Sugarmelon – There's so much more outside – Dieter Zirnig

Check out: New images uploaded on flickr today!

What a ride!

After the airplane in Shire (to Gondar) had “mechanical problems” we had to find alternatives in getting from Aksum to Gondar.

The route takes 1 1/2 hrs. by plane and – yes – 2 days by bus. That’s because of the very old italian unsealed road through the Simian Mountains from former days.

Lonely Planet writes: “However, the journey from Debark to Shire is one of the most dramatic in Ethiopia. The beautiful constructed Italian road cuts its waz through the mountains in a series of neat loops and bends and provides impressive views.”

And, this ride was a good decision.

Riding by truck

After checking some opportunities, we found a truck, which brought us from Aksum to Shirne (2 1/2 hrs.). At Shirne we changed at 12:30 to another truck – what a surprise, it was a beer-truck (local Dashen beer)!

Riding by truck is a good alternative, especially riding on unsealed streets. It is faster and comfortable than a local bus. Another opportunity is renting a jeep (more expensive) or a minibus.

And, this ride was a good opinion and one of the best rides ever in my life (place 2 after the right through Kashmir Mountains).

We were four guys sharing the tiny front-seats while the heat and dust was in the cabine. Sometimes stopping for peeing or enjoying the breathtaking view of the Simien Mountains. We stopped in small villages in the mountains and had some lunch (Spaghetti) and talks with local guys. The road took us over mountains up to valleys and through villages.

Armed guy on the truck – armed people in the villages

Half of the ride the truck had an armed guy on the truck outside – with an “AK”. This, for our and the driver’s security.

It was also interesting to notice, that the small villages we passed through had their own “check-ins” and “security-stopps” with armed local guys. For me, it was like in former days, when a village was closed at night and getting secured. This was for sure another experience.

Debark

We arrived in Debark at 8:30 PM and were driving 2 hrs. in through the darkness, as there are of course no streetlights. At Debark we had a stopp at Simien Park Hotel (180 Birr/hot shower), some good greek Ouzo, beer and another portion of spaghetti.

Debark – Gondar

At 6 AM we continued the ride to Gondar which lasted 3 hrs. It was good, fast and again we had an exciting view.

Then had a perfect breakfast in Gondar at “Tele Cafe” on the Piazza: Latte Macchiato, Avocado and Mango Juice, Cake and some local spicy super tasting stuff. But this is another story…

Tip: Do this ride, when you are in Ethiopia and stop in Debark for a trekking-tour in the Simien Mountains. It’s amazing and I am coming back.

Latest geotagged route from my GPS

Größere Kartenansicht

New photos uploaded on flickr right now!

This day we were driving with the minibus from Adigrat to Sinkata (nice name!) – an about 45 minutes drive for starting a short trip to the rock-hewn churches in Tigray.

Rock-Hewn Churches of Tigray

Although I am really not such a church- and religion-fan, I am interested in all kind of different cultures and traditions: If it is a temple in Myanmar, the Golden Temple in Amritsar (India), the temples in Ankor Watt (Cambodia) or others. So, I was interested in seeing the churches, which were built inside big rocks. With the local bus from Sinkata we drove to Teka Tesfar and had a short 3 km walk in the heat.

We had a guide with us for some Birr. A local guy with a living chicken under his arm. After a while our “group” was out of around 15-20 local kids, who were going with us to the rocks. Of corse, a priest too, who had got the keys for the curch.

As churches are (…) they wanted money for giving us entry…

When climbing up and down the rock-hewn church of “Petrus and Paulus” in Tigray this day, I got some memories from Angkor Watt in Cambodia: Both had a very cliffy way up and down. The steps in Angkor Watt were made out of stone – the “steps” to the rock-church were built out of wood. Anyway, luckily arrived the target, I was fascinated by the old building. The church itself is over 1.500 years old and the paintings inside are as perfect as in the past. They are showing some christian ceremonies and so on. The view over Tigray was cool.

Coffee Talk

When returning to the “street” for catching another minibus the guide stopped at his family. He invited us for drinking coffee at his family. This was amazing and a turn-back-time for 100 years. For sure.

A woman started fire out of wood and blew air in it manually for getting hot. After it, she roasted beans. Showed them to all of us and spread the smell of the beans in the air. She mixed the beans to powder while the water was cooking. After it, the powder was put in the water and after 10 minutes, the coffee was ready. It tasted good and it was amazing drinking it in a old hut build out of loam. A-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Driving back: The dead sheep

OK. Minibus driver are everywhere driving like hell. So, why not in Ethiopia?

Yesterday the minibus hit a man on the street (fortunally nothing happend except a big fight between 15 people) – today the minibus hit a sheep badly, which was walking on the street. So badly, that it broke all of his legs and will be served in one of Adigrat’s cafes as fried sheep one day. The driver stopped, everyone went out of the bus and discussed the scenery. After 30 minutes the sheep-ower and the driver agreed in paying 250 BIRR (13.55 EUR) for the dead sheep.

Well, let’s see how about tomorrow, when driving from Adigrat to Aksum by minibus (about 3 hrs.).

Latest steps in Ethiopia visualized with GPS

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The trip from Addis Abeba to Dessie started this morning at 4.15 AM: Getting up, going by taxi to the busstation and then boarding the bus at 5 AM. After this waiting for one hour until the trip started.

Addis Abeba in the morning

While driving with the taxi to the terminal, I noticed a lot of differences: Open fire and many people were slepping on the street. Many “houses” on the paveyard, dogs and people running around. I have not noticed this kind of poorness during my trip through India. It made me sad and shocked me. I have never seen this before anywhere in the world.

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View the updated GPS-File and route from today (2010-02-23)

Busterminal

Many, many people were waiting in front of the busterminal in the morning and it was very crowded and chaotic. Always good, buying the ticket the day before. We had to take care a lot of our luggage as we received “warnings” from all sites that a lot of thieves were around. Everything went well. The busterminal itself was big and between 150 and 250 busses were waitinf for departing at 6 AM. Yes, all busses left at the same time! This was chaotic

In the bus

We were sitting quite in front of the bus and had a lot of funny and interesting talks with the locals. Next to me a guy from Afar was sitting and we were discussing with hands and legs, made some pictures and shared some food.

I learned some phrases Amharic (Please, Thank You, How are you, Bood bye) and the bus laughed about my broken words – it was very nice, warm, friendly and open. We got some oranges, nuts and sugarcane from the locals. Had some nice talks with the conductor in as well in English, hands and legs and got to know a lot of new routes through Ethiopia. There are opportunities to travel to Eritrea in the north via Sudan. This is good, but unfortunally too late, as we do have needed a Visa from Addis (Borders to Ethiopia/Eritrea are closed from both sides).

The streets are in good quality, especially those parts which are asphalted. There are Chinese people, which are supervising local Ethiopians in building the roads.

Had local food (injera) at a small restaurant and two coffee.

The ride itself was good, although it was a little bit more than 10 hrs. We passed mountains, passes, small nomade villages, mountain towns and reached 3.250 m above sea-level.

The people are very nice and are happy getting in touch with us: Talking, Touching, Laughing and Discussing. I am happy to make them laugh with some words. It is funny!!

Body-contact

It is interesting, that locals here are searching body-contact. We are getting touched on arms, shoulders and our hands. Often they are holding our hands, while we are discusssing. Intersting, when I am thinking to our “distance” appraoch in Europe.

WC

The toilet in Debre Sina was the second worst toilet I have ever seen (Nr. 1 is still the toilet I visited in Kashmir).

Dessie

Arrived in Dessie at 4 PM. The city itself is dirty, dusty and reminds me a little bit to Jammu in India. Roads are not asphalted in the city and we were welcomed by a lot of people. Sleeping in Fasika Hotel 1 for 100 Birr (5.32 EUR) and leaving tomorrow 5 AM to Mekele in the north.

New Images

I uploaded a couple of new images to flickr – check them out here!

From Vienna to Addis

The flight from Vienna to Addis Abeba was very good and the plane landed at 1.00 after midnight (Turkish Airlines). It had about 15 degrees Celsius outside in Addis at night. I was happy, getting out of the cold in Vienna – locals in Addis have been freezing and had thick jackets.

Taxi, Hotel and getting back to traveller’s life

The taxi took us to Lido Hotel in downtown of Addis Abeba for 120 Birr (5.50 EUR). Passed successfully through the first steps of possible “tourist-traps” (paying more, not enough change,…) – looks like it’s quite the same everywhere in the world . First thing to do was buying a big bottle of water (1.5 l around 0.50 EUR).

Met some italian guys who are going to Danakil-Depression. Lets have a look, how we can arrange a trip there. Seems to be really amazing – need to have a look for a group. Check “Danakil-Depression” in Google!

Addis Abeba, Time Zones, GPS. Food and Impressions

I am having my GPS-system with me, which visualizes, which routes I have taken. This shows you the flight from Istanbul to Addis and today’s walk through the city:

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Walked through the city, which is on a level of 2.500 m above sea. Had lunch and enjoyed local ethiopian food, which tasted quite good. Also the coffee – amazing. The city itself looks very poor, some cars, especially taxis, busses and mini-busses. Will post some thoughts and comparisons the next days about it.

Met a lot of people, who are very open and happy to talk and share insights. Many of the locals speak English fluently and there are no issues in getting along.

Met “Lucy” in the National Museum – eldest ever found human beeing in the world.

Local Ethiopian time is +3 hrs. UTC/GMT and 2 hrs ahead from Austria. It is interesting, that there are two different time-systems: Local Ethiopian time is 6 hrs ahead from the official time. This means, sun goes up at 12:00 local Ethiopian time in the morning, which is 6:00 offical GMT/UTC time.

Tomorrow, Monday we will stay again in Addis Abeba, checkig the big mercato (do you need anything? Tell me.) Ok, see you.

Check out some first images on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sugarmeloncom/sets/72157623342662621/

Reine Flugzeit von Wien nach Addis Abeba sind es ja nicht mehr als 7:15 Std.

Da es von Wien keine Direktflüge gibt und wir mit der Turkish Airlines einen Zwischenstopp in Istanbul machen braucht die Anreise ca. 13 Stunden. Ankunft daher um 01:10 in der Nacht (Zeitverschiebung +2 Stunden).

Die Flüge habe ich im Dezember 2009 direkt über checkfelix online gebucht und kostet 513 EUR für beide Richtungen. Bei der Flugbuchung konnte ich die Sitzplätze für alle Flüge reservieren. Flugticket habe ich keines erhalten, weder per E-Mail noch per Post: Der Check-In erfolgt mit Reisepass und mit der Kreditkarte, mit der ich den Flug gebucht habe.

48 Stunden vor dem Abflug herrscht natürlich wieder vollstes Chaos in der Wohnung. Einige Sachen sind schon vorbereitet – vor allem Medikamente, Taschenlampen, Batterien und das ‘technische Equipment’ (USB-Kabel, Video, Foto, Ladegeräte, Speicherkarten, Stativ usw.). Morgen, Freitag, wird dann endgültig gepackt.