Reminder, please refer to the
Globeriders website under "Live Journals". Click here
Globeriders Live Journals for the latest tracking and story
updates. It takes us to Ethiopia and is interesting in that it gives you a
perspective on what others are saying (none as wordy as me!) complete with
some incredible pictures of life on the African highway as seen and
experienced by our group.
|
It
seems like every Missive has an interesting story or happenstance and this one
is no different so read on!!
Day 41, Fri, Feb 24th
Jupiter
International Hotel, Addis Ababa, 0 km
Sightseeing
day in Addis! No matter how much passion and interest Facile puts into our
numerous stops on our city tour there is not a whole lot to get excited about.
However, a visit to their National Museum of Ethiopia revealed a whole lot
about Ethiopia being the cradle of civilization all those years ago. We heard
about an American, Dr. Johnson who discovered 'Lucy' in the 1990's. Lucy is the
oldest at 3.2 mm years replica of our species. Apparently Dr. Johnson was
listening to the famous Beatle's song 'Lucy in the sky' and decided to call
her Lucy. The rest of the museum was tired but okay. We then went to this old
church and spent some time finding out about its history which I will not bore
you with.
Taking a trip up the mountain for a panoramic view of the
city we came across this old woman and others carting this huge bundle of
eucalyptus branches and limbs down the hill which will be used to make
charcoal. She stopped for a rest and several of us tried to lift the bundle;
weighed over 100 lbs for sure. By the time we got finished rewarding her I
think she will go home happy for this day.
By the time our nice lunch
was finished and we got back to the hotel, everyone wanted to crash, me too.
However, I had a date to go and see Naomi Mawindi at her grocery store which I
was led to believe was right around the corner. Naomi's brother Brahun picked
me up an hour late at 4 pm and it took us the best part of another hour to
drive the 15 km in traffic. I am learning that you have to really ask penetrating
questions to get to the answers you need because they are never easily
volunteered in this part of the world!
So who is Naomi? She is an Ethiopian, married with two young
children to a Zimbabwean guy called Hilary and living in Seattle. They have been
there for years and he is in the pharmaceutical business. Hilary and my
excellent IT guy Mike Daniels in Victoria are best buddies. However, the nub
issue is that she loves Ethiopia so commutes back and forth.
The best part was two english speaking locals dropped by and
I got an earful as per my rat-a-tat questions. One guy is a retired Toronto bus
driver and has lived in Canada for 34 years (in 1977 the population was 26 mm,
now it is over 100!).
The other guy owns three businesses: cattle feed,
electrical and construction. Agaze was the best informed as follows:
-vat 15%, income taxes a flat 35% for all
-5 mm in Addis making it one of the largest cities in
Africa; the rest of Ethiopia is all rural with no city more than 500k
-there are 75 tribes in Ethiopia
-Christian 60%, Muslim 40% approx
-Amaharic is the official language of the country; the
Amaharic tribe is about 40% and the Oromos are another 40%; unfortunately the
tribe ruling the country (from the Tigre region) with an iron hand only
comprises 5%; they have been in power since 1991 when they over threw the hated
communist regime who ruled from 1975; now they are hated just as bad or worse
-there are 575 parliamentary seats, most are fixed
The highlight of the day came later after Brahun dropped me
off at the hotel; all the guys were ready to head out for a dinner reservation
but I was tired and in no mood for more socializing. Some of them had had
haircuts at a joint down the road and looked pretty good so I decided to go
too.
A short walk and I arrive at 6:45; two hours later I was
still there, what a blast! These Ethiopian gals about 5 of them took me in hand
and I just accepted the service. First a haircut, then a shave, then a facial,
then a pedicure, then a foot massage, it just went on and on, the most fun I
have ever had in a barber shop by far! Mixed in was a brewing of traditional
Ethiopian coffee in their special custom manner (had witnessed it earlier in
the day at Naomi's) some bread with hot chili pepper powder sprinkled on top
necessitating it being washed down with their local brew and lots of giggling,
laughing and general fraternity. Maybe it was because I was a white guy or
maybe it was the end of the day but we had a lot of fun for two hours.
Cost? 350 Birr (about $17) so I naturally doubled it and
they were more than happy. By the way their coffee prep and serving process
goes as follows:
-get some coals red hot
-put a frying pan over it full of their world famous coffee
beans
-fry the hell out of it until the smoke is burning up your
surroundings
-take deep sniffs of the aroma until you nearly pass out
-grind up the burnt mess and put a whole bunch of spoonfuls
in a special pot of boiling water placed on the same coals
- let it steep, pour, add sugar to taste, delicious and the
spoon will probably stand up by itself
-you only have a small cup because otherwise you will be
flying high ( Ethiopia is credited with discovering coffee in the 14th
century; they noticed their donkeys eating this green bean and then getting a
little happy and it took off from there).
Day
42, Sat, Feb 25th
Jupiter
Hotel, Addis Ababa to Sunny Side Hotel, Kombolcha, Ethiopia, 380 km
I am
getting closer to saying something definitive about this rather sad continent.
Everywhere I go I meet beautiful people, helpful and joyful people, smart,
caring and inquisitive people; at the same time, most are caught in a hopeless
cycle of poverty and doing without. I am really trying to look at it with their
shoes on not my own. Where are the answers, are there answers?
These
questions are super important because to a certain extent the world's future
depends on it and that is why untold billions are being spent here on aid and
support.
It
can be simplified down to three things from this humble person's viewpoint:
selfishness, education and tribalism.
Selfishness:
I have heard this word mentioned many times. Selfishness, lack of loving each
other, looking out entirely for your own personal gain adds up eventually to
various forms of corruption. Corruption is at the highest levels in all of
these countries and percolates right down to the grass roots. It is a way of
life. Until these people can turn this corner, reduce their selfish instincts
and learn how to care better for each other, their advancement is doomed.
Education:
this is the source of all progress up or down. Many countries are obviously
trying hard and this is good. Education can lead to choices, choices to have
more kids (or not), to choose a career, to get out from under, to have
mobility; all of these societies desperately need to educate their kids out of
poverty and into modernity or at least greater opportunity.
Tribalism:
this is an age old method to assist with basic survival in this harsh jungle
type continent. With 2000 languages here (75 tribes in Ethiopia alone) the
tribal way is a hindrance to progress.
Today
was supposed to be an easy day, NOT!
It
started out just dandy, we got out of town with little fanfare and headed for
the hills. I quickly noticed a whole bunch of distance runners mostly men but
some women in very colorful outfits making good progress. Judging by the
distance out of town it was some kind of marathon and these people were
obviously very fit as they were running at speed at an altitude of 6-7000'. No
wonder the Ethiopians are some of the best long distance runners in the world.
I
quickly noticed a lot of endeavour , everyone doing something useful.
Then, way out of town, maybe 50 klics in the country there are quite a few
warehouse facilities some engineering, some heavy equipment, a plastics outfit,
a brewery. I mean where will they get the labour from? One was a Sino Steel
plant so obviously Chinese, so was another processing wood products. It was
like another planet compared to south of Addis. Will have to ask around; by the
way I have not seen hard nor hare of a chinaman since leaving Cape Town.
The villages too are orderly, clean, purposeful, busy,
organized, a welcome relief from the sloth to the south.
Then we started to climb which was the tricky part. I dilly
dallied around some tight turns thoroughly enjoying myself and feeling on top
of the world. I spent a lot of the day at 10-11,000 feet ie. up in the clouds.
Then the clouds got wet, real wet!
It started coming down even more heavily than Zambia. I
already had my first response jacket on but that clearly wasn't enough. I
stopped and ducked in to a little covered kiosk in a village and had a great
sign language exchange with the young lady selling her wares; left her a
stipend for her help and reluctantly headed out into the deluge.
It was bad, a whiteout in places. I tucked in behind a
big bus figuring he knew more about road conditions and sharp turns than me.
Everyone had on four way flashers and the speed for say a half hour was 20 km
per hour. It was kind of scary but no sense staying put; another problem was
the temperature was down to 9.5 degrees so cold as well but with my full wet
suit on by now it wasn't so bad. Another compounding problem was my plastic
face shield which kept falling down in front of me; doesn't sound like much but
it made my visibility that much worse. I had to drive with my right hand (brake
side) and hold the shiled up with my left just to see, not a great way to ride
a motorbike. I have since replaced the shield with my new spare and the ratchet
process works fine.
By this time I was hoping for some desert heat! Funny how
you wish for one extreme or another. After about 45 minutes of slow moving and
reduced elevation we descended lower in to warmer temperature and better
visibility; it was so wet my panniers leaked.
Some other observations:
-not sure why I am taking malaria pills for so few mosquitos
(so far); it only takes one but it seems unlikely
-some of their paper money is so old you can hardly read it
-no one uses their headlights, a big problem as would
prevent a lot of accidents
-more than a few trucks dumped some of their loads so this
is a heads up to be wary
-tons of animals, more than any other country so we need to
be very aware; most are slow moving and predictable, the goats are the most
harum scarum
-you get used to low light conditions after dark; where we
live you turn on a light, adjust the intensity and you can actually see; here
due to expense and lack of electricity you get a gloomy kind of glare; tons of
power outages too.
This is a bit of a flea bagger but the food was good;
tomorrow will be better.
Day 43, Sun, Feb 26th
Sunny Side Hotel, Kombolcha to Mountain View Hotel,
Lalibela, 313 km
The story of today was climb, descend, climb, descend. We
got to 12,000 feet altitude in some places. It was exhilarating but hard work.
It was not a long day mileage wise but the first 140 km took us 2.5 hours as an
example of the more technical nature of the ride.
Northern Ethiopia is spectacular scenery wise, the best we
have seen yet; much of it is to do with the varying topography. A couple of
issues: the turns are very tight in places necessitating total focus and
therefore some potential missed views; the cloud cover did not give us terrific
viewing opportunities either. Last, there are few safe or convenient exit
points to stop and look around. Still, we had and eye full so no complaints,
just not very good pictures.
Early on we were in some
drizzle, an occasional whiteout requiring 4 way flashers and lots of pot holes
to dodge. Later, we were on gravel roads for about 70 km or so.
-no bikes, dogs or cats
-few soccer fields (how could you on the sides of
mountains?) and difficult to discern schools
-at certain villages still notice layabout young men
-in the higher up areas men and women all wear white throw
over frocks, looks nice
-this is an area of herders; everyone is herding something
24/7
-people very friendly, inquisitive and no rocks thrown at us
(yet!) which has been a problem in the past
-many of the women lovely to look at many with long angular
faces
-often men will be walking along holding hands;
homosexuality is against the law and can lead to lengthy prison sentences
-the effluent spewing from trucks and indeed all manner of vehicles
is something to behold; you can hardly breath behind these things; the
government really needs to legislate needed changes but in a poor country this
is easier said than done.
We are now at this lovely scenic hotel way up high called
not surprisingly the Mountain View Hotel. We will get a rest from the bikes
tomorrow and find out about the Lalibela Monolithic churches which are world
famous from the 12th century but I had never heard of the place before.
I now have 17037 km on my odometer which means we have
completed 9255 km so far; GPS says 1379 in Sudan (6 days) and 1879 in Egypt (11
days) to go.
Day 44, Mon, Feb 27th
Mountain View Hotel, Lalibela, 0 km
Lalibela means 'eater of the honey bee' and when King
Lalibela was born he was surrounded by honey bees hence the name. He was a
revered and generous man, travelled to Jerusalem and wanted to create something
similar here.
He built 6 complete churches right into the ground with a
hammer, chisel and other rudimentary tools in 23 years. They simply started
digging and kept digging into basalt and volcanic rock. The biggest one is
huge, 34 by 24 metres by 10 metres high with 34 pillars inside and 38
pillars outside. It is a Unesco world heritage site for very good reason and
the Germans have recently built a huge roof structure over head to protect
against erosion. The Orthodox Christian churches are called monolithic for the
reason that they are built in one place and are the world's best kept and
largest of their kind.
We went in to all 6 churches, heard chapter and verse and
altho' a bit too much detail, we were over awed by what we saw; approx 30k
tourists come annually to see theses structures and most fly in and out.
Lalibela is a religious town of 30,000 people and quite
touristy in a down trodden Ethiopian way; the surrounding area is supported by
quite good farming, mainly wheat and barley.
We had an interesting lunch and most returned to the hotel
while Mac and I kept the guide going for the balance of the afternoon.
We left with filthy bikes and for 5 bucks came back to
sparkling tidy machines, a good idea by Mac.
A story from Mac my New Jersey buddy, laughs at pretty much
anything and loves a two way dig; this morning he tells the front desk, no room
service thanks, sounds like a good idea
so I do the same, ask him later why, reduces prying eyes and theft, ok sounds
smart; later he offers up unannounced that he learned the trick on a previous
trip from a Canadian no less; great opening, instead of keeping it to himself
and taking the credit as he should have done, I jumped right in, thought so
Mac, knew you couldn't be that smart, good gotcha but you had to be there I
guess to appreciate it!
Some comments:
-in Ethiopia, men and
women are moving slowly towards parity with better progress in the larger
centres
-for the most part people
are clean living with respect to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and sex; Addis as
the 4th largest African city would be the exception
-many here get by on less
than $2 per day; all look healthy and there are no fat people to be seen; many
walk everywhere to run their lives with and without their animals
-the next largest city in
this country would only have a population of 500k
-stick buildings are
mudded in as people can afford them, all made from eucalyptus trees
-circular huts in the old
days were made that way because it was easier to build the thatched roofs in a
supportable manner.
I have been eating no meat
because it is too tough and stringy to chew and digest; the fish is very good
and their vegetable dishes are excellent with lots of interesting variety.
Tom has a problem with his
front end steering and forks which are bent quite badly. He hit a pothole at
high speed yesterday and it is all quite wiggly and loose, hope he can finish
the trip okay or maybe a partial repair is in order. It is another example of
the fast guys lacking caution. Tom is a very, very experienced rider, loves to
ride on his own all over Central and South America including Venezuela a little
over a year ago. In the long run things like bald tires and other
unmentionables can come back to haunt you.
Tonight we went to this amazing restaurant on an even higher hill top than our hotel called the Ben Abeba Restaurant. Susan is a 66 year old Scottish lady. She came here 9 years ago to build a school out in the valley. About 5 years ago, having completed her work at the school, she partnered with her driver to build this one of a kind structure with panoramic 360 degree views in every direction. We got there early for a stunning sunset picture opportunity and then sat down to a wonderful dinner and evening. We were truly fortunate to have such an experience basically in the middle of nowhere.
Day 45, Tue, Feb 28th
Mountain View Hotel, Lalibela to Goha Hotel, Gonder, 366 km
This was apparently our last gravel road day. We re-traced our steps back to the main road with one interesting bike drop in a stream (not me!); will not mention the name but I think we were all glad to get back on tarmac.
Today's ride was pure motorcycle heaven. Great tarmac (a few ruts and potholes and truck trenches but on the whole excellent). We started out in the high alpine and it was coolish, about 13 degrees. Then we got into the switch backs, what fun, up and down and then again. I wish I could better explain the feeling but those that ride will fully understand. It was one of my best riding days ever.
My procedure for tight hairpin turns is as follows:
-gear down as appropriate
sometimes even into first if it is steep downhill
-eyes open no blinking
throughout the turn
-focus as far ahead as you
can; you go where you look so don't be looking at the drop off for goodness
sakes
-look for hazards, gravel
build up so you don't spin out
Fuel has been a concern
all the time we have been in Ethiopia due to a lack of foreign currency to pay
for the stuff. When we get fuel I always like to hi-5 the attendants and pass
on a little tip. In fact, wherever we stop and get immediately surrounded by
interested locals I always like to go the hi-5 route before we leave. A little
pyhsical contact always generates a pleasurable smile.
We zipped along getting
closer to Gonder and tomorrow we make the early border crossing into Sudan
which should be interesting.
I will really miss
Ethiopia. The people are so pleasant and the scenery is like nowhere else. What
I will not miss is the traffic on the roads. People and animals require
constant vigilance which means you are always a bit on edge when riding.
Depsite this we have all greatly enjoyed Ethiopia and all its challenges.
Day 46, Wed, Mar 1st
Goha Hotel, Gonder, Ethiopia to El-Motwakil Hotel, Gedaref, Sudan, 358 km
Tom and I got in a bit of 'Helge trouble' last night. We each got a bottle of Johnny Walker Black for a 100 bucks to hold the gang over in alcohol free Sudan. He did not take too kindly to the idea of smuggling it across the border (he reminded me of a diiferent incident by yours truly 6 years ago on the Silk Road!). We couldn't take it back and fortunately it had not been emptied into plastic water bottles so we were able to make it part of our tip to the driver (Rafa) and the guide (Fasil).
Today was more dream land riding and prior to the hot flat desert coming up we deserved it. It was coolish, about 13 deg starting out before dawn because we have a lot of work to do at the border. Last time Helge was here two years ago they could not get visas. This time visas were granted but in today's land of Trump anything can happen so there was a definite feeling of suspense amongst the guys at this Muslim sharia border.
My lasting impression of Ethiopia will not be the dead donkey lying in the middle of the road in a village surrounded by blood this morning. People here have a habit of leaving their dead lying comatose for many hours even days so not sure how long this one laid there; suffice to say, along with wrecked vehicles this is a very common occurrence.
My true lasting impression is one of smiling waving kids walking to school, papers and books in hand as we ride by. Their innocence, joy of seeing us and great smiles are priceless.
In one village I had to
stop to confront this little girl about 12 carrying this great yellow jug of
water on her head (this is the first area of the country that they actually do
this whereas it is common occurrence in country's further south). Could I pick
it up, yes. I looked for markings on it but there were none and guessed it to
be about 50 lbs, pretty heavy in other words. I later confirmed with Facil that
they are 20 litre jugs so 44 lbs. By the way, these jugs are the way clean
water is handled all over the country, there have to be tens of m illions in
circulation.
I stopped often at the
back of the pack for nostalgic picture taking opportunities of the great
countryside and hair pin turns. I could not resist stopping by a rather large
school just as the kids were arriving. Ball, pump and Facil in tow in we went
for another great welcome; there have not been many of these so was glad to get
this one in at the 11th hour.
So today has been a great
big, huge, colossal shamozzle, like a game breaker so to speak; a story like
this seems to be following me on each trip.
We get to the border, all is cool to start. Carnet de passage to allow us to leave Ethiopia goes fine, on to customs clearance from Ethiopia so we hadn't even got to the Sudan side yet; turns out that my visa issued December 6th for two months expired on Frebruary 6th and this is March 1st my Dad's 101st. birthday. They send me over to the Sudan side and all is confirmed that the visa has expired and I am out of luck.
What the hell, game, set and match. I have to go back to Addis 900 km to fight the bureaucratic night mare to get a new visa and this is Wednesday and it will take two days to get there. I will be way too far behind and never catch up.
How about flying my bike to Cairo and joining up to catch the guys exiting Sudan. Way too much risk with the paperwork turnaround in Egypt to justify this alternative.
Looks like my trip is over. I follow the chase vehicle back to Addis, box up the bike and the two of us fly home; cost about $5,000 additional. Pretty sad.
How this occurred is ultimately my responsibility. I hired a very nice and competent lady in Vancouver to supervise the visa process. She then hired a reputable firm CIBT Passport Professionals to guide the process. They both had my travel itinerary. I trusted both of them implicitly and paid accordingly. When my multi stamped passport showed up I stowed it away and kept preparing all of the many tiny details also needed before departure.
All this has taken several hours with much brain storming and knashing of teeth; there is no way the Sudanese guys would stamp it and look the other way either.
Then at the 11th hour good old LA attorney Tom Boltz has a brain wave no one has considered and poses the iffy question. Aaron Beckord has been cooling his jets in Addis for the last week and is flying to Khartoum to meet us almost immediately. Could he come up to the border, pick up my bike signed over to him (if that would indeed be possible), drive it through Sudan and meet me at the border on the other side in 6 days? A flurry of activity occurs to track this one down and dejected Nick now has a new head of steam.
Let me digress for a
moment; I was not going to share this but Aaron crashed his bike last Saturday;
to me it was too much speed. He hit a donkey on a wide,
straight uphill highway with lots of clearance on both sides of the tarmac. His
brand new BMW 1200 Adventure that goes like stink is a writeoff - injuries: basically scrapes and bruises, blood all over from the
animal and $100 to pay off the donkey owner.
Aaron 48, is a great rider, don't get me wrong but too much speed doesn't work over here no matter how good you are; my guess is that he was doing close to 80 mph and did not see the animal until it was too late.
Aaron was extremely lucky
to be injury free but his bike is a total loss. He was going to head home trip
over but we all encouraged him to join us in Khartoum and maybe we can take
turns with our bikes so he can ride a bit too when he isn't in the chase vehicle.
We (Helge, Moneer our Sudanese guide and interpreter and I) start tracking down this option. The Sudanese guys are getting to know us a bit my now and are basically nice guys. It is amazing how a little bit of charm goes a long ways. The Carnet needs to be completed on the Sudanese side, they need proof of insurance and ownership copies and we need to go and see the big commander chief in the dark back room to get his permission to leave my bike in no man's land for overnight for Aaron to pick up.
One thing you need to
worry about is a significant language barrier. When Aaron arrives at the border
all by himself where does he go, who does he see, what are the unforeseen
pitfalls? Important questions because I will soon be on my way north. Predicting
this I befriend a local minder who makes himself available to help with border
transactions ( also Aaron is very resourceful having been well travelled).
John has an Ethiopian and Sudanese telephone number, he now knows the players pertinent to my situation at the border and he has a new soccer ball under his arm and $20 in his jeans (I asked Moneer what I should tip him and he said $10 would be lots; Aaron will give him another 20 on completion).
So the plan, fingers
crossed is that I fly from Gondar where I am now to Addis tomorrow, over night
then make a connection to Cairo in a day or so and fly south to Abu Simbel
where our guide Omar will pick me up and continue on to the border further
south to meet the gang. In this way I will at least be able to do the Egypt
part and ship my bike home in the container as previously planned.
Aaron meanwhile will be met by Fasil and I tomorrow morning at the Gondar airport having flown in from Addis. He will grab a taxi shuttle for the 200 km to the northern border, pick up my bike and ride it two days to Khartoum where the guys are spending two days and three nights.
One very lucky coincidence
worth mentioning is that when we contacted Aaron this aft in his hotel room
about all of this he was just preparing to leave for the airport to fly to
Khartoum. We would have missed him otherwise as he would have not been in phone
contact. He is very excited about this part of the journey, adventure really.
So, by the hair of my chiny chin chin it looks like I am still alive on this little caper and can hopefully resume this interesting trip sans Sudan!
Day 47, Thur, Mar 2nd, New Plan (Day 1 of 6)
I had my share of adrenaline rush yesterday.
I met Aaron at the airport from his flight arriving at 9 am; mine is at 1:45 to Addis so we had some time to catch up. I was really glad to hear from Aaron that he had screwed up and was entirely responsible for his own actions; owning up is half the battle.
Today is a national holiday. In 1896 emperor Menelik II defeated the Italians who were on a colonization binge of Africa like the rest of Europe. Ethiopia has always been a free country except for the period of 1935-41 when Mussolini returned to extract revenge. Their independence day became a catalyst for the rest of Africa to look up to even though it did not start to happen until the 1960's.
Everything is closed and the traffic is quiet in Addis. Facil has arranged for a driver (Betra) to pick me up at the airport. I would like to say that Rainbow Travel has provided an exceptional level of service to help us all out in our various predicaments. I think that Facil has enjoyed this group of characters and that it is an entirely different type of customer than he is used to. Rainbow has 65 vehicles in their fleet and is owned by a very wealthy Arab who is diversifying his fortune elsewhere.
Sheik Mohammed Husin a la Moudi has an Ethiopian mother and owns over 100 companies in this country. His Arab fortune is listed in the $8 billion range. He is in his mid 60's, apparently very nice and was in town last week.
So here I am back at the Jupiter Hotel in downtown Addis; a nice relaxing massage, an excellent soup and salad for dinner, a little Facetime and I am ready to go for tomorrow.
Day 48, Fri, Mar 3rd, New Plan (Day 2 of 6)
When someone says I will be there in10 minutes it could mean just about anything. An 8:30 pick up did not materialize so a couple of calls later and a few 'in 10 minutes' which is really only a guess and a guy comes at 9:30. I get to the Sheraton with lots of security (Sheik also owns, a $450 a night joint) and no Samson so call him and get another 'be there in 10 minutes' routine. He shows up at 10:30 and we get down to business.
The flights to Cairo leave in the middle of the night for some reason. I am confirmed Egyptian Air departing at 4:15 am and arriving at 7:00 am. I will have two days to sight see and then fly Monday at 7:30 am arriving at 10:10 am in Abu Simbel. Hopefully all will come to a hoped for conclusion!
My nice driver took me to the Mercado on the way back to the hotel; the traffic getting there was horrendous and Yona thinks there are more like 10 mm people here than 5. Now I have been to a lot of these places before but nothing quite like the size, busyness and sheer ingenuity of the many and varied stalls. It is a local business non-tourist place and Yona wisely hooked me up with a minder so I wouldn't get lost or mugged. Pockets empty, camera in hand, away I went, had a blast and got my eyes opened more than once crashing in to all the traffic toing and froing.
I am sorry for the poor photo selection and quality. My process is pretty archaic but it works as follows:
-type out story with two thumbs on Blackberry and forward to Ipad
-download selected Canon
pics to Ipad
-attempt to pick out a few
to attach to missive from tiny photo view point so as to not overload the data
allowed
-hope that the wifi spot
has enough power to transmit
-repeat process quite a
few times until you get it right and this can be pretty frustrating at times.
It probably takes an hour a day and sometimes quite a bit more to get it all right; even though it is a bit of a task sometimes there is a good accounting there for future reference and hopefully some enjoyment and a few laughs for my readers.
Time to get this on the wire, NG
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