We are still up in Mwinilunga, enjoying life in a small town in the North West of Zambia (our spot tracker doesn't work up here, so you will have to use Google Maps to find us).
Every other day, we go for a stroll down to support the local market, and provide much entertainment for the locals. There isn't a lot of variety: tomatoes, onions, rape(like spinach), ground nuts, lemons, potatoes, cabbage and casava. So we buy a lot of the same thing, just from different people to try and spread things around. Monica also discovered a source for flour, so has been baking all sorts of things, and I have been inventing all sorts of different ways to eat these baked goods.
The Two Melo Velos were also reunited with their bikes. A short 50km round trip ride down the the Luakela River made Two Melo Jellos a more suitable name for us. It was good to get back on the bikes and see a bit of the countryside.
We were the traffic
This is pretty normal load for people (particularly women) to carry on their heads
Some ladies we met on the side of the road
There was also more fishing/camping up the Lunga river - Monica caught her first fish! I had spent some time teaching her to cast, never thinking to take the lesson to the "catching a fish" chapter. The look of utter panic on Monica's face when she was the first to get a fish on was priceless. We skipped the theory, and got straight to the learn-by-doing, and before she knew it, Monica had her first fish, a nice little yellow-mouthed bream (tilapia)on the boat. Monica then spent the next 10 minutes apologizing profusely to the poor fish for catching it. She definitely got over it, because I didn't see any fish left on her plate.
Ug, me caveman - fire!
Looking for sponsorship from Hennessy Hammocks
"Yes Monica, anything you say!"
Nyangombe Falls
While on the river, we were fortunate enough to see some hippo (not what you want to see when you are in a small boat), and a very large crocodile. Hippo haven't been seen in these parts for many years, and thanks to the efforts of Nchila Wildlife(it really looks like the pictures) and the West Lunga Trust the people here are starting to think of nature as a resource, but there is a long way to go. One can understand the difficulty in thinking of the future when, at 33, my age is equal to the average life expectancy of a Zambia man.
Yes Monica, if you catch it, you have to hold it for the photo!
Take 10! I have never seen a fish dropped so much!
Dumb and Dumber
nap on the river
Some friendly Impala
I have been helping out here and there with some computer stuff - this week, we are back up to Ikalene High School from the last post, and I am also helping Mwinilunga with its first Internet Cafe. Keep your eye out for emails from Zambian Princes. I happen to know quite a few who need you to keep some money for them for a short time.
The first ADSL connection has arrived in Mwinilunga at 256 Kbps, which is totally mind boggling for this part of the world - all for the equivalent of $90. This may not seem like much, but when you consider that a good wage is $4 per day, that is an awful lot of money.
Pete and I made our way up to Mwinilunga, which is in the Northwest part of Zambia. This is where Pete's grandparents lived and where Charlie (Pete's dad) also has a home. This is also where everyone would meet to start the canoe trip down the Lunga River. When Pete and I first talked about the canoe trip, I thought it would be a leisurely sort of thing with a bit of paddling on flat water. As we started to get closer to the date of the trip, I found out that we would be going over rapids that rate from class 1 to 5 and also that there are crocodiles in the river.
I've summarized what the different class ratings mean in real terms:
Class 1 - Little rapids that are comfortable
Class 2 - Medium rapids that are also comfortable
Class 3 - Large rapids that will soak you and almost make you fall in
Class 4 - Even larger rapids that will make you question why you are doing this
Class 5 - You must be crazy to attempt and also have a wish to capsize and get eaten by crocs!
Class 3 rapids on the river.
Even closer to the trip it was discussed that if you fall out of the canoe, it's best to try and reach land as quickly as possible...I assume to avoid being bitten by a croc. I was also advised not to fall into any still water because, as you guessed it, there could be crocs around. Needless to say I was pretty terrified about falling into the water and becoming crocodile bait. Luckily for me, I was paired up with Simon who is not only an expert local river guide but also a fishing master.
Before we would even begin our canoeing adventure, we had to get to the spot that we would depart from. This involved some real bush trekking as we literally had to create a road in some sections and go around fallen trees.
The road to the river
The trip was eventful from the get go as there was a capsize in the first 10 min. Luckily everything was okay and the only thing we lost was the snack bag. The next few days were spent paddling down the river, catching fish and like all good fishing trips, a few more capsizes.
The most memorable capsize was of Pete going down a class 5 rapid. Unfortunately I missed watching the excitement as a few of us decided to walk around the long rapids to avoid being thrown in the water. As I'm told, there was a rock in the middle of the river that the first two canoes hit. This caused the canoes to spin 360 degrees down the rapids, but they didn't capsize. Pete, in the third canoe, was not so lucky and when he hit the rock he was launched out of the canoe. Pete and the upside down canoe made their way down the rapids and once in still water, Pete started to pull the canoe towards the river bank. Now you might recall what I wrote above about still water? Well sure enough the sound of a loud splash caused Pete to let go of the canoe and scrabble to shore. Good thing he did as Simon, coming up in the other canoe, confirmed that the sound was a crocodile in the river close to the canoes.
Lovely but dangerous still waters
Unfortunately, our luck with the wildlife ran out and on our last day canoeing towards base camp Charlie (Pete's dad) was bitten by a Puff Adder snake. These snakes are highly poisonous and bites can be fatal. Although Charlie downplayed the incident so that we didn't worry, his hand became swollen and by the time we reached base camp the swelling was moving up his wrist. Luckily we were travelling with a doctor and after Oliver took a look, it was decided that Charlie should make his way back to a hospital to find some anti-venom. So at 9pm Charlie, Pete and Stan made there way back through the bush and arrived back in Mwinilunga at 4am. A friend of the family, Baldwin, then drove Charlie to the miners hospital. Normally this trip takes about 3hrs, but Baldwin drove fast enough to get Charlie there in two hours. The doctor, also a friend of Charlie's, took a look at the bite and said that it wasn't too bad and that no anti-venom would be given but instead Charlie had to try to keep his hand held up and to take a bunch of pain killers. I've heard through Oliver that anti-venom, due to the way it's created, can also be fatal and are usually only administered in very severe cases. I'm happy to write that Charlie is doing much better and although there is still a bit of swelling, it has mostly subsided.
After getting a few hours of sleep, Pete and Stan made there way back to the camp to spend another day fishing. The fishing part of the trip was not as successful as everyone would have liked but we still managed to catch seven fish in total, with Simon catching the bulk of them.
Yummy dinner of tiger fish
After that eventful week, this week by comparison has been quite normal. We spent some time touring around the local hospital and also taking a look at a school. Although the hospital has come a long way, it's still quite basic and makes me very grateful for all the care and advancements we have back home.
We had originally hoped to help the school get access to the Internet and also to build new computers, but that has fallen through as the timing is not quite right. The project is more in the planning stages and the execution won't begin for a little while. We thought that a month would be enough time to get some projects going, but we now realize that you really need a year or more.
Computer lab in the school
I'll end the post by showing some pictures of the hydro-electric project that Charlie and the trust helped to create. The plant has brought power to many rural villages and it's a really amazing thing to see how access to electricity has helped so many people.
The ins and outs of generating electricity
Irrigation system - to grow winter crop of wheat
One more thing...on our way back from the power plant, we stopped by a village to say hello to another Simon (this one is an expert in hunting) that had been the guide on many Rea family trips. Hunting Simon was sweet enough to not only give us a few pineapples, but also a live chicken! Although I had visions of keeping the poor bird as my pet and setting it free when I left, it wasn't to be and is currently being prepared for dinner. Luckily for me I was asleep when the initial 'preparation' of the bird was done.
Happier days for the chicken
One last picture of kids from fishing Simon's village...I love this pic!
I have been a bad blogger. I am going to blame it entirely on the less than useless state of the Internet in Zimbabwe. My most sincere apologies to our faithful followers - I will give you the cliff notes version to get you up to speed.
In Lusaka:
Met my Dad's wife Royda, and her extended friends and family
hung out at a camp on the outskirts of the city - both stunned at the contrast to SE Asia. Quiet, peaceful - could actually hear the birds, insects and wind in the trees. Also rudely surprised by the onset of winter, and the chill compared to the 35+ degree heat and humidity of Bangkok.
Experienced the Zambian marriage ceremony matebeto for the first time prepared for Dad - a very special experience. Briefly:
It is a ceremony where the women in the family of the bride-to-be (it is often family and friends) cook food from the culture of their tribe for the family, friends, and guests of the groom-to-be. This tradition is usually held for marriages between two different ethnic groups or tribes. It is supposed to ensure that the husband doesn't get offended or upset when his wife brings him a dish he has never seen or eaten before. So the women stay up for a long time preparing pots and pots of food for others to consume at the event. Oddly, the bride is not invited, and the brides family don't stay to eat the food they worked so hard to prepare.
Re-united with my old motorbike
Visited Dustin at Zambikes - If you are a bike lover, you will not be disappointed with these beautiful frames. Bamboo, with a bit of hemp to wrap it all together. I am saving up for 2!
Went to a mexican restaurant
In Zimbabwe:
Had to bribe my way into Zimbabwe in order to correct some paperwork
Got home for Mother's Day (first time in decades I think)
Met my niece Nazya for the first time just before she turned 1, then had a party!
Climbed Domboshawa to watch the sunset
Went to visit extended family Pauline out at Kumusha (the village)!
Had to bribe my way through another Police roadblock to correct some more paperwork - this time they actually gave me a receipt
Now, sitting in Lusaka preparing to go up to Mwinilunga for a fishing trip with Dad. We will be on the river for 6 days. Monica is a little concerned about the crocs, rapids, spiders... She is in good hands.
P.S. I don't condone bribing, and am sad to talk about Zimbabwe, my home, and corruption together. That is a topic for another day.
We stayed in Bangkok for our last week in SE Asia and it's gone by very quickly. We first arrived in this gigantic city and headed straight for the backpacker district, also known as Khao san road. I guess we've been working our way up to larger cities, by spending time in Siam Reap and Phnom Penh but nothing prepared us for the craziness, traffic, people and just general congestion of Bangkok. Khao San road, which is not representative of all of Bangkok, is full of tourists and people trying to sell you stuff. It was pretty cool to just walk around and take it all. However, sensory overload would soon kick in and we would usually need to retreat back into our hotel room to get away from it all.
Khao San Road
I had been nagging Pete to check his Marriott reward points to see if we had enough for a free stay. After John left, he got around to doing it and we were shocked to find out that he had enough points for our last three nights. We left our hotel on crazy Khao San road and made our way to the serenity of the Marriott. I have to say the last three days have been a blur of sleeping in, shopping, watching movies and eating. It's been very relaxing and exactly what we needed! Pete was better than I as he actually went for a run in the morning and a swim in the pool. I exercised by dodging traffic on the way to an air conditioned mall.
Typical traffic on the roads of Bangkok
The police in Bangkok are better than superman!
I have a hard time believing that we are done travelling through SE Asia and that the cycling part of our trip, for the most part, is over. The thought is so overwhelming that Pete is already talking about cycling Angola and we are also discussing the options of a two week cycling trip somewhere in Zambia or Zimbabwe. I think we might be addicts.
A huge thanks to Krist, B and John - cycling SE Asia was tons of fun thanks to you!! Also, thanks for putting up with crazy us along the way :)
We enjoyed our last day in Phnom Penh and were very lucky to spend the night with Dirk and Chantal, who are family friends of Petes.
Dirk, the dogs and us
Royal Palace
Artsy shot of the palace
We were very undecided about the route we would take to Siem Reap. Our options were:
1. Cycle for 4 days on the main highway
2. Take a bus
3. Cycle one day on a secondary highway and then take a back route on a 'road' that doesn't exist on any map but does in a motorcycle book, then take a bus the last 150km
Can you guess which option we took? The appeal of getting off the beaten track was too great for Pete and John and for better or worse we went with option 3. The first day involved making our way by highway from Phnom Penh to Kampong Chhang and was easily covered with minimal difficulty. As part of our recon that night we asked a few people about the road on the other side of the river that goes to Kampong Tom. We basically heard everything from "It doesn't exist" to "It's not possible" to "The road is crap but you could do it". Based on the lack of information we decided to take our chances and just give it a go. We woke up early and caught a boat to the town that our route would start from.
Boat ride across the river
The first 30km of our trip was wonderful! It was easily some of the best cycling we had done in SE Asia. Quiet dirt roads with local people and lots of shade. The roads were in such good condition that we were able to cruise along very quickly without much effort.
Lovely road and people
The dream ended when we saw a truck loaded with people coming out of a rice paddy field. Sure enough the route they had just traveled was the one that we were looking for. We traversed through the dried rice paddy fields and our nice road turned into horrible bumpy dirt tracks left by trucks. On a bike with suspension, this ride wouldn't have hurt so much but on my bike it was pretty terrible. I should say that John and Pete (in retrospect) loved this route. I can't even say that I liked this bit of cycling, for me it was up there as being one of the worst bits ever!
Do you see a road?
Bumpy, crappy dirt road
After what seemed like hours (it actually might have been) we finally emerged back onto a nice dirt track road. We were running a bit low on water and I was very happy to hear that we only had about 10km left. On a road like this, we would be there in no time!
One happy lady
My happiness was short lived as the nice dirt road turned into what else, but soft sand. The last 7km of the trip took forever with minimal to no shade to take cover. There were a few falls and lots of swearing...mostly by me :)
You have to be kidding me
The video that John took, pretty much says it all:
We finally made it back to civilization and quickly found ourselves under shade and drinking copious amounts of sugarcane juice. It was a pretty epic ride, especially since it was our last. I didn't think it would be possible to have the best and worst day of riding all in one day, but there we have it :)
We made our way by bus to Siem Reap and have really enjoyed our time here. We finished three days of temple site seeing and were able to look at almost all of them. It's beautiful, daunting, breathtaking and overwhelming all at the same time.
My favorites are the ones that the forest have tried to take back. I love the mix of big old trees and old crumbling buildings.
We cycled on our first day of site seeing and then the heat got to us, have I mentioned that it's 35+ degrees here? We took a tuk tuk the last two days and it was a great way to get around.
Our tuk tuk driver Bun
Our time in Siem Reap couldn't be complete without the obligatory fish massage. There are tons of these places around the city. You stick your feet into the tank and the little guys start to nibble the dead skin on your feet. It sounds a bit gross and I was only able to put my heels in for a few seconds before I decided it wasn't my thing. The boys however loved it and enjoyed their fish massage immensely,
Hungry?
We leave Cambodia tomorrow and make our way by land to Bangkok. Wish us luck that the taxi's, buses all go smooth tomorrow. Cycling is an awesome way to travel, except when you decide not to cycle :)
