| Home on the Range Again |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|02:12 pm] |
Wow ten months have passed since I left and here I sit where I was ten months ago. Back in Canada back in brooks. It's an odd feeling not entirely sure whether it is good or bad I guess it's just a feeling.
So the last month has been insanely busy and I apologizing for not updating but yeah I had slightly more than I normally did when I hopped on the internet.
So here's a quick update on all that has happened.
Left capetown for Johannesburg
Spent 3 nights in J'burg (not a great city)
Went to the Apartheid museum which was great
Went a nightmare mini bus ride to Nelspriut SA
Rented a car and drove through Kruger National Park
Saw a pride of lion, and giraffes, zebras, impalas, water buffalo, and Wild Elephants
(was super cool)
Fly back to the UK Emirates is the best airline in the world the food was so good and you had a choice of over 2hundred movies. and Tetris. Was brilliant
Took and overnight bus to Edinburgh. (realized IT was cold in the UK)
Saw Brian my brother and Abbie his fiance
chilled out in Edinburgh for a few days saw the sites fantastic city
Rented a car with Brian and Abbie and drove through the Scottish Highlands
BEAUTIFUL
Saw Buzz and Tasha (vollies from Nepal)in Aberdeen
Flew home
I am currently in the process of trying to get everything sorted out financially, school in the fall, as well as a job so I am fairly busy. But that is a good thing keeps my mind occupied.
I also have a few old entries that I never got around to posting after my laptop died so I'll throw them on now in hopes that you'll enjoy them even though they aren't current.
Cheers
Big hugs and kisses to you all
Love
Blake |
|
|
| Zambia The relentless attempts to change Shilling into Kwacha as well Victoria Falls |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|02:10 pm] |
Zambia The relentless attempts to change Shilling into Kwacha as well Victoria Falls
Think about it two countries are neighboring each other, these two countries are very strong trading partners. You would god damn well think that you would be able to change one currency into the other currency reality easily wouldn’t you??? Answer no. No you cannot. AHHHHHH FRUSTRATION.
I arrived into Zambia on the 17th of January. I took the Train form Dar to Kapri Mposhi about 200km outside of the capital Lusaka. It was beautiful journey the scenery was simply amazing so green and lush rolling hills I didn’t’ even notice that it took 47 hours plus a 4 hr bus ride to the Capital. On the way I met up with the Swedes I had met earlier on the way to Zanzibar and a med student from London so I had people to talk to which was nice.
We all decided to head to the same hostel and had a great sleep. The next day I wandered around Lusaka which such a strange city. Zambia is very developed and I shows in this city with the exception there is maybe 4 high rises for the most part it is flat and straight with most of the building not over two stories it was so strange. It really reminded me of a little dirt hole town in the US only extended was so weird. As well the first day my wandering had a purpose to find a foreign exchange that bought Tanzanian Schillings of all the bureau not a single god damn one did the best that one said was maybe just to the bus station and trade with the guys on the street the illegal bureau du Changes(not quite as dodgy as it sounds). I couldn’t believe it here I had about $75 worth of schillings and was worthless to make matters even worse of all the Atm’s in the city (in which there are a few) not one takes my debit card as well I am running really low on hard currency so I was and still am rather stressed about it.
The next day the 4 of us walked down to the bus station to catch a bus to Livingstone and the Magnificent Victoria Falls. We got there around 8am and then found a bus that was leaving at 10 so I had some time to kill. I decided to go for a walk and try to find the black market currency traders. This doesn’t sound as dangerous or as difficult as it sounds. All I needed o do was walk for about 5 minutes and like 4 guys approached me wanting to change money. The black market is good at times when it comes to changing money as it can be very quick and you can get a fairly decent rate never as good as a bank but much, much quicker but at the same time if they know they are the only ones changing such as in my case they will get a very good rate. One schilling is worth 35 kwacha the best rate I could get was 27 it killed me so I only changed a couple of bills in hopes to find a better deal.
Anyways Livingstone is a cool little town very relaxed which is surprising being the number of tourist around here. My timing is really something to be desired here I am camping right in the middle of the rainy season lol Luckily the tent I bought is water proof but still everything is just damp.
The falls are every bit as incredible as you could imagine them to be. They stretch for nearly 2 km half lies on the Zambian side of the border and the other half on the Zimbabwean side. I only saw the Zambian side it was so beautiful they just stretch on and on. It was raining so there were very few people around which made it so quite, with the exception of the roaring falls thundering into the valley. I don’t know quit how else to describe it so I’ll take a the quote form David Livingstone when he first saw them
“ The most wonderful sight I had witnessed in all of Africa. No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything seen in England. It had never been seen by European eyes before, but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels.” [Livingstone 1857]
It was very surreal we had both brought a lunch and had a picnic at the crest of Victoria falls it seemed so unreal. |
|
|
| Zanzibar. |
[Apr. 17th, 2007|02:05 pm] |
Zanzibar.
Zanzibar can be summed up in this, crystal clear turquoise water, Finding Nemo, seafood, beer, “fireworks”, laughing, the Dutch, Aussies, extreme randomness. It was an awesome 4 days
I arrived in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday the 9th of January. The bus ride was terrific aircon with a TV that played a great bollywood movie, and it took 3 hours less than expected ask me how happy I was.
I arrived in Dar to mixed reaction, first off it took me over an hour to find a hotel; and a crap overpriced hotel to that matter. (but whatever it was place to stay). As it was only about 4pm when I got there I decided to try to get my ticket for the ferry over to Zanzibar the next day which did with ease and with help from a terrific guy. Was good and bad start.
The ferry was luxury. As I am white(in case you didn’t know) I only had the option of first class on the boat and to be honest that wasn’t really a bad thing , it was cold air con and also had a TV that played crap TV shows. It’s funny how addicting a Pilipino soap opera with bad acting and terrible dubbing is. When it stopped it was like what can it really be over already?? What happens next??? Anyways the cool part was the people I met on the ferry. Mat from Australia and Isabella and Freddy from Sweden they were really cool to chat to and get to know. We ended up at the same hotel after a slight detour to find a phantom “Cheap” hotel that turned out to be 10 times the price I was told. I ended up sharing with Matt as it was much cheaper for a double as a apposed to a single. It was a pretty chill first evening had some good Chinese food and then got hopelessly lost in the winding narrow streets that make up stone town.
Day two started out normal enough little did I know what was to happen later that day. I wandered around found and incredible beach(one of many I would see). The real fun started out at dinner. In stone town they have this amazing seafood market where all the fish is fresh and cheap dirt cheap. Grabbed my grub and sat down at this table the patron who was already there starts chatting to us. Vincent from Holland. It really hard to describe him in words other than the fact he was hilarious, very sarcastic and absolutely took the piss out his country god he was great. As were are chatting 2 more Aussie and brit come an sit down at the table, we chatting to them it was so strange of all the tourists in Zanzibar it turns out we were all going on the exact same spice tour the next day(there like 5 companies who do and 60ppl a day who go on these tours) very random. From the Aussies we learn that the next day is Zanzibar Revolution day and to celebrate there was going to be fireworks at midnight. Clearly this was an invitation to drink until midnight. Right? Well that’s what we did.
To see the fireworks properly we taken to a rooftop nightclub to “see” them. I am really having a hard time describing the fireworks if that what you can call them. they were a couple of red flashes of light in the sky and then the sound of machine guns being played over and over for about 15 min it was really strange we couldn’t help but laugh at them they were so ridiculous was brilliant. We managed to get to our hotel at 5:00am and then be up and ready to go for 9:00 for the spice tour.
The spice tour was great very interesting with one of the best lunches I have had in a long time was delicious. As well we stopped by a beautiful beach (#2) to swim and I had my first experience with snorkeling which was very cool.
sunset over the beach
Day 3 the group as we have all merged together went to the north of the island where the beaches are supposed to be the best in the world. With my little experience of seeing beaches I honestly don’t ever expect to see on that could even compare. The sand was so white it looked like snow and the water was so warm and perfectly clear was marvelous. I think the day can be characterized when Vincent asked hat time I was. Someone replied 11:00. His response was shit I have to wait another before I can get a beer. Yes we drank a lot of beer that night. Was lots of fun.
The last day in Zanzibar we went on a snorkeling trip we piled onto a wooden dhow(sailing ship luckily had and engine as well) We all sat on the roof which needles to say was pretty hot as it was over 30 by ten. I know this is starting to sound like a broken record but I just cannot get over how clear the water was it looked like the water was only 1 maybe two meters down but in actuality it closer to 10+m and you could see right to the bottom.
Anyways the trip took about 2.5 hours to the reef where we would be doing snorkeling. By this time I was so over hot I have never been so happy to jump into the water. Finding Nemo is all I can say. The entire time I was snorkeling I just kept amusing myself and was like there’s Dora, or the tuna who made shapes in the ocean(what I saw weren’t tuna but the fish were doing the same thing) was unreal. The colors on one fish, and every fish were just astounding. They were so brilliant and shades that I have never seen before was incredible. The best was a star fish first off it was huge and had crimson red stripes all over it I just couldn’t look away it was so stunning.
We had lunch on the boat the fish was honestly the best I have ever had it was like I was eating a steak it was so meaty (my mouth is salivating thinking about it). After lunch there was more time to so snorkeling but I was absolutely shattered from earlier so I spent about a hour jumping off the roof of the boat into the ocean was so cool ever done anything like it before.
After we finished I caught the bus back to Stone Town, said my goodbyes, and boarded the night ferry back to Dar. Was a wicked 4 days to say the least. |
|
|
| Cape Town |
[Mar. 22nd, 2007|12:09 pm] |
Well I have made it to the most southernly city in Africa. Cape Town. And it really strange. It doesn't feel like Africa at all all the roads are paved there are no holes in the side walk drivers obey the road the buses aren't packed extremely full. It's weird it feels like a place straight out of Europe not really sure if I like it yet. Don't get me wrong it's beautiful actually really quite stunning.
I only have 12 days left in Africa before I fly back to England so going to spend about a week here then hopefully fly to Johannesburg spend a few days there then. I 'm meeting up with some peeps I met in Maputo and we a re goign to rent a car to see Kruger NAtional park at the last minute just before I leave so it should be a whorl wind of fun
An amusing tid bit of information. So I ran out of deodrant about 2 months ago and it was too much to buy so figured whatever I just won't use any. So I din't on the bu into SA I had the sudden realization that I was the only person around me who smelled of B.O.
I have since bought deodrant
I hope everyone is well and fine
Take care lots of love
Blake |
|
|
| Cape Town |
[Mar. 22nd, 2007|12:05 pm] |
Well I have made it to the most southernly city in Africa. Cape Town. And it really strange. It doesn't feel like africa at all all the roads are paved there are no holes in the side walk drivers obey the road the buses aren't packed extremely full. It's weird it feels like a place straight out of europe not really sure if I like it yet. Don't get me wrong it's beautiful actually really quite stunning.
I only have 12 days left in Africa before I fly back to Enlgand so going to spend about a week here then hopefully fly to Johansburg spend a feww days there then. I 'm meeting up with some peeps I met in Maputo and we a re goignto rent a car to see Kruger NAtional park at the last minute jsut before I leave so it should be a whorl wind of fun
I hope eveyone is well and fine
Take care lots of love
Blake |
|
|
| maputo |
[Mar. 16th, 2007|04:57 pm] |
Two updates in two days. I know strange...........
I just thought I should say Maputo is easily the best THE BEST city i have been to in Africa honestly one of the best I have ever been two. There loads if great cafes, beautiful sea front, great places to eat, it's clean, the people are friendly, the bars are so much fun.
Yeah I really like it here
I don't want to leave on Sunday
Cheers
Blake |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Mar. 14th, 2007|04:44 pm] |
|
Sorry I'm a useless twat I know and haven't updated in ages it not my fault though i had ahuge one written out and then the internet crashed. Ask me how happy I was.
Anyways in Maputo Mazambique and loving it. I'm afraid to admit it but I cheated cheated very bad I flew from northern mozam to here. I had a hell of a time getting around the north I won't bore you with detail but at on point there was no vehicles running so I had to walk 30km in 37degrees heat spend a night in local village no eltricity was an expereince very rewarding
in the north I went to Pemba So fun beatuiful beach freindly local friendly local ex pats great discotecha on friday I styaed there all told for about 14 days I really like it there. to say the least
My visa expires on the 18 so will be in to South Africa from there I am really sad to see Mozambique go I have had and absolutly amazing time here and met great people and am having real trouble leaving I DON"T WANT TO.
But I gues I can always come back
I know this is really short with very little detail
but I need to get going
Sorry
Lots of love miss everyone lots
cheers
blake
|
|
|
| Moazambique |
[Feb. 22nd, 2007|10:27 am] |
I have decided there are Three ways to do things.
1. The easy way (for sissys)
2. The average way( for below average people)
3. THe hard way ( the fun way)
My theory is this if you can master the hard way before enev trying the easy way you'll be a master before you know it. Therfore I chose to enter Mazambique through the border town Of Entre Lagos. Now is you get out a map and find Liwonde Malawi and Ilha Mozambique there is a train line that runs almost directly between the too. So when I started planning how was I to know that I would have to take a minibus, pickup truck,walk 5 km, stay the night on the border, take a very overpacked minibus, agian stay the night(my b-day) in a tiny town where there was nothing, take a train, (then should have stayed the night) take a mini bus be starnded in the rain on the side of the road for 3 hrs waiting for another imaginary minibus, hitching a ride on a truck already well overloaded with furniture and finally arriving at you finlkay destination 3 days after you started and traveling mybe 500km.
It was fun lets say that. It wasn't all bad In Cuamab where I spent my b-day it was town not mush there hot and dusty but on the highlight I got can of icetea (highlight) as well as I met a couple of really cool guys who spoke english and really helped me out quite a bit so It wasn't all bad
As Ilha De Mozambique was beautiful formally the colonial capital of Mozambique so there are the old building slowly crumpling but gorgues colours, smells and sight althoguh very very hot. THe whole island is only about 2.5 km by 600m just packed with history it has adefinate european feel about it with the beautiful boardwalk that have grass growing though them was really really nice. As wellt nehre wer a couple huge thundersotrms fantastic.
Naywasy gotta go Talk to everybady later
Love lots miss all
Cheers
Blake |
|
|
| Leaving Malawi into Mozambique |
[Feb. 13th, 2007|08:29 am] |
|
So the hiking in Malawi is amazing I've done some abslutly incredible day walks. When I was arounf the tea plantation I just sorta started to follow a trail and it took me into this really dense forest area where I came across this beautiful stream cascading down hill between these huge boulders. HTe water was so clear and I was the only person around I mean the next person I was was about 25min away form here it was incredible.
Two days later I was walking to the peak of Zomba Plateau which is about 2500m up was a beautiful walk and the view intisally were amazing. Then as I neared the peak it started to spit as I got to the peak it started to pour for the next 5 hours. I had to walk one and half hours in the pouring rain. By the time I got backl to where I was staying I was drenched head to toe was miserable day. On the positive side I nk longer need to clean the shirt I was wearing as I got clean by me wearing it.
I am now heading up to Liwonde natinoal park where I should get to see some hippos which I am very excited about. NOt so excited about the price of things though hopefully it'll be cheaper thatn what I am expecting.
On either Friday or Saturday (yes my b-day) I will be crossing the border into Mozambique. Becasue Iam a genius at planning I will get to spend my B-day cramped into a minus bus or truck or Freight Train heading to beaches Beautifuk glorius beaches. Not to worry anyone I'm not going to where an flooding is happening I have no death wishes.
So I'm not sure what internet acces whill be like in Northeren Mozambique so It may be a couple of weeks before I can update again.
Anyways a tight cramped minibus ride for 5 hours awaits me
Take care All
Miss you All
Blake |
|
|
| Blantyre Malawi |
[Feb. 6th, 2007|02:17 pm] |
Goddamn Ants. Got into my laptop and it is now not turning on so I need to find a repair shop to get it fixed. GGGRRR Oh well I knew the risks before I left I just never though thought that of all the ways to break it Ants would be the ones to do it.
Anyways that means my updates will be a litte shorter and a little hastier written but they will be there.
So last time I updated I was heading to Victoria Fall. Which was Absolutly amazing it is easily the spectaular natural wonder I have ever seen it is so beautiful and just goes on. I only went to the zambian side it was breathtaking so nice. I went with a firend that i made on the train over. The morning we went it was raining so we practiacally had the entire walking paths and the falls to ourselves was amazing.
The next day I did throw myself off a cliff 5 times actaully. Was great. It a little sick how much I actaully enjoy it. lol
I was only in Zambia for 8 days was literally in and out I wish I could have stayed longer it was stunningly beautiful but alas I left for malawi.
Question how long would you expect a journey of just over 800km to take keeping in mind the highway is paved the entire way and it is farily flat?????
I bet not one of you would have guessed 25hrs not including 11hrs at the bus station waiting for the bus to leave. was a long 36 hrs.
Malawi is stunning really thats the only way I can describe it. The people are so friendly and helpful the lake is amzingly clean and warm the food is delicuous it mostly easy to travel around, most people speak english I can keep going on. I just spent 6 days in an amazing hostel right on the shores of Lake Malawi. WOW is all I have to say
SO there it is my amazing update. I'll try updating more frequently but as I always say taht I'll see what happens
Cheers Take care
Miss everyone lots
Blake |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
blakewm's journal