Dar
Sun 15th. Of course I awoke a bit early, but that meant I was calmly able to leave the room. Less than 10 minute walk to the bus stand. The bus was over 30 minutes late and when it came it didn’t have the same licence plate number as that on my ticket. Nevertheless I was bundled on, and instead of seat 39 I was shown to seat 40, but I was just happy to board and be on my way.
2 n 1/4 hrs to Nagurukuru. Kilwa Rd. Not a huge distance; I’ll bear that in mind for future adventures. Over 7 hours to Temeke; very slow once we hit the outskirts of Dar. I turned down offers of 15,000 and 10,000 in a bajaj. After a 5 minute walk and 15 minutes of waiting,  I caught a dala to Kariakoo/Gerezani 500bob !! It’s easy to save a lot of money , but you need to have time on your hands.

I walked fast to Riki and checked in. Then immediately across the road to 24/7.. and I only missed the first 20 minutes of the Spurs match. That was it…no food, but off to my room with the broken shower taps.

Mon 16th.  A comfortable nights sleep. Had the usual Riki breakfast, a bit boring but it fills the stomach. I then went to Tahmeed on Lumumba St to check times of buses to Moshi; I decided to give Tanga a miss this time. I used Tahmeed in April and it only took 8.5 hours…a record time…but it left at 03:00 , this time leaving at 04:00. But there was also an evening bus, so I was considering a night journey…no fun though.

Then someone said…how about the train. Thought I’d give it a shot. I went to the station near the port, but that was for the electric trains only. At least I found out there was a 14:30 train to Arusha via Moshi. Got a boda for 2,000 to the other station at Gerezani,  Kariakoo, right next to where I caught the dala to Mbagala. Decided yes, for a different experience to go with the train. First window to book the ticket and pay. Second window with my slip of paper and got a receipt. Third window to get the actual ticket.

By this time it was around midday. I went to A T Shop for a tea. Said bye to Happy. I passed Riki to collect my rucksack from reception and went on to the Congolese pub. Spent about an hour there over a couple of beers then walked the 10 minutes to the train station, arriving about 13:30.
Time passed quickly and after 14:30 I walked over to my carriage 2228; I was in compartment ‘A’ in the middle bunk bed. Not that it mattered as there were only 2 of us in the 6 bunk compartment.  And we only left half an hour late at 15:00.

I liked the updates from the DJ on reasons for stopping at particular stations and the historical lessons along the way. We reached Makinyumbi after 21:00…history..I think my grandfather ran that sisal estate,  and my uncle Evan lived/worked there as well.
Before that I spent nearly 2 hours in the buffet car. What a community atmosphere…chatting, drinks, sharing snacks. Such fun. I stepped out at Korogwe (where I was born) and took a photo of the sign.

Tues 17th. Well, we bounced and rattled along for 17 hours until we reached Moshi at 08:00. More than half the journey was in the dark and we probably missed the more interesting scenery. Didn’t sleep much due to the bouncing and the noise from the  plates/joints banging into each other, but nice to lie flat and stretch out. After all this was the old MGR..Metre Guage Railway !! At least just one other guy in the carriage, who got off at Mwanga before njia panda…the turn off to Himo.


As I was a bit early to go to Kindoroko I went to Milano’s restaurant for a masala chai. That was only 10 mins walking and 5 mins from there to Kindoroko. My favourite room 102 wasn’t available so had to settle for 301 at 20,000. Not great…toilet up against the wall; little or no warm water; the only electric socket was broken (which I complained about). I survived..!!

Actually I was offered a free breakfast whilst waiting for my room; I wasn’t particularly hungry, but had a bowl of cereals. So, after checking and settling in, I went to the Airtel shop to top up my internet bundles. Then to Aroma for a masala chai. I realised I had to phone my Natwest help line as my Bluehost payment was still not resolved. I had also bought some Intl airtime to phone the UK,  but it wasn’t nearly enough…my call lasted about one and a half minutes.!! I gave up after that and went to the Police Mess to meet Catherine. I needed a couple of drinks to destress; actually I had a third one unintentionally!!

Had a nice chat, although I was slightly annoyed that she only had a few mouthfuls of a meal I bought for her.  At about 5pm I went to Kaka’s. The usual crowd were upstairs drinking Konyagi and smoking dope. I had one puff which caused me to cough and splutter.  I was hungry so went downstairs to order my tandoori chicken with chapatis. Absolutely delicious as usual. A second beer; a beer at Arawa just around the corner from Kindoroko, and back to my hotel room.
A fun day in Moshi.

Wed 18th. I remembered that if you leave the shower running for a bit, the water does get warm. Breakfast of cereals, coffee, watermelon and honey on bread. A toaster would be good…they used to have one. Still overcast; no Kili.
I was at Airtel by 09:00 to buy more Intl calls vouchers. She persuaded me to buy 20,000 (under £6) which would last 16 minutes. Good decision because the call to the Helpline from Aroma lasted about 12 minutes. I was feeling relieved as I was told my credit card would be unblocked. Somewhere along the line I had created a PayPal account to be the primary payment method but was told it had to be paid from a credit card. I spent some time at Aroma; a relaxing place to hang out.

I returned to my room, buying some water along the way. I had decided to stick with it and not bother with changing/moving rooms. I washed a shirt, and whilst it was drying on the top floor patio, I sat out in the sun.
I then went to the Police Mess. From there to Kaka’s, and apart from seeing the ‘guys’ for a short time, this time I had tandoori chicken with rice. There was a second sauce which made this tastier than the chapati version. Although, I did add some of my Zanzibar mango chilli sauce for extra zing.
From there back to my room via Arawa for a nightcap. The end of two full days in Moshi when I could focus on resolving my domain renewal issue. But I wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Next stop Taveta.