Archived Blog
Not quite the 5-star experience...
So I hear that there is plenty of snow back home! Hope that its not causing too much havoc with driving etc. Over here, the driving havoc this week came from the African Union which was being held here. Addis Ababa is the home of the AU headquarters, inside an impressive, looming building. Most of the delegates from the different African nations all stay at the Sheraton Hotel here, as it is the most luxurious. When they travel across town back and fourth from their meetings, the police close the roads down, causing chaos (more than normal) on the larger roads here. More reasons I love having a motorbike, as I can simply jump the queue all the way to the front, and wait for the delegates to pass and them to reopen the roads. People in cars usually have a long wait for the traffic to settle back to normal after the hold up..
Other than that, it has been a fairly regular week around here. I've been continuing to experiment with cooking, inevitably in every recipe I'm familiar with, or look up on-line, there are one or two ingredients which are unavailable. So it's always a bit or an experiment, and question as to whether it will turn out as I'm expecting. However, I'm getting better, and my last couple of attempts have been improving, almost to home standards. Which is definitely encouraging! Home cooked meals that taste as you remember are a definite plus point.
On Saturday afternoon, I went with a couple of friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. We went to a local hotel which has ten pin bowling. As Aaron says, it's like stepping back in time. The place was probably built in the 70s, and obviously hasn't been changed since then. I've enclosed a few pictures so you can see:
Aaron tots up the score manually, no computers here!!
After bowling, we went to the Sheraton for dinner, choosing the buffet on the menu which was cheapest. While I was eating, I saw something in my food which looked like ice, but on closer inspection turned out to be a very sharp shard of glass. I guess it might be understood in some of the cheap cafes around this city, but not what you'd expect in a 5-star hotel. Anyway, we gave off to them, so I got my meal, and a desert for free. (which would have come to about £20, an very high price compared to other restaurants in this city) One time when being picky with food paid off!
Today as I walked around town, I randomly bumped into one of my old guards who used to work for us when I lived here back in 2007. It was wonderful to see him again, he is currently studying outside of Addis, but is in town for a couple of days. Looking forward to catching up with him if I can! I really enjoy renewing old relationships with Ethiopians I knew last time I lived here.
All for this week,
Niall
0 comments