At Lalibela [UPDATED 17 APR 07]

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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..

woke up this morning and boarded the bus at about 530am.. again. the same mad rush when gate opens etc.. the gate guy wanted to let us foreigners in first.. but there was this ehtiopian girl who refused to move away so we can get to the gate.. well.. i can understand.. if i'm her i also wont move.. why should foreigners be given priority? we also pay for tickets.. haha.. dropped off at Gashena.. and waited at the junction leading to Lalibela for trucks going that way.. afer 30mins wait.. a truck came by and negotiated 35birr for a cabin seat to lalibela.. then when i bring my backpack. he say 5 birr for luggage.. !@#%!$(MISSING)^...

getting tired of the tourist prices and the tourist hassling here in ethiopia as well.. china! japan! konichiwa! feel like teaching them one more word - kanina! say it when you thnk he's singaporean..

ok.. going to check out the rest of the town now.. next update may be in 3 or 4 days later.. when i'm in addis..



Have time now in Addis before heading to the kenyan border tomorrow.. so maybe will write a little more on Lalibela..

In summary, the trip to lalibela is great and shouldn't be missed.. the rock hewn churches are really impressive, and you wonder how they do it last time.. just chiselling and chiselling away... supposedly all the churches were built in 23.. (or was it 28) years.. according to the guide i had.. it was said that angels helped in the construction (ok.. maybe not really construction but more carving) in that for every metre the people carve in one day.. the angels will help carve another metre in the night.. up to you whether you believe or not.. but it is indeed a feat..

An official church is highly recommended.. they will open up with 200birrs.. but 150 is the norm.. you can bargain it down further.. but for every day the guides work, they have to pay 50birr to some authorities.. the tour can be done in 3-4 hours.. i did mine in the morning.. and spent the afternoon just soaking in the atmosphere and revisiting the churches and exploring the areas where the guide did not bring me in the morning..

oh.. it was easter week and they had a morning mass in the churches.. i also headed to the Bet Giyorgis (St george's church/house) at 6am in the morning to just witness the mass.. pretty interesting experience..

As i was exploring on my own in the afternoon.. i met 2 austrian ladies, julia and monica, who thought that i did not have a guide and asked me if i wanted to join them in touring the churches.. they didn't have a guide as well.. so i said why not.. in the end, i became their guide and explained the various features of the churches to them and the significance of the various symbols.. from what i can remember from the morning tour that is.. the churches uses quite a lot of symbols.. and without the guide, you would not be able to appreciate them fully..

for example.. there are various crosses.. Axumite cross, roman cross, greek cross. and some others i cannot remember now.. there is also this dark tunnel that connects the churches, and one of the tunnel symbolizes hell.. but if you have faith, you will come of the darkness and into the light at the end and arrive in heaven.. things like that..

hassles and annoyance.. lots of people shouting "you! you!" .. and "China!" "Japan!" "Konichiwa!" etc... it gets a little annoying.. but i'm learned how to differentiate greetings from touts or teenagers with nothing to do.. from those that genuinely want to talk to you.. i was lucky to meet a few of the genuine people and had great experiences.. one of them invited me to his little hut.. and wanted to invite me for coffee.. i was thinking.. haven't i read about some coffee ceremony scam where you had to pay hundreds of usd after that? but the guy kept saying come.. come. .. i'll buy you coffee.. so i went.. then i realized i was late cos we have arranged to meet up for dinner with the americans and the austrians cos it was monica's birthday.. so i said maybe no time for ceremony.. so the boy said 'you must eat something" and offered me some doro wat (chicken in red spciy gravy) on injelo bread.. so i ate a little.. drank some of their water.. and then.. i saw this bottle of alcohol looking thing.. it's Areke.. a strong home brewed alcohol macam rice wine.. that you can only get in the homes and not in the shop.. so i was lucky to have tried a shot of it.. not too bad.. strong.. but not choking like vodka.. so.. moral of the story is yes, tho all those shouting may annoy you, if you are able to find some genuine ones, it'd be a great interaction experience.. if i just shoved the boy off, i'd not be able to sit in an ethiopian hut eating home made injelo and drinking areke..

we had dinner at the most poshed hotel.. 7 olives hotels.. about 200birr/night.. the first night's sunset was absolutely gorgeous.. but i didn't have a good view of it.. and didn't take any photos.. so i arranged for dinner at 7 olives hotels which is at the top of the hill and have a great view of the valley to the west.. unfortuantely.. the gorgeous sunset did not happen for us on the 2nd night due to too many clouds.. nonetheless, we still had a great dinner.. and
had a great night drinking beer and talking cock.. Rob and Nick was like "man.. how come you always get the chicks?" haha.. cos they visited me in my hotel on the first night, and i was already drinking beer with 2 french ladies.. heh..

and a great coincidnce.. rob and nick met ryan, a canadian.. who met dave in bahir dar, and will be doing the nairobi run with dave.. haha.. small world..

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Photos

Elevated View of Giyorgis
The church, like others, are built by cutting into the ground.. and carving out the interior spaces.. all from one big single mother rock..

Morning mass at Giyorgis 1
Lone man praying in the wee hours

Morning mass at Giyorgis 2
The christians are trickling in

Morning mass at Giyorgis 3
Prayers are said over a loudspeaker covering the entire lalibela.. and the people each go to the church they belong to..

Morning mass at Giyorgis 4
People praying at the top

Bet Medkane Alem
many of the churches are protected from sun and rain by the unsightly scaffold roofs.. a plan is underway to build nicer glass/plastic roof.. you can see that the columns here are reconstructed.. made of bricks..

Bet Medkane Alem 2
The columns here are original.. in one big solid piece.. together with the rest of the church.. the window is actually a symbol of circumcision.. can see the resemblance i hope?

Passway to Churches
The churches are connected by passageways like this hewn thru the rock wall.. or deep open chasms carved out in similar fashion..

Forgot the name of this church
but the three windows symbolizes the holy trinity (and heaven). the crucification cross symbolizes Jesus (and his sufferings) the bottom three window: the centre on is Christians i think.. the ones on the right and left are the 2 disciples that betrayed him (if i rmbr the story right).. the guy o the right repented and ascended to heaven.. so he gets a window on top.. the guy on the left did not.. and went to hell.. window bottom

Church of Virgin Mary
In the foreground is the fertility pool.. any woman who cannot conceive just need to be lowered into the pool.. and she'll be able to conceive..

Gateway to another church
Again.. everything just hewn into the rocks.. one big piece..

Inside one of the churches
see the colour.. engraving.. the level of details..

Open Chasmic Passageways
connects the different churches as well..

The Entrance to one of the Churches
Sorry.. can't remember which church is which name..

Bet Gabriel-Rafael
The top portion represnts heaven.. there is a water filled catacombs beneath the bottom surface representing hell..

Inside Bet Gabriel-Rafael
A church dedicated to the two angels..

Comments

[bud]

... or KNN in short!!!
Looking forward to your next update bro. Well, sometimes its ok to pay a slight premium versus the locals and opefully they will treat you better. Like our Singapore Girls always offer better service to the angmohs. Eh, but we pay the same price, don't we? KNN, you got what I mean.

[Chivalry]

yah.. i've been thinking about this these couple of days..
was talking to one of the artists in lalibela.. he said that they are not rich.. maybe recovering from poverty.. but many still poor.. so they hope the tourists can complement their income.. i've been thinking maybe i'm too ghiam.. like tonight's accomodation at Dessie (quite big university city).. i haggle 5 birrs for long time for the room.. haha.. 8.8birr=1USD.. but 5 birr out of 25 birrs is 20%.. maybe should be a bit less stoistic..