Flying Engineer to the Land of Peace

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So what happened next, Laura and I settled down in Budapest and never went travelling again.

Well as much as it would be a nice idea to have appeased the travel parasite that lives within us that was not the case.

I took on a job - and it's with this wacky new age thinking that I find myself sitting in the Acropole Hotel in Khartoum thinking blimey I have been to a few countries since Hungary and yet I haven't written about any of them!

So here is a bit about a few trips I have made to Tanzania. The first time I came here was way back in 2005, living in the foothills of Kilimanjaro in a village called Moshi. I came back to the village and they were happy to see me if not a touch surprised. Things hadn't changed too significantly with Lagers all round for the female teachers at lunchtime and lush green hilly scenery with wooden plank churches, mixed crop hillside fields of coffee, maize and tea and bananas.

Tanzania is a land of tranquillity, with vast tracks of unspoilt scenery stretching in most directions with exotic wild animals loping about, the only source of the rarest gemstone aptly named Tanzanite and a welcoming laid back people who only add to your stay. The only war they have been involved with since WW2 was when Idi Amin decided to invade, the Tanzanians under socialist Nyerere, eventually Nyerere won bringing an end to a horrific regime that the west decided to forget about. Now for some that peaceful nature of the Tanzanians is more to do with a national malaise and general apathy to any work than a peace loving tendency. Either way this is a place ripe to visit with all the positive stereotypes of Africa - animals, nature, bushmen, beaches, serenity, shiny stones and as with all African nations one big crowded city to fly in and out of.

I have been working in Tanzania and that shows another side, but still it comes with the same pace and feeling. Sitting in the bar at Triniti guest house in Dar you get a plethora of stories of the trials and tribulations of expats trying to make business and get people to work. But hey as much as they are frustrating to work with when you have to work, they have this bright happy attitude that makes you sit back and realise that actually my dinner and friends are actually more important than work so why be a slave to the job (well until its a day before your flight and realise that in the last three months you have completed four and half days actual productive work! Then you become European again!)

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Comments

[His Dudeness]

Short and snappy!
I like it! Good to see some photos... We all know that is what is most important in a blog.