Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Bonjour
Radiohead has a song about tourists running around trying to see all the "sites" that the tour books tell them to see, but they end up missing the important things about the city...the little things that make it unique and interesting. I think that pretty much sums up my last two days. I have been running around playing tourist, and have managed to see all the major sites. I even made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower, something I (along with Stamos, Hammond and Crater) failed to do the first time I was in Paris (due to renovations). But worry not boys...they still let you drink 1665 (or any other beverage of choice) on the streets while walking around seeing the sites! Anyway, tomorrow (my last day) I plan on taking it slow, staying away from the tourist spots and try and really experience Paris.
I wish I could post some photos but I can't connect using my computer so I can't upload any. For any of you interested I will post a few on my usual blog site (mattlisack.blogspot.com) when I get home.
Friday, May 4, 2007
The Capital City Banjul
The market:
A fishing boat by the beach:
A couple kids who came up to the tour guide (Karamo) and I on the beach...they got a kick out of seeing their picture on the digital camera of themselves:
Tomorrow (Saturday) I leave for Paris at 7:00pm and arrive in Paris Sunday morning...election day...it should be an interesting time to be there. Not sure if they are covering it in America, but it is all over the news here. The hostel I am staying at has internet access so I should be able to post a few more blogs while in Paris.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Black Wine
Yesterday, on the drive back from the embassy, the driver asks me if I'm married...I told him no, but I'm engaged. He tells me that Gambians get married very early, and sometimes they have no choice...they are set up by their parents, but if you aren't happy with the first wife, rather than cheat on that wife, you just find another one and get married again...then he told me he has 3 wives! At first I wasn't sure if he was serious or not...but he was, so I just laughed and told him that one was more than enough for me.
Then tonight, I went to dinner and ordered a Guiness, and one of the waiters looks over and says "ah, black wine". I was a little confused because Guiness isn't that strong...but then I looked at the label and noticed it was 7.5%, (and it tastes great)! Slightly stronger than the American version which is around 3.5% or 4% I think:
Anyway, today was my last full day of training and tomorrow is a half day which should be pretty easy. After work tomorrow I am going into the capital city Banjul (I am staying about 20km outside the city), to tour around a bit, so hopefully I will have some more interesting pictures tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
A Welcome Change of Pace
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monkey Business
Today after the training, while the guy was setting up the connection in my room, I looked out the window and saw monkeys (Hammond, you would be in heaven)! I said something to the guy and he said they are always around, and you can even feed them...later I saw someone hand one something to eat...pretty wild.
They were all chasing each other around and wrestling:
Love this shot:
Later I went for a quick run on the beach, and once again, I quickly had a running partner. I really wouldn't mind it, if it just happened once in a while, but everytime I leave the hotel grounds it happens. Afterwards he wanted to set up a time to run tomorrow...I'm looking forward to Paris where I will be ignored, ha.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Gambia
Friday, April 27, 2007
Day Trip and The Gambia
The cheetahs:
It was really cool to see them so close, they came right next to the vehicle.
Afterwards we stopped at the main house on the property and had a drink. While on by the house I noticed this flower growing out of some cacti:
On the way back a rhino crossed the road right in front of us. He was pretty curious about us and hung around the vehicle for a while right beside the road. This was pretty lucky for us to see...even the guide took out his camera and took some pictures!
Today I fly to The Gambia today. It will be around a 20 hour trip, I am not looking forward to it. I make 2 transfers (I fly all the way to Frankfurt, then Belgium, then to The Gambia...it was that or spend the night in the Dakar airport) during the trip, so I figure there is a good chance that my luggage will get lost somewhere along the way, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Joe's Beer House
http://www.joesbeerhouse.com
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
It's a wild wild life
There were zebras on the hill:
We got out to walk to a pond and saw a warthog in the distance:
The highlight was definitely seeing the giraffes...There were 9 total, including 3 babies:
They were right next to the road (dirt path) and weren't afraid of us, so we slowly got out and were able to take some pictures, pretty wild:
On the way back the guide pointed out this bird...don't remember what it was called, but it looked pretty cool:
Not quite a safari, but I'm glad I was able to get out and see some wildlife.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Windhoek, Namibia
Woke up early today and toured around the city, it is so small that everything is within walking distance.
Here is the main street (doesn't look like Africa huh?):
Fidel Castro St??
Some masks and wooden carvings sold on the street:
This afternoon, I booked a half day tour of the Daan-Viljoen Nature Reserve. "This tour offers you game viewing amid the beautiful scenery offered by the steep hills and valleys of the Khomas-Highland Mountains. A panoramic excursion up to almost 2000m above sea level to the many hills around Windhoek." Hopefully it will be interesting.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
All work and no play makes Matt a dull boy
Got out early today and don't have much to prep for tomorrow, so made it to the pool and had a few beers. It's actually been raining quite a bit so even if I did have time, I probably wouldn't be able to do much, but fortunately it cleared up today. The hotel is pretty nice, it over looks the Indian Ocean:
MMMMM Tusker...pretty good local beer:
Yours truly in front of the Indian Ocean
Monday, April 16, 2007
JAMBO!
That night I walked to the Africa Hotel (used to be a British club or something when the British were in control of
Pretty interesting group for the tour also...I was the only American. There was the Danish couple with the hyper kid, 2 english couples, zee German man and his son, two girls and another couple whom I have no idea where from. Anyway, the beach was nice...well, besides the dead dolphin that had washed ashore...but as you can see that didn't stop us from swimming.
On the ride back to the hotel, I took this:That night I returned to the Africa Hotel to try and catch the sunset, but again, nothing (although it’s still cool to watch the boats go by). As I was leaving a guy came up to me and said "what? leaving so soon? the manager just ordered you another beer, so stay 5 more min." As you know, I'm not one to turn down a beer, so I sat back down, curious to know who the manager was and had my beer. Just as I was finishing it, another came...on the house. Anyway after that one, I insisted I had to leave, and went over to thank the manager (
The next day I just walked around a bit and then caught the boat back to Dar. Not a bad trip if you like sitting inside a boat with no air conditioning with about 300 strangers and really rough seas...the Dramamine didn't do the job this time...I made it about and hour and forty minutes into the trip before puking in one of the bags they handed out to everyone. Everyone was hating life (at least I wasn't the only one). Needless to say I was very happy to be back in my hotel room in Dar after that. You may be wondering way I am writing so much...just killing time at the embassy waiting for the next session to start. Anyway, the training is going well and the embassy is pretty nice...so far so good.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Safe and sound
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Trip Details
April 13-15 Zanzibar
April 15-21 Dar es Salaam in Tanzania
April 21-28 Windhoek in Namibia
April 28-May 5 Banjul in The Gambia
May 6-9 Paris
Hopefully I will have internet access at the hotels and will be able to keep this up to date, and even post a few pictures.