Sarina Hotel Keren

The bus journey was fun over all the hills back to Asmara (3h) and then 4h to Keren past various check points making sure we had the correct paper work to be allowed to go out of the Capital. Luckily we had read the lonely planet and knew we needed this otherwise we would have been sent back to the capital! Keren was as beautiful as we were told it would be. It was surrounded by hills and ...

... After a day or so walking around (once past the shock of it not being a huge built up town) you could see past the destruction and see the pretty streets lined with trees and the mosque and people going about their daily activities while we were getting soaked in the pouring rain. Therefore although we stayed in a lovely hotel, the Red Sea Hotel, where they are building a swimming pool (the only hotel that was open as the ...

... for a permit- it takes a day, otherwise you will not get past the check points. Very safe here Terrible, terrible, terrible internet connection. Yahoo takes nearly an hour to connect. Googlemail is much faster Where we stayed Hotel Asmara Central - smelly toilets in ensuite rooms. Was ok (365 nfa) Concord Pension - Lovely place with courtyard. Very clean and they spoke good English Top Five Hotel - Very boring looking place, but the restaurant and bar area were nice. (350 nfa)

... Massawa is architecturally much more interesting than Assab, though many of the buildings are half-ruined and most are in need of repair. It is just as hot and feels similarly empty. I walked around a bit in the morning, then rested in the air-con until late afternoon, except for a short walk to find a nice grilled fish for lunch. Since ...

... really quite close to w**e I live! To add insult to injury I needed a visa to access the country - what a drama (but aft** all this is Wadzi - my life devoid of drama would not be a life!) My new pet peeve, in addition to ageing, Turkish toilets and I forget what else - the humiliation of getting visas. Since Osama what was once a fairly straight forward process is now time consuming and humiliating - a full time occupation for the more ...

... to clean up i think and there is a huge scrapyard here in town i hope to photograph, which is their final resting place. Keren is dusty and colorful, many muslims and beaten, lumpy streets seperating terraced stores selling all manner of African nicknacks. I got off the bus and spotted a bunch of kids in white robes and yellow belts practising Karate in the shade of a derelict building so i chatted and took some nice shots of them. Next i will ...