Here we are in Addis Ababa. Imagine dusty streets filled with crazy Russian taxis, buses, donkeys and flocks of sheep. Imagine shouts of "You! You!" or "Hey ferengi!" wherever you go accompanied by wide smiles and handshakes (this morning we also got "I love you so much"). Imagine truckfulls of some of the worlds best food and imagine all of this along with the friendliest people that we've met so far in Africa. Yes, we love Ethiopia.

Our Ethiopian experience didn't start so well though. The plane was late and arrived at about midnight. We were at the back of the plane and hence last off. That didn't matter though because there were no stairs for the plane.

We waited patiently.

Stairs were found but then there was no bus for us.

We waited. A little less patiently.

We were transported to the terminal and wandered around for a while to find the Visa office. There was a queue of about 30 people. We were last in line.

We waited...and waited...and waited.

Handing in our passports we were then directed to the second window, the 'cashier'.

More waiting...about an hour of waiting. We were neither patient or forgiving.

Around 2am we got out of what I truly believe is a layer of hell. Our two bags had been circling for some time.

Our hotel transport was nowhere to be seen so a negotiation with the cab company started. We were some of the angriest ferengis Ethopia has seen.

Our hotel however upgraded us to a king suite on arrival and we slept the slumber of royalty.

A new day in a new city that I can only descibe as fascinating. Ethiopia has a culture unlike anywhere we've seen. There is a strong Italian influence, so the city is filled with coffee shops, but at the same time there is immense pride for Ethopian traditional culture so language, dress, cuisine and manner is all unique to this part of the world. The mix is compounded right now by the Bob Marley 60th birthday celebrations which have just taken place and have attracted rasta dudes from all over the world.

Yesterday we went to the National Museum. It was quite a place, chock-a-block with ancient fossils (the oldest was around 5m years old) the most famous being 'Lucy' the oldest most complete hominid skeleton ever found (3.5m years old). It's a pretty amazing thing to stand looking at.

Last night we dined at a particularly touristy place and decided not to stay for the 'traditional' music which involved a guy in a smock on a casio keyboard. Instead we had a wander down the road near our hotel and stumbled upon a piano bar and night club which proved to be very entertaining. The piano bar was full and was quite bizarre as the show was completely stolen by a group of drunk Angolans in pyjamas celebrating 'Carnivale'.

Downstairs we braved the nightclub. Expecting more Rick Astley we were treated to fantastic traditional music and dancing. It was only after the show that the Technotronic and seedy behaviour started. Pretty funny really. Sore heads today.

This morning we went to the biggest open market in Africa. They say you can buy anything here from a kalashnikov to a camel. We settled for a couple of souveneirs and t-shirts. The food and spice markets proved very interesting with some funny mixed language interactions with the local women.

A note on cuisine. Firstly, Ethiopian food is absolutely delicious. After a month where everyone was trying to feed us burgers and chips, its really really nice (my plans of losing weight in Africa have gone out the window...)

Ethiopians eat shared food. You order a couple of dishes and they all come to the table on a big pancake thing (inerja). You tear off a bit of pancake and scoop up the spicy stew stuff. It's really really tasty and fun. We just have to be very careful not to use our left hands. Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting days so its vegies only for today.

All of this is washed down with Tej. Its a pretty potent local 'honey wine' that has some other local plant in it. We quickly discovered that it makes your face go numb.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for facts and figures. Thanks for the emails and comments. We're thinking about all of you lots and wish that you could enjoy some of the craziness with us.