dhiren.za.net

I'm lucky enough to be in Dar es Salaam this week for work. We're deploying a project for Vodacom Tanzania which meant being on site to test and to be on standby when we go live.

I got here on Sunday evening about 7.30pm East African time... it's an hour ahead of South Africa, and has had me pretty confused at times, because we're in constant contact with guys back in SA working from that side... plus my phone and laptop clocks are both still on SA time. I'll probably get used to it just as I'm about to leave.

Dar es Salaam is a pretty awesome place. The people are very friendly, and the town is very safe - we've walked through town with our laptop bags without having to stress, and once I managed to charge my new digital camera I've been walking around with that around my neck like a typical tourist all the time.

It's quite humid and warm here - reminds me a lot of Durban's weather. The town itself doesn't resemble much of Durbs though - there are a lot of old buildings and cars, and a lot of pot holes in the roads. But inbetween the ancient buildings there are a bunch of bright billboards advertising cell networks and banks and stuff. Also, even though I'm taking malaria pills and brought along some peaceful sleep lotion, I've only seen a couple of mosquitos.

The roads are drivable, but generally pretty bad. And the traffic is quite insane - not in volume, but in the way people drive. The traffic lights make no sense whatsoever - they're sideways instead of upright, with odd arrows that convey uncertain meanings. Not that anyone pays attention to the traffic lights anyways. We went to lunch with two guys from Vodacom today and were asking them about the traffic - do they get into trouble for speeding? No. Is there anything they'd get fined for or arrested for on the roads? No. Apparently the only rule is: be insured. And have a hooter, I think. After a while, I think we figured out the traffic lights though... if there's any sort of green facing you, it means go, even if you're not going in the direction of a green arrow. If the light is red for you, it also means go, as long as there's nobody nearby. Keeping to your lane is optional, as is using your indicator, or observing any sort of rules related to right of way. If you want to cross an intersection, just inch forward until you're blocking the way so cars going the other way have to stop to let you through.
Having said that, driving in Dar isn't too bad either - although I've probably picked up a few things from driving in Jhb for the past 5 months.

The food is great - there are a lot of really good restaurants. We found an Indian restaurant in an extremely dodgy looking building on an extremely dodgy looking street - but the food was just as good as the best Indian restaurants I've been to in SA. This evening we went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which was a pretty awesome experience. And yesterday we had lunch at a truly local place, at a small tavern-type place on the side of a dirt road near where we're working.
Food is pretty expensive though - even the roadside place cost just over R50 for a plate of curry and rice. Meals at a proper restaurant are generally R100+ for just a main course and a coke. The hotel buffet for supper costs $40, but is quite a decent spread. And I got quoted what worked out to about R65 for a double southern comfort and lemonade.

We're scheduled to be done with work by 12pm on Friday, and were supposed to fly back at 3.30-ish, but I had my flight moved to Sunday afternoon instead, so that I can spend the weekend in Zanzibar instead! That should be fun I think. Although I still need to book a hotel room - I haven't had a chance to do any of that stuff yet. The plan is to take the ferry across on Friday afternoon, and fly back to Dar on Sunday, and spend the time inbetween chilling on the beach sipping cocktails and taking photos.

That is, of course, assuming this deployment goes well. If not, I'll probably spend the weekend in the server room instead :(

I'll probably put up a bunch of photos later, after I'm done with Zanzibar.