Swahili time - Moshi

Swahili time - oh yes, they have their own way of telling the time. The day officially starts at 7am - which is 1am for them (saa moja asubuhi).It continues on until 7pm - the start of the evening/night for them, thus called 1pm Swahili time. It is amazing and hilarious when I was told they start classes at 2am - i was like What??? - then I saw their clocks!

Swahili music is blasting along the streets, so much drum beats, so much happiness.. Everwhere we go, people stare but still greet us with a warm Jambo! Life here is so basic but yet happy and fulfilling. People are laidback, they go at a pace slow enough to sit back chill and enjoy life. You can hear people saying 'Be free, my friend.' everywhere.

We took the daladalas (mini vans) to Moshi town, right next to our village of Bomang'ombe. As usual, we were squashed in the tiny van n just enjoyed having lil chats or just smiling to local pple. It is always an experience for us. Staring out at the green fields, at the proud-standing Mt. Kilimanjaro, locals walking the streets in their colourful tanzanian suits and cows and goats moving freely, amidst the cars and people.

It's been absolutely amazing. We were brought to the school to take a look and see how we could help. The teachers and chairman gave us such a warm welcome. Africans are just friendly and sincere by nature. One of the teachers, Naomi has been so helpful, talking to me about the school, about tanzanian customs, and even invited us to visit her house someday.
The school's state was beyong description. It basically consisted of 2 basic classrooms, made of bricks cemented together, built on earth and fortunately, chairs and tables for the children. The Education office did not have enough funds to complete the construction, so the kids are left to study in the open. Toilets were basic hole-in-the-ground, with no doors or flush. BUT The students were the happiest children I've ever seen. Having classes with them made me realise how eager they were to learn, how happy they were to be meeting foreigners like us and how much they appreciated everything.

Alberto and I decided to do as much as we could during this short period we will be there for. We bought the window grills, glass for the windows, wood for the doors, cement, and Alberto has been working hard since to help do up the school. I've been teaching English classes to the kids, and most of them have a pretty good knowledge of the language. I am pleasantly surprised to see how good the curriculum and the teachers are, and how well they are learning the language. They definitely know the importance of the language and are working hard to progress. In comparison, Spanish kids dislike learning English, dont see the importance of it and thus have a much lower level. I saw that the kids were really learning, and the teachers were great - but they barely had enough pencils to go around, and not a single textbook for them. So we decided to buy some textbooks, and stationery for them to improve their classes - they were jumping with joy.

Yesterday, Naomi brought us to the market, and it was incredible - the colours, the sights and the sounds- so many peole selling all sorts of things - colourful fruits, beautiful batik dresses, you could find anything in the sprawling market.

I wanted to take some pics of the Maasai tribal people - with big colourful self-made accessories, typical red-blue clothing - made-famous by movies. But they wanted money for any picture taken, not just coins, but notes - the smallest note in Tanzanian currency is 1,000 Tsh (Tanzanian shillings)! We were told later that they believe that anyone who wants a picture of them, wants to sell them abroad since they've seen many pictures and postcards of themselves and know that others are making money outta them.

It's been only 2 days in school, but I've fallen in love with the children. I play with them during the breaks, we bought football and played all day with them, I try talking to them with basic words and just getting to know them. I love it here, and this feeling's like nothing I've ever felt before. Everything back to basic.

Swahili time - Moshi

Swahili time - oh yes, they have their own way of telling the time. The day officially starts at 7am - which is 1am for them (saa moja asubuhi).It continues on until 7pm - the start of the evening/night for them, thus called 1pm Swahili time. It is amazing and hilarious when I was told they start classes at 2am - i was like What??? - then I saw their clocks!

Swahili music is blasting along the streets, so much drum beats, so much happiness.. Everwhere we go, people stare but still greet us with a warm Jambo! Life here is so basic but yet happy and fulfilling. People are laidback, they go at a pace slow enough to sit back chill and enjoy life. You can hear people saying 'Be free, my friend.' everywhere.

We took the daladalas (mini vans) to Moshi town, right next to our village of Bomang'ombe. As usual, we were squashed in the tiny van n just enjoyed having lil chats or just smiling to local pple. It is always an experience for us. Staring out at the green fields, at the proud-standing Mt. Kilimanjaro, locals walking the streets in their colourful tanzanian suits and cows and goats moving freely, amidst the cars and people.

It's been absolutely amazing. We were brought to the school to take a look and see how we could help. The teachers and chairman gave us such a warm welcome. Africans are just friendly and sincere by nature. One of the teachers, Naomi has been so helpful, talking to me about the school, about tanzanian customs, and even invited us to visit her house someday.
The school's state was beyong description. It basically consisted of 2 basic classrooms, made of bricks cemented together, built on earth and fortunately, chairs and tables for the children. The Education office did not have enough funds to complete the construction, so the kids are left to study in the open. Toilets were basic hole-in-the-ground, with no doors or flush. BUT The students were the happiest children I've ever seen. Having classes with them made me realise how eager they were to learn, how happy they were to be meeting foreigners like us and how much they appreciated everything.

Alberto and I decided to do as much as we could during this short period we will be there for. We bought the window grills, glass for the windows, wood for the doors, cement, and Alberto has been working hard since to help do up the school. I've been teaching English classes to the kids, and most of them have a pretty good knowledge of the language. I am pleasantly surprised to see how good the curriculum and the teachers are, and how well they are learning the language. They definitely know the importance of the language and are working hard to progress. In comparison, Spanish kids dislike learning English, dont see the importance of it and thus have a much lower level. I saw that the kids were really learning, and the teachers were great - but they barely had enough pencils to go around, and not a single textbook for them. So we decided to buy some textbooks, and stationery for them to improve their classes - they were jumping with joy.

Yesterday, Naomi brought us to the market, and it was incredible - the colours, the sights and the sounds- so many peole selling all sorts of things - colourful fruits, beautiful batik dresses, you could find anything in the sprawling market.

I wanted to take some pics of the Maasai tribal people - with big colourful self-made accessories, typical red-blue clothing - made-famous by movies. But they wanted money for any picture taken, not just coins, but notes - the smallest note in Tanzanian currency is 1,000 Tsh (Tanzanian shillings)! We were told later that they believe that anyone who wants a picture of them, wants to sell them abroad since they've seen many pictures and postcards of themselves and know that others are making money outta them.

It's been only 2 days in school, but I've fallen in love with the children. I play with them during the breaks, we bought football and played all day with them, I try talking to them with basic words and just getting to know them. I love it here, and this feeling's like nothing I've ever felt before. Everything back to basic.

Tales from Kilimanjaro

So yes, we made it! After a long haul flight from Egypt (to think that Africa is that humongous), we got our ass here - now in Arusha, Kilimanjaro.

After smearing ourselves all over with insect repellent (oh yes, we are very afraid of Malaria), our dear host gave us a warm welcome and brought us straight to her lovely home. Rose is a great lady with a big heart, her typically African gestures and cute accent brought us close under her arms and made us feel very at home in her comfortable tanzanian home.

Sharing a very delicious dinner, she told us stories of her life in Tanzania, about her work and schools in this country. I am looking forward to seeing the schools, visiting the children and getting to know them. It's a waste we wont have much time with them, but I'm just glad at least we have the opportunity to know each other.

It's been really hot here, tropical humid weather, sleeping under the mosquito net rids off the mosquitoes but doesn't help with the sweltering heat. Tanzania hasnt been quite the same way I'd imagined. Perhaps our host Rose has a much more comfortable life than the others, but people on the streets seem quite comfortable with life too.. the painful poverty that I'd imagined doesnt seem to be plaguing this region - but that's a good sign.

We've been the centre of attention thus far, especially in our lil village called Bomangombe. Most children stare at us, but give us a big smile and say 'Jambo!', and make us feel really welcomed here. Alota Tanzanian women are dressed real nicely in their traditional dresses, with beautiful batik design and headscarves. Bomangombe's at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and not what you would call a busy town. But all the conveniences are right at our door step - grocery stores, bars, watever we need. It's right between the 2 busy towns Arusha and Moshi. We'r here in Arusha, the capital of street touts and safari tour operators. It's been a tiring hunt for Safari tours, phfff.. n the touts are more insistent than ever.

Not many people speak English here, but with the help from Rose, we've been polishing up on Swahili and actually manage to get by with a few words. 'Jambo! Kwa heri! Baadye!'
Time to head back home to our lil village. Getting dark!

Crossing the border Egypt-Israel-Jordan

It sure was interesting to be in 3 countries within 2 hours.

After 10 days of Egypt, we were ready to get away from the constant bargaining and hassling. "5 Egyptian Pounds my friend, okok how about 3 Pounds..?" We were kinda templed-out as well, albeit the intriguing Hieroglyphic writings and mystical Egyptian myths. The last coupla days in Aswan were amazing, we stayed at a cheap hostel ( 6euros/person/night -double the price of our usual Egypt hostel lol )with a rooftop swimming pool overlooking the Nile River... Woah the Nile River has this amazing allure to it, especially in Aswan. Beautiful sandy desert landscape lining the river bank, with lil soothing Feluccas sailing across the Nile, and brightly lit hotel lights up the peaceful tranquility.

So to get to Jordan,we decided on the land route, crossing the border by foot from Taba, Egypt to Eilat, Israel and thereafter to Aqaba, Jordan. It was definitely an eye-opener - the 3 neighbouring countries all sharing the same sea - were so different to one another in terms of wealth, and culture. The minute we crossed the gate over to the Israel customs, it was like a whole new world. The toilets were sparkling clean, unlike the hole-in-the-ground toilets in Egypt and aircon was whoozing outta the customs hall, and Israelis sure look different. The customs officers were all beautiful 18 year old looking Israeli young ladies and smartly dressed Jewish guys. A short ride from one border to another gave us some insight to the modern beach city of Eilat - I thought I was in Miami! It was such a waste we didnt include Israel in our itinerary, we just didnt have the time and decided Jordan was our priority.

When we crossed over to Jordan's border, it was back to the Arabic world where things are just not the same as the rest of the world. Alluring and magical, but they definitely have their own way of living. Jordan seemed to have more developed and richer than Egypt. Like what Alberto said 'Egypt is like the poor cousin of his neighbours'. It is interesting cos Egypt probably receives many more tourists than his neighbours , and is also bigger than both of them, but evidently it's not as developed as Israel nor Jordan.

Now we'r in Jordan, and we visited Petra today.. the sights were incredibly amazing..never like anything I'd seen. We'd kinda expected similar landscapes to Egypt or monuments and streets.. but it's been very refreshing. Petra is huge, and filled with incredbily coloured rose-red rock formations and cliff-like structures. You feel like you'r entering a different galaxy and you'r a tad bit closer to pure nature. All the work of nature. Ancient Nabataen tribes had cut into the rocks to form huge and awestrucking tombs and temples and had made a whole city out of it. Many people have the wrong perception that Petra is just the famous gate that appeared in Indiana Jones (we were humming to that catchy tune all day!), but it's far bigger than any monumental sites we've been! It took us all day 12hours to see almost the whole site, but you definitely need more time than that.

We'r all dogged out, exhausted from all these travelling. Heading to the Wadi Rum desert tomorrow to spend a night camping under the stars again - I know it's gonna be fuckin good. I guess I'll write again when we reach Tanzania in 2 days' time!

Sleeping under the stars in the desert

Night wind howling. Staring at a whole sky littered with stars.
Complete tranquility and peacefulness.
Not a single soul in sight, not a single sound...
Just you and nature.

We were in the Western Desert, 6 hrs from Cairo
the bus passed miles n miles of barren desert,
rural lil villages n friendly country people.
The 4 by 4 jeep took us thru all sorts of desert landscapes,
the white desert, sand dunes...
At nite, we set camp, where our Bedouin host cooked us authentic food
made us Arabic tea, made fire
set by it to get some warmth
n laughed n joked with our host n fellow travellers.
Our Bedouin hosts made our trip one helluva experience,
they were so real, so sincere.. just down-to-earth.
I remember them tugging us into our sleepin bag,
laying thick blankets on us,
made us tea the minute we woke up..
it was more than hospitality, they made me feel like home.

We' r in Luxor now.. it's all ancient temples,
beautiful intricate hieroglyphic carvings,
and pure testiment to world's history.
The Ancient Egyptians strongly believed in life after death,
and so spent many years dedicated to building their tombs
decorating it, filling it up with jewellery...
I've learnt alot about Egyptian history
and perhaps formed my own picture of how it was like in the past.

Today we sailed along the Nile River on the famous Felucca
we caught the sunset, typical local life along the river,
buffalos along the wheat fields,
but what made it most memorable
was our chatty n funny Egyptian boatman.
He's sailed for 29 years, and still talks about it with this passion
you could see glimmering in his eyes.
He told us about Egypt's tourism,
how it was like in the past n now..

I love talking to the local people when we travel,
especially wise experienced men...
the stories they tell just weave the most beautiful experience
you could find in this strange world.

Rhapsody in Cairo

It's been a rhapsody of odd smells, beautiful ancient art and overwhelming Egyptian sellers. We've had lots to laugh the past coupla days, over their interesting culture and ideas.

One of the funniest- we were crossing the street, all frazzled (they've got some crazy driving style here) when this Egyptian guy was friendly enough to give us a helping hand, pointing to us where to get some good food n how to cross the road in the Egyptian way. We thot we'd found one of the rarest sort here - someone who doesnt bother selling us anything - until we were unconsciously led to his exquisite lil painting shop. It was beautiful, all decorated with intricately painted ancient Egyptian art - the famous Final Judgement, Ancient Zodiac Horoscope, Hieroglypic painting...

Surprise surprise! obviously we knew we werent led there just to be his friend. He offered us some Arabic tea, sat us down to explain us the art of Ancient Egypt. Like all the other tourists, we were too polite to break their plot n say au revoir. We foolishly were tricked by their humourous jokes, well-rehearsed lines and engaging conversations. An hr later, with our names written in hieroglypic n Arabic on 2 gorgeous paintings, the time to discuss the price finally came. I was ready to say adious and leave with no penny spent, but the Mr Nice Guy Alberto could not bare to let their hard-earned efforts go to waste. Of course the experienced Egyptians had their ploy all planned, n asked for a hefty sum of US$600 for the 2 paintings..

Well after some haggling, n lotsa bargaining, we left with 3 paintings, n paid US$50.
This is all part of Egyptian travels - perhaps that's what makes them so unique.
You look back, n laugh at it.

Today we got on a camel, rode the whole 12 kilometres of desert around the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The sight was amazingly breathe-taking. Any traveller would say that. An ancient wonder of the world, and the only 1 surviving. I could die without any regrets.

But what made our trip unforgettable, was perhaps doing the balancing act on the camels. They were huge n tall, n my ass was slanted to the right, almost during the entire ride. 2 freakin hours. But it was worth it. The local guy, with his lil freckled son guiding the camel, laughing at my clumsy posture, gossipin with his father in Arabic - priceless.

We probably heard this phrase at least a 100 times here in Egypt - Welcome to Egypt! Everywhere on the streets, every single person trying to sell us somethin.. they loved it. People are real friendly here, they love to have a chat, ask u where u'r from, about your trip - althou almost every other conversation ends up with a big NO cos they'r tryin to sell u sth. Some of my favourites -

'Dont worry, my friend. We are all friends.'
'Treat this as your home, feel free to do whatever you want. It's your home'

Heading to the desert tomorrow, let's see how it's gonna be sleeping under the stars in the vast desert.

Adious mis amigos

Last coupla days in Madrid went spent
meetin up with friends
sayin our last gdbyes..

cool Volcano cocktails in a Hawaiian bar
it was wayyyy interesting

check out the super long straws!

Emily, Manuel, Frank and David
it was nice seeing everyone for one last time
althou we didnt have many frens in Madrid
it was enough having a couple of close ones.

my last meal in Madrid with Melinda!
we had our last girls night out ;)

We went to our fav 2euros bocadillo place at Plaza Mayor..
some chorizo and salchicha bocadillos
and patatas bravas!
fuckin good!

then our lil botellon to kickstart the nite!
ahhh rite in the middle of Plaza Mayor..

we went bar-hoppin, literally.
We stopped at every bar for a shot
and moved right on to the next!
No wonder i ended up all tipsy turvy at the end of the nite!

we went to the rooftop of the posh Penthouse Hotel!
had a nice view of the city
quiet atmosphere n of cos extravangantly expensive drinks


we met some funny dudes along the way
n they were hilarious, cheering so loudly they got kicked outta the bar!

I´ve left Madrid..for good :(

Yes, we've done it
packed our bags, stuffed the car to the brim,
and left the life we had, in Madrid
now it's part of our past.

It's weird how everytime I move to a new city,
be it Miami, London or Madrid,
I would be all pysched to experience a new life
but when the time comes to leave,
I'm always not ready to say goodbye,
or perhaps just not sure if Im doing the right thing.

It always turns out great, fantastic
I meet new people, have the experience of a lifetime
move on, n lead a cool life..
but that moment when u need to say gdbye n leave
always makes me wonder if everything's gonna be alrite.

Well I had the most wonderful last days in Madrid
partying with Melinda for 1 last time,
roaming the lively streets of Sol, bar-hoppin thru the vibrant nightlife.
Melinda also came down to Granada to spend our last wkend together
n it was fantastic showin her around,
stuffing ourselves with beer, wine n tapas..

I manage to leave Madrid without shedding a tear,
but saying goodbye to Melinda, perhaps was the harder part.
The reality suddenly hit me,
that Alberto n I were not gonna be back in our cosy lil room,
or in the great atmosphere of the company I teach in,
nor sit under the sun n enjoy some cañas with Melinda no more..

The future ahead seems so blur..
I really don't know what's in store,
but I guess I like this feelin of not knowing whats ahead of you
so you know that you can strive ahead with all the courage you have
and face the challenges without turning back.