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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Nov 16, 2007 07:00 PM Funchal - My first peek at Madeira
I saw the capital city in the dark. It was already fully decorated for Christmas, but the lights were not illuminated. I heard that they were to be lit on the Christmas Eve.
I started wandering about the city when the street lights came on. There were few people around. It rained a little. It was a light rain and it was not constant. I took my rain jacket with me, but it was too hot for me, so I packed it in my backpack. Then, I regretted that I took it with me. I had too much to carry with me. However, later in the night, temperature dropped and I was actually very happy that I had it with me.
I tried to remember the layout of the city from the Google Map application, which I checked two weeks before. I could not remember details. I wanted to see the main square and a few historical places, but did not know which way to go. This is what happens when one does not take a map with him. It was dark and certain areas I wandered into did not look as a very friendly neighbourhood. I was in Africa and I had to remember that some places might be dodgy for a lost tourist with a fat camera swinging from a shoulder. A few dodgy characters lurked at me occasionally, so I decided to turn back to the part of the town, which looked a little more civilised. And where a few people were still about.
On the way back to the a friendlier territory, I found a shop with maps. I tried to push the glass door, but it was locked. ‘Shite’, I thought. But at the same time, the owner spotted me and re-opened the shop. He sold me the map. I was a little happier. I checked it out quickly and found that I had already been to the main square, where the townhall was. I simply did not realise that it was it, as I imagined a larger and brighter one. I did not discount for the the giant Christmas Tree in the middle and the fact that these were hours of darkness.
My stomach reminded me with a few growls that I had not eaten that day yet. It was a good idea to find a nice seafood restaurant and study the map, so I could go on exploring a little more. Then at night, and again in the morning.
I expected that Funchal would boast a number of good quality seafood restaurants. Or, a few good restaurants of any type. I was not so. I must have been looking for almost an hour in the part of the city, which was supposed to be the centre. Oh yeah, there were restaurants around alright, but there were all rather dodgy. They looked like low quality greasy cafes. Brrr! The menus offered peculiar dishes in the range of burgers, minced meat steaks (that is a burger, right?), chips dripping with lard, pork chops, and... that is it. I was really hungry by then, but I just could not force myself to order anything there. My disappointment was growing and growing.
I kept looking. I eventually came across a Chinese restaurant, whose classic menu carried curry shrimps, shrimps Sichuan, sweet-sour prawn, won ton soup, spring rolls, paper prawn. By the time I turned to the third page, my reason was overtaken by hunger. So, although really against my rules (must try local food), I decided to dine there. Plus they had Tsing Tao beer as well.
After dinner I looked around a little more, but found it boring. It was Saturday and I could not believe that there was no action anywhere!
Filled with great despondency I was slowly making my way up the hill to my hotel. And suddenly, I discovered that along the way, there were a few free hotspots. I started downloading some music from the iTunes store in my iPhone to treat myself that evening. The connection was so slow that it was taking up to 15 minutes for one track to download. I needed to stay in the area to complete the entire process, but I really wanted to sit down. Fortunately, there it was - a perfect place - Golden Gate Grand Cafe. It was truly grand. It looked expensive. The waiters and waitresses were classically dressed. The upper balcony that went around the building was filled with a single row of tables protected by a striped marquise from the elements. White table cloths, elegant glassware, reed armchairs, comfy cushions... All that.
I had four beers there and still could not finish downloading. Anyway, previous night boogie woogie caught up with me at around midnight, so I eventually dragged my ass back to the hotel. I thought I had a plan for the next day. I made it before I left. I checked online what I could see on the island. But in the morning it turned out that it was not really going to work.
It rained very badly in the night. The receptionist in the hotel confessed that such torrential rain was not a frequent occurrence on Madeira. Well, I heard the rain, but I did not bother to step onto the balcony to see it.
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Nov 09, 2007 07:00 PM Sierra Leone - River No.2 Beach & York
I finally made up my mind to go to York and River No. 2 Beach. Alusine, who was not allowed to fish that day, wanted to come with me. I took him. Together with Joe and his mechanic friend. So many people in a small car on a very bad road was not the optimal way. But I always thought the more the merrier the trip. It was road trip!
Some fifteen minutes into the journey, a flat tire immobilised me for almost an hour. I sat on a wooden bench by the red dirt road and let the lads flirt with the local girls. The boys confessed that the gals were willing to flirt only because they saw them with me drinking canned beverages.
Apparently, hmm... Allegedly, the women did not care if you were an energetic lover with a thirteen inch dick. They only cared about the size of your wallet! If you were rich that made them happy. They could always ask for a set of certain battery-powered tools to compensate for any potential disabilities.
The road was in a very bad condition. It was hardly suited for a regular saloon taxi. On occasions we had to leave the vehicle and walk while the cabbie tried to navigate between the vast potholes and rocks. It was a great escapade though.
I passed through historical places, which only became significant in the last ten years or so. They were mainly bridges, which played an important role in the recent struggles.
The beach by the River No. 2 was superb. My fisherman friend Alusine stated clearly that there was no better beach in the country. The sand was tiny as powder and coral-white. Group of tall palm trees fringed the beach every several hundreds yards. The green hills rolled in the vicinity. Seriously, a perfect picture, like it was taken from an adventure film.
Apart from a few guys kicking a football, the beach was deserted. It was clean. It was large. It had some basic facilities in the form of simple bungalows, beach beds and deck chairs. An organisation supporting the local community charged about 2 US dollars for the car park and the same for a beach visit. They said that they could charge me less if I did not insist on receipt. I preferred to pay the official price and get the receipt.
I lingered a few moments on the beach. The sun was going down and I did not have much time to spare. It was a shame that I could not stay for the sunset. I was leaving that night and had to make it to the heliport, so I could catch my plane back to London. I did not want to travel in the dark.
I walked a little in the village nearby, and had to rush back. The lads stopped at the crossroads and bought a gallon of palm wine, which they all drank by the time we got to Freetown. The cabbie also had some!
The Creole village of York was recommended as a place to see. Specifically for its architecture. The picture below illustrates what I found when I got there.
It was interesting but not terribly attractive. I did not even stop there. I was appalling. I kept snapping pictures out of moving car! I hate this kind. Oh well, I was in a rush. Really, and, frankly, quite disappointed with this town. I literally drove right through it. If it was by the ocean and had a beach, it might actually be liveable. Yeah, I guess I should stop, before I become unreasonably unfair about this little place, that I did not even visit properly.
I hurried towards the capital. I did not worry, because I had over four hours before my scheduled departure to London.
The road improved dramatically and I made a good progress towards Freetown. As I got to the suburbs, I literally stopped. It took me three hours to travel through the capital. I missed my helicopter flight and started drawing scenarios how I could get through to the other side of the Sierra Leone river.
I did not have many options. The hovercraft was obviously dead. The ferry was already gone, one hour ago. Could I take a taxi? No, there was no time. The trip would have taken too long and driving in the dark in remote country was never my pleasure.
Joe suggested that I took a speedboat. He apparently knew people who operated them. I feared about the cost, as I was skinned by that time, and there was no way I could withdraw money using my credit card. It was Africa and it was late in the night. Shit!
I decided to go to the heliport anyway. Hoping that the hovercraft tragedy led a few more people to use the helicopter instead. Like me! Fortunately there was another helicopter flight which actually fitted better with my London flight schedule. It was leaving at 00:30, giving me three more hours to relax at one of the beach bars. I was relieved!
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Nov 08, 2007 07:00 PM Sierra Leone - Chimps
It was hot and sunny. I guess I expected that after looking at the stars the night before.
I was thinking of going to York village and River 2 Beach but it was so hot that the thought of sitting in a boiling car travelling at 15 mph on a bone rattling road kept making me nauseous.
Instead, I decided to relax on the beach. I watched a little more fishing and that was the day when I decided to buy a couple of mackerels from Alusine. Then I grilled it and right on the beach. The meal was fantastic! I invited Alusine to join me for dinner. I instantly became his friend. We had some drinks and watched the sun go down. We talked about fishing and his family. I was surprised to learn that he was only 26 years old. From a distance, he looked older.
There are a few groups of chimps in Sierra Leone. It is relatively easy to visit all of them. Not in one day, and perhaps not in one week. The places of their concentration are now mainly national parks and reserves, but there are also many that live outside those.
I was considering visiting two places only. I did not have time for more. My original plan included the Tiwai Island Wildlife Reserve in the south, near the Liberian border and Tacugama Chimpanzee Reserve, near Freetown.
I eventually dropped the idea of going to Tiwai Island. It was too far. It would have taken an entire day. I was not looking forward to that. And I loved the beaches too much.
So, I went to see the chimps at Tacugama. I arrived without an appointment and it looked that I would have to wait for two hours. If the road did not almost damaged the taxi, I would have gone back to Regent to kill time over there. It looked completely uninteresting, but it would be much better than standing in the middle of the jungle. And I was hungry (it never bothers me that much when I am hungry, but eating is a good time killing activity).
The guard at the gate refused to let me in. I tried to negotiate but he was really stubborn. I had to make a phone call to speak to someone that was called a ‘director’. I explained the situation, but he was also stubborn. It did not help that the taxi I hired was ticking by the hour! I had to wait.
There was just a very basic hut with benches and a table, bit no food and no water. It was really boring. Fortunately, I had my iPhone with me and that helped kill time. I had a few music videos - mainly by Madonna.
The guard came back after two hours and turned out to be a guide as well. I could finally see the apes.
I was surprised to see how the chimps behaved. They really acted like humans! For the very first time, I witnessed an animal behaving like that. The facial expression, the body movement, the nonchalance, even the way they posed for pictures! Just like the one on the photograph on the previous page. I was so glad that I decided to lift my ass from a stool at the beach bar to go and see the animals.
However, I thought it was totally and viciously unreasonable to make me wait two hours The director on the phone claimed that there were organised groups and that I could potentially join the group at 4 pm. Funny enough, when 4 pm came, I was the only one in the reserve. There were no other visitors. I must have spent approximately an hour there walking around. I could have easily done that at 2 pm, when I arrived. I did not disturb anyone and the apes could not care less if I was there or not. Well, I obviously did not leave a tip. But they were gagging for it.
Anyway, I saw the chimpanzees in their natural habitat. It was like I could go home after that. I was ready. I came to see them and I saw them. At the end of the day I was happy. Hungry, but happy! The grilled barracuda tasted great that evening, too. What a day!
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Nov 07, 2007 07:00 PM Sierra Leone - Lumley Beach
I started late. I slept rather uncomfortably on a soft bed whose sheets felt like having grains of sand in them. Brrr, it gives me shivers, as I think about it. I strolled on the beach alone for half an hour. The beach was empty. I really had it to my own. It was a perfect morning.
Eventually, I met a group of fishermen pulling a line out of the ocean. I joined them. It was not as easy as I thought. They made it look very easy, but when I was at the end of the line I was sweating like an otter.
The fishermen in Aberdeen operated under an agreed rota system. It was a gentlemen’s agreement. Those who had small boats could fish everyday and took their turns. The beach was only some three miles long and the crescent net could take from a hundred to four hundred yards. And there were many more fishermen than the beach could accommodate.
When it was not his turn, the guy would assist with other boats and earn himself a fish or two for his dinner. So there were no days off for them. Apart from Sunday when the beach is converted into a string of football pitches, of course. It worked! The only guy that did not care about the rules was Hamza. He was a captain of a small boat and it took it out fishing everyday, including Sunday.
The fishermen captains employed others. The employees could have two roles. First one was to take the boat out and drop the net in a semi circle. Then, after it was emptied, fold it and put it back inside the boat in a way that it was ready for immediate action. The other job was to pull the net out of the ocean. The largest net, if full and heavy, would take even fifty strong men to fish out.
If the fisherman was happy with their work, he would pay them with the catch and even given a little extra in cash. If they were not very happy with them, small fish was all they got. Usually, it was petit sardines. If, at the other hand, there was no catch, nobody would get anything. No payment for anyone. So, everyone took their chances.
I learnt about all this from Alusine. His boat fell under the large boat category and therefore he could fish three times a week only. I liked his patience answering my many questions. Whenever there might have been an unusual one, he would begin with "let me see". I loved the way he used this phrase.
He was going to fish the next day. He invited me to watch. I made a proposal that if he caught a nice tasty fish, I would buy it from him. My plan was to make myself a little braai on the beach.
Normally the catch is sold immediately to the market ladies, who sit on the beach sharking for good fish. The small sardines are sold in plenty - by bowls. The medium mackerel by the dozens. And the larger ones, for example the barracuda or the ‘jellow jacket’, go individually. For all, there is a standard beach price and the ladies make their profit at the market by selling the fish in smaller quantities with a premium.
I was observing the entire business from the beach bars. Interestingly, there are a number of resorts under construction, but none of them can be directly on the beach. It is due to poor planning. The road, which leads from Aberdeen to York along the peninsula, prevents that. If the road could be moved a little farther from the shore, the hotels could actually be built directly on the beach.
The land for the resorts has been acquired by one of the famous footballers and the Chinese. It is funny with the Chinese. The stretch of land they bought, is now called the Chinatown. They have a couple of buildings there (exactly two) one of which contains a hotel and a shop. The other was under construction to become a hotel and a restaurant. And it was so typical. They lived there and they did not speak English.
The small hotel, in which I stayed at the end of the beach, Sweet Mother Guesthouse, was not too bad. It was not located in the safest area, but it was really close to the beach. There was a small local eatery just round the corner and even a night club, which opened on weekends. The room I got was really great. It had a main bedroom, a lounge with two couches, and en suite bathroom, a small veranda and a fully tiled , walled backyard complete with chairs. I like the backyard. I had a night open-air party there. It cost me $100 for three nights.
The problem was electricity and water. Both were available only occasionally. Although the guesthouse operated a generator in the night, it was failing regularly. When there was no water in the tap, a bucket shower had to do. I was used to bucket showers in Africa, so I did not care.
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Nov 06, 2007 07:00 PM Sierra Leone - Aberdeen & Lumley Beach
Aberdeen was the place where I arrived and where I spent first night and first night out. It was the Buggy's for a few initial drinks. I could not bear a thought that I should stay in bed on Saturday night! Nevermind that I had just spent ten hours travelling.
Then, after Buggy’s I went to Paddy's, the country’s legendary party place. It was not as seedy as Buggy’s. A little more civilised and had a rather good restaurant serving yummy African, Indian and Chinese dishes! Although Buggy’s had a terrace overlooking the Aberdeen bay, where one could cool down. Paddy’s was super hot. The countless fans spinning slowly did not make any difference, apart from one, near the bar, which with decent speed gave a little wind.
So, apart from partying and and changing money at the market, I did not do anything in Aberdeen. And I really have nothing more to say about it.
Oh, or maybe I should just mention a few words about the beach and the hotels.
The first night I stayed at Hotel Barmoi. It is nicely located near the lighthouse on the cliff. I do not think it had access to the beach, though. Its swimming pool was small and the rooms were relatively clean. The air conditioning worked as well. But, it was overpriced. They charged on average $150 per night, depending on the room.
Aberdeen had better hotels than that one. All of them had ocean views, but few, if any, had beach access. Hotels with lower standard, few in Aberdeen, offered hardly acceptable quality.
The beaches (I say beaches, because I think there were two or three) in Aberdeen were average. I spent some time on one of them, which then extended to become Lumley Beach. This one was nice. It was little too close to the main road perhaps, but otherwise clean and wide with sandy descend into the Atlantic Ocean. A stretch of beach lined up with construction of premier holiday resorts soon to be frequented by sun seekers from the United Kingdom, mostly. It is the extension of the western Aberdeen beach.
In the morning, after my arrival, I walked along the entire length of the beach looking for accommodation. The beach was converted into countless football pitches -back to back for almost its entire length. Some three miles, I guess. Many of the guys asked to be photographed as soon as they saw me with my camera. As far as they were concerned, I must have been a reporter. I gladly obliged. Every time.
This beach later become the place where I spent most of my holiday. It was a multiple football pitch only on Sundays. On any other day, the beach was a working place for the fishermen. The main activity of whom was pulling a massive net out of the ocean. The larger nets were almost a mile long.
But at night, the beach was also a party place. Well, this is what it was for the Sierra Leoneans. It was a party place for me also at any other time of the day.
Let me introduce three of the better beach bars, which provided me with great entertainment.
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Nov 05, 2007 07:00 PM Sierra Leone - arrival in Aberdeen
I had a very old business class upgrade voucher for bmi and I managed to use it. It was not easy. I decided to use it for this seven hours flight in last minute and the airline had already finished loading meals. Airlines are legally required to provide meals for long haul flights and bmi’s policy was that no economy meal was to be served in the business cabin. So, the despatcher had to go an extra mile to order an additional meal from me. Delivery was not guaranteed at 20 minutes before departure and I had to wait. It was worth waiting to be boarded last, as the meal arrived and bmi again solidified its status of my favourite airline.
I was given a single seat at an emergency exit - 6F. I drank Australian Shiraz out of principle but its quality was well below average. I still enjoyed myself though. It was my first time on bmi business long haul. Although the seats were old BA business class, the service was great.
The aircraft was only operating under bmi brand for about ten days. The cabin was going to be refitted up to the bmi standard later on, but I did not expect this to happen overnight, obviously. Yet, it was clearly visible that it was not an original bmi decor.
I began playing with my brand new, one day-old, iPhone trying new options and applications. Chillout music played from the iPod application while I was touch typing these words in the Notes application. I was falling deeply in love with my new gadget. Yeah!
The flight stopped in Dakar.
The country main airport, Lungi International Airport, is located from the capital at the other side of the Sierra Leone River. It is possibly the least convenient location of an international airport in the world.
This is particularly inconvenient in Sierra Leone since there is no bridge over the river. And, as there is a very poor transport infrastructure in the entire country, none of the following options to get from the airport to Freetown are risk-free. But they are the only ones. Taxi, Ferry, Helicopter and Hovercraft.
I cannot explain what came over me that I decided to take the Hovercraft. Perhaps it was my sub-conscience, as I had never been on a balloon hovercraft before. I bought my ticket and waited over an hour to get on an extremely hot shuttle bus from the airport to the hovercraft landing. It was taking so long, as the exchange of arriving and departing people had to complete. Then again had to wait some 20 minutes for the craft to be prepared, receive check-in luggage and start up. After seven hours of flight such waiting in a humid weather is not optimal.
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Oct 06, 2007 02:00 PM Gibraltar - castles, killing time
I woke up late. I had all day as my plane was leaving in the evening. I spotted a new marina with yachts and fancy restaurants. That seemed the only civilised part of the country. Well, some of the villas around the new pools were still in the making. There were a few fine seafood eateries and a couple of pubs serving surprisingly cold beer.
I wandered off to the south of the rock, to check what was at the tip. I was walking all the way, as the buses were not that frequent. I therefore did not manage to get very far, well not to the very tip, anyway. I did want to see the 100 ton gun, but it was closed. There was no information about it and I was really pissed off.
I managed to reach two castles, which I liked and then back in the city, I managed to take a picture of the walls and the gates on the rock. Other than that I did not do anything. Everything was closed anyway, so I could not do any shopping and the Rock seemed deserted.
The airstrip on Gibraltar must be the only one in Europe, which allows traffic passing through it and people on foot crossing it. Quite a remarkable sight it is to see the airplane landing being so close to the action.
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Oct 05, 2007 02:00 PM Gibraltar - a shock
I arrived in Gibraltar (on Gibraltar?) in the morning. I managed to book myself in the Queen Hotel, but only because I made a reservation weeks and weeks before. There are few accommodation options on the rock and almost none for budget travellers. Queen Hotel was fine, but it was smelly and it looked like it has never been redecorated since its construction in mid 20th century.
I was shocked how the state of Gibraltar managed to remain stuck in the 1960s. Remarkably its attitude, architecture, nightlife, shopping, etc look as if taken from old British films.
The architecture was funny it combined the Victorian with the Mediterranean. Unusual and intriguing combination. It was nice.
On Saturday, the rock was full of shoppers, who swarmed to the rock for ... actually I am not sure for what. Perhaps it was the terrible pies and warm beer. For no paella was available anywhere, despite Spain being just ten minutes walk away. It was so crowded everywhere that it was actually unpleasant.
I went up the rock by the cable car. It was a great trip and the top of the mountain offered perfect views of Africa and the Spanish part of the Iberian peninsula. The Barbary Apes were not as mischievous as they are often depicted. They kept to themselves most of the time and did not bother anyone. To my greatest disappointment, the bar at the top was rubbish.It was more of a snack bar with terrible food. It was such a great spot for something so much better. Even a decent bar would do not this shop-like venue.
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Sep 23, 2007 02:00 PM Euskadi - Billbao, a quiet morning
The next day was quiet. I again wanted to see the Guggenheim museum. This time, I had to share the riverside walkways with the marathon. There was some kind of event that I knew nothing about, and some of the walkways were closed but the access to the museum was not affected.
The old town looked completely different in the morning. It was calm. There was no evidence of the parties the night before. At the main square hidden among the buildings, there was a fair with antiques and general flee-type items. I got a few coins for my father, one of which was a Third Reich silver mark.
By the noon, the streets and alleys filled up with people. Mainly the Euskadis. They were browsing the alleys and eating at the taps bars. Shops were closed so there was nothing else for them to do.
The river in the town was full of fish. There literally millions of them. I have never seen anything like that. What a sight!
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Sep 22, 2007 02:00 PM Euskadi - Bilbao, A Party Place
When I arrived in Bilbabo not long before sunset, I rushed to my hotel, and after checking in, I descended to the Old Town, Barrio Viejo (Alto), well right there, round the corner. It was a perfect location the hotel, right opposite the National Theatre. I could not believe how lively the streets were. It was so great to see that people from all, absolutely all, age groups partied, be it 14 year olds or ninety year olds. It was super. The tapas bars were so full that it was impossible to enter the venues. The partygoers spilled over to the streets and the atmosphere was splendid. The dark, narrow alleys of the old town added additional spice to the ambiance. It was a perfect night.
I went to see the Guggenheim Museum along the river. It was close. The river beds a little. It was all partied along. Youngsters would create gatherings under the bridges and bring snacks and drinks. Sometimes, the music would play from car stereos, parked right by the river. It was a superb night.
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