Injera and Edema.

It is the 24th January 2002 and it's dark at 2.30pm. Welcome to Ethiopia.

Confused? Yeh, I still am after being here a fortnight. In Ethiopia the day and clock begins at sunrise (12am) and then starts again at sundown (12pm). Fortunately they have at least standardised when sunrise and sunset is (6am, 6pm) so it makes it a little easier when figuring out what time a bus leaves!

Things are a lot different here compared to Sudan and Egypt. The climate is infinitely cooler as a good chunk of Ethiopia is over 2000metres. A pleasant 25degrees instead of the stifling heat from the past month. The landscape got a lot greener once I got on the south side of Khartoum, lots of arable farming replacing the desert, and some clouds, shock horror. The border crossing to Ethiopia was odd. It is basically an unpatrolled bridge between two towns where people seemingly walked to and fro as they please. You had to actively try and the emigration and immigration posts to get the relevant stamps in your passport. The Ethiopian Immigration was hidden behind some mud houses under a copse of trees. Very strange. And so into Ethiopia…. And suddenly there were bars and beer….

Some awesome scenery on the way to Gonder, the first stop in Ethiopia. Incredibly mountainous with plenty of snaking roads. A great little town and got another good little group going whilst I was there, some Germans, Swedes, Aussie, and English making for a good bit of socialising and drinking hehe.

Tej is basically an Ethiopian version of Mead which is served in what looks like chemical mixing vials which makes for an interesting experience especially as the bars that brew and serve it are usually the grottiest ones. I have no idea what kind of % Tej is but you definitely have a bit of a wobble on after you have had a couple.

As well as the bonus of alcohol Ethiopia also offers some superb food. The staple of which is Injera. All national dishes come served on what looks like a huge pancake (about a foot and a half diameter). This then forms your plate and eating utensil for the dishes that gets plonked in the middle of it, you tear off bits of the injera and use it to pick up the meat and sauce in the middle of the injera. I'm not explaining this very well I know, I'll need to take a photo of one I think. Anyhows it's made from a grain called Tef that is fermented before making the Injera giving a bubbly look to the 'pancake', a really quite sour taste and takes a bit of getting used to but the dishes that go in the middle of them are superb. There is always a pasta alternative as well due to the Italian influence from the 2nd world war. Some superb coffees here again because of the above, even the grottiest cafes have some posh espresso machine.

Probably the highlight of Northern Ethiopia has been the Simian Mountains. Myself and an Aussie lass, Thamrah, booked a 4 day trek into the National Park north of Gonder. We had a guide, a scout with a Russian gun, a cook, and 2 mules and mule men. A bit OTT so I thought but apparently this is what you need for a trek to the Simians. Our trip didn't start the best as the 4WD we got into the park had no brakes for much of the journey. The National Park barrier gates were at the bottom of a slight hill which meant that we just drove straight through them. This understandably made the National Park security guys quite mad, especially since the 4WD had done a fair bit of damage. A long argument ensued while Thamrah and I just looked at each other and the bits of barrier lying across the track. Eventually after much talk of the police we got through and didn't need to stop again until we got out which was fortunately on an uphill bit.

Now the scenery here was immense, mountains that just climbed and then descended into the oblivion, I wish I knew more about birds as there were some pretty impressive wing spans flying around. Big groups of baboons collected in various parts of the park with the odd little villages occurring here and there which were full of mud huts and children herding goats and cattle around the hills. As the wet season has just finished it was incredibly green as well with the scent of wild herbs filling the air (yes yes that description did sound a bit gay). Although we climbed up to 4000m the trekking itself was not that arduous as we started from 2700m. That said I had never been so high before and the altitude was strange, I felt a bit more out of breath but nothing too bad, however both mine and Thamrah's arms swelled up and we got quite burnt even though it was probably only 25 degrees. I had been wandering around Sudan in 45 degree heat with not so much as a red nose but definitely caught it in the Simians. It was bloody cold at night though, almost too cold to sleep in our tents which was strange after experiencing the opposite the past month. The food our cook made was superb and we had a fantastic few days out in the wilds.

Ethiopians in the north are very Christian and last Sunday was the Meskel festival; the finding of the Cross. I was in Aksum for the celebrations which were quite a spectacle, the highlight being the big bonfire and associated ceremony. This happened in the morning however and I was a bit sceptical on how impressive this would be in daylight. However Will's Dad would have been impressed with this fire. I have never seen anything burn so quickly and knock out so much heat, it cleared a good radius around it. After about 5 minutes of the fire burning tradition seemed to have it that young lads would then charge the fire and grab one of the smouldering branches and start wielding it around the crowds. Somewhat chaotic.

I have been churched out the past week or so. There have been some amazing churches many of which are rock hewn carved into the side of mountains and the like. One particular one that we visited was in a stupendous position. An hour in a 4WD to get to the base of a mountain, an hour and a half hike up the mountain, some of which I would actually call rock climbing finally led to a small church accessed by a cliff ledge with a precipitous drop to one side. A real buzz just in the achievement in making it to this church. Dan - you would of shat yourself, the 150 year old priest however made it look easy leading the charge.

Now as I have already said the travel in Ethiopia involves incredible scenery due to the winding roads that open up immense views. However because of this travel is slow, very slow. And the buses are well, very uncomfortable. Many many long journeys involving short distances.

The best journey has been when I got a lift up to Aksum on a beer truck with a couple of other locals, the dirt road was terrible but the scenery was incredible and I got a good view sat in the front of a truck. Good pigeon English banter with the other local guys which was all good. I haven't managed to catch another truck lift yet which is a shame as the buses are pretty bad…

I've now arrived in Addis Abbaba after 2 days on the same bus (with an overnight in Dessie as buses aren't allowed to travel at night). My bane is always that the legroom on these buses is about right for a 7 year old child and circulation in the legs of longer people doesn't seem to be of high priority. Today and yesterday I have been also sitting next to a very special man. Now local people on the buses can normally 'zone out' on these long journeys but this local farmer I had the pleasure of sitting next to fidgeted more than a child having eaten a bag of sweets. He also had a pleasant aroma of woodsmoke with a tinge of s***. Worse still he was carrying some friends on his stained clothing that I have now inherited which are now jumping around my body biting the crap out of me. Fleas are a big problem here. Beds, rugs in churches, and smelly men all have them. Joy. Luckily I don't seem to react too bad to the b******s. Back to the buses and Ethiopians also do not like windows open on buses even if it is 25plus outside which makes for sticky smelly journeys especially when people are also randomly being sick on the floor because of all the bends and crazy driving. Bus rant over.

I haven't heard too many good things about Addis so I think I'll only stick around for a couple of days before heading south. I shall leave you with my short conversation with the waiter from the restaurant I ate at tonight.

J: Could I have a St.Georges (local beer) please?

Waiter: Cold or warm sir?