i did it…

there’s a counter on the right-hand nav bar of my site. a long long time ago, that counter showed how many days I had left until I went on my trip, and I eagerly looked at it each day, slowly with great anticipation, waiting until it reached zero. it finally did, and I set off, flying from san Francisco to London w/ caryn to start our crazy worldwide adventure. my goal was to travel around the world, see as much as I could, and hopefully make this trip last a whole year. I adjusted the counter on my site so that now it would instead show how many days I’ve been gone. each day, the number grew and grew as the days went by and I continued to see more and more of the world. finally, yesterday, the counter hit 365 days. I’ve been gone traveling for a whole year now.

I still cant quite believe it… a whole year on the road. in this amount of time, travel has completely consumed my life. I literally eat, breathe, and sleep travel. I don’t think I even know what it is to live a normal life anymore. my sense of time is totally skewed, I never know what date or day of the week it is, and when people tell me about going on a one month trip, in my mind it seems like just a short vacation. I wake up in a new place almost every day since during the last year, I’ve stayed in 124 different hotels. I’ve been wearing the same 5 shirts for ages. the only two things constant in my life are caryn and my backpack, a pack that has served me really well over the time, but I still dread having to pack it and unpack it every single damn day.

it seems like the only thing I have to talk to people about is this trip, where I’ve been, what I’ve seen, and the rest of the usual traveler rhetoric. I’m so tired of daily repeating the same things to everyone I see: how long I’ve been on the road, how much money I saved to do this, which route we are taking. if I hear myself saying “Japan was SO expensive! we spent the same there in 5 weeks as we did elsewhere in 5 *months*!” again, I think I will be ill. in fact, I often worry what it’s going to be like back home… what will I talk to people about? no one wants to hear any more stuff about this trip. the people I know are either reading my blog and have already heard it all before, or they haven’t read the blog and thus probably never wanted to hear about it anyway. yes… this trip has literally consumed my life.

and yet, I’m so glad that it has. this year has been challenging, more difficult than a normal year on the job, but has been a million times more rewarding. it still boggles my mind, just how much I have seen. I’ve traveled through 25 different countries on 3 different continents. I’ve gone from huge uber high-tech cities with concrete jungles bathing in neon glow to tiny villages made up of straw huts next to dusty roads and every kind of town in between. I’ve gone from sandy deserts filled with large dunes and camels to snow covered mountains where monkeys shiver in the cold. I’ve dived beneath the water through underwater canyons and sunken ships, and flown through the air looking down on the same ocean. I’ve strolled leisurely on safe European boulevards, and have gone to places most people are too afraid to visit like Syria in bush’s “axis of evil”. I’ve seen the wildlife of the ocean like manta rays, and I’ve seen wild animals on land like lions, tigers, and cheetahs. I’ve eaten food ranging from spicy Thai dishes, to intricate Japanese delicacies, to much blander African fare. I’ve learned to say hello, thanks, yes, and no in a bunch of different languages.

I cant even begin to list what sights I have seen. I’ve seen huge world famous ones that everyone had heard of like the pyramids of Egypt, Eiffel tower in Paris, or the Taj Mahal in India, but I’ve also seen countless tiny places, ones that are a bit off the beaten track and that not many people know about like a temple completely filled with live rats in India, hidden spirit festivals in Myanmar, and small villages in Russian Siberia. I’ve been to the religious centers of so many different religions, from the Wailing Wall to the Dome of the Rock, to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, to the Dalai Lama’s temple in McLeod Ganj. each country I visited had it’s own interesting places to go, things to see, and activities to do. I’ve seen places far and wide, and to get there have spent ages on random transport. in the past year, I’ve taken 31 trains , 52 buses, several vans, all sorts of 3 wheeled rickshaw vehicles, a tractor, a horse, and a camel.

yeah, I’ve seen a lot of places and things, but what is most fascinating out of all of it for me are the people. the real reason why I travel is not to see landmarks, nor is it even to have adventures. the real reason is because I am incredibly interested in seeing how people live and what people are like in different places. despite the internet, TV, newspapers, etc, staying in one place, you never can *really* get to know how others live. you can read about it all you want, but you never know until you actually go and see them for yourself.

one thing I always think about is stereotypes and preconceptions. most of us, we really know very little about how life works in other countries. we have some views about these places, usually views that are shaped by the media or whatnot, and one of the things that traveling lets you do is break all those old views. when I went to a lot of these places, I didn’t really know what to expect. the only things I knew about Africa were random pieces from books and shows: wild animals, restless natives. my mental image of the place was huge open plains with wandering wildlife and men with spears. heh, ok, of course I didn’t think that all of Africa was like that… but I really didn’t know what else to imagine. what more was there. after coming here, I now have an image of what life is like here. I have seen the wild animals, and I’ve seen people living in huts wearing almost no clothes, but I’ve also seen huge cities, thriving businesses, and modern technology. whe3n picturing Ethiopia, all I could conjure up were images of starving children, but now I’ve seen that this isn’t the case. the same thing with the middle east. would all the women there be covered head to toe in burkhas? would there be terrorists lurking at every corner and bombs blowing up left and right? are there really a lot of camels there? and then I went there and saw for myself: no, most of the women dress as they please, the people are extremely friendly and don’t all hate Americans. but yes, there really are a lot of camels there.

and so I keep going, on and on, from place to places, trying to figure out who these people are and what makes them tick. the tricky thing is, I find that as I travel and get rid of these old stereotypes, I start to see places in a more realistic way, but at the same time, I replace the old stereotypes withy new ones. in a way, what is traveling about other than building up stereotypes? you go to a place, so that you can come back and tell about it. you cant tell about every person that lives there.. instead you generalize. you say that the people from country X were incredibly nice, or the people from country Y were extremely religious, or the people from country Z like to dress in a particular style. after spending just a brief 3 weeks in a place, it’s so easy to make sweeping generalizations about the whole population there. the people in Myanmar are all very friendly. Japanese people are really picky about manners. Thai people are easygoing. so many new views I have of groups of people, and yet I have no idea how true any of them are or if they are only true of the handful of people I’ve met. all I can do is to keep traveling, keep meeting people, and keep learning more about them. a year is just not enough time.

the thing that strikes me so often is just how different people are. everyone eats different foods. everyone has different manners. everyone has different ways of doing things. people have various religions, clothing, and political views. some people eat with their hands, while others use utensils. some people wouldn’t dream of eating a cow while others love steaks. some people have huge plates in their lips while others have stretched out necks. I’ve been to so many different places and seen so many different ways of life. and yet, surprisingly, I guess the other thing that strikes me is how *the same* people are. despite all the religious differences, religion for almost everyone is still a way of saying “thanks” for being here to the one who made them. no matter who they are, people all still work, eat, drink, and sleep. everywhere you go, there are still nice people, angry people, sad people, and lazy people. almost everyone has similar goals of living a happy life and supporting their family.

in Thailand, there is this expression “Same Same but Different”. it’s used quite often regarding things you get. when you wanted an AC , but instead you got a tiny room with a fan: same same but different. you asked for a blue shirt, but they only had red: same same but different. you ordered chicken but instead they serve you water buffalo: same same but different. with people, it works too. all these people from all these countries… everyone having similar desires, needs, emotions, etc… yet everyone expresses them differently on the outside, living in different structures, wearing different clothes, and eating different foods. that’s all of us really… same same but different.

*********

once again, as usual, I’d like to ask anyone reading this to leave a comment below. even if it’s just short one. I spent ages writing this journal, and really it’s mainly because I want to be able to remember this stuff later, but still it’s always good to know that out there, there are people reading. so if you are, drop a line down below, even if it’s short or just “hi”.

wow. a whole year. let’s see how long I can keep going from now…

*v

Mombassa

9/8/05

the most famous thing to see in Mombassa is fort Jesus, a huge old fort built by the Portuguese on the coast. we hadn’t seen all that much of town yet, so we headed out to the fort by foot as to see all the random stuff along the way. we had been wanting to see a movie for a while now, so when we came across an old movie theater, we decided to step inside to see what was playing. to our surprise, we heard music coming form inside the theater and an excited lady motioned us to go on inside. inside the theater, we saw a large group of people all standing in front of their seats with a woman on stage singing. it turned out to be a church service held in a movie theater! everyone in the audience was super into it and waving their arms, swaying back and forth, clapping to the beat, and singing as loud as they could. this was totally not something we had been expecting to see, but we were really glad that we saw it. it was really cool to see just how much fun these people were having and how excited they were. after a bit of singing, it was time to pray, so we quickly made our exit.

by the time we got to fort Jesus, the three of us were sweating like crazy. it was a ridiculously hot day, and if this was the “cool season” here, I cant imagine what the hot season must be like. yikes! when we paid for the fort, we bought a pamphlet so we could learn a bit about the fort’s history, but the pamphlet turned out to be excruciatingly boring. it was so painful just to read this thing. we ended up giving up and just wandering around the fort. I still don’t know any of the history of the fort, but oh well. the fort ended up being pretty interesting to walk around though. we climbed the ramparts, descended random concrete staircases, and checked out old canons.

after the fort we tried to find something called the “Leven steps”. the guidebook didn’t really tell us anything about these steps other than that they were an interesting thing to see. we wandered about the old town for a while, walking through the random streets, and being watched by curious locals. we had a tough time finding the steps though. at one point we turned sown a small alley and were told by an old man that we “didn’t belong there” and that we should leave. at another alley, a man walked up to us and told us we should avoid that area because there might be shady characters there who do might want to rob tourists. another man walked up to us and told us that nearby there might be a lot of drug users and to be careful. all these thing got us to thinking that the old town might be just a bit shady. maybe we really shouldn’t be exploring it on our own w/out a map?

we were just about to give up, when we saw a little alley that seemed to lead to the ocean. we followed it and then walked down a few old crumbling steps. we stood there looking up and down the coast. where the hell were these “Leven steps”?? we stood around trying to figure out what to do. we kind of didn’t want to continue searching around the old town any longer. so we decided to give up. we walked back up a few steps, and then asked a random man sitting at the top… and it turned out that the steps we were on *were* the Leven steps. honestly, I have no idea why the book would have even mentioned them because there wasn’t anything even slightly interesting about them. they were just boring old concrete steps. not ornamental in the least.

later on that afternoon, I decided to call home. it had been ages since I had talked to my parents and I had been wanting to call them for a long time now. it was the perfect time since they should both me home right before work. we went to a place where you could make international phone calls, but it turned out that we had to go to a different place many blocks away. as the lady led us to the other building, a large group of 6 or 7 street kids ran up to us and started begging for money. these kids were young. probably only 5 or 6 years old. they were ran after us and wouldn’t take no for an answer. whenever one of the kids would drop back, another would take the lead and ask us for money. around Africa, we had seen many posters warning people not to give money to street kids.. it just encourages begging and sadly enough apparently a lot of the money is used for the kids to buy glue to sniff. we were determined not to give any money. the kids were determined to break us down. only after several blocks did they finally give up.

my phone call was only partially successful. my parents weren’t home. i luckily did get to talk to my brother though. unbelievably, the phone call cost 50 cents per minute… and turned out to be over the internet. so, basically they were having me call for *free* and yet charging 50 cents per minute. the connection sucked and it was almost impossible to have a normal conversation.

for dinner, we went to a restaurant called the pleasant view. it was said that it has the best tandoori chicken on the coast. the waiter came and took our order without writing it down. that seemed a bit surprising seeing as it was a long order, and I was pretty impressed that he could remember it all. well, I wasn’t impressed for long. he ended up having to come back several times to ask us what we had ordered, and he got every single thing in our order wrong. I don’t think a single thing was correct. after the waiter went back and forth a million times, we finally did get our correct food… and it was sooo damn good. the tandoori chicken was excellent, perfectly cooked, juicy, and spicy. the prawns were good, and even the salad we had was simple but delicious. all of us were really excited about our meal, and decided that we had to come back here to eat again.

we ate our meal at an outside table, and while we ate, all sorts of random people marched past us trying to get us to buy their wares. people holding large stacks of cds and dvds; people selling shorts, pants, and football jerseys; people holding handfuls of mismatched shoes and sandals; and bizarrely enough, a guy with 2 huge wooden model boats, and a guy with a 2 foot by 3 foot painting. what the hell is this guy doing walking around town trying to sell a huge framed painting?! we shook our heads no to each of these people but as each one left, a new one would just take his place. as someone at a neighboring table said “even if you don’t go to the market, the market comes to you!”

in between these vendors, dirty alleycats would crawl up to us and beg for food. the bigger cats would attack the smaller ones and then sneak up to us, hoping to be fed. the cats weren’t the only ones who wanted something from us though. the gang of kids that we had seen earlier were back. they would come up to the table, one or two at a time and ask for money. we shook our heads no. once in a while they would run off laughing with their friends, but then they’d come back. if one of the waiters came out, the kids would run like hell… I’m sure they would get a beating if they were caught. I keep thinking to myself, what kind of life do these kids have?! they are literally like 5 or 6 years old. how many years have they been on the streets already? do they even know how to talk? were they taught to speak by the other street kids? what did they do with their time when they weren’t begging? in a lot of ways, these kids live just like the alleycats: a hectic life on the dirty streets, sleeping in alleys, begging for scraps, and getting beaten by others. or maybe life was nice? no homework, no school, no chores. no parents telling you what to do. walk around and play w/ your friends all day. get free spending money from strangers. have fun sniffing glue…

regardless of what the kids thought of their life now, what would become of them as they grew older? with no education whatsoever, and no skills, the chances of them ever getting a job, especially here where unemployment is already high, is very slim. they probably go from being streetkids, to grownup beggars, or worse yet, getting into crime and other bad situations. with no medical care of any kind, I cant imagine these kids living very long lives. in fact… it seems like nobody here is living a very long life. there are few old people in Africa. life expectancy here is short, and 50 years old is considered a long life. aids is rampant and killing people left and right. not too mention malaria, other diseases, and crime. I’m currently reading a book about life here and the situation is definitely grim… and everything I see around me on the streets definitely is as mentioned in the book. I feel so sorry for these kids on the streets… only 5 years old and their life is already ruined.

after dinner, we dropped caryn off sat the hotel, and then Joey and I went out. we decided to try out a casino here. we walk inside the small building, and being used to las vegas, my first thought is that this place is really small and really empty. we go up to a roulette table, and buy some chips. minimum buy in: 13$. I feel awkward here. since the place is empty, I feel like every employee there is staring at us. what will the foreigners do? we start making bets. I lose pretty much all my money right away, and then get some more chips. Joey does a little better. still, within 20 minutes, our money is gone. I contemplate buying more chips, but I have very little money in my pocket, so I decide against it. so hard to fight the urge to “win it all back”.

after the casino, we walk to a club called Casablanca. we’re nervous, cause we have a feeling of what the place will have in store for us: hookers. and lots of them. when going to clubs in east Africa, the hookers are unavoidable. they are everywhere. and if you don’t have a girl with you, then you will definitely be approached and not left alone. as we walked up to the club, a girl ran up to us, started chitchatting, and then asked if we wanted “company”. we said no. she kept asking us why not etc etc, but finally left us alone. we knew our troubles were only beginning.

inside the club, we found an empty table and sat down. looking around, the whole club was only prostitutes. prostitutes dancing, prostitutes sitting lazily at tables, prostitutes talking to each other, and here and there prostitutes with customers. the place was practically empty as far as non-prostitutes, but there were probably almost a hundred girls there. competition must be fierce. we ordered beers, and before they even arrived, we had two girls sit down next to us. *sigh*. they start talking about this and that, when all of a sudden the girl from outside walks up to us. “oh!!! I thought you said you didn’t want company!!” we just shrug and try to look innocent. she’s pissed off. after bitching for a while at us and at the other two girls, she leaves. the other two girls stay, and I’m feeling uncomfortable.

after a while though, I think to myself, who cares? why the hell should I let them make me feel uncomfortable? I didn’t ask them to sit with us. they’re imposing on me, and there’s really no need for me to be nice to them or polite. instead of spending the rest of the night sitting in my chair, squirming and afraid, I figure I’ll just entertain myself by wasting their time. the girls start asking for beers. I say no. why not? I just say I don’t want to. I tell them I lost all my money at the casino. I tell them my girlfriend knows karate and she would beat me up if I did. they keep pestering, but I just keep saying any random excuse that comes to mind. she says she really wants a beer and I say that she’s probably already drunk and probably doesn’t need anymore.

she still wont stop asking for beer. I say no, why should I buy you beer? she says for the company. I say that I don’t need or want the company. she says that I *have to have it*. “if I leave this chair. the second I leave, there will be another girl here.. or maybe 5 other girls. you have no choice”. it was true. what could I do? there was no way out. even as we talked, I saw other girls staring, ready to come in for their chance as well. eventually, she figures she’s not gonna get any beer from me, so then she asks if I want a “massage”, even being as explicit as pointing to the areas that would be massaged. I say no. she tries to put her arm around me and I say I have a sunburn. this goes on for a while, and finally she stops asking and starts talking about other stuff. these prostitutes are hella annoying… but they’re people too, and eventually I start feeling pretty bad for this girl. she works down at the dock, but that’s not enough money to get by, so she has to come here every night and compete against the other hundred girls just to earn a living. due to competition, she usually only manages to give 2 “massages” a night, making her a total of 40 bucks. what kind of life is that? earlier on, when she had countered my “I have a girlfriend” with the usual, “well your girlfriend isn’t here”, I asked her how she would feel if her boyfriend went to a club and cheated on her w/ a hooker. she told me that she used to have a boyfriend in Nairobi for years. one day she showed up for a surprise visit. she walked in on him having sex with someone else. she hasn’t dated anyone since then because she is too afraid of men, despite her parents urging her to get married.

this person is just some poor screwed up girl struggling to earn enough money to live. her, the streetkids, the touts, the beggars, everyone… all these people are annoying as hell. they bother you when you don’t want to be bothered. they infringe on your vacation time, and don’t leave you alone. they are constantly hounding you. sometimes you just want to turn around and start screaming at everyone to just GET THE HELL AWAY… and yet you don’t. cause from the other side, you see that they are just desperate people doing what they have to do. ruining your vacation *is their job*. and if they don’t do it, they wont have money for rent or food or whatever else they need.

eventually, she gets up and walks away, but leaves her beer cup behind. seconds later, another girl is in her spot. sheez. and then yet another girl come up and sits down next to her. now I have two girls pestering me. but then… the first girl (who’s name is ironically Purity) comes back. she stares daggers at the other girls. she wants her seat back. it turns out that by leaving her beer cup, she hoped to have her place saved. furious, she points to the beer cup “that’s MY mug”. the other hooker glances at her with a wry smile, “then take it”. the girls start bitching at each other, but the new girl wont budge. Purity, then sits between the other girls and me by sitting on my armrest. the air at the table is tense as hell. the two new girls seemed arrogant and kept laughing to each other, and in a way, I kind of felt bad for “Purity”, who eventually finally gave up and stormed away. not that it really matters I guess… none of them was getting any money (or beers) from me anyway. eventually, we paid our bill and got the hell out of there. it had been an interesting night. funny in some ways, sad in others…

*v

on the way to Mombasa

another day, another bus ride. today we were traveling from Dar Essalam in Tanzania to Mombasa in Kenya. as usual, we had to get up early, rush to the bus stop, only to get on the bus and have it then sit there for almost an hour at the main bus stop. grrrr, i cant even imagine how much extra sleep we could get if we weren’t always getting up so ear5ly for buses that didn’t leave on time. as we sat on the bus, a guy walked up to the front and put in a movie. nice! we would actually be entertained! and, lo and behold, it was actually a movie in English. of course, our luck only made it that far and not much further. they ended up playing the movie so quietly, that we were unable to hear anything at all. damn! *every* bus ride we’ve taken, they play the music or movies at a million decibels. so loud that your head is aching after a few minutes and you feel your brain start to ooze out of your skull. but the *one* time that they actually play an English movie happens to be the one time they turn the volume down to nothingness. *sigh*.

halfway through the trip, we stopped for a “toilet and lunch” stop. we walked back behind an old and decrepit soccer stadium, to find some concrete rooms that had little concrete partitions. between each partition was just a tiny little drain to pee into. only meant for those w/ good aim, i guess. we then searched for lunch. for some reason, the area we were in had no restaurants. the only thing resembling one, was a small building that had a table with a bunch of saran wrapped plates. in each plate was some sad looking fries, a slice of cucumber and tomato, and a piece of chicken that reminded me of some of the withered shriveled up mummies that we saw in Egypt. we were desperate enough to buy a plate each, and the attendant threw them one by one into a microwave that he had borrowed from next door. if the food was unappetizing before, now it was even more so. hot steamy microwaved cucumber slice?
as we were about to board the bus, we saw yet another guy selling cashews. i don’t know what it is about cashews, but here in Africa, there are hundreds of guys on the streets selling them. everyone is selling cashews left and right. i think we literally get asked if we want to buy cashews at least 30 times per day if not more. i don’t know if there is some huge monstrous warehouse somewhere filled to the brim with cashews and trying to get rid of it’s product or what. the one difference w/ this guy, is that alongside the regular cashews, he also sold spicy cashews. so, for the first time in the last month, we went ahead and actually bought some. they were actually pretty good.

the rest of the bus ride was fairly uneventful. we crossed the border, where everyone got out, had their passports stamped, bags searched, and got back on. we also exchanged some money with one of the random guys wandering around who had a huge wad of cash. surprisingly, he actually gave us the right rate. later, we go to this place where the bus had to get on a ferry to get across. everyone was supposed to get off and take a separate ferry, and then get back on the bus on the other side. well, we and the other tourists were all confused, and in the end, they told us to just stay on the bus. when we go to the other side, i totally wondered what the locals must think of us. here, they had to get off the bus, in their own country, while the rich pampered foreigners got to sit inside and relax the whole way. we must look like such bastards.

finally we go to Mombasa, one of Kenya’s largest cities. we walked though town trying to find a hotel, and looked around at the hustle and bustle. there were a lot of people out on the streets, some of them selling random clothing, others sitting on the sidewalk and frying little dried fish to sell. ever7y few minutes, someone would ask us if we wanted to buy some Cd’s.. probably the next most popular thing to sell next to cashews. as we walked, hundreds of Matatu’s raced by us, making everything even louder and more chaotic. Matatus are minivan taxis and are one of the most popular ways of getting around town here. people must take huge pride in their Matatus, cause they are almost always decorated in crazy neon colors, all glittery, with random slogans written on them or spray painted pictures. these vehicles look like they pulled out of “pimp my ride” on MTV. as they race by you at top speed (death by Matatu is a common occurrence here), one guy will be leaning out of the van and yelling incomprehensible words as loud and as fast as he can, hoping to get customers. we navigated through all the chaos, the people, and the rubbish, and finally made it to our hotel.

our hotel was named “the excellent hotel”, but it actually would more aptly be name the “so-so hotel” or maybe even the “not so great hotel”. the ro0m itself was nothing special, but the real “treat” was the bathroom. the tub looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the 1500s, and had grayish blackish yellowish streaks *everywhere*. joey was afraid to even let his flip-flops touch it. the toilet had no lid, which wasn’t unusual, but it also had no seat either. funniest of all was that the hotel promised hot water, but later we found out that the hot water is turned on… from 6am to 7am. yes. we only get hot water for *1* hour, and it’s at a ridiculous hour. unbelievable. i always find myself wondering, why is Africa so expensive?? i traveled through tons of countries in Asia, and there a small room would go for 3$, maybe 5$. everything is cheap. yet here, we’re paying a whopping $25 for this room. yeah, yeah, i know that back home you couldn’t find *any* room for $25, but this is a developing country!! there aren’t any nice 1st world amenities.. like toilets that you can actually sit on. and yet, they charge like 5 times what we would be charged in Asia. *sigh*. as we sat talking about this, the power in our room went out. not surprising. ahh Africa!

*v

Zanzibar

8/30/05-9/06-05

we spent a week chilling on Zanzibar island. it’s a large island about 3 hours by ferry away from Tanzania. the time we spent there was divided between two cities: Stonetown and Nungwi.

Stonetown, on the southern side of the island is a rather large city, with the most interesting part being its core right next to the ocean. it is filled with old narrow mazelike streets that wind their way around crumbling colonial buildings. the main attraction here is to just spend time wandering around and getting lost, which we did. the atmosphere of the city is a cross between colonial and middle eastern. there is a large Muslim population so you see a lot of people walking about wearing robes of various kinds. and on the west side is the ocean, a brilliant absolutely pale blue color, with wooden boats bobbing up and down in its waters. the shore is lined w/ sand and palms. Stonetown is definitely a picture-perfect vision of an old city by the sea.

the city is filled with all sorts of nice restaurants and we visited many of them. we had good African food while sitting on cushions on the floor. we had western food at a place called Mercury’s, name after Freddy mercury who surprisingly was born on Zanzibar island. we ate at a delicious seafood restaurant, where our table was literally in the sand on the beach and we were waited on hand and foot. in the end, we kind of went overboard and spent too much money on food, but it was worth it.

while we were in town, we checked out some of the old landmarks like the old palace and the infirmary. these buildings looked really cool on the outside, but the inside wasn’t nearly as interesting.

one night, when we were leaving a restaurant, we saw this large millipede, and then right afterwards, I saw the biggest snail I’ve ever seen. this thing was as long as my hand. humongous.

after a couple days, we left Stonetown to go to the beach town of Nungwi. the previous night, we had an altercation w/ the owner of the hotel we stayed in. he wanted to arrange us a taxi, but we didn’t want to go at 8am when his taxi was leaving. he got totally pissed off and started bitching at us saying we only care about money and basically accused us of being cheap bastards. we told him that it wasn’t about money and that we just didn’t want to wake up early, but he wouldn’t listen since he was totally drunk. the following day, we got into an altercation w/ our taxi driver. I wont bother going into details, but he was flaming pissed, totally yelled at us, and said that we would see what happens to people that piss him off. ahh, sometimes it’s so nice to interact w/ the locals! 😉

Nungwi is a small village, and is roughly divided into a small town where only locals hang out and tourists hardly venture, and the strip of coastline that is packed with tourist guesthouses, restaurants, and bars. it’s a great place to spend some time, relax, and get away fro it all. we were totally lazy for the next few days. we slept in. we hung out on the beach and did nothing. we ate at the local restaurants which actually pretty much all had crap food and were overpriced. we spent every night drinking for hours at whichever bar we chose that night. not being much of a drinker, caryn stayed in most nights, so Joey and I would just head out on our own. it was nice to be able to just hang out w/ a friend and have some drinks.

the most popular bar on the beach was a place called chollos which was next door to us. one night, out of nowhere, like 30 people all showed up wearing costumes made out of black garbage bags. it was like a crazy whacky SF costume party, but instead it was here on the beach in Africa. so random! turned out that all these people had been on an overland truck tour and were celebrating the end of their tour. one night the “world famous dj Marvin” played and practically everyone on the island came to dance to cheesy music. even the Masai were rocking out and showing off crazy dance moves.

we found a scorpion in our hotel room one night. for the next several days I was afraid of walking around inside w/ the lights off.

one day we walked down to the local “aquarium”. this was a place where there was a closed off natural lagoon, and there were a bunch of sea turtles inside. you could feed the turtles kelp and they were huge. you could even swim w/ the turtles if you wanted to, but we didn’t. some old guy did, and totally manhandled the turtles, holding on to them, and pulling them out of the water. “look at them!! they’re so beautiful and docile!” he would yell as the turtle frantically struggled to get away from him. it was painful to watch.

we walked back along the beach and just took in the beauty all around us. I’ve never really been a beach person and don’t care for the beach too much, but sometimes I really understand why everyone loves it. there’s just something about the sand, waves, and sky that blend perfectly together. as we walked, we watched the waves come crashing onto the shore. we saw tons of little local children racing around the beach. we saw large wooden boats, most of them only partially built just laying on their side waiting to be finished. little Muslim girls, covered almost head to toe, giggled and jumped around near the water trying to avoid getting wet. tiny white crabs scrambled along the beach, ducking into their little homes when we approached. it really was a nice walk…

our last night there we ended up meeting up w/ dan, a guy from America who I had exchanged emails with a long time ago. this was back before either of us had left on our rtw trips and we had been so excited and couldn’t wait to get started. and here we were, me one year into my trip and him 7 months into his, here on Zanzibar island. we talked a ton about how our trips had gone, what we had seen and done, and what we still had ahead of us. it’s always cool to cross paths with people on the road. we hung out w/ him and his friend Alex, ate at an all you can eat barbecue on the beach, and then caught a taxi with them on the way back to Stonetown the next day.

our last night in Stonetown, we realized that maybe we left Nungwi a bit early. all of us probably could have used some extra time on the beach. oh well, there’s still more time for that. our last night in Stonetown, we went out to the night market. a bunch of people set up food stalls near the water. the whole area is smoky from all the grills going at once. people yell to try to get your attention, selling their small skewers of food. each grill was loaded w/ a variety of different skewers, each a different color: pink lobster, light grey tuna, brown beef. all of it was quite good, and the atmosphere made it even better. the whole time in Zanzibar, we had been really sheltered, eating at places specifically designed for tourists, so it was nice to eat w/ the locals the way they do. the next morning, we walked around Stonetown for the last time, and then we took the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry ride back was much smoother than on the way there.

ahhh… it had been a really nice week on the island…

*v

not much happening

arggghh. ever since Ethiopia, I’ve been so behind with my blog. I still haven’t been able to catch up. damn. anyways, after the 2nd safari, there were several days when not much happened. here’s a quick summary:

8/25/05 continued..

after returning from the safari, we treated ourselves to a more expensive room w/ a TV and everything. we went out to eat at an indian/italian restaurant (weird combination, eh?) across the way which was very good. at night, Joey and I went to the hotel bar and had some drinks, and by the time we got back to our rooms, we were too tired to take advantage of the TV. doh.

8/26/05

we spent the day in moshi, a small town near the base of Kilimanjaro. our main priority was to figure out what we would do about climbing Kilimanjaro. what company would we go with? what route would we take? how would we get our gear? well, in the end, the more research we did, the more we realized that kili would be an impossible undertaking for us. the cheapest route, Marangu, was 700$ and this exhausting strenuous 4 day climb turned out to have an only 10% success rate!! everyone else ended up giving up due to the extreme altitude. the next easiest route, one where we would actually have a good chance to get to the top was over $1000. OUCH! we just couldn’t afford that kind of money. there was the possibility of trying to go w/ some cheap independent operator, but we read a bunch of horror stories about that. apparently, sometimes these guys take you up the mountain, and then just ditch you!! you wake up, crawl out of your tent, and there you are all alone with no guide, gear, or porters!! also, a lot of the cheaper companies give you total crappy gear that doesn’t fit, sleeping bags that are too small, etc etc. climbing Africa’s tallest mountain was a serious undertaking, so we decided we just couldn’t risk this. so we gave up. it really sucks cause we were actually really excited about climbing. I had wanted to climb the mountain for months now. *sigh*. oh well… maybe some other year.

for a funny account of someone’s climb on the mountain, check this out: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/humor/lansky_kilimanjaro.htm

Moshi, the town we were in, would almost be a pleasant place, except for the millions of touts. every person in town works for a safari company, a climbing company, or another tourist agency. every step you take in town, you are bugged by people who want to sell you tours. it drives you crazy after a while.

other than being really depressed by our decision regarding Kilimanjaro, we didn’t do much that day. ate at the Indian restaurant, twice I think! and ended the night in the hotel bar, drinking our troubles away. we heard about some club in town which sounded interesting, but were too afraid to go there in case it would be swamped w/ hookers.

8/27/05

since we weren’t climbing Kilimanjaro, we decided to do a quick hike around the area just for fun. we made an arrangement to hire a guide, but he ended up trying to rip us off, so we backed out. in the end, we decided to just do it ourselves. we took a taxi to this hotel that was several kilometers out of town, and then just started walking. it actually turned out to be a pretty fun hike. we had no clue where the hell we were headed, so it was kind of like an adventure. we walked and walked. we passed coffee plantations, and then eventually got to a more jungleish are where we walked through large banana trees. we found a small village and walked through that, waving at children and other people who lived there. eventually, we ended up walking by more coffee bushes, and then out of nowhere we saw this huge compound in the distance.

at first we thought this place was a hotel. we thought we’d go there, have a drink, and then make our way back. as we got closer though, we noticed that this definitely didn’t look like a hotel. instead, it was all surrounded by barbed wire, had lookout towers, and looked more like a prison than anything. we thought about turning back, but we were now curious, so we walked closer. after getting through all the trees, we got to the front of the compound and saw a girl sitting on the porch. she yelled out “karibu” (meaning “welcome” in Swahili). I yelled out “do you speak English” and she answered in Swahili, though I don’t know what she said. she yelled out a few m ore things, and then as Joey and I approached the place closer, she yelled out something that sounded like “please, no!” and grabbed a rifle that had been sitting behind her. oh crap! we decided to not stick around and see what she meant to do w/ the rifle. we turned around quickly and got the hell out of there. we still have no idea what that place was. prison? military camp? al-queda?!

we returned back to town, ate at the Indian place again, and went to sleep.

8/28/05

the next morning, we took a bus to Dar Essalam. it was a 7 hour bus ride, but the roads were paved, so it wasn’t that bad. actually, this bus ride was really cool cause they gave everyone on the bus free sodas. at one point, we stopped for the usual bathroom break where everyone, both men and women, scrambled into the bushes. it’s funny how I’ve gotten totally used to this and it’s totally the norm for me now. what’s the big deal, right? but then I was thinking, could you imagine if this happened back home? if a greyhound bus just stopped in a field and told people to go to the bathroom behind bushes?! people would be so angry! eventually we had a lunch stop. we asked how long it would be and it turned out to be only 10 minutes!! everyone had to get there chicken and fries in a sack, and then squirted tons of hot sauce on it and ran back on the bus. the whole bus slowly munched their chicken and fries on the bus.

hours later, we got to dar Essalam. we had dinner at a hamburger place called Steers where we had eaten in Kenya. the one in Kenya had been so damn good!! this one sucked though, and I had lots of bone chunks in my burger and the whole thing was just nasty.

8/29/05

didn’t do too much today. had breakfast in a tasty cafe. across the street they sold t-shirts that said “mzungu” on them. we had no clue what that meant, so we asked our waitress and she started giggling and then said she didn’t know. well, it was obvious she knew but wouldn’t tell us. later we found out that it means something like “white man” or “foreigner” or something. it’s not meant to be an offensive term either, I guess that’s just what we are called.

Joey and I spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. we went to the post office. we got a bunch of money from an atm, since we were going to Zanzibar the next day and there would be no atms there. we bought ferry tickets. we exchanged money for dollars (on Zanzibar you have to pay for hotels rooms in dollars, not sure why.). eventually, when joey and i were ready to leave the post office, it started pouring like crazy.we decided to run for it. we ran full speed through the downpour, jumping over puddles and dodging cars that gor in our way. we got lots of funny looks by everyone else who stoff under overhangs keeping dry. we got so totally soaked, but it was all kind of funny. later on we went to a bookstore. big mistake. we left there $100 dollars poorer with 6 new books. we unsuccessfully shopped for shoes. we eventually ate dinner, did more internet, and went to sleep.

8/30/05

in the morning we took the ferry to Zanzibar. 3 hour trip. the ride was hell. probably one of the most rocky ferry rides ever. caryn came really close to vomiting and Joey and I felt awful as well. luckily, we survived the trip since the sea settled down eventually.

there’s this tribe that lives here in east Africa called the Masai. they are very recognizable because they still wear their traditional red checkered robes and loads of silver dangly jewelry. it’s pretty crazy that we can just be sitting on this ferry, and there will be a few Masai tribesmen just chilling on deck talking to each other. we randomly here and there see them in the city as well, walking down the street and whatnot. it’s pretty cool that these guys have preserved their own unique heritage, even when they live amongst the much more modern dressed Tanzanians. later, on Zanzibar, we would even see these guys in bars and clubs. so funny. a huge dancefloor full of tourists and locals, and then you’ll see these dudes in tribal robes totally rocking out to American pop songs.

… so that’s it for those several days. yeah, yeah, I know this is kind of a boring entry, but not that much happened on those days, so what can ya do?

*v

safari #2

8/24/05

we woke up in the morning and it was time to go on our next safari. this time we would be going to Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania. this place was supposed to be really cool because not only could you see lots of animals, but the scenery was supposed to be amazing as well. also, in this crater, there was a good chance of seeing a black rhino which is super rare. there was some confusion at our hotel, and for some reason, when our driver arrived, the hotel staff told him that we had left at 5am and had never come back! well, eventually things were sorted out and we were on the way. Joseph, our guide/driver, was the nicest guy you could ever meet, but he was also totally disorganized. he had to call back to the office to figure out our lunch situation. then he had to borrow money from Joey to pay for the lunches. he wasn’t sure how we would get the sleeping bags that we needed for the night, etc etc etc.

eventually, we picked up our box lunches and were off. we made the mandatory stop at a gift shop on the way, and refused to buy any souvenirs for the insane prices they were offering (about *10* times more than what they should be!). after more driving, we soon entered the park and were on the crater rim. the inside of the crater was quite hazy, so photos of the view didn’t come out so great, but the view was still amazing. the crater itself was HUGE, and you could just barely see to the other side. inside, you could see that the landscape was quite varied. some parts had lots of trees, others were dry gravel, and there was even a huge dry encrusted soda lake in there too. we slowly descended down the bumpy road into the crater, avoiding several overturned trucks that had been unlucky.

when our driver paid our park admissions, I realized that we had way overpaid for the safari. we had paid $120 per day per person, which comes out to 720$. it turns out that park/camp fees were a meager $210 for all of us! the remaining $510 seemed a bit much to pay for renting a van for 2 days and food. *sigh*. oh well. we finally got to the crater floor, and started exploring the place. I really enjoyed the park. there wasn’t as many animals as the Masai Mara, and the animals there were much more spread out, and in a way, I think I may have actually liked it this way better. it felt more real and natural that way. each time we spotted an animal, it was much more of an event, since we weren’t seeing them every 2 feet. also, the other really nice thing was that there were much less vans here than in Masai Mara. often times, we’d be the only van that we could see, and it felt a lot more peaceful and pleasant that way. the cars here were required by law (and monitored by rangers) not to drive off the tracks, so our presence didn’t seem as destructive here either which was nice.

after driving around some more, we spotted two lions who were hunting some wildebeest. the wildebeest were just standing around, not having a clue, and the lions were slowly but surely creeping up closer and closer. the scene was *so* intense. the lions moved ever so slowly, each paw cautiously stepping forward so as to not make any noise. earlier, we had been really hoping to see a kill. what could be more exciting than to actually see a powerful lion attack its prey? but now that the scene was actually playing out in front of me, I really didn’t want it to happen. the wildebeest just looked so innocent, meek, and oblivious… I really didn’t want them to be slaughtered. the scene became more and more tense as the lionesses got closer, but then something happened… I dunno, maybe the wind shifted or something, but all at once, the whole herd of wildebeest bolted. lions cant run fast for very long, and the wildebeest were still out of range, so the lions didn’t even attempt to give chase. the situations were hopeless.

the lions stopped their slow careful stalking, and trotted forwards looking for more animals. the vans followed, and soon enough, there was another small pack of wildebeest. the lions decided to attack from both sides this time. one lion went right, while the other circled around to the left. once again, everyone was totally tense. as the lion on the left got closer and closer, finally the wildebeest picked up on it, and all of them dashed frantically to the right… towards the other lion. this one caught them totally by surprise, and they swerved trying to escape. the lion, now within striking distance, gave chase… but it wasn’t fast enough. once again, the wildebeest got away. in the end, we never saw a kill, which actually is probably a good thing.

later on we took our lunch in this area that had tons of monkeys. these guys were brave, and honestly, a bit menacing. they kept running at the car to try to snatch our food. these guys weren’t afraid of humans either. if you tried to scare them or stomp at them, they would just lunge toward you and bare their teeth. at one point, one of them actually got in our van, and we all freaked out and jumped out. it jumped to the roof of the van and wouldn’t leave, instead it kept baring its fangs at us. sheez, if these things were a little bigger, I’m sure they’d fully take us on and probably win.

eventually, we headed to where we would be camping, and there was more confusion. our tents hadn’t arrived, and there were still no sleeping bags to be seen. finally, we got our stuff, but then, our food wasn’t ready. all the other people were being fed by their cooks, but we had to just stand there in the cold and dark waiting. we didn’t even have any chairs to sit on! when we finally did get our food, we ate fast, since we were quite hungry and then went to bed, a bit nervous that wild animals might come to our tent.

8/25/05

the next day we set out again, back into the crater. this was our last day on safari, and we were really hoping to see the remaining two of the big 5, a leopard or a rhino. we were in luck, in just a few minutes, our guide got a phone call from his brother who was down in the crater. he had spotted a leopard and told us where it might be. unfortunately, the leopard had been seen several hours prior, so there was a good chance that it may have moved by then.

we were lucky though. when we arrived on the scene, there it was… a leopard. it was sitting on this bent tree trunk, just relaxing. leopards are very solitary animals who usually kill their prey and then pull it up into trees. they really don’t like to be disturbed, so it was a bit surprising that the leopard didn’t make a run for it. unfortunately, the leopard was kind of at a distance, and it was a bit hazy out, so my photos of it didn’t come out all that great.

we spent the rest of the morning driving around the crater, and after several hours, we drove up to the place near a lake where someone had spotted a rhino. at first, we didn’t see anything. but eventually, after peering into the distance, we finally saw a little black dot, that may possibly have been a rhino. the guide said it definitely was a rhino, but honestly, I wasn’t convinced. we didn’t have any binoculars with us, but luckily we were able to borrow some from another van. looking through the binoculars, I was able to focus on the dot a little better, and finally a small rhino-esque shape began to form. it was still tiny, and very difficult to make out, but finally I had to agree that it had to be a rhino. I took a photo of it through the binoculars. the photo came out fuzzy and pretty bad, but sort of kind of you can make out a rhino shape.

we had done it! we had been able to see all 5 of the big 5. it had been a really exciting safari. very different than the Masai Mara. I’m still not sure which safari I liked better. the Masai Mara definitely had more animals and it was really exciting, but Ngorongoro had somewhat more of a relaxed feel, and the scenery was definitely better.

*v

in between safaris

when we returned from our safari, our first stop was Sana Travel. we talked to the agent there and she wrote out a paper that she signed stating that the $380 that was unused for our safari (for ending 2 days early) would be applied to a new safari of our choice. we would just have to pay the difference since most safaris are over $380. since now we had signed receipts, we really didn’t expect there to possibly be any problems. unfortunately, we were wrong. very wrong.

8/22/05

most people who are familiar w/ lonely planet, know that they have forums on their website called “the thorntree”. this is one of the most important parts of the lonely planet website, since this is where everyone goes to chat, get advice, and ask questions to other travelers. well, i never before knew this, but this messageboard is actually named after the thorntree cafe in Nairobi. this cafe is legendary in it’s own right, and is a very popular meeting place for travelers in Kenya. in the middle of the courtyard, stands a large thorntree planted over 50 years ago, and people can ping message cards to the tree… the tree is a message board of its own!

so, we were excited to go check out the cafe, and sadly, we weren’t impressed. the guidebook had said that the cafe had recently undergone a sterile renovation, and it really showed. there definitely wasn’t anything all that exciting about it. also, the 60 year old thorntree had been dug up, and instead of it there was a new one, which was quite small. a bit of a letdown.
our main goal for that day was to get all of our safari questions figured out. we wanted to do a safari to Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania, but we planned to do this one without the help of Sana tours. the only other big thing we wanted to do was to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. this is actually a very serious and difficult undertaking, and it takes 6 days to do (at least). Sana does a trip up the mountain for $630, so we decided to book it through them. we went through all the arrangements, but then all of a sudden, at the last minute, the woman said that she wasn’t sure if we would be able to apply all the $380 due to our next trip. huh? she said that the park fees for Masai Mara, had already been paid for us, and that we can not have that part refunded.

we told her that that couldn’t be right. we had been told over the phone, that we would get all *380* back. if we hadn’t been told that, we wouldn’t have come back 2 days early. plus, their company had already signed documents that we would get $380 back. it was unfair for them to go back on their word. she said that maybe it was all a misunderstanding, and she would check on it. we then left, wondering what would happen in the end…
that night, we decided to go out and celebrate joey’s birthday. we went to this Italian place that was recommended to us and it was hella good. my parents had sent me money to get birthday champagne, and this seemed like the perfect night to go for it… but i didn’t have the cash on me, and it’s not a great idea to walk the dark streets of Nairobi at night to use an ATM. well, the armed security guard from the restaurant ended up walking with me all the way to the ATM, watching over me, and then walking me back. how’s that for safety? back at the restaurant, we had the champagne, and we toasted to joey’s bday and to my belated bday. it was cool to get to celebrate.

after the restaurant, Caryn was tired and went back to the room, but joey and i decided to check out this club called Florida 2000, apparently the hottest club in town and nicknamed “the madhouse”! although the club was only like 2 blocks fro the hotel, we had two security guards from the hotel walk us over, and then they told us that they’d come back to fetch us later. heh, it really makes you feel like some VIP to have armed guard escorting you everywhere.

when we walked into the club, i walked up the stairs first, and literally within seconds of reaching the top step, i had a hooker literally rubbing up against me. yikes!! only after repeatedly telling her that i was uninterested and had a girlfriend, did she finally leave. phew! but i wasn’t safe for long. from the moment joey and i walked into the bar area, we were attacked nonstop. seriously, it seemed like this place was 80-90% hookers, and only like 10% other people. and these girls used crazy tactics just like the touts on the streets.

the touts on the streets will tell you “aww, who me? nahh! i don’t wanna sell you anything! I’m just giving you free information!! just practicing my English!!”.. but then you talk to them a bit, and right when you’re not expecting it, bam!! you get a sales pitch! well, same thing pretty much here. the girl comes up, starts talking. i interrupt with “not interested, i have a girlfriend”. girl looks sad and offended.. “girlfriend!! i don’t want anything like that! i just want to talk! i like to talk to foreigners! tell me, what do you think of Kenya!”. so warily, i start to just chat.. and everything is chill.. for a bit and then they start trying to bump and grind and whatnot and say shit like “your girlfriend’s not here! who cares. she wont know!!” yikes!!! so yeah, the club actually had potential to be really cool. drinks weren’t all that expensive, the music was alright, and LOUD. the place looked nice too. all the makings of a good night… but seriously the hookers wouldn’t leave us alone.. and then we made our escape… quickly trying to leave while random girls would literally jump out at us and try to grab us and keep us there… and then from out of nowhere… we were rescued! out of the crowd, the tall form of the armed guard from the hotel appeared. we sighed w/ relief, and followed him back to the hotel. phew!

when we got back to the hotel, we were surprised to hear that Sana tours had called. 4 times! and this is after midnight. they wanted us to call back no matter how late. uh-oh. we tried to call, but got no answer, so we went to bed.

8/23/05

early in the morning, our phone rings. the clerk tells us that someone from Sana tours is there to see us. crap. this couldn’t be good. the woman pulls us into a cafe to talk. she says that basically, the way things work is that all the park fees are paid in advance, and that since Sana already made the payment, they couldn’t refund us that part of the money. not only that, but she says we would have to pay for the food that was allegedly preordered for us. sheez. now this was utter bullshit. honestly, i kind of doubt the park thing. i think that Sana sends people to that park every single day, if we came home early, Sana could have sent someone else in our place and still used the park entrance fees even if they were paid. and as far as the food? that’s bullshit, if we checked out of the camp early, there’s no way we should have to pay for the food that we never got. well, then the girl started going into this story how, since it was her mistake, if we didn’t pay for the park fees etc, it would be taken out of her salary or she would be fired. *sigh*. what the hell do you say to that? the thing is, if it’s true, i would totally feel bad for her, but honestly, i don’t really think it’s true. so we asked to speak to a manager.

a couple hours later, we’re in Sana’s office. now, not only do they not want to reimburse us in the amount of park fees and food, but they also want to not refund us for the lodging. each time we talk to them, they keep chipping away at our $380. this is unbelievable. basically, the way i see it is this: if we would not be reimbursed for these things, we should have been told this right away. if we knew that, we wouldn’t have canceled our safari. but, since two people had told us we would be reimbursed, not to mention that we had signed papers from them, it was absurd that we couldn’t get our $380 back!! and.. it’s not like we were even asking for the $380 back!! we were just asking for it to be applied towards Kilimanjaro which costs $1260 for the two of us!! we were giving them over a thousand dollars worth of more business, and they couldn’t just stick to their promise.

after arguing for a long time, the manager said that she would call her boss, and we said we’d come back later. so basically, we spent all afternoon walking back and forth to Sana tours. when we came back, we argued w Sana some more. in the end, they agreed to give us back 240$ cash. so basically they stole $140 from us. i was SO pissed. how could they do this?? when we had *signed* papers from the stating that they would refund us $380. unbelievable. well, at least we were able to get the money back in cash, without having to do another tour with them. the last thing i would want is to trust those bastards to take us up Kilimanjaro!!

by then it was midday and we caught a bus to Arusha. arusha is in Tanzania, so we had to cross the border which was straightforward and quick. the ride to arusha was only like 6 hours, but we were still tired when we arrived. we went to this Chinese restaurant which was really good, and then crashed out.

*v