Yesterday tried to buy a Canadian passport. After being lead down an alley to a small dark room, met someone who arranged for someone else to meet me in a dark seedy bar. Very 'Sopranos'! Eventually met a guy with a stack of stolen passports.

Why?... Heard about the Mumbai terrorist attacks & how they singled out all the Brits & Yanks.

Odds are against it happening to me... so it's not worth the $500 the guy was asking... but willing to pay $50 for a fake one. Doubt in a crisis situation the authenticity would be examined~

In case you don't know, the whole world respects the Canucks.

Where does the stuff we don't want go? Used to think old clothes ended up in places like Goodwill. And having been in the magazine biz, knew some magazines without time-sensitive info (like porn) are shipped overseas but believed the rest occupied our landfills.

Never would have imagined 6-yr old copies of Time being sold on the streets of Nairobi... & those copies being bought by women wearing my old clothes.

Can't tell you how many times thought "I used to have that sweater" or laughed at a man wearing an old high school cheerleading jacket. And for my UofI grad friends, seems all your old stuff ended up in Ethiopia.

Probably saw 20,000 Kadak bags in Yemen. Guess Kodak got a ton of misspelled bags & dumped 'em where they thought no one would notice.

But on a sad & serious note, we're also selling our old computers & cell phones to the 3rd world where people who are paid pennies a day pick out the miniscule bits of copper. Then the rest is burned... emitting toxic fumes into the atmosphere & seriously harming these peoples' lungs. And it's not just electronics... it's all the things we never think of. The shores of Bangladesh are covered with the skeletons of our retired freighters & cruise ships.

Maybe we'll learn something from the banking scandal... maybe we'll realize we're all interconnected & when we allow even a few greedy individuals to continue unjust business practices it eventually comes around to hurt us all.

Having to come back to Nairobi to have see the eye doc again means I'm gonna hit Tanzania at the high season. While Xmas on Zanzibar sounds delightful... high season means high prices. So totally rethinking my E. Africa route & begining the W. Africa plans. (Need to find out if I should be getting visas here in Nairobi.) Would love your opinion - just threw up two polls on the right, please take a moment to answer them.

Can't find a decent internet connection in Nairobi!! After trying for 2 days & countless hours, was finally able to upload the photos from the safari. Enjoy! 

Oh, & the photo of this elephant, just taken while on a public road (on the hellish hitchhicking trip from the north). Also, while on the bus both from & back to Nairobi saw heards of wild zebras! 

Kenya (click here to view)

Heard Obama's planning to close Guantanamo Bay.... worried what that'll do to the Yemenis. That's their favorite joke! Can't tell you how many times heard: "Do that & you'll end up in Guantanamo!" or something thing like "And now he's in Guantanamo!"

Safaris are expensive. Park fees in Kenya are $40 & Tanzania charges $100! That's just to enter.

Traveling you see & hear so many weird, random things & most get lost in between the bigger happenings. So gonna start posting some in a new little area on the far right of the site called "random funny".

Some of my favorites that coulda gotten posted:

• Spotting an elephant in the back of a truck followed moments later by a man walking down the street on all fours, complete with shoes on his hands. [Laos]
• A man wearing only a pink towel walking across the street while carrying a dead chicken like a baby. [Cambodia]
• A totally decked out tribal man complete with a loin cloth, beads & a walking stick asking me for a lift. (Had to tell him I'd hitched myself, ask the driver.) [week ago in Kenya]

So check out the right for what's making me giggle today...

Tried travelling without a guidebook. Quickly gave that up. Just having an idea of the price of things pays for the book. Asia was great - loads of cheap, illegal photocopied books available & many used book shops. But the Middle East & Africa... haven't really found any. So been paying US prices plus $10 for a guidebook.

For decades, my old standby's been Lonely Planet. But they've gone downhill. Heard one traveler refer to them as 'Lonely Fu*king Liars'. For Yemen tried Brandt Guides. With guidebooks for cool countries like North Korea, Iraq & every obscure, war torn country in Africa, thought they'd be great. Nope... Lonely Fu*king Liars might not be stellar but they're still the best.

Lonely Planet recently started selling downloadable books online. Now, no more weight from the book (just store it on the computer) & you only have to pay for the chapters you want. Excellent!

Plus, they offer some chapters for free. Well... took their free "Congo" chapter. It's not much, the entire Congo section consists of just the town of Goma. Heard of it? I hadn't. Know the Congo is one of the world's most dangerous countries, but supposedly so is Yemen. And the book made Goma sound so fantastic, instantly decided had to go!

Since seen the news. Goma, Congo is a hotspot... for rebels - not tourists. The lesson here... don't trust any guidebook. Gotta follow the news & ask locals too. (Recommend Google's email news service... they email me the top news stories for the country I'm in & the next one or two I'm headed to.)

An interesting side note:
As of mid-2007, the Congo's civil war (which officially ended in 2003) has killed 5.4 million people making it the world's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Sans signs, most borders are transparent. But Ethiopia/Kenya... like night & day. Ethiopia echoed with cries of "You! You! You! Money! Money! Money!" & the Ethiopian border guards were asses that made me wait while touts tried to con me.

Finally get to walk into Kenya... the pavement ends, the border guards smile, & nice people, who don't want money, give me directions. Few hours later realize gotta go back... I'd walked right into Kenya without getting a visa!! But tell the guards I'm trying to get to Nairobi to party when Obama wins... & it's no problem.

Onward transport... now that's a problem. Couldn't arrange anything for the next day... but talked to loads of great people. Early the next morning, still having problems with transport, mention I'm trying to get to Nairobi to party when Obama wins... 20mins later, I'm in the back of a covered Toyota Landcruiser.

Sounds luxurious. It was anything but! Metal bench of a seat & again, the road's not paved... & there's REALLY big potholes & rocks. Bounced around & bruised so badly, felt like a piece of popcorn. After flopping on the floor the 2nd time in the 1st hour, realizing there's 7 more hours of this, wondering what I'd gotten myself into, started crying a bit. But put on my headphones & the first song that plays... a beautiful travel song which reminded me it's all worth it.

The truck eventually stops... flat tire. No problem, there's 3 spares. While waiting, talk to the passenger on the cushy front seat. Turns out he's a Catholic priest & he offers to share his seat with me. Overly unselfish, tell him there's a very old man in back that needs it more. But good news... since it's a small truck with a maniac driver, the journey's 4hrs not 8.

Finally get to Marsabit, the next town... find a great $5 room, set in a garden, with hot water & satellite TV. But turn on the TV... 16 channels ALL with the same Christian Evangelist! That's ok... my body's exhausted & sleep all afternoon. At night, talk to tons of great, friendly people. Except one... a drunk grabbed my ass & next thing I know, like a lynch mob, the group beats him up! Badly!

Next day, only one cattle truck's going my way... & it's raining. The hotel's nice enough... decide to take my chances tomorrow. But mention Obama again & a group of Kenyan businessmen offer to take me with them later that afternoon. Kill the time talking to other great guests & when it's time to go... everyone tells me they'll miss me. Oh & the truck these businessmen have... softest seat my poor, bruised butt could ever hope for... & a seatbelt to keep me from flying in the air. Even better... on the way see mongeese, baboons, jackals, huge groups of camels & even a small herd of elephants!!!

Get to the next town... decide to push on to Nairobi the next morning. Pack, about to walk out the door, realize I'd left my jacket in yesterday's truck! And don't know how to get a hold of those guys. All I know is the name of the town we came from & that they build dams. Well Obama's been good to me... decide to up the anti... tell everyone in town I need to get to Nairobi to VOTE for Obama. And EVERYONE starts searching! I'm taken on a motorcycle to look for the truck. Amazingly we find it! But some kid's just taken off with my jacket. Head back to town & pass a boy running as fast as he can with my jacket! I see him, he sees me, jump off the motorcycle & he drops to his knees & holds my jacket above his head!! The 3 of us get on the motorcycle & head back to town.

Since this is several hours later, the bus is now gone. But some guy offers to take me with him & his friend to Nairobi. Little did I know I'd first have to have tea, then lunch at both their houses... then meet everyone in the neighborhood... then go to church to have the car blessed! After we all pray, finally take off singing "Cumbyja My Lord", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" & every other Sunday school song I've tried to forget!

Don't know if it's that Kenyans are that nice or Obama's that good... either way, I've sure been lucky!

Ethiopia... there were some nice points... but a lot sucked.

My farewell to Addis pretty much sums it up. A donkey knocked me across the road, 2 different guys hit me for attention & then a nice lady wouldn't accept money for a spool of tread.

Same deal next day to Awasa. Needed the police to get a fair price for a sliver of a seat in the back of a hot, crowded bus. But had the cutest, most precocious 3yr climb on my lap, fix my hair & feed me. And when she left... she turned & said "Chow farangi [foreigner]." Oh, & the bus, decided not to go all the way to our destination. Had to find another bus - but some guy from the first bus paid for 2nd ticket.

And Awasa... supposedly a quaint, lakeside town with a good, cheap hotel with satellite TV. I'm dying for news. But the satellite was broke, the hotel double priced, even with the guy from the bus negotiating... & this guy got scary mad I wouldn't have dinner with him. Ate at the hotel by myself, in a corner, facing the wall & still got harassed by so many overly aggressive guys... was pissed & spent the night in my room killing DOZENS of cockroaches. Made the 5am bus out of town the next day.

Next town, Dila. Even worse. A $3 hotel wanted $10 & wouldn't budge below $7. Then tried a $5 hotel, they too wanted $10 & wouldn't go below $8. They finally admitted there's a different price for foreigners. Oh, & planned to change money in the last town, had only $15 left & needed a $6 bus ticket to Kenya. Finally found a $5 room, which probably shoulda been $2, with a smelly hole of a toilet on the other side of the hotel. But only one cockroach.

And that town was even worse. Men weren't as aggressive, (maybe 'cause I didn't have a lick of makeup on & made my hair as ugly as possible) but everyone yelled "You! You! You! Money! Money! Money!" And one old man grabbed my still healing wrist really hard & insisted I give him money. Didn't!

Again, spent the night in my room, pissed at the town... eating ramie noodles 'cause I had no money. But also cleaned my suitcase... it's finally light enough to wear as a backpack!!!! (It's got wheels & backpack straps.) Normally give things I toss to hotel staff... this time took a knife & destroyed everything rather than leave a crumb for that crummy town.

4:15am next morning, huge backpack on my back, little one on my chest, flashlight in one hand & pepperspray in the other, slugged up & down a hill to the bus station for a 5am bus to the border.

Had bought my ticket the day before... & the driver liked me & assigned me seat #1 next to him. When I get to the bus, he shouts "#1!" Then after I climb a ladder to the roof of the bus to tie my bag on top, everyone below starts chanting "#1 Strong! #1 Strong!" And the driver was really nice, bought me breakfast & did a special bathroom stop for me.

Admittedly didn't see much of Ethiopia... but enough to say don't do it on your own. People in the south suck. Tourists who'd gone north said they'd had rocks thrown at them. Ethiopia's probably wonderful if you go on a package tour & see the beauty of the place & only deal with locals who've been prescreened by a tour agency.