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Hello readers,
Have hit already Addis Abeba and have ,
finally, found a good, normal hotel as I am used to. Hopefully the
wifi works ok so I can upload the blog to-day being Thursday 1st Feb.
Last one was Sunday 28th Jan at the Mayleko lodge
in Gondar. It was reasonable and my opinion was different from the
halleluja remarks in the guestbook. Often made by rather ignorent
tourists who like anything different from home even if it is as unpleasant as can
be.
Those tourisst see a country from a bus (
cocon ) , surrounded by a whole group of peers and protected by an
organisation and guides. They meet only people who know that the tourists
will drop money and thus they are all friendly.
For me that is totally different.
Travelling on my own I have to mix with the locals and do what they do, look
for shelter, look for food, look for fuel etc hence I am very much vulnerable
and they know that. Than you notice that the locals are not always that
friendly ,especially the teeners and twentiers. The elderly show
respect but not the young ones. Than the very young ones, they roam the
streets in gangs and appoach you agressively for money. Ones you do
not give anything, they throw stones, even while riding. I have read and
heard of overlanders, travelling by bike, car or bicycle and being harrassed
and stoned on many occasions while the parents were laughing at a
distance. Therefore I meet overlanders who love Ethiopia and others who
hate it. Yesterday I got a stone against my arm but the thick
leather jacket protects me , same for the helmet and front screen.
It is amazing to see the number of youth
gangs hanging around everywhere and doing nothing just looking for an
opportunity to go into, like an old overlander on a big bike stopping in front
of them and being vulnerable. Once I was tempted to give one a proper
knock in the face since he was very agressive but , fortunately , the traffic
moved on and problem solved.
Therefore I hate riding in these
traffic jams in a large city like Addis Abeba or the larger towns where traffic
often comes to a standstill at markets and busstations, both at the official
ones but more at those famous unofficial stops which can be anywhere.
I wonder what the future will bring for
these youngsters. I think that sooner or later these gangs will turn
violent against any possible money source. Let s watch it , I am
sure to be right.
Anyway, nothing thrilling happened in
Gondar. Went to buy an SIM card and looked for an Insurance company for a
Yellow card but they did not speak English and all failed. Tomorrow I go
here in Addis to get one, if they understand what I want.
From Gondar I wanted to go slow to Addis
in 3 days for 800 km. First to Bahir Dar at 188 km. I
hit BD by 10.30 after a beauty of a road. Super steering through the
bends over the hills and mountains up to 3500 m high on a perfect new
tarmac. Cant be better !
So I hit the throttle and went 200 km
further at Debre Markos and found a grumpy hotel but manageable.
Slow wifi but was able to change my
return flight to Brussels and pay the company.
That road was also good but older so
watch for the occasional bad holes and sudden disastrious speed humps, too high
to go over but they are in sections so I can drive in between , but only when
you see them in time and I almost failed. Hitting one means flying
off the bike and hoping that all will turn out well but I doubt that.
Therefore I tell myself constantly not to
ride as in Europe but this is Africa. Slow down and survive or else
.!
Yesterday , Tuesday I took off by
07.30 for 300 km to Addis. The first 100 km were fine but than hell
broke loose. I came to the edge of a plateau and looked down where I
could not see the bottom of the valley. At least a km in height to go
down by mountain roads, steep and only dirty hairpins. But thats no
trouble for me, the Stelvio is my friend, but here the tarmac was transformed
into a lunapark. Deep cuts by the lorries and tarmac pushed up in the bends,
broken tarnac, big stones to fill the holes , etc. It was
unbelieveable. Of course the heat in summer breaks a new road up
immediately with overloaded lorries going up and down.
So I went slowly down and it was
steep, I put the bike in neutral, why, to safe fuel, I was
low on fuel and nowhere a fuelstation and I did not foresee anyone soon.
Also I did not know once being in the valley what would be next, a nice flat
road out of the vallley or grimping up the mountain on the other side
with the same height, bends and bad, very bad road. I had to guess
but did not dare.
I just concentrated on the going down job
and that was enough. Felt sorry again for the bike and had to be carefull
not to hit a high stone with my engine sump or low lying oilpan which are
unprotected.. My 1980 HD had an engine guard underneath since not all roads in
the US were tarred but now they do not have it anymore. Stupid of
me not to make one. I will do now when I am in Holland after
measuring the bike here. I will have a alu plate cut with some slots to
fix it with hoseclamps to the frame tubes. Better that than
nothing. Sure I will meet more stones on the way.
Anyway, I was coming down the mountain
with lorries going very slow so no problem but those damned busses fly
anywhere. Carefull Paul !!
Once I hit the bottom of the valley there
was nothing, no village no fuel , just nothing.
Soon I noticed that I did not go
out of the valley the low way but again , as feared , straight up the other
side with the same conditions, but now also lorries at standstill which cannot
make it and block everything. In that case a bike is an advantage since I
only need one track.
I also feared for my fuel since going up
a mountain with more than half a ton in weight takes some fuel so I did it very
carefully and not to many revs to keep the consumption under control. Also the altitude will consume more fuel.
I got up the mountain meeting monkeys and
, halleluja, a bit better road donated by the Japaneese.
Thanks them for that !!
Now I was on a high plateau again and
hoped for no more valleys but only for fuel.
No station I met had benzin so I had to
find it the African way. I stopped by a Tuk Tuk and asked the driver for
fuel. He said nothing, no fuel in town. Than I asked him for the
jerrycan fuel station and he asked if I had money. After confrirmation he
took off and I followed. He brought me to the end of the village to an
unfinished building as you see all over Afica and he shouted whereafter a man
came out with a jerrycan and sold me 5 liters of clean fuel for one dollar a
liter. 3X the price but still just a dollar for one.
I took off and through good and bad roads
I approached Addis and found fuel at 25 km before Addis having left about a
quater of a litre , not enough to reach Addis but again I was saved by the
bell.
On the way I had one problem that I
wanted to pee but you get no chance to find a lonely spot to do it.
There is just no 10 meters without a
person along the road and that for 300 km. The moment you stop
immediately they come out from the woodwork and start staring at you or like
the very young ones asking for money. Bad sign !!
I think those stupid tourists in
those buses give these nice little brown eyed kids what they look for and
spoii them all along.
For Addis I had planned to set me up in
the Taitu hotel, See their site which looks better than reality.
Its the oldest in town and it shows
Must have been a pleasant Majestic place once but not anymore.
Now derelict and run down
completely. I feared for many cockroaches but did not see one.
I took a room since the bad roads had
worn me out , especially the left arm that controls the non hydraulic
clutch, just an oldfashioned cable to pull on.. Makes you Biceps like in
the gym !!
I had some geaorgeous Wahlias and an
undercooked pizza and no tele or proper wifi and the place was deserted by
20.00 hrs so I hit the sack at 20.30 and slept well until some noisemakers woke
me up at 04.30 AM.. Still did almost 8 hrs of sleep and thats a lot for me.
I told the reception woman that I would
stay if it was nice but go if it was nio and so I went.
Booked with the smartphone another hotel
closer to the airport and more expensive at 65 dollars a day. Must be
better.
And it is. Nice hotel with good
wifi that needed VPN and was installed by the porter, a young lad, who was
willing to help the old helpless baba . Works great.
I had planned to fly home on the 15th
Feb and return 2nd March with Linda for a 2 weeks holiday here , not with
the bike but car, plane or other.
Now I am here already the 1st. I
changed my flight to next week iso the 15th straight to Brussels with ETH.
Nice 9 hrs flight direct.
But I have to parc the bike
somewhere. I contacted my former collegue who has built
this brewery while I was Account Manager also for Ethiopia.
He has built it and now continues
enlarging it since sales seem to boom.
He said he would ask the brewery manager
who I know quite well since I had to interview him for this job.
But all works out well and they allow me
to parc the bike in the brewery, possibly, in a containerr. I will Phone
the Installation manager tonight to work out when and where.
So I will rest here to go home
Mondaynight and come back only on the 2nd with Linda.
She flies back home the 17th and I will
continu my journey as from that moment to Kenia and so on.
May be one more blog and than I stop it
till second half of March.
I find it sometimes a pity to write in
English since it is not my motherlanguage. In Dutch I can express myself
much better to make statements, jokes or other wise. But , of
course, I do it for my English spaeking friends who are not fluent in Dutch.
I also need some new reading glasses
. These HEMA ones I use now are too old and overdue.
On the other hand glasses must be cheap
since i eat them, sit on them, loose them etc.
Am now very thursty but I have a little
fridge on my right hand side and without getting up I have a Wahlia at hand, no
glass please and prosit and till the next one.
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