Holidays update part 2: Christmas in Mwanza
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 04/Jan/2010 05:22, 34 days ago
Wednesday 23rd DecemberI took the bus to Mwanza. I got up at 4.30am and caught a cab to the bus depot just next to Ubungo.I had a seat in the second row with plenty of leg room. The trip was going to be about 1000 miles. I was not worried though, the bus was nice and comfy and the seat next to me was empty.The driver was a African Arab and he looked a little bit like Satan, he had a evil smile, goatee and pointy ears! To make things worse he drove how I imagine Satan would! Between Dar and Dodoma he spend most of the journey driving on the wrong side of the road, chatting to the conductors and laughing away…Getting to Dodoma was however the easy part. A large bottomed women (true African style) sat next to me for the rest of the journey and the road between Dodoma and Singida was not tarmac (despite assurances that it was!) the road resembled a rally course and Mr Satan our driver was well up for the challenge, visibility was down to a few metres due to dust but he went for it, over taking buses, taking outrageous short cuts and driving with speed and gusto along the dirt tracks (he would have made Colin Macrae proud!)After around an hour on the dirt rally we reached tarmac again and the town Singida. The town is surrounded by huge rocky outcrops. We kept going and I was doing ok, excited at being able to see Liz again.I was worried at being stopped on the road in the dark, either by police due to road safety or by robbers who sometimes hijack buses. There were some fantastic lightening storms in the dark and I wanted to stay awake to watch them. We eventually reached Mwanza at 11pm after 17 hours of bus travel (that is the most I have ever done in one go before! It is much more fun with a travel buddy)The trip was worth it though seeing Liz coming down the stairs to greet me at the hotel, being alone in Dar while sick was a bit crap and now I could relax with good company and enjoy the holiday properly!Thursday 24th DecemberWe got up and met Maryanne and then we went for breakfast. Mwanza is the second biggest town in Tanzania but it is nowhere near the sprawling city that Dar is. There were rocky outcrops like Singida.We went for breakfast at a place called Kuliana a veggie café which had lovely food. After eating we went to the bank, as usual with NMB the queues were huge but the security guard moved us to the front of the queue. This was a bit embarrassing but there was little we could do to protest, I felt sorry for the others queuing.We then went for a little walk to explore Mwanza. The girls arrived the day before so they showed me where we would be eating our Christmas meal. We then went to a nice Chinese restaurant (You Long I think, seriously) on the edge of Lake Victoria. While we were there we had some beers and watched a huge storm pass over the lake with lots of rain. Lake Victoria is huge (about the same size as Ireland!)In the evening I taught Maryanne how to play monopoly cards and we had a few beers at the hotel. There were some new beers to try, Uhuru (meaning‘freedom’) and The Kick (7.8% wow!). Fell asleep happily drunk!Friday 25th DecemberI went out early today to get us some yummy takeaway breakfast from Kuliana. I felt sorry for the staff for having to work but they were all happy and feeling festive. I got some samosas, chapattis and a slice of marble cake for us each. After breakfast we opened some small presents we bought each other. It was sad being away from the family but I was with the next best thing, I told Liz back in Dar I did not mind what I did for Christmas as long as I could spend it with her.At 12 noon we put on our Christmas hats and walked down to the Hotel Talapia (named after a type of fish in the lake) where we had our Christmas lunch reservation. For my Christmas lunch I had Chicken Spring rolls and then a curry! Quite different to home but it was tasty! We ate and drank in the spirit of Christmas until about 8pm and then we went back to the hotel. We played more games and drank far far too much before crashing back to our rooms for sleepIt was a very Merry Christmas!!Saturday 26th DecemberWe had a nice long sleep in before once again visiting Kuliana for breakfast. After brekkie we walked along the front of the lake near Bismark Rock and around to the Chinese. We got some more beers in and ate Chinese for lunch.In the afternoon we went to watch some Boxing Day football, there were 2 matches and it was just tsh500 (25p!!) to watch them both, bargain! Once of the teams wore a knock off Chelsea kit. The pitch was rubbish but it very entertaining watching the games.Afterwards we went to a bar overlooking the pitch and we did some people watching, there were a couple of weddings and they did the drive by processions which involve a pick up with a band and then the bride and groom followed by the families. I love the band playing and it is great to see all the smart happy people!For dinner we went to the New Mwanza Hotel, once again I had a curry but none of us were able to finish all the food we ordered! We had eaten far too much over the past few days! Tomorrow we were heading to Dodoma so we had an early night.Last update coming soon!Take care