Re: Africa by bus

Enjoyed reading this letter very much Duncan. Thanks for sharing it, even if it's not pumpkin related.  Got a good chuckle with John's commentary on dieting;"African Style" . Poor guy. And the toilet situation ! Bus travel!  Ick! Not my style for sure. Mick will enjoy reading this tonight.  He's always talking about traveling there some day. I wonder if this will change his mind?    Have a great day and thanks again.   Shellie
-----Original Message-----
From: McAlpine, Duncan G <D*@PSS.Boeing.com>
To: '*@mallorn.com' <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
Date: Monday, February 02, 1998 9:52 AM
Subject: FW: Africa by bus

This is one part of 16 of my brother trip in Africa.  Well he started
out in South Africa and he is working his way North to Cairo.  He's
there now waiting for my mom to arrive in a few days.  I thought you
might enjoy reading this one part of his trip.  I am sorry if this is
out  of line and hurts anyone for what is said.  I have asked him to
look pumpkins on his trip.

> > Here's a message from John.  Poor guy, he's lost 16 pounds.  Where
> it
> > came off from...who knows!
> >
> > ----------
> > From:
> > Sent: Monday, January 05, 1998 7:48 PM
> > To:
> > Subject: Africa by bus
> >
> > Hello from Asmara, Eritria!!!!!!!
> >
> > I hope that everyone had a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.
> > Also, I hope this message finds all well.  I thought I'd start off
> with where
> > we last let off, Nairobi.  First off before I go into that I hope
> this E-mail
> > finds its way to you.  They have a strange set-up here were I have
> to hit
> > the  "Enter" key after each line.  So I'm sorry if it turns out hard
> to
> > read on   your end.  Also, I am unable to check my messages.  For
> sure in Cairo.
> >
> >
> > Anyways, if you remember I left Nairobi heading for a city called
> > Isiolo at the base of Mt. Kenya.  I was hoping to hitch a ride from
> > thereto the Ethiopia border city of Moyale.  I waited for three days
> with
> > no luck.  With the road washed out not even private 4 X 4's were
> going
> > through.So I headed back to Nairobi and paid $110 (Ouch) for a two
> hour 600 Km
> > flightto Moyale.  My first inter-Africa flight.  It was actually
> nice
> > because the pilot flew at around 3500 feet so I could see
> everything.
> >
> > I spent a total of a little over three weeks in Ethiopia.  The
> country
> > is picture perfect Africa.  Straight out of the pages of a book.
> The
> > country has a canyon that must be equal to the grand canyon.  In the
> Southwest
> > youhave people with plates in their lower lips and in the Northwest
> you
> > havethe neighborhood where Lucy, our oldest upright relative, was
> found. 
> > During my three weeks I hit Moyale, Awasa, Dire Dawa, Harar, Addis
> > Ababa,Bahar Dar, lalibela, Gondar and Axum.  Sorry if that bores
> some of
> > you.  My brother has a co-worker from this country and I thought he
> would be
> > interested in my exact spots.
> >
> > The most interesting of these places to visit was Lalibela.
> Lalibela
> > has 10 monolithic churches carved out of the side of hills or
> straight into
> > the ground.  They were made by King Lalibela somewhere around the
> 12th
> > century. When I say monolithic I mean right into solid rock.  It
> must
> > have taken 100 years to build all of them.  It was an eye opener.
> >
> > By far the worst place I've seen in Africa is Addis Ababa.  That
> place
> > must have grown out of camel fecus.  It smelled something bad.
> There were
> > times when I was walking that I'd have problems breathing and my
> eyes would
> > water.   I couldn't walk more then 50 feet without someone throwing
> their hand
> > in  my face and asking for money.  It was non-stop.  I would see
> topless,
> > blind,  pregnant women in the streets looking for any kind of
> handout.  Most
> > of these  women would also have a baby on their back.
> >
> > Since we're on the subject of Ethiopia lets talk a bit about the
> > buses.   First off, I don't want you to get me wrong.  I enjoyed
> Ethiopia and
> > they have by far the best buses in Africa.  Where I'm going with
> this is
> > that the Ethiopian culture has this thing against opening windows.
> The
> > Ethiopians, especially the elders, believe, so I'm told, that you
> can
> > get   sick from the incoming wind, or something like that. 
> >
> > So close your eyesand picture it 100 degrees outside on a 12 hour
> bus
> > ride with no air conditioner and all of the windows closed.
> Basically
> > you find your  liquefied brain oozing out your pores, people
> sneezing and coughing
> > with  billions of air-born pathagions multiplying within the warm
> air
> > waiting to be vacuumed up your nose.  But Hey, at least with the
> windows up we
> > don't have to worry about that horrible wind getting at us.  That
> > would be tragic.  Yes I dreaded the bus rides. One trip I couldn't
> take it any
> > longer so I cracked open the window a quarter of an inch.  The sound
> > of  the incoming wind sent a dozen evil eyes in my direction.  I
> promptly
> >  closed the window.  I probably killed five locals just that one
> > opening.
> >
> > Since I'm in the complaining mode let me tell you another story.
> > After I finally made it to Moyale I scored a hotel.  I thought at
> first I'd be
> > glad to be out of my tent, but I miss it already.  Anyways, it was
> > your  normal place for around $1.30 with mosquitos and the
> occasional
> > cockroach.  It came around that time to find the drop tiolet.  Well
> it didn't take
> > long to find.  At about 25 meters away I couldn't see it but smell
> it.
> > We've all heard of the elephant grave yard, while I think this drop
> tiolet
> > was where all drop tiolets came ones they were full and had no more
> usable
> > life, or space in this case, left in them.  I decided that I'd hold
> out for
> > a  while.
> >
> > Well night finally came and I couldn't wait.  I felt like I was
> > entering ground zero of an atomic S-bomb.  It was bad.  It actually
> hurt my
> > sinuses. This was worse then having to go through the cosmetic
> section of
> > Nordstroms. The worst part was the cockroaches.  I believe they knew
> I was in no
> > position to hurt them so they used my white butt, like Santa uses
> Rudolfs nose,
> > to  guide their way in and out of the hole.  I finally made it out,
> > probably  sterile, but thankfully out.
> >
> > After working my way north I made it here to Asmara.  Here, I'm one
> > happy  camper now.  Well, actually one happy backpacker since I
> haven't been
> > in    my tent the last month.  They have western food here.  I got
> on a
> > scale the  other day and found that I've lost a total of 16 pounds.
> Who needs
> > Jenny  Craig.  Just come and visit Africa.  Lose weight and take in
> the
> > sights. Anyways my first night here I ate two cheesebugers, order of
> fries,
> > milkshake, and 1/2 liter of milk.  I've been eating like that for
> the
> > last  three days.
> >
> > I'm currently working on getting my Visa for both Saudi Arabia and
> > Egypt.  I need a transit Visa for Saudi Arabia in order to take the
> boat from
> > here to Suez.  The boat stops off in Jeddeh, Saudi Arabia.  Wish me
> luck.  I
> > heard  I can set my tent up on the deck.  It's a five day trip on
> the Red Sea
> > for  around $150.
> >
> > I need to get going.  There's someone looking over my shoulder.
> >
> > Take Care, John
> >
> >
John can be reached on j*@rocketmail.com... He will be shortly
be traveling to Iseral, Jordan, India, Nepal, Vietnam and back home in
April.

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