This is our first overseas holiday since august 2019 and it still hasn’t sunk in that we’re not india. It’s been 4-5 hours since we landed at Kilimanjaro international airport, and while thjings have been nice there is very little evidence so far that we are in “forin”.
Vehicles drive on the left side of the road. There are plenty of motorcycles. Trucks are brightly painted. Buses look like those in our city, though a lot of them seem smaller.
The weather is also similar – we’ve swapped 12.8 degree north and 920M above sea level for 3 degree south and 1000M above sea level. It was sunny in the afternoon but there has always been a nice breeze blowing – from the nearby Kilimanjaro!
The place is dry though. there is a lot of dust. And dusty winds. And very little vegetation (outside of our hotel). Our guide, on the way from the airport to the hotel, informed us that rains have been delayed this year and so things have been dry.
So all put together, it’s so far been like being somewhere in india itself, just a part that is drier and dustier than bangalore. The only differences so far have been –
Our guide drove far more carefully than I’ve seen Indian drivers. very measured in overtaking. No honking. Etc.
Looks like liquor licences here are far more liberal than in india. There is some charm sitting at a tiny hotel bar drinking. India’s restricted liquor licenses (Im told there have been no new liquor licenses in Karnataka since 1993 or something) means you need a certain scale to operate a bar. So you have few quaint dribbling places.
But that’s about it. Midway through this blogpost the power supply at the hotel went off. and this post will get published when the power gets restored. And I don’t even know if the hotel here has power backup!