How To Live Like a Rockstar When You are Not One...
Karatu: Cleanliness is Important. Jan 15 It is hard to find dental floss in Tanzania. Believe me, I have tried… I went to get my clothes washed today in Karatu, as it has been a long time since I have done my laundry. It was difficult to explain what I needed until I started carrying my laundry bag around with me. Eventually, someone directed me to a place that had a plywood sign painted with the words “Laundry and Dry...
Ngorongoro Crater – Safari in Africa Day 3. Jan 14 The food on this trip is the best food I have had in Tanzania so far! Going from beans, rice and ugali to food with such rich flavor is amazing. Going back to what I was eating before is going to be rough….Breakfast this morning was fruit, pancakes, eggs, toast, and sausages. Wow! We were out of the camp by 06:30, and as we pulled out onto the road, there...
Serengeti Safari Lion Buffalo Feast – Day 2. Jan 13 We were up at 05:20 to start our day with a fantastic sunrise. The Serengeti is so alive. Within five minutes of us parking to watch the sun bring in the day, a jackal came walking past our Land Cruiser. Five minutes after that, a hyena came walking along right next to our vehicle. Serenget is the Maasai word for ‘land of endless plain’. The flat goes as far as...
Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park – Safari in Africa Day 1. Jan 12. My phone rang at 06:10 because the guy who had made a deal on a safari wanted me to take a taxi for 30 minutes to bring him cash. I was not interested in doing such a thing at such a time and told him so. He made other arrangements and told me I could go back to sleep. At 09:30 I went to hang...
[su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”8″]David Bowie died today. It really bothered me. Lemmy Kilmister two weeks ago, and Bowie today. It has been a rough week for me musically. I have Rockstar Sadness. Both have made my eyes water. Lemmy, 70, played finished a tour and died just 15 days later from cancer, finding out two days before he died that he had such an illness. Bowie released his final album just two days ago, on his 69th birthday and cancer...
Katesh to Karatu: Markets and Albino Limb Potion. Jan 10 I was sick this morning. Bad stomach. It took a month for that to happen, so I am kind of okay with being sick right now. I met up with Paulo in the courtyard of the guesthouse and we went to the Katesh (Qatesh) market which takes place every 10th and the 27th of the month. It was amazing what was there, even though every eye in the market seemed...
Katesh: Live Chickens on a Bus and People Mattering. Jan 9 I met with Paulo this morning, shook hands and said goodbye to all of his friends. Then as Paulo and I were walking to the bus station, he stopped to say hello to some of his friends and they were asking him if they could try some of my Czech sniffing-tobacco. Apparently word got around fast about what I had shared last night. I was clearly a hit! Paulo...
Mbulu: Sharing Tobacco and Counting Wives Jan 8 When I went to meet Paulo today, he was wearing an old cowboy hat. I guess he wanted to show me that he has groovy fashion too. He looked cool. His hat has been stitched in many different places to be held together. He says he is a ‘cowboy-fake.’ It seems to be okay and in good humor in Tanzania to make fun of someone for their physical situation. Yesterday on the...
Jan 7 It could have been one of the greatest days of my life in a quest to find the Hadza Tribe. Unfortunately it was spoiled long before I arrived by money and greed…. [su_pullquote]I found out that the buses in this country are privately owned and some man just buys a bus or a van and puts it on the road. And that is how the system works here. The public transport system in Tanzania is actually really great.[/su_pullquote]...
Mbulu: Defensive Driving and Operating a Knife. Jan 6 The way they drive in Tanzania… it is truly amazing. It is a developing country thing… If I were to try to explain what is in each driver’s mind it would be, ‘I drive fast and I have no idea what I am doing. I am going to honk my horn when I make any moves so that you can be prepared for whatever I am doing that I should not...
Mbulu: Out to the Countryside. Jan 5 I got up this morning and changed guesthouses in Mbulu. [su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″]A $2.50 guesthouse is a nice price, but there was no water this morning. You get what you pay for I guess.[/su_note] I knew where a $3 guesthouse was across town that had a room with attached shower and bathroom. I went there to check in and when I went into the room, the water did not work their either. So,...
Moshi to Mbulu – Local Love Proposals and Chasing Tires with Sticks. Jan 4 Time to get out of Moshi. One day of a return was enough. I said goodbye to my Danish friends at breakfast and caught a dola-dola to make a trip from Moshi to Mbulu. The first stop was Arusha. Arusha is a big city that I did not want to be near, yet have to use it somewhat. There was a crowd of people waiting for...
The Danish Robbed in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Jan 3 I went to check my money situation this morning while on the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and realized I had about $8 in cash on me. I could have made it work and I could have stayed another night and eaten off of that, but it would have been a very fine line and I did not want to have to deal with being $0.50 short for the dola-dola ride...
Marangu: All Business, No Pals. Jan 2 Someone was having loud sex this afternoon just outside of my room. I had to change rooms later in the day because there was no electricity in my room, so I was moved to a different bungalow on the property, and was not within earshot of where I was before. Late in the afternoon, someone was having loud sex again. There seems to be no shyness about that here. Good for the Tanzanians...
Marangu: Big Families and Exotic Expenses. Jan 1st 2016 I slept in until about 11:00. It felt good to have a long lay in. I took care of Marisa’s needs again this morning and she headed off. I headed for the shower and decided to get out of town. One of the guys who worked at the ‘NewcastIe Hotel’ where I was staying knew of a place with cheap accommodation in a town called Marangu where I wanted to go. ...
Moshi: Happy New Year! Dec 31 – 2015 The circles around the sun happen faster and faster… Here we are again… I stayed pretty close to the hotel today, aside from going to get my phone fixed by the ‘Phone Doctor’ who was really knowledgeable at what he does. I should have gone to him right away rather than poke around in my phone myself and cause more problems that he would also have to fix. It would be nice...
Moshi: A Piece of Meat. Dec 30 Meet Silus: – Silus is from the Massai tribe. His village is 30 km away from Moshi, Tanzania. – There are Maasai people everywhere in Tanzania and many in Kenya. They all speak the same language, which is amazing because there are 100’s of languages in Tanzania alone with all of the different tribes, and yet this one massive tribe across two countries speaks the same language. – His father has five wives. All...
Dar Es Salaam to Moshi: The Long Ride North. Dec 29 It can really screw you up when your phone loses track of time because it is so dead, and you allow it to set itself according to the mobile network you are using. Then when you set your alarm for 05:20 to get to the buses early and everyone else is getting up at the same time it is really confusing. Then you find a clock on the wall...
Stone Town to Dar Es Salaam: It’s Good to Stay at the…. Dec 28 “Young man, are you listening to me?” I am lacking sleep because I think my Facebook and email accounts were hacked into through the internet at Sofia’s place. That really happens? Really? Marc had been suspicious of it happening to him through her internet and last night things got fishy on me. So, I was up until 02:00 changing passwords to accounts and the hassle of...
Stone Town, Zanzibar: 73 Year Old Energy. Dec 27 Derrick from Germany, 73 – “How was it at home?” German friend Marc – “Beautiful.” Derrick – “No, a woman is beautiful. Temperatures are hot or cold. How was it?” Marc – “It was hot.” And that is the mind of a 73 year old German man I met today named Derrick. It was the slow beginning of a day, and it took Marc, Sofia and I until 14:00 to get...
Michamvi to Stone Town, Zanzibar: Goodbye Full Package. Dec 26 If you want to save money when you travel, end up in a fling with an attractive woman who runs a restaurant. That will really take care of some costs! If she has a washing machine, you have basically achieved platinum status. I have had a blast with this Ms. Tanzanian Pageant and she sure has taken care of me. She did not even let me buy a single drink...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Merriment Awesomeness! Dec 25 I had a nice sleep in and went to see Ms. Tanzanian Pageant at her restaurant. She was in a super fun mood full of Merriment. She was about to cook us lunch, pointed to the blackness at the bottom of a large pot from a propane powered burner and said, “I look like here.” Funny. Marc from Germany was out again today with Ms. Tanzanian Pageant’s sister. I told Marc I will leave...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Empty Santa’s Sack. Dec 24 Christmas already? The Earth gets around the sun in a hurry! Spending Christmas day swimming in bathtub-warm turquoise blue waters is not such a bad way to spent the festive season. In the later afternoon I went to hang around with Ms. Tanzanian Pageant at her restaurant/bar where I helped her to blow up balloons and hang Christmas decorations. It is a white Christmas for me with perfect powder sand that makes everyone...
Michamvi Tanzania: The Good Life? Dec 23 Sometimes you do not realize you are caught up in The Good Life is until someone points it out to you. Ms. Tanzanian Pageant’s sister’s German boyfriend was at the beach restaurant bar when I arrived today at 11:00. He is in his 40’s and he said, “I look at your life and I think, wow. You have it pretty good. I am not sure if you could have gotten a better start...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Accidentally Smooth. Dec 22 People here in Zanzibar are not so tied to technology, so they are not so busy with nothing, yet, and they have time for other people. Do you ever/always feel like there are not enough hours in the day? There seems to be too many hours in the day here. If you need to go somewhere to do something, and it will take you an hour to go there and back, but you do...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Beans vs Mashed. Dec 21 Ms. Tanzanian Pageant fed me lunch at her restaurant. She came to my bungalow to get me in the afternoon to see if I wanted to meet her sister who had just arrived to see her. Her sister was with a German man. I guess they think outside of Tanzania… But here is the thing: her sister was in a car accident three months ago. She is still on crutches. Her husband died...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Trouble with Two Women. Dec 20 Ms. Tanzanian Pageant, 25, really struggles with English in the morning. She is good with the language during the day, but first thing in the morning is a lot of work… What? What? What? I don’t know? I went to see Ms. Tanzanian Pageant for lunch and gave her a Beatles shirt today that is too small for me and three extra pairs of socks that are taking up space in my...
Michamvi: The Rock Restaurant in Zanzibar! Dec 19 There is The Rock Restaurant in Zanzibar, close to where I am staying. I caught a dola-dola, told the driver where I wanted to go, and he dropped me off after turning around twice on the road for some unknown reason. This is Africa! I walked through a small village down to the beach, and there was the restaurant… The Rock Restaurant in Zanzibar, is a massive rock close to the shore...
Michamvi Zanzibar – Sing the Moment In. Dec 18 Ms. Tanzanian Pageant left at 07:00 and I slept again until 09:30. She showed up again at 10:30, and invited me for breakfast at her restaurant in Michamvi Zanzibar. I told her that I would just head into the village to eat, but she said she had already prepared it. She has been on me about not eating. I eat, but I guess she is not used to someone who only...
Michamvi Zanzibar: Little Ms Tanzania Pageant. Dec 17 I no longer like the energy at Nungwi, as I felt my own was being sucked out of me by the beach boys hassling me, so I pulled the plug and hit the road today. I caught a dola-dola to Stone Town. A Portuguese girl was in the front seat inside of the truck and the middle was free, so I rode down in luxury inside of the vehicle until we picked...
Download Chapter 1 of Traveling Through North Korea
August 3, 2008 Bangkok, Thailand -Sex Show [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]t was early August and my German girlfriend and I had just left Australia on a cheap flight to squeaky…
February 7, 2016 Today was a special day where I went to spend an hour with a silverback gorilla family in the mountains of Rwanda. It was…
January 10, 2017 Anyone ever heard of a band called Electric Eel Shock? There is a reason why you haven’t. The reason why you haven’t heard of…
May 4, 2014 Breakfast was at 8:30am, and I was the last to arrive. I was still feeling effects of the chicha, the local corn-moonshine we had…
July 26, 2014 I wish I could say that we were inside of a pristine shiny and sterile cocaine lab that I had pictured in my mind…
June 3, 2016 Convincing a 20 year old to get out of bed at 10:30 is no easy feat… It turns out that playing Slayer really loud…
March 15, 2014 We were up early to meet a group of three other gringos at Central station at 10am. We were early. We were tired. We…
January 30, 2015 My father was hanging out with me in the basement, and then he began getting his band equipment together to haul upstairs to load…
March 18, 2013 Want the recipe for a fascinating day? This one serves three: Step One – Get Ingredients and Heat up the Oven It started when…
January 24, 2007 Vang Vieng Paradise of Laos Girls [su_dropcap]V[/su_dropcap]ang Vieng. My paradise. Vang Vieng has a lot of things to do that can occupy a man’s…