On my return from Dire Dawa, it was time to relax back into the Addis suburban lifestyle. I think I made one foray into the City, but otherwise I wanted to absorb the local culture.
I discovered Dimma the nearest cultural restaurant. I went there on 8th to research the National drink Tej. To my surprise..well , not really, I really liked it. It’s honey based with a medicinal herb called gesho. It’s quite potent…supposedly 7 – 11 %, so I’m glad I only went for the half litre bottle and not the full litre. Anyway, the first time I went I had to wait for a wedding party to come out of the restaurant. There was a car parked on the pavement and the guests danced around it. Some gorgeous women there. I got chatting to the manager on my next visits on 9th & 14th and he promised me a tour of the Tej processing plant . Well, it’s a room that’s part of the restaurant….but on the 22nd I felt honoured to be shown around and be given sample tasters. The honey ‘bucket’ still had live bees swimming in the mix. As a kind of thank you I had dinner there…Doro wat… Ethiopian chicken curry. It was tasty but also disappointing in that there was a minuscule amount of chicken….the size of one’s little finger. And I hadn’t quite mastered how to eat without cutlery….basically, my fingers just kept getting burnt.
I walked about 20 mins to the Golf club and had a coffee. Views of the city centre.
I found Sami cafe….drinks were a bit cheaper. I went z few times to Africana restaurant for coffee and WiFi. And if I was lucky I would get some popcorn as well.
On the 12th I had a haircut locally. Of course I didn’t know that people phoned in to book appointments. So people arriving after me went ahead of me, but I was in no hurry and found it quite amusing. Then the guy ahead of me let me go before him…which was nice of him…but he could probably see that I wouldn’t be too long.
The weather was much nicer. No more rain. Sunny and quite hot. Usually with a slight breeze…lovely climate.
On 19th I discovered the Red Lion pub tucked away. With a classic English pub name like that I had to pop in . Have been quite a few times since; their prices are very low. A pint is equivalent of 50p.
On 20th I walked..prob 20 mins or so to the Zoma museum. There were a couple of very old motorbike with sidecar rusting away, but I wouldn’t call it a museum. Very nice gardens. A couple of cafes/restaurants. A cow shed. Educational facilities. Very well done. A piece of derelict land transformed. Nice coffee and walk around.
I had my flip flop fixed for 1birr, about 2p. I had my right shoe repaired- sewn up for 15birr or 30p. I bought a kilo of beef for 400birr or about 7GBP, and that lasted me 4 meals.
On 24th I popped into Addis to buy z bus ticket to Bahir Dar. 1st two companies didn’t go there but the 3rd..Yegna Bus, or loosely translated means Us Bus !! did go and I paid my 500 birr which was just under 10GBP. It was my first dealings with Amharic….my name was a little squiggle. The 4:30 dep time was written ad 10:30, but I’m used to that as it’s the same principle as in E Africa. But the Date….they had me down as the 17th. I hadn’t realised that there was an eight day difference with the West calendar. I was actually leaving on the 25th !!!!
So, my last evening I went to the Red Lion pub to write up my Amharic notes. I discovered it can be problematical to get money out of Arms. I cooked the last of my steak. So I had my coffees here and there and did my food shopping in the supermarket and bought my groceries locally. Fun just living a normal life in Addis….and always a nice house to go back to in the evening.