Another night with 3 hours of missing sleep and we’re ready for a new location. Mercifully there was no mega mega dance party at the hotel bar that night on account of the rain.
Checking in at the airport was a bit of a fiasco. Agents couldn’t quite find our reservation. Or maybe it was locked. Or maybe it’s because it was a 16 leg ticket. For what ever reason they had to manually check us in (some kind of override) make note of our Rez codes and send us to the flight.
Needless to say I didn’t press for business class upgrade.
Isabelle and I were seated part for Caitlin and Josephine. The a350 economy cabin was in 3-3-3 configuration and my in flight entertainment headphone jack didn’t work.
We landed at JRO airport a little late and stepped down the stair ramp.
Immigration was a bit of a gong show but our Ottawa acquisition of tourist visas saved us at least 30 minutes. Our driver was waiting for us and we were off for a 3-5 hour drive to Rhotia Valley.
The girls fell asleep which gave Caitlin and i time to contemplate the sights on the way up.
Map of our route: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/myevp0hfnhnjpXqGs76CdvND
If Addis Ababa showed the urban poverty of east Africa than this ride showed us the urual poverty.
Many kiosks for mobile money exchange (Airtel money, M-pesa, Tigo pesa) since banking is very rare to find. I once heard that Kenya’s GDP went up by 5-6% with the mass adoption of mobile banking.
Cows grazing outside the gates of cement factories. Garden centers and welding pop ups. Children in green school uniform. So many inter town busses.
We stopped to refuel the van. Prices were 229 TZS per liter. Which is 0.13/litre seems wrong. Maybe it was 2299TZS/l ...
The occasional tourist hotel stands out like alien spaceships.
The red dirt road from the highway to Rhotia tented lodges was very rough. Our van was not the ideal choice for this 15minute part of the drive.
The orphanage and the lodges are gated and guarded. Josée said it had been months since the last rain, which is normal for the dry season. The red dust was on every leaf of every plant along the road.
We made it and the girls were very excited about the pool, the view and the tent. They were looking forward to “glamping”!
Turkey: Istanbul was a culturally varied, welcoming place. At restaurants, the hustle performed by the servers waiting at the street was intense. Everyone wanted your business! At our first restaurant, the server proclaimed that he loved Canada and that his girlfriend was from there, but he couldn’t name the city she was from. 😂 Other vendors played a similar game, trying to engage you in conversation. The easiest approach was to ignore them, unfortunately. Most places tell you not to flush toilet paper, but to instead put it in a small waste bin. Smoking is MUCH more common than at home, and we are very unused to smoke at restaurants. Lots of seagulls and hooded crows were to be seen around town. Greece : The restaurant service flow was a little different from in North America. When we were done our main courses, we had to signal the server that we wanted the bill. They simply wouldn’t bring it until asked! Once we asked, though, we would often get a small dessert, f...
After a lovely sleep (well, I woke at 5:30, but that’s just me), we headed out to explore a bit of Melbourne. Breakfast was at a tiny coffee shop and the girls loved their hot chocolate. The cafe was in a narrow alley typical of the Melbourne CBD. It must have been some breakfast to make a sign about it! Next up was the National Gallery of Victoria. It was free! Unfortunately everyone was tired at this point. But Isabelle still managed to climb a tree! Poor JL. Such a pretty city: Then it was back to the airport! We had a TON of time to kill, first at the Singapore Airlines lounge. They close in between flights, so we snuck a few minutes in the Air New Zealand lounge: Once boarded, the girls slept pretty much right away while JL and I had our preselected meals. I had a lovely barramundi. We’ve now arrived in Singapore and are waiting to board our flight to London. This one’s a monster 13.5 hour flight! See you on the other side.
After another lovely breakfast, we took a walk up Mount Victoria to find a couple of the Lord of the Rings filming locations: Next up was a visit to the Weta Workshop where they make special effects for lots of movies. Unfortunately, photos inside were forbidden, but it was really cool to handle actual prop swords and helmets used in the films. Watch out, JL!!!
