Trip to Tanga and Mombasa
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 08/Apr/2010 19:05, 34 days ago
Here is the holiday update - trying to keep up with all the goings on before the end of the placement!Sunday 21st MarchI woke up early and there was still no power, it had been a hot night. I gathered up my backpack and day bag and walked down to Wete port. I needed to report around 8 and the boat was going to leave sometime after 9am. I left the house at 7am to make sure I had plenty of time. Before leaving I hid the laptop and made sure all of the doors were locked, I always worry a little leaving the house even with a guard (guess I get that from Dad). I saw Juanito and Alain as I passed his house, they were going to Zanzibar for the week. We would have had to leave the island anyway as there is voter registration near our houses and VSO are security conscious (no bad thing!).Down at the port the customs officer wanted ICT lessons when he found I was a teacher. I saw a older white guy at the port who has a holiday home in Kenya, he said I was very lucky to live in Pemba, I told him holidays are better than living in a place!The boat was called Spice Island and is a large slow boat, it takes longer but at least less people are sea sick. Just before getting on I saw a small swordfish in the water, it was very graceful and fast. On the boat it was hot and stuffy and there was rubbish Nollywod (Nigerian, as opposed to Hollywood or Bollywood) movies. I got stuck in my book and relaxed.We arrived in Tanga at the port, it was crazy pushing and shoving to get off the boat but I let myself be taken along with the current of bodies, my hand guarding my pockets and my backpack creating space behind me. I walked up from the port to meet Liz at the Ocean Breeze Hotel.We had a few beers and then walked along the sea front (there was not much to see) to a new restaurant where Liz had some pizza and I had a lovely chicken curry. Tanga seemed small but nice, you could by lots of things here that are unavailable on Pemba.Monday 22th MarchWere we planning to travel to Mombasa today so we walked up to the bus station after breakfast to sort out our tickets. I then went to get some dollars for my Kenyan visa, I had to use Barclays bank, they were rude (probably because I was not a member of the bank.We caught a Smart bus to Mombasa, the road between Tanga and the border is rubbish (bit like the road to Mpwapwa) at the border people were pushing in the queues to get through immigration which was annoying and made us delay the bus as we needed visas unlike them, if they had not pushed in we would have been seen quicker and been able to pass through quicker… We got some Kenyan Shillings at the border crossing when a tout came onto the bus. There were some very nice people on the bus though who told us what was going on and where we were.Just outside our final destination we crossed over to Mombasa (Mombasa is kind of an island) we stayed on the bus as it crossed over on the ferry.We did not have any accommodation booked in Mombasa but got a cab to the New Palm Tree Hotel, it was advertised in the guide book as was a mid range hotel. We figured we could splurge a little bit as it our last holiday together as volunteers.We went for diner at the China town restaurant, Liz went to get some extra money out of the ATM and we had several Tuskers (Kenyan beers) with our food, it was a beautiful evening. We went back to our hotel and switched on the AC– what luxury!Tuesday 23th MarchWe got up reasonably early (for a holiday) and went down for breakfast– they had sausages, ommlette, baked beans and pancakes – bliss!After brekkie we went down to have a look at Fort Jesus (pretty much the main attraction for tourists) it is a castle originally built by the Portuguese, taken over by the Omani Arabs and finally given by the British to the Sultan of Zanzibar. It was a pretty good looking castle and had some wonderful views, I bet the soliders posted here would miss home though.After looking around the fort we had a wander around the Old Town, it was like a small version of Stone Town on Zanzibar. We tried to find a Mexican restaurant but it turned out we were looking at the wrong place number on the map (I blame Liz!)After a while we settled for a beer in Casablancas which was full of working girls so we only stayed for chips and a beer before turning the day into a mini pub crawl!Went walked down to the look at the giant tusks that cover the main street (there were erected for Queen Elizabeth I think…) and then had a beer in the Steak House Bar (which did not sell steaks…) after the Steak House we found a Little Chef (not like the ones back home!) and we tried a new local beer called White Cap, the waitress in there was nice and impressed that we could speak Kiswahili. We went to the upstairs bar and were able to take photos of the street and all the busy goings onsFor dinner we went to Baron’s which was a local restaurant and bar and had some local fried chicken and chips washed down with a couple more beers. It was working to be a rather nice holiday, beers, sight seeing and relaxing! Our next destination was the beach!Wednesday 24th MarchStarting the day with an awesome breakfast again we then bought our bus tickets for Dar, we would be leaving at 6.30am Thursday. After tickets we caught a Matatu to Nyali. Matatus are the Kenya version of Daladalas but the difference is they do not cram them full, once all the seats are taken that is the limited, it makes for a much more comfortable ride and is safer from pickpocketers too.At Nyali (just outside Mombasa to the North) we went to Cuba Libre a posh bar for a beer to warm us up. We then went looking for the beach only to find it was covered in seaweed and the there was no sun. I grumbled at bit about it being rubbish but Liz showed some of Dan’s optimism from our Bournemouth trips and we wandered along the beach a little and there was less seaweed and the sun came out!Mombasa just like Zanzibar has a seedy sex tourism element and the beach restaurant where we stayed for the day had lots of older white men with young Kenyan girls as well some older white women with young Kenyan men. A little disturbing but we did not let it stop us from relaxing and getting in the beers.We had a delicious lunch and at around 4pm got the matatu back to Mombasa. We tried to get some souvenirs from outside Fort Jesus but most of it was the same stuff you can get in Dar or Stone Town. They hardly had much choice for postcards either…We were not that hungry and decided to have dinner at the hotel, it was a nice buffet but we only ate and little and played some cards before having an early night. Liz is now starting to come back at the card games but I am still the champion!Thursday 25th MarchWe had to get up at 5.30am which was far too early for a holiday but when traveling needs must! We got on the Taweel coach and travel from 7am until 4pm. There was hassle again at the border with rude people and their general inability to form a straight line and wait patiently!The bus did not pull into Ubungo which was a bit of a surprise and we had to jump out just after the main bus depot. We managed to get onto a daladala and then headed into Dar. The dala stopped just down the road from the YMCA. There were maybe 30 people waiting to get on, we were then told this was the final stop and we got up to get off, at the same time those 30 people all tried to get onto the dala blocking our way out! We had all our bags with us and it was near impossible to get off, I lost my temper when Liz was shoved out of the way by people pushing on, people were even climbing through the windows to get on the dala and get a seat. In a rare moment of anger and frustration I saw red and pushed my way past all the people to get off the dala, I shouted at them as I got off“You people are stupid why don’t you let people get off first?” and I called them stupid bastards. I told them it is dangerous and someone will get hurt one day. As I pushed my way off I knocked a ladies bag on the floor who had been pushing me trying to get on, I threw it back at her! A local told me to calm down and said “This is Africa”, I told him that in Kenya they only let enough people to sit down on and it is much more civil, I was fuming but also not proud of losing my temper, just fed up with the pushing and shoving! I did wonder if someone was going to try and hit me for shoving them all out of the way but I think they knew I had a point!We went to the YMCA, checked in, had a nice beer and then went to our favourite place; Badminton Institute for a yummy curry!Friday 26th MarchWe went down to the port after breakfast to try and find out which boats are going to Pemba. We ignored the touts and bought our boat ticket for Zanzibar. We could not get our tickets for Pemba as you have to buy them from Zanzibar (nothing is easy!)Before going to the boat (which was leaving at 12 noon) we went to stock up on some supplies, we walked to shoprite and bought the usual goodies (but no wine…)Down at the port it was busy and people were shoving (my temper was in check though…) we were catching the flying horse and paid 13,000 for our ticket despite the board claiming it to be 10,000. It was hot and sweaty and a porter pointed to where we had to sit, first class was shut for some reason, he then demanded money and I told him to go away! The trip was only to Zanzibar but it was hot and sticky and women were sleeping on the floor, not out of the way just laying in the middle of the isles and sleeping. I was pretty grumpy for most of the trip, I had too much fun while away and was relishing the journey all the way back to Wete.At Zanzibar we bought our boat tickets for Pemba and then stopped into Mercury’s for beers and a snack. We then got a dala to Migoz, a nice shop where we could buy some treats for Martin and Yasmin as we would be staying at their house overnight.It was great to see them and they cooked us Daal and provided us with lots of wine so we sleep well despite it being very hot!Saturday 27th MarchWe got up early and caught a Dala to Stone Town, just as we got off it started to rain, we walked the rest of the way to the port and got completely drenched. Stone Town has rubbish sewers and I hate to think what we were walking through! All the streets were flooded!We got the Azam boat, sea bus III a nice big boat and the journey was pleasant, we saw Alain but he did not sit with us.Getting off at the port in Mkoani was fine as we waited until everyone else was off the boat, the only problem then was all the dalas that go straight to Wete were full. So we caught a dala to Chake, had lunch then caught another dala the rest of the way to Wete. All the travel out the way– what a relief!We unpacked, checked our wet bags, cleaned a few things and then relaxed!So that is the saga of our last holiday as volunteers!Take carePS No Internet at the college at the moment, I will add some pictures ASAP