Lal Hotel Woldia Addis Ababa

... piccante e si mangia il tutto con le mani.<br><br>Terminata l&#8217;ottima cena ci hanno sistemato in una delle camere degli ospiti. Ci sentivamo a disagio dal troppo lusso che in altri momenti sarebbe stato la normalità. Ascensore con tasti a sfioramento, stanza con bagno bellissima, pulitissima, profumatissima che ci ha fatto realizzare per la prima volta quanto ormai eravamo sporchi e malconci.<br><br>Farsi la doccia calda e con acqua trasparente per noi è stato come rigenerarsi.

... wife here somewhere? Maybe I should inquire. They even hand money with both hands, just like they do in polite society up in north Thailand, though you'd never see it down in the mahanakorn. The kids here get faranji frenzy just like my wife claims they used to do thirty years ago in Chiang Rai, back when farangs were a rarity there. 9pm is 3 o'clock in both. Oh yeah, and they've got Ethio-porn ...

... with nylon cord, which is generally respected. Here the locals would take any opportunity to jump the line and raid our garbage. At one point I was the only one in the kitchen and the group became uncomfortably close. I use some massive spoons in the kitchen (almost the size of a canoe paddle) and was thankfully able to use these to chase them away like wild animals. There was over 30 of them, I could have easily been overwhelmed.

... kids wore flip flops or bare feet. I can only guess that if you weren't infected when you arrived here, it would only be a matter of time. It was a subdued group that came down from the mountain and back to our hotel. I was deep in thought. You see things like this on TV as you sit in your cosy, centrally heated cocoon. This was a bit more 'in your face' for us all. In the evening, most of us popped out for food and drink. Rick didn't, Ian and Sean departed ...

We spent the morning shopping in Kigali. Our taxi driver from the hotel to downtown Kigali was an enthusiastic Barack Obama supporter with bumper stickers all over his cab. We flew to Addis Ababa in the late afternoon. The flights were late, but uneventful. We arrived in Addis after sunset and went directly to the hotel.

... day to be enjoyed quickly here near the equator. For as soon as you relish the sights and coolness of the morning air, the day rushes in filling all the special places until it is just, plain daytime. The teens from the slum across the stream punctuate the morning with laughter and boisterous noises as they strike up a game of soccer. It's an easy day across the city and the population eases into some time off from ...

... night-Yonnas Hotel-and eureka I am booked for tonight at half the price! Ah, life's little challenges. My next challenge is to hopefully find a reasonable tour to some of Ethiopia's historical sights eg Lalibela. &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp; &am p;nb sp ...

... five spent the morning at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital operations and received a tour of their facilities. Annually, the hospital treats 4,000 women. The majority of patients are less than 20 years of age. Dr. Hamlin, a co-founder with her late husband, is of 83 years of age and is still currently working and performing operations and lives on the ...

... person who genuinely needed it. By Wednesday we had seen all the churches of Lalibela, and most of those around, and were deeply impressed by the experience. However, we didn't feel quite ready for another two-day bus journey, and treated ourselves to the extravagance of flying back to Addis in a Fokker 50 - a massive expense at about 50GBP, but well worth it to us, I must say. The plane landed at Gonder and Bahir Dar before arriving at Addis, retracing our journey of ...

... take.  Oh, and the other good news is that our thief got away with nothing. Now we await the arrival of Shaun. If Saudi Arabian airlines do their job effectively, he should be deposited at Addis airport at 10:30 tomorrow morning.  Hopefully, he will bring some stability, sense and sanity to our travelling.  But we doubt it. Yours, Haile &amp; Mouna """""""""""""""""" Mr and Mrs R:  Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.""""""""""""""""""