Moshi, Tanzania
Welcome back readers, ah how time has flown by. Didn't really get the time to make any posts while I was in South East Asia, maybe because the tourist culture there was quite hectic. When I crossed from Central to South Asia, the density of tourist attractions arose a thousand fold. So I was left wondering, should I see this temple today? Or go to the town with the monkeys? Or maybe go rafting or biking? Though the life of the ordinary people in most of SE Asia is quite plain, they certainly made everything possible for tourists. But now I have come to Africa, where the pace of life is slower, which leaves just me and the scorching sun.
Which brings me to one of the most stunning things I have learned in Africa so far: simba is the Swahili word for lion. Yeah right? You thought Disney was getting all creative and made a really authentic name for the lion that basically rules Africa. But instead, his name is just lion, like all the other million lions you see how there. How does that make you feel Simba?
I flew into Dar Es Salaam, and immediately was plunged into another culture. Having spent most of my trip in Asia so far, I had been used to certain things: strangers don't usually say hi to you just in passing, and only friends really ask how you are. But once I stepped off the place people were saying jambo to me right and left. I had not ever seen this openness. Secondly, there are certain ritual greeting phrases Tanzanians say to everybody. Usually, it goes, "Jambo! Habari? Karibu." Which means, Hello! How are you? Welcome. This happens almost everytime before I buy anything from a shop. Compare that with the Russian shopkeepers who barely say hello, or the Indian national greeting of "Where are you from?" They are definitely more about greeting conventions, and are open to talking to just about anyone.
Dar Es Salaam means house of peace in Arabic, and Zanzibar was once home to the capital of Oman. How did this happen? Well, since thousands of years ago, there had been robust trade between the Arab and South Asian worlds and the Tanzanian coast. The Omani arabs had many settlements on Zanzibar, and at one point even moved their capital here from Muscat, perhaps because it was more dependable. The people of Zanzibar are 99 percent muslim, and the men and women wear clothes that are a mix of Arab and African traditions. Stone town, a quarter in Zanzibar City is a remnant of the old empires once on Zanzibar. Through the narrow and winding alleyways, people still live their daily lives amidst the tall ancient buildings made of stone. The other side of the island had some bungalow resorts next to small villages, and a beach where the tide would go down a mile away from the beach, and where the locals would farm seaweed and catch fish in their wooden dhows. It was frying hot, and so there wasn't much motivation to do all that much, not that much was there to do. Everytime we walked through the village nearby though, all the kids would come out and enthusiastically yell jambo! Some of the adults would do it too.
Tanzanians are some of the most open people I have met on the trip. Many are willing to talk quite a bit after saying hello or seeing you. However, I was talking to a local friend, Patrick, at a bar, who I had met near my hotel. He told me that in East Africa, everybody's mother tells them not to talk to strangers. I was bemused, and then asked why everybody would still talk to me. He said that the surface level talk is fine, but people don't talk at a deeper level as easily. In fact, he told me that the less friends you have, the safer you are. People can just be pretending to be your friend, he says, but they can end up trying to hurt you. And I suppose I can see that - a lot of people who approach me here want something from me. Often it is the usual touts trying to sell things, but sometimes people just ask me for money. It seems that they believe foreigners are so rich that it is not just acceptable, but expected that they get some money out of them. Tanzania is also more individualistic than most of the places that I have been to. It seems that many families are broken - some have split apart, others have rejected their children, and it seems HIV is also a large factor in family instability here. In many other places, though people don't have money, they at least have their family and the family house to rely upon. Here it seems that there is much more pressure to make it without as much support.
I am embarking on a climb to Mt. Kilimanjaro tomorrow! It will be 6 days: 5 for the ascent, and 1 for the descent. It will be 5800m, 1 guide, 1 cook, and 2 porters, as the regulations stipulate I needed a tour company booking. So I will be guided up the tallest mountain in Africa! Very excited.
Welcome back readers, ah how time has flown by. Didn't really get the time to make any posts while I was in South East Asia, maybe because the tourist culture there was quite hectic. When I crossed from Central to South Asia, the density of tourist attractions arose a thousand fold. So I was left wondering, should I see this temple today? Or go to the town with the monkeys? Or maybe go rafting or biking? Though the life of the ordinary people in most of SE Asia is quite plain, they certainly made everything possible for tourists. But now I have come to Africa, where the pace of life is slower, which leaves just me and the scorching sun.
Which brings me to one of the most stunning things I have learned in Africa so far: simba is the Swahili word for lion. Yeah right? You thought Disney was getting all creative and made a really authentic name for the lion that basically rules Africa. But instead, his name is just lion, like all the other million lions you see how there. How does that make you feel Simba?
I flew into Dar Es Salaam, and immediately was plunged into another culture. Having spent most of my trip in Asia so far, I had been used to certain things: strangers don't usually say hi to you just in passing, and only friends really ask how you are. But once I stepped off the place people were saying jambo to me right and left. I had not ever seen this openness. Secondly, there are certain ritual greeting phrases Tanzanians say to everybody. Usually, it goes, "Jambo! Habari? Karibu." Which means, Hello! How are you? Welcome. This happens almost everytime before I buy anything from a shop. Compare that with the Russian shopkeepers who barely say hello, or the Indian national greeting of "Where are you from?" They are definitely more about greeting conventions, and are open to talking to just about anyone.
Dar Es Salaam means house of peace in Arabic, and Zanzibar was once home to the capital of Oman. How did this happen? Well, since thousands of years ago, there had been robust trade between the Arab and South Asian worlds and the Tanzanian coast. The Omani arabs had many settlements on Zanzibar, and at one point even moved their capital here from Muscat, perhaps because it was more dependable. The people of Zanzibar are 99 percent muslim, and the men and women wear clothes that are a mix of Arab and African traditions. Stone town, a quarter in Zanzibar City is a remnant of the old empires once on Zanzibar. Through the narrow and winding alleyways, people still live their daily lives amidst the tall ancient buildings made of stone. The other side of the island had some bungalow resorts next to small villages, and a beach where the tide would go down a mile away from the beach, and where the locals would farm seaweed and catch fish in their wooden dhows. It was frying hot, and so there wasn't much motivation to do all that much, not that much was there to do. Everytime we walked through the village nearby though, all the kids would come out and enthusiastically yell jambo! Some of the adults would do it too.
Tanzanians are some of the most open people I have met on the trip. Many are willing to talk quite a bit after saying hello or seeing you. However, I was talking to a local friend, Patrick, at a bar, who I had met near my hotel. He told me that in East Africa, everybody's mother tells them not to talk to strangers. I was bemused, and then asked why everybody would still talk to me. He said that the surface level talk is fine, but people don't talk at a deeper level as easily. In fact, he told me that the less friends you have, the safer you are. People can just be pretending to be your friend, he says, but they can end up trying to hurt you. And I suppose I can see that - a lot of people who approach me here want something from me. Often it is the usual touts trying to sell things, but sometimes people just ask me for money. It seems that they believe foreigners are so rich that it is not just acceptable, but expected that they get some money out of them. Tanzania is also more individualistic than most of the places that I have been to. It seems that many families are broken - some have split apart, others have rejected their children, and it seems HIV is also a large factor in family instability here. In many other places, though people don't have money, they at least have their family and the family house to rely upon. Here it seems that there is much more pressure to make it without as much support.
I am embarking on a climb to Mt. Kilimanjaro tomorrow! It will be 6 days: 5 for the ascent, and 1 for the descent. It will be 5800m, 1 guide, 1 cook, and 2 porters, as the regulations stipulate I needed a tour company booking. So I will be guided up the tallest mountain in Africa! Very excited.