JEFF McLEAN'S BLOG | MARTY POUWELSE'S BLOG
- 01/10/2002 - Warts and all... (Mali)
- 14/10/2002 - Timbuktu...Tomboctou...however you say it, it's bloody far away... (Mali)
- 23/10/2002 - Goin' birko over bein' in "Burkina" (Burkina Faso)
- 05/11/2002 - Ouagadougou to Bolgatanga (someone get me a linguistomy fast!) (Ghana)
- 11/11/2002 - Roast to Coast (Ghana)
- 26/11/2002 - Ghana get to Benin and finish this thannnnnnnnnnnng... (Benin)
- 10/12/2002 - Currently slumping in the couch...for a little bit anyway... (Australia)
01/10/2002 - Warts and all... (Mali)
G'day all,
This is going to be short. It's warts and all. This is against my usual principle, but may be good to look at in the light of my next mails. It will also be unusual for the fact that I'm working backwards - venting my spleen at the arrival in Africa, and going backwards through the fun I had in England and Paris last week. Oh, for the simplicity of Europe, and for those of you that know me, you'll know that that is a very odd thing to say...
Some of you may have this opinion of me that I can take quite a lot of things overseas. I can confidently say that I am now at my limit, and maybe beyond. I feel like I cannot trust anyone here - already I have been ripped off to the tune of $70 to stay on the roof of one guys house who claimed to be a guide! I HAVE NEVER FALLEN FOR THAT S***! I stayed on his roof thinking it was for free, but this morning I had no choice but to pay him! I was well short of axing him with my voicebox though...
Landing here at night was a big mistake!
This morning, my "guide friend" actually tried to convince me to spend more! I had to bargain him down from $90. Add to this that I got bitten by a mosquito, which is NOT a good thing to happen here - and you can see why I'm not real happy with the joint.
Furthermore, I have just now been walked around town by a bloke who took pity on me, IN THE OFFICE OF THE TOURISM DIRECTOR OF MALI, because I had something "bad" done to me here, and even that guy pressured me (albeit lightly) for money. I gave him $2 (coz that's the smallest denomination I had) and have just found out that's worth a taxi fare for 20km!
Jeff - doing his bit to skew the local economy! :)
Let me continue in this happy vein...
I can tell you one thing about Mali (or Bamako, the capital city) - it is not like anything I have ever seen! Maybe Papua New Guinea, but Dad and I were no prey there for the hawks, because we were on a #gasp# package tour. (What is HAPPENING to me?? Now I'm espousing the virtues of the package tour. Thank goodness I'm out of the way of people that can commit me!)
I really feel like a walking wallet here and it does not feel good - it seems much worse than India. Adding to that, it is dirty, the germs are a REAL worry here and there is malaria risks and rabies risks. WHY DID I COME HERE??? :) Somewhere deep inside, I love this. I just need to find a bloody great cold chisel to get to that part of me...
So, I guess my first impression is that I just do NOT like it. It will not be below me/us to turn around and come home if this sort of stuff continues, but I'm not expecting it to. Better still, we may go somewhere civilized, like the back blocks of India.
Strong words I know, but them's the breaks! I am hot, sweaty, extremely dirty and in a place that was much more expensive than first thought.
Sooooo, are we all still here? What a happy bustard (yes, that's the hungry winged creature I refer to) I am today...
I am getting mildly happier about being here as I type. I am looking on the lonelyplanet.com site and reading the responses to the question "What's the dirtiest, grungiest, most uncivilized, or crime ridden place you've ever been. Whether it's Medan, Jakarta, Sao Paulo, Cairo, New Delhi, or even New York. What experience did you have there and lived to tell about it?" There's one person that put Bamako in there, and he described it better than me...
I will say, on a very positive side, that the cycling here should be excellent. The desert here is wonderful, the main roads seem relatively good, the heat is not ridiculous (it is bad though) and it will take us out of Bamako. Last night, coming from the airport, the smells of Africa were wonderful. So similar to PNG (if any of you have been lucky enough to go), they are sweet, smoky, earthy and hot. That alone made yesterday for me.
OK, let's go back, waaaaaaaaay back, back in time (briefly) to my time in England and France. You will know that I left Iran, rapt for having been there, and even more loving the place now. I went straight to England where I spent time in heaven - a small, peaceful, calm village called Wicken Bonhunt (Hi Janet and Martin) before jetting off to Paris and getting a visa to this deity forsaken city (no god from any religion would check into a hotel here...)
Paris by night was fantastic, and I can now thoroughly recommend the city. I was somewhat devoid of praise for it, before this defining moment.
The highlight of my time in London (apart from catching up with mates) was definitely the "Don't attack Iraq" march. Masses of people, from very conservative walks of life, turned up for the march and we had a lot of fun. However, the dominant mood amongst people I spoke with was that this was an important junction in the road of world history. I especially loved talking to the man who was born in India, was migrated to Pakistan in the hellish partition of '48, then migrated with his family to Glasgow when very young. He was draped in the Palestinian flag and said something like "anyone that's here today is primarily seeking world peace", rather than the agendas of a few of the more radical groups that would have doubtless appeared on your TV screens. The most enduring memory was a bunch of about 7 women with their black veils on, obviously enjoying the march and screaming out repeatedly "You can stick your war up your arse." We loved it!!!
And now I'm here. Time to venture out into the street again, and try and find some travellers with no agendas that can give me some reliable, non-vested-interest information.
All the best to you all...
Cheers,
Jeff
"Welcome to my nightmare,
I think you're gonna liiiiiiike it..." (I bloody hope so...)
- Alice Cooper, "Welcome to my Nightmare"
POSTSCRIPT : For those of you that have just read this mail that I wrote yesterday and are thinking "He's having a bugger of a time!" you are right - from yesterday's perspective anyway. I sent the above to the first hundred people in my list, and you lot didn't get it yesterday 'coz yahoo only allows me to send to a certain number of people per hour.
However, another day brings another thought, and last night I met some travellers who have been here for a long time. I got info off them that was not of a vested interest and I am starting to feel much better.
After my arrival into the country, if I start to love West Africa, it will truly be one of the most remarkable "love stories" in all history.
And the certainty of the beginning of this feeling that I may like the place came this morning. I have just come from the grottiest "hospital" in the book where I received my final rabies preventative injection. Loosely in French I described that I was after my third such injection, and the doctor calmly and slowly removed a new vaccine kit from the fridge and showed me the outside of the packet and allowed me to read it. He then opened it, and allowed me to read the ENTIRE notes of the kit so I was sure that what I was getting was OK. He made no issue when I questioned him about whether the powder was fully dissolved, nor did he mind when I pointed out there was still air in the needle (which he proceeded to calmly eradicate in front of my eyes.) He was great. And even though I was telling him how to do his job (when I am SURE he would have done the two preceding things anyway), there was not one HINT of indignation in his manner.
This is the Mali I was promised. Bring it on...