Parting Shot (Air Jordan No More)

It's surreal posting this possibly last post here whilst in transit at Dubai, as we prepare for re-entry, reverse-culture shock and wondering how our lives will be like when as we head back home. Accessing Internet and Blogspot in Ethiopia had been nothing short of difficult, thus the dire lack of posts in the past few weeks. But here's something we composed almost 2 months back after a harrowing bus ride in Tanzania. And posting it now only as we felt our immediate family would gravely worry for our safety. Enjoy the ride!

10 Jun 2009:
Our recent bus ride from Tanzania’s “Air Jordan” company taught us some things. We learnt never to buy another ticket from this bus company…ever again, the lucrative business of packing as many passengers as possible in a bus to maximize profits, and how to exhale in relief and laugh together with the conductor even as a burning smell pervades the air after the loud bang.

The bus wasn’t exactly the Grassland-type we Singaporeans were used to. Impressive how they managed to screw 60+ seats into a typical 40-seater, and recreate a rattling C-130 aircraft fuselage atmosphere as the vehicle tore down the tarmac. Then came the bang, a dull continuous whirr, a tilt in the centre of gravity, and everyone seemed to start praying. Like a bad joke, velocity was still maintained as we coincidentally hit a downslope. Then Air Jordan finally ground to a stop.



We thought the vehicle had lost a full wheel so thankfully the rim’s still intact. But this sight of the frilly remnants of a blown tyre was a sight to behold. Everyone poured of Air Jordan to de-stress and moan whilst a passing group of Maasai natives snickered at our plight. Impressively, the 3 conductors on-board whipped out a (crappy) spare tyre, swapped it with a hind-wheel and changed the blown front tyre in quite a jiffy. So in no time, our unrepentant driver was back to tearing down the road again, nerves undeterred. Micheal Jordan would be proud of his namesake.

Parting Shot - 2 pictures of many overturned vehicles we witnessed during our road travels in Africa. Makes you wish all buses have seatbelts! (if they ever work at all)