HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Driving with my man
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing
WORD OF THE DAY: Chickerada-no worries….reply Chickerairloom
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 251KM
We didn’t have a big travel day like we did yesterday, so we got to have a bit of a lie in, a late breakfast and we were on the road at 10am.
The drive was pretty much the same as yesterday. We are currently listening to a tape, yes a tape people, that Z bought yesterday and we are on the look-out for the old fashioned tape converters that you insert into the player and then we will be able to play songs off my IPod. Before leaving Addis I transferred over 200 Ethiopian songs onto my IPod, as I quite like their music and I am going to have to get used to hearing it even if I didn’t like it.
It seems a lot of the villages/towns have a good percentage of children that go to school. There is a mass of colour as we drive and they leave school. There are hundreds of children walking beside the road heading home after the morning at school. Some of them walk a fair distance based on where the children are at after we have passed the school and how far they are from there when we pass them. They have a uniform that they wear over their normal clothes, a top and long pants for the boys and the same top and a long skirt for the girls. They have school books they carry and very few have bags, they just carry the books as they are. I am sure the amount of students per class would be double to what we have back home. The amount of students you see pour out of the school far outweighs the actual buildings and room for that many people. In Uganda we went to a school and they had 75 pupils to one teacher. Imagine that in Australia!
We arrived into Bahir Dar at 2pm, and the first thing I noticed was all the Bajaj (tuk tuks). There were literally hundreds of them in the streets. I am a big fan of the Bajaj and think they are just the cutest invention. Probably not the safest thing with 3 wheels on the road, but cute all the same. What is becoming a habit, Zeme runs into a few of the hotels to get costs and Wi-Fi availability and then we decide on one. I am actually not that fussy but he is pretty adamant on doing the right thing which is really sweet. The hotel we picked had Wi-Fi, breakfast and a view of Lake Tanna for the grand total of 18AUD for both of us! Now that is value for money.
Bahir Dar meaning sea shore is a city in north western Ethiopia. It is the capital of the Amhara Region.
It is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tanna and Blue Nile River. The city is distinctly known for its wide avenues lined with palm trees and a variety of colorful flowers. It is also considered as one of the most beautiful, well planned, and safest cities by many standards, and in 2002 it was awarded UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize for managing to address the challenges of rapid urbanization.
Bahir Dar is situated on the southern shore of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile and an elevation of 1840 meters above sea level. The city's origins date to at least the sixteenth or seventeenth century; Pedro Páez is credited with erecting several buildings in this city, one of which is "a solid, two-story stone structure, with an outside staircase" and can be seen in the compound of the present-day Giyorgis church. The next mention of Bahir Dar is from the mid-19th century, as the camping spot for the army of Emperor Tewodros II. Here his army suffered from cholera, forcing the Emperor to move his troops to Begemder. Despite the loss of life on the journey, by the time they reached Begemder, the army was free of the illness. During the Italian invasion, an Italian column moved from Gondar on 23 April 1937 and, after a rapid march, occupied Bahir Dar. The city was bombed by the Royal Air Force on 21–22 October 1940, and although the action made little damage it was a boost to Arbegnoch morale. After months of skirmishing with the British advance, the Italian garrison under the command of Colonel Torelli was recalled to Gondar by General Guglielmo Nasi, and began to evacuate the city on 27 April 1941. One of Emperor Haile Selassie's palaces was located near the city, and the Emperor considered moving the national capital to the town.
I was only just thinking that Travelex hadn’t called me yesterday and that I was going to be needing some cash out in the next day or so when I received an email from them asking if the matter had been resolved. So I replied right back and 5 minutes later the phone rang and I was getting the matter sorted. Besides the multiple withdrawals they were also concerned that my card had been used in 3 countries in a 24 hour period starting with a withdrawal in Brazil, 12 hours later some purchases duty free in Frankfurt and then the withdrawals in Ethiopia. So I guess I can see their concern. Thanks Travelex. The beauty of them locking the card is that it only takes them 5 minutes to unlock the card so with a big thank you all my money matters were sorted and my visa card and I were friends once again.
Dinner this evening was at a traditional restaurant. It must be a popular place as both Zeme and I were frisked before being allowed onto the premises. They had an outdoor restaurant under individual thatched huts with candlelight and scattered garden lights as the only source of light. Tibs had to be the meal of choice here, so we ordered 2 kinds and a bottle of beer to wash it down with. Before dinner was served, one of the waiters came over with a bowl and a teapot full of warm water and while he poured water into the bowl we washed our hands, as tibs is a meal that is eaten without a knife and fork. The tibs was amazing and after we had finished the waiter came back again for us to wash our hands clean and also supplied some liquid soap for good measure. It was pretty cool.
They had a bar and stage inside where traditional singing had just started. So we found some seats, ordered s some more beers and then spent the next 2 hours getting entertained with Ethiopian dancing, singing and traditional musical instruments. Something needs to be said about the traditional dancing. It is AMAZING and I think the best traditional dance I have seen of any country in the world. Whether male or female they do this funky shoulder move that looks like they are about to dislocate a joint. It was AMAZING and the 2 guys they had on stage were just phenomenal at it. I couldn’t take my eyes off them the whole time they were on stage. Like any performance they came down into the crowd to get people up to do the ‘shoulder’ move and of course they have to pick one of the few farangees (white people) in the crowd, to which I said no of course. I wasn’t about to get up and embarrass myself. They were AMAZING. The place seemed to be a popular place as it was getting busier as the night wore on. We had a few more beers and then headed home just after midnight.
What a great night.
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