First Days, Again!

My first days in Uganda this time were very different from the first time. As a start, I drove from the airport to the volunteer house. It was pretty interesting and nice to be driving in an environment more fitting of my driving style, but only at first. Since then, I’m actually concerned about my safety anytime I take a taxi long-distance now. Today while driving, we saw two truck accidents. One had driven off the road and crashed into a mud-house. The other had driven off the road and flipped somehow.

Driving: No hands, No eyes

Poorly done roads but better than many nevertheless

Anyway, I spent the first day just unpacking and showing them what I brought such as the laptops, grater and kettle, all of which they love. I installed games on these laptops which have already shown some potential to become addictive so I feel a bit bad about brining that aspect of my culture but it will be alright.  

The next day, we went for a drive to pick-up a volunteer from an orphanage she is working at and I used my phone’s GPS to navigate which was pretty cool.  

The chocolate I brought the kids melted in the car so we cut it like a cake

We went to a big shopping center in Kampala on the way back and it was so weird. It was so much like home it made me all giddy. I never saw such a thing last time I was here so it was weird to see a huge range of foods, appliances and even insanely large LCD TVs.

Curiously, this charity box in an up-scale Ugandan shopping centre is for feeding chimps

That night we went out clubbing with the volunteer was great. It was nice to be out and about and the bouncer recognized me. We got pretty drunk on the absinthe I bought in Qatar. The 70% is awesome and it seems like the wormwood may even be doing something as it’s above what I can get in Australia and it’s the only way I can account for the large effect relative to the size.

Anyway, it’s strange as I haven’t done any true volunteering yet. I’ve just kind of been living it up and doing western things. The volunteering will start next week on Monday so I’m pretty excited about that. Probably good to ease into things as I have.

Christmas in Doha

I left Australia successfully with around 8 kilos over the limit. My friend handed me additional carry-on after checking in. I am brining 6 laptops to help start a computer training center there as well as donate some to an orphanage in Jinja. Due to weight issues, I ended up carrying 2 of the laptops with me.

All was going fine until I landed in Doha, got my visa to exit and found out that the airport does not provide baggage storing services. I sensed hardship ahead as my carry-on was very heavy. First I got myself a 6 hour city tour for $150. This was really good as it included a car to carry my bags and it took me to:

The sea

A Mosque. Something has happened to my camera lense so it seems many of my photos will contain a black friend on top or on the side. Might be less noticeable in Uganda. 

Camel Market

An obscenely rich town where all the shops were expensive brands, like Gucci, Armani, Ferrari, Rolls Royce and some others I hadn't heard of. I didn't see any food…  

Did I mention that the sun was really bright?

A shopping Centre with a painted sky ceiling and river with boats. They had a strange rule where you aren't allowed to take photos of the shopping center unless you are in them. 

A museum that was pretty good. Much better than any Islamic exhibitions I had ever seen.

And a non-posh traditional Qatari food restaurant. The food was really amazing!

Afterwards, I was dropped off at a market where I was supposed to enjoy myself until the evening. However, after buying a few souvenirs, it quickly became clear that this was a barren place with nothing to do. At least not until I would soon have to go back to the airport.  I tried to find a hotel to store my luggage anyway but none could help me. I ended up being bounced around a few places, sometimes in circles trying to find either storage or fun. Due to the lack of taxis, I must have walked several kilometres under the hot sun with >10kg including the 2 charity laptop bag strap rubbing a nice red souvenir into my neck.

I eventually gave up and ended up going back to the airport where I was told that there was nothing to do there either. I was pointed in a direction of some hotel with restaurants and shops but couldn't get there due to long anti-pedestrian barriers dividing a road. After finally reaching the goal, the shops were quite standard so I gave up and ended up at a McDonald’s eating a Sundae. It was just too difficult to keep carrying these bags around to have fun. I knew I had over 8 hours left but I was spent. I just went back to the airport and bought some absinthe for pre-drinking in Uganda. It's got more wormwood than Aussie ones so hopefully it will be fun. Now just waiting 6 or so hours until my flight.

One of the taxi drivers asked me if I liked the city. I didn't actually, and he laughed saying no-body likes it. I guess the main reason is the lack of things to do. There aren't many attractions. I was looking forward to sand-dune riding but I didn't have enough time for that tour. When you walk around the city, there aren't even many people.. just cars and flashy buildings. You have rich Qataris and white people driving or waking around these flashy buildings or malls. Where you do see lots of people, it is usually Indians / Bangladeshi / Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Blacks doing all the cheap work. I know it's good they have jobs but it still didn't feel good to see this racial divide between rich and poor. Perhaps I hadn't seen enough areas but the whole place seemed very sterile without soul. In short, a bunch of guys found some fossil fuels and threw the money around.

I did enjoy the trip, including the difficulties in a way. Although I wouldn't really come back. Can't wait to arrive in Uganda!

Almost Ready

I've packed my large bag and am marginally over the limit I think but I think it should be fine. I can only hope now that the luggage handlers respect the fragile sticker I will put on it and don't break any of the laptops. 

The unfortunate thing is that I pulled a muscle in the left side of my back recently and it makes it painful and hard to breathe. I find myself gasping for air and breathing very irregularly. After having to mow the lawn today, this has only become worse. I will definitely need a few shots of alcohol on the plane to help me rest.

I really hope that I get to leave the airport in Doha as 18 hours on the inside would be severely boring. Anyway, very exciting even though I still have many hours before I must leave.