Sep 2008

Wow, Nepal is nuts! I love this place. Before I get into everything that is going on, I would like to give a shoutout to Ray Hartmeyer, and Jeff Buttler's girlfriend. Ray - your the man; Id take you into battle any day. Nancy, I thought we were friends...

As far as Jeff Buttler's girlfriend, I don't think I have ever met you before but Matt Hwalek says your keeping up with some of the travels I have been doing. I appreciate the support, and most certainly hope you enjoy reading. I will do my best not to let you down!

Well, you didn't really think I was going to give away the crazy thing that I am about to do first thing now did you? Pfff, your going to have to wait till the end for that one.

I am going to start with the camera situation. I am planning on doing some trekking (more on this toward the end), and I have designed a shirt to thank all the folks who have donated to the camera fund to date. I have sent out some requests to the people who I think would be interested in donating, and if you choose to that's cool - I will add you to the shirt, and if not - no worries. I understand.

Front with bracelet that was blessed by monk in monastery at Bodnath

Back

A hell of a lot has happened since I have been here, and its hard to catch up and remember it all. I think I left off when I got to Nepal. Kathmandu is a bustling city with many boroughs to it. The main tourist area, Thamel is where I have been staying. For the past week or so I have been posted up in Kathmandu Guest House. This is a UNESCO site, and was the place in the 70s where the Beatles stayed on their tour of Nepal and India. Its pretty sick. For $25 a week you get a hotel room, and they have a large flat screen in the lobby with 130 or so channels. Catching up on news makes me so happy, you have no idea.

Nepal is great if you are on a budget. Its one of the poorest country in the world, and therefore also one of the cheapest. In a ranking I found on the internet that compares GDP, Nepal ranks 189 of 207 ranked nations in terms of national wealth.

Also on there, other countries I have visited or are going to visit:
- Uganda: 192/207
- Tanzania: 184/207
- Cambodia: 187/207
- Vietnam: 156/207
- Egypt: 123/207
- Greece: 35/207
- Argentina: 76/207

The national meals are MoMo (kind of like a wonton, but better), and Daal Bat (rice with like ten other unknown things). You can get ten MoMos for 20 rupees (like $.25 cents), which will suffice for a good meal or you can get two servings if you are really hungry. For a super size meal, you can go to a Thakali restaurant and order up some Daal Bat for 125 rupees at most ($1.60) , which comes with unlimited refills of any of the ten items that makes up Daal Bat. Souvenirs are cheap, and so is trekking gear. All the famous name brands here (North face, Marmot, even the European brands) are copied with similar materials as the originals and can be purchased for ridiculously low prices. If you have a knack for bargaining you can get a North Face shell with fleece liner (normally $300+ in the states) for about $15. Nepal is home to the worlds best trekking, and every year tons of people come here to get their ass to the top of a mountain. The two most popular treks are the Anapurna, and Everest Base Camp (or EBC), with the Anapurna drawing more visitors than EBC.

Nepal is a country that is very unknown in the western world. Situated between China (Tibet), and India it is in a constant power struggle to maintain its identity and prevent calamity between the two powerhouses of Asia. You may have heard some very negative things about Nepal as well. There is a communist party that is alive and well here. Until earlier this year there has been a constitutional monarch here with a King holding most of the power in the country. Because of widespread corruption that has occurred amongst the royal family down to friends and family this nation has never prospered. Nepal ranks 131st in the world in terms of the relative amount of corruption that occurs in the government. The people are the only ones who suffer. For two decades the Communist Maoists fought against the corruption and decided to clean up the government with widespread assassinations and guerrila style attacks on individuals and outposts known to be dealing in stealing from the people. With their communist (more like socialist) agenda, they won the hearts and minds of the poor and were provided sanctuary in the jungles of the western portion of the country.

The Prime Minister (currently in NY for UN general assembly) is the current representative of the communist party (also known as Maoists). On May 28, 2008 the historical first meeting of the Constitutional Assembly (CA) occured. This represented a leap forward toward democracy and the modernization of this third world country because they sure as hell need it. The electricity in the Kathmandu Valley (where the majority of the people live) is on for about 40% of the time. In other far reaching areas of the country, this value drops significantly to somewhere around 15% of the time. There is widespread pollution here, especially of the lakes and rivers. The most common form of transport here is by foot. If you took the breakdown of the different forms of available, more transportation of goods in this country is done by foot than air, rail, and ground transportation combined. The roads are poor (oh yeah, there are only like three of them), and most of the time the dirt road is washed away in landslides from heavy monsoon rains. Schools are not mandatory, and most of the time the people cannot afford to send their children to school. There is widespread drug use by the youth. If you go out late at night (midnight constitutes "late" here) then you will see the little beady eyes of children from 10 to 16 years old hiding in the cracks and crevaces of the city like cockroaches. They huff glue from a paper bag because it is the cheapest form of high they can get. They lie to the tourists and tell them that they live on the street because the foster home parents beat them, then they look for sympathy by buying them bread. They like it the bread heated up because they are so malnourished that they have little to no saliva to wash down unheated bread without water. Walking in the streets, as a tourist you are offered hashish by every second person, and it almost becomes a comedy to turn them down. Apparently cannibus grows on the side of the road here, and therefore represents a nearly free source of income. Begging is also a more prosperous outcome than trying to succeed with a job, as you could potentially earn 2 to 3 times the amount of money you would earn by begging as opposed to working. The highest earning jobs are in the tourism industry, and then even then a guide would expect to save enough to buy a small home made of straw, reeds, and cow dung walls (no bathroom or floors) in roughly a decade. Despite all this, the people are some of the happiest I have ever seen. This is probably because of their faith, but they for sure have no problems dealing with what in the west would break most people.

Nepal used to be dangerous for tourists, with Maoist abductions happening on a regular basis. More often then not the encounters with the guerillas would involve the tourists being taken hostage at machine gun point to some unknown location. From there the guerrillas would request a ransom of $10 to $50 and would give the tourists a half hour lecture on what their goals and aims are. Then the tourists would be released, but not before they were given a receipt for the ransom. That receipt could then be taken to the tourism board in Kathmandu and turned in for payment back to the tourists, no harm done. More often than not, the tourists would keep the receipt as a souvenir. Stories have been told of Israelis even bargaining with the Maoists, to knock the price of the ransom down. With the abolition of the monarch, and the addition of a Maoist Prime Minister representative there is very little violence occurring over the dispute of power. The country is in the earliest stages of the creation of a constitution, and with such little time that has passed since the first meeting of the Constitutional Assembly (CA) the people have no basis of judgment to be upset about. In one year time this country will either be on the rebound from its current state, or it will be in all out civil war. Will the new government deliver on the promises of economic growth, the introduction of hydroelectric power, and increased education? Only time will tell. This makes this current moment an excellent time to be in Nepal. The Maoists are happy, and there is little turmoil (well at least relatively little turmoil).

Oh yeah, did I ever mention that I have found the key to time travel? Well, as absurd as this sounds the year here in Nepal is 2065. With the miracles of modern technology, in one days travel I am fully capable of going many decades into the future. Marty McFly, eat your heart out - I didn't even use a Delorian or Flux capacitor! In all seriousness, the Nepali calendar is years ahead of ours, and it really is 2065 here.

There are three main areas that you have to hit up if you go to Nepal. They are 1) Kathmandu Valley, 2) Chitwaan National Park, and 3) The Himalaya of which I have done all three. Each area has its own ethnic group, the Newars, Tharu, and Sherpas according to the forementioned areas. In my first days here I spent a lot of time in the valley. Namely:

Pashupatinath - This is the largest Hindu temple in Nepal. Tourists are not allowed to go to the main temple, but there is a whole lot to see other than this. The Hindu religion is so complex, I cant even begin to get my hands around it (for example there are 33 million gods!). As far as ceremonies go - forget about it. Just about every day there is some sort of festival. The biggest, which I got here for the end of is the Indie Jatra festival in Kathmandu. There was a lot of hubub about this, and I will mention this later. So anyways, Pashaputinath isn't really a temple, but more like a series of temples (around 250) that form the center of Nepali Hinduism. I wont go into all the details, but the main area is formed around the Bagmati River. On one side, there is an area to worship the dead. There is a series of ceremonies that must be performed to a schedule by holy men in honor to worship the dead. On the other bank of the river is two separate areas for cremating remains. This is probably the most interesting thing that I have ever witnessed. In as little as two hours after death, bodies are brought to this temple and are burned, with the ashes spread into the river. The family performs the ceremony if they are capable of doing it right, and if not there is a holy man for hire. It is a complicated process, but the end effect after 2 hours for men, 3 to 5 for women (because fat burns slower) is nothing but a pile of ashes. It is somewhat morbid to watch, but is fascinating.

Da boyz!

Area where people perform the holy ceremonies to worship the dead

Part of the ceremonies

Cremation

Towards the end

Washing hands after

Milk baba - this guy only drank milk for his whole life

Overview of Pasha from the hill

Bodnath - This is the largest stupa in Nepal, and is the home away from home for all the Tibetan Buddhists living in exile in Nepal. There is a large community of the Tibetans, and this area has become a center for learning for westerners trying to learn about Tibetan Buddhism. There are many monastery's there that are available for visit, and are really special. It is there that I had a Buddhist bracelet that I bought in Kathmandu blessed by the head priest to give the wearer (me) good luck, long life, and an excellent trek. There were a lot of super stoners from the states who had their own ideas about the world that I met there.

How 90% of the world lives

Baktapur - This UNESCO world heritage site is amazing. Its the best kept model of Newar architecture, and for the most part the site is untouched from centuries past. Walking down the streets brings you back in time. Durbur square is absolutely amazing, but you can be much more satisfied if you just take the back alleys and learn all the ins and the outs of the place. Off the beaten path is way better than following the tourist route. It was there that I witnessed the elephant festival where these guys carried a bamboo elephant and rang a bell and chased children around. The whole city turned up for this, and it was quite amazing when the elephant would slow and then run after all the children sending them in a scurry.

Pottery square

The community dentist

Basically what I look like at this point in my travels

Patan - This is a suburb of Kathmandu which holds the densest of the Durbur square architecture, as well as the most intricate. Just about every town has a Durbur Square, and Patan takes the cake. It is absolutely beautiful with such intricate wood carvings that with age look many times better than if they were new.

This guy is like the airline for hindus

Swayambhunath - Pronounced Swayanbu, and also known as the monkey temple is a mix of Hindu and Buddhist architecture that is most well known for the stupa that overlooks the city. Here there is a large clan of monkeys that hang out all day and eat everything in sight. The temples have outstanding views of Kathmandu, and because its vicinity to the city center this is the most visited sight in Kathmandu aside from Durbur Square.

Durbur Square, Kathmandu - There is a lot of cool buildings here, but the most interesting is the "one tree temple", which it is said that this three story pagoda style temple was built of a single tree, and the home of Kumari - the living goddess. This 11 year old girl is said to be the living goddess of Kathmandu Valley, and is worshiped justly. When she becomes 13 years of age she will get married, and another Kumari will be announced.

Main temple durbur

As I previously mentioned, the Indie Jatra festival is a month log festival in September. On the last day there is a large festival in Durbur square where many animals are sacrificed, and the procession of the Kumari (living godess) and her undergods (Ganesh, and I forget the other) are wheeled around in their chariots for everyone to see. Well, when I went to check this out it just so happened that the new democratic government decided to tighten its budget by not funding the festivals, or by paying for the Kumari to live. Well, the people didn't take to this too lightly, and there was widespread chaos. There was a confrontation with the police where I was the only international press on scene. There was a phalanx of riot police that were confronting youth that were upset because they felt the government was trying to do away with their traditions, and their culture. The protests were mostly peaceful, untill rocks started flying, and people were beaten. I had to go bungee jumping the next day and bailed early, but apparently it went on all night. When I was there, I was the only tourist/westerner so I made buddies with the camera crew (I never cared much for reporters - they take all the glory) of Adventure TV (local Nepali TV). They explained everything that was happening, and offered to give up their motorcycle helmets that they were wearing to protect against flying rocks. The situation got real tense as people threatened to storm the house of Kumari, and while I was standing there I noticed a two star general, with a major who was standing by with a radio to pass the order to the soldier who was standing next to him with a tear gas launcher. Well, it got the blood pumping, but I had to retire that night. I left Kathmandu for a couple of days and when I returned I went back to Durbur Square, and it was crazy. The people (not police) had quarantined the area off and were manning roadblocks and were controlling who was going in and out. When I got to the square I noticed it looked like a battleground. Rocks where everywhere, the place was a mess, and everything that could have been tore down was. The whole city basically shut down in fear of widespread looting.

Kumari - the living godess

Ganesh

I love Adventure TV!

On top of all this controversy over the festival there was also protests regarding the night life. The new government, in an effort to end red light dance clubs instilled a mandatory 11:00 close time for all bars and dance clubs. The rationale is that these red light dance clubs get more and more risque as the night goes on, and eventually the women get crazy and do things that wouldn't happen if they close early. Well, these dance clubs are duck sauce - let me tell you. I saw one that was called "lucky Buddha shower dance". Now, I have been on the road for quite some time and its been a while since I have had any interaction with naked ladies, so I thought Id give it a go. Well its basically a strip club atmosphere minus the strip club. There are a bunch of horny guys sitting around paying waaay to much money for watered down drinks to watch Indian girls dance with all of their clothes on. As far as the shower dance goes - that is literally what it means. The same Indian girls, once done with their warm up routines do the same dances under a ring which forms basically a giant shower. I went in, had a look just to say I had been there and done that, and skedaddled. The problem with the early shut down is that this leaves a lot of bar owners in a tight spot. They have had to fire a significant portion of their bar staffs, and the girls and dance club owners have all protested that its ridiculous, and it is. Well anyways, there has also been widespread protest about this. The most common sight to see from the bar owners is a group of 150 to 200 of them chanting with flaming torches running about Thamel. So far 70 have been arrested and their vehicles seized???

Ok, so aside from the Kathmandu Valley I went to Chitwaan, and bungee jumping. The bungee jumping was at this place, The Last Resort on the Tibetan border. To get there you have to take a chicken bus 6 hours on this road that would make most people crap their pants. It was so bad - I think I counted 7 absolute wrecks of buses on the way (and an unknown number that are lost to the bottom of the valley). Once there, you get weighed in (the bungee they use is dependent on your weight) and then wait your turn to crap your pants. This one I went to is the second highest in the world (first in Sun City, South Africa) at 160 meters (550 feet). I tell you I have done some crazy stuff in my day, but this by far had to be the craziest. I think that this is the closest that you can come to experiencing the feeling one gets before death. When you stand out on this tiny platform its not so bad, but diving head first into this valley with nothing to hold on to it gets a little crazy. Well I did my jump and in classic cowboy style I yelled out a big ol' U.S.A. at the top of my lungs that gave everyone at the viewing platform a laugh. When I did hit the lowest point I started into a high speed spin that got my head a little loose, but I held my lunch. When you get to the bottom you have to climb back up through the jungle and it was here that I had my first experience with leeches. One of those suckers got a hold of my foot, and apparently they have some sort of a mucus or enzyme that prevents your blot from clotting. So that area where he was oozed blood for about two hours - it was a little disturbing.

There's no highway to it, but it sure as hell is danger zone!

Valley


Me!

Dude, I have to be at the airport tomorrow morning at 4:00, and I still have to put the pictures to this post so you get to hear about Chitwaan when I get back.

Oh yeah, to the crazy part. Tomorrow I fly to Lukla for a 20 day trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lakes, and Kalaa Pataar. I suppose that would not be crazy under normal conditions, but the crazy part is that I am going alone without a guide. There's a lot of reasons why I am choosing this way, but I will only explain one.

Many of you who are reading this may think I am crazy. At first glance some of the things I have done may seem for sure to indicate lunacy, but actually everything I do is quite controlled. There is very little in life that will intimidate me enough that I will not try, and this is no exception.

I will attempt to prove to you that anyone out there can do the unthinkable if they set their mind to it. Ever since I was a kid and I read Into Thin Air by John Krakaur, I have always wanted to climb Everest. Well, I don't quite have the time or the money (three months, $100k), so the best I can do for now is base camp. I am attempting to prove that anybody (at least I can speak from a male perspective) can travel the world for months at a time having a blast doing some of the most ridiculous things known to man. I am of average fitness, average intelligence, and have little to no trekking experience, but by reading one book and by being determined not to fail I will be successful.

People have died on this trek, but for me failure is not an option. I have danced with the grim reaper before, but I vow that he will not get the best of me. I cannot fail because:

1) I am going on the smallest budget possible. If anything happens I will not be able to pay any doctors that would help me out for a butload of $$. Time to suck it up.

2) My travel insurance does not cover extreme trekking, or altitudes above 3,000 meters rendering helicopter rescue out of the question if I am in trouble.

3) I paid $290 for a flight to Bangkok, and I will not lose out on this no matter what it takes!

Well, anyways I am so done with this post, so after a three week hiatus I hope to get some good stories and some good pictures back to you guys. In the meanwhile, keep reading and around September 14th I should be back, so check back around that time.

Ok, time to go on some tangents:

You know what - I really love Al Jazeera television! I actually prefer it to CNN. Despite what is portrayed in the west, the television network, run out of Doha, Qatar is actually quite moderate. They portray many more stories that effect the world rather than being "US-Euro" centric. They also try and get to the root of the issues, and dig deep to give a good understanding of the subject matter. Just because they are an Arab run television network, and are essentially the voice of the middle east they should not be portrayed as they are in the west. There is an excellent documentary "Control Room" that shows the difference in the nature of western television juxtaposed with Arab philosophies and the inner workings of the Al Jazeera central network in Doha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_Room_(film)

I haven't been following the campaigns recently, but it sounds like a power struggle where one week the GOP is up, then the next week the Dems are down, and so forth. I did, however watch this morning the Larry King interview with former President (and currently the man) Bill Clinton. His rhetoric was for the American people to drop the controversy over who is doing what in the campaign, and to choose who they feel will do the most to restore the American economy, end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and bring America back to being at the forefront of the global economic engine that will bring prosperity back to the American public. His feeling was that the Democratic ticket more adequately represents the ideas and leadership that will bring us toward the ultimate ideals of the American public.

In MotoGP news, Valentino Rossi is one race away from clinching the world title this weekend at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan. With just three races to go, and an 87 point advantage to second place in the points (Casey Stoner) Valentino Rossi, the 5 time world champion is downplaying the pressure and is playing it cool in preparation for the upcoming race. This is a very exciting time for the former world champion, as for the past two years he has seen his chances of victory slip away during the last few races of the 2006, and 2007 seasons. We dont want to jynx it though. Of Rossi's 87 MotoGP victories, he has never taken a first place on a four stroke monster at Motegi.

In the wake of American Nickey Hayden's return to the podium at Indianapolis, renewed interest in his sucess has revealed itself in a new deal with Italian manufacturer Ducati for the 2009 season. With this comes the switch from French Michelin rubber to the Japanese Bridgestone.

Indianapolis Podium - Its great to see the rookie Lorenzo up there, as well as the Kentucky Kid. Go Yamaha!!!!

Rossi explaining in detail to Danika Patrick how hes going to give it to her later that night

Wow - it really seems that this world is getting crazier and crazier by the minute.

Lets look back and reflect on some of the events that have occurred over the past week:

- In response to the signing of a deal between Poland and the US to install (LM hahah) air defense missile interceptors, Russia has flexed its military muscle by participating in war games with the not so friendly to the US Venezuela. Normally this would not be considered a big deal, however Russia has sent Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic bombers which are capable of deep strike to the heart of the US. The blackjack is a swing wing supersonic heavy bomber which is similar in capabilities, looks, and performance to the US B-1B Lancer. It appears to me that cold war tensions are heating up - what is next???

- Three major pillars of the US financial institution have collapsed. We all very well understand the situation with AIG, Merryl Lynch, and Lehman Brothers so I will not discuss further. I cringe at the thought of looking at the status of my investments. Needless to say, this is not what the US economy needed right now. Both Obama and McCain have blamed the current administration for being "asleep at the wheel" and allowing this to happen. I listen to Allen Greenspan for about 5 minutes, and I want to shoot myself so I cant really say what he is thinking. I can say though that no matter what he says in my eyes it is about 60% his fault no matter what.

- Bolivia is close to entering a civil war. President Evo Morales, has instituted a new land distribution scheme which will benefit the rich, and like the same sad song of South America - it will take away from the poor. This is in stark contrast to the principles and actions that Evo stood for when initially running for president.

- Bombings in Delhi, India which have killed at least 21 have been accounted for by a group calling themselves the Indian Mujahadeen. Speculators believe links to Al Qaeda are possible, but have not confirmed at this point. Police throughout the nation are now in reaction mode, trying to understand how this could happen and are tightening their intelligence networks. In email messages sent to the Indian government, the purpose of the attacks was retaliation for 60 years of muslim oppression in India as well as cooperation with US foreign policy.

- In Melbourne, Australia a local Muslim leader has been arrested on charges of plotting acts of terrorism. Something on the order of 6,000 phone taps, 39,000 email interceptions, and 4,000 hours of video recording have lead to some snippets of this man saying how he had to show the world by destroying everything (buildings, infrastructure, etc.) the power of Jihad. This is a revolutionary case for Australia because they are trying to accuse this man of terrorism, when he has actually never even committed a crime. His lawyers say that the discussions that have been intercepted are merely bravado and that his client is innocent. We will see. The US just sends em straight to Getmo for the cock meat sandwich - I say hes getting off easy (dont get offended, its from a movie).

- In Peshawar, Pakistan there are reports that US forces have been operating in that area in an effort to capture terrorist cells. Also, in unconfirmed reports there is the possibility that those US forces have been fired upon by the Pakistani Military.

- US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been involved in discussions with Libya's leader Moammar Gadhafi. For those who are not aware, under Reagan F-117 stealth fighters along with a procession of electronic warfare aircraft were sent to Libya to kill Gaghafi. Laser guided bombs destroyed the targets where intelligence officials reported he would be, but quite obviously he made it out alive. His daughter died in the attacks. The current trip, which has been the first a US Secretary of State has taken in a half century has been labeled as "a good start" on the road toward establishing foreign investment as well as trade agreements.

- In MotoGP news, the first running of the Indianapolis Grand Prix ended in another victory for championship leader Valentino Rossi. He has strengthened his lead, and with four victories in a row while sporting Bridgestone rubber, he is satisfied with his performance. The Indianapolis GP was stopped with just 8 laps to go due to rain and windy conditions that were making it dangerous for the riders. In a surprising mid season shift Dany Pedrosa has also made the switch from Michelin to Bridgestone with successful results. On the home track of US rider Nicky Haden, he returned from injury that has left him out of the past two races with a vengeance. He ended the Indianapolis GP with a number two podium, which has restored his spirit after being at an all season low with his injuries.

Ok - This is all important stuff so make sure you read it all.

Next I want to talk about the election. I do not have all the insight as some of you might have because I'm not on US soil, but I think the McCain/Pallin camp have been gaining strength. Being in Africa for almost a month I got the African perspective on things. If you have done your research you know that Obama's father was from Kenya, and therefore he has very strong East African support. Well to start off, Obama's face is on everything from Taxi cabs, to buildings, to t shirts. If you are part of the in crowd you have an Obama sticker on your car. Everywhere I go when I tell them I'm from the US they ask who I'm voting for, and when I tell them Obama they get so happy. I have met with leaders of Obama support groups in the middle of nowhere. They label McCain as "just another Bush", and to a certain extent if you oversimplify things this is probably not that far from the truth. They also joke how a man who is 73 would ever want to be president. They usually go on to say something like "when I'm 73 man, I just want to smoke fat joints on the beach all day, not work". In all reality who the hell does that. Why would you ever want to be 77 and be the leader of a nation who is in such trouble as ours. My vote doesn't really matter (NY is going democratic regardless), but I will make the effort to go to the embassy and put in for an absentee ballot.

I do not feel as proud of our nation as I used to. There are many problems that we need to resolve, and I do not mind living outside of the country and supporting the economies of other nations until we proverbially "get our shit straight".

Oh yeah, I have been also called a terrorist on more than a handful of ocassions. Not because my bloodline is from Iran, rather because I am from the US. The US is causing so much pain and bloodshed in the world that most people of other nations look at America as the source of the problem, not the "terrorists". Think about that one.

Ok - enough politics and world events. Back to the travels.

I left off in Jinja, Uganda. From there I picked up a camera in Kampala (just a short distance away). It killed my budget, but thanks to the responses that I have gotten so far I think I may be able to manage it.

When I said I had to buy a camera some people by email even offerred to send me one. To ship, the only secure way to get it is through DHL, which costs $190 to send a kilo of package from the US to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and takes two to three weeks. The only real solution was to buy one in Africa.

I have been every day in discussion with Paypal to try and get my account set up so that I can email out a message that will have a link if you would like to make a donation. I cant tell you how difficult it is to take care of anything if you are outside of the US. If you email customer service of any website, its automatically answered with something that is generic and is not even close to the answer that you need. Its like when you call a company and you can never get a person on the other end and they try and answer your question through an automated voice. You have no idea how frustrating this can be.

Crazy people (not including friends) that I met this past week or so:

- Lee, the 14 year old London bloak who was at a bar in Jinja, Uganda drinking and smoking more than anyone else. I started chatting it up with him, and well I always get the comment that I have lived 8 lives of experience - well this kid really has, but only at 14. Over beers that he was buying me, he told me about girls hes slept with, all the times hes been arrested, how he likes to get loaded up on PCP and go out fighting, and about all the kids he loved at the orphanage he was working at in Uganda. This kid was nuts. Then he drank a triple of Gin and juice, and then immediately followed it up by funneling a 500 ml beer.

- Raymond, the overland truck driver from Capetown. I met him in a bar in Zanzibar, Tanzania and he told me about his travels. For those who don't know an overland truck is a huge off road beast that carries like 20 to 25 tourists across Africa (basically off road bus). Raymond has been an overlander for years now, and has been to every cool spot in Africa at least 3 times. The most important part about his story was that he had a pet parrot for two years. Ok, well that wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part was that he took it from birth, and fed it by needles for the first 6 months. Then he cared for it and washed it and it became his best friend. The bird would sit on his arm the whole time when he would be driving the truck.

- US Olympic gold athlete in womens rowing, Anna Goodale is staying in my hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. After winning the gold in Beijing she stayed on for some time in Nepal to experience Asia.

- Usman, Waqas, Shahid, and Naveed the Pakistanis. They are leather traders who treat hides that come from Tanzanian slaughter houses. Then they send the hides off for export to larger countries to be tanned. More on this later

- Eric, the 36 year old guy from Brooklyn getting his Dive Master Certificate in Zanzibar. More crazy than him was his neighbor whose house we went to cook fish at.

- The security guard who was smoking a joint on the job at a 5 star resort in Zanzibar who was telling me that I can "escape to space by running fast", which I think he was trying to tell me that I could avoid the tide coming in by going home now - maybe???

- Ally the Tanzanian Indian who is currently the biggest fashion designer in all of Africa. He was on his way to London Fashion Week, which I guess is a big deal. THen he follows it up with Ethiopia fashion week, South Africa, and the list goes on. He was really cool, and I made jokes with these girls that I met on the plane that he had better done eyebrows than all of them combined. He was about 1/16th of a man in my opinion, but was cool nonetheless. I say this just because he was such a wus. I asked if he ever had been on safari, and he went into for ten minutes how disgusting it would be to go into a tent, and to sleep in a sleeping bag. He only rolled in AC, and soft beds - like I said 1/16th of a man.

- I met these Palestinians in the airport who were living in Jordan and China. They go to China to buy containers of empty CDs and DVDs at about 3 cents each, import to Jordan and they have a distribution of street hustlers they sell to. They make $50k a container which takes about two months to get rid of on a bad month.

- Dylan (New York) and Katie (PA) from the peace corps.

- Chado (short for something in Swahili like Kishichadomika) which means crazy dog. Hes an up and coming rapper living in the north of Zanzibar. When I was there he left for Stone Town to cut an instrumental for his up and coming album. His number one hit is called "I am strong".

- Pikey, the English entrepreneur who is establishing a logistics company in Uganda. He was in Mauritania earlier this year, driving through with some people. A friend of his was driving a car, and it had some problems, and had a small crash on the side of the road. Well, because of the accident some nearby bushes caught on fire, and it started to get bad. Some locals came, and after about 20 minutes they couldn't put it out so the locals told them to leave immediately or they would be killed. Well, they left and the next day a French family came along not knowing what was going on, and because the local people were so pissed about the fire they blindly murdered the French family. Because of this, there were many discussions between the French and Mauritania government, but the end result is that the 2008 Dakar Rally was canceled. In all 550 vehicles were to compete.

- So many more that I cannot remember

Ok, now the story. So from Jinja I went to Kampala and bought a camera and a bus ticket to Dar Es Salaam. The bus was supposed to be 30 hours which in Africa means 36 hours, so I bought some sleeping pills.

Before I finish talking about Jinja, I have to talk about the Rolex's outside of N.R.E (the hostel I was staying at). There is a pair of brothers (Shafi and Safa) operating The Bujagali Chapati Company, and man are they good! When I was staying at NRE all that I ate was Rolex's from them. They have a wide variety of choices, and have everything from chapati, honey, and banana for a nice breakfast, to the two egg, chapati, cabbage, avocado, pepper, and tomato for a nice dinner. All are anywhere from 500-1000 Uganda shilling, and I really have to recommend these guys. They are quite ahead of the competition, and are doing quite well for being such entrepreneurs. They have bigger and better goals that they are working toward, and I wish them the best of luck in their endeavors.

Shafi on the cooker chefin up marvelous hits!

On the way out of Uganda it was a terrible mess. If you remember in my previous post I wrote about how Uganda has seven kingdoms. Well, when I was there probably two weeks ago the King of Busoga died. It just so happens that the main city in Busoga is Jinja, and that when we tried to leave the entire nation was in Jinja mourning in the funeral processions. Needless to say, it was a hell of a time getting out of Uganda.

Before I left Jinja, I went to this shrine of Ghandi. If you can make out the writing, when he died he was cremated and his ashes were taken to many different locations around the globe, and spread. In this case he made it to the source of the Nile in Jinja.

The border crossings were no problems, and then about 30 hours into the trip, I knew we were relatively close to Dar Es Salaam. I knew that we went this far, and there have been no problems so something was bound to happen. Just about every day there is a bus accident killing some number (sometimes double digit) of people. So, just for precaution I buckled up. Well about 5 minutes later we pull over and the driver turns the bus off. When we are waiting, about 3 minutes after that another truck rear ends the bus from behind. We were all ok, but the two trucks were damaged and traffic was getting hectic. We went outside, and found out what happened. The truck that hit us was coming from behind was being towed by another truck, because the engine was damaged. Ironically both the truck and our bus that were involved in the accident were powered off. I think that this is the first time in history this has ever happened.

Yeah yeah, I know - it could have been worse

Whatever, so everyone waited outside and I helped the bus assistant siphon gas from the gas tank with his mouth to clear the fuel filter. It turns out a stick was lodged in the tank, and was preventing the flow of fuel to the engine, and that is why we pulled over in the first place. This is such a common occurrence because the fuel and tanks are dirty that in like 5 minutes we had the line cleared, but then we had to wait for the police. After we cleared the line, and primed the fuel system I offered the bus assistant water to clear his mouth, but instead he refused and went on to smoke a cigarette. I was sure he was going to go up in flames.

When waiting for the police we all discussed how we were going to get back to Dar. I didnt have any money at the time so I joked how I was going to sell my watch, and kept asking "who wants to buy my watch". I then asked a man (I later learned his name - Usman) for a cigarette, and he mentioned his friends were going to pick him up. Well, about 5 minutes later he disappeared only to come back to me saying they had room for one more. I jumped at the chance, grabbed my big bag and hopped in the car. The car was full of Usman's friends (Waqas, Naveed, and Shahid) and man was their car nice. I have been traveling in chicken buses and cars held together with wire, so it was really nice to be in AC with a nice radio. The guys were all Pakistani leather traders that had moved to Tanzania because of the conditions back home. I learned a lot from them about their homeland, and about some of the impressions that Pakistanis have about US foreign policy, the wars we are waging in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mosharraf, and the current President Bhenazir Bhutto's widow (does anybody know him as anything else - haha). Well, after dropping me off at my hotel they insisted that I go out with them to dinner. Being Muslims they were really hungry (Ramadan) so we really feasted. We went to a very famous Indian spot in Dar, and after went to this nice casino for some after dinner tea.

Throughout our discussions I learned that Shahid had recently gone to Pakistan to get engaged to his wife. The next night they invited me to out with them again in celebration of the engagement. I was supposed to leave for Zanzibar the next morning, but to celebrate Shahid's engagement would be really cool so I stayed in Dar another day. The next night we went to a wonderful dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and then went to another casino on the bluffs overlooking the water.

From left to right: Waqas, Shahid, Naveed, Usman

For dinner at the Chinese restaurant amongst other things we had this crazy fish. Those things in its mouth arent cloves of garlic, its actually its teeth. I dont know the name of the fish, but those teeth are used to eat coral (so of course they need to be strong). Cool!

After the large dinner we went out for pan. Pan is this leaf wrapped up with all that weirdness. You put it in the corner of your mouth and chew on it and drink the juice. Apparently if you have a large meal and dont exercize after you can chew this and it helps you digest the food a lot faster than normal.

After that I went to Zanzibar where I spent about a week. I took the ferry from Dar to Zanzibar, which wasnt too shabby at all. When you arrive, you come to Stone Town which is the biggest town in Zanzibar. Its a world heritage site, and is really cool. The sites there are a bit bland, but the whole town is a bit eclectic on its own which gives it charm. Aside from the two main roads, the town is really a labyrinth which you can never figure out. That night I went to a bar, a local dive, which was cool but I had a beer and left. On the way out I met with a guy, Jackson who I bought a bracelet from earlier in the day. He wanted to buy me a beer, so him and the guy that he sells bracelets with and me got totally wasted at this dive. These guys were hilarious, and so was the place. I was the only mzungu, and apparently if you are mzungu and you buy a beer at this place it comes with like three hookers. Man did I have to fight these girls off of me. Later in the night I met these two people from the peace corps. Dylan and Katie were really cool and we kicked it for a while. It was funny because I was a bit blind and I asked what Katie studied, and she told me Astro, and so like whatever I tried to guess what Astro was, and for some reason I came up with Astro Biology which doesn't even make sense (the correct answer would have been Astrophysics in case you were wondering). I thought it was a bit ironic because Katie was two years out of school (as I am), went to a state school, and although we went down two totally separate paths (she was helping the world in the peace corps; me building war machines) we ended up at the same place in the middle of nowhere Africa drinking the same beers.

The best thing about Stone Town I would have to say would be the night fish market they have near the old fort. You can get lobster, squid, calamari, kingfish, barracuda, snapper, octopus, and the list goes on for really cheap. Octopus is a staple of the Zanzibar diet, and is pretty good. I had it on a few occasions, and once you get over the fact that you are chewing on a suction cup the size of a bottle cap its really good.

Fish market

Sunset in Stone Town

The main religions in Tanzania are Christianity and Islam respectively, with the coastal areas dominated by Islam, and Christianity everywhere else. The island of Zanzibar has about a 90% Muslim population, who are all currently in the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy period, which is represented by the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. It was during this month that the angel Gabriel delivered the word of Allah (Qur'an) to Mohammad, and essentially the religion was formed. For a whole month Muslims cannot eat, drink, or smoke from sunrise to sunset. The ritual is to wake up at 4 AM, have a small food, and then fast till dusk. At 6:30 on the dot, all the stores start selling food. The tradition is to read the whole Qur'an during the holy month, so every night people go to the mosque to pray 1/30th of the Qur'an. Being in an island that is dominated by this religion, restaurants and stores are for the most part closed during the day. You cannot even find a place to buy a water. It is a little difficult. I found that if you go to a market (which is still open) then you can buy a kilo of dates and eat this throughout the day to hold you over to night.

After Stone Town I headed to Kendwa, which is on the North coast. I stayed at this place which was kind of like a resort, but had dormitories so it was cheap, at least for Zanzibar ($11 a night). I pretty much layed around for the next three days, and chilled with the rastas and the local boys that roam up and down the beach selling things. I especially liked this one guy that I met, Abraham, who had a long talk with me and taught me about his country. He really wanted to be a tour guide, and he is almost there so I gave him my guide book so that he can learn some more about being a mzungu.

Abraham with the book I gave him

The second day I went scuba diving off the coast of Memba Atoll. This is on the east coast of Zanzibar, and was AMAZING! The fish populations were much more concentrated than in Panama, and the team was really good. We even had the added bonus that on the way there we were lucky enough to have dolphins swimming with us alongside the boat. We did a wall dive, and a floor dive at two locations Kitchwani, and Wattabomi to about 18 meters maximum depth. My dive buddy was this crazy guy Eric from Brooklyn who came to Zanzibar to get his dive master certification. For some reason, even though he was a burnout he really liked hearing about how we made the helicopters at work. On the way out, our boat driver was trolling for fish, and caught a huge Kingfish.

The place I was staying at for $11

Looking out toward the beach

Beautiful sunset!!!!

Believe it or not, its really hard to capture good pictures of dolphins zipping through the water

Eric trying to lure the dolphins in. He was making the noise you make when you try and call cats over. This guy was big time shot...

More dolphins

Memba island from where we were diving

Quite possibly the most non-manly picture of me ever. Girls, I hope you think its at least cute.

We saw lionfish (the fish from Deuce Bigelow), Eels, Sting Rays, those fish that hide under the sand and eat unsuspecting fish that cruise by, Nemos, and tons of others that I am not familiar with. The Nemos are the favorite - they hide in the anemones and come out if you are not looking, but when you look at them they run away. Its really cute.

After, me and Eric kicked it at his house over a few beers, and then headed to his neighbors house to cook a piece of the Kingfish that we caught on the boat earlier in the day. Dude, his neighbor was mental. I cant even really describe here why, you really had to be there but he had this really cool belt on the wall and he showed me what its for. He had a really cool blanket that he wrapped around himself, and then he put the belt on which had a holster in the back. He then took out this huge knife (posing like he was going to kill someone) and told us that his grandfather once told him:

"If you want peace you have to be prepared for war"

Everybody in the village knows him as being crazy and therefore nobody messes with him. After we went to this cool bar on the beach where I met a hotel owner, and a bunch of other people. The most interesting was Raymond from Capetown described above. How cool would it be to have a parrot as your best friend? Haha, that night I spent all my money on beers and had to walk on the beach back to Kendwa from Nungwi. Its about a 4km walk, but you have to time it just right so that you don't get stuck with the tide coming in. If the tide is in you cannot walk on the beach. Not to mention its pitch black, and dangerous. Anyways, I was trodding along until I came to an area that was impassable and was about to give up. I was lucky enough to find a crazy security guard that showed me a secret way around the rocks, and eventually I got there. Take it from me, thats not a walk you want to do alone at night with a backpack on.

The next day I just hung out with my good friend Hasan from the dive shop and then boogied out of there. I took the daladala (local minivan transport), ferry, taxi, a 6 hour flight, 5 hour layover, and then another 6 hour flight to Nepal, but I am here now. On the flight from Tanzania to Qatar I met the guy who is number one in fashion in all of Africa, and then some crazy people at the airport. It was cool.

Hasan and me at the dive center. This guy was cool!

I really like Kathmandu and am excited to do more exploring of the country. After four hours of writing I am totally finished with this post... I don't even think you guys get a spell check, that is how done I am with this one.

Sunrise on the way to Nepal!!!!

The plane had this feature where you can look at a 3D terrain map of where you are flying. Notice the Himalaya to the north. That shit is no joke at all.

This is what it looks like from a window seat

Ok, so last I left off I was in Arusha, Tanzania. I went on safari, and was just about ready to head out of town.

I went and bought a ticket to Kampala, Uganda for the 17 hour trip, well little did I know what I was in for.

As far as the camera thing goes, it has been slow. I set up a paypal account but they have limited it so I cant get it going because they saw the IP address was from a hut in Uganda, and they don't think its me. This has really put a damper on things, but I promise to get this done!

Before I go on about that there was something that I failed to mention in the previous post. In Swahili the word for traveler is mzungu, so everywhere you go the people here yell something like "mzungu, buy this - mzungu, buy that". The other one they use in east africa is just blatantly calling you white man - ex: "white man, whats up - you want tshirt". When you go to a village little kids bumrush you and all want to shake your hand and be your friend because you are a bit of a phenomenon being white and all. Its actually like the coolest thing.

Babies run to the bus when your on the road, and the kids just love you. It almost makes you feel like a celebrity. So if you like little black babies (Rachel, pay attention) then east Africa is for you.

Also, if you want to do good in the world then east africa is for you too. I didnt know a thing about Africa before I came, but volunteering is HUGE here. There are way more volunteers than travellers, and they come from all walks of life, but most being doctor types. So if your in some dump of a place eating rolexs (more on this later) with other mzungus, don't be surprised if they went to Berkeley, Oxford, or Cambridge even though they are covered in dirt and are wearing rags.

Ok, so back to the bus - the bus was 2 hours late, so while waiting I started talking to these two aussie sisters (Emma and Georgina) who were also going to Kampala.

Then, when the bus gets to the station there these guys who bumrush the fuel tanks and start siphoning fuel (by sucking on a hose) from one tank to the one on the other side. We were convinced that there was some sort of leak, but they told us it was no problems. As this was happening we were conjuring up the bus breaking down, and having to sleep in it overnight, and all this other stuff. Then we started laughing as we realized we were watching this guy drenched in gasoline do his thing as we were smoking a couple of cancer sticks about 2 feet away - bozos!

Yeah, this is safe...

Whatever - so we get going, and the ride was ok, with the exception that none of the road was paved, and we never stopped to use the bathroom (no toilet on board), and the bus was more cold than the one in Panama! In the night the people left the windows open, and it was like an icebox. I had shorts, and a long sleeve shirt on and tucked into it like a ball and slept sitting up (the Aussie girls def got a laugh of this site). All the other people who were expecting this were bundled up like mummies to withstand the subarctic Siberian climate within that bus. Then came the border crossings. When I was buying my ticket I was originally thinking of going west in Tanzania to Mwanza, then heading north to Kampala because I wouldn't have to go through Kenya and pay a visa, but this journey takes 45 or so hours, and sometimes the road is impassable so I opted for the 17 hour trip from Arusha to Nairobi, then to Kampala (that comes along with Kenya visa fees).

Border crossings by bus in the middle of the night are never fun, but this shit was bananas. Being the only mzungus on board, me and the Aussie girls stuck together, but we figured basically its the usual routine (get a stamp to leave one country, get a visa in the next) and you have to walk from one to another. When we went to get the Tanzanian stamp, everyone said don't do anything because you will get robbed, and basically run to the stamp house. Well, it turns out there is absolutely no lights on in this area, and once they drop you off the bus heads to some unknown area and your left alone with no clue what to do. Well, we got our stamps and then walked the .5 kilometer walk on this huge bridge and through this small town with crazy guys sitting by fires, and really hurt up shops that were all closed. It literally looked like a scene from Mad Max.

When we were paying for the Kenyan visas, we (the Aussies and I) were debating whether we should get the full visa for $50, or the transit for $20. Well I really wanted the full, but was low on dollars and wasn't sure of the price of the Uganda visa so I played it safe and went with the transit (I will just have to come back for Mombasa, and Lamu).

After a stopover in Nairobi, we continued to the border with Uganda. Uganda wasn't so bad, with the exception that as a team we were out of money. The Aussie girls bought the full Kenya visa, and didn't have enough for Uganda. I lent them all my money in dollars and we exchanged for Kenya Shillings, but this still wasn't good enough. We literally sat at the border and were begging to be let into Uganda with the money we had, and somehow it worked!!! I mean, who does that: getting into a country with not enough money for a visa - so cool!

The promised land, at least if you dont have enough $$$ for a visa

So when we got to Kampala we hit up some ATMs (none of us had money), and went to a hostel. The place was good, and after some food we went exploring. When I say exploring (keep in mind these girls are Aussies) we really went to a bar, then one more, then bought a bottle of booze and proceeded to drink it all. Uganda is pretty cheap, thats why I came here, so drinking isn't so hard on the wallet. The next day we started off by exploring the local market. We got these wraps with chipote, two eggs, onion, and tomato for $.50 each, and then topped it off with pineapple (probably the best I've ever had) we bought off some bicycle which really hit the spot. Then Emma wanted a purse so we talked to a seamstress and they drew up plans to make one handmade to her specs for $8. I'm not even a chick and I think thats cool. After we changed our hostel by taking the matatu (local transport minibuses). Well, the traffic in Kampala is treacherous, and it took us 2.5 hours to go across Kampala, and oh yeah by the way when we transferred to the second one we had to go through New Park. That place is absolutely mental. There must be 3 to 4 thousand matatus in there, shops, restaurants, people sleeping, etc all with like one foot between these buses. So when we got to the other hostel (backpackers) we did more exploring. We walked to a market where for less than $1 you can get beef, rice, beans, and plantains. We soon learned that literally everywhere you can get the chipote, egg, and vegetable wrap at 700 shilling ($.40) each. Well, the Aussies are on the same level as me, and these soon became the staple of our diets. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner we were slamming these guys down, and man are they good. Later from our Frankie we learned that the name of them is a Rolex (very fitting name, considering you don't need anything close to even a timex to afford).

That night we just hung out at the hostel, and this guy working there Frankie was dishing out bags of booze left and right. Yeah, you heard right. Cheap booze here is served in little bags. You get 100ml (about three shots) in a little bag. The best is Africa #1 vodka, and the worst (and of course cheapest) is Africa Waraji. Waraji smells like pine sol, and is pretty nasty, but for like $.60 for a bag its a reasonable way to go and have a good night out and not kill your wallet. A good cocktail that never fails is the Running Man (fake African Red Bull), and Africa #1.

Vodka & running man - a classic!

Well, anyways - after a couple of drinks Frankie busted out his guitar, and man is that guy good. He put me on to a lot of good music. He was black, and grew up in London, but his friends were a bunch of fuckheads and were getting into trouble and doing drugs. To escape from that lifestyle he just came to Uganda, and lives here now (and works at the hostel we were at). Its a little crazy, because the Ugandan people look at him like a mzungu even though hes black. He doesn't speak Lugandan, but regardless he gets labeled as a mzungu which is a little crazy. So we had a lot in common, and we really got a long. That guy is cool man. After jamming for hours the conversation turned to what I would assume is a highly debatable topic in philosophy circles - is the world better or worse as a result of the course of the slave trade and colonialism.

As a newbie to Africa, I was really interested in this one. I can tell you whatever you need to know about South America, but man - I really don't know a thing about Africa. Frankie's point (keep in mind hes black) was that slavery brought blacks to all ends of the globe so that now the lineage is established those people are allowed to prosper in countries where their social group wouldn't normally be. In addition to this colonialism brought with it the establishment of formal governments (which leads to the counterpoint), infrastructure, and brought these countries further toward development than if they were left alone. Frankie, as a black man living in Uganda also noted that there is in his opinion an innate sense of jealousy of all Africans toward one another that stunts their success, and for this reason it was necessary for the modern world to intervene (all interesting). His other point was that regardless of the ethnic group, whenever there is mass immigration from one point to another for whatever the reason that there is always going to be hardship and loss of life.

The counterpoint was that the white Europeans of the time came to Africa and developed boundaries based on what they wanted, and developed rules for the Africans that they were not used to. This proverbially fucked them up and was used as a method of control to keep them undeveloped and unsuccessful and therefore susceptible to exploitation through the slave trade. In addition, Ethiopia, which was a unique situation in that it was never under colonial rule was used as an example of how if Africans are left on their own they would either prosper or fail as a continent. This can also be ruled out by different environmental conditions from country to country, and the barren landscape and and arid conditions of Ethiopia. There also was minor Italian intervention near the Red Sea, untill they were defeated and sent running in 1896 by the Ethiopian Emporer of the time.

I haven't been to Ethiopia, so I didn't chime in on this situation, but if you have any thoughts email me at: bejuan99@yahoo.com. Typically I stay out of political debates, but this one really fascinated me. Plus, it was with an international crowd giving different opinions which was cool (UK, two Dutch, some guy from Rochester, Aussies, Norway, etc.)

I rambled, so I am going to keep the next portions short. The next day we hit up the central marked in Kampala. We got there by Boda Boda. Bodas are small 125cc motorcycles that they use as transport. Its a good job, and it seems that there are millions of them around. Everywhere you walk theres a guy going "hey, mzungu - where you want to go". They drive about 10% of the time on the road and spend the other time driving on sidewalks, alleyways, between cars, and anywhere you could never imagine that a motorcycle can go. The traffic is so bad in Kampala, that they really are the only way to go, and man are they fun! The drivers are absolutely nuts, and take two people on the back no problem. They can take a 25 kilo backpack on the tank, along with me and my 10 kilo small bag like they are going out for a Sunday stroll. Oh yeah, and they crash a lot too. If you ever see a scar on somebody's face its a 90% guarantee that they were in a boda crash. I was in one too! We were driving across an ultra safe intersection (oh yeah, they don't turn the traffic lights on because they don't want to pay for them) and nearly T boned another boda. My driver reacted, locked up the back brake, and the bike slid out in a lowside, skidding on the pavement. We were going pretty slow so I just jumped off and nothing happened, but was that guy pissed. Anyways, back to the market that place is fucking nuts. The stalls are one foot apart, and there is an area for everything - spices, salts, tobacco, shoes, nuts, shirts, bags, pharmaceuticals, etc. It takes about one hour and a half to go from one end to another, but is well worth it for some good old fashioned exploring.

Frankie and Georgie on a boda

Market is nuts!

Special area in market for hooves - mmmm, my favorite

Frankie in the shoe section not looking too impressed

After the market, we met Mr. T - we thought he was cool till we found out he was ultra shady, and pos smokes ice

Peanut market

Street life

And on the way back home we saw this crazy guy who had a crowd gathered around. It turns out he was bench pressing a rock in his teeth.

Then he asked for someone to fight him, and everybody wanted the mzungu to do it (me), but I refused so this huge 2 meter guy did a Bruce Lee flying punch which landed square on his chest without a flinch. Guy was nuts.

Downtown Kampala - Theres no traffic issues here....

That night we hit up some good clubs in town. Kampala is known for its nightlife, and so Frankie, Emma, Georgina (Aussie sisters), and Iris (cool Asian from NY who studied Epidemiology, but for the time being is traveling to find herself [SE Asia & Africa]), and I hit up all these bars and had a really good time before grabbing some rolexs at 5AM and retiring back to the hostel. At the first bar (expat pub) we lost Frankie for 5 minutes, and next thing you know he was playing the guitar and singing with the live band. The owner thought he was good and played half the set in place for the regular singer! After we went to Steak Out, easily the best bar in Kampala, which was playing reggae banger after banger. I wore my jeans that have the Haile Selassie patch on them that I got from Philly. There was a ton of Kenyans, but even more Ethiopians there and when I showed them that patch dude, like every single one of them lifted me into the air with a big bear hug. Needless to say it was a hit. I traded travel bling with some guy and got such a good trade - a Kenya leather bracelet for one Tanzania. I was getting compliments for that thing all night!

Crazy sticker in cab on way back home from club

Emma taking picture of self

Fish market near our hostel. Right next to the most important place in the world - the rolex market

Fish market 2

I like this picture

Emma & I travel bling. RIP Tanzania...

On my last day in Kampala I went to Kasubi Tombs. This is the burial place of the Kings of Buganda. In Uganda, there is a president and seven kingdoms, each wit a respectable King. Buganda is the largest (in size and population) and therefore is the strongest. The first Bugandan King that kicked the British out established a palace, and from then on the three that have succeeded him have been buried there. There are 52 rings to represent the 52 tribes of the Bugandan kingdom, and the main palace is considered the largest hut in the world. Under Obote (President before Idi Amin) in 1966 kingdoms were banned, the royal palace of King Mutessa II was bombed Idi Amin and his army, and eventually under exile in England the King was poisoned. Kingdoms (namely Buganda) were not brought back till 1993. In the royal tombs are the bodies of the four Kings of Buganda, spears that they possessed that were used for battle, fighting, and for ceremonies, as well as a pet cheetah of King Mutessa I who on his death was so sad he attacked everyone and was killed and preserved for the tombs.

My guide was a young aspiring journalist named Joseph. After we had a bunch of sodas and I showed him my pictures of his travels. In support of his goal I told him I would write in here about him as well as show the pictures he took. I think he will be very successful with his mindset.

Kings tomb from inside taken by Joseph

Me outside - picture taken by Joseph

Me and Joseph

Sad cheetah : (

Me at restaurant - picture taken by Joseph

That leaves off where I am right now. Yesterday I took the bus in the morning to Jinja for white water rafting in the Nile. The location is on Lake Victoria which is actually the source of the Nile. On the 31kilometer stretch you go on nothing under a class three, and hit four class 5 rapids. As an introduction to rafting, on the first rapid you jump out of the boat before hand and go through it just in the life jacket. For those who are not good swimmers this is literally insane because every step of the way you feel like you are going to get sucked under. On one of the rapids we had a set that started off with a class four, then turns to a class three. Well, we got thrashed in the four, flipped the boat, and I got thrown about ten feet and had to go through most of it with the life jacket bobbin like a cork! My favorite by far was a class 5 four meter (12 or so foot) waterfall that we went on going backwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another good one was the class 5 at Bujugali Falls, which was so crazy we broke all the rubbers holding the boat together, and the floats in the middle of the boat started flying all over the place. I was at this hostel last night and watched the video from another group put together with music, and man when your in the moment you lose track of time, but when you see it in video that shit is absolutely nuts. There was a kayaker that went down this class 6 that was just absolutely insane. Our guide Jeoffrey has only been rafting for two months, and has already been to international competition in Australia and France. Hes so sick because all of his life he worked at Bujugali Falls taking money from people who want to see him jump and hit the class 4 rapids holding just a jerry jug with an avocado as a cork (MENTAL!!!!).

Rafting crew from left to right: Bozo the clown, Epidemiology PHds from Johns Hopkins, Kate from the Poconos (woot woot!) but living in Rwanda, Chelsea from Oxford, and weird older Navy guy who turned white when I told him I gave up on taking my malaria pills

Sunset over the source of the Nile with lonely fishing canoe

Rafting in Jinja is supposed to be some of the best in the world, and man - I can say for sure now I know why. This place is sick!!! I set a new life goal. Before I die, I want to hit a class 6 set on a kayak like this dude from Adrift (company).

Anyways, this is long as hell so im going to let you go. The Aussie girls are supposed to meet me sometime today in Jinja, so I have to find them!.

PS: If your wondering why some of the pictures look good in the end its because I have been using Emma's camera with my Sony chip in it. I still need a new camera. I think I will try and find a bargain in Kampala when I go back.