Sable Sands

Pictures here 🙂

When I was in Zim in January I wasn`t very lucky regarding the wildlife. And that wasn`t really the objective of the trip either, but it kind of sucks when you`re in the backyard of elephants, lions and hippos and don’t see anything. After the first five weeks I`d only seen one of the big five (the rhino`s in Matopos). So for the first weekend back in the bush I vent to visit Sable Sands, a safari lodge not far from Dopota. Meshack drove me to Mabale, and then Mr. Dube from Sable came and picked me up. Driving in to the concession we met two elephants, my second and third one 🙂

The lodge is run by a very sweet couple, Marleen and Brian. They took over the lodge a couple of years ago, after it had been abandoned for more than five years. They said it looked really horrible when they first came, time and weather along with baboons had done a number on the rooms and the main area. But with hard work and determination they made Sable Sands to the wonderful place it is today, it is absolutely amazing to be there!! 🙂  Marleen met me when we drove in, and we sat and talked a bit before I ate a quick lunch and got ready for a game drive. I was SUPER stocked to go on this drive, and we were going in to the national park itself and I`d only ever been on the concession of the other lodge I went to. It was me and a couple from Australia who went on the drive together, and with our guide we had a very good time! Before we could even get out of the concession we met several parades of elephants, and. Oh. My. WORD! What magnificent beautiful majestic creatures! It was such a powerful experience, they were so close to our car that I could almost feel their breath on my face. Of course I was a bit terrified also when they came close up, but our guide ensured us that it was perfectly safe. I`m sure they can read the elephants and know when to back off, but I still prefer my personal space elephant free 🙂

We made our way into the park and started the main part of the drive. I was crossing my fingers that I would see more of the big five on the drive, but we only saw more elephants and smaller animals. Not that I was disappointed, I was smiling from ear to ear the entire drive! And as long as I haven`t seen it all it just means I need to come back 🙂 We stopped at a viewing point for sundowners, and let me once again and not the for the last time just say: WOW! The sunset on the African sky is just something very extraordinary and the most stunning scenery ever. The park closes at 6 pm, and we overstayed a bit with the sundowners so we had to rush back to the gates to avoid getting a fine. Driving back it was FREEZING cold, so I was so happy to get by the campfire when we got back to Sable. Not long after a group of American women (middle age to retired women and one man, poor fella) came in, and we got to talking around the fire and we had dinner together as well. I had a long day, so I went to bed early in my amazing room. At Sable they have some rooms in the main camp area, and they have some down by the vlei (dried up riverbed), and this is where I was staying. At night you need somebody to take you to your room, you know, just in cases. Marleen and Brian had given me (in my opinion) the best room they could offer, with a direct view down to the waterhole which they very recently had lit up. So there I was, in my wildly comfy bed, looking and listening to the elephants drinking. Perfect ending to a fantastic day ❤

The next morning I slept in, and by slept in I mean 8 am. Huge difference from 6 am. I woke up to hear lions roar, what could possibly be better? I got up and went over to the main building and took in the view and quiet with a cup of tea. And also to warm up in the sun, man it`s freaking cold in Zim in May!!! Marleen and Brian came over and joined me together with their super sweet kids, Thandeka and Khaya. These kids are so lucky to have the bush as their playground and open and easygoing parents like Marleen and Brian. They were high and low, not scared of me at all even though they just met me, laughing and having so much fun! If I ever have kids I`m raising them the same way 🙂  I didn`t have any activities planned for the day, so I was just waiting for the sun to heat up a bit more, then I was just laying at the pool and reading. One thing I love about being out here and in Dopota is that you are never alone and almost always laughing. But it is also exhausting at times, so toget some time alone to you thoughts at a place like this was simply perfection. In the afternoon I met up with Chennai, one of Brian and Marleens best friends. We sat with the kids playing and talking until it was time for them to go to sleep. We sat by the campfire having a drink with Brian before we headed out to a braai with some of their friends. Love braais, some meat on the grill, a beer in your hand and good company around and it`s all you need 🙂  We went back home late, and I crashed in bed pretty tired and tipsy. The next morning I was supposed to be heading back to Dopota, but I was invited to stay another night, and I was very happy to do so! I spent a lot of time just hanging outside my room coz the view down to the waterhole was so good this day! A lot of sable antelopes were gathering around the water, and with zebras, baboons and impalas it was sooo awesome!

In the afternoon I went over to the campfire,  we were sitting here and having a few beers before dinner. After dinner there was a dance group performing, they usually do this when big groups (the americans) are leaving. It was so much fun with dance and laughter, we were loving it just as much as the kids! After dinner we went down to the campfire again and were sitting here and having fun until we couldn`t keep our eyes open any more.The next day I needed to go back to Dopota, so Mr. Dube drove me to Mabale at around noon and we met with Meshack so he could take me back to Dopota. It was Africa Day this Monday, so it was a public holiday. We had a very relaxing day in the shadow, just sitting around and talking 🙂

I had such a fantastic time at Sable, Marleen and Brian have a beautiful relaxed way of being that makes you feel like home. They are so humble, kind and generous to all their visitors, that you want to stay there forever and ever. Now, I`ve said a lot of good things about a lot of places I`ve stayed during my months on the road, but this. This is hands down the best one 🙂 As I`m typing this I`m wishing I could be back, having a beer by the fire. Until next time I`m just gonna enjoy the good memories 🙂

Next up (hopefully soon): Last part of Dopota!

 

Dopota III

Woops! Been a long time since I`ve posted anything, too much going on 🙂 Pictures here 🙂

After being back in Zim for two weeks, we were finally getting ready to go to Dopota! 🙂  Sungano and I had planned the previous week to do all our office work fast, do the shopping and then head out as early as possible so we could be there before dark. Of course that didn`t happen. I had somethings I needed to send out and to print but surely there had to be a power cut this day!!!! If I have learned one thing on this trip, it is to always do today that you are planning to do tomorrow. I was thinking about doing all I needed on Friday, but I just thought I could do it before we left. Lesson learned.  We tried to work with what we could, before heading out and do our shopping. Even though we were a few hours later then I wished for, we would still be there by dusk.  With the car so stuffed that Thomas hardly could reach the gear stick we headed out. We had a good road trip and stopped for dinner at Halfway (Halfway to Victoria  Falls) before the last stretches in the road. Driving off the road and down to Dopota was so amazing I almost jumped out of my seat! And seeing my whole family again was wonderful and a reunion with laughter and smiles. A couple of people didn`t know I was headed back, and it was the best surprise ever! 🙂

It got dark and late after we had finished talking and catching up, so we all went to bed. Su and Sibonile slept in another room, so I had the bed to myself this time. Didn`t sleep much though, coz my bed was tilting and I felt like I was falling out every time I moved. Next morning I found a couple of the extra mattresses we have in the office under my mattress. Tilting solved.

This was Su`s first time in Dopota, and I took it upon myself to be her local guide 🙂 Of course I have no navigation skills, so we had to bring some the guys from the working committee with us for help. And I promise, anyone who isn`t born and raised (or lived in Dopota for several years) would be lost in that labyrinth of a village. We started down with the borehole and stopped by one of the gardens. Like I mentioned on the previous post it haven`t been raining enough this year, and so the garden was all dried up and with no crops. The women responsible for the garden were trying to save some of it and have also tried to plan new vegetables so they can have something to eat. You`ll see in the pictures how dry it is, pour some water on it and it will immediately vaporize. The second garden we saw later that day was in much better condition, and by the looks of it they would have more food of it. The gardens are close to the bore holes so they don`t have to walk too far to fetch water. But still, it`s not a easy job when everything is done manually, in other words carrying every last drop of water needed for the garden. And they are pretty big.
After seeing one of the gardens and walking around the school, we went up to the first sewing club, and I was very happy to see that they have almost finished the construction, only the working table is missing. Finally the ladies will have place to work 🙂

When we went down to the dam, I was very sad to see it. There is hardly any water left, you`ll see in the photos that the water level is very low and they told me that by a month`s time it will be completely dry.  It`s very hard to hear the stories from the people in the area, and to realize the reality they are facing. Droughts and food shortage is very real, and extreme. You could try to imagine how you would feed your whole family when there is nothing to harvest, you`re unemployed and have no source of income.

On a more positive note, the next day we were handing out food to our helpfund clients. Sabona gives people in the community here a ration of food supplies every month, so they have the basics they need. In the package they receive there is mealie-meal for making sadza, beans, soya chunks, soap, sugar, capenta (dried fish), juice, cooking oil and spices.  They guys in the working committee were at it all morning to prepare everything, and soon the whole ground surrounding the office was covered in food and people. It was such a beautiful sight, people were so happy and thankful for all that was given to them. It doesn`t get more real than this, Su and me were talking about it while we were handing the food out. To get these bags of food every month is so crucial for them, it really is the difference from starvation to a somewhat livable life. Since it was Su`s first time in Dopota is was her first time meeting the clients and so she was talking to this sweet sweet old lady. She lived about 8 km away, and had managed to walk all the way over here to get her food supply even though every step looked painful.  She has given birth to 11 children. Of those there were now only three left. The others have died from HIV/AIDS. Two of her remaining daughters had moved to South Africa and she was taking care of their daughters. She was too old to work and had no income other the occasional vegetable she sold. I had to bite my lip so I wouldn`t just break down in front of her, if she was so strong I had to be too. I carried one of her bags for 5 m, seriously 5 m, and I have never seen someone so happy over something so little! She laughed and laughed and said I was now her grandchild too, and she would be my gogo (grandmother in Ndebele).  These moments are so good that it makes your heart wanna jump out of your chest with joy! 🙂

The already great day was turning out to be a fantastic one. I did an interview with one of our higher education students, a poet in the making. He`s studying to be a forensic, but he is also a man for great words. After we spent the day together I have received no more than five beautifully written  poems!
Thomas is always giving me lessons in Ndebele culture and he said that since this is my second time coming to Zim I needed an official Ndebele name. I said I would like to be Nina Ndlovu, which means elephant. Now, I still hadn`t seen one (after almost 7 weeks in this country, including 4 in the elephants backyard) so he said he would never let me out of the country before I`d actually seen one. So, after we had been driving around the village to visit some of the projects we drove towards Main Camp to see if we could spot some. The car was full so I was sitting in the back of the pickup, and I swear it has got to be one of the best days in my life. Driving towards Main Camp while the sun set the sky on fire and thousands of stars slowly made the appearance is seriously breathtaking. Freezing freaking cold, but stunning. Just as we were about to give up and turn around we spotted an elephant in the moonlight! It was a small bull (biggest creature I`ve ever seen and couldn`t believe that was supposed to be a small one) walking peacefully in the grass eating. I`ll never forget the day I earned the right to my new beautiful Ndebele name 🙂

The following day Thomas and the girls left me and headed back to Bulawayo. I was excited to start working and to learn more about Sabona. Meshack and me went around to some of the other schools in the area we support and had meetings with the school reps.  We have two secondary and two primary schools in the district which are the schools we have most kids on the sponsorship.  The work I`ve been doing is mostly with the schools, so I get to know a lot of the kids. Every time we drive in to Lupote, our second primary school and the kids have a break they run to the car and flock us and goes: BYE BYE!!!!! And waiving and laughing 🙂 I always say the same thing: When I`m arriving you should say HELLO, but they just laugh when I talk to them. 🙂 And then when we leave again it’s the same: BYE BYE!!!!! They`re SUPER CUTE ❤

Friday morning we had another school meeting and then after lunch I went to Sable Sands, a safari lodge not too far off. More on that on the next post 🙂

Touchdown Zim

Photos 🙂

Hello again Zimbabwe!! 😀 I will never be able to tell you the rush of joy I felt as I  stepped out of the plane in Bulawayo and knew that I was back. Tears of pure happiness was running down my face 🙂 Nozi picked me up at the airport and drove me to Berkeley Place, my Bulawayo home. Nomsa, (the lovely woman working at Berkely) didn`t know I was coming back, so it was such a good surprise! I was completely exhausted from the traveling, so I just got something to eat, and then went to bed.  Coming from a different time zone I was so jetlagged, and woke up at 5 am, and couldn`t sleep anymore. Great. I came during the weekend, so I had some time to try to get used to Zim time. And that was good, cuz by 6 pm I was down and ready to sleep again, but I had to try to keep it going until the night.  Nozi and her sister came and picked me up in the afternoon on Saturday and we dropped Nozi at school before roaming around Bulawayo for a couple of hours. It`s always someone to meet, someone to help and someone who needs a lift. So at 5pm we were going to dinner. But then we needed to pick up a friend. 30 min later we were going to dinner. But we had to stop by the liquor store. Of course we met someone we needed to chat to. 1 hour later we were going to dinner. But then we needed to pick up Nozi. 15 min later we were going to dinner. But then we needed to find their friend and take her to the train station. 2 hours later we were going to dinner. We actually drove to the place we were having a braai (barbeque) , we couldn`t get in with the car unless we paid 10$. I offered to pay, but no. Drove around  for 30 more minutes only to go back cuz their friends were there and they had food. FOOD! Going back to the braai, leaving the car outside. The food wasn`t ready. 1 more hour and I ravished on chicken and sadza like there was no tomorrow. And by this time I was exhausted, so by 10 pm and two beers I just had to go and sleep. Ah, love being back on African time 🙂

The next morning I went with Nozi and her friend to church. And that was an experience I can tell you. Out in the rural areas of Bulawayo, and when I say church I mean a house. A broken down one, with some benches and cheesy music playing before they started. The minister spoke in English, so I could follow the most of it. It was something of an experience: speaking in tounges, healings and a halleljula every two second, singing and PREACH! Hehe, I loved it! 🙂 After church we went back to town, had some lunch and then I went to our office to hang there while Nozi was studying.

Monday morning, and finally back at the office to meet the rest of the guys again! It didn`t feel like I had been gone for more than three months, I was so happy to be back! 🙂 This time around I`m helping out on the sponsorship for Sabona, but I wont to into details on my everyday job. But what I can tell you about is how it works in Zim with school fees, and why there is a big need for sponsors. Even though most schools are run by the government, they still have to pay fees to go. The fees vary from 15 $ per semester for primary, but the further up you go in the system, the more expensive it gets. Now, 15$ might not seem like a lot of money, but when you have nothing, it`s everything. And by nothing, I literally mean nothing. Because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic there are a lot of children in the area who are orphan. They might be living with one or two grandparent, most of which are unemployed. Their source of income, if any, would be to sell whatever they can grow or make their own. But then you have years like this one, when the rains failed to come. If there is no rain back home for a couple of month (which rarely happens) we applaud it and love it. If the rains fail to come here, you are facing serious food shortage. It will in the end be so bad that there is no food left, for people or for animals. As a result of the water shortage the bigger animals come in to the villages and eat what they can find, that means they are eating what the people are supposed to eat. And so the circle never ends.  If a child is lucky to have both parents, chances are that they are not employed, as 90 % (yes, 90. Let that sink in) of the population in Zim are unemployed. So, much are those 15 $ now worth you think? And to top it, they need uniforms, shoes and book. So the need for sponsors is BIG. And I do suggest that if you don`t have a child you sponsor (Sabona or otherwise) sign up for one here 🙂

After the first week in Bulawayo I went to Matopos for the weekend. I was picked up by Josh, Anette`s boyfriend. Sadly Anette had gone home only a week before I came after staying here for three months working for Sabona. I love love love Matopos, it is such a beautiful place! I described the park the last time I was there, so I won`t bore you with facts. I came just in time for lunch, and afterwards I just sat down with a book and took in the view. It`s winter in Zim now, but winter here is a warm summer day back home. It gets kinda cold at night, but nothing too bad. Later that day, me Josh and Pierre ( a guy from Belgium living in Congo visiting Zim) went up to one of the hills and had a couple of beers with a camp fire. It is SO nice to just sit with a Castle light and take in the scenery and talking about life. I was in heaven. And when it got dark all the stars came up and I don’t think I`ve seen such a beautiful sky in my life. The Milky Way was so clear and gorgeous, and could just sit there forever. We went down for dinner a little bit later, talked and had fun until it was time for bed.

Pierre and I had agreed to walk up to the hill behind the lodge for the sunrise, and I was up and waiting for him by 5.30am. After ten minutes he hadn`t showed up, so I went back to bed, put in my earplugs and went to sleep again. It was still dark, and there was no way I would walk up to that hill alone with snakes and other animals around. He had knocked on my door 5 min later of course, but I was fast asleep. After breakfast I sat down with my book again, waiting for Pierre to wake up so we could go up the hill in daylight. It was just a short hike up, and it was the most amazing view of the park. We had a 360 degree view of the whole thing, and it was just unbelievable. We could see over to Cecil Rhode`s grave, the place I went to the last time. That place is called World`s View, but I think that ours was way better. After the hike I went back to my books, as Pierre and Josh where going to town so Pierre could catch the train to Vic Falls. He never did, so they both came back in time for dinner. After a few beers and talking, I was done for the day and went to sleep.

Sunday, warm and sunny and time to work on my fading tan. I borrowed a book from Josh, which his mum has written and I highly recommend to get a feeling about Zim (Sibanda and the rainbird), and was reading about Hwange, village life, rural life, wildlife and was getting more and more excited about going to Dopota very soon! It was Mother’s Day in Zim this Sunday, so there were a lot of people coming for lunch. I met Josh`s parents and listened to stories about their lives in Hwange and Motopos. Everybody I meet down here are so welcoming and nice and kind, I`m just amazed by it all. During lunch be started talking to another family and they were just so incredibly sweet, I had such a good time!
Josh drove me back to town after that, and when I got back to Berkeley I sat down with Nomsa and Jonas and showed them pictures from Nepal and told them about my journey. Those two are taking such good care of me, and we have so much fun together that I`m not lonely to a second 🙂

The following week was rather uneventful, I just worked on what I needed to do and helped Su with a few errands. Both Nozi and Sibonile were out on study leave, and Thomas was in Harare for a couple of days, so Su and me had the office to ourselves. I tagged along for a visit to the hospital to give one of our patients on the helpfund her chemotherapy. She is suffering from breast cancer, but after only one treatment she was showing signs of improvement, and so we are hoping that the tumor will shrink more so her treatment won`t be too hard on her body.

On Saturday, Nozi was finished with some of her exams and could take the weekend off and hang out. We went out to her house and while she was resting I was sitting in the garden and soaking in the sun. She lives about 30 min out of Bulawayo, and so it`s quiet and beautiful. When she woke up we made lunch, and her boyfriend came to join us for food and a few drinks. A few turned into a few more, and so we went to town a little later and went out in Bulawayo. It was boring, so we didn`t stay long.  On Sunday it was 17^th of May and Norwegian constitution day! 🙂 Which I never got a feeling of and thankfully I wasn`t homesick.  But I still felt like I needed to celebrate it in some way, so I brought Nozi and her boyfriend out for a dinner and a beer 🙂

Next up, going back “home” to Dopota 🙂

 

Nusa Lembongan and back to Bali

Aaah, this island is on my top 5 list of best islands visited! It may not have been in competition as one of the most beautiful, but just the feelling of the atmosphere here made it such a good experience.

A short boat ride from Gili T, and I arrived at the beach in Lembongan in the afternoon. The company I`d booked the boat ride with also had a transfer to my hotel, and after pushing in too many people in a way to small bemo I was in my hotel to min later.  I was so happy with my choice of hotel, my room was big and open, with a wildly comfy bed. And two meters, literally two meters , from my balcony was the pool. Mmmm, let me stay here forever.  As soon as I`d dropped off my bags I went down to one of the dive shops I`d been recommended and booked a dive for the next day. It was getting dark and late when I returned, so I just had dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.

The next morning I headed over to the dive shop again, and we headed out to the water. It was me, a couple from Australia and a woman from Holland. After a 20 m boat ride we reached our first dive site of the day. It was a drift dive, but the current wasn`t as strong as it was on Gili, so it was easier to stop and look. It was like diving in a completely different world from Gili, the reef here was GORGEOUS! It might have been the best I`ve seen so far 🙂  It was a rather uneventful dive, meaning that there wasn`t anything extraordinary to see.  If you`re diving twice (or more) in one day, you have to wait for a while between dives. We waited about an hour and had lunch before going back in the water. Stunning location yet again, I just love love love to dive!

Several people I`d met on Gili told me about this restaurant that had a movie on every night and if you ate your dinner there, you could watch it for free. So I met this nice girl, Djuna, from Luxenborg in my hotel earlier that day, so we headed off to get some dinner and watch a move together. I mean, this is just the BEST idea ever. They had a couple of place like this in Thailand as well, but on those islands there was always something else to do. On this one on the other hand, it was a quite one and no parties to speak of, so it was the perfect setting after a long day of diving. They had these bean bags to sit on, and it was just perfect. Djuna was also traveling alone, and we found a connection in our travels as she`d also gone to Zim as part of a tour around the southern African countries. Really sweet girl and good company for my days in Lembongan. After the movie I went straight to bed and slept like a baby in my kingsize + bed.

The next morning I`d asked the manager at the hotel if one of the guys could take me to a beach further up the island. I`ll admit it, I`m too scared to rent a scooter and drive. There`s not a lot of traffic on Lembongan, but the left side driving is sure to get me in trouble. So, one of the guys drove me up and we agreed he would pick me up again after a couple of hours. The beach, Dream Beach, was indeed beautiful, but not a dream. Again, not so lucky with the weather so it was mostly cloudy that day. Might have looked better in clear sunlight. The waves here were absolute ape shit crazy 😐 I`ve never come across waves with that kind of power and to go in the ocean I had to wait in between the set and then run in and out before they could catch me. But I had a lot of fun watching people being washed up on shore like ragdolls, sometime in their swimwear and sometimes not 🙂
But not all fun, a woman was being dragged out to sea fast, and three guys had to jump in to save her. After that I didn`t go back in.

Anyway, my ride back came and picked me up again. He had put on A LOT of cologne, and was flirting his ass off. I`ll take it as a compliment, even though he almost ran off the road when I told him I was 29 and unmarried 🙂  I had maybe an hour after lunch before the rains came, and so I just sat in my room and read.

During my day at the beach, the earthquake that hit Nepal was taking place. I got a few concerning messages from my friends back home asking if I was still in Nepal or that they were glad I was out. I hadn`t read the news, but when I did my heart sank in my body and I got physical sick. The first reports didn`t give much information, but I sent a message to all I knew in Nepal and just hoped they would all be safe. As the day went, more and more information was coming out in the media, and the worse it got. I cried and cried and cried. It felt so close, so surreal and awful. Djuna and me went to eat and saw a movie that night as well, but I wasn`t present. All I could think about was Nepal. And every time I read the news, it escaladed and got worse. I was up until I couldn`t keep my eyes open, but even though I was exhausted I didn`t sleep much. And the next morning again, the news was unbearable. I`d booked a dive for the day, but I wasn`t sure if I should go or not. I ended up going, and it was maybe good to have something else to think about for a couple of hours.

The dive was good, I was with the same couple from Australia from the other day, and a Canadian. We had two dives and I managed for a few seconds to distract myself from not breaking down in tears. It`s not a very nice feeling when you`re under water and trying to enjoy your surroundings and it just feels wrong. So even though I knew there wasn`t anything very specific I could do, I would rather sit in front of my computer and read then to go off somewhere and have fun. I`m glad I went for the dive, but was happy when it was over. I got back to the hotel, and there was still no word from anyone that I knew in the affected areas. I talked a lot with Marit, the girl I was in Nepal with, and for the first time in 4 months, I really wanted to go home.

The next day was my last day in Lembongan, and I didn`t feel like doing anything, so for the most part I stayed by the pool or in my room reading the news. I walked down to the harbor to confirm my ticket back to Bali the following day, and then had lunch at Eco Deli two minutes from where I was staying, extremely good ecological food. They day went on rather fast, and so by night time I`d packed and was extremely ready to just leave. I went over to have dinner and watch a movie, and when I came back I finally got word back from Nepal that everybody in our team was safe. I was so extremely relieved and could sleep a little better than the two previous nights.

I got up early the following morning to catch my boat back to Bali. I had a day and a half left here before setting off to my last adventure of the trip. I had somethings I needed to do before leaving,  so I spent most of the time just running around doing errands. I stayed in Seminyak this time, but I must say I liked Ubud better, fewer people and a calmer surrounding.  The hotel I`d booked was one of the cheapest places I could find, but in the same time one of the most beautiful. Just off one of the busy streets, and with a gorgeous pool area, 5 m from my door. But, I was still struggling to enjoy it all, and so when the day came for me to leave and go back to Zimbabwe I couldn`t be happier about it! I`ve been here for two weeks now, I`ll post what I have been up to with Sabona as soon as I`m back from Dopota 🙂

Gili Trawangan

Before I came to Indonesia I had planned to go out to the Gili Islands to dive, as I had heared that these dive sites are some of the best.  I knew that Gili T was the busiest one of them, meaning it would be part mayhem. I still booked a 4 day stay there, and well. Next time I will give it some more thought 🙂

In this island nation there are boats connecting most of the islands, and after just a two hour ride I stepped off the boat in Gili T. First impression, not so good. The beach didn`t look to good, it was just a whole lot of boats everywhere and the water was dirty. And crowded. Second impression stepping off the boat, not so good either. It had absolutely no charm to it, just a whole lot of bars and dive shops. I checked in at Manta Dive where I had booked my stay and planned to dive with. That was good though, I had a sweet bungalow with a beautiful outdoor shower, loved it!

I am struggling to find something to write, cuz I really never fell for this island. The weather was still bad (!!!!), and it was raining every day at some point. Maybe that made the whole thing just a little bit more miserable. But in anyway, I had some amazing diving experiences, so let me tell you about them 🙂

Day 1, first dive:  My divemaster for all dives on Gili was Adi, an awesome guy from Gili Air. Together with three other girls we headed out to Haans Reef, 20 min from Gili T. It had been over a month since my last dive, but it was all fresh in mind and I was stocked about getting in the water again. Rolling off the boat into the water is such a good feeling, and descending to the bottom is AWESOME! The site itself wasn`t the best I`ve seen, mostly just rocks and sand. But in the beginning I was working on my buoyancy so I didn`t mind too much. We were in the water for almost an hour, even though I thought I was running low on air way to fast. During the dive we saw turtles, a cowfish (this was apparently rare, so lucky me), boxfish, moray eel, stingrays and scorpion fish. It was awesome 😀 Later that night me and the girls went out for a dinner and some drinks. They were all traveling alone as well, but had stayed on the island for a couple of months training to become divemasters. I actually meet mostly girls who are traveling alone, and very few guys who do the same. Guys usually travel in packs. So on that note I`m simply gonna conclude with the fact that girls are tougher than boys 🙂

Day 2, second dive: Adi and me were ready again, and with a new team of divers we headed out to Manta Point. Deceiving name, as mantas are rare to come across here. In anyway,  learning from the previous day I improved a lot on my breathing and the air lasted me longer. This was only my 11^th dive in all, so still a very fresh diver with lots to learn. The reef surrounding the Gilis isn`t in a very good shape, as dynamite fishing has been practiced in the area. Luckily they don`t do it anymore, but it take ages for the reef to grow back again. But Manta Point was better than the day before. This dive was fantastic too, Adi was great at spotting stuff, and so he found a baby shark sleeping in a small cave. So cool!! We saw a bigger shark sleeping as well, love it! I thought I would be very scared, but as long as you let them be they won`t hurt you. We also saw turtles and cuttlefish which Adi irritated enough so it inked 😛 If you play with them they change in colors, but this one was just in a bad mood.

Day 3, third dive: This day I was almost sure they would cancel the dive. I had gone to the beach early to tan a bit, but after only an hour it started to pour down, and by pour I mean buckets. I was stuck in a cafè for more than two hours while it was thundering and the rain never seemed to want to stop. During a small window of no rain I ran back to the diveshop, just in time for a new shower. Luckily it stopped completely about half an hour before our dive. This time it was only Adi and me diving, and I managed to use my air so well that we were under for 60 min, and I still had plenty of air left when we got back up. We were at Bonte Wreck just off Gili Meno. It wasn`t a proper wreck, but a huge sunken platform of some sort. It was really beautiful though, lot of soft corals growing on it. As we were drifting along the wreck, Adi wanted us to swim through a whole and not over it. I was sure I would be able to just glide right through, but a smaaaaall miscalculation on how fare I actually was from the top and Adi had to pull me through so I wouldn`t damage the tank. He was laughing so hard he had to remove his regulator and just let some bubbles out 🙂  On this dive we saw several sharks again, boxfish, angelfish, a school of long finned batfish, triggerfish, Nemos (clownfish) and moray eels. And there are always tons of other tropical beautilful fish around, like swimming in an aquarium. If you take the time to google some of them you might get the kind of jealous I want you to be 😉

Day 4, fourth and fifth dive: I wanted as much experience as I could, so I had two dives on my last day. The first one we went to Meno Wall together with a sweet couple from Canada. This was by far the dive with the hardest current, and so we just drifted along the bottom. When you want to see cool small stuff you really have to push against the currents, and Ludo (my instructor in Thailand) told me never to wave around with my hands to try to control my buoyancy. Well. That was just impossible with this current, I was either sinking like a stone or floating like a piece of wood when I tried not to wave. In anyway, this was also a very good dive, more turtles, Nemos, batfish, angelfish (my favorite) scorpinfish, lionfish and stonefish.
On the fifth dive we went to Halik. Just me and Adi again, and we had one of the best dives I have ever had. In the shallows it was absolutely stunning, the reef was healthy and amazing and with so many cool things to see! We saw an octopus on the move, changing colors as he gracefully swam across the seabed, we met a cuttlefish in the mood for some games and it changed into so many different colors as Adi was teasing it, turtles (love love love turtles and never get tired of seeing them in the ocean), titan triggerfish, lionfish, and as the grand finale: A HUGE swimming moray eel! I have only seen them in caves before, holy cow it was so awesome to see it on the move 🙂

The next day I left Gili T, and I don`t think I have been this ready to leave a place on this trip. We just didn`t connect, and that`s just the way it is. I regret not going to Gili Air, but I will have to do that the next time I find myself in Indonesia 🙂

Next time: Nusa Lembongan.

 

Bali – Ubud

For you who are reading this and thinks that I have this traveling thing all figured out, here something for you to laugh about (And I can only tell this story now because time heals all wounds, and I can now laugh at it too):  When I was leaving Kathmandu I went to the counter at the airport and gave the nice lady from Jet Airways my passport, and waited for her to check me in. She asks me for a visa, and I politely told her that I didn`t need a visa for Indonesia, I would get in on arrival. She looks at me firmly and says: “ Madam, your TRANSITvisa to India. You are flying from Delhi to Chennai and need a transitvisa in order for me to check you in”.

I instantly felt sick, cuz I knew I was in deep shit. I swear, before leaving home I checked all those god damn visa rules for the countries I was going to, and managed to misinterpret India`s rules. From what I could remember, as long as you were staying no more than 24 hours in transit you would be fine. Of course that was the international transit, in the domestic you are actually entering India. Sooo, there I was, there was no way they could let me on the plane, and their office had just closed and she couldn`t call anybody to rebook in me on a flight directly out of India. Great. Great. GREAT! I feel so bad for everybody around me cuz there was so many not good word coming out of my mouth. And just as you know, we were 3 people doing the same mistake. I`m not the only idiot traveling 🙂  And to make this story short, the very nice people from Qatar Airways managed to book me on a flight to Doha and then to Bali. A hard lesson learned that was.

Anyway, after the all the hard activity in Nepal, I was more than ready to have some time off in Indonesia. The original plan was to stay for 4 weeks, but after I had changed my plan to go back to Zimbabwe I was left with 2 ½ weeks. So to start with I needed to get away from people, and do absolutely nothing. I found a beautiful and quiet place in Ubud, located in Bali. And it really was perfect, off from the center of Ubud, and not a lot of other people. Just this nice couple who was on their honeymoon. Very thin walls in this place…..
The resort was located in the lush green hills of Ubud, viewing down on the river and some rice terraces. Absolutely stunning! I instantly fell back in to island coma, oh sweet state of mind how I have missed you.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Eat Pray Love, and so I had somewhat of a very romantic and rustic view of how Ubud would be. And from what I have already learned on this trip, I should have known that the world is so traveled now, you will hardly find a place that isn`t crowded with people. And so it didn`t live up to my extreme expectations, but still a beautiful place. On every corner you`ll find a temple, and it`s the good kind of temple. Not the kitchy-old-mixed-with-all-that-glitter-and-shines-kind of temples, but the beautiful architect and proper old with moss growing on them,   surrounded with water, flowers and small offerings.
The main street was just as any other main tourist street: Shops, restaurants, cafès, street sellers, taxi drivers on every corner, and so on. I had three trips in to town and just walked around for some time. So hot. Too hot. I ran in and out of every shop I could spot with an air con so I could cool down and keep it going a little bit more.

I only went to one really touristy thing, The Sacred Monkey Forest, a nature reserve and Hindu temple complex in the middle of Ubud.  I`m having a hard time learning on this trip, and so I walked the 25 min down from where the taxi dropped me off. “It`s gonna be great, then I`ll get to see more of Ubud”. Idiot. It is too freaking humid to be walking around, I know this! So all sweated out I arrived and walked around there for an hour or so. Beautiful place and hundreds of monkeys all over! Afterwards I found a restaurant overlooking a temple and a pond of lotus flowers and tried my best to calm down and try to stop my face from melting.

My hotel was about 15 min drive from central Ubud, and there are taxies lined up everywhere so finding a ride wasn`t hard. The hard part was finding a taxi driver who would just drive you, ask you nicely where you are from and leave it at that. I first got the very direct harassing driver: “ You need man for tonight with happy ending, you call Wayan. You want pill first I get”. First of all: F*** you. Second of all: Drugs? I don’t even freaking do drugs back home, but in Indonesia where they sentence you to death for drugs, yeah this would be a good place to start. I then got the more subtle harassing one: “you very pretty lady, I`m very lonely man”. And the ever so sweet handshake where they poke you with their finger, meaning; Sex.
No. Hell no.
Reading up on Indonesia in Lonely Planet they said that Bali was one of the best places to travel as a single woman, abut ya`ll better rewrite that section. I haven`t gotten so many comments, offers and looks in any other country so far. Boys, tuck your shit in and keep your god damn mouth closed.

Despite the bullshit, I really loved being in Ubud 🙂

For the last day I confined myself to the pool during the hottest hours of the day, mustn’t forget to work on that tan. To my surprise the weather wasn`t on my side at all. It rained every day, either in the morning or in the evening. While at first I was desperate and thinking this would ruin my whole stay, it was rather nice to have it cool down, and not feeling guilty about doing absolutely nothing. So, true to form it started raining right after lunch. I had already tried some of the restaurants LP recommends in Ubud, but I was saving Three Monkeys until the last night. Amazing restaurant overlooking rice terraces and off the busy street in a calming atmosphere. I treated myself to a very good dinner and a Bloody Mary. Perfect ending to my Ubud experience 🙂

Next up, Gili Trawangan.

Nepal in my heart

It`s been to weeks ago since I left Nepal now. This country gave me one of the best experiences of my life. Trekking in the mountains in Nepal is a humble, beautiful and majestic experience. The people there were part of giving me the adventure I had, warm, welcoming and kind. I keep the joyfull memories close to my heart every day.

I found out yesterday that everybody from our team are safe and alive, and I have no words for how grateful I am for that. I`m still waiting on words on how a girl Nansy and me met in Sri Lanka is, but I keep my hopes up.

I applaude the world for coming together so quickly to help, and have so much respect and grattitude for the people who go to help. I wish to do my part too, and I hope you do the same. If you don`t know where to start, click on this link and help in any way you can: Help to our sisters and brothers in Nepal.

Trekking – Part 2

Photos: Mine and Marits 🙂

Soundtracks: O.C.M.S – Wagon Wheel & George Ezra – Budapest 🙂

Trekking, Day 5: After some days with downhill it was now time to prepare for uphill and going towards the highlight of the trek: Annapurna Base Camp 🙂 After Chomrong at 2100 masl our next goal was Himalay Hotel at 2820 masl. The day started out so good, the sun was shining and it wasn`t too hard trekking it was just perfect! It is so extremely beautiful walking  in the mountains of Nepal; the views of the mountains on the clear days, going through villages, moving into the forest, crossing the horrifying suspension bridges, listening to Ram and Khisna sing along the trail, it couldn`t have been better 🙂
After lunch I got really sick. Might have overeaten on dal bhat. In anyway, I was extremely nauseous and dizzy, it wasn`t exactly pleasant going up. Every step felt like the end of the world and it took me much longer to reach the top than it normally would have. But I started to feel better eventually, drank a lot of water with electrolytes and slowly got back to normal. The accommodation was a bit more basic going further up, so Marit and me shared a room with Lucia and Kathrine for the night. Actually warmer to sleep more people together and we loved our new room mates 🙂

Trekking, Day 6: Summit day. Base camp summit that is. A very early start to the day, and I was completely fine again and super ready to head up! We started as early as we did due to the small (yes mum, small) chance of avalanches along the trail. Which didn`t happen 🙂 First part of the trek was in the shadow down in the valley, and when we reached the sun and the river of the valley I was struck by the spectacular view surrounding me. My word, how beauty can be paralyzing. It was really tough going up, and the closer we got to the lunch stop the more exhausted I got. We were so lucky with the weather on summit day, clear blue skies and a glowing sun all the way. The gods in the mountains were pleased 🙂 The last 400 m to the top was the hardest. For every two steps I took I was completely out of breath, weirdest thing! Just stopping to drink water was exhausting. But, we all made it to the top safely! 😀 Summiting Base Camp at 4130 masl!
Madhu took us over to the glacier below Annapurna 1, but we couldn`t see much due to the clouds. But those mountains. Have no words, it is just majestic.  For the rest of our time on the top we hung out in the dining hall, eating, reading and relaxing.

Trekking, Day 7: Going down from ABC. Hadn`t really slept much, and I wasn`t feeling too good in the high altitude, so I was glad to go down.  We went back the same trail at the day before, first part of the trek was beautiful! It`s a whole different thing going down, you see things in a different perspective and it`s  sooooo much easier 😉 Someone along the trek must have pissed off the mountain gods, cuz by lunch it was pouring down. Which means further up it would have been a whole lot of snow. But our group was filled with good karma, so the worst of it lifted when we were starting again after lunch. Our goal for the day was our lunch place a few days before, Bamboo at 2300 masl. Long way going down from 4130! I was extremely tired, my body was so angry at me for the treatment the last week, but with the promise of the hot springs the next day I had a good night sleep.

Trekking, Day 8: Going down, down and down, and then up, up and up. And down again.  Hard on the body, but the most awesome day at the end 🙂 We went a long the same trail going up from Chomrong, an endless amount of stairs. No. More. Stairs! Reaching Jhinu just before lunch, this was our one and only stop for the day, hurray! It was also Richards’s birthday, and Madhu had promised us a party. But first off, a dip in the nice and much needed hot spring! Sooo good and warm! Until it turned into a soup of humans and our skin almost fell off, time to climb back up. And also, the first shower since day 4 🙂  Madhu is a man of his words,what a party we had that night! The birthday kid first got a tasty birthday cake, singing and some good luck powder too, and Candy also as is appropriate for the wife. Then we of course had some Nepali singing and dancing, led by our amazing team ❤ And like in school, everybody want to hang out with the cool kids, and soon there were so many people joying us in dancing, singing and having fun, just such an amazing evening! 😀 Now, party while trekking doesn`t mean an all nighter, so by 10.30 pm I was more than done and headed to bed extremely happy 🙂

Trekking, Day 9: Last full day in the mountain, nooo!! Didn`t want it to end! 😦 After some gradual up and downhill, it`s always gradual no matter how steep, we finally go to some real flat ground. And there were cars, felt like it was the first time ever seeing a car! Being in the wild does something to you. Well, flat ground is just as painful as going up and down, and what an amazing feeling it was to reach Pothana that day, have mercy on my feet! A cold Everest (or was it three?) was in order, and we could celebrate making it all the way! Yes, we still had some hours left the following day, but this was the last day with our entire team. So we all had a big dinner together, and changed the roles around. Candy, Dario and me we the designated waiters for the evening, confirming that I would be a horrible waiter. But everybody got their dal bhat and beers in the end, what could be better? 🙂 Then we had an awesome camp fire and sang songs (so sorry for Marit`s and my performance of Idyll), and danced until we couldn`t go on. And we also had a round of apperception for our amazing porters and for Ram. These guys have helped us make it through the trek and been so kind and loving the whole way. Just the PERFECT ending to the most incredible adventure I have had so far.

Trekking, Day 10: Going all the way down to civilization. No 😐 Make it stop! Even though I could barely walk anymore and desperately needed to get my hands on some clean clothes, I didn`t want it to end. I`m such a sippy softy, and when we all of the sudden had to say good bye to our guys, both Marit and me were sobbing in back of the bus back to our hotel in Pokhara.

Driving back to Kathmandu: The following morning we headed back to Kathmandu, an 8 hour drive in in deep thought of the amazing adventure. In the evening Madhu had booked a restaurant for us, a beautiful place in an old home turned restaurant. Excellent food and with traditional dancing, last one being our theme song for the trek; Resam Firiri 🙂 And of course it was way over due to give our hero in the mountains, Madhu, the gratitude from us he deserved. Our fearless leader who had brought us save through the trek, this funny, kind and amazing man who I`ll miss so much! Can`t wait to go on another trek with you, Madhu! 🙂 And the rest of the team of course 😉

Other things I will miss: Masala tea, ginger lemon honey tea, dal bhat, Madhu telling us to “please” start moving (“please means NOW),  singing Resam Firiri along the trek (all we know is resam firiri, resam firiri, I am a moneky you are a doneky, resam firiri), saying “Namaste” when greeting new people,  the Nepali flat, Madhu asking how our meal was, donkeys in the trails, eating as much chocolate as I want cuz I need it and will spend the next day walking for 7 hours, listening to Ram and Khisna sing, walking behind Ram and Khisna, listening to Khisna yell “NAMASTE!” to everybody on the trail, Madhu asking us to please order breakfast/lunch/dinner, Ram asking who ordered what, Corrie with her fabulous South African accent asking: RRRRaaaaam, could I have…? (and then whatever she needed at the time), Marit keeping a good mood even though I want to give up, listening to the Rummy players, getting warm by a fireplace, Harry laughing, dancing and singing in Nepali even though I don`t know how to, serious talks along the trail, not so serious talks along the trail, the stunning views in the mountains, dogs following us along the trail, all the wonderful people in our group and team and finally, that everything still is possible 🙂

Trekking in Nepal, part 1

Photos: Mine and Marits 🙂 They are same same, but different 🙂

Soundtrack: Resam Firiri 🙂

After spending three weeks with my best friend, I wasn`t looking forward to leave her and go to Nepal at all. The fact that I had just about done nothing more than lay on the beach for the past 7 weeks and now was getting ready for a 10 day trek hit me hard. Luckily for me it turned out to be the best experience so far (excluding Zim, cus that`s just in a whole other category) on this trip! 🙂 I`ll try to keep it short:

Kathmandu, Day 1: Horrendous city. It`s dirty, noisy, overpopulated and extremely poor. It is by far the poorest city I have ever visited, the infrastructure is so bad and the roads are horrible, and it`s so polluted that I was mildly shocked. But, meeting Marit here made up for all of it, SO good to see her ❤ The first day we had a short information meeting, and then we headed out to Thamel for a group dinner. I`d booked this trip via Kilroy and it was organized by Gadventures. So there we were, 15 people from all over the world ready for the trek of a lifetime! 🙂

Kathmandu, Day 2: Sightseeing the city. Our guide for the trek, Madhu (the most fantastic guide on earth) picked us up at the hotel in the morning and took us first to the Boudhanath Stupa, the third largest stupa in the world. Amazing place, and my first “I`m really in Nepal” chill. We then headed to Patan Durbar Square, and walked around here in the rain for some time. Beautiful architecture! Next off, we visited the Sisterhood of Survivors Project. This is an organization which Gadventures sponsors, helping victims of human trafficking back to normal life. Trafficking girls to India is a huge problem in Nepal, more than 12 000 women is sold every year. This organization helps them back on their feet with an education and a safe place to live. Really touching to meet the girls ❤
Last stop of the day was the Swayambhunath Temple, aka Monkey Temple. Cheecky monkeys all over! This temple has an amazing view of the Kathmandu Valley, which we didn’t get to see due to the rain 🙂 Oh well, it was still a good experience.

Day 3, Kathmandu to Pokhara: Driving 7 or so hours from Kathmandu to Pokhara is one bumpy ride but you also get to see a lot of Nepal, and I actually enjoyed it. Until it got really hot and I had on jeans and a thick shirt and almost died from overheating. Pokhara is completely different from Kathmandu, fare more chilled and relaxing atmosphere. She says, after visiting one street. But anyways, Marit and me went around to but the last gear for the trek and then we had a group dinner again later that night. For the trek we could only bring 7 ½ kg each, sharing a bag and having a bull strong porter carry it for us during the 10 days. After one last shower before heading into the wild, I fell asleep like a baby!

Trekking, Day 1: First a two hour drive from Pokhara to Nayapool. We were promised an easy start, and indeed it was. Three hours of trekking and we were at out teahouse for the night in Tirkhedhunga. We had just met all of our porters and assistant, and like Madhu said; For the next ten days we would be one big happy family 🙂
Where we spent our nights in the mountains: Teahouses. They are basic accommodations along the trek, but I was surprised by the good standard we had on most of them. The menu they provide is pretty much the same for the whole trek and was varied and good enough. All you really need is some masala tea, ginger lemon honey tea and dal bhat and you`ll be fine 🙂 Maybe some garlic soup for those days in the highest altitudes. Our room had two single beds, and there were for the most part shared bathrooms. Toilets: Squat. After trekking for some days it`s actually better with a squat than a western toilet, cuz you never want skin to porcelain contact. And holding a Michael Jackson pose over the western toilet is harder than a squat. Nice details for yah 🙂
We didn`t do much the first day, I think we all were still kind a nervous about what was ahead, especially since day two was allegedly one of the hardest.

Trekking, Day 2: Hello birthday girl! 😀 My 29^th birthday was to be celebrated in the most unusual way and with no mercy.  It was up early, and starting the 6000 stairs-day. Holy shits. HOLY SHITS. This mush have been the hardest physical challenge EVER. About 300 steps in I regretted not keeping up with my workout for the past weeks. Dayum.  You just walk and walk and walk, and when you think you see the top? Nah, another peek just hiding behind. In total, we walked about 1300 m straight up that day, moving up to 2873 masl. The highest up I had ever been. I cannot even begin to explain how if felt reaching Ghorepani that day, which was the target. The smartest thing was just to sit down by the fire and have a beer, Everest of course. Being the birthday girl, Marit and me lucked out and got a room with a bath room ❤ I was looking forward to a nice warm shower, but got a horrible cold one I stead. Oh well. After dinner I got a birthday pie from Madhu, and they all sang to me and I got a beautiful pashmina and some good luck powder on my forehead 🙂 Marit had written me an awesome poem, and at night it was time for a party, Nepali style!  Dancing, singing and love declarations, what an amazing way to celebrate another year older 🙂

Trekking, Day 3: Bright and early up a 04.45 am, going up to Poon Hill to see the sunrise. This was almost harder than the trek before. We were at 2873 and Poon Hill at 3200 masl, it was pretty hard walking up that early and with no food in the system. At the top, we could share the majestic view with some 1000000 other people. Obviously a very popular place Poon Hill. It was stunning though, a clear view to the mountains with beautiful light surrounding them. The Chinese lady next to me thought so too, as she was yelling in awe of the view. Thanks for ruining my moment lady. After getting down and some breakfast  we were ready for the next trek. We were now introduced to the Nepali flat, a little bit up, a little bit down. Mostly gradual.  Our target for the day was Tadapani, at 2500 masl it meant a whole lot of down. So after the whole previous day going up, I was crushed about going down again. But it was nothing more to do than to suck it up and start walking again. After a little bit down and up and a whole lot of rain, we made it to Tadapani. There was a nice fire place and we enjoyed an evening with the warmth, good food and company.

Trekking, Day 4: Getting ready for even more downhill. My calves were completely shot from the day before, and each time we stopped and started to move again I felt like crying. Our days went on pretty much the same: Get up early, eat breakfast and head out. Depending on how long the trek, stop for a tea break after some hours, keep on walking and have lunch at around 12-13. After some delicious dal bhat, trek for 3-4 hours to final destination, depending on the weather and speed. Arriving at location for the night, get a tea, change in to new warm clothes, pray they have a hot shower and that you have the physical strengt to actually take one and wait for dinner. After dinner, wait to the clock to be appropriate night time at 19.30 pm ish, then go to sleep. Our goal for the day was Chomrong, aka stair case city. I had a nice warm shower and then we all just sat in the dining hall, watching some TV, playing a heated round of Rummy, trying not to lose fingers and toes, updating journals and having fun with the porters.

I`ll split the post in two or three, so you don’t get too tired from reading. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

The end of Chapter three

I have been dreading to write this post, because it means that this wonderful adventure is over for my part. As I´m writing this post I´m home in Norway and Nina is in Nepal with the gorgeous Marit ❤

Our second visit to Colombo was so much better than our first visit to this large and hot city. We stayed at a really nice hotel and it was good to have some luxury on the end of this journey. Maybe especially for Nina who now will spend 10 days trekking in Nepal. After the hideous car trip to Colombo we both needed a shower and drinks. We had booked dinner for 19.00 at the hotel restaurant, but when we saw all the food we had ordered as snacks we had to cancel dinner 🙂 We enjoyed the wonderful food, drinks, company and view for a few hours, and then a crazy thunderstorm struck! It was really cool sitting in our room on the 25th floor with the huge panorama windows looking at the rain and the lightning.

After enjoying a super breakfast buffet we were going shopping and doing some preparations for Nepal. The shopping was hot and successful 🙂 We ended the shopping spree at the lovely Gallery Cafe with loads of souvenir shopping, a cold Lion and a dinner reservation for the night. The rest of the day was spent by the pool before dressing up and heading out to dinner. The last time in Colombo we also ate dinner at the Gallery Cafe, so needless to say, this is our definite favorite place in Colombo 🙂 It was a perfect last evening of a perfect trip!

Nina had to send home a package before leaving to Nepal, and that makes a funny story. After checking with the local post office, FedEx and DHL (which was closed) we had to go to the central post office. Being located 4 km away a tuk-tuk was necessary in this heat. Arriving at the post office we first entered one of the desks, and we were quickly referred to the desk next by. The clerk told us that Nina needs to send this in two different packages because of the weight, and is referred to another desk to buy the box the package should be sent in. This guy told us we could buy the box with him, but we should go to the building next by to send the package – then it could be sent as one package instead of two. So we did as we were told, and went to the building nearby 🙂 After filling out three forms, running to an ATM to get cash, walking three meters to the Customs desk, walking three meters back to the original desk the package could be sent! It only took like one hour 🙂 As we have seen in many stores in Sri Lanka, there are always a lot of people working in the stores. But it seems, for us at leas, as one person has only one responsibility. This means a lot of people is just sitting around, waiting for that one customer that needs a passport photo, or clear a package for custom. Not as efficient, but at least a lot of people have jobs.

The rest of the day was spent by the pool and on a failed tourist sightseeing mission. Sometimes you just have to face your limits, and take a tuk-tuk back to the air conditioned hotel 🙂

The car ride to the airport was of the quiet kind – both dreading what´s next. The «farewell, so long» on the airport was of the tear wet and sobbing kind. We have had such a wonderful time together. We have created many new memories that we will share, reminisce and laugh about for a lifetime ahead. I´m so glad I got to experience this wonderful  country with my wonderful Nina ❤