Last day!

I have to admit that, in the end, I did absolutely nothing last night except have dinner and pack off to bed. It was 10pm by the time I turned in but I don't know where the time went while I was pottering around the room watching the BBC World news over and over again :-). BBC World is the only English channel available on the tv and I am well and truely sick of it now!

This morning I got up, had breakfast and then went for a long walk in and around the part of Tana where my hotel is. It was good to be outside for a change and I did enjoy looking at the buildings and what the street vendors where selling. What I didn't enjoy was stepping over homeless/passed out people on the side-walks and the constant "Madame" "Madame" of vendors and beggars trying to get my attention. First I walked down to the Presidential Palace which is not far from my hotel.

From there I wandered along to a lookout point where I could look down into the area below the Presidential Palace. I love this corner building!

I carried on along that road until it started to look like a rabbit's warren and the roads got more and more narrow.

I made my way back to the hotel via a different route to look at a building that is just down the road from the hotel.

Coming back the way I did gave me a good view of the hotel. This building was built in the 1920s and until fairly recently housed a Shoprite supermarket. The full renovation back to a hotel was completed only in 2008.

Across from the hotel is a park area that has some lovely big trees but is very barren when it comes to grass but it is the dry season at the moment. I walked through the park and down the stairs to the central market. Tantely had warned me that it would be very busy and to be careful about pickpockets here. I wasn't overly concerned though since I had nothing in my pockets and only my little camera in my hand. The place was heaving with people!

The fresh produce on sale looked really fresh and tempting but it is hard to imagine buying anything when all you can smell is urine. I had read somewhere that Tana is known for having lots of stray dogs on the streets and subsequently lots of dog crap everywhere, well I only saw dog crap once but there was urine everywhere! Also, practically every little recess along the side-walk has more than just urine in it. Not very charming at all! I walked all the way through the market and up the hill on the other side where I had a nice view of the Queen's Palace which I visited on Wednesday. It is the highest point in Tana but the view is not always clear and  even in this photo there were power lines in the way..

I wandered back down to the market, through it, up to the hotel again and along the road where the night club that I went to is. Below is a photo of the houses on one of the adjacent hills. In it you can see just how on top of each other the houses are.

Eventually all the "Madame" "Madame" got to much and I retreated back to the hotel. I also wanted to find out where the Shoprite was because I wanted to see what was on the shelves there. I asked the concierge at the hotel for directions and he wouldn't tell me. He said that it was far too unsafe for me to walk there and if I wanted to go I should get a taxi and that was the end of the discussion with him. I had a feeling that it was down near the market but he wasn't to know I had already been there and lived to tell the tale but I decided not to push my luck. I went out for one more walk around before heading back to the hotel and down to the swimming pool for a long relaxing swim.

Now all that's left is to pack my suitcase and head off to the airport tomorrow. I am really looking forward to meeting up with Jo and Diets at OR Tambo while I wait for the connecting flight to Durban. I have not seen them since May so it will be good to be together again even if for a short while. With that goodbye for now as this will be my last blog until the 22nd of September when I will be in Maputo, Mozambique.

Take care everyone!