India, UAE and Africa here I come!

I woke up at like 8am after being woken up mainly times throughout the night apparently because I was snoring so much.  Oh well, thanks mom and dad for that one.  I had a quick bite to eat and then we all piled in to the minibus to head out to the Desert Explorer, which is the name of the company we were using for the quadbiking and sandboarding.  I decided to take a semi-automatic quadbike and I got a sweet helmet.  It took me a little while to get used to how to apply the gears and which gears worked the best climbing up the dunes and working around and through them.  I got stuck several times at the tops of dunes but after about half an hour I had worked out all the kinks of my quadbike and I was doing just fine.  One issue was how cold it was in the morning.  The desert was quite cold as the clouds were rolling in from the sea and my hands were frozen.  I didn’t have gloves, nor did I think to wear gloves.  My right thumb became so stiff, numb and swollen that I forgot about it and just pushed on.  See the issue was in order to work the throttle you had to push the lever forward on the right handle bar.  Since my hands are not that big, this required me to use a lot of muscle strength in my hand and thumb.  After an hour we got to a tall dune and we all hopped off, snapped a few photos and it was time to sandboard.  Basically they gave us a quarter inch thick piece of cardboard.  One side is rough, the other is waxed down and sand is rubbed on it, to give you a nice glide down the steep dune.  My first run was down the smaller of the two dunes in the area we were going down.  I went pretty fast and only hit a few bumps, it was awesome.  After riding the smaller dune we had to climb all the way up to the upper dune and go for a ride.  When it was my time I was pushed over the edge but didn’t really go that fast.  I thought I heard the guide tell me not to stop and keep going but afterwards he told me that he was screaming to stop and walk back up so that he could try it again.  When I got about two thirds of the way down, everyone was laughing.  I went real slow and barely went.  It turned out that my board was ripped on two sides which is probably why I didn’t go anywhere.

Hannah and I decided to race twice down the smaller dune.  I won both times and she was a graceful loser.  It was cute how she tried to rationalize her losses but in the end I was the better sandboarder.  After our hour of sandboarding and relaxing it was time to get back on the bikes for the second half of our run.  This run would take us back to the company and back towards the sea.  I thought that there were better chances to jump and there were more bumps on the second run, but the first run had better rollercoasters and more chances to really test the speed and durability of the quadbike.

We got back to the desert explorer and I bought a shirt that said “quadbiking namibia.”  It is black with a cool design on both sides, it is a sweet shirt.  We piled back in the minibus and then headed back to the hostel.  When we got back to the hostel we were able to get our laundry that we had dropped off the day before.  Then we returned to the hostel where Hannah, Harriet and Linda decided to go swimming or take a dip in the freezing Atlantic Ocean.  The ocean here is so cold because the jet stream comes from Antartica, hence the water is really cold.   Sarah and I took a bunch of photos and the girls basically ran in screaming and ran out screaming.  Harriet on her way in took a decent fall as she got knocked over by this huge wave.  She cut her upper right thigh and her ankle.  She seems to slip and almost fall a lot.

After the girls attempted to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, Sarah and I headed to the internet cafe in town.  I desperately needed to pay my credit card bill as it would be due in August, but I needed to transfer money in time and my internet access would be severely limited between now and when the bill would be due.  When we got to the internet cafe we ran in to Geyhart who had finished the tour here in Swapokmund but was spending one more night there.  Sarah, Geyhart and I went to a local pub had a drink and we played some pool.  An hour or so later, Hannah, Harriet and Linda joined us.  When they arrived I decided I would venture off to try and buy an adapter for all my electronics.  I had bought 4 adapters for India and either someone told me the plugs were the same or I completely forgot to buy them for South Africa.  As it turned out the same plug worked in South Africa and Namibia, but not sure about Botswana but I bet they are the same.  Anyway earlier I had noticed that the internet shop had an american adapter but the male plug was european.  In order for this to work I would have to buy another plug adapter which had a female european plug and a male south african.  The day before Renee had told me that she bought a european adapter at the supermarket, so I left the local pub and went across the street to the supermarket.  When I got there I noticed that they had a lot of european adapters but that the plugs were guarded by a surrounding of plastic.  After I spent 30 rand on the adapter from the internet shop and after I ran back and forth 4 times between the internet shop and supermarket tgrying to figure out what to do I realized that I would find the plug that fit my USA adapter that I had just bought the best and take my swiss knife and cut the plastic that was preventing me from sticking in my adapter to the south african one and that is just what I did.  I also bought a much needed headlamp from the supermarket as well as soap and shampoo.  I couldn’t seem to find my soap and shampoo and desperately needed a shower.

I then brought back my plugs and explained my story.  Everyone was busting my balls as to how nuts the whole thing was, but in the end using the american plug from the internet shop and the one from the supermarket gave me the ability to charge my electronics!  Also it should be noted that cutting the plastic guard around the european part of the adapter I bought worked, I felt like a genius.  Eventually the group left after a few drinks, and headed across the street to the supermarket.  We all wondered whether or not they would stop the next day to get supplies, but personally I was not willing to take my chance on that one.  So we all went across the street to the market.  I picked up a lot of water, bread, cheese, chips etc…All the essentials necessary for long bus rides and time between set meals.

It was getting late and almost time for dinner so we headed back to the hostel.  When we got back we saw all the kids that had just gone skydiving, including 14 year old Eva.  They were all raving about it and it triggered my memories of the time I went skydiving in Wanaka, New Zealand.  Part of me wanted to go again and part of me wants this to be, for now a one-time experience.  We watched several of their videos, had some drinks and suddenly I got really tired.  I fell asleep after dinner at the daily meeting and went to bed before 10pm.  Apparently I snored pretty bad because I was woken up numerous times again for snoring.  Nonetheless I got a great night’s worth of sleep

Rob didn’t really snore that much and before I knew it I was being kicked in the head by Mike along the outside of the tent to “wakie wakie.”  Today we had our journey from Soitaire to Swapkomund one of the larger cities in Namibia.  Here we would spend 2 nights and three days which is a great change of pace from having to wake up early every morning, pack up the tent and move on.  During our journey to Swakopmund we stopped at several places to take some photos.  The first place we stopped was at the Tropic of Capricorn.  Since I had missed the opportunity to take a picture at the line when I was in Australia, on this trip I knew I would have that chance.  Since I didn’t really know the itinerary all that well, I wasn’t sure when we would get to the line.  Well today was the day.  I got someone to take a few photos of me by myself at the sign that said “Tropic of Capricorn,” and then we all took a great group photo.  It was really funny because Mike and JB had to take 24 photos and they had them all on their arms and hands.  The second place was something called the “moon” landscape.”  All around us were hills that represented what people think the topography of the moon to be.  There were some great quartz crystals which I took back with me and then it was back on the bus.  The last stop was Welvis Bay where we stopped about 45 kilometers before reaching Swapkomund.  This is where we were meant to see Flamingos on the coast, but during the winter they are in warmer climates for the breeding season.  Unfortunately there were no flamingos and the Atlantic Ocean smelled just like it did back home during the summer, like crap.

We arrived in Swakopund in the early afternoon and for two nights we would be staying at a hostel.  I got stuck in the 10 person dorm bed with frank and then 7 girls.  There were two showers, two toliets.  Once we arrived, Hannah, Harriet, Sarah, LInda and I went to the laundry mat to get our laundry done.  The laundry service at the hostel was really expensive and I didn’t trust it.  We found our way eventually and then came back for lunch.  After lunch and lounging around, the girls and I made our way to the local street market at the end of the road near this lighthouse on the coast.  This was a really a ghost town in the winter.  It was a beach town and a place for German’s and South Africans to go in the summer,  Namibia was one of the only German colonies in Africa and was only there for 15 years until WWI but their influence seems to be longlasting in Swakopmund. According to the Germans on the trip only this town has the German influence in Namibia. 

Anyway once we got to the market, we walked around and noticed quickly that everyone was selling the same crap.  We weren’t bombarded as bad as thought we would have been, but the girls felt uncomfortable with the guys standing around them while we looked at their stuff.  I ended up buying a bracelet for 20 rand which was way too much but I wanted something and was itching to buy some african crap.  We spent like a half an hour at the market and then Sarah and I headed in to town to check the internet.  I had the first opportunity to upload my blog and pay some bills, check some emails.  The time was brief but the internet was quite fast.  Before we knew it, it was time to go back and get ready for dinner.  Tonight Jabu and Mike were off from cooking as we were staying at this hostel and it was their night off.  They arranged for the entire group to go to this Italian place Nepolitana.  The seats were long benches and it was a little cramped.  Before I got to the restaurant, a bunch of us grabbed a pre dinner drink along the pool and then at around 620pm I headed back to my room to go to get ready to go out and change my clothes.  I went in to the small side bathroom in our hostel room.  I closed the door and suddenly the handle fell off!  I tried to put it back on and then the metal piece that connected both parties of the door knob move slightly back and I was unable to make the connection.  Like in the movies it was “one, two, three, panic time.”  I started banging on the door and then started to kick the door by sitting on the toliet seat with both feet.  When that didn’t work, realizing that the door was a push and it would be impossible to break it down.  Then I started banging and screaming on the door.  For those of you who don’t know I am extremely claustrophobic.  I really didn’t regularly go in to elevators until recently and still get anxious when they pause or take time for the door to open.  Anyway at this point I was really freaking out.  Everyone was in the bar, the music was blasting and what if they just went off for dinner and forgot about me?  Also it should be noted that the bathroom was a mere 3 feet by 3 feet, tall ceiling, no window, so it was tiny to say the least.  Finally after a few minutes of kicking and screaming for help from the bathroom which was tucked away in my 10 person room, Mike the adventure overland trip driver and cook heard me and I told him to open the door.  Once he did, I collapsed on the floor and laid there for several minutes.  I explained to him what had happened and how sensitive I was too small, enclosed spaces.  Afterwards I changed and met the group in time for dinner.

The walk to dinner was five to ten minutes, not long and it was a nice restaurant.  They barely had enough seats for us and it was slightly cramped and uncomfortable in that the seats were long wooden benches.  I drank Savanna Dry Cider’s all night and ordered some great food.  I had chicken livers to start and a 500 gram beef rump steak, served on a cold platter, rare.  It was magnificient.  Unfortunately I was so full that I had to save a serious portion of the steak for breakfast as it was a lot bigger that I expected it to be.  After we settled the bill in which someone definitely screwed the group over and the restaurant refused to split the bill up even by groups of four, Jabu took us to another bar close to the restaurant.  It was playing really strange music, through all decades, old and knew.  It had a dance floor and a nice bar.  They had really cheap shots and I took a few of those, as well as some more savannas.  After there a bunch of us went to another smaller bar while the majority of the group went back to the hostel.  I only stayed like another hour or so at this bar and then went back to the hostel with some people in the group.  Tomorrow would be an early morning as I had signed up quadbiking and sandboarding through the dunes around Swakopmund.

Today we got up extremely early yet again.  This was the earliest morning yet.  5am.  We had to get up so early because we were going to hike up Dune 45 about 45 kilometers away ... [Continue reading this entry]