Surprise trip to (Doha and) Tanzania

December 24-31, 2018

When we got to the Warsaw airport, Zosia still didn’t know where we were going for our honeymoon. So when we got in line for check-in at Qatar airlines, she read the sign and shouted the destination city out
loud “Dohhh-HAAA!” partly because it’s a funny word but also because she had no idea where it was. She was so sweet when she showed her excitement and said “I’ve never been to a place I never heard of!” It took me a while to realize that it actually made sense. She didn’t realize it was just for a one day layover and that the ultimate destination was still to come.

Planning a trip without her knowing the destination was somewhat difficult. I asked my new wife to get a bunch of vaccinations but didn’t tell her for what. I also had three different problems with our flight bookings (thinking I had booked something but it never got confirmed, booking for higher prices then the airline changed the dates to two days earlier (can they do that?), then another late change by the airline 3 days prior to the departure, which led to having to change the tours I had organized in Arusha, but it allowed us a layover in Doha). I lost a few hairs with all of the changes. Luckily we got some money back thanks to the EU laws protecting customers from unforced changes, which cause you to arrive later, or even EARLIER than you planned. I actually had to find the rules online and send it to the customer service agent before they were convinced I was right, so it was worth doing some research. And because of all that we got to spend some time in Doha on the way to Tanzania and Zanzibar.

I found the notes I kept from the trip, so instead of writing a full story about it (it’s been so long I don’t remember everything!), here are some semi-coherent random notes from the week. Plus this is much
easier.

+++++++++++

Doha
- Nice Christmas Eve meal in the airport again...like a couple years ago when we went to visit Tomek in Luton. 

- Had to make sure vaccinations were ok. Add a couple hundred dollars to the trip budget. In Tanzania you can buy visas at the border but bring USD.
- No visa for Doha, they have “waivers” and you still pass through like any passport check.
- Taxi driver in Doha tried to convince me to tip him a lot, wanted to keep the change from 100 for a 48 fare. 

- Hotel reception guys super casual. No maps of the city, just said that way is museum 10 minutes, that way is water 10 minutes. No problem. Ok, no problem!

- Not easy to cross busy streets. Never thought I’d be near the Persian Gulf, which was only ever in the American news due to war. 

- Boardwalk along the water very nice, they spend a lot of money on making public areas. 

- Museum of Islamic art was beautiful, good views across the water. Definitely a rich city

- Had to dress a bit conservative but about 70 degrees so perfect weather on Christmas day.
- Parades going back and forth in Souq Waqif. Wandered until we found some restaurants on Main Street. Camels and falcon hospital and outdoor pet shop. Zosia wanted to let all the animals free. Her
biggest stress was the cat and bird cages were next to each other. 

- Ate mulukhiya, some gooey soup, but nice. Z couldn’t wait to eat baklava, her mouth was watering

- Some kids ran up to us when we were eating dinner and I expected them to ask for money, but they just wanted to use one of our extra chairs

- Dark super early.
- 5am call to prayer seemed like it was coming from right outside our window, but there’s something actually calming about it.
- Doha was a quick trip but don’t think we needed much more time

- Off to the “real” honeymoon soon. Let’s see how long it will take before Z knows where we are.

Off to the honeymoon with little Andy

First stop, Do-haaaaa

Nice Old Town

Set them free!!!

Tanzania

At airport on way to Tanzania Zosia randomly and correctly guessed our destination Kilimanjaro from the flight board, just because the flight time was 9:00 something, which she knew was the case for our flight. She thinks we are “so pro” for going there for our honeymoon instead of traditional “romantic beaches”. Wonder what she thinks about Zanzibar?

Also, she thinks we’ll be climbing Kilimanjaro in our running shoes.

Long flight and small airport in Kilimanjaro. I forgot my hat on the plane so a lady walked me back to the plane across the runway after everyone got off. 

Needed $100 cash for visa for a US passport, only $50 for Polish. Bring cash!

Nobody asked for any vaccinations, since we came from “safe” countries...felt safer that we had them, but it wasn’t “required”.

Tanzania in a fairly young country. It was under German rule in the 19th century then under British after WWI. It became independent in the 60s.

Day 1 - Arusha
Day walking safari with a guide from Shemeji. Sobering to see the small villages we passed by. Different than the luxurious city of Doha. Zosia noticed that there weren’t any white people around...joked
(?) that people might dislike her cuz she’s white.

Stayed at the Green Mountain hotel, which was definitely a $40 hotel, nothing fancy. But they have a nice pool and nice staff. One worker asked if I wanted a beer, said it costs $2, then I saw him run to the shop down the street to get it. Nice kid.

Staff comes to the room to open and close the windows and spray for mosquitoes. Water pressure low and cold so a bit disappointed we couldn’t have nice hot showers. Good thing it’s hot so cold shower
doesn’t feel so bad.

Arusha national park for a walking safari and drive. Didn’t see “big” animals but a good “warm up” to see some of the more common ones which are still fun to watch. Guide Benny, has been doing safaris for 18
years. Z figured out we weren’t climbing a mountain after I gave her some photo clues of animals. Still looking forward to bigger animals after not seeing lions, elephants, rhinos or hippos. Will be with Benny the next few days. Would have been cool to see giraffes or elephants while walking in the bush, but didn’t. Super green in Arusha, slow driving up the mountain. Lakes and waterfalls. Beautiful place and worth visiting even without the expectation of seeing animals....a lot of monkeys, buffalo, wart hogs and antelope.

Moving on to Serengeti tomorrow!  

Our first animal sighting

Sunset

Hanging out with Ben

Day 2 - Masai village and Serengeti
Visit to Masai village, it’s interesting and the kids are so cute. But then you wonder how “authentic” the villages along the main road are, since every tourist is dropping $20-30 on donations and souvenirs. They were clearly business minded. They did a dance with Z, showed us their school and inside a hut. In 1959 they got moved to Ngorongoro out of the Serengeti.

Saw lots of stuff on way to Serengeti. Landscape changing. Could have spent hours watching lions sitting on a rock. The tented camp (Osupuko) in the middle of central Serengeti is awesome. No fence so
animals all around and you keep hearing their noises as night. Can’t walk around without asking for an armed escort. We were super dirty but happy. Nice food nice people, have to ask for someone to pour water into shower and keep telling them when you want more. Comfy beds and good temperature. No mosquitoes yet...haven’t put the 4 bottles of spray I bought online to good use.

Beautiful night sky, lightning then clear stars. Amazing to be glamping in the middle of the Serengeti. Use bottled water to brush teeth. Bring flashlight for inside tent. Towels and soap were provided everywhere so far. Food good and you can tell them if have allergies. Dusty in car so cover your phone and camera etc. Long pants and long sleeves for night. Flip flops for inside and showers. Most places and rest stops had proper toilets. The safari pants are definitely worth it.

Better to have a power adapter with multiple plugs, as you may find only one outlet. UK outlets. Chargers inside the car. Wet wipes a good idea. Phone signal In Serengeti!

Guides tell each other over CB radio or stopping on the side of the road if there is something interesting to see and somehow they can describe to each other where it is...how do they find their way around places and camps without maps or signs?

Zosia's got moves

We took about a million pics of these guys

Our tent in the middle of the Serengeti

Big Andy getting ready for some photos

Day 3 - All day Serengeti
Saw lions, leopard and cheetah in the first 3 hours. Saw so many lions! Wonder what Jay and Lady the degus would do with all the animals. Z’s mom taking care of them.

Visitors center about how the ecosystem works and how the animals are all related.

I wrote about surviving safaris earlier, here and we made a silly video here.

Sitting in camp at sunset, drinking wedding wine we brought, with Benny. Watching as giraffes and buffalo walk around us. 

Simba and Nala

How many hippos?

Cheers!

Day 4 - Balloon ride
Woke up super early for dad’s honeymoon present for us: a hot air balloon ride at 5am. Saw a few animals from the air but was just awesome to fly above beautiful landscape. At our landing spot we had champagne, ate breakfast, and were close enough to hear(!!) lions eating something (or someone) just next to us - why weren’t people nervous they were so close! I peed in the grass while watching wild lions eat breakfast.

Zosia loves the little hyraxes at the visitors center. 50 plus elephants appeared, just after we realized we hadn't seen many. Counted leopards (3x), lions (30+), cheetahs (2x), so we were missing elephants, and still no rhinos up close.  

3 days (48 hours) is probably enough for a Safari, but we could keep going for several days because it was so fun (and fun for me to watch Zosia's reaction to seeing everything). 

Rhino Lodge on top of Ngorongoro Crater was a nice place with good rooms and food. Every place has had good food, and it's nice that Ben likes to sit with us, but also keeps distance so we can have some private time.  

Animals walking around the camp ground like it’s normal. Opened the door to the patio and there were 10 buffalo staring at us just a few feet away.

Zosia got told not to feed birds in the Serengeti but it’s hard to be mad at her for wanting to “bring a few minutes of happiness to them”.

Great morning ride

We were a bit nervous at take-off, then it was super calm and peaceful

This was my view while peeing. One thing may have led to the other

Zosia, Andy and an unamused hyrax

These are cool

Buffalo outside our door into Z's stomach

Day 5 - Ngorongoro Crater 

Amazing place.

Ngorongoro is a conservation, not a national park, so Masai people and domesticated animals can live there. Funny to see zebras and wildebeest grazing with cows and goats.

Early start. Foggy cuz 2200 meters high. Hills and trees remind me of driving around the mountains in Hawaii.

Elephants slow moving across the plains was like the mystics in the Dark Crystal (by the way the new series on Netflix is great!). Animals literally everywhere in the crater, like a zoo, but somehow you don’t notice them when looking down from the top of the crater. Hippos over here, zebras and wildebeest over here, gazelle here. Flamingos. Don’t even stop for lions anymore. Psh. But one lion got offended by that and shook his head and water from his beard got on us, which was exciting.

Benny has been great, said that during low season he doesn’t have work so he needs to make as much as he can during tourist season. Locals wear jeans and sweaters or jackets, some with beanies. Nobody

wears shorts. But it’s so hot! 

On way back, lots of action in Arusha streets, vendors selling food, or shops. Car repairs. People just sitting on curbs or buckets of old concrete block storefronts. Some people in burkas some in simple head wear some without. Half Muslim and half Christian. Women wearing beautiful colors. Balancing things on head. Motorcycle taxis everywhere. Mini buses have decorations with unique names like Queen Elizabeth or Supra or Las Vegas, or other words I don’t understand but Benny said they’re just random words, with
stickers and advertisements all over like the Pope or some dude with dreadlocks. Worth a ride through town just for people watching, but I don’t think I’d walk. They drive and sit on the British side. Traffic cops wave people down every few km in towns. 

Every hotel has a central tip box that gets shared between everyone. Nice system so you don’t have to carry cash for every time someone helps, and it seems to make everyone friendly and contribute to a nice
environment even people you wouldn’t tip normally. All employees everywhere we went were super nice.

There's something weird about seeing elephants in an open field

Playful pumba pups

More lions

That takes some skill

Next up, Zanzibar!

Exploring the Land of Fire

November 17-25, 2018

“Hey Seattle SuperSonics!” he called out to me. Our colleague from the Baku office in Azerbaijan liked to refer to me this way.  “You know I’m still heartbroken about the team leaving Seattle” I responded, referring to the horrible "robbery" of our NBA team to Oklahoma City in 2008. He made my day with the next line: “When I’m rich I’ll buy the team back and return them to Seattle. It’s the only way.” And after that, I knew I’d like this country.  

Tony, a friend of mine who used to travel all over CEE for work, would always post on Facebook “Now I’m in ______, my favourite of all!” filling in the blank with wherever he was at that moment.  Even though the way he spelled "favorite" was incorrect, I still read his posts.  And since he seemed to say the same thing for every city, I didn’t think much of it when I saw him write about Baku. But now that I’ve been there, I think it might have been true!

The land of fire, and scary little fire sorceress girls

Baku surprised me a lot. In a good way. The city had a lot of nice sites, monuments, a variety of architecture, numerous parks and the Caspian Sea. Just outside the city we saw some things I had never seen before in my life, like petroglyphs in the cliffs (if you are a rapper, feel free to borrow that lyric), cold mud spewing from “volcanoes”,  and a mountain that is literally on fire. On top of that was good food and accommodating people. Even though I spent a whole week working there, it felt like a vacation. Since Zosia stayed home “with the kids”, I couldn’t help but think how much she’d like everything I saw and ate. Especially the local sweets.

It’s hard to go more than a couple days without eating gluten, but Zosia and I had been on a month-long gluten-free period and were just getting adjusted to it when this trip came up. I had 5 more days of gluten freedom, and had to try to survive in a new country.  I checked the calendar and noticed my first day of gluten would coincidentally be Thanksgiving Day. I didn’t know if I should be excited or concerned about what some stuffing and pumpkin pie might do to my stomach after so long without any wheat or bread.  Luckily it seemed that cutting out gluten, and re-introducing it with such reckless abandon, had no effect on me.

The flight to Baku took over 7 hours, with a short layover in Istanbul. Add another 3 hours for the time change and it took all day. Azerbaijan is bordered by Russia and Iran, and has been in a state of war with Armenia. To learn more about the city and country, as I usually do when traveling to a new place, I booked a guided tour for my first day (Viator.com is becoming a go-to). Baku has a lot of big, European style buildings, generally from money from the oil industry, the biggest investor being the Nobel family.  The city sits on the Caspian Sea, and there are oil fields everywhere. Not only in the sea, but nodding iron horses can be seen all around the outskirts. Speaking of the Caspian Sea, my first fun fact learned was that it is technically a lake, since it doesn’t have any connection to an open ocean. Boom.

City breakfast with a Caspian view

Jogging on the waterfront

City hall

 Azerbaijan is officially a Muslim country, but in what seems like a common theme for countries in the former Soviet Union, where religion was suppressed for a long period of time, it’s not strictly practiced. Baku is the capital, and is the name in both Farsi and English. While in Azerbaijani, it’s called Baki. I'm just telling you that so you don't sound like an idiot like I did, when I made fun of them because nobody could spell the name of the city.  The area around Azerbaijan, including Armenia and Georgia is called the Caucasus, which back in the 18th century gave rise to the term “Caucasians”. But why people in the US refer to all "European Americans" as Caucasians is a mystery to me.

One of the highlights of the city tour was seeing 10-15,000 year old petroglyphs in the hills around the city. When you see them, they appear so simple and could have been painted by some kids with a magic marker.  Most of them are exposed and could be subject to vandalism and deterioration from the weather, which adds to the intrigue.  It’s also interesting how they interpret the simple images of a cow or a boat to understand the culture or what happened during that time. Thor Heyerdahl is a Norwegian ethnographer who even thought that the Vikings might have originated in Azerbaijan, in his "Search for Odin", due in part to the similarities in the petroglyphs.  Scandinavia and Azerbaijan are very far apart, so it makes you wonder if it's just a coincidence.

Visit to Gobustan

These are 10,000+ years old!

This rock is hollow and is used as a musical instrument

Another highlight has to do with the natural resources in the country.  With so much gas coming out of the earth, you'd think it's lactose intolerant.  Gas is constantly seeping everywhere, from the land that is always burning, to the bubbling mudflows in the mountains.  The locals said that the mud is good for your skin so I bottled some up and brought home a gift for Zosia.  Smart move by me, since it was cheaper than cosmetics at the airport duty free shop.  Since there is gas everywhere, you can even light the mud on fire.  But the most fascinating thing to me was the fire mountain Yanar Dag. The mountain literally burns all day, everyday. There have been references to burning mountains like this around Azerbaijan for centuries, though as pockets of gas run out, the locations might change.  It’s hard to understand how much gas has burned just in this spot over the last decades, but then you think of the bigger picture and it's unfathomable to think of how much oil and gas we use in the world everyday, and how much is still inside the earth.  At the same time, it’s not hard to imagine that it will run out eventually, and we need to think of more sustainable sources.

I'll take 10 bottles, please

The burning mountain

"Iron horses" are all over the city

With a country of fire also comes stories and ancient beliefs connected to said fire. We visited a fire temple (Ateshgah), which was built in the 17th century by Hindus coming from India.  Eventually it was adopted by Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and was thriving in Persia until the Muslims pushed them out.  Zoroastrians still exist today, scattered around Iran and India. In fact, there’s one famous Zoroastrian you may have heard of: Freddie Mercury.

Fire temple

Everyone there was friendly, and I felt a nice connection to the guy who used to work at the University of Washington campus in Uzbekistan (it used to exist!).  But our host at the office was especially accommodating. He made sure we were always overfed, if not by a big lunch or giant plates of snacks throughout the day, then the wonderful dinners with great company. We learned a lot about the culture and history, and all the different foods...meat, fish, and every meal finished with nuts, dried fruits, and candied young walnuts (so young that the shell is soft enough to eat).  I also learned a recipe for mangal salad (roasted eggplant, peppers and tomatoes) because we ate it almost every day and it was delicious. I also learned you should let eggplant sit in salt for a while to take out the bitterness before you cook it. Sorry to anyone who has eaten my bitter eggplant before.  That's what she said?  

A nice shell filled with rice and meat

I could eat this all day (but then I'd die)

The daily dessert spread

Daily snacks in the office (for 2 people)

Gutab, or a flatbread with some filling

Street food

Another funny thing I learned is that there is a national Spring holiday where everyone gets 5 days off in the middle of the usual busy work season, which is already amazing to me.  But they have tradition if you put your hat in someone’s house they have to fill it with sweets without seeing or talking to you. Even more impressive, one guy in his 30s spoke openly and casually about how he married his wife without seeing or meeting her, after his mom set up a few possibilities and their families met a few times to decide the best fit. I kinda wanted to be on this family committee who basically interviews family and friends of the potential partners to decide which spouse to choose. And I especially want to be part of the family “courting” parties where the families drink together all day before the engagement takes place.  Anyone need my help?

Old town Baku

Did one of these purses just wag its tail?

Speaking of feasts, they made sure I was taken care of on Thanksgiving. My big day of eating gluten again was not disappointing. We went to an international hotel restaurant which served the classics, and I was properly stuffed. The first bite of bread was delicious, the last bite of pie was perfection. Exactly like this trip to the Land of Fire.  

Familymoon in Bergen

August 27-31, 2018

After our first wedding in Vegas, Zosia and I were lucky to be able to spend several days with our friends who traveled from Europe at the Grand Canyon and in Seattle. Our Friendmoon was so much fun that after Wedding part II in Poland, we decided to have a Familymoon with my dad, bro, his amazing now-wife Thea, and Aunty Sara. Just a couple days after the big party, we were still flying high; from seeing friends and family from all over the world, the weather that held up, our somewhat complicated first dance, not messing up my Polish wedding vows too badly, the food, fireworks, campfire s’mores, and all those who helped make everything go smoothly. Sadly, we didn’t have a chance to hang out with everyone enough...so maybe we should have had an Everyonemoon.

Familymoon time

Brilliant Husky jerseys from the Brimmers

We wanted to pick a place where none of us had been before, and since I had always wanted to travel through the fjords in Norway, we thought why not. Especially if dad was paying! Just kidding, but not really...

Norway is an expensive place, and since I now have a Polish family, we prepared in the Polish way. That is, we packed several days of food and took it with us. I don’t mean packages of uncooked food from the grocery store. I mean we cut up the bread from the wedding ceremony and made 10 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The ceremonial bread is what the parents present to the couple before they enter the party, along with a shot of vodka. The bread has a hole filled with salt to add some taste. Not sure who needs the salt during the ceremony but I guess you don’t argue with tradition. I forgot about this literal salt mine, and bit into it when eating breakfast one day. I don't know if you've ever bitten into a large amount of salt, but it actually made my head hurt. It felt like a small electrocution. I can still taste the salt overdose just thinking about it. The day after the wedding we had a pizza party in Warsaw and had a few slices leftover. Those were lunch on Day 2 in Norway. Aunty Sara also cooked several times after grocery shopping which also helped keep (dad’s) costs down. 

This...

...turned into this

The sandwiches were better than this whale sausage

Wizzair has cheap flights from Warsaw to Bergen, and since we weren't really interested in Oslo, Bergen was the winner. Luckily everyone was super easy going and flexible.  Bergen has a nice waterfront and good seafood, but the beauty of the city is up in the hills with a wide view of the natural landscape. We went up the mountain with a gorgeous city view and did a short hike, then went to the visitors’ center to plan our journey to the fjords. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do the iconic places you see when you Google “Norway fjord” but we did see some incredible stuff. 

On the first night I did something with dad and Sara that I don’t think we had ever done before; we went to a bar. Granted, it was an ice bar where everything was an artistic ice sculpture, but it was a bar nonetheless. We had several laughs when posing for photos and goofing around. And most of that was from dad and Sara. I’m also constantly reminded how Zosia is so good at creating a happy environment for everyone, because everyone seems to be smiling when she's around. 

Zosia goofing around, as usual

Inside the ice bar

Bergen was founded in the 11th century, and has a fortress that dates to the 13th century.  We only needed a couple hours to walk around the city and visit the Rosencrantz tower.  We couldn't help but imagine all the vikings that passed through.  Of course Bergen is a city centered on fishing and sea activities (and sea food). We had a delicious giant platter of seafood under the waterfront tents in the pouring rain, which was probably the best meal of the trip. 

Yes, please

Our cruise through the fjords started with a train ride to Flam. We booked it at the tourist center and it turned out to be exactly what we were looking for.  There was a "normal" train ride to Myrdal, then the famous Flam railway up the mountains, through valleys and past waterfalls. It was a beautiful route, and apparently one of the most visited attractions in Norway. We stayed in Flam for the night, after a walk around the village and overlooking another fjord. Dinner at the Ægir brewpub was great.  I just wanted to write Ægir, because that's a crazy word (I had to copy and paste from the internet because I have no idea how to make that letter on my keyboard).  

In the morning before the cruise, we made sandwiches at the buffet breakfast to eat for lunch and literally saved $100. The boat ride to Gundvagen went through a very narrow fjord. The sky was blue and it was a bit cold (even in August) but beautiful. There were small villages and random houses along the coast and we all wondered how they got there.  At the time I wanted to retire in a place like this.  Now, I would accept retirement anywhere.  The water looked like glass it was so still. I was mesmerized as the boat cut through it, and could have stared at it all day. 

On the train to Flam

Just a regular, everyday, normal fjord

Stealing a few quiet moments on the ferry

Once in Gundvagen, we had to visit the Viking village. It's set up to look like a village from 1000 years ago, and although it's a tourist attraction, supposedly the employees are not "actors", but people who actually live this lifestyle.  I mean, they all looked like vikings, so I believe it.  It was fun to throw axes, shoot some arrows, and see little huts where they lived. The "locals" were very friendly and funny. If you haven't watched the TV series Vikings, I highly recommend it, at least the early seasons.  There were seasons and episodes that I looked forward to more than Game of Thrones (and also Norsemen, which is a parody of these types of shows, a little like Monty Python).

Waterfalls from afar

A scary Viking and a guy with long hair

Z showing her skills

After that it was back to Bergen for one last night before Z and I flew back to Warsaw and dad and company flew to Iceland for an even bigger adventure.  We joked that after we brought food from Poland to Norway in order to save money, they should bring food from Norway to Iceland to save money as well.  Turned out we were right as Iceland is even more expensive!  We shoulda gone with them while dad was paying!