Addis Ababa

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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 pants and tshirt to the training.. and i'll have to check out the flight costs etc.. so see how.. if on.. then when i reach nairobi.. i'll go straight into Kenya to Jinja at Lake Victoria, the source of the white nile.. do some rafting there.. then try to get a license to visit the Mountain gorillas ala "Gorillas in the Mist" (starring sigourney weaver)... and rush back to Nairobi.. fly todubai.. fly back.. and join an overland truck tour to capetown.. at least this is the plan now.. and so far it looks good..

I said in my last entry that the journey from Lalibela to Dessie (13/4) was not good for me.. but the journey from Dessie to Addis (14/4) was one of the best.. Well, the fact that i got up at 430am and arrived at the bus station at 5pm to ensure a good seat helped lots.. i also 'chopped' seats for the 2 gorgeous austrian girls i met in lalibela who are travelling to addis as well.. great scenic view along the way.. good tarred roads.. there are times when the bus climbed into clouds on the roads.. and you can put you head out of the window to taste some clouds... oh, the bus journey cost about 84 birrs..

At Dessie.. i stayed at this Axum Hotel.. 25birrs... quite a seedy place.. haha.. lots of prostitutes working ni the bar below.. but i read that most girls here are working women.. and most bars are their working venues.. and they are also respected for being able to bring the dough home.. unemployment rate in addis is super high.. but, after talking to some locals, it's mostly becos the city kids are not willing to take the harder menial jobs.. so.. see what happens lah..

Along the way to addis, we saw the aftermath of the storm the previous day.. some trees were broken.. and we even saw a truck overturned by landslide due to soil erosion.. the lack of terrace farming techniques has led to severe soil erosion..

4pm and 42km away from Addis.. and the bus stopped.. there's a jam.. and we were told that a truck (with 2 cargo wagons) has skidded on the small bridge up front.. dang.. the entire truck blocked the whole damn bridge and traffic can't pass on both sides.. what's happening next? nobody knows... at 440pm, the bus ticket guy told us that the crane companies have closed for the day.. and the bus company is not sending another bus to meet us on the other side of the bridge.. so.. we made a decision to take down our backpacks and cross over and try to find a minibus heading back to addis.. it was raining and that time and everything was happening like very exciting like that.. haha.. we tried to walk faster than the locals.. scared no seats and haev to stay overnight somewhere that day.. luckily, the ticket guy helped us chopped seats on a minibus.. and we were able to get into Addis late that day..

Addis.. is just like any other cities.. busy... lots of people.. some beggars.. tall buildings mixed with zinc roofed huts.. the main sights are the Merkato (market).. supposedly the biggest market in Africa.. went there yesterday.. was quite disappointed.. probably becos it's sunday.. most shops not opened.. but the merkato was new and have good wide 7m roads... dun have to pasar malam kind of feel.. i think i prefer the Omdurmann Souq in Khartoum.. was colourful with donkeys, horses, human, trucks, minibus, dogs etc all squeezing with each other on the road..

Another main sight is the museums here.. a copy of the ramains of Lucy, our common ancestor.. the oldest humanoid skeleton thing that's ever found.. it belonged to some species that evolved into the homo family.. which only us the homo sapiens remain now.. Lucy's in the national museum.. but i think i'll check out the Ethnological museum today.. to see the culture and the different tribes etc in ethio...

ok.. have to meet Julia for breakfast now.. maybe update Lalibela and photos later..

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Photos

Chat Party in Ryan's room
Ryan's waiting for us at the Baho hotel with a big bag of chat.. Ryan flew, we bussed.. Chat is this leave thing that you chew to stimulate and hone your senses.. i chewed it.. did nothing for me the first time.. hehe..

Chat Party
The middle guys is the bus ticket man.. we invited him over for chat and beer..

The hang out place at Baro
great place to meet other travellers..

Monica having breakfast at the hang out place
Monick and Julie gave me a Austrian name.. Hansi! haha.. actually Johan is also austrian name.. but hansi is the short form.. they called me hansi from the second day of the bus till now. and they plan to put me in one of those tight leather hosings (lederhosen) when i visit them in austria

Reunion with landie
Dave came to pick Ryan up on Sunday morning.. and told him they can't leave that day and have to delay their trip by one day cos he thinks somethings wrong with the front bearings..

Shopping at the Merkato
They bought lots of scarves.. i bought a pineapple..