Jonclark2000's travel blogs:
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Addis Ababa - back to the big city
Entry 9 of 125 | show all | print this entry |
Friday 13th and no major upsets apart from paying for an extra days accommodation to the hotel , not too sure if this was a genuine mistake on the part of the hotel or not, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt though. It has to be said sheer stupidity on my part though!
The flight touched down in Bahir Dar to pick up and drop off some passengers before arriving in Addis. Toby, Matt, Athene and myself shared a taxi and got a place at the Taitu Hotel, close to the Piazza. Had some very nice Shish Kebabs and a Middle Eastern place that evening.
Next day and a busy one at that, after French toast, coffee and OJ on the very nice terrace at our hotel Toby and I changed rooms to one of the posh ones above the terrace with views of the city. Saw Man. City beat Man. U. and knew it was going to be a good day.
Went to the Hilton and booked a flight with Kenya Air to Kampala, Uganda. Then headed to Bole, the posh area of town to meet Steven from the Simien Mountains. He owns a tour operating business and can give you cheap good trips around Ethiopia if any of you are interested?
Had a bit of an interesting incident on the way to Bole when I was thrown off one of the buses, the guy said I had to get another bus, I thought he meant one behind but there was not one - he gave me my money as I was leaving - I get the feeling either him or the guy next to me didn't like foreigners or I smelt - anyhow no harm done.
After sunset on the terrace we went to a place that did dancing, food and Tej that they brewed in house, almost like a brewpub I guess. Tej is a honey based alcohol drink that many of the local drink, we tried an non sweet version, to be honest it wasn't up to much and I'll be sticking to pale ale in the Cambridge Brewing Company in future!
The dancers were of course fantastic and thank god in this place they weren't trying to drag me up to dance all the time! I think the other Brits were similarly relieved that they could keep their bums parked firmly on their seats.
Toby, Matt and Athene all left on an early morning plane - sad to say goodbye really.
Day 3 in Addis and a nice quiet one. Breakfast on the terrace again, although it's not quite the same now I'm on my own again.
Visited the natural history museum. Good to put a name to so many of the birds I had seen also good to check out some the species endemic to Ethiopia that I hadn't seen. They had a Nile Perch on the wall, those things are as big as whales. They must have also had about 15 different antelope type species, very impressive indeed, especially the Oryx, but most of these animals were from the south - I'm sure I'll see more once I leave Ethiopia.
Botched up trying to speak with Erica on the phone. Hopefully tomorrow. Drowned my sorrows with a few beers on the terrace followed by some more middle eastern food.
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