From the land of whole families being driven around on bicycles to one where they've added a motor. We started off with a few days in Kuala Lumpur revelling in being somewhere that felt like home (albeit a little bit more modern in parts). It helped that we were staying in Chinatown which probably feels the same everywhere... plus large numbers of tourists and a public transport system that works. Ok, that's not like Sydney but maybe one day. We spent one day to go up the twin towers and take in the view from the skybridge. We had expected this to be a 2 hour affair at most... but after queueing foran hour and a half we secured tickets for the 12:45pm visit. The skybridge is free as they bombard you with advertising for Petronas. We spent the time we had to wait exploring a shopping mall... with shops we recognised!!! Oh, the things we find exciting now, it's quite sad. The view from the bridge was spectacular and I spent a long time watching the fountain display from on high. We also indulged in our first cinema viewing experience in months!!
From there a quick flight to Cambodia brought us to the hottest place we have ever been!! Walking for 2 minutes leaves you dripping with sweat from places you didn't know sweated, and few places have air con so there's not much relief. We did decide to splurge on a room with a/c for that reason (a whole $13 for a double). Although we are now somewhere where they drive on the right again, it's not so noticeable here as you have to look every whichway when crossing the street including on the pavement.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Africa - conclusions
I hope to do this for every continent, but we'll see. Africa has been a fascinating place to travel. We have met travellers who have come here 10 times, without wanting to go to Asia or South America or Australia, we have met people who have been here 10 months when they planned on 2... we on the other hand did not fall in love with this continent in that way. In fact it took us quite awhile to get into Africa. After being here 2 weeks, we thought the planned 4 months would be way too long. By the time we had been here a month we thought it would be about right but that we wouldn't return. By the end, we were sad to leave and have planned at least the next 2 trips to Africa.... but I doubt they'll happen for five years or so.
Now, for some facts:
Surprises: Mobile phones are more common than electricity or running water (hence a roaring trade in mobile phone charging shops).
Things seen on a bicycle: A family of six, a man holding trays with over one hundred eggs in one hand whilst steering with the other. 100s of kg of rice/coal etc. Trees stacked vertically about 4m tall.
Items lost: 4
Items returned: 3 ( money belt fell off on a bus in Botswana was returned by locals; daypack with all valuables was left in a restaurant in Dar Es Salaam and returned intact when we went back 2 hours later; contact lenses left in Stonetown were returned one week later - luckily one of the few times we backtracked). One t-shirt never got returned.
Sunglasses broken: 3 (generally from getting sat on during safaris)
Illnesses: 2 (food poisoning twice in Ethiopia - both Ellen)
Number of breakdowns/flat tyres: 6
Marriage proposals: 4 (all to Ellen)
Declarations of love: 32 (all to Ellen)
So now we're off to South East Asia for 6 weeks.... should be fun!
Now, for some facts:
Surprises: Mobile phones are more common than electricity or running water (hence a roaring trade in mobile phone charging shops).
Things seen on a bicycle: A family of six, a man holding trays with over one hundred eggs in one hand whilst steering with the other. 100s of kg of rice/coal etc. Trees stacked vertically about 4m tall.
Items lost: 4
Items returned: 3 ( money belt fell off on a bus in Botswana was returned by locals; daypack with all valuables was left in a restaurant in Dar Es Salaam and returned intact when we went back 2 hours later; contact lenses left in Stonetown were returned one week later - luckily one of the few times we backtracked). One t-shirt never got returned.
Sunglasses broken: 3 (generally from getting sat on during safaris)
Illnesses: 2 (food poisoning twice in Ethiopia - both Ellen)
Number of breakdowns/flat tyres: 6
Marriage proposals: 4 (all to Ellen)
Declarations of love: 32 (all to Ellen)
So now we're off to South East Asia for 6 weeks.... should be fun!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The underbelly of an elephant
After farewelling Andrew we flew back to J'berg (with a slight detour via Uganda). We only had one week before our flight to Malaysia, so decided to do one last safari in Kruger. The thing we really wanted to do was attempt a self drive safari. So we hired a little Honda Jazz (brand new.... great for going around a national park) and headed off for 5 last days in the African bush. Natually without a guide and not really knowing where to drive we weren't expecting too much in the way of wildlife sightings, so we were pretty impressed when after the first 33minutes we had seen 4 of the big 5. (It took until the next day to see a leopard).
We loved it!! If we come back to Africa we would definitely choose to do a self-drive safari over a tour. There is something extraordinary about viewing the underbelly of an elephant. One day as we were driving along one of the narrower roads in Kruger with dense bush on either side we saw a huge bull elephant walking along the road towards us. The last turn off was 10km behind us, so we decided to pull as far to the side as possible and wait with the car in reverse ready to run at the first sign of trouble. As he got closer our heart rates increased and we really wished we knew exactly how you tell if an elephant is about to charge. About 2m from us he flapped his ears and gave us a look and as he came in line with the car he gave his head a little shake and gave just a little trumpet. Our hearts were in our throats, but he just continued past the car as we looked out our window directly in line with the underside of his belly.... just amazing!!! Another highlight was the leopard that we and only we saw.
This is the only safari that we have kept a list of the animals we saw so in 5 days we saw: lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhino, nile crocodiles, zebra, giraffe, spotted hyena, chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, buffalo, warthog, elephant, hippos, common duiker, sable, bushbuck, klipspringer, mountain reedbuck, common reedbuck, impala, grey rhebok, Sharpe's grysbok, waterbuck, blue wilderbeest, steenbok, nyala, kudu, tree squirrel, orbi, dwarf mongoose, slender mongoose, honey badger, white-headed vulture, secretary bird, martial eagle, wahlberg's eagle, african fish-eagle,barn owl and a 38 further species of birds.
We hadn't however realised quite how lucky we had been until we returned to the hostel and spoke to other people who had also done 5 day safaris (the same days of us). One group saw no big cats at all, and the other person who was on an organised tour saw leopard eyes a long way away at night and two lions about 200m away in the day and that was it. So, I'm not sure whether our love of Kruger is biased by how much we saw.
We loved it!! If we come back to Africa we would definitely choose to do a self-drive safari over a tour. There is something extraordinary about viewing the underbelly of an elephant. One day as we were driving along one of the narrower roads in Kruger with dense bush on either side we saw a huge bull elephant walking along the road towards us. The last turn off was 10km behind us, so we decided to pull as far to the side as possible and wait with the car in reverse ready to run at the first sign of trouble. As he got closer our heart rates increased and we really wished we knew exactly how you tell if an elephant is about to charge. About 2m from us he flapped his ears and gave us a look and as he came in line with the car he gave his head a little shake and gave just a little trumpet. Our hearts were in our throats, but he just continued past the car as we looked out our window directly in line with the underside of his belly.... just amazing!!! Another highlight was the leopard that we and only we saw.
This is the only safari that we have kept a list of the animals we saw so in 5 days we saw: lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhino, nile crocodiles, zebra, giraffe, spotted hyena, chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, buffalo, warthog, elephant, hippos, common duiker, sable, bushbuck, klipspringer, mountain reedbuck, common reedbuck, impala, grey rhebok, Sharpe's grysbok, waterbuck, blue wilderbeest, steenbok, nyala, kudu, tree squirrel, orbi, dwarf mongoose, slender mongoose, honey badger, white-headed vulture, secretary bird, martial eagle, wahlberg's eagle, african fish-eagle,barn owl and a 38 further species of birds.
We hadn't however realised quite how lucky we had been until we returned to the hostel and spoke to other people who had also done 5 day safaris (the same days of us). One group saw no big cats at all, and the other person who was on an organised tour saw leopard eyes a long way away at night and two lions about 200m away in the day and that was it. So, I'm not sure whether our love of Kruger is biased by how much we saw.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Genocide
As our trip to Rwanda started with a visit to the genocide memorial of Kigali, so our last day in Rwanda included visits to two of the outlying genocide memorials. Both memorials were catholic churches prior to the genocide. As is generally the case churches were viewed as places of safety and thousands of people sought sanctuary at the various churches around Rwanda. For the perpetrators of the genocide this was seen only as a convenient way of getting people together so they could be killed. Each of the churches we went to had seen the massacre of over 5,000people and the mass graves out the back were the resting place for over 41,000. The exact number was not known as bodies are still being found as the trials continue. It is impossible to describe the emotion of being there and all three of us found our cheeks damp with tears. The saddest part is that the murderers and the victims were often neighbours and friends. The scale of the massare is difficult to fathom and the numbers are truly disturbing, but it is the individual stories that really tell the story. What follows is the story of our guide, Paul, I hope that I have done it justice.
Paul was 14 years old during the genocide. He had been brought up in a very religious household and was taught that he was a child of God and not a Hutu or a Tutsi. Indeed when he was taking his end of primary school exam and had to fill in on the form whether he was Hutu or Tutsi he didn't know so copied off his friend. Of course his friend was Hutu, whilst he was Tutsi so his page was ripped up and he had to fill it in again. Children that pass this exam were sent to government high schools, considered very good schools and paid for by the government. Despite being near the top of his class in primary school he was not accepted into the government run schools. One way of limiting the educational opportunities for Tutsi children. Luckily for him his uncle was headmaster at a Catholic school so he was able to continue to high school. In the years prior to the genocide there were killings going on and he recalled going out to the funerals of relatives but not really understanding what was happening.
Paul recalled on April 6th 1994 listening to the radio with his family when the announcement came that the presidents plane had been shot down and he was dead. He had a typical teenagers reaction of thinking it was good news as the school holidays were nearly ended and it would undoubtedly mean an extra week off school. His parents however did not share his excitement, knowing that this would not be good news, but obviously not aware of exactly what would happen. The next day a group came to their house on the pretext of looking for guns and lined the family up outside. A very close friend and neighbour (a Hutu) heard what was happening and came round to talk to the leader of the group. After the talks Pauls father was instructed to give them money, which luckily they had... so on day 1 money saved their lives. There was a meeting that night in which the list of people to be killed was read through. The neighbour came back and told them they had to leave. 5 of the children went with their mother to seek sanctuary in the church, his mother and 2 of the children were killed there. Paul went with his father and 2 other siblings into the forest to try and get out of Kigali that way. They hadn't understood that the genocide was country wide thinking it was confined to the cities. All the roads were blocked and identity cards (which identified ethnicity) were checked before you were allowed to pass. They were lucky though and managed to survive in the forest for 5 days, before being found by the RPF. It was four years later in 1998 that they were finally able to bury his mother and the two children who were killed. He is considered one of the lucky ones, he still has a father and brothers and sisters, many people don't.
Paul was 14 years old during the genocide. He had been brought up in a very religious household and was taught that he was a child of God and not a Hutu or a Tutsi. Indeed when he was taking his end of primary school exam and had to fill in on the form whether he was Hutu or Tutsi he didn't know so copied off his friend. Of course his friend was Hutu, whilst he was Tutsi so his page was ripped up and he had to fill it in again. Children that pass this exam were sent to government high schools, considered very good schools and paid for by the government. Despite being near the top of his class in primary school he was not accepted into the government run schools. One way of limiting the educational opportunities for Tutsi children. Luckily for him his uncle was headmaster at a Catholic school so he was able to continue to high school. In the years prior to the genocide there were killings going on and he recalled going out to the funerals of relatives but not really understanding what was happening.
Paul recalled on April 6th 1994 listening to the radio with his family when the announcement came that the presidents plane had been shot down and he was dead. He had a typical teenagers reaction of thinking it was good news as the school holidays were nearly ended and it would undoubtedly mean an extra week off school. His parents however did not share his excitement, knowing that this would not be good news, but obviously not aware of exactly what would happen. The next day a group came to their house on the pretext of looking for guns and lined the family up outside. A very close friend and neighbour (a Hutu) heard what was happening and came round to talk to the leader of the group. After the talks Pauls father was instructed to give them money, which luckily they had... so on day 1 money saved their lives. There was a meeting that night in which the list of people to be killed was read through. The neighbour came back and told them they had to leave. 5 of the children went with their mother to seek sanctuary in the church, his mother and 2 of the children were killed there. Paul went with his father and 2 other siblings into the forest to try and get out of Kigali that way. They hadn't understood that the genocide was country wide thinking it was confined to the cities. All the roads were blocked and identity cards (which identified ethnicity) were checked before you were allowed to pass. They were lucky though and managed to survive in the forest for 5 days, before being found by the RPF. It was four years later in 1998 that they were finally able to bury his mother and the two children who were killed. He is considered one of the lucky ones, he still has a father and brothers and sisters, many people don't.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
News from home
We've been having a lovely time relaxing at Lake Kivu in Rwanda, seeing the hot springs, swimming (avoiding the patches of lake which can asphixiate you) and peering over the border into the DRC. However, last night our sleep was interrupted by a phone call at 12:30am from my brother to announce the arrival of his daughter Elizabeth Honour Northcott (Beth). We are now auntie Ellen and uncle Jason!! Full of excitement I didn't get back to sleep until 4am... I can't wait to get home for a cuddle.... of course that has to wait a few more months. So, many congratulations to Geoff and Rachel and we want lots of photos!!
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