Part I : East Africa Journey -Tanzania - Sofaree, so good!

And having just arrived yesterday, I've already heard the word 3000 times from people on the street as I'm wandering around in Tanzania's old capital, Dar es Salaam.

This is just the beginning of my journey, one day before my safari begins ("Safari" is actually swahili for "journey").

After having read my Lonely Planet's excert on the city and speaking with various people, I was reassured that Dar is a relatively safe place to walk alone... in the day-time of course.

So, with that, I make my first stop at Chef's Pride, an African restaurant reco'd by my LP (lonely planet, yes one day in this tropical place and already I'm getting lazy!). I ordered "Ndizi Changua something something", a fish and plaintain dish. It was delicious! I think I was more worried about swallowing a fish bone than anything at that point. During my sit in - which took forever, again due to those pesky fishbones, not that I was in a hurry to get anywhere - two germans walk towards me from the street, cried "Muzongo!" at me and joined me at the table. Later, they explained that that was the swahili word for foreigner. After they had gone, three Africans joined me.

My moment of pride came after they had their food in front of them, one man asked me "do you know what this is?" and having never seen the food before but recognizing it as a staple african side dish, I exclaimed "Ugali!" (We almost tried to make it the day before I left, but we decided to have Dimsum, chinese breakfast instead, due to scheduling conflicts). Anyways, I digress.

Well, the one thing that did impress me, was the size of the fish' teeth -- it had fangs!!! ;c) It looked like a phirana. Well, I'll be thinking twice of swimming now. hehe.

The plane ride was very long (20 hrs!!) but it was funny, though not surprising, that everyone on the plane seemed to be going on a safari too !!

Well, going back to where I am now, in an internet cafe with one internet station (this one!) and a fee of 500 Tanzanian shillings (equiv. less than a CDN $1) per hour of use.

Walking on the streets, there are tons of people sitting around, and market stalls everywhere. Other than abundant dust, the air is also filled with the smell of fresh lemon rinds. For some reason, the market folk sell their lemons peeled with only a slight bit of skin left... well, it makes for a nice and enticing walk anyway.

I did end up buying some fushia looking snack for about 20 cents CDN... it tastes familiar but I can't quite distinguish the flavour.

Walking around the streets feels pretty safe so far, as long as you keep your eye on your day bag and stay alert and aware. The kids are quite shocked to see me... and most people stare, and almost everyone has something to sell. Everyone wants to be your guide around the city, for a tip of course. But I prefer to walk on my own.

Also, as transportation costs money, some people prefer to double up on a single-person-bike... and I thought the flight was uncomfortable! Also, I've seen several men but no women yet carrying boxes and baskets on their head on their way to the market.

I have not taken pictures yet, I'd rather wait until I can walk around with some more people, when our tour joins us tomorrow.

That's it for now... don't worry, there will be more adventure to come...I'm going to the island Zanzibar next. Note that I won't be emailing as much as usual as I'm not sure how many lions and zebra havens and tribal villages provide email. But I'll be looking out for them when they do.