Overheard a couple asking for taxi to Kampala and didnt like the price they got from the driver- I followed them out of the reception area of the campsite and offered to share my taxi with them; they were grateful, researchers from Canada into HIV-AIDS, the driver asked for more money AFTER we dropped them off at this reduculously posh hotel (seemed like a slap in the face having seen rest of Kampala which was a much bigger version of the village I had stayed in except for the huge number of cars) I told him he should have said something when they told him their destination but I was going to give him a little more , later he starts telling me there is an entry fee into airport area! I ask him if the price is going to keep going up as we near the airport and that what I am paying him has to take care of the whole cost

 

I get x rayed three times in the airport, once on entry and told to sit and wait, luckily I didnt and found that I was due to be checking in so I quickly exchanged my remaining UGS into Dollars and checked in (x rayed) and then also X rayed on the boarding gate, the trouble is you have to take everything off such as shoes, belts etc each time, the first time was totally pointless as I discovered I could have just walked aroung the x ray machine but then these guys need to have a job

 

Feeling hot and sticky today, had my second chaparti at the airport, while waiting have my Melorone and redulce my luggage to two packs plus sleeping bag, socks still damp so I hang it on the outside of my daypack

 

Must remember to have my third part of two vaccines outstanding in Beijing

 

For the first time I  see some tractors but these are on the airway tarmac not the fields (all the lush greenery I have seen so far while travelling through Uganda appear to me from hand tools and manual labour!), reasonably easy flight to Nairobi but then the fun begins,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Shower and Sleep?

I am due for a 8 hour wait at the airport, not nice, trying to get my luggage and while chatting to an Aussie girl I find out there are showers and sleeping facilities at the airport, desparate for a shower by now, at the transit desk I am eventually told that I need to pay $10 transit visa and go through customs and check back in again! As I set off to do this the guy calls me and takes my luggage slip and comes back with my luggage, I am expecting him to claim the $10 but he does not!

 

I pay $26 for a shower and up to 4 hous sleep, this should get me up by 1,30 a,m for a 3,30 flight, I dont get much sleep, sensitive to all the sounds around, cant understand the people who have paid for sleeping cabins and decide to make phone calls they could easily make from the waiting hall

 

Quite tired make my way to boarding gate, the floors are being washed and I am told to wait,,,,,, then let through as the Turkish airline have funny flight time, when I get to the board I see that now the flight is delayd to 6,30! I stand there dazed with tiredness  get chatting to other people on same flight with connection and lost luggage problems

 

 

 

Roof over my head

 

I get my sleeping bag out and lay it UNDER a set of seats (no point sleeping on them as they have handles separating them and you have to be a snake to mange curling round them) I get some decent sleep on the floor,,,,,,,,,I want my $26 back!

 

There are problems with my boarding as I was supposed to have checked in at 11 to 12 last night and the guy is telling me check in desk will open tonight! I am telling him I have a flight in 2 hours, anyway I get sorted out at the boarding gate, we eventually fly out at 7,30 a,m, I have had some reasonable sleep and manage to get some more on the plane as I use the sleeping bag again as pillow as well as blanket,,,,,,,,,slight problem though as I seem to have lost the bag in which I carry the sleeping bag, there was serious shortage of seating places in the waiting hall and a group of Arab women came and sat on the seats under which I had my bed and were very appologetic when I pointed out that they were stepping on my bed (at the time I was standing up looking out for the belongings of some of my co.travellers, I moved my bed under another bench and had by now tied my cases and sleeping bag together with the string from the sleeping bag but later when I moved to the boarding gate the bag was nowhere to be seen ,,,,,,,,,, in the boarding hall I got down on the sleeping bag again, after all we had another hour or so to wait again

 

On the flight the hostesses were surprisingly poor at English

 

at breakfast I was looking for butter as there were two sachets one looking like honey and other strawberry, when I opened what looked like honey it turned out to be Butter so I hoped that the strawberry would be honey, it was not ofcourse! imagine my surpise

 

And today on the plane is the first in about 3 weeks since I have heard children whining! despite the fact that some I have seen have been terribly poor, HIV positive and living in dirt and somehow managed to have huge grins on their faces while screaming HELLO ane Mozungo at our truck as we passed by or alternatively trying to sell me something or charging me for singing to me!