privateer Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Anyone been? If anyone has any tips for getting around, places to go, things to do, see, eat, drink, accommodation I'd love to hear it. I'm guessing not too many will have been there. Tonyh29, would I be right in thinking you have? You seem to have been everywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Just this last hour got back from China :-) I went to Ethiopia briefly in 1984 around the time of Live Aid ... was full of Warlords driving around in Rolls Royce's ... ok it wasn't quite that bad but it was clear that the money wasn't reaching its intended location My dive guide in Djibouti spent 6 months there she loved the place and it's certainly a place I want to explore in more depth .. The Highlands especially .. I wouldn't wander around the streets of Addis Ababa at night though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
privateer Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 So, an update. ****. Toilet. Addis: Craphole. Big city full of very poor people and lots of destitute spackers. I met up there with the Aussie driver of an overland Africa tour I was on earlier this year who had spent a few years in South America and had traveled a lot of Africa overland to get there. His assessment? "A **** shithole." Lake Tana: The monastries on the islands on the lake are supposed to be great. They **** aren't they're crap. The words removed charge a lot of money to go see then and they are not worth the bother. Gonder: Stunning location and a great drive up from Tana. The town is built in the bowl of a range of surrounding mountains and if you stay at one of the hotels on the hills the view is tremendous. If you go there a trip to the Simien Mountains is a must, the views and scenery are stunning. Only problem was the hotel had fleas. Axum: The stelae are supposed to be great, like the monastries at Tana, but are a bit meh. Don't stay more than a day or so. Lalibela: Where all the fleas live, the words removed live in the churches there and get ported around by the tourists. Quite interesting but once you've seen a couple of the churches you've seen 'em all. Pretty much like the whole country. They have the same bloody paintings everywhere but charge you everytime you want to go into a church. Food: **** crap. No wonder they are so thin, nobody wants to eat it. I lost half a stone there because it was so shit. People: Mostly **** words removed. They are all trying it on if they think they can scalp you, which they do think. Paid 160 birr to the airport in Addis on the way to the northern flights and when I arrived back and tried to go back to the same hotel the first cheeky word removed tried to charge me 300 birr. Told him to **** off and got the next one down the line. My advice? Don't go there. It's a shitehole full of rip-off merchants that has nothing worth seeing other than scenery. Even then, it looks like Wales or Scotland or mountainous areas of Europe. They don't deserve tourists or the tourist dollar. **** 'em all. Let them fester in their poverty and famine. There is a good reason God regularly strikes there, he knows they deserve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 **** 'em all. Let them fester in their poverty and famine. There is a good reason God regularly strikes there, he knows they deserve it. What a disgusting thing to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Africa can be a wonderful place to visit but you have to accept that it doesn't work like the rest of the world , it's frustrating at times but your closing comment is pretty poor tbh you did know you were going to Ethiopia didn't you ? were you expecting a Starbucks on every corner ? being scalped goes on everywhere mate , even London, the trick is to do your homework before you leave and find out the price for everything before you leave and use that as your rough guide ... Africa can be a wonderful place to visit but you have to accept that it doesn't work like the rest of the world , it's frustrating at times but your closing comment is pretty poor tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 My advice? Don't go there. It's a shitehole full of rip-off merchants that has nothing worth seeing other than scenery. Even then, it looks like Wales or Scotland or mountainous areas of Europe. They don't deserve tourists or the tourist dollar. **** 'em all. Let them fester in their poverty and famine. There is a good reason God regularly strikes there, he knows they deserve it.This must be one of the horrific, fetid posts I've ever read on VillaTalk. Nowhere on Earth is worse than Wales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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