Dar to Zanzibar

We are currently in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. We had a very beautiful bus ride from Mombasa through Northeastern Tanzania - very lush and green. We arrived in Dar after dark on Monday night. Note to travellers: if it is after dark when you arrive in a new city, take a cab (for god's sake!) even if your destination looks close on a map. I won't go into details here, but I was not a pretty sight. Dar is a stopping off point on our way to Zanzibar and also to our safari in the south. Of course we have not been able to explore it to its fullest, but let's just say we won't be sending any postcards from here wishing you were sharing it with us. I think there are some cities that are more difficult for travellers than others. Mombasa, for instance, was exceedingly pleasant to make our way around, but Nairobi's charms were a bit more hidden. Sort of like NYC and LA. Not like them (not at all!) but similar to how LA is hard to figure out as a short-term visitor, while NYC you can access things you are interested in quite easily. Anyway, Dar es Salaam has so far been the most elusive of the cities we've visited. Plus the area we are staying in is chock full of touts who attach themselves to us as we depart each morning. They really like Hung & he really does not like them.

Here is the beautiful Mosque down the street from our guest house.

We can hear the call to prayer in stereo from two different (& competing?) mosques from our window.

On a different note, the internet access is far superior here to that in Kenya. Though to be fair, people said that the access times were going through a particularly rough period while we were there. Here in Tanzania, at least so far, access times are much quicker. The cost is generally a minimum of 500Tsh (roughly the equivalent of 40 cents)/hour pre-paid. I haven't tried uploading photos yet here - may try that later tonight.

We are leaving for Zanzibar tomorrow on the slow ferry. Also, trying to take care of our Mozambiquan VISAs today (yesterday the office had closed 5 minutes before we got there).
I guess I am really travelling now as I had a lion show up in one dream and in another I was calculating exchange rates!