Tanzania

Elle and I were both really excited to get to Africa. We knew that going on a safari was expensive so we were prepared to go extra budget while in Dar es Salaam. I guess neither of us were prepared for the cost of things in Tanzania. The declining dollar and our declining bank accounts added a little stress to the situation but we came up with some creative money conservation tactics. We left India a little ahead of schedule but we didn't really anticipate Tanzania costing much more than India. We were wrong. Many things are priced similarly to what they would be at home. Not what you would expect in a third world country. It makes you wonder how people who according to our book make on average $250.00 a year can afford to live.

So we had a couple of weeks to kill before our friend Jamie came to meet us. We originally thought that we might do a short trip to one of the national parks in the south. Our guide book is slightly dated and the current prices made that option impossible. This gave us an excellent opportunity to explore Dar es Salaam an option most people might not choose.

Hotels are very expensive in Dar so we opted for the less luxurious YWCA. At six dollars a night it can't be beat. They have a canteen with good food and free aerobics with the nuns. Our other big saver was going to the casino for drinks. The minimum gambling amount is $10. We found that if we gamble very slowly and drink very quickly we could finish two drinks each before our money ran out. Since drinks are free to gamblers this worked out pretty well especially for Elle who loves gambling.

After two weeks Jamie arrived. This was her first trip overseas and she deserves some respect for making it a huge one. The guide books make it sound a little more scary than it actually is so I think she was pretty relieved to see some familiar faces at the airport.
Typical guide book suggestions for Tanzania:
don't carry around valuables
don't carry a walet
don't wear jewelry
don't carry a camera
don't walk around at night
don't look scared
never look anyone in the eye
don't leave anything of value in your hotel room
run from your cab to the front door of your hotel
O.K. I made up a couple of those but you get the picture. You are going to die if you go to Africa. We lived though and we had a good time. I'm not saying that taking precautions is a bad thing but reading about them may scare you.

Pictures: our sweet room at the YWCA
Beach camping we did outside of town
Kilimanjaro Beer it was 1000$ to climb the mountain but only about $2.00 for a little taste
Jamie Justin Elle at Ngorongoro Crater rim we totally blend in here many people had us mistaken for locals.

India rap-up

We spent two weeks tooling around the Andamans and we met some really cool Dutch people who we spent alot of time with.
Hans, Bouke, Nicole, Nicoline and Stephanie.

This is Elle, Stephanie and Nicoline having a dance party in front of the hut.


The downed tree is the result of the tsunami.

After the Andamans we flew to Bombay(mumbai) where we spent a couple of days before flying to Africa. Bombay is the Hollywood of India where most of the Indian films are made. Many tourists are asked to play extras in films and Elle and I were approached to be in one but we declined. We thought it might be a scam and were leaving the next day anyway. Then we received an email from Bouke. He and Nicole were asked to be extras and they got to meet Jesse Metcalf who is apparently pretty big stuff in the U.S. So we may have missed our big chance to be stars but Indian films are mostly musicals and I can't sing or dance so maybe not.

Youre stoked

Guys,
Glad you guys found a cool island in the Andamans. Hope you 2 are well. Same old back here. Been getting some fun surf, workin' the Wang, drinkin' bloody Mary's, (Cathy and I are are obsessed w/ making the perfect bloody mary). Take it easy and we'll rap soon. P.S. the Honda's still running awesome! Adios, Jason

Havelock

These are all shots of Havelock Island. The beach and our hut where we stayed.
Very good decision to go here as you can see.

Andaman Islands

So we left this.


For this... Pretty much a no brainer for us.
The Andaman Islands lie far off the east coast of India much closer to Myanmar and Thailand than India. They are all protected because of there amazing marine life and native populations. Foreigners are allowed to stay 30 days and can only visit certain areas of the islands and have to pay higher fees than Indian nationals. When we first arrived we landed in the only large town Port Blair. It's a really dirty busy town full of diesel exhaust and trash. We were a little disappointed. You have to go through Port Blair to go to any of the other island though so we stayed for a few days and rode around the South Andaman island on a motorcycle. We decided after a few days to take the eight hour ferry south to Little Andaman.

That cost us about 40 cents each. The ferry was surprisingly not that uncomfortable. When we got to Little Andaman we were pretty excited. The main (only) port is on a five mile golden sand beach with crystal clear water. Once we got to shore we found a little different story. Little Andaman was hit really hard by the tsunami and while there used to be some tourist hotels and restaurants there now is very little. We were the only tourists on the island that we saw. There was one decent hotel but no restaurants. One guy had a small food shack that was really good but he left town the day after we arrived. So we ate alot of dried nuts and potato chips. The island itself is gorgeous but what you can't see from the ferry is that almost every inch of it is covered in manure. Cow, goat, dog, cat and people. The golden sand arc that lines the bay is used as a cattle road and is completely covered in fertilizer. You really can't even walk on the beach without hitting a land mine. After a few days of non stop rain and manure we decided to head back to Port Blair ready for some hot food.

We were about to give up on the Andamans when we talked to a couple from Tazmania who told us that another island, Havelock, was worth a look.
Havelock is the main tourist island so we were going to give it a miss but after Little Andaman some tourist facilities sounded pretty good.