Addis Ababa

I only spent 2 nights/3 days in Addis Ababa. I got lost wondering around but the local kids led me back to the hotel for a handful of little Canada flag pins. Friendly people.

A flight delay lead to an unscheduled stop here, for one night. I didn’t get to see much other than a short bus ride between Bole International Airport and a hotel – and back again the next morning – but I’d like to see more, and I’d like to see more of Ethiopia.

Some of it was a little daunting – armed guards with machine guns standing on street corners etc. Just things that you are not used to.
Some of it was unbelievable – whole 5-10 storey buildings covered in a makeshift Bamboo scaffolding and people just doing building work on the top of it, it looked like something made of straws!
Some of it was just things you get everywhere in the world – people walking to work, going about their everyday business, off to the market, etc.

The sight of Addis Ababa from an aeroplane, at night surprised me. It was so so unexpectedly big… All you could see for miles and miles were hundreds of lights, it seemed like every house had one outside, and there were just rows and rows and rows of them. It just stretched on for so far. My pathetic description gives you no idea of what a sight it was!
This sight was one of the really amazing ones from my trip to Kili, and more so because it was one I totally did not expect to have!

This, and all my other sights in Addis Ababa were the first sights I got on my trip to Africa of another culture, another lifestyle, another world it seemed. And thats why I loved it so much, even though I was there for a matter of hours. Because I saw something new and saw a little glimpse of another way of life and it was the beginning of an amzing experience in Africa that made it special. I hope if I ever go back I will see it like that all over again.

I was fortunate enough to stay in the Sheraton during my visit to Addis; it is a virtual palace. I was stunned when I peeked over the garden walls one day and saw people living in discarded cargo containers.

Everyone was extremely kind, the food was incredible, and the vistas from the mountain top breathtaking.