Headin' South....

Pacific Hotel, Lilongwe: 06:15hrs

Back to Blantyre today.  The coach was supposed to leave Lilongwe at 6.30 this morning from the Pacific Hotel quite near the house, before going on to the “coach station” in the old town for 7am, and then south.  So I set my alarm for 5am to make sure that I could pack up and have a coffee before leaving.  Lawrence got me to the right spot in plenty of time, and we sat in the car to wait.  6.10 came and went.  6.20 came and went.  Some other people arrived for the coach, but sadly the coach didn’t.  

Departure time: 06:30hrs; no people, no bus

6.30 came and went, and so it was decision time.  Do I wait there on the  assumption that the coach would turn up eventually, or should we head over the the old town in case they’d decided not to leave from the first stop for whatever reason.  I tried calling the phone numbers on the ticket wallet, but neither of them worked.  In the end we drove over to the old town, and caught sight of the bus going towards the first stop after all – it was just running quite late for some reason.  In any event, I got on it when it eventually arrived.

I’d thought there’d be a free for all, but it turned out the seats were pre-allocated.  My heart semi-stopped when I was told that my seat number was #13!  The coach was OK – they have a “bus hostess” who serves you a little tray containing a vegetable samosa and a small muffin, and a soft drink of your choice.  They also have a music player and a video machine, so once we were well underway she played The Matrix.  But I’ve never seen such a huge crack in a windscreen as there was right in front of the driver’s eyline.

The coach in Blantyre

Thankfully I’d got my IPOD and so was able to listen to my own stuff in peace with my eyes shut.  About an hour from Blantyre we had to stop at a police roadblock and everyone had to get out while the bus was checked over.  I’ve no idea what they were looking for, but it happens every time there, I’m told.  The local villagers even have barbeques set up roasting sweetcorn to sell to the coach travellers – I didn’t partake myself.  In the end I got to Blantyre at around 11:30.  I got off the bus having spoken to Peter who offered to pick me up in Daisy, but stupidly I'd got off at a different stop to the one I was supposed to, so Peter had to drive over to get me.

I'll get the hang of this one day.

This evening, Natasa, Peter and I went out for a curry at a place opposite Ryalls Hotel.  A nice chicken dish for me - medium-hot with jeera rice and a plain paratha, all washed down with a Carlsberg Green.  Very pleasant.

New Arrival

This morning, Chris Farrance, the new consultant to join us here in Blantyre was due to arrive by coach from Lilongwe.  It was due to arrive at around 11.30 this morning, so before that Peter and I set off on a further orientation journey around Blantyre, so I could see where the key areas and places in the city are located.

The coach trip from Lilongwe should take around 4 hours (police road blocks  permitting).  Unfortunately, at around 11.15, we got a call from Chris to say that his coach had broken down just 3.5kms outside Blantyre, so we decided to go and pick him up.  We stopped for petrol, which was just as well because we then got another call to say that he was in fact about 30 minutes outside Blantyre (clearly had got some duff information from the coach driver).

So off we went (I was driving) to find the coach.  Along the way I saw a second "instant demise of goat" incident, this time meted out by the minibus in front of us on the road - I reckon the goats of Malawi are going to start watching out for me and running away.  Eventually we found the coach parked up with all the passengers standing around on the side of the road.  I turned Daisy around and pulled up behind the coach.  Chris was distributing sweets to the kids from the nearby village.  We extricated him and his luggage, and set off back towards Blantyre.

We got back into Blantyre, and decided to go to a vegetarian Indian restaurant (Veggie Delight) for a spot of lunch.  I had a masala Dhosa [see left] which was very acceptable indeed, and only a couple of quid.

We then took Chris on a quick tour of Blantyre including where the office is located, the supermarket, and the sports club.

We also popped into Club Mustang Sally for a beer.  I introduced myself to the owner, Rob - I mentioned him in Friday's blog.  It seems Rob used to own a couple of clubs in the Manchester area and came out to Malawi some time ago.  His story is that where the bar is used to be his house, and his mates used to come round and drink his beer, so he figured he might as well set up a bar and charge them for it!  I took a couple of pictures to give a feel for the place, including the entrance (above), and the upstairs bar & pool (below).

I've not actually seen anyone in the pool yet, but I'm told it does happen, although it may require several drinks to make it seem a sensible thing to do.  Rob was keen for us to stay for his regular weekend barbecue (I quote "big steaks at cost price") but as we'd already eaten, we politely declined, but I will try and do one at some point.  You can see the pool in the picture here.  The disco is to the left of this shot, and the upper bar is in the background.

After a quick beer, it was back to the house so that Chris could settle in.  This evening, we're planning to go to TJ's bar to watch the Brazil vs Ivory Coast game.

That's all for now.