Heaven on Earth, but is Gary Payton now driving minibuses in Malawi?

I got out of bed really early today. 5:30 sounds terribly early, but that's when most Africans are up anyway. I booked a taxi from the hotel to the bus station which cost me only 2 dollars. I jumped into a minibus going to Mangochi, driven by a guy that resembled Gary Payton so much I couldn't believe what I saw. I did not know that Gary Payton worked as a bus driver in Malawi. For those who does not know, Gary Payton is the best ever point guard to play in the NBA. He played most of his career for the Sonics, and of course he was my favourite basketball player. He's the reason why I never wanted to play as a forward when playing basketball?

Anyway, back to what happened today. Along the road I could spot a VCT centre in Ulongwe. That made me very happy, and I am happy to see that Malawi is also doing something combating HIV/AIDS. It may not be as good as in Uganda or Ghana, but at least they are doing something. The first leg of the day lasted only three hours, but it felt like much more. It is not a good thing being almost 2 meters. Not in Norway, not in Africa, and I guess not in Japan which is going to be the destination of my next summer holiday. Another thing is that the drivers are just driving around a long time looking for people so that he gets a full minibus. Again, I mean packed, meaning that there will be less space for my poor feet. Well, we made it to Mangochi...

In Mangochi I found the next minibus, the one that was going to take me to Monkey Bay. This was probably the least up to date minibus that ever saw the road. It makes the old Hiace that Odd Arne used at Soltun look like a sports car. In Monkey Bay I changed bus again, finally going the last leg to Cape Maclear. Those roads were really bad, and I am very glad it didn't rain.

In Cape Maclear started the not so easy hunt for a bed to sleep in. I first tried at Gaia, where the receptionist could tell me that they were closing down waiting for a new owner. Then I walked about 2 km with my backpacks to Fat Monkey, just to be told that they didn't have any available rooms. Finally, I had to walk all the way back again to Gecko's lounge, and I am really happy I did, because I got a bed in the dorm and this is a heavenly place. They're showing world cup games, and serving the best pizza in the whole of Malawi. I am going to stay here for five nights, meaning that I have four days of relaxation and boat trips ahead.

I just watched a sunset that can only be compared with the ones on the outer side of the Lofoten Islands. The lights were extraordinary. Let me just refer to what the Lonely Planet guide says about this place. "Cape Maclear ? a long piece of golden beach shielded by granite hills and thick green bush ? sits on a scenic jut of land at the southern edge of Lake Malawi? the kind of place where plans are forgotten?" (LP, Zambia & Malawi 2009: 253).

I am actually not planning anything until I have to go back to Lilongwe on Sunday?

So long?

Øyvind

Quiet days in Zomba

I had some really nice and quiet days in Zomba, getting back the good feeling about being in Africa. I did pretty much nothing yesterday, except going for a walk in the city centre. The city centre here is really small and though there's not as much hassle here as it is in Lilongwe, it still feels a little bit uncomfortable. To be honest, this city is as close to Cape Coast as it gets, given that it is in a totally different part of Africa. What it lacks is the Atlantic Ocean, but it has the mountains so who am I to complain. This tiny town is a little bit hilly too. Just the way I like it. Those of you that know me will agree when I tell you that my favourite city in the whole world is Genoa. If you haven't been there, you should go. It's the only place I would choose to live over Trondheim. And I love the city of the mustaches. You know that. Zomba does not really resemble Genoa, but it has the same types of hills, again lacking the ocean. Anyway, I will probably lose a couple of kilos during these days, because of all the exercise, just like I tend to think that I do while in Genoa, except for the fact that when there I eat far too much Pizza Pesto.

Well, after the walk in downtown Zomba, I went up to Dominos, a small pizza place with a view over the golf course. By the way, there are golf courses in every major town in Malawi. Like I said before, the colonial architecture is highly present in the hills above the town. It's kind of beautiful, but also a little bit sad that the colonial powers changed this country so much. At Dominos I had to take my anti-malaria drug, and as expected that ruined the rest of the day. I don't eat much at the moment, and I guess I am losing a lot of weight, but from my experience in Ghana and Venezuela, this is normal when I travel in the tropical parts of the world. I never feel like I don't eat enough, except when taking this terrible medicine. Anyway, I get nausea and feel dizzy and just want to go to bed. So I left Dominos for a thirty minute walk back to Annie's Lodge. On that quite short walk I took a couple of pictures, and I must say that I really like the monkeys here. They are cool. However, they scream terribly loud. I actually also took the first picture with people in it. These two children were shouting to me that I should take a photo of them, so I did. It was on some distance, but who cares. I hope there will be plenty of opportunities later to take good pictures.

I told you that I was going to look for Thokozani, and today I went down to the Chancellor College (University of Malawi) and the Department of Geography to see if I could find him. It was a quite long walk along a really nice road. When I got to the university, I got a little bit surprised to find that it was much more modern than the one in Cape Coast. Everything else seems to be a little bit less developed than in Ghana, except the universities (and the supermarkets). This was a very nice building, and I wouldn't mind studying there. A guard took me to the department of geography, and when I came to the office the guy could tell me that Thoko was in Western Cape doing his Ph.d. That was really depressing, but I had a short chat with a professor in chemistry and this geographer, and at least I got Thoko?s new email address. Maybe I will meet him another time.

The rest of the day I am planning to just sit around at the lodge, getting a tan. I look very very pale at the moment. I don't even get a red face. Don?t know why, (well that is not entirely true as I have to use my long trousers while walking around places with people, but I should at least get some colour on my arms and in my face). Tomorrow morning I am going to the bus station to catch a bus to Monkey Bay. In Cape Maclear I will just spend four days on the beach so if I don?t get a tan while there, I will never get one?

One of the cute monkeys:)

The two Malawian children that wanted their photo taken.

The forests and Zomba plateau in the background.

Going to the Uni.

Finally, Chancellor College, University of Malawi.

And, now the sun disappeared...

Big hug from Big Bear:)

Unfortunate events, luxury and geography

What a title on this post! I love to put geography in sentences wherever I can, and why not in my post today? Anyway, I will begin with some facts. Øyvind the travelling peace builder has only taken 11 photos so far? Why? Because I felt unsafe walking with my huge camera bag in Lilongwe, and I didn't want to put the camera in the face of the people I lived together with in the hostel. No pictures of them unfortunately. Another myth/fact: One of the cool things about travelling alone is that you meet a lot of people doing exactly what you?re doing. Yes, it may well be true, and all my former experience told me that this would happen this time too. However, all the people I have met so far are not travellers like me. They work with organisations like the Peace Corps or IRC, or they are working with research much like I did 6 years ago in Ghana, thus meaning that they have a lot of other things to do during the day when I would like to hook up with some people to share travelling moments. Anyway, that does not imply that I haven't met interesting people, I just did not get to spend enough time with them. You can feel very lonely sometimes when you're travelling, but I chose to go on this trip all alone so can't really blame anyone but myself.

I will however tell you a little bit about this one person that I met. She is a really nice girl, whose opinions I respect a lot. It's not often I say that about Americans, even though I could say it more often. I know only really nice American people. It's the stereotypes that just tend to make it difficult for them. But meeting this girl was a little bit surrealistic. I teach in conflict resolution, and guess what she has a master's degree in? Exactly! It was so cool to finally meet someone who studied this topic, and someone who understood what I do for a living. She's now working for the Peace Corps for two years, all alone in a small town in Malawi. What's even more interesting is that she is engaged to a Norwegian-American and has big plans to come to Norway sometime in the future, so I had to give her my email address, and the promise that I could give her suggestions and travel advice if she's ever coming. She was not very impressed when I told her that I converted to supporting the Trailblazers after many years of following the Supersonics, but when your team does not exist anymore you can understand it. The point of this last sentence was that we?re now supporting the same basketball team. We just had many things in common, and it was really nice meeting her.

If we go back to the title of this post, I started this day really early. I was up at 4:50, getting ready to go to the bus station at 6:15. The manager of Mufasa Lodge drove me, and I was happy about that. The bus station is a scary place. So, I got a ticket to the bus and found a seat. What happened? Nothing! One of the things you'll experience in Africa is that the buses don't leave until they?re full, and I mean really packed with people. The seats were as uncomfortable as the ones in the bus going from Chisinau to Odessa last year. I had a very painful time. The bus left two hours later going to Zomba. I probably didn't tell you this, but I changed plans. Instead of going to Cape Maclear this weekend, I chose to go to Zomba first. The reason is simple, I did not enjoy my time in Lilongwe, and I just wanted to get back the feeling of Africa that I had when I was in Cape Coast. Zomba is a much smaller town, and also a former colonial capital, just like Cape Coast. It also has the main university in Malawi, and one of my plans while staying here is to try to find Thokozani at the Department of Geography. I hope I can do that on Monday.

Back to the bus ride, what made it even worse was that the bus driver was stopping at every small place along the road, even though I asked him if it was a bus going directly to Zomba. That was not the worst thing however. What made this bus journey the worst I ever experienced was the fact that one of the small children of the woman sitting next to me had a small accident making both me and his mother wet. So, I will probably always remember this trip. It was actually about thousand times worse than the experience in Moldova ( I hope you're reading this Robert). I didn't complain to anyone on the bus and just smiled to the mother, but I chose to do something that I normally don't do while travelling due to this incident. I chose to go to a better hotel in Zomba, and book three nights there. To tell you the truth it is not that expensive, but for a shoestring traveller it is way above the daily budget, and the worst thing is really that I won't meet any other travellers here. That's why I hope that I will find Thoko. I will stay here three nights and catch a bus to Monkey Bay on Tuesday, going by matola to Cape Maclear.

Zomba is actually a very nice looking city, situated right below a mountain range called the Zomba Plateau, (often compared with the Scottish highlands). You?re supposed to have a nice view from the hotel, but I haven't checked it out yet. Back to the geography: This is the 42^nd country that I visit, but it is actually the first time south of the Equator, and I am not hundred percent sure whether Zomba or Lusaka (going there in 10 days) will be the southernmost point that I have been to. I will check my book a little bit later. I have been really close to the Equator before, but both Cape Coast and Los Llanos (Venezuela) is some few degrees north of the famous circle that splits the Earth in two.

I will end this post by showing you two photos:

Some fish from Lake Malawi, quite good but with lots of bones and scary teeth...

My room in Zomba:)

Big hugs!

Lilongwe, Malawi

Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, not the most interesting place in Africa according to Lonely Planet? and to tell you the truth, they may be right. The old town, which is supposed to be the place where things happen, is quite relaxed and there?s not much to see really. Actually, I don?t think the central parts down here are much bigger than Evenskjer, except for the fact that more than half a million people live here.

So after two whole days, I can tell you that I look forward to going to Zomba and Cape Maclear. Zomba is the former colonial capital, and is situated in a beautiful setting below the Zomba mountains, while Cape Maclear is a backpackers paradise according to the very same book mentioned a little while ago.

The local supermarket is quite good actually. Kind of like a mix of Rema 1000 and Tesco, with imported goods from the US and Europe costing even more than they do in Norway. That should be protecting local businesses.

So what happened those last two days? Well, I have to tell you that it takes longer time to get used to being in Africa than I expected. I should have thought about this, but it is already 6 years since I was in Africa the last time. However, it is getting better every day I guess.

I keep meeting the same type of people all the time. With names such as James Bond, Jon Banana and Bona Africa, they are probably city originals. The obvious reason why they keep chasing me around the city is that I am European and have money. They are nice enough, but at some point they start trying to sell me things. Being Norwegian, I find it terribly hard not to buy something, so I already have some souvenirs.

Yesterday, the electricity was out most of the day, and that is apparently a common incident all over the country. Of course we couldn?t see all the mosquitoes hiding in our room, so I got my first five or six mosquito bites. Even after sleeping with a net and everything.

To those of you expecting postcards: I sent the first 9 postcards today, but I have a list of people that will get postcards later so don?t worry if you don?t get a postcard now. It will probably take some weeks anyway.

Finally, I haven?t been able to take many photos, simply because there is not much to take pictures of, and also because I don?t like putting my camera in people?s faces. That will probably also change when I go to Cape Maclear and Zomba. I will show you some photos of the hostel now, but they?re quite boring as there are no people in them. I promise to include photos in the update from Cape Maclear in some days. Leaving on Saturday. Yeah!

Just the signboard in the entrance


My bed. It's quite messy...

The hall.

Lots of big hugs from Big Bear who wants to hear more from you! Tell me how you are. Tell me about all the fun things happening wherever you are. And tell me what you think about this so far quite boring travel...

You'll get tired from travelling...

especially if you're almost 2 meters tall the body doesn't really like travelling by planes. One of the reasons why I prefer trains is because it is comfortable, and you won't fall 30.000 feet when there's an engine problem. I left Lena's appartment at 10 in the morning almost two days ago. The travel was supposed to take 26 hours, but ended up taking 28 hours. Not too bad. The only plane being late was the one going from Nairobi to Lusaka and Lilongwe. It was a quite dramatic trip, maybe most of all because I am terrified of flying. It is one of the few things I am actually really afraid of doing. Anyway, I will come back to the drama very soon.

The first flight with KLM was a flight I already has done sometimes before. From Trondheim to Amsterdam. I had almost five hours in Schiphol, but decided to not go to the city of Amsterdam. To be honest, I didn't really do anything except buying some crappy fast food that I regretted afterwards. The rest of the trip was with Kenya Airways, and I must say that nothing except the name of the airline and the colours of the clothes of the personnel made it different from flying with KLM. Maybe a little bit better service. This was a painful flight, lasting for 8 hours. It was really warm and of course the only airline that has seats that is perfect for big bodies like mine is Widerøe, so I was not able to sleep at all. It didn't make it better that I had to sit between two people. I survived it, but not without drama. One guy went crazy on the plane, and the personnel had to jump on him and throw him to the floor. I guess he was drunk, and this is another good reason to ban alcohol on flights. I don't know his nationality, but he was definetely European, and I guess he's having some big problems now. The security personnel at the airport in Nairobi picked him up, and either he got a big fine, or had to go to the local police. Let's just say that I am happy to not be him.

Anyway, the last flight was ok, but I didn't know that we had to go to Lusaka first. At least I got to see the airport in Lusaka from the plane, but nothing more. We landed in Lilongwe about one hour late, and then the security check and issuing of visas was quite straightforward but a little bit slow. The driver from the hostel had to wait for me for two hours, but she was smiling when I met her, so I guess it didn't matter too much.

I am now sitting at the hostel in Lilongwe. The Mufasa Backpack Lodge. It's a really nice hostel, and I got a nice sleep lasting for at least 12 hours. The clock here is approaching 8 in the morning, and everybody is already up, so I guess it is about time to go have a look at the city. I got to see a little bit yesterday, but it is really chaotic and one of the girls I am sharing room with told me that I should not spend too much time in Lilongwe, but rather do the other things I planned like Cape Maclear and Zomba. I have my bed here for 4 nights... But I have some things I need to do here, like going to the Zambian consulate, so I guess I can make the best out of these days.

I will try to take some pictures for my next post.

Ø

Leaving Norway very soon

Now it is only 12 hours until I go to Værnes. The first flight will be to Amsterdam where I will have 5 hours. I may go for a short trip to the city, but most likely not. From Amsterdam I will fly with Kenya Airways to Nairobi and further on to Lilongwe. In 36 hours I will be in Malawi, the country I have been wishing to go to for a very long time.

Am I nervous? Yes, of course. I haven't planned anything for my time in Malawi except where to sleep the first four nights. I guess I will just follow my instincts, and do things when they appear interesting, after speaking to local people or other travellers.

As you can see, this is my shortest blog post. I am actually quite busy. I guess you will hear from me in a couple of days. If not, don't worry:)

Love from Øyvind

Sleep deprivations and the pain of driving for too long

It is not as bad as it sounds. I was able to sleep quite well last night at my sister's place. Anyway, this is something that tend to happen everytime I am going for long travels, so I won't blame it on the anti-malaria drug. I did barely sleep the last two nights before travelling down to Trondheim. I left Soltun at 8:30, much later than planned due to this sleep deprivation. I woke up at 2 o'clock on Wednesday, and couldn't sleep until around 5. So, you can surely say that experience of driving was painful. However, I made it, and I drove as safely as you could expect from a guy that once was given a ticket for speeding, and now is paranoid about photo boxes and driving like a "Sonntagsfahrer", as one of my German friends says...

I actually say the same photo box that took the beautiful picture of me almost two years ago. We're still not friends, but now I am driving way below the speed limit.

My check list for the coming trip is getting smaller every day. I bought my new Mosquito net, a new Malawi & Zambia Lonely Planet book, and a lot of other things I may need while travelling. Not much more that I need to fix now. I am almost ready to go. This makes room andd time for a lot of social activities, and today I met three friends. The schedule for the next days says that I am quite busy. The downside for you, my patient and loyal readers, is that I will not update the blog before Sunday or Monday, but please feel free to continue reading and comment on my articles and tell me what you want me to write about.