Crossroads Hotel Lilongwe

5th &#8211; Drove to the border town of Chipata on the Zambian side before crossing into Malawi and the town of Mchinji. Headed straight into the capital Lilongwe, doing our food shopping for the next 3 days at Shoprite, which is in the Old Town (Area 3).<br><br>Staying at Marula, formerly known as Kiboko Camp about 1km from the city centre. A couple of people partied and we had a power cut so out came the candles.<br><br>Had an early start in the morning so didn't stay ...

... br>zambia tomorow, Zambnia is apparently hot this time of year, dry season, it flloods from the zambezi river January to march, according to moses,, we have evening meetings with dinner, Moses our tour leadetr knows a lot of stuff, thats his job, but everywhere we stopped moses would know where each place was, great guy!for an evening game drive in the Luanga national park i think i'll clarify later <br>hope all is well!! <br>xxxxxxxxx

Our Malawi adventure is coming to an end!!<br>The work in the orphanage was great fun, exhausting but really rewarding! We provided the orphanage with enough money to buy food for all the orphans who came to the Bible holiday club. My last couple of days were spent with the older kids and we had a fantastic time playing games with them and making crafts with them. Elihir, the head of the orphanage, made a touching speech to us on the last day saying that he and the orphans really ...

... being loaded onto the car sent to bring us back to Kumbali lodge. We drove the 4 hours by the other road... the inland one not the border road. Still it looks to me like nothing is ever finished or when it has reached it use by date just build a new one next to it. All buildings are made of baked mud bricks and it seems they are not very house proud, no paint or ...

... we stayed at, Gecko Lounge (so called because of the huge amount of geckos everywhere, they're so cute!), was perfect, we had our own little chalet right on the beach and we lazed around in hammocks all day! It was a proper holiday, one we needed. It was about 35 degrees which was wonderful after dreary Lilongwe which had gotten too cold for our liking! We spent most of our time lying on the beach, reading and listening to music. We weren't complete slobs though, we ...

... filled with people. To save ourselves a lot of money we decided to put the bags on our laps and prepare ourselves for an uncomfortable 7 hour journey. (This coach has 5 seats per row and is the same size as you average coach so it was very uncomfortable and claustrophobic).<br>Suddenly there was an uproar from the passengers and everyone began to panic and fight to get off the bus. We looked out the window and saw flames coming up the side of the bus ...

... stories and singing songs with our porter and guide. It was wonderful, complete blackout with only the stars and fire for light. There was no electricity all the way up there! The night made the trek up worth it. Before that, it hadn't been worth it at all! Luckily on the way down we started off really well, we were speeding away and arrived at the half way point in no time at all. But it did get harder. Steep downhill takes just as much effort as steep uphill. We stopped off ...

... this week? We went to our friends house for a bbq on Friday night and then again on Saturday and used the washing machine, oh it was amazing! Never thought I would actually get so excited over a washing machine, but it really was an amazing amazing moment! :p Then we had a binbag party on Saturday night which was the funnest thing ever...yes it did involve dressing up in binbags and having a catwalk and lots of dancing...and yes it did involve sitting playing uno in our binbags ...

... the past couple of weeks so we have had a few days off to explore Lilongwe...we are begninning to understand what wthe guide book meant whe it said, I quote @It wouldnt be a disaster if you just gave Liloongwe a miss..." Because its quite a new capital and because all the business and estuff is in Blantyre...tehre is not a LOT to do in Lilongwe! :p Bobe took us yesterday to a memorial for fredom fighters...a marble pillar in the middle of nowhere...was very nice ...

Another day another border. Thankfully Mozambique proving a lot faster in letting us out of their country than in. Still in a bad mood. Not too sure why.. just can't seem to shake it which is irritating me even more. Trying to enjoy ever moment but it's just so hard when you're stuck in places you don't want to be (border crossings/dogons), eating food you don't want to eat ...