On our way to Chengdu.....

hi again.....

To continue from my previous post I woke up at 4.30am next morning as our bus was meant to leave for Chengdu at 5am. We had a 8hr drive ahead of us and lots of things planned for us at our destination. We were all set up and ready at 5 bar one - our leader!! Where was she?!?! Overslept, so we departed 10 minutes late. Nothing really, unless you bump into a road accident along a one way mountain pass, that is!!!

We were scarcely into the first one and a half hours of our journey when we stopped to a halt behind a string of other vehicles. It was just breaking dawn and none of us felt like waking from our snooze-mode and dip our noses into the cold air. But after several minutes our driver came back with the news there was an accident and we could be stuck for 3 to 4 or more hours until the Chinese police and hopefully rescue team, would come by and clear the mess.

Shocked at the news and out of curiosity we jumped out of our bus and went to check the site. A truck overturned with the weight of its cargo, cement bags and blocked the road. There was nothing we could do except start clearing the mess ourselves!!! The cement bags were heavy but we somehow hurled them between us into another truck. The grey puffs coming out of the heaving bags covering us in fine grey dust. It took us well into an hour to clear most of the lot which was blocking the middle of the road. At our efforts locals started to give us a hand. It was a great combined and amicable effort. When we thought we cleared enough to get through we stopped for a breather while some cars made their way past. Unluckily, our van needed a few more inches in width to get through. The only way was to remove the overturned truck - the biggest obstacle. That meant unloading it completely so that it would capsize away from the road.
Before we knew it Simon, just gave his all into it and with the help of some other truck loaders removed loads full. Suddenly, without warning the truck jerked upright again, squeaking and groaning like a huge dragon released from the dead. Amongst the cheering, Simon walked off a hero just like one of those firemen in the 9/11 disaster - a gastly grey figure coming out of the ashes.

We proceeded on our long journey with 2 to 3 hours delay putting our visit to the Panda Research Centre at risk. The minute we got to Chengdu we checked into our lovely hotel and sped out again on another 40minute drive out of the city to the Centre. We were already knackered by that time, however, we were keen to see the pandas and luckily managed just in time. Oh, they were so cute!!! Especially, the baby ones in their big cot sleeping, tossing and turning in their dreams.

After that we were rushed to town again, as Kevin, Cathy, Jori, Aaron and I were booked for a Chinese culture show at a outdoor Opera Teahouse. By that time we were starving and only had 10mins to pickup some dinner before the show. Our guide quickly took us to a fast-food noodle bar where we got served in a minute and downed the hot meal in seconds. We ran back to the park and enjoyed the hour's show of acrobats, opera singers, change-of-masks display etc ..over a proper Chinese cuppa tea!!

Over-tiredness kept us awake so after a well-earned hot shower, we ended up in the hero's room laughing and drinking wine :) What a day and yet followed by another short night as we had a 7.20am plane to get to Lhasa.

...next...Lhasa ..(or China town!?!?!?)

Nicky
X X XX

Homestay in Tibetan Grasslands

Hello all,

...I know it's been a long time but hey in the meantime I crossed China into Tibet then arrived in Nepal, got stuck there for 2 weeks, then flew to Bangkok, now in Laos. In other words, I was busy travelling around!!

Well to continue with my China trip....
After our horse-trekking day across the Grasslands, Kalsang, our local guide took us to visit 2 monasteries in Langmusi. Langmusi has two monasteries located on the border of western provinces of Gansu and Sichuan. Sezhi Monastery is in Sichuan Province and Geerdeng Monastery in Gansu Province. We first passed by a sacred cave with a sacred river running infront of it, adorned with the statue of a sacred tiger and a heap of blessed prayer flags & arrows. The opening was a narrow one which however led to a huge area. Many of the locals used the boulders or rather stalagmites to rub various parts of their bodies against them to heal their ailments. There was also a narrow passage way which brought good karma to anyone who managed to scramble through. Mmmm.....the idea of a narrow dark hole didn't appeal so much so I gave it a miss.

We then visited one of the monasteries which stupa contained the body of a lama who instead of being in cremated or sky buried was preserved due to the miraculous way he died, that is, meditating in lotus position. The other monastery was recently built but just as beautiful as any other with all its coloured thangkas, tantric paintings & frescos, every-sized buddhas, ceiling-high books and the strong-scented yuk butter candles. Oh, and the deep-red monks of course. Most of the ones we met formed part of the Gelupka sect of Tibetan Buddhism which were characterised by their yellow hats.

After that we bought some snacks (and I found & raced for some odd-tasting Cadbury's!!!) from the tiny stores and set off on the long dusty road again to get to our next lodging for the night; a Tibetan winter home in Thangkor. The dry arid grasslands reminded me of the Serengeti, while the yuks reminded me of the wildebeest. After about 4 hours of driving we got to a lonely makeshift cement-built house in the middle of nowhere. This was a typical winter home so that in summer they generally lived in yuk-skin tents tending to their herds in the grasslands. The house was surrounded with yuks, their dung and their guardian, that is, 'sheep-dog'!! The family welcomed us into their 2-roomed house; the outer room the kitchen and bedroom the other larger room the lounge and bedroom. We sat on cushions spread out on the floor around a yuk-dung fuelled stove. There was no furniture except for a wall unit which contained a small TV, a DVD player, family photos and a Buddha shrine. The pretty dark and long haired women, prepared dinner in the front 'garden' and kitchen. There were three of them wives and sisters of the men who were out with the herd for days on end. They offered us jasmine tea and Muslim stick bread.



It was getting dark as the sun set behind the huge mountains in the distance. The crisp cold night air was heavily setting upon us. Standing out there in the open field was almost unreal - the quietness, the solitude, the emptiness and never-ending stretches of plain land fringed with mountains. We hurried back inside to warm ourselves up by huddling next to each other (about 13 in a room) and eating dinner. We had homemade yuk meat momos (dumplings) followed by a Tibetan noodle soup. Noodles are square rather than long spaghetti looking in Tibet. Earlier on the women together with Kalsang and our friendly-turned-chef Chinese driver just cut squarish pieces from long flat pieces of dough throwing them into boiling water.
After dinner while the younger women washed the dishes outside the grandma started turning her prayer wheels. On seeing our cameras she wanted us to take a picture of her not before putting her fake teeth in place first! She was amazing and left us open mouthed the next day when we saw her carrying a huge slab of yuk butter to sell at the market, which was the size of 2 concrete bricks on her doubly-bent back.

Kalsang provided local entertainment for the evening as a folk guitarist sat in a corner singing about nomadic life and being in touch with nature. Even though we didn't understand a lyric we were enchanted by it. Lovely voice and person too!!
Bedtime was creeping upon us so as the women laid out our beds - thin mattresses, blankets and pillows on the floor lined next to each other - we plucked up courage to go to out and pay a visit to the open air squats. It was pitch black with the only exception of the amazing stars. Our head torches met the yuks' glaring eyes. Scary! I had to fix my 'gaze' into their eyes to stop them from walking into our 'bathroom' while Kathy and I took turns to expose our buts to freezing cold air and pee in a hole in the ground balancing our feet on a plank of wood on either side!!! After that I hoped I wouldn't have to wake up in the night.

Sharon made them turn off the generated lights at 10pm and we slept in between our own snores, smelly feet till the break of dawn. Although cold, there was nothing like a first morning pee in open fresh air!!! Oh yes!! the family and out Chinese friend, prepared us a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, Tibetan dough bread, honey, tea and coffee and we helped ourselves to the previous night's dinner dessert - the yogurt with sugar. YUMMY!!! :)

We set off and lunched in a drive-through town called Huonyou. It contained only one street with shops & stores and lots of dirty and poorly-clad begging children. The afternoon drive to Guergou was spectacular. We drove around high green gold and red coloured-hills so high that you had to look vertically up to see the sky. We passed through an over 1000m long tunnel and all along, whenever we caught sight beyond the valley, the distant snow-capped mountains became larger in size. That night we lodged in a 'mountain inn', by a small river. I couldn't resist a short walk in the middle of the big trees. I felt home, as in back in the some woodlands in the UK in an instant.

After dinner Catherine, Alana and I watched 'The Silence of the Snow Lion' - a documentary about the lives of the Tibetans. We were heart-broken by the end of it. I won't go into details here but it's all about one nation oppressing and suppressing another one. One of the many things which struck me throughout our trip was their endless compassion towards life and humanity. They truly live up to one of the highest Buddhist learnings and for what their Dalai Lama's human life on earth represents. Despite everything they are happy people and smile to everyone and everything - they truly are real amazing people.

ta ta for now...next our adventure on our way to Chengdu and the cute pandas :)
lots of love & kisses to all
Nicky
X X X XX

Langmusi

Cho dey mo!

Stopping for our ritual pee breaks became a sacrifice, one cause our bladders felt like bursting close to the hour and secondly, the air grew so cold that we squirted tears too when exposing our butts! 3 or so hours into the drive and the snow started pelting.

After 5 weary hours we arrived to yet another tiny and shanty town, called Langmusi. Our hostel was very basic; intermittent hot showers, beds as hard as cardboard but at least we had a western toilet :) This time the view from the window was that of snowy mountains.

We dined at the local Snowland Restaurant, yet another Chinese style banquet. Catherine and I were heading to bed when Gemma and Kris knocked on our door and persuaded us to go to the 'cabaret' across the road. Off we went to the 'ninma' as it is known. Local Tibetans display their singing and dancing talents. We were welcomed whole-heartedly as prob the last, if any of the Western visitors to enjoy such a show. The owner sold us some beer and tea then handed us while katas to adorn the singer on stage, well, if we liked her, that is. Of course we all did.
A young handsome Tibetan danced a cowboyish song prob a traditional nomadic dance. After that all performers and some members from the audience gathered on stage to dance in a circle. The owner encouraged us to join to. We girls did and had fun trying to follow the others' moves while Kris took photos :)

Next morning....
We had a planned horse-trek across the Tibetan Grasslands. However, given the snow the previous evening and the cold we were risking it. Next morning the organiser rented some proper nomad coats for us. So they draped us in these massive fury, long-sleeved coats and hiked us up our horses. Off we went ..... to our luck the gray snowy weather turned into bright warm sunshine :)

It was a great experience. Firstly, I had never been horse-riding before, well once, but my horse was led. It was scary and fun all the way through especially when our 3 leaders whipped our horses and yelled 'hocha! hocha!' for speed up the pace. I felt I was about to slip off the saddle at any time. However, when we trotted along I relished the wonderful scenery; infront of us last the now brown coloured grasslands, spotted with yuk and sheep and the odd black yuk-skinned tent here and there. On our right, a splendid array of snow-capped mountains. I had never seen so many mountains next to each other. They were amazing.

We finally stopped at one of the tents where our lunch was being cooked by a nomad woman. But since she was running late we were off for another ride this time ending up in a field full of yuk and sheep. Back at the tent we gulf ed on a delicious meal of shredded cabbage and potatoes on top of boiled rice. Well, we could have eaten anything at that stage we were so hungry. We rode back to the tiny town just as dark black clouds gathered on our left. We finished off with a tea on the roof terrace of our hostel facing a magnificent view of the mountains.

Next morning...
Kalsang took us to the two monasteries of the town and to a sacred cave, with a sacred tiger statue and a sacred stream just outside of it. Once inside he showed us the sacred rocks against which the locals rub various parts of their bodies to cure various ailments!! The Sertri Gompa and the Kirti Gompa (monasteries) were lovely; equally adorned with colourful katas, mandaras paintings and chapels with various Buddha statues. And one thing perpetual about these monasteries is the strong scent of yuk butter used as wax to light candles.

Well, it's yuk yuk here and yuk yuk everywhere by now. It not only stuck in our nostrils but it also became part of us too!! :)

lots of yuk to all !!!!
Nicky
X X XXX

Xiahe & the Labrang Monastery

Cho dey mo!

Our sleeper train took us to Lanzhou. We stumbled off the train with our bags and all and clambered into a min bus. An 5hour journey awaited us. We tried to get some sleep in-between the hourly loo breaks. The loos or rather squats became worse at every stage, worse ever was the one one just at the 'gate' which marks the edge of the Tibetan plateau. But who cared we had made it ;) We were so excited we ended up taking photos of that disgusting but welcoming squat!!!!

We finally got to Xiahe. At 2900m above sea level, this tiny town tucked away just outside of Tibet. The were exhilarated and at really feeling 'hi' when we got at our welcoming guest-hotel. It was the first time we saw and met real Tibetans dressed up in their traditional costumes. The main street was busy with market stalls, shops, bikes, and pony carts passing by. If it weren't for the hotel stuff we would have never managed to carry our own bags up the flights of stairs to our rooms. We were breathless by the 3rd floor just by carrying ourselves!!! But we were in heaven or space or something of the sort as that's how it felt.

Sharon (our team leader) took us for lunch to a local restaurant just round the corner. There we tasted Tibetan bread (yummy), I dared the local porridge or tsampa which is wheat barley with yuk's butter, cheese and lots of sugar (yuck!) and yak meat dumplings or momos (mmm..so so. We also got to meet Kalsang, our local guide for the next few days; a hyper-energetic comical 32 year old daddy who speaks good English and is very patriotic, of course, like the rest of the comrades.

We were exhausted. Back at the hotel, Catherine, my room-mate and I tried to rest but we were too excited. We tool pictures of the mountains outside our hotel window, the colourful decorated internal yard and the the ceiling of our room !!!

Later in the afternoon we joined the others and Kalsang took us to the famous Labrang Monastery. Or well, that evening he made us do the kora, which is a 2hr walk around the Monastery turning the large prayer wheels as we went along. Now that felt like proper Tibetan life! I was as happy as a kid, joyfully spinning those wheels. As we walked the back of the monastery we also got to see Gelupka (yellow hat) monks gather for their prayers in the open yard. It was great - just like the movies :) The evening air grew colder so we sped our heavy pace back to the hotel and had dinner on the top floor of a new restaurant - another typical Chinese banquet (as Sharon likes to call it). I also got to taste the bo boa cha (or 8 treasures tea) which I didn't quite give a thumbs up despite the cheers!!!

Next morning...
The highly-spirited Kalsang quickly got us to our feet and let the way to the Monastery again. A monk toured us around the various sections of the huge Monastery; from the Medicine College (which essentially looks like at part of the Monastery) to the multi-coloured yuk-butter sculptures of the deities museum to another old Buddhism relics museum to the actual worship and monks' teaching halls. The latter are adorned with colourful frescos, gold-coloured Buddha statues and photos of past lamas on either side, hanging tie-shaped katas, storey-high selves with the old Sanskrit Buddhist documents and and rows of red cushions for the monks to pray, study and meditate on. As part of our responsible tourism we did not take any pictures inside. The monk then led us to the Monastery's most important area - the souvenir shop!!! After that he disappeared leaving us at the door of the largest courtyard which was also the entrance to the 'church' as you may term it, the place where the locals where allowed in to pray and prostate themselves as well as give offerings of white katas.

What impressed me most was a very old woman who could barely walk with her stick and a monk who arm-held her at the other end. She limped slowly towards the entrance mumbling soundless prayers. At times dropping her stick in an attempt to perform the worship act. The consists of folding 2 hands at the head, then at the mouth, then at the chest and lastly lie flat, face down on the ground. Tibetans repeat this act for 108 times, in an attempt to redeem themselves or rather their bodies from earthly temptations. Sharon who tried to help the old woman reach her destination, and I were pretty impressed by the devotion and adoration of this tiny hunched earthly being. Sharon even told me that such people come from afar just like the destination of a long pilgrimage.

It felt surreal being at such altitude, our heads spun with the thin air and all that was new our Westerners' eyes.

Having the afternoon to ourselves, Catherine and I climbed a short but steep hill to get a best shot of the Monastery. Happy as ever, we bought a few snacks and fruit for our next long drive. We finally joined the others and started our next 5hour drive to Langmusi.

all for now folks.......
nicky
X X X X

Xian

Ni Hao!

At 4.20pm we headed to Beijing's West Railway Station. We managed to squeeze ourselves into the narrow cabin train with our backpacks and all. The sleepers' compartment was split into sections of 6 bunk beds each, 3 on either side. There were no doors nor divisions so the tiny compartments led to a narrow corridor whereby people could get through to the toilets and have a smoke! We chatted, drank and nibbled till about 10.30, all excited as it was a first for most of us. Then the lights went out and we huddled onto our hard bunk beds in our clothes and tucked into the duvets provided. It wasn't an easy sleep (no wonder they're called hard-sleepers!!), obviously with the train stopping at various stations on the way too. But it was ok better than I might have ever expected. We also learnt to master pee- squatting on a moving train !! :)

We stumbled off our train at about 7.30am in Xian which is in the Shaanxi Province. Xian, is a modern city's and apart from the big shopping malls and Starbucks etc ...(!!) it has lots of historic attractions the main one however, being the Terracotta Warriors. We dropped our stuff at our nice hotel and after a quick tour and a dumplings breakfast in a tiny outlet in the backstreets of the city, we were picked up for our visit to the Terracotta Warriors. We good not stop feasting our eyes at the army that spread across 3 huge warhouses. Each of them are said to have a different faces and carry the name of the person who sculptured them. It truly is a marvel and a nation's historic gem. I couldn't believe I was standing infront of the very thing! That evening we had a chinese banquet dinner and also got to taste (well, I did, some others oozed it down!) of bo cha - an strong alcoholic drink which is drank like a tea ie warm, yuck!!! Anyways, after that and on our way to a 'pussy cat dolls' bar, we came across an open parade. People were dancing to the beat of huge drums waving multi-coloured umbrellas and fans. Our leader challenged us we'd join in...and off we went. A man handed me over his glittery umbrella and I kind of became a leader of the a trail of dancers. Oh well, not knowing what else to do I tried to follow others. Gosh we laughed so much. At first we got the nasty looks from the locals who glared at our intrusion and moreover lack of the dance knowledge and style. But then ended up joyfully prancing about with us and even taking photos of us :)

Next morning....
If it weren't for our hotel room's phone ringing at 7.30am I would have overslept. It was Gemma asking whether we would be interested in joining her and Kris to go to the South Gate park to watch people doing Tai Chi. Of course, I wanted to so I joined them within the next 10 mins. The city was misty from the morning fog or rather smog. The minute we got to the park, there was a group of elderly people dancing and beating on their little drums tied to their sides. As we strolled through the massive park we met loads of others here and there, most of them practicing Tai Chi; some individually others with their instructors. The latter demonstrated high skill especially with the swords. Of course, I was in awe. Their simple graceful gestures seemed to be so easy to follow....mmm after a few years of training, at least! At one point we came across an elderly man proudly playing his Chinese violin, which is made of two stings and played vertically instead of horizontally and called an erhu.



Further on we came across 3 pairs of badminton players and they asked us to play in turns with them, which was great. A woman and a few others were balancing a what looked like a big yo-yo. Taking note of my curious face she offered me to try it. I managed to balance it only once out of many but it was a good laugh for my spectators, who became quite a crowd by the end of my performance!!! I also got to do some leg stretching with some others too :) I must say they are very friendly people and even though we couldn't speak a common language we still enjoyed our walk in the park. Last but not least, another elderly man (well, at that hour you'd expect the younger generation to be at school or at work anyway!) was practising some Chinese calligraphy on the floor using which looked like a huge colour paintbrush the size of a broom. Pretty impressive.

Out of the park, our stomachs grumbled so we hunted for some breakfast and feasted on some kind of huge Chinese cookies; round filo pastries filled with dates and walnuts, mmm ...quite nice ;)

I then spent the next hours going through the open market in the Muslim area, which is situated towards the north of the beautiful drum tower. Having bought some souvenirs I went to the post office and posted the lot home, cross fingers the pack gets to Malta or UK!! Having picked my fresh laundry I decided to visit the mosque. Having gone through yet another narrow street market (which reminded me of Turkey) I finally found the way to the mosque, well, not quite it was a Chinese pagoda style building where muslims practice their religion apart from opening it up as a showcase for tourists, of course. Right I was ready for a foot massage at the blind's parlour. Not before bumping into Jory & Erin who were in the never-ending queue for permusan cakes. Apparently, this is a delicacy in this area so greedy and curious as we were we queued for an hour or so. The red coloured 'cakes' (made out of a certain type of tomatoe) with an very sweet filling of walnut and figs was well, nice but not to die for. I just nicknamed them Chinese doughnuts, cause so they were similarly made and fried. My foot massage was something I've had never done; one whole hour of massage both feet ....aaaaahhhhss and uuuuuhhhhhsss!!!!! but was so relaxing that I just flew back to the hotel to prepare for the next sleeper train journey.

There is no such thing as day of the week or dates when you're travelling, there's only the day that lies ahead of you; the objective or scope of that day which takes you to another step within the journey :)

ta for now, look out for more..... Nicky X X X X

Beijing

Ni Hao! (Hello!)

Two and half days in Beijing are certainly not enough to go round this huge 'Olympic 2008' city !! First impressions, not much, I mean it's a big city with high buildings, only difference are the Chinese characters all over the place.
But then the best of China just hits you when you get on the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Pity didn't have time to get to other wonderful places but I think I got to experience the creme de la creme.

I got pretty excited yesterday walking up and down along the Great Wall. It took us about 1000 steps to get to the top, then about an hour and a half just to go walk from one tower to another, maybe 6 miles out of the about 3500miles or so of it. We visited the Mutainya part. Of course, there are several sections open to tourists but you only get to do a fraction of it. After that we went for a Kung Fu show - just like watching a musical at the West End - magnificent moves and breakings.

Today we visited the never-ending Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The latter is about 880km long has lots of important big buildings and could hold the entire population of Malta within it. The City is a wonder. I wish the sun was out so the gold would just shine while the colours extenuate their hues from those typical Chinese style buildings.
Other intrinsic things that make China unique ....smoking & spitting (yes still going) in public, 4-star squat toilets with no paper...to mention a few!!!

ta for now, off to get a sleeper train for Xian....

Nicky
XX X

UK & Malta gems!

Back from Africa I couldn't sit still!!! I started preparing and planning for my next big trip or trips?!?!?!! These last 2 months have been really hectic in-between, resigning from work, working my notice, booking trips and flights, applying for a multitude of Visas - big one being the working holiday visa for Australia, preparing to leave UK for good, packing then donating all my personal belongings to charity etc etc.. oh, and also surprising my family and friends in Malta with an unexpected visit. That was something! I'm so glad it was a success and well, I needed a good hug, a 'hello' and a sound 'goodbye' anyways! Thanks to Cindy, an 'old' colleague and friend from UK, I also managed to tour the Island too ...bringing back 'historic' memories ;)



Not only did I keep myself nice and busy over the past 2 months, but I also managed to fit in some training in preparation for the first part of the big trip, which is that, across China into Tibet and further onto Kathmandu. This trip will involve a bit of everything from plane to trains, from trekking to a bit of climbing etc etc.. so best (and hope I am) prepared. I'll be hitting a range of high altitude places again, especially from Lhasa in Tibet onto Everest Base Camp....so here I go again, second time in a year!!!!

What was the subject again?? Oh yes, was talking about training (.....imagining those Himalayan peaks right now....mmmmm....) anyways, ...oh so close now..sorry can't help it!!! Ok so, eh, apart from the usual (boring) gym, run circuit and long walk to Beacon Hill, my good friend Anthony Pizzuto (better known as 'Pizza' or 'Piz' for short) took me to the gorgeous Cheddar Gorge; a lovely 3 hour walk up and down the Gorge to end up in the quaint little cheesy village!!! Scrumptious! I mean both the cheese and the biscuits, ooops, meant walk!! Just admire the wonderful photos Piz took that day, they just say it all. Can you spot me in one of them!?!?!?!


Just about a fortnight ago I went to visit a good friend of mine, Robin in South or is it more mid-Wales? well, a place called Llandovery. Lovely, never thought Wales had such an amazing navel. It generally is all about the North and the South (which I've been to both, of course). But thanks to Robin and good other half Claire, I discovered another gem. (well, that's after getting lost a few times on the way, by the way, despite the satnav, which wasn't of much help anyway!!!) And to make me feel even more at home I got to sleep in a 100s years old (sorry Rob forgot the count you told me!!) converted barn. Oh so nicely done up!!!
[Eh, Robin would you mind sending me some photos of your lovely whereabouts to display here, pls?! ta]

Well, all for now from moi. Next update will hopefully be from China. So, if you feel you need to take a break from your mundane life, just take a quick trip with me.....add this blogsite to your bookmarks or favourites and hit it!!!

Ok, speech before I'm off....today on the eve of my next big trip which will hopefully see me settle in the Oz for about a year....I must say thanks to anyone who read the blogsite and kept up with me so far (congrats!), a BIG BIG thanks to all those who supported me all along my adventures in every way and BIG BIG BIG thanks to my family and friends in Malta - was great seeing you again :)
Love you all & miss you all

Nicky
X X XX

Cape Town

hello to all,

I must say after Tanzania Cape Town came quite as a surprise but then why so I was in a completely different country just same continent, a bit like North vs South America.
I stayed on the waterfront in Cape Town throughout my week and a half visit and immediately felt like a proper tourist as opposed to a traveller. Wonderful shopping malls, hotels, restaurants the lot really, which made me feel quite out of place. Took me a while to adjust to elite civilisation again!

If anything there's lots to do in Cape Town so I quickly booked tours and trips. My first one was to Hermanus Bay for a bit of whate watching. It was still early in the season and we only managed to see two in the distance. However, the beaches all along the coast are a spectacle.


A different and interesting tour was the wine tasting one. We headed inland and visited beautiful manor houses in the middle of vineyards to taste some gorgeous wines. Oh how my head spun, yep especially sampling wines at 10 in the morning!! Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Praal aren't only renouned for their wines but their quaintness which no wonder attracts loads of retired British.

Third time lucky due to bad weather and choppy seas, I managed to pay a visit to Robben Island. Although there isn't much to see except for long corridors with dormitories (the main prison) I couldn't help wondering what life could be like for a convict. My imagination was even fueled by the recounts of our tour guide, an ex-convict himself for about 10 years. Pity the area where Nelson Mandela lived was closed for restoration. Outside the prison site the rest of the Island is a cute little village with a school, post office and a few residential buildings not to mention the residents; people, antelope and seals.




After the cultural tours I had had to go for a bit of adventure! So off I went out at sea for a shark cage diving experience! I never thought I'd find the guts to stay in that cage for a good 45 minutes while white sharks feasted on chunks of tuna just about a metre infront of my nose! Was an incredible experience, which I have recorded on dvd. The photos show the cage we 'sat' in being dragged to the boat we were on and the other is a photo of a photo; our shark tour leader kissing one of those big cuties!!!


Being in Cape Town I had to visit Cape of Good Hope, of course! It was a long drive but well worth the scenery, to say the least. We first went up to Cape Point by cable car, I would have loved walking the gigantic boulder to the lighthouse but the weather was so unstable; one minute you get blue skies and sun the next clouds and rainstorm. Well, what could you expect being at the Cape! The view from the Point was fantastic. You got to see the different shaded oceans; the Altantic being colder is turquoise in colour while the Indian Ocean is of a deep dark blue. A quick dash along the narrow Diaz trial before a nice shower (!) took us further down and a bit closer to the waters. We next stopped at Cape of Good Hope. I must say not as spetacular however, quite monumental, of course.

Oh, and we visited the colony of tiny penguins on our way back at Boulders Bay...oh so cute!!!

Cape Town is prob one of the few Towns in the world to have a mountain right in the middle of it. This is Table Mountain and not only just over 1000m high, the summit has a surface area of 2.5km. Due to bad weather and despite the unfortunate incidents occuring throughout the week and a half of my stay I got to speed climb it up in about 2.5hrs on my very last day. Our guide took us up a very short but route. We could barely see anything once on top with the thick fog. Hard to believe but the photo shows me on the summit! Our guide made us wait for a few minutes at the top as he felt a bit of wind about to expose the view of the bays below. And what a view we had for just 5 minutes. Well worth it, though. We descended by cable car as there was no time to walk it down...I had to get to the airport that afternoon.



On other days and afternoons I just spent my time walking around the waterfront and along the endless promenades ... wishing it were summer not winter there!
Cape Town was my final African destination before heading back to UK after 2 months :) I must say quite an Out of Africa experience!!!

ta for now
Nicky
X XX

Latest News from Nicolette's school in Africa

Jambo,

there's nothing like good news!!! :) Since I'm back in the UK, that's about 2 months now, I've had very little news from my school back in Tanzania. However, the little I had was good actually great :) I received emails from Dr. Asteria & Saada as well as Moses and Corneille, not to mention Joanna's visit and update on her blogsite.

I was thrilled to hear that the kids are attending their new school and have been for more than a month now. Even though the school was still empty at the time, I just got to know that thanks to two new volunteers, Martin and Kerry, the little ones now have a small black board, exercise books, abc chart, toys, pencils, pens, balls etc.. as well as 2 two temporary teachers!! :) THANK U!! (Oh, I wish I had some photos!)

Renovation works have also progressed, apparently. The walls have been smoothed and painted too, while Asteria and Saada moved their tiny offices into the new school's rooms. In the meantime, I've transferred some money into the WEMA Centre account, which was left from the donations I received from my family and friends in Malta. I hope some desks will be made with that money.

I so would have loved to have stayed at least one more month to see that everything is in place and seeing if not teaching the children myself at my school, however, I have travel plans which extend towards the East this time and that's pretty soon so it will be a while until I pay a visit....which makes me sad thinking about it. In the meantime, thank God for email and blogs, of course!! :)

ta for now
watch out for a recount of my adventures in Cape Town in my next blog - coming soon...

Nicky
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Zanzibar Island

After my adventures in Arusha, Zanzibar was just like a big cushy bed ready to drift me into a world of make belief. Once landed at Stone Town I was driven for about an hour to Pongwe Beach, which is at the North East of the Island. Couldn't help thinking and comparing notes with what I had seen in Arusha. Buildings were whiter to begin with while the locals seemed to live a better life. Local girls wore long head-scarves as part of their school uniform while men wore taftas. Muslim influence was everywhere here not just in the Islamic architecture in Town. Another big difference was that no one cried out 'muzungu' on passing by. Locals were used to having loads of Westerners wondering about (or should I say honeymooners!)


The resort I chose had all the rooms or rather tiny beach houses situated on the beach so that I only needed to open the door, step out walk down a few steps to be on the white-sand beach. Lovely! Just thinking about it makes my toes curl to feel to recall that fine texture again.

I spent 4 dreamlike days on that beach. Wearing nothing but bikinis and kangas I spent my time, swimming at the early hours of the morning, reading books in a hammock and eating wonderful food :)

Being winter time the sun found it hard to shine its radiance constantly. Now and then the dark heavy clouds turned into light showers of rain. But all in all the temperatures were warm and even so the place was still stunning.

I struggled myself out of bed every morning at 6am to get a glimpse of sunrise which was right infront of me. Then couldn't resist a dip in the turquoise waters. After a scrumptious breakfast I'd find a hammock or beach bed and read for hours. It was quiet and I must say sometimes lonely too except for the small chat with the friendly staff. I did make friends with a British and French couple at breackfast and dinner of my first 2 days stays. They were a nice bunch.

At times I wondered along the long white beach for miles. Then when the tide was out, which happened everyday till early afternoon, I would walk across endless seaweed fields which were worked my the local women. Not to mention the vast array of shells I came across.

Towards the evening my only companions would be the white crabs peeping in and out of the holes in the sand unless they'd get washed away by the gentle strokes of the sea.

I dedicated only one day for touring. My first stop was a local 'Buda Spice Farm'. I was amazed to see exotic spices at their roots; candammon, tammarind, pepper, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cococnut, vanilla pod etc... To think that they grew in jars in our kitchen cupboards!!! ;P I was invited to taste some exotic fruit and teas as well as assist the picking of young cocunut then drinking its not-so-sweet juice or rather, oily liquid. I was also adnorned with a bag made out of palm leaves to carry my fresh spices and herbs in it, and a necklace, bracelet and ring to match.


After an endless hunt for a cash-filled ATM round Stone Town, I finally embarked a boat to cross over Prison Island.
I must say the main attraction there are the huge old tortoises. They're amazing! The ones in the photos are about a hundred years old! That's me trying to feed them some lettuce. Had to be very cautious otherwise they'll bite into your hand...not very nice!!! Here's my guide, Musatafa holding one of the younger ones.
Having gathered some guts I then decided to brave the weather and cold and snorkell in the third most beautifull coral reefs in Zanzibar, which is just off Prison Island. The multi-coloured coral garden spotted with huge starfish, just mind blowing. I lost track of time and forgot all about the cold not to mention the stings from a particular sea fauna (natural habitat in coral seazones, apparently).

Back at Stone Town I couldnlt resist wondering through the narrow quaint alleys lined with curio shops.

I definitely relished the next 2 days of solitary bliss on my 'private' beach after such tiresome touring!!!

Photos say it all in this blog...enjoy the vista! :)

luv
Nicky
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