Today is my second and last day in Addis Ababa.. will take a bus to Harar tomorrow, and back to Addis on Thurs, and on Friday morning, I'll make my way to the Kenyan border.. The entire jouryney from addis to nairobi will take 4-5 days.. dun think i'll have internet access during this journey.. Oh! I'll have a reprieve from this trip in early May.. i'm to fly to Dubai for a week of training.. and then i'll fly back to nairobi and continue on my journey.. haha.. but HR is checking out if i can wear my columbia [View Full Entry]

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Woke up 430am this morning to bus to Addis, which is supposedly 1.5days away.. so i hope tomorrow is the 0.5days cos today is really one long bus ride day.. the bus journey is quite scenic.. but scenic can't last you 12hrs on the bus.. furthermore, didn't get a good seat.. window can't open.. baby at the seat behind puked and the puke flowed forward... stuffy air.. and in the afternoon we drove into a storm.. as in STORM.. the trees are almost breaking that kind.. then i remembered, oh shit, my bag on top of bus.. and i was [View Full Entry]

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Arrived at Lalibela! Hurrah! but internet here is even more expensive.. 1birr/min.. so i think my internet time will be very limited here.. planning to stay here for maybe 3 nights before heading down to Addis.. Staying at the alief paradise hotel.. pretty nice room.. have my own bath.. 50bir/night.. but it's downhill.. so if want to go town centre mus walk uphill.. pant pant.. lalibela is where this king called Lalibela answer God's instruction and built 11 churches hewn into rocks.. and supposedly wih the help of angels.. will see how impressive these churches are maybe tomorrow.. [View Full Entry]

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Took a morning bus this morning from gonder to lalibela.. well not really... there's no direct bus to lalibela.. so you have to take a bus that's headed for Dessie.. and get down at Gashena.. and then try to find a transport going north to lalibela.. getting to lalibela from gonder or bahir dar is not that convenient.. best way is to fly, but it cost about 9x as much.. and i didn't want to spoil the 'overland' concept by flying.. hehe.. so.. i went to the bus station at 5am in the morning.. gate is still closed.. huuge crowd [View Full Entry]

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Photos are uploaded up till Bahir Dar.. Gonder photos akan datang [UDPATE] Gonder photos uploaded (17 Apr 07) [View Full Entry]

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After spending two nights at Bahir Dar, i bade farewell to Dave and our partnership in travelling.. and took a lift from a british couple to Gonder.. north of Bahir Dar, 3hrs private car ride away.. The drive with the British couple was great.. they drive quite fast .. =) and we stopped by this Guzawa Castle along the way.. perched on a hill top.. qiute nice. .we had the entire castle to ourselves.. no admission charge.. and 2 little ethiopian kids (3-5yrs) came and wanted to be our guide.. haha.. they opened a gate into the castle for us [View Full Entry]

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Happy Easter Sunday everyone! I dun celebrate Easter, but it is a great day for many Ethiopians.. especially in this area.. where many follow the orthodox christianity faith.. I am now at Bahir Dar, the southern tip of Lake Tana, which feeds into the Blue Nile.. well it's not really the source of the Blue Nile... as the lake is itself fed by many tributaries.. of which one main tributary, the [forgot name.. will insert later], which itself is fed by a spring.. and that spring is supposedly the true source of the Blue Nile.. and since the Nile is [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Shihedi to Bahir Dar was a really pleasant journey.. I drove most of the way so that Dave could rest further.. From the border to Shihedi, the gravel road is still relatively flat.. shortly after Shihedi, the gravel road starts climbing as we begun to be greeted by Ethiopia's mountains.. As we came round the mountains/hills.. we passed by so many villages.. many without electricity.. and all of the round huts were made entirely of wood and grass and some covered with mud as wall.. And Saturday is market day.. and we saw lots of villagers walking [View Full Entry]

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We left early in the morning and tried to cross the border on the 6th.. Previously, crossing the border usually will have to take 2 days.. 1 day's drive from khartoum to gadaref.. and another day's drive from gadaref to gallabat (sudan's border town), cross into Metema (ethiopian side) and then drive to Gonder.. The road from Gadaref to Gallabat is now tarred.. so that makes travelling much easier.. The journey to the border was still hot.. but as we near the border, we start to see some trees.. then taller trees.. and the architecture of the building changed from [View Full Entry]

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Forgot to update that I got my Visa to Ethiopia yesterday! yay.. went down again to the embassy in the morning at about 11am.. then they tell me the consul-general will not arrive till 2pm.. so i walked out and found an internet cafe to kill my time.. 130pm i was back at the embassy.. at 230pm, the guy that asked me to wait for teh consul general asked me into the office and told me to fill in the visa form.. and pay USD 20.. hey.. no need to see consul general already.. Embassy Letter of Recommendation rocks! 240pm.. [View Full Entry]

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