Mission Visa - Introduction

When I got here I met this guy called Abdul. He's a friendly type and seemd to be involved in quite a few local projects. His neat rasta haircut is well kept and he looks very decent in all aspects. Some time later I learned that he helps people out with their visa situation.

The visa system for tourists is so that you can get a single entry 30 days visa which you then can extend, or a 90 days multiple entry visa. Arriving here, I had to replace my 90 days multiple entry visa made in Geneva by a new single entry visa because they said it had been falsified (someone had really scratched a number and I suspect it's the Mozambican embassy in Geneva in trying to correct their mistake). With the multiple entry visa you can only stay 30 days at a time in the country, and then you have to leave and get back in again. With the single entry visa, you can go to the immigration office to extend it. But this only works twice. After that you have to go out of the country. If you use this method you will have more difficulty in getting a new visa at the border, and may have to go to a Mozambican embassy in one of the neighbouring countries.

A wedding ceremony

The journey

My first experience of a true local tradition was a wedding ceremony. A few days earlier, Black Jack (Franzisko by real name), who is working for a local tourism agency providing us (Tofo Scuba) with many customers, invited me to join him for a traditional wedding ceremony in his home village. He also invited Martin, a german fellow who is close to ending his six months internship with them. He arranged for us three to meet at the bus station in Tofo at 6 in the morning of that Friday. When i got there at 10 to 6, Franzisko was already sitting there waiting for me and Martin with fishes for his family.

First day in Mozambique

LAM (Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique) have got a small aircraft with the back of the left propeller support slightly burnt. Can't see the right one, so I cannot tell in what kind of state it is. But maybe that's just how it's supposed to be.

I don't know what kind of craft it was, I was about to take off in. I was sitting in seat 14A which is located under the left wing. The craft is not even half full. As expected, the crew speaks mostly Portuguese, but the captain always says his messages in English after having said them in Portuguese. Although the English version mostly was way shorter than the Portuguese one.

CouchSurfing in Johannesburg

Braai with Laurentia and Robert

CouchSurfing, ever the best way to go discover a new place. You get right to the point within a few hours of meeting your host. I didn't see much yet, but knowing a bit how it works down here in SA (South Africa), I feel quite good while recognizing things that are the same around Namibia and in Cape Town.
Robert fetched me at the airport. His heavy Afrikaans accent in English takes me some time to get accustomed to. His first wife passed away, and he's now been married to Laurentia for 4 or 5 years.

New project

Mozambique

Un nouveau projet s'est profilé dans mon esprit ces 4 derniers mois. Le but en est de voyager sans but précis et surtout sans date de retour définie. Les diverses étapes sont bien entendu secrètes, mais en gros, j'ai parlé de mon projet à Ben qui a vécu en Afrique du Sud. Quand j'ai mentionné la plongée, il m'a dit qu'un de ses amis vivait au Mozambique et qu'il y avait été plongeur. L'ami en question, Lorien, travaille maintenant dans une agence de voyage à Tofo et conseille à ses clients d'aller à Tofo Scuba (www.tofoscuba.co.za) pour plonger.

3 weeks in Thailand

The plan was to escape christmas and the cold. It worked for the cold, and only halfway for x-mas. Arriving in Bangkok i soon noticed that they love playing x-mas songs on speakers in various places in the streets. There was the odd x-mas tree made of some material or other. I stayed with a couchsurfer at his condo (flat/studio) for 2 days. He showed me the city and temples in it. We ate a lot, chatted a lot and drank a few beers.

After that i went north to Chiang Mai by night train where i met Nina who is traveling for half a year now. There I did a 3 days trek with two couples from Romania and 3 guys from Korea. The Korean barely talked any english. Our tour guide T is a very funny bloke. You never know when he's serious or not. On the trek we saw and washed elephants, swam in waterfalls and slept in a Lahu village on the top of a mountain.

Next destination ?

Will it be a country I've visited before ? will it be something new ? how long will I be there ? What will I do ? How will I get there ? How will I leave things here ? What ought to be done before leaving here ? Will the money be enough ? How will I do what I want to do ?

Which leads me to: what do I really want to do ?
Which gives me one sure answer: I wanna fly away, try something new, give it a shot !! have fun, enjoy other things than work and sleep !!

Which leads me to: LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!