Somar and I caught up all afternoon to discuss how to move forward with the Somalia relief campaign and potential future projects. If only I had more time with her…… As for Amimo and her family, I will miss Somar. They are friends I will keep in touch with for life.
I had not intended to stop in Doha this time round but when changing my flights to extend my stay in Kenya, a night layover was my only affordable option. It was an interesting first few hours. When I boarded the Qatar Airlines flight, I found someone sitting my seat – the lovely strained airhostess asked the gentleman for his ticket. He showed it to her and was fully aware he was in the incorrect seat but was clearly not interested in moving. I was not fussed, so said I would be happy to sit in his seat. We then proceeded to that seat only to find the same situation. This happened 3 times and on the 4th attempt they finally found me somewhere to park my bottom. It was, of course, between 2 large men who each took up a third of my seat, yelled for the hostesses constantly, took handfuls of lollies when they were offered 1, felt the need to lift their arms to reveal their large sweaty, strong odour armpits and snorted phlegm the entire trip. The border authorities then game me a talking too (we could refuse you entry…) as I didn’t have a visa into Qatar, they then confiscated my alcohol (1 ltr triple distilled Smirnoff and 1 ltr Armerello liquor for mum) as it was strictly ‘not allowed’ and my hotel had forgotten to pick me up. Bahah, I had to laugh. Fun times!
When I got to the hotel, the room was a little pokey but very clean and quiet – absolutely perfect. It felt like a palace after the last 2 ½ months. I had a late checkout and enjoyed my little stint of luxury – electricity, big bed, clean sheets, cupboard, running water, HOT shower, privacy, a view, TV that works (even a movie channel!!), bedside lamp and table, telephone and air conditioning . The very things I take for granted at home.
Qatar is very hot. Not many people walk the streets during the day and many shops are closed then reopen in the evening. It was wonderful after a winter in Kenya. I love the heat I stayed just the 1 night but didn’t fly out until 1.30am the following morning so had some time to look around. It reminded me very much of UAE (especially Abu Dabi) The mosque's were very impressive. Especially at night.
I then flew to Copenhagen – my first visit to Scandinavia and thought it was absolutely beautiful. My first impressions were of a beautiful, clean, quiet and well organised city. I found everyone to be very friendly and thought the bright, tall homes – specifically the ones on the canal were striking. The canal tour, visiting the little mermaid and the home of Hans Christian Anderson were the highlights.
As I was in Denmark for a few days, I decided to take a day trip to Sweden. I almost didn’t make it because minutes before we reached the airport station, we were informed to get off as the train will not be running for at least a few hours. We quickly learnt that it was due to an unfortunate accident right on the Swedish border – someone had been hit by a train. We were later transferred by bus and hoped the person hit was ok. We never found out if they survived.
On my travels to Malmo I met the sweetest father and daughter from a teeny island off Portugal. We spent the entire day together. We had also organised to catch up the following day back in Copenhagen but the weather was too rotten to leave the hostel. We were impressed by Sweden’s yummy sweets and awesome architecture.
Oh and we had NO idea what this house was doing floating in the middle of the river...
Although both countries were very expensive, they were clean, safe, were surprisingly warm and had no mosquitos. :-)
I fly to Amsterdam tonight and looking forward to finally seeing Mum. She is arriving from Australia on her second overseas journey – her first was to visit me in Kenya last year. We will travel for 6 weeks together before I finally make my way to South America to do a little more volunteer work starting in Peru.
No surprises that I am missing Kenya, especially as Somar is organising another trip to Daadab. But I am very excited to see mum and keeping busy in the meantime. Will be great to have some R&R with her.
Please know I am keeping safe, happy and health.
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