Zanzibar 1
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
3
28
Trip End
Aug 15, 2008
Zanzibar,
Tanzania
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Woke up at 7 a.m. after a great night's sleep. Had the usual paltry hotel breakfast - supplemented by some of my German whole wheat bread brought from Bangkok. It's amazing how much more satisfying a good chunk of "real" bread is compared to that useless white bread.
After breakfast I strolled around town trying to get to know my way around the maze that is Stone Town. The buildings are ramshackle and give off a mixed air of colonialism and Arabness. Many doors are intricately carved out of wood, resembling the doors in Nepal for some reason.
On my walk, I also encountered the famous "papasi", which means "tick" in the local language. These are guys who can't let a foreign tourist pass without trying to sell them something or book them on a tour. They are extremely persistent and they even manage to make me feel bad about telling them to stop bothering me. Still, there is no benefit to dealing with them; only a cost: their commission. According to my travel guide, many of them are drug addicts. But all of them are essentially unemployed/unemployable young men who have nothing better to do than to try to pester a commission out of a foreigner. Come to think of it, in my walk around town today I can't say that I ever saw any local doing anything even remotely resembling work. They seem to be allergic to it. Their aversion to work is encouraged by foreigners who do fall for their tricks and pay them the equivalent of a week's pay for little more than a moment's "work". Okay, the objective in life is not to work as much as possible. But at the same time, bothering money out of people is not exactly respectable either. With so many tourists on the island, there are lots of legitimate businesses that a person could do to make a living. For example, I haven't seen a single supermarket. Or laundry.
Speaking of laundry: Today is my first laundry day of the trip. When I was in New Zealand last year, I bought an amazing little waterproof canvas wash basin that, when folded, fits in the palm of my hand - and when unfolded is as big as a bathroom sink. But it's better than a bathroom sink because it actually holds water. This is the first time that I have used it and it's brilliant. I put it in the sink, dumped my washing powder into it, filled it with water, and then added dirty underwear, socks and shirt - and I'll let the mix soak overnight. In the morning I'll just give it a quick rinse and hang it out to dry on the little clothesline that I happen to carry. Actually I kind of amaze myself sometimes with all of the useful things I manage to fit into my small suitcase and small daypack when I travel. I'm really a one man traveling household. I almost said that I carry everything but the kitchen sink, but as I just mentioned, this time I'm even carrying a kitchen sink with me. Ha! Oh, and I even carry a roll of cloth tape to repair the inevitable holes in hotel mosquito nets. Like I learned as a Boy Scout: Be prepared!
Anyway, back to the plot: In the late afternoon, I took part in what seems to be a Zanzibar tradition: I sat on the balcony of the Africa House Hotel and watched the sun set. It was really relaxing and I managed to read the first chapter of a new book that I brought with me: "Worlds Apart - Travels in War and Peace" by Gavin Young, one of my favorite travel writers. I have found books of his in the unlikeliest of places around the world over the years. I guess it says a lot about how much I like to travel that I even read books about traveling when I travel.
It is also popular in Zanzibar for tourists to take a spice tour - and I intend to do the same. Using my guidebook, I went straight to the source - the man who actually runs the tours. It will cost about 12 dollars for a nearly full day tour of visiting plantations - with a lunch thrown in to boot. The tour operator told me to be sure to call him and book the tour myself otherwise if my hotel makes the phone call he will have to pay them a big commission. For example, Sharon, the Canadian woman whom I met yesterday, was quoted a price of $35 for the same tour - with the difference being the commission - and the fancier your hotel, the higher the commission. (A note to Sharon in case you should read this: I went to your hotel a couple of times but I never managed to find you. Anyway, the tour wouldn't have worked out for you as it didn't finish before 4 pm, which I think was too late for you as you had to leave for the airport before then. Anyway, for the next time you'll know.)
Another thing I did today was to buy a local SIM card for my PDA phone. So now I'm "mobile" again and will be able to call and book the spice tour on my own, thereby saving myself the commission. By the way, the SIM card cost only 1,000 Shillings, or about 80 US cents. On top of that I bought 80 cents worth of calling time. Let's see how long that lasts. Given that I don't really have anyone to call - other than the spice tour guy - it should last me for the whole duration of my stay in Tanzania. And by the way, if anybody out there wants to call me, drop me a line and I'll send you my phone number.
Related to that: It might sound strange, but writing this blog (sitting here under the mosquito net in my hotel room with the ceiling fan swirling) makes me feel not alone when I travel.
Anyway, that's all for today. I still have more than a week left in Zanzibar, so I will try to include something about the history of the place as well. But that will be something for another day.
10 June
Woke up at around 6 am and started the day by rinsing out my now clean clothes and hanging it up to dry. I then went down - or rather up - on the rooftop - for breakfast. I had a chat with a French couple who are staying in my hotel and among other stories, they told me that yesterday they had booked a taxi for a tour for today - but that they had (stupidly) actually paid the taxi driver in advance. How naive is that? When I left the hotel in the morning, they were still waiting for the driver. I really wonder if he ever came?
I walked over to the office of the spice tour company and while waiting for the tour to start met two lovely Canadian sisters on a round-the-world trip. They, along with two Germans, two Italians, a French woman, an Australian, an Alabaman (with both parents from Louisiana), and myself made up our group for the day.
During the course of the day we visited various parts of a plantation with a variety of fruits (most of which I knew from Thailand) and spices (most of which I knew from the supermarket), such as vanilla, cinammon, curry, cocoa, etc. When the jack fruit was shown to us, our French tour member asked if anyone knew what it was called in French. I suggested perhaps "fruit Jacques"? Well, it was kind of funny if you were there . . .
After the viewing of fruits and spices, we sat on mats under a thatch-roofed hut and ate a pretty tasty meal made by a local woman employed by the plantation - perhaps precisely for her cooking skills. It was one of the tastier meals that I've had on the trip so far.
We then returned to Stone Town and I had a rest before going out for yet another pizza, this time a delicious one at the restaurant at which I had eaten yesterday, The Amore Mio. I saw the pizza that someone else ordered there and it looked great, and the one I had today tasted as good as it looked. And it was big, too - enabling me for the first time to end a day without being hungry. I don't have any fixed plan for tomorrow, so I'll be able to concentrate more on getting myself fed. In fact, I already have the day's meals mapped out for tomorrow: breakfast at the hotel; lunch at the Chinese restaurant (they have a lunch special, as Chinese restaurants around the world tend to do); and dinner either at the Italian restaurant again - or at the friendly little cafe where I ate last night.
11 June
Tired of being hungry all the time, I set off for the city's only "supermarket" in search of some peanut butter and tuna after breakfast - to be used as between meal snacks. I got directions from the guy at the front desk of my hotel and I set off for the Kwality Supermarket - a couple of miles away from where most tourists ever set foot. It was an interesting walk and a nice change to be among somewhat normal locals who didn't seem so used to seeing foreigners. They were for the most part very friendly and polite.
I then went to an internet cafée to upload my blog but I ran into what seemed at the time to be an insurmountable technical obstacle: The computer wasn't recognizing the directory in which I had my blog file stored. So after sending a few trip organizational e-mails, I headed for lunch at the Chinese restaurant as planned. It was a meal to forget.
I have to say that I'm growing fond of my hotel room - in spite of its shortcomings - or perhaps precisely because of its shortcomings - or even more precisely because I have discovered its shortcomings and have learned to live with them. I guess it's similar to the reason people stay with bad spouses: they just kind of get used to them even if they know they are far from perfect.
For example, the shower is cold and there is absolutely no water pressure, so it is not usable as a shower in the traditional sense. Instead, I have to use the faucet - as one would when filling up a bathtub - but without the tub. Essentially, I have to put myself under the cold faucet and try to get myself wet and then clean without suffering too much from the cold water. (Some parts of the body seem to be more sensitive to cold water - particularly the backular area.) While I was doing this tonight I was actually thinking: "It's a good thing nobody can see me doing this - because it sure isn't pretty!" But somehow, by the time I finished, I was clean enough.
Another thing is the bathroom mirror - which is actually in the bedroom. So in order to shave, when shave day finally rolls around, I'm going to have to go back and forth between the bathroom and bedroom, alternately taking a swipe at my face in front of the mirror then running to the bathroom to wash away from the razor the stubble that I have shaved off. Whoever designed this room clearly wasn't thinking of the practical aspects of life like shaving or brushing / flossing one's teeth!
Comments
Zan-Tan
So why didn't you just put your number in rather than taking longer to tell people to write and ask for it? Did you get the peanut butter and tuna?
(fish is redundant)
Re: Zan-Tan
Because I don't want just anybody calling me!
I got the peanut butter and the tuna, but not the fish. Smartass!