Do they know it's Christmas time at all - well yes probably.

I was at my work Christmas party last night and at the end of the night, all of the usual Christmas cheese came on. I was very quite drunk, but got a little bit into the lyrics of Band Aid.

I was obviously at the point of drunkeness when I got a little too into the lyrics and started to think well actually they're a bit ridiculous. So I refused to sing along.

Now I realise all song lyrics are a bit ridiculous, but one one of my pet hates is people to referring to Africa as a whole. I have a friend who always says 'Oh when I went to Africa' and I always say 'You went to Uganda!'. He'd never say, oh I went to Europe, when he was off to France, so why should it be the same for Africa.

So it annoys me when the lyrics say things like 'There won't be snow in Africa at Christmas' as Africa is so massive, that it's entirely different in every country. And actually, there will in some countries. I've been to Morocco just after Christmas and there was plenty of snow in the mountains - we even went skiing.

(Skiing in Morocco)

Similarly the 'Do they know it's Christmas time at all?' Well yes. About 40% of the Africa population is Christian and so Christmas is one of the most important events in the Christian calendar. Even if they don't celebrate it in the same was as us, with a tree and presents, Christmas is still a time of family and giving and most Christians will try to go to church and celebrate on Christmas day.

(Christmas in Namibia - 2009)

Similarly, the bit about 'where nothing ever grows' only really applies to a very small percentage of Africa areas, and even Ethiopia, which is was written about, is very fertile in the west of the country.

(Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia)

(Eating wild peas on a walk in the Highlands in Northwest Ethiopia)

So there we go, rant over, but this is one Christmas song I won't be listening to if I can help it this Christmas.

...and the start of a new one!

So, following on from my previous post I am very impressed with the speed of the passport service. Forget the 6 weeks they say it may take, I had my new passport back less than a week after I sent it! How's that for service??

But - wow how passports have changed since I got mine back in 2004 - well and even since friends who have got them in the last few years.

Apparently they've added loads of touches to make them harder to forge - like 'canal' 'mountain range' along with matching illustrations on each page. The other new security features are a chip, watermark, biographical page and secondary image and new design theme. Colourful! The photo page has moved to the front, and is flimsy and a little blurred as there are so many holograms on it. 

I'm off to Cape Town again in January so hopefully it will be real and they'll actually let me in!

The End of an Era

It is the end of an era. I have to get a new passport. Not because it's expired, but because there is no room left for visa or stamps. Well, there is actually a fair bit of room left, but a certain country in the South of Africa is particularly fussy, and will only let you in if you have 4 blank pages.

I don't understand how this makes sense, as the entry stamp is about an inch in diameter, so clearly can be squeezed in anywhere, but apparently, as I found out when I tried to go to Cape Town in October, they don't agree.

After my 2 gap years, and various other holidays in-between, my passport is looking pretty full. As certain countries have very pretty visas which take up a whole page, and you only get about 27 pages once the printed ones have been counted, it's hardly surprising.

(This Kenyan Visa is one of my fav's as it has the Big 5 on it!)

(Thailand, Bolivia, South Africa)

(Nepal - going in and out of Tibet)

In 2009 when I was heading to South Africa, I panicked as I only had 3 entirely blank pages in my passport, and was worried that they wouldn't let me in, so I paperclipped them together so that noone else would stamp on them first. As it happened, crossing in from Namibia, they really didn't care, and so stamped elsewhere. My pages have survived being paperclipped together, through 20 country entries since then (Australia-New Zealand-Cook Islands-New Zealand-Fiji-New Zealand-Chile-Bolivia-Argentina-Bolivia-Peru-Panama-Peru-Argentina-Brazil and then Gibraltar, Malaysia-Singapore-Malaysia and South Africa), until I got to Cape Town in October, when they advised that they were seriously thinking about sending me straight back to England.

(My coolest stamp - although I'm not sure it's allowed - Machu Picchu)

(My 'annulado' - cancelled stamp. I got stamped into Uruguay in Buenos Aires, and then my flight was cancelled so I stayed in Argentina and my visa was cancelled)

So, as I'm heading back to Cape Town in January, I'm currently passportless as I'm applying for my new one.

(I love that the stamps say where you've been in and out off - very cool when you're travelling overland. This page shows Zanzibar (they count it as a different country to Tanzania so you get stamped in and out), Fiji, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia)

It's a sad state to be in. Not that I was planning on heading out anywhere between now and then, but I don't like feeling that I can't.

But...I am excited to have all those blank pages to fill up again.....

Ooompa Lumpa Makeover? Anyone?

I'd been meaning to buy some new foundation for ages as I'd been feeling a bit blotchy and uneven. I don't really wear make up very often, and so wanted something really natural, that would just smooth me out a bit, and not look like I was wearing make up at all.

So we went to Selfridges on a Sunday morning, definitely not looking our best after a Saturday night out, and in need of some pampering.

The first counter I went to, was Bare Essentials, and the girl was very enthusiastic about transforming my face. I have to admit, I did look very smooth...but also very much like I'd been tangoed. It's hard to tell exactly under the harsh shop lights, but as I walked away from the stand, not only did I feel a bit cakey (she'd put a lot more layers on than I was really after) but I was also worried that I was looking like an extra for Willy Wonka.

So we wandered on. I was feeling very self concious as I knew I was looking slightly worse for wear after the night out, and I really didn't want to be orange and slightly worse for wear. We approached the Mac counter. After wandering around slightly aimlessly, we were advised that you have to go to the booth to get a makeover.

The woman looked at me, and said 'I don't mean to be rude - but is that your normal foundation?' When I shook my head very enthusiastically, and explained what had happened she said 'Phew, how can they do that to you!!'

Similarly, when I told one of my colleagues what had happened, she looked horrified and said 'But I thought they weren't allowed to do that to people?'. I don't think she'd purposely made me look like an oompa lumpa, I'm pretty sure that she thought that's what I wanted to look like! And she herself was pretty orange - I assume on purpose!!

So I came away with some Mac foundation which does exactly what I wanted - smooths me out without looking like I'm wearing make up. On the recommendation of most of my friends I also bought some Benefit tinted moisturiser and I am in love with it! Not only does it smooth me out, but it also smells like flowers - in a very nice way! Successful mission!

Christmas Shoeboxes

It's that time of year again! Shoebox O'clock! I can't remember when I first got involved with Operation Christmas Child through church, and made a shoebox. If I was properly story telling I would want to say hundreds of years ago, but I'm really not that old!

It became a normal part of the Christmas preparations for me, and one year me and Laura made something ridiculous like 30 shoeboxes between us, saving up all of our pocket money. (There is a photo somewhere of me lying on my floor in my school uniform entirely surrounded by shoeboxes, but this was in the days before digital cameras and so it's probably 'somewhere safe' in my parents house.)

Last year I'd just moved to London, and the year before I was somewhere around Uganda at this time of year, and so when someone mentioned Operation Christmas Child, and the shoebox appeal at work last week, I got very excited.

I'd forgotten how much fun it is shopping for loads of little things that we take for granted as having, for someone else. I had a lot of fun raiding the shops on my way home from work one night, and then all along Oxford Street after giving blood one evening, and got an amazing array of items. Things I hadn't really thought about getting seemed to pop out at me along the way, like a skipping rope, and a very cool multi pocket pencil case.

I decided to do one for a boy and one for a girl, both ages 10-14years, as I imagine that more people do ones for younger children, as it is much easier to buy toys to fill them. I based my shopping lists on hanging out with the older children at the Walk in Kenya. Anything that was associated with film stars, such as big hats, sunglasses and sneakers was deemed as cool and so the most coveted item. I'll never forget the day one boy insisted on squeezing himself into some pink converse style trainers, and refusing to take them off and put the navy ones which were meant for him on. I have to admit though, with his aviator style sunglasses, and a black scarf, he did look every inch the film star.

So here are my boxes...

There is the added excitement this year of being able to track your shoeboxes!! I've dutifully added my barcode into my girl boy and to be honest, even if it was made up, I'm still going to be so excited when I hear in January where my box ended up.

Random Thoughts

I have many random thoughts. They usually come to me at times when I'm alone for a while, such as walking to work, or sorting things in the stock cupboards at work.

Today, I'd been sorting out suitcases and so had got very dusty hands. I needed to go to the toilet, and had the dilemma of whether to wash all the dirt off my hands, then go to the toilet, and then wash my hands again, or to go to the toilet with dirty hands, and then wash my hands only once.

And then I found my keys....

Hanging Loop Removal Surgery

I have a bit of a dislike of hanging loops in clothes. Ok, well a big dislike! Sometimes, they are genuinely useful, but 99% of the time, I don't think they are. I usually cut them out as soon as I buy something, but sometimes will forget and then spend the whole day being annoyed when they slip out and are hanging around under your arms looking weird.

So i've been collecting them up from when I cut them out of my clothes and now seem to have a collection of nicely coordinating bits of ribbon. I made loads of ribbon purses before Christmas which sold really well, out of scraps of ribbon and vintage lace from my ribbon tin, and so thought about using these to make some purses in a similar style?

I think these look quite pretty and are definitely a good use of the spare ribbons! It's all about the reduce reuse recycle! Love it!

Adventure O'clock!

So...it's been over a year since I returned from my Big Travelling Adventure and so high time that I went somewhere else. Not that I haven't been on holiday since I returned, I've been to Wales, Gibraltar, Cornwall, amongst other places...but now I'm itching to go somewhere further away....to do some proper backpacking.

Sadly, (well not sadly becuase I love it, just sadly becuase it means not much time off) as I now have what my Dad would call a 'proper job' (some of my friends would argue this point as it still involves buttons and hat wearing) I only have a limited amount of holiday time.

My conversation with my boss went along the lines of:

'How much holiday can I book off in one go?' (me)

'Well most people just book a week, or 10 days, but 2 weeks I suppose' (boss)

'What happens if I accidentally book flights 3 weeks apart?' (me)

'Well....we'll see what happens' (boss)

Well then  as it turned out, on the dates we picked to start looking for flights, they were £200 cheaper than flights on any other days. I've no idea why. Hopefully we are actually travelling on an aeroplane, and not on a severely long distance bus! And yes, they happen to be 3 weeks apart.

So I'm off to Malaysia for some sunshine and adventuring! The decision went along the lines of me having a conversation with my friend Sharon, who is Malaysian, being offended that I'd been to Thailand and Singapore, but not Malaysia. Like I'd deliberately skipped going there (I didn't - Singapore = 2005, Thailand = 2006).

So when my friend Claire said she wanted to go somewhere hot where she could dive, it was an easy choice!

Now, with a week to go, I'm dealing with daily random questions from the lovely little Claire. Things like:

'Do we need malaria tablets?'

'Do we need leech socks?'

'Should I take travellers cheques?'

'What should I pack?'

'Do I need a visa?'

The answers to which are: I don't know, but I'm sure we can buy them there; hopefully not; nope, you can never find anywhere to change them at a good rate; not too much; no.

Hopefully that means we're now sorted and ready to go!!

In the meantime I'm going to admire my beautiful new fabric map from Etsy, and dream of where I'll be in a weeks time :o)

Sausages, Mushrooms & Other Stew Ingredients

I love cooking and especially cooking with random ingredients and making stew concoctions. Last night, it was raining and so I couldn't be bothered to go to Sainsburys and so raided my shelf in the fridge and the freezer.

I ended up making a bit of a hot pot which had: Sausages (I don't normally eat them for fear of what's hiding in processed meat, but they were finest ones), onions, tomatoes, lentils, potatoes, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. Oh, and a stock cube. Yum!

It was a bit runny though and very lumpy and so after eating a bowl full, I blended the rest into incredibly delicious soup!! I've never made sausage soup before but they are a seriously good addition!!!

My wish list...

I've noticed that all magazines and blogs are at the moment encouraging us to re-vamp our wardrobe, get the new back to school makeover, and buy lots of new clothes. As I'm currently saving for my holiday, shopping is definitely on the list. But for the day I win the lottery...here is my current wish list:

Orla Kiely for People Tree (and it's got tea pots embroidered all over it!!)

Emma Watson in Erdem (ok, so I know it's last season, but I love it more than the Fall collection)

Cosmoparis' Anabel sandels - I want!

Better avoid the Vogue Fashion Party tomorrow night then...

Interview, Sales & Other Reasons To Go Shopping

Twice a month I have a Wednesday off and I always try to use my Wednesdays wisely. On this particular Wednesday, as well as going to my usual Barre & Stretch Class and Jazz Class at Pineapple, and going along to give blood, I also did a spot of sale shopping.

I was on Oxford Street anyway, as I went to the West London Blood Centre and so seeing as there were all these big red inviting signs saying 'Sale' everywhere...I couldn't really say no!

I ended up buying this outfit which is pretty good going seeing as I'd been after a pair of smart black shorts and a yellow cardigan for ages. And then the Shirt was so cute I couldn't resist.

I did feel slightly bad when I got home but the whole outfit only cost £39 which is pretty amazing really! So where's it all from...

1. Cardigan = Mango £11

2. Blouse = Urban Outfitters £18

3. Shorts = Gap £9.99

I wore it to my interview at work...fingers crossed it made a good impression!



How Far Away Is The Storm?

As I've mentioned before, I love a good thunderstorm. It's such a nice feeling to be curled up inside, preferably wrapped in your duvet, listening to the rain pounding on the roof, and the thunder rolling around the sky.

I especially love the vibrations of the thunder rolling around and the sense of electricity in the air.

One of the most amazing thunderstorms i ever saw was when we were in Tingri, on the way to Mount Everest Base Camp, in Tibet. Tingri is at 4,300m altitude and so you feel like the storm is literally happening around you, and you really are on top of the world.

(This is a town, although the few houses either side of the one road literally are it!)

We spent hours crouched in the corner by the door of our room that night, with one person on 'rabid dog' watch - a handful of stones to throw at them if they came too near, whilst we took photo after photo, trying to capture the power of the storm. This is my best one, which I'm pretty pleased with.

I was always taught, when I was younger, that to find out how far away the storm was, you had to count the seconds in between the lightening flash, and the start of the thunder growl. This used to reassure me as we had some pretty terrifying storms right on top of us when we camped in France every summer, and I used to get so relieved when the counts would start to increase.

I had a look on the Internet recently, whilst we were in the middle of a pretty electric summer storm here in London, and it said that actually every 5 seconds = one mile. Seeing as that would mean that the storm was much closer than I thought it was, I think I'll stick with my counting!

Playsuiting Around

I bought (well got with my allowance) a Johnnie b playsuit earlier this year, as I'm too short for adult Boden clothes and am a child at heart so I think quite suit the childrens ranges. Anyway, I absolutely adore my Johnnie b playsuit (below left - Navy Boat Print) and wear it all the time and was looking at the other styles, but didn't really like any of the other prints or colours and so decided to buy some cotton fabric and make my own. 

If you haven't ever been to Goldhawk Road (London) then go now. If you at all like fabric it's just like being a child in a sweet shop. As soon as you come out of the tube station, and turn right along the main road, there is shop after shop after shop all crammed full of fabric.

I went in to help a friend buy some fabric for experimenting with her new sewing machine and fell in love with this Strawberry print fabric. If you've seen my website at all, you've probably noticed that I have a big obsession with strawberries and am always felting them to make my beautiful necklaces. Although I'm not sure I should really wear this playsuit with a necklace...might be a bit of an overload!

Train Travel & Other Adventures ~ No.5

So the last part of my recent foreign train adventures were in the south of Argentina, in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. This was the most expensive train of the trip and it doesn't really go anywhere, it's just a tourist attraction because it's called El Tren Del Fin Del Mundo (translated as the Train at the end of the World).

After eagerly scanning my Lonely Planet (of the whole of South America - that is one beasty book!) and realising my plan to travel the continent by train was not going to happen, as there aren't really any, this was added to my list of 'trains that don't really go anywhere but I want to go on anyway!'

Patagonia was one of the top places to travel when I made my vague list of where I wanted to travel to and it certainly was stunning. Although Ushuaia is miles away from anywhere, and really inconvenient to get to, I really wanted to go as it is pretty much the furthest south you can get without being in the sea or going to the South Pole. As I didn't have much room left in my passport for visa stamps (it would have been 1. exit Argentina, 2. Arrive Chile, 3. Leave Chile, 4. Arrive Argentina - repeat on the way back) and 12 hours by dodgy road, I found flights from Rio Gallegos for not much more than the bus ticket, and it was only an hour and a half flight.

Ushuaia was equally stunning and had the most snow I'd ever seen! As we travelled south, I kept getting really excited that there was loads of snow, and then in the next place there would be more...and then in Ushuaia MASSES!!!

As there was so much snow, we went Husky dog sledging in one of the ski resorts and as it was so quiet there, I got to drive the sledge! So exciting! But back to trains...So we caught the Tren del Fin del Mundo which used to be the prison train and take the prisoners out to cut firewood in the forests to the train journey was a bit of a tour like that. When we got to the Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) national park, most people caught the train straight back again, or headed to one of the lodges for a leisurely lunch. But me and Livia had other ideas and so we went hiking...in deep snow...with more falling...

I have to say that it was not the best idea we've ever had, as we couldn't see the path, so kept getting lost and disorientated, and we got soaking wet as the snow was so thick and deep, but it was beautiful, and very peaceful. We saw seals playing in a frozen lake, and then had a picnic - very appropriate for this time of year!

So that completes my recent train travelling adventures. Although I am off to Malaysia in a few weeks time so may have more adventures to come.

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures ~ No.4

South America!! Which was surprisingly much easier to travel around than I'd thought it would be. And the Cama buses. Oh how I wish National Express would introduce them for journeys here, it really is the way to travel!!

But I still didn't neglect my trains, and so the first journey was an overnight train from Villazon, in Bolivia, just over the border from Argentina to Oruru, about 4 hours from La Paz. The first challenge was making it to the train station on time. My 16 hour bus to take me to the Argentine border, La Quiaca was only 2 hours late, but then it took 4 hours to queue to get through immigration. By this time, everyone was telling me that the tickets would have sold out, but when i arrived at the ticket office with about half an hour to spare, there were plenty of 2nd Class tickets available, which entitled me to a little bit reclining seat, plenty of legroom and a heater! Perfect!!

The journey was quite terrifying, as there were sections where the earth had entirely eroded away, on some of the cliff edges, and the rails were literally hanging over nothing, but I am not sure that the roads would have been any better! I had 2 seats to myself so had plenty of room and a man arrived first thing in the morning with a steaming pot of tea.

We then thought the easy bit was getting the bus from Oruru to La Paz, as it was only a few hours, and the bus touts wait at the station to herd you all onto their buses so they can leave straight away. Unfortunately, about an hour into our journey, the driver pulled off the road, and drove into the middle of nowhere, and then stopped the bus and demanded more money from everyone before he would continue. I would have understood more if the bus was full of tourists, as they would be an easy target, but there was only me and 2 Belgian guys on the bus who weren't Bolivians.

So the arguments started....and continued....through my basic Spanish I got that they were asking 5 Bolivianos more from everyone. Considering there was about 4.6 to £1 when I was there, that really isn't anything, but when you consider that we only paid 15 Bolivianos in the first place, it is quite an increase.

Eventually everyone realised that we didn't really have a choice so we all paid up and continued on our way to La Paz!

My next train journey was actually in Panama and was much more civilised, but also much more expensive. I took the tourist railway along the Panama canal from Panama City to Colon. Colon is pretty scary, but I managed to find the largest taxi driver I've ever seen in my life, who ended up pretty much proposing to me, but also showed me all around the Panama canal and it is really interesting watching all the ships being raised and lowered to get through.

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures ~ No.3

So, going in a logical order, part 3 would be our mission of a train journey from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

This took some precise timing, as the 'Ordinary' (cheaper) train only runs once a week, and the 'Express' (more expensive) train also only runs once a week, but luckily everything worked out well so we were in Dar to get the 'Ordinary' train.

Seeing as there were 3 of us, we splashed out and bought a whole first class cabin (4 berth) which we had to do if we wanted to share, as mixed sexes can't share open cabins. This worked out very well for some South African guys we'd met on the ferry coming back from Zanzibar, as there were 5 of them, but the 6 berth cabins had 2 top bunks, so close to the metal ceiling of the train, it was literally like being in an oven. So one of them was very relieved to come and stay in our cabin!

Dar es Salaam ► Mbeya ► Kapiri Mposhi
km	Classes:		"Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro" Express train 1S, 2S, 2, 3, M or R	Mukuba" or "Kilimanjaro" Ordinary train 1S, 2S, 2, 3, R
0	Dar es Salaam	depart	15:50  Tuesdays	13:50   Fridays
849	Mbeya	arrive depart	13:08   Wednesdays 13:23   Wednesdays	14:10   Saturdays 14:40   Saturdays
969	Tunduma (frontier)	arrive depart	17:02   Wednesdays 17:17   Wednesdays	18:38   Saturdays 18:53   Saturdays
970	Nakonde	arrive depart	16:22   Wednesdays 16:47   Wednesdays	17:58   Saturdays 18:18   Saturdays
1852	Kapiri Mposhi (New)	arrive	09:26   Thursdays	13:37   Sundays

It ended up costing us about 72,000TSH each to book the whole cabin, but seeing as there were 2,200TSH to £1 when we were there, this was about £32 each and so not too bad.

The train left the station only about 3 hours late, which was not too bad. We'd been rightly told that the train cafe starts off serving pretty nice food...but as you get further into the journey, and they run out of everything, you get the choice of rice....or chips...or rice. So we'd brought our own supplies of 'train food' mainly in the form of Baked Beans (Heinz of course!), Mangoes and crisps. The train carriage had a lock on the inside of the door, but not one on the outside, and a big sign saying that Tanzania Railways would not be held responsible if (they mean when) your stuff gets stolen. So this meant that at least one of us had to stay in the compartment at all times, to be on guard.

The landscape was incredibly beautiful, so we sent much of the journey hoping to spot lions and elephants out of the windows. We didn't see any, but we did see some 15ft high termite mounds...apparently Zambia has a termite problem!!

We had bought our Visas in Dar in advance as we were told you couldn't buy them on the train (you could, and for exactly the same price), and by the time we crossed the border, it was around midnight, so whilst cosily tucked up in our very comfy bunks, the customs official came round and stamped us out of Tanzania. We were then stamped into Zambia at a much more reasonable time of about 7am. I've never been through customs in bed before, but it was so smooth and easy! I think more borders should allow it!!

Despite leaving only a few hours late, we arrived into Kapiri Mposhi around 8 hours late, but impressively enough, the matatus were there waiting, ready to take us straight on to the capital, Lusaka, where we found a lovely hostel to spend the night. 

So 56 hours spent on a train...without getting off! Definitely an experience, and one that would be hard to beat! Trans-Siberian next...

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures ~ No.2

To continue on with my train adventures from my post before, on my Gap Year trip last year, I spent a lot of time travelling my train. The website http://www.seat61.com/ is incredibly helpful, as was my trusty Lonely Planet.

I always feel that train travel is safer than going by road, and also you can get up and wander around, and have a proper bed to sleep in. Even though it sometimes took longer to go by train, I always prefer it to road travel as I hate sitting still in a confined space for that long.

So we started off in Egypt with an overnight train from Cairo to Aswan, and then one back from Luxor to Cairo. The one on the way down had pretty comfy seats, and was full of backpackers, but on the way back up we were in a small compartment with 3 very upright seats and I appeared to be the only women on the train so we always had a crowd hanging around outside. Not a good nights sleep!

The next train we caught was in Tanzania. We were in Kampala, Uganda and wanted to get to Moshi, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Everyone we spoke to suggested getting a 24 hour bus, which went back through Kenya, but #1. I didn't want to spend 24 hours on a bus, and #2. I didn't want to pay another $25 for a Kenyan visa when we'd just come from there.

So instead, I decided that we should sail across Lake Victoria, to Mwanza, then catch the train from Mwanza to Dodoma, and then the bus from there to Moshi. We went to the port in Kampala to try and see about getting a boat across to Mwanza, but were told that since the ferries had sunk in 2007, there was no passenger ferry, and the only way to get across was to hang around and wait for a cargo ship. Seeing as there was a couple who had been waiting for 4 days already, I decided to go for Plan B, which was to get a bus to just across the border, in Tanzania, and then catch a more reliable passenger ferry from there.

I had met some missionaries when rafting down the Nile in Uganda who said we couldn't possibly go to Mwanza, as it was a dirty town, full of drugs, sex and prostitutes. We then stayed with this English man on Banda Island in Lake Victoria, who said we simply must go to Mwanza, as it was full of drugs, sex and prostitutes.....

The bus to take us to the ferry port ran once a day, at 11am, and took 7 hours. Seeing as the ferry left at 9pm, I thought 3 hours was a very reasonable leeway. But I forgot, we were on African time. So at 4pm, after about 4 hours of me shouting at the bus driver, telling him we had ferry tickets and would be really angry if we missed it...the bus finally left. I'm sure the bus driver was trying his hardest to get us there on time, or maybe he just normally drove at the speed, but funnily enough, we didn't make it, and crossed the border into Tanzania at 8.30pm.

By this point, I think the bus driver felt pretty bad, and so arranged for a taxi, paid for by the bus company, to take us, and a Tanzanian guy and try and race to the ferry port before the boat left. Sadly, we didn't make it, but luckily the Tanzanian guy knew that the boat left Bukoba at 9pm, and then docked not far down the coast in Kemondo bay port, to load up with cargo, mainly bananas it seemed. We negotiated with the taxi driver to pay him a little bit extra, and then raced to the cargo port where thankfully the ferry was waiting.

Unfortunately, by this point, all of the cabins and first class seats had sold out, and so we had to travel in 2nd Class seating, where as everyone else had been on the boat for a couple of hours, and so was asleep, there were no seats left, so I spent the night in the luggage rack, watching rats and cockroaches run across the pipes worryingly close to my head.

The MV Bukoba, a previous ferry, sank in 1996, killing about 800 people, which showed the level of overcrowding, as the capacity was 430. As we were right in the belly of the boat it was so creaking and loud, and when I got woken up in the middle of the night, by the boat juddering to a halt, and went up on deck to go to the toilet and saw a little old lady standing on the railings wearing a white frilly nightie. Obviously I wasn't on the Titanic, but it was a proper deja vu moment, and I was absolutely convinced that the boat was going to sink, just probably not by hitting an iceberg!

We docked at 6am, and spent the day in the Swimming Pool at a local hotel, waiting until the 6pm train and the entire day passed without seeing any sex, or prostitutes, or being offered drugs. Maybe we went to the wrong Mwanza?

(note the shape of the pool?)

The train came spot on time, and we paid about TSH 5200 (£25)  for a 2 berth very comfy compartment, made up with freshly starched Linen. The only downside was the toilet, which was a worrying large hole in the ground that I was worried I might fall through and it was a little distracting watching the tracks whizz past whilst trying to squat!!

Although we left spot on time, we still managed to arrive late into Dodoma, which although this is technically the capital of Tanzania, it is tiny and only has a few paved roads. The next morning we got on a bus which we thought would take us to Moshi in about 5 hours...except the road was closed as it had turned into a swamp thanks to all the recent rain, and so we took a detour almost via Dar Es Salaam which took 10 hours instead!! But at least we made it to Moshi!!