around and getting our feet wet, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.
We bought some beers around the corner at a place called "Drinkies", and found that they were only 6LE each! Not to mention, when you bring the bottles back, you get 1LE each as a deposit refund. Sweet! We had a few beers in the billiards room of the hotel, then made our way to a guidebook (and Canadian tourists in the lobby) recommended restaurant named Mohammed Ahmed's. The food was tasty and incredibly cheap (just over 40LE for four of us, including drinks). After dinner, Alice and Martin split a gelato, and G and I had espressos at the famous Brazilian Coffee Shop. Proper coffee! It was amazing.
On the way back to the hotel, we passed another wedding. This bride was all in gold. hmm.
Day 17 - Alexandria (Nov 21 Fri)
We took a late-morning train to Alexandria with Alice and Martin. It only took about 2 and a quarter hours, then we got a cab to our hotel, the Union Hotel. Alice and Martin were starving, so they ran to get a bite, and G and I stayed and admired the fifth-floor view of the harbour from our hotel lobby. We had been hoping to take a dip in the Mediterranean, but it was too cold (about 70F). Instead, we hung out and had a beer each from the hotel. When I paid, I gave her a 20LE note, and she gave me 10LE back (which would lead one to believe they were 5 each). But when Martin went to buy one later, they were 10LE each. When they realized the mistake that the receptionist had made earlier, they kept insisting that we pay an additional 10LE- even at the point when we were checking out two days later, which was ridiculous, considering the amount of beers we had later that night. But I digress.
While sitting in the lobby, a South African-born, but New Zealand raised guy named Eddie was trying to check in, but now the prices were much higher for him (120LE) than they were for us (70LE for a double). Martin and Alice offered to put an additional bed in their room for him, which was only about 20LE. He accepted.
The five of us decided to wander around, but within three minutes, we were convinced to take a horse and carriage ride. The price was right (10LE an hour, same as Luxor), so we went for it. It ended up being a great idea, and we got to see a lot of the city over the next hour and a half. Our driver, Mimi aka Jimmy, of course had us stop at a few places to buy things, including a liquor store and antique-y sort of store. We split a bottle of vodka for 105LE (later to realize we got ripped off, as it should've been about 70LE. EGYPT!). He took us by Mohammed Aly square, tomb of the unknown soldier, mosques, the citadel, and around some back streets. We parted ways with him at the citadel, hoping to find a good and reasonably-priced seafood restaurant on the way home, but no such luck. Most of them wanted something like 120LE for one kilo of unpeeled shrimp (over $20USD). We passed, and ended up finding a smaller fast-foodish looking joint, where we all had Egyptian pizza (a puff pastry in a circle shape filled with meat or veggies).
Back at the hotel, we played cards, drank vodka, and eventually beer (paying 10LE each), then on a mission for the restroom, I found a cozy room in the back with a billiards table. The boys rented the billiards balls till 1am (10LE again), and we hung out for a couple hours.
At one point, we heard some knocking, but each time we opened the door, there was no one there. This went on for about 10 minutes before the boys heard Eddie yelling through the window in the center of the building. He got stuck in the bathroom (Alice and I had also been stuck, but sorted it out), so decided to take his 6'5" semi-pro rugby playing self and squeeze through a tiny window high above the toilet. It was so ridiculous and funny, and of course we snapped a few pics of him before he had to figure out how to get down. He climbed up another level, then came down some stairs into the kitchen. The hotel staff were not amused, and shortly after, they set some beds up for the staff in that room, and we had to move out. Eddie went to bed, and Alice and I waited in the lobby while G and Martin went on a McDonald's adventure. They came back, we all pigged out, then passed out.
While sitting in the lobby, a South African-born, but New Zealand raised guy named Eddie was trying to check in, but now the prices were much higher for him (120LE) than they were for us (70LE for a double). Martin and Alice offered to put an additional bed in their room for him, which was only about 20LE. He accepted.
The five of us decided to wander around, but within three minutes, we were convinced to take a horse and carriage ride. The price was right (10LE an hour, same as Luxor), so we went for it. It ended up being a great idea, and we got to see a lot of the city over the next hour and a half. Our driver, Mimi aka Jimmy, of course had us stop at a few places to buy things, including a liquor store and antique-y sort of store. We split a bottle of vodka for 105LE (later to realize we got ripped off, as it should've been about 70LE. EGYPT!). He took us by Mohammed Aly square, tomb of the unknown soldier, mosques, the citadel, and around some back streets. We parted ways with him at the citadel, hoping to find a good and reasonably-priced seafood restaurant on the way home, but no such luck. Most of them wanted something like 120LE for one kilo of unpeeled shrimp (over $20USD). We passed, and ended up finding a smaller fast-foodish looking joint, where we all had Egyptian pizza (a puff pastry in a circle shape filled with meat or veggies).
Back at the hotel, we played cards, drank vodka, and eventually beer (paying 10LE each), then on a mission for the restroom, I found a cozy room in the back with a billiards table. The boys rented the billiards balls till 1am (10LE again), and we hung out for a couple hours.
At one point, we heard some knocking, but each time we opened the door, there was no one there. This went on for about 10 minutes before the boys heard Eddie yelling through the window in the center of the building. He got stuck in the bathroom (Alice and I had also been stuck, but sorted it out), so decided to take his 6'5" semi-pro rugby playing self and squeeze through a tiny window high above the toilet. It was so ridiculous and funny, and of course we snapped a few pics of him before he had to figure out how to get down. He climbed up another level, then came down some stairs into the kitchen. The hotel staff were not amused, and shortly after, they set some beds up for the staff in that room, and we had to move out. Eddie went to bed, and Alice and I waited in the lobby while G and Martin went on a McDonald's adventure. They came back, we all pigged out, then passed out.
Day 16 - Koshary, Stella, disco (Nov 20 Thurs)
G and I started our day at an internet cafe to try and work out some tickets, but to no avail. After a while, we went back to the hostel and met up with Alice and Martin around 3:30pm.
The four of us were escorted by one of the guys at the hostel to a Koshary place for dinner. He dropped us off, and we ordered large bowls of the dish (two types of pasta, rice, tomato sauce, fried onions, etc, that is then topped with chili sauce if you so choose. It's basically a spoonful each out of about 6 different pots.) Well, we learned a large was way too big-but both filling and tasty. We could only finish half, so we had the rest wrapped up for take-away so we could give them to people who were asking for money or food.
We needed a walk after all that food, so we just wandered aimlessly for a short while. We found a sign that said G's last name on it (and got a few goofy pics in front of it), then continued until we saw signs for Stella, which is the Egyptian beer. Turns out we found a pub! They're quite rare in Egypt, but apparently in this downtown area, there are about five. The price was right, too, so the four of us hung out there with some locals and had a few drinks and tapas-like apps (olives, nuts, parsley, cucumbers) that they brought for us. Everyone was so nice and welcoming, including some Nubian guys that we met; Abdallah and his friend, whose name escapes me. They invited us to a disco after the green-walled pub, so we accepted. He drove all six of us just around the corner in his Mercedes (better than a Fiat cab!). We entered the cheesy upstairs keyboard-music environment, had the waitresses pop the beer caps off on the edge of the table, then pour the beers into glasses, holding both in one hand. One of the girls invited me to dance, which seemed harmless enough. Not even ten seconds later, and some guy came and wanted to dance. Forgetting that I was in Egypt, I didn't run away, and when Abdallah's friend pulled me away and put me in G's reach, the guy got angry. We all had to sit down, and eventually it was fine, but it was a rough start to the evening. After just one drink, which Abdallah insisted on paying for, we left and Abdallah took us all home, even walking us to the hostel.
Tomorrow we go to Alexandria, and Abdallah gave us the contact number of Dr. Salagadeen, who works in the famous library of Alexandria.
The four of us were escorted by one of the guys at the hostel to a Koshary place for dinner. He dropped us off, and we ordered large bowls of the dish (two types of pasta, rice, tomato sauce, fried onions, etc, that is then topped with chili sauce if you so choose. It's basically a spoonful each out of about 6 different pots.) Well, we learned a large was way too big-but both filling and tasty. We could only finish half, so we had the rest wrapped up for take-away so we could give them to people who were asking for money or food.
We needed a walk after all that food, so we just wandered aimlessly for a short while. We found a sign that said G's last name on it (and got a few goofy pics in front of it), then continued until we saw signs for Stella, which is the Egyptian beer. Turns out we found a pub! They're quite rare in Egypt, but apparently in this downtown area, there are about five. The price was right, too, so the four of us hung out there with some locals and had a few drinks and tapas-like apps (olives, nuts, parsley, cucumbers) that they brought for us. Everyone was so nice and welcoming, including some Nubian guys that we met; Abdallah and his friend, whose name escapes me. They invited us to a disco after the green-walled pub, so we accepted. He drove all six of us just around the corner in his Mercedes (better than a Fiat cab!). We entered the cheesy upstairs keyboard-music environment, had the waitresses pop the beer caps off on the edge of the table, then pour the beers into glasses, holding both in one hand. One of the girls invited me to dance, which seemed harmless enough. Not even ten seconds later, and some guy came and wanted to dance. Forgetting that I was in Egypt, I didn't run away, and when Abdallah's friend pulled me away and put me in G's reach, the guy got angry. We all had to sit down, and eventually it was fine, but it was a rough start to the evening. After just one drink, which Abdallah insisted on paying for, we left and Abdallah took us all home, even walking us to the hostel.
Tomorrow we go to Alexandria, and Abdallah gave us the contact number of Dr. Salagadeen, who works in the famous library of Alexandria.
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