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Published: October 7th 2008
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Steven - 8 October 2008
We have neglected our blog as our trip to and around Ethiopia did not provide us with the opportunity to access the Internet - We can access in Addis but it is very slow but we will add this blog and some photos before we head off to Tel Aviv tomorrow - Time seems to be passing fairly quickly now we have reached the half way point!
We arrived in Ethiopia at 0600 in the morning and were able to take advantage of the Sheraton’s courtesy bus. Hotel is every thing it is famous for and service is excellent. It is such a stark contrast to the life and sounds outside the compound though - security is tight everywhere here but at least that makes us feel safe. 3 days here to relax, see a bit of Addis and catch up with Lucy (the oldest adult human bones in the world). Guesh (a friend of an Ethiopian friend in Canberra) - has been extremely helpful and has assisted us well in planning our trip around Ethiopia. We met up with another friends sisters (Adugna) and had dinner.
After a few days relaxing we were
off to Bah Adar, the city next to the Blue Nile Falls. These were spectacular and one can only imagine what they look like when there has been a large downpour upstream during the rainy season. They say the falls are 450 metres long when that happens. Bah Adar is a very nice place, green and relatively new by Ethiopian standards and would be my vote on a place to live in Ethiopia. Houses are being constructed here in the “nicer” areas and go for around $200,000 with 4 bedrooms and room for the staff! There was even a street that has the Nile river on its frontage - impressive address! We visited several ancient monasteries on Lake Tana (very large natural lake formed by a now inactive volcano in the Niles path). After Bah Adar we flew to Gonder (each leg in a Focker 50 propeller plane! - takes about 30 minutes). Some more churches and a Castle built in the 13th Century by King Fassil of Ethiopia and added to by his successors. Was intact until it ws occupied by the Italians as their HQ durng the occupation and bombed by the British. There is now extensive resoration
occurring - even got to hung my hat on the same wooden peg as King Fassil hung his clothes all that time ago. The baths were an amazing feet of engineering - steam baths with showers using hot water although there were no slaves there when we visited to boil and pour the water for us!
Next stop was Axum (via Laliabella) where there fame to claim was Stella - very tall rock columns one of which Mussolini stole and took back to Rome - They have only just managed to get the Italians to return it this year and I go to see it in place - they cut it into 3 pieces and flew it to Ethiopia each in its own Hercules Airplane - Very large.
The next stage was to visit Shire, the home of my business (restaurant) partner Yayesh’s family to say hello and see a really rural town and area. It was surprisingly green but the one hour drive turned out to be over two hours (in a Minibus) across some pretty rough roads - I have learnt that Ethiopians have an optimistic view of time and it always takes much longer than
they say. We were picked up in Axum for the drive to Shire by Mululalem who is Yayesh’s cousin and the owner of the Africa Hotel in Shire where we were to stay.
Most of the other hotels so far cater for western tourists and while basic were adequate. Shire does not get tourists staying so this was more of a local hotel and was interesting (albeit noisy as it was also a popular night spot) - still when in Rome and for US$7.00 per room per night and good hospitality from our host it was good. We also got to meet some other families there including Tilahun’s brother and sister and Tefari’s mother and brother both of whom invited us into their homes so we got to see how people live.
Save this information, and carry on typing. Does not put this journal on the web. Use often when your connection or PC is unreliable.
Back to Addis and on to Nazaret for the day where we met with Beza and Biniam’s second cousin and their children (at least 4 of them as the other boy was in Addis. Our small gifts of soft toys
(Kangaroos/Koala’s and Australian T Shirts were a real hit and the neibours kids were really taken by being filmed (video) and seeing the playback!.
The mother was particularly emotional about seeing Beza (who has now turned 15) grown up and well. They brought out old photos and when she was yound and living at their house before being placed in the foster home for adoption (they were unable to continue to care for them).
A bit more sight seeing (shops) and now we relax before we leave in a few days.
Have managed to gain a reasonable grasp of Amharic and even a small amount to Tigrinya - impresses the locals although they usually look at Beza and start talking to her in Amharic!
Beza - 8 October 2008
(And pestering me with continual comments about me having to learn!)
Will post again in New York. I must say it will also be good to get back home.
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