ToewsTravels – Page 37 – every country or bust!

“london on acid” – mumbai!!

oh my word. india is chaos. all the rumors you’ve ever heard are true. got to the mumbai airport at 3 am and immediately started dropping water weight. it is 40 degrees (celcius) and 100% humidity. wandered around outside for a while looking for this guy who was supposed to pick me up. i am very lucky to be staying here in mumbai with the mother of a friend of my dad, or something like that. well, eventually the guy showed up, and took me to this elderly lady’s house. its quite nice – i have a little apartment to myself and she insists on cooking meals for me and she even did my laundry. she is rather overprotective – she gave me a cell phone to carry around and she keeps calling me to see if i am ok and to remind me of all the bad things that could happen to me. the first night i told her that i hung out the door of the commuter train to catch the breeze and she basically had a heart attack. truth is i did do that, because riding the commuter train here is insane and that is the only way to stay sane. its actually pretty fun. the train doors stay open, because they physically couldn’t close – there are 20 times more people on the train than there should be. when it comes to a stop at a station everyone is so desperate to get on that they just charge in – pushing, grunting and knocking people over. its impossible to get off when you want to unless you’re hanging out the door to begin with. “my house” is about 45 minutes from downtown on this train, in the “nicer” part of mumbai. nicer is relative, as no one in the area has probably ever heard of or experienced an air conditioner and there are still goats and garbage in the streets.

first day i went downtown and saw the gateway to india, a huge archway erected by the british just before they left. across the street is the taj mahal hotel, site of a terrible terrorist attacks a few years ago. i ducked in there for some air conditioning.

they call mumbai “london on acid.” i presume the acid relates to the frenetic traffic patterns. or the urgency with which people are trying to sell things. but its actually a lot like london. there are countless impressive colonial buildings throughout downtown mumbai. there is a clocktower that is at least as big as big ben. and a massive colonial era train station (the busiest train station in asia) that was initially named after queen victoria (now it has a marathi – thats the language here – name that is about 200 letters long) i walked around all day, as i did the next day, when i went to a huge open air laundry facility where all mumbai’s clothes go to get washed by hand. amazing.

i also went to the haji ali mosque which is out in the ocean, connected to land by a long cement bridge that is lined with beggars. close by is a huge hindu temple devoted to the hindu goddess of wealth, where everyone buys flowers and reverently goes through all kinds of motions all along the km long street leading up to the temple. then once one gets inside, an obese and hairy shirtless guy irreverently grabs the ornate flower decorations and coconuts and whatnot and tosses them into a trough in front of the idol while the devotees cross themselves. craziness. also crazy was the restroom situation there- i really needed to go, but shoes had come off at the entrance- and like all indian restrooms there was a half inch of urine on the ground. but i really needed to go.

wandered through the slums, got completely lost, took a random bus that i thought was going the right direction but it wasn’t – i love it. eventually found my way to a pennisula called malabar where mumbai’s movers and shakers live (like its bollywood movie stars). went into a huge jain temple. the jain symbol is the swastika. to be fair, they had it first. but its rather odd being in a building full of elephant statues and mystical priest weirdo guys and scented candles that is adorned with swastikas. also, at the end of this peninsula is a pedestrian only area called banganga tank. it is full of hundreds of little hindu shrines, and the tank is a pool of water surrounded by ghats (steps into the water) where little kids are swimming and rituals with flowers are going on and whatnot. according to hinduism its the center of the world. and here i thought that distinction belonged to boston. on second thought i guess the center of the world and the hub of the universe could be at different places. anyways, it was a cool place. also went down to where the slums meet the ocean there – the water is horridly foul and there is garbage and sewer washing into it. and there were mentally deranged old men swimming in the sewer and they started coming after me so i left. this is india.

almost done. then i went to chowpatty beach which is the hangout of choice for young lovers. wish i had a girlfriend to walk along the beach with (is crying to himself). i drowned my feelings by eating. these little crispy balls of fried goodness called puri that the break a hole in and put lentils, chutney, lemon juice, wonderful paste, yogurt etc. you eat it and then they make you another. its fantastic. basically everything here is fantastic except for the extreme heat and the horrible chaffing that results from the sweat and multiple days of walking all day. but i won’t go into detail on that.

srilankan airline’s successful attempt to fatten me up

fly sri lankan airlines! they served a meal as we flew from kuwait to dubai. then another as we flew from dubai to colombo, sri lanka. and this was by far the most inexpensive leg of my trip so far. i was planning to spend the day in colombo looking at temples and whatnot, as my flight got there at 4:30 am and didn’t leave until midnight. (by the way, i planned this all this way). but i remembered something from the the airline’s website about them providing a free hotel if your layover was long enough, so i decided to ask them because i was very tired. turns out they would provide a free hotel, and before i knew it i was being whisked away by private taxi (at their expense) to what turned out to be a luxurious beachside resort, replete with multiple pools, and unlimited food!!! and it was amazing, gourmet food. might i say that it was the best day of food i have ever had in my life. also unlimited locally grown ceylon tea (ceylon is what you might think of sri lanka as if you’re advanced in years).

so i decided not to even go to colombo, especially after finding out how much it would cost to get a ride there, as the resort was an hour in the opposite direction from the airport. turns out sri lanka is turning into quite the tourist hotspot. there were huge ocean waves that i frolicked in between pool, lounging and eating sessions. they were large enough that when one hit you you lost track of which way was up and by the time you figured it out you were washed 30 feet up onto the shore. and then it was time to run back in the catch the next one. it was a lot of fun. then sri lankan airlines flew me in the middle of the next night to mumbai, india, and – who would have guessed – served another fabulous meal!

americana in the desert – kuwait!

at 2 am i was awoken by the fight attendant – everyone else had already gotten off the plane. i was sooo tired, having not slept at all the night before. dazed, i made my way through the amazingly nice airport, and when it got light out hopped on a random bus into the city. eventually found myself the hotel i had booked (apparently the cheapest accommodation in kuwait but still more than enough for me), where i could drop my huge bag and explore without 40 pounds on my back. kuwait is impressive to say the least. very much like dubai, except without the tourists. amazing architectural masterpieces rising out of the sand on every street corner. went to the famous kuwait towers to get a good view. inside are pictures of how they looked after the iraqi invasion in the early 1990s, along with colorfully hateful descriptions of how bad iraqis are. it seems like the kuwaitis may hate the iraqis almost as much as they hate the israelis, and that’s saying something in this part of the world.

but kuwait loves everything american. american cars, consumer culture – the bottom three floors of every building in the country is a beautiful mall. and they even love the concept of the ring road – there are about nine of them! and there are dunkin donuts and krispy kreme outlets and gourmet coffee houses on literally every corner. there seriously must be thousands of starbucks locations in kuwait city. it is amazing. walked through the huge national mosque. went to the kuwait stock exchange, which was really cool because you can walk right out unto the trading floor with all the traditionally dressed millionaires/billionaires? no one asking me for money here, that’s for sure! went to the fish market – probably the cleanest fish market on the face of the earth. spent the late afternoon exploring one of the nicest malls of all time, anywhere.

next day did some more of the same, along with lots of wandering and sweating while trying to figure out the public transportation system. then headed back to the airport.

a day in addis ababa

didn’t sleep at the nairobi airport – too excited! flight left at 4:30 am, got to addis ababa, ethiopia at 6:30 am. after lots of waiting in lines finally got a visa. on the way out of the airport there was a huge traffic jam of people – turns out it was all caused by an ethiopian family who obviously had never experienced an escalator before and refused to get on it, so they were just standing at the top, debating what they should do next. all the banks were closed and the atm rejected me, so i decided to walk into addis.

i saw a huge orthodox church on the way in, so i walked in that direction. it was sunday morning, so there were thousands of worshipers there and spread out for about half a kilometer in front of the church – woman (all dressed in white clothes) on one side and men on the other. turns out this church is the largest in africa. ethiopia has a vibrant and very ancient orthodox tradition. found a better atm and got a ride to the huge meskel square, the center of addis ababa.

i started walking up the huge hill toward entoto mountain. many orthodox congregations were doing their thing, and they broadcast loud enough that everyone else has no choice but to follow along (although it would be easier if one spoke amharic). explored some fabulously nice hotels, like the sheraton addis. ethiopia’s richest billionaire decided to build the most opulent hotel imaginable in the middle of a huge slum. walked all the way up the hill past many, many churches and slums (it took me all morning) before stopping in to a little random restaurant to get some njera for lunch. its a sour blanket of dough that is made out of a grain called tef that grows only in ethiopia that you use to grab tasty meat sauces with your fingers. washed it down with the best coffee ever – they like it wonderfully strong! ethiopians also love to smoke out their restaurants/houses out with powerfully pungent incense. i was trying to walk all the way up the mountain, but i soon realized that it would take me all day, so i caved and got a taxi. the oldest church in ethiopia is at the top – along with a tremendous vista of addis ababa, a sprawling city of five million souls. took the taxi down again and eventually found out the “nice” guys driving it were actually liars and cheats – they demanded more money. we sat there and argued and for quite a while they wouldn’t let me out of the vehicle. this is one huge problem with africa – unless you know someone you can’t take them at their word. finally gave them all the money i had – it was a lot less than they wanted, and physically forced my way out of the vehicle (they were small guys).

i browsed the national museum, which has bones from the oldest human ever discovered. it started to pour – walked around downtown wet for what seemed like an infinity amongst the beggars and the goats to find a working atm so i could get a taxi back to the airport. a nice little boy (nice until he found out that his net worth wasn’t going to go up very much after hanging out with me – then he got pretty ugly) permanently attached himself to me for the last few hours, as i was starting to get too tired to tell every single person who tried to talk with me (every two seconds in addis) to buzz off.

it was a good day. fell asleep at the gate as the plane was boarding – luckily a nice guy from iran woke me up so i didn’t miss my plane. stopped in manama bahrain, then to kuwait.

good bye to kenya :(

i spent the last week in kijabe on the men’s ward of the hospital. headed into nairobi on friday and made a stop at westgate, the nicest mall in kenya. good thing i didn’t discover it sooner, or i would have gone there far too much! went to my aunt andrea’s house who lives in nairobi – and got to hang out with my aunt sheila and cousin sonya who are on their way through to tanzania; it was a family reunion! there was even supposed to be another aunt and uncle around but unfortunately they are stuck because of the icelandic volcanic ash cloud. i was supposed to leave early saturday, but the airline pushed the flight back to sunday. went out to lunch with my cousin sonya and did some more window shopping. had amazing ethiopian dinner with the extended family, and headed to the airport at around midnight.

i’ve really enjoyed my time in kenya, and learned a lot. the people at kijabe hospital are amazing – they exemplify what it means to truly love people and to make personal sacrifices that translate that love into something tangible – no money involved. and it has definitely confirmed for me that i should be a doctor.

goma, democratic republic of congo

56 bus riding hours and 12 passport stamps later, i’m back in kenya. what a great weekend. lets go back to saturday…

i got up early to catch what was supposed to be a three hour bus ride from kigali to gisenyi, rwanda. like everything in africa, it took considerably longer. playing on the radio were recognizable gospel melodies in the vernacular, kinyarwanda, interspersed with french rap. gisenyi is a nice little town on the shores of lake kivu. apparently its where wealthy rwandans go for holidays, although it has its share of poverty too. apparently lake kivu has compressed gas under the water, that one day will rise to the surface and kill everyone in the vicinity. hopefully not in our lifetimes. went to the market and climbed part way up a mountain where i made friends with some local children. then i took a taxi moto to the border with the democratic republic of congo (drc).

the drc is unfortunately not in a great place right now. they’ve been embroiled in civil war for, well, basically since the europeans arrived, but especially the last few decades. five and a half million people have been violently killed there in the last decade, making it the deadliest conflict globally since world war two. gdp per capita is currently dead last in the world. very recently the infamous lord’s resistance army (lra) (brainwashed child soldiers on hard drugs) from northern uganda have been massacring entire villages in the drc. trying to get into the country was anarchy in itself – about 50 people pushing and shoving their way to one little immigration window. i was polite at first but soon realized that i’d be waiting there all day if i didn’t get aggressive. the change in road quality crossing from rwanda to the drc was almost as bad as crossing from alberta to british columbia (haha) – it went from fantastic to absolutely terrible. no garbage (rwanda doesn’t even allow plastic bags in their territory) to a veritable garbage dump. i walked the one kilometer into the city of goma.

goma is half mud, half lava. there is a huge volcano that erupted a few years ago that buried half the city (including the airport), so that half is still digging out. i only saw one mzungu (white person) all day that wasn’t inside an armored united nations vehicle. we ended up having quite the discussion. he works in conflict resolution, in close collaboration with the upper leadership (like presidents) of the surrounding countries. i got the impression that he doesn’t get to talk to mzungus very much. he seemed desperate to talk about american politics; i obliged. anyway, this guy told me where i could find the market, because literally no one spoke even one word of english.

so i got a taxi moto bike to go to the market. no helmets in the drc. in fact, no rules whatsoever, haha. the market was great. it started pouring rain so i hung out there for a while. used up my extra drc currency before leaving by taking the taxi motos to the far end of town and back. at one point the guy started going the wrong way and when i indicated to turn around he did so very abruptly, and we lost control and crashed into a woman in a yellow dress, knocking her into a huge mud puddle. he kept driving. so that was my half day in the drc. took the late evening bus from gisenyi back to kigali.

next morning i got up extremely early to catch the bus to kampala, uganda, a nine hour journey. decided to go just to kampala, and then get a ticket from there to nairobi later that night so i could hang out there a few hours. went to about four different bus companies before i found one that had a night bus.

i liked kampala. i went to the market which, anywhere in africa, is always sufficient to supply enough chaos for one day. then i went to a shopping center where, after searching for forever to find someone to change some money for me (i couldn’t use my debit card in uganda and all the forex places were closed) i had the most delectable indian food i have ever had in my life for dinner. even got to watch professional indian cricket on a big screen. made me seriously stoked to go to india soon, as if that wasn’t already the case! there were tons of asians in kampala. evidently many came back after idi amin made them all leave. then i caught the night bus back to nairobi.

africa’s jewel – rwanda!

i successfully completed the bus ride from nairobi to kigali rwanda. it was supposed to take 24 hours; it took longer. took the kampala coach – it reeked with an unimaginably horrid stench that made me nauseous for the first time in a really long time. after taking about 45 minutes to move the first 100 meters (nairobi traffic), i could tell it was going to be a long trip. the bus remained about 20 degrees hotter than the outside air all day (the outside air was perfect) – every time i opened the window the people in front of me promptly closed it. the guy beside me wore a winter parka the entire time. we stopped in nakuru and eldoret for some much needed air. somewhere in western kenya one of the back tyres (that’s how they spell it here – blame the british influence) started coming off. we stopped and, in true african fashion, it took about two hours to tighten it back up. i spent the time chatting with the only other mzungu on the bus – a british bloke with an afro who was about my age. at the ugandan border we got out and walked across a muddy no mans land before having to pay more than enough for a visa. got to kampala in the middle of the night for a short stop at kampala coach’s squalid headquarters in the industrial area. got held up for no particular reason at the uganda/rwanda border for a few hours, and for some reason they decided all the luggage couldn’t remain under the bus – it all had to be stacked in the aisles for the rest of the trip.

but the bus trip was more than worth it – kigali is an absolutely beautiful city! the roads are amazing (my cynical side suspects guilt money from the west for not stopping the genocide). there is a 24 hour nakumatt (african walmart) surrounded by a very pleasant mall downtown. for some reason i seem to gravitate toward the malls. i also gravitate toward the slums. the bus station is at the bottom of a huge hill, and when i got there it looked like the downtown was at the top of the hill, so i decided to hike up to it through the slums rather than the main road. the people’s response indicated that i might have been the first mzungu to ever do that. i don’t think i’ve ever felt as conspicuous. everyone just stops in their tracks and stares, and “mzungu,” “mzungu,” “mzungu” is the only word you hear. the kids yell it and run up to touch you which is great, but the hotshot young men say it angrily before spitting on the ground and the women mutter it under their breath.

anyways, at the top of the hill the aura completely changed. beautiful traffic circles with manicured gardens in the middle, numerous brand new glass skyscrapers, etc. rather impressive. just explored for the rest of the day. one can take these taxi motorcycles anywhere in the city for about $1. they give you a helmet that is about ten sizes bigger than anyone’s head, and the straps are invariably broken, so you have to hold on with one hand to keep it there. it would be a lot safer if you could hold on to the back of the bike with both hands and forget the helmet! its wonderful. found a cheap motel – turns out it had a tiny television in the room! so i got to watch tv for the first time in three months!

this morning i went to the genocide memorial center, a very impressive museum that just opened a few years ago to commemorate the infamous 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 – 1,000,000 rwandans. over 250,000 of them are buried right there on site. very sad story. clearly still a very central theme in every single rwandan’s life, as well as the national identity as a whole. also went to the hotel des mille collines – the impetus for the film hotel rwanda. if you haven’t, see it. even most of the modern music videos playing in the restaurants are centered on the genocide. interestingly, rwanda remains the most densely populated country in africa even with all those people, as well as all the refugees who left, gone. a few other random facts about rwanda before i peace out – lusciously green. very mountainous. they love their beer – at least half of every store is devoted to it, as are the vast majority of billboards and roadside stalls. the main reason a tourist would come to rwanda is to see gorillas. but a one day permit to the national park where they live literally costs more than i have in my bank account. everyone speaks french, no english. this makes buying a bus ticket (or anything you can’t just point at) challenging for someone like myself. recently rwanda has become known as a model for the developing world. stellar economic growth. minimal corruption. effective government. its almost as if it doesn’t belong in africa. wonderful place.

hotel des milles collines, of “hotel rwanda” fame, kigali

heading west….

i spent last week in wairegi, the men’s ward of the hospital. i learn a lot from the morning rounds. it is really nice of everyone here to let me join them for their rounds, and ask questions, etc. the ward is extremely crowded, with only about a foot between each bed and beds in the hallway and whatnot. also spent a night in casualty with my friend joel and watched a few too many people die. like one guy not much older than me who we had admitted to the ward that morning for very non life threatening things. a nice guy. he got out of bed and collapsed, and then we got called and tried to revive him but he died. then about five minutes later the same thing happened with a little baby in the nursery. spent the easter weekend at home with the bransfords. there was a very nice sunrise service on sunday morning, followed by a potluck breakfast attended by all the kijabe mzungus. thank God for easter!

a couple weeks ago i swallowed a doxycycline tablet before bed (taking it for malaria prophylaxis). long story short, it stayed in my esophagus and basically burned a hole in it. the pain has been almost unbearable, especially when swallowing. thankfully now it is getting a bit better.

the bransfords left on vacation to mombasa yesterday. because mrs. bransford is not here to cook i eat my dinners at mama chiku’s hotel (around here, hotel means restaurant). i just tell the mama that i want a good meal, because i have no idea what’s on the menu. actually i don’t even think they have a menu. usually what comes out is something like rice, beans, meat and chapattis, for the equivalent of less than $2. yesterday i went to the cure hospital, a separate hospital right beside kijabe hospital that specializes in pediatric orthopedics. i watched some fascinating surgeries, like a club hand repair. and lots of casting of broken bones. monday i went into nairobi to buy a bus ticket for an epic trip that i’m leaving on very shortly. lets just say that if you never see another post here again its probably because i’ve been kidnapped by rebels somewhere deep in the rainforest on the other side of lake victoria…

mzungus in mombasa

i had a funtastic weekend in mombasa! i caught the night bus (eight hours) down on thursday night with a guy named kevan that i met last weekend and kent, his kiwi roommate from the orphanage they volunteer at. wandered around the river road area of nairobi a bit before we left – i can see why some people are scared to go out at night in nairobi! we missed (through no fault of our own) the bus we were supposed to take at 9:30pm, so we had to buy new tickets for a bus at 12:30am. but we got there, and after a great ferry and a little more matatu riding than it turns out was necessary, found the idyllic diani beach and the girls, sonja and ali. found a hotel room a matatu ride from the beach for $12 a night, and us three guys shared a room by putting the mattresses together on the floor. basically spent three days on the beach which was glorious. three study abroad students from the midwest usa came for a couple days too, as did a couple peace corp volunteers and some christian law student volunteers from the uk. good times. also lots of male bonding in our room because it was very necessary to have someone else thoroughly rub aloe into our sunburned backs. one day we went snorkeling out on the reef. eventually found out that kent was a christian too so that was cool!

we spent some time in mombasa town and got a bit of a tour from the friendly peace core workers who live in the area, and just wandering around. mombasa is a very interesting city – predominantly muslim, always very hot and humid, rich history, etc. where else would you find a fort jesus, pentacostal churches, mosques, animists, and jain and hindu temples within extremely close proximity? i liked it. we went to a coffee shop in the old city where they serve coffee with all kinds of delectable spices in it. a few different times.

barely caught another night bus back on monday night, and then went to the boy’s orphanage tuesday morning in a suburb of nairobi called waithaka, just to see where they spend their time. they hang out with preschoolers all day – who are really cute. all in all, i don’t see how the weekend could have been any better! back to the hospital tomorrow!

from kibera to githunguri

i have spent this week with the aidsrelief team, who are a special medical unit fighting valiantly to fight hiv/aids in the kijabe catchment area. they provide free antiretroviral therapy (arvs) and various symptomatic treatment free of charge to all hiv positive people who want it – courtesy of pepfar- the president’s (of the united states) emergency plan for aids relief. so i have been learning a lot about cd4 count trends, viral loads, the various antiretroviral regimens, protocol for switching to second line therapy, etc. two days i spent in their clinic in the hospital – doing rounds of the aids patients who are in the hospital at the time and then clinics. and then i went to two rural clinics in places called gilgil and githunguri, where the clinicians go to the people’s towns for their follow up appointments. because one of the worst things that can happen is that people will start taking arvs and then be inconsistent – and the virus easily develops mutations to the drugs – and they spread it – and next thing you know the drugs won’t work on anyone anymore. so the biggest challenge is keeping people adherent to their regimens. its such a big deal that there are people hired to go around to patients homes and make sure they are taking their meds. remarkably, even though the drugs are the cheaper ones available, many people can live their entire lives on them and never come down with aids.

last weekend, i got to go into nairobi and stay with my aunt who lives there for a couple nights. it was a lot of fun. on sunday we went to nairobi baptist church (huge and basically western despite the lack of mzungus [white people]) and then got some chinese food. and on saturday i hung out with some fellow canadians! two nurses who are volunteering at an internally displaced people (idp) camp, and a guy who is working at an orphanage.

we went to the famous kibera, the second largest slum in the world after soweto south africa, and got a tour from a really cool kenyan guy who lives there. he is spearheading a large number of development projects there, and earns his money by organizing the filming of various documentaries and films such as the constant gardener. it was very interesting just to walk around in the slum – the kids in there certainly weren’t suffering for lack of happiness! conditions were pretty bad though, as you can probably imagine. the worst problem is the lack of garbage and sewage disposal, so those two things in particular tend to pile up all over the place.

we then went to the giraffe center – a place where one can get up close and personal with a special breed of giraffe that is almost extinct. if you put some grass in your mouth the giraffe will kiss you! it was fun. then we went to a japanese restaurant for some pretty good sushi. this weekend i am going with the same peeps to mombasa on the coast (indian ocean), so it should be a great weekend!