Got up at about 9.00 so we could get a few things organised before the journey. After going to Joe's shop to borrow even more money, we set off to buy some food for the train.
Biscuits were very poor value for money at 250 Tsh a packet, but we managed to get pineapples for 150 each. We also bought some Pepsis and some cobs.
After packing our stuff, we made our way to a one o'clock lunch at Joe's place. The meal was fantastic: a really a great send-off. There were two types of vegetable curry, rice, chapatis, soup, pickles, mango juice, yoghurt, and yoghurt juice.
After lunch we said goodbye to Anil and went with Joe to the car. We were just about to drive to the station when, in typical Jenti style, the man himself sprinted breathlessly towards us and climbed into one of the rear seats.
At the station we said our farewells and talked very briefly about the idea of Jenti and Joe etc coming to England and maybe going up to Sunderland.
There is a fair chance that we we will meet up with Joe in Nairobi before our flight, and a possibility that we will tour Nepal and fly to Bangkok with him.
After a long wait, we eventually boarded the train. On finding our compartment, we were rather disappointed to find that there were already five people there. Our expectations of getting some sleep during the 36-hour journey vanished there and then. Fortunately, however, three Tanzanians (a man with his young daughter and son) got off the train well before it was time to sleep. There were six bunks in the cabin and only four of us left so things seemed OK.
View from moving TAZARA train.
The other two other passengers were a Zambian called John and a Japanese guy. The Jap spoke virtually no English (though he appeared to be fluent in Swahili!) so, apart from changing a $20 bill for two $10 bills, we had nothing to do with him.
John, however, spoke excellent English (it being the national language of Zambia) and he was very friendly. His religious beliefs seemed similar to Godwin's, so the subject of God and evil spirits predominated his conversation. The most interesting thing he told us was that when we reached Lusaka, he could give us K160=$1, which is good because the bank rate is K122=$1.
In the evening we had a tasty plate of chicken and rice, but the meal was preceded by a very stressful experience: we had to queue "African-style" for our table. When we turned in, Olly was pleased to find himself surrounded by cockroaches and very aggressive fleas. As usual, I wasn't hassled by them.
Biscuits were very poor value for money at 250 Tsh a packet, but we managed to get pineapples for 150 each. We also bought some Pepsis and some cobs.
After packing our stuff, we made our way to a one o'clock lunch at Joe's place. The meal was fantastic: a really a great send-off. There were two types of vegetable curry, rice, chapatis, soup, pickles, mango juice, yoghurt, and yoghurt juice.
After lunch we said goodbye to Anil and went with Joe to the car. We were just about to drive to the station when, in typical Jenti style, the man himself sprinted breathlessly towards us and climbed into one of the rear seats.
At the station we said our farewells and talked very briefly about the idea of Jenti and Joe etc coming to England and maybe going up to Sunderland.
There is a fair chance that we we will meet up with Joe in Nairobi before our flight, and a possibility that we will tour Nepal and fly to Bangkok with him.
After a long wait, we eventually boarded the train. On finding our compartment, we were rather disappointed to find that there were already five people there. Our expectations of getting some sleep during the 36-hour journey vanished there and then. Fortunately, however, three Tanzanians (a man with his young daughter and son) got off the train well before it was time to sleep. There were six bunks in the cabin and only four of us left so things seemed OK.
View from moving TAZARA train.The other two other passengers were a Zambian called John and a Japanese guy. The Jap spoke virtually no English (though he appeared to be fluent in Swahili!) so, apart from changing a $20 bill for two $10 bills, we had nothing to do with him.
John, however, spoke excellent English (it being the national language of Zambia) and he was very friendly. His religious beliefs seemed similar to Godwin's, so the subject of God and evil spirits predominated his conversation. The most interesting thing he told us was that when we reached Lusaka, he could give us K160=$1, which is good because the bank rate is K122=$1.
In the evening we had a tasty plate of chicken and rice, but the meal was preceded by a very stressful experience: we had to queue "African-style" for our table. When we turned in, Olly was pleased to find himself surrounded by cockroaches and very aggressive fleas. As usual, I wasn't hassled by them.
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