So I left Bahir Dar and headed north to a town called Gondar. It's the first town or city you arrive too when coming from Sudan. I met a couple from Australia (Steve and Crysanthe) who had just been travelling south from Cairo and through South Sudan( recently declared the newest country in the world). They had some great stories about getting arrested for taking photos of a refugee camp. To here more they have a great blog, some of their stories are very good. Check it out… www.itbeganinafrica.com.
Anyways I got to Gondar and to somewhat of a surprise, the place just felt like York. It's dominated by a large castle and is a very relaxing town. Although really Gondar is more about what it was not what is now. The history goes back 1000's of year and it was important trade town although always in the shadow of Aksum. Whilst I was in Addis, myself and Jamila had been planning our trip and decide for the price it would easier to fly on this trip around Ethiopia. As you can imagine the roads aren't the best and the flights were about $45 on average between cities.
I didn't stay that long in Gondar as I felt there were better things to see. The one thing I had to miss here was the Sieman Mountains. The weather at this time was not great, in fact it pretty much rained the whole time I'd been in Ethiopia.
So I went to the airport to catch my flight, as we were driven there we passed a UN compound that must have had 100 trucks bound for Sudan. I learnt at that moment how important Ethiopia was to the aid effort, as it is the staging post for pretty much every country around it except Kenya.
During my time here we have been hearing on the news about the drought that has plague East Africa. It's very hard to imagine when you're in the urban areas of Ethiopia. It rains all the time and its green pretty much everywhere you go. But the landscape changes very quickly, in the south east of the country it's a desert. The Dankil depression is reported to have the hottest temperature in the world. I was looking to go till a local told me it was 60C at that time of the year and there was a risk of heart failure if you venture there 
When I finally got to the airport, I took one look at the plane and was wishing I had taken the bus. I can only describe it as a flying washing machine. As you looked out the window you could see the wheels as they hit the ground. Im not great with flying and I think its just got a whole lot worse.