Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Burkina Faso Photos
Here are some pics I took in Burkina Faso... 'bout time I published them don't ya think???
Here's a termite mound down in the south... quite an impressive one at that!
Here's some ladies dancing at a cafe in Ouagadougou and having a great time!!!
Here's the trusiest animal around, the ever present mule!!!
Here are two mosques, one in Bobi Diolasso, the other the Grand Mosque in Ouagadougou.
Here's a termite mound down in the south... quite an impressive one at that!
Here's some ladies dancing at a cafe in Ouagadougou and having a great time!!!
Here's the trusiest animal around, the ever present mule!!!
Here are two mosques, one in Bobi Diolasso, the other the Grand Mosque in Ouagadougou.
An African Conlusion, A conclusion (Part Five)
This part doesn't really take place in Africa.... hehe
Well, getting through the airport in Paris, Charles De Gaulle, was pretty easy. In Australia, if you have come on a flight from any plce you are under intense scrutiny, in Paris i didn't even need to open the passport. Everyone seemed to be let through without any serious sort of passport examination.
I waited a little while for my baggage, and then I set out to book a flight home and to find a bed for the night. Having only one hours sleep, and still nowhere near 100% fit, i needed some serious rest. I went to find the Emirates office to book a ticket, which took forever to find and in the end was closed. Of course!! So in the end i found a computer terminal and tried to book a flight home for the next day.
Eventually I did, much to my relief, and got a very cheap price too - around 700 EUROS.... thats darn cheap, especially for a flight booked for the next day. Then i hopped a bus to an airport hotel. I should mention that the temperature was about 1 degree celcius, and there was snow falling all around the huge Charles De Gaulle airport. What an incredible contrast to the 40 degrees i had been experiencing only a day before.
I checked into a hotel that was comfortable but well overpriced for the size of the room. Thats airport hotels i guess, and to be expected. I considered taking the metro into Paris but decided i was far too tired. In the end I slept the afternoon, went down for a pretty nice meal, and returned to the room where i fell asleep again for the night.
I awoke to find I had missed breakfast proper and would have to survive on the after 10am breakfast which was basic at best. Still, I had a croissant in France. At the terminal there was a mazzive queue already for the flight to Dubai, and it took an hour to check in, possibly more.
The flight left a few minutes late, and finally I felt like was heading home. I met a very nice girl - Pia, from Brisbane on this flight. At the Dubai airport we both had a few hours to kill, so we spent them singing and reminiscing about the Buffy musical episode.
We parted ways too quicly though :( and I was on my way home. The flight stopped for an hour in Singapore... and felt like it would never end. My stomach developed pain which was not good, and sleep didn't really some. after around 25 hours including stops in airports from paris, i was touching down in good old melbourne.
But it wasn't over... after waiting an age for my baggage, i was then subjected to thorough searches as were most people on the flight. It was now 2.30 am when i got out of the airport. Perhaps the authorities were just bored as it was the only flight in at the time... im not sure...
but home in australia i was....
and three days later back in hospital for tests and observation. The stomach remained bad, anxiety bad too...
but that was back in early march, and life now is on the up. oh i promised pics.... will be up soon i promise you!
Well, getting through the airport in Paris, Charles De Gaulle, was pretty easy. In Australia, if you have come on a flight from any plce you are under intense scrutiny, in Paris i didn't even need to open the passport. Everyone seemed to be let through without any serious sort of passport examination.
I waited a little while for my baggage, and then I set out to book a flight home and to find a bed for the night. Having only one hours sleep, and still nowhere near 100% fit, i needed some serious rest. I went to find the Emirates office to book a ticket, which took forever to find and in the end was closed. Of course!! So in the end i found a computer terminal and tried to book a flight home for the next day.
Eventually I did, much to my relief, and got a very cheap price too - around 700 EUROS.... thats darn cheap, especially for a flight booked for the next day. Then i hopped a bus to an airport hotel. I should mention that the temperature was about 1 degree celcius, and there was snow falling all around the huge Charles De Gaulle airport. What an incredible contrast to the 40 degrees i had been experiencing only a day before.
I checked into a hotel that was comfortable but well overpriced for the size of the room. Thats airport hotels i guess, and to be expected. I considered taking the metro into Paris but decided i was far too tired. In the end I slept the afternoon, went down for a pretty nice meal, and returned to the room where i fell asleep again for the night.
I awoke to find I had missed breakfast proper and would have to survive on the after 10am breakfast which was basic at best. Still, I had a croissant in France. At the terminal there was a mazzive queue already for the flight to Dubai, and it took an hour to check in, possibly more.
The flight left a few minutes late, and finally I felt like was heading home. I met a very nice girl - Pia, from Brisbane on this flight. At the Dubai airport we both had a few hours to kill, so we spent them singing and reminiscing about the Buffy musical episode.
We parted ways too quicly though :( and I was on my way home. The flight stopped for an hour in Singapore... and felt like it would never end. My stomach developed pain which was not good, and sleep didn't really some. after around 25 hours including stops in airports from paris, i was touching down in good old melbourne.
But it wasn't over... after waiting an age for my baggage, i was then subjected to thorough searches as were most people on the flight. It was now 2.30 am when i got out of the airport. Perhaps the authorities were just bored as it was the only flight in at the time... im not sure...
but home in australia i was....
and three days later back in hospital for tests and observation. The stomach remained bad, anxiety bad too...
but that was back in early march, and life now is on the up. oh i promised pics.... will be up soon i promise you!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Part Four
Oh so it's been a while since i wrote about the end of Africa, I suppose it is time to continue the saga.... the question will be, what will I write about now?? My future plans?? Perhaps i will relate the occasional story from other trips. Then i could post a few photos and the like....
how is everyone anyways??
I returned to a comfortable house in the suburbs of Ouagadougou, where i stayed with a couple doing missionary work in Burkina Faso. It was nice to be staying in a home enviroment for a change, especially in an African setting. I was able to watch dvds and relax, and we visited a restaurant/club exclusively for ex-pats that even had a pool and played English-language movies.
Soon I went into town and organised a flight to Paris that evening, and also found some nice material to take home with me. I returned to the house and tried to organise tickets from Paris to Melbourne with Emirates on the net, but had trouble completing the transaction, so eventually failed.
I had to pack and prepare that afternoon, the flight was due to depart at 11.30pm, getting into Paris in the wee hours of the morning. Pack I did, and soon was ready to leave. I was taken out to dinner with some others my new friends knew (that can't be good English!), and we had my bags in the back of the car and took off for some sort of community with lots of houses inside.
Just when i felt things we're going alright, i tucked into the chicken and suddenly discovered I was eating something with peanuts.
When departing Australia, as I may have mentioned, I was deeply worried about the abundance of peanuts in Africa and in African cooking. But I was there, three hours before flying out, having an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts when I thought I might survive Africa without one at all. We hopped into the car/van and drove straight to the Doctor who was surprised to see me again, that's for sure.
This might be where I'd leave you.... but I am not in the mood for a cliffhanger today.
I was a bit sick from the peanuts, but suddenly felt fine. I was worried that I was staying in Ouagadougou again, but the Doctor said I was free to leave, so we drove to the airport from there where check-in took an inordinate amount of time.
It all seemed to take forever, I missed out on converting back my local currency as the exchange booth closed at 10pm, and then I thought I had lost my phone and my friends left (ever so kindly and without my asking) to look for it. Then I found it and was so embarrassed.
Slowly we moved from one procedure to the next. My passport was checked six times, the plane was going to be full and it seemed to be taking forever.
I spoke to a couple of Air France hostesses taking the flight about all the checks and they told me it was important and gave an example of an Air France jet that was blown up in Chad. This did not help me at all.
Despite being on the more comfortable Airbus it was quire cramped, and I was lucky to get an hour or so's sleep. I woke during turbulence over Algiers, and at 5.30am or so in the morning we descended on Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris...
how is everyone anyways??
I returned to a comfortable house in the suburbs of Ouagadougou, where i stayed with a couple doing missionary work in Burkina Faso. It was nice to be staying in a home enviroment for a change, especially in an African setting. I was able to watch dvds and relax, and we visited a restaurant/club exclusively for ex-pats that even had a pool and played English-language movies.
Soon I went into town and organised a flight to Paris that evening, and also found some nice material to take home with me. I returned to the house and tried to organise tickets from Paris to Melbourne with Emirates on the net, but had trouble completing the transaction, so eventually failed.
I had to pack and prepare that afternoon, the flight was due to depart at 11.30pm, getting into Paris in the wee hours of the morning. Pack I did, and soon was ready to leave. I was taken out to dinner with some others my new friends knew (that can't be good English!), and we had my bags in the back of the car and took off for some sort of community with lots of houses inside.
Just when i felt things we're going alright, i tucked into the chicken and suddenly discovered I was eating something with peanuts.
When departing Australia, as I may have mentioned, I was deeply worried about the abundance of peanuts in Africa and in African cooking. But I was there, three hours before flying out, having an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts when I thought I might survive Africa without one at all. We hopped into the car/van and drove straight to the Doctor who was surprised to see me again, that's for sure.
This might be where I'd leave you.... but I am not in the mood for a cliffhanger today.
I was a bit sick from the peanuts, but suddenly felt fine. I was worried that I was staying in Ouagadougou again, but the Doctor said I was free to leave, so we drove to the airport from there where check-in took an inordinate amount of time.
It all seemed to take forever, I missed out on converting back my local currency as the exchange booth closed at 10pm, and then I thought I had lost my phone and my friends left (ever so kindly and without my asking) to look for it. Then I found it and was so embarrassed.
Slowly we moved from one procedure to the next. My passport was checked six times, the plane was going to be full and it seemed to be taking forever.
I spoke to a couple of Air France hostesses taking the flight about all the checks and they told me it was important and gave an example of an Air France jet that was blown up in Chad. This did not help me at all.
Despite being on the more comfortable Airbus it was quire cramped, and I was lucky to get an hour or so's sleep. I woke during turbulence over Algiers, and at 5.30am or so in the morning we descended on Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris...
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