Going from Thailand to Laos
After our bicycle-tour around Chiang Mai, we took a very run-down bus to Soppong (or Pang Mapha), further into north Thailand, close to the border with Myanmar (Burma). We found a nice place to hang out: the Cave Lodge. Built by the Australian John Spies some 30 years ago, who from there explored the many caves in the area and the hill-tribes living in the border area with Myanmar. He even wrote some articles on these hill-tribes, who mostly live on growing poppy, which they use to produce raw opium, and the opium trade that made this area infamous: the Golden Triangle.
The Cave Lodge itself was built much alike a ‘youth city', from scraps of wood, corrugated sheet, no (apparent) building plan, let alone any calculations had been done. It made us wonder when the first collapse of wooden floor, wall or roof would happen. Luckily this did not happen during our stay. The place had, on the other hand, a certain nice atmosphere around it, relaxed and laid back. We enjoyed our stay. One day we went on a black water kayaking tour, through a cave and down two very steep concrete dams and over lots of rapids. Very exciting! The other day we walked to the exit of the cave to watch thousands and thousands of birds (swifts, a kind of swallow) fly into the cave at the end of the afternoon. During the day they fly around catching flies, at night they sleep in the cave, whilst bats inhabited the caves during the day, and fly out at night. Very impressive seeing so many birds gathering above and entering into the cave. We celebrated Claudia's birthday on the last morning with painted breakfast eggs and a small cake (with candle!), before the cook brought us to our next destination.
Our last stop in Thailand - for the time being - was Pai, a small village much geared to backpackers, where lots of young people just hang out. Here we rented two mopeds and toured around the neighborhood for a day. Visited a waterfall, a temple, went past many elephant camps (but withstood the urge to take a ride), just enjoying the touring around.
Pai marked the end of one month of Thailand, which went past extraordinary fast. What were our feelings after this first month of Asia? Very friendly people, although not ease to really make personal contact with them. Beautiful countryside, very wet, very green. We experienced the (end of the) rainy season, which wasn't too bad. The rain came and went more strict than the Dutch trains. We felt safe on the streets, no shouting, no angry people, all very relaxed and friendly. Thailand in general, however, is one big ‘no-favour-zone'; nothing's for free. The best proof of this happened when Sil hurt his foot when we ended up in a ditch along the road with our rented moped. A friendly Thai came over to help us and asked us whether we wanted some water to clean his foot, 'free of charge' he felt obliged to add .....
From Pai we took a night minibus to Chiang Khong at the Mekong River, the border between Thailand and Laos. Dispite the fact that it was a luxury minibus, it was a horrible drive. We left Pai at 8 pm and arrived at 3.30 am in the night. We were off-loaded at a very (and I mean very) shabby hotel, everybody (2 minibuses carrying 26 tourists) disoriented and trying to get to a good room first. The next morning we were brought to a place where we could get some breakfast and - to our surprise - we were also dropped off at the border post at the Mekong River as part of our minibus travel arrangement. When we were having breakfast, however, our driver suddenly disappeared, taking our luggage with him in the back of his van, only to return after half an hour. We did not want to be too mistrusting, but we thoroughly checked if everything was still in our backpacks, and, more importantly, if nothing was added ....... This appeared not the case, so we went on our way to our first border crossing in Asia. To be continued....
Bicycling around Chiang Mai
After having spent our first three weeks in cities, it was time for `something else and for some exercise. Travelling makes you lazy! We booked a 6-day tour with Etienne, a Belgium who settled down in Chiang Mai some 20 years ago, and who has set up a well-known bicycle renting and guiding company. We chose a self-guided tour, averaging 40 kms per day, with all hotels booked in advance and a detailed route description provided for by Etienne. Peter felt like being a boy-scout again. We started off with Claudia and Sil on a tandem bike, as Sil was still a bit ill with ear-infection, but on the second day we called Etienne and asked him to pick up the tandem and bring two separate bikes for Claudia and Sil, which he himself had offered when we left. So after that Sil and Lasse were really seeking all the potholes, rain gutters, and dead animals. They were having as much fun on their bikes as possible, without getting into an accident.
We biked through beautiful landscapes, green rice fields, lush mountains, over and along rivers, canals (everywhere, to irrigate the rice fields), through small villages around Chiang Mai. Very enjoyable, some saddle-pain, and a lot of sweat, as the sun was burning hot above us.
We stayed in luxury resorts and lodges, a bit above our normal budget, but we needed some spoiling after a hot day of biking. Our first stop was at Wangtarn Resort, which was beautifully landscaped, but empty except for us, and really lacked a heart. Second stop at Baan Jan Thai, a Dutch guy who married a Thai woman and settled down in Thailand 6 years ago and started a small lodge. Beautiful lodge, but most of all we very much enjoyed the extensive European breakfast! Then onto Kinkala Lodge, run by two men, Dirk from Holland and Carlos from Spain. Married for over 30 years, and they built themselves a beautiful lodge, and the interior decoration gave away that Dirk and Carlos were professional collectors (of almost anything). But it was done in a very stylish manner. After that onto Dreamcatchers, run by Annabel from Canada, which was a very nice lodge also (only the food was too expensive). Last stop was again at a resort, Kaomai Lanna Resort, a transformed tobacco-factory. Then back to Chiang Mai, where we arrived thirsty, sun-burnt, tired, but happy.
Lop Buri & Chiang Mai
After our first week in Bangkok, we took a train to Lop Buri. Nothing special, except for some old temple ruins that are now inhabited by monkeys. The Thai believe the monkeys to be the ancestors of the guards who once guarded the temples. The monkeys are an attraction and are really treated well. Tourists feed them, there is an annual festival to honour them and they are buried in a special graveyard. As a result, the monkeys are fat and cheeky, and they take what they want by steeling it out of one's hands or rug sack. In Lop Buri we met Jan and his Thai wife Ly, and we spent two afternoons with them at the pool of their hotel.
Next stop: Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. We took the night train, 2nd class sleeper, without airco (but with fans). Not sure whether this was a good choice, but airco would have been much more expensive and probably too cold. Our choice turned out well, very comfortable sleeper and Lasse and Sil could share a bed as they were both under 150 cm tall. Upon arrival in Chiang Mai we were ‘attacked' by local taxi drivers all offering the best deal / cheapest hotel / most interesting day trip. Something that we will never get used to. Chiang Mai itself is off little interest to tourists, but the city bursts with small tour operators all offering the same package deals: elephant riding, down-hill MTB trip, whitewater rafting, bamboo rafting, rock climbing, flight of the gibbons, Karen longneck, etc, etc. We shopped around a little for some nice-price deals. Claudia went on a one-day Thai cooking course, while the male half of the family went on a combi-trip of elephant riding, white water rafting, hiking and bamboo rafting. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day, Claudia was the only participant so she enjoyed a private lesson, while Lasse, Sil and Peter discovered what it feels like to (try to) steer an elephant or, even worse, be kissed by one. You do not want to know what that feels (and smells) like!
Meanwhile, the temperature has become a bit more bearable, as the end of the rainy seasons draws near. However, Peter did not notice this when he embarked on a serious, 35 km mountain bike tour in the hills near Chiang Mai. Serious climbing, serious sweating and serious down-hill riding. But after 5 months of travelling (without being able to do any exercising), it feels good to wash off the laziness.
It was not only Peter who was in dire need of some exercise, so we booked a six-day biking trip in Chiang Mai with Etienne, a Belgium guy who has set up a well organized bike rental company that provides detailed route-descriptions and hotel accommodation around Chiang Mai. The day before we are to start our biking trip, Sil fell ill with an ear-infection. To be on the safe side we did hire a tandem, so Sil can just relax, in case he is not fully fit. So as we are re-packing our bags for our biking trip on our last night in Chiang Mai, we (again) wonder what tomorrow will bring us.
Bangkok
Died-tired we arrived in Bangkok. The flight from Cape Town to Singapore had a stop-over in Johannesburg and took about 13 hours. Then a 3 hour wait at Singapore airport, and a 2 hour flight to Bangkok. Lasse and Sil were sleeping in the taxi to our hotel. It took us a couple of days to get over our jetlag. Not only due to the difference in time and climate, but most of all due to the cultural differences. Bangkok, a really big city, with about 7 million people in it, but very well organized, clean (except for the smog) en breathing a relaxed atmosphere. We spent our first week sight-seeing Bangkok, the canals, the streets, markets, the different houses, the temples and Buddha's, the street vendors, the restaurants, the toilets (who needs paper?), the tuk-tuk's, the taxi's, the mopeds, the guys wanting to sell you a tailor-made suit (that would be really the last thing we'd like to be busy with at this moment) ,everything. Our hotel, Rambuttri Village Inn, was really downtown, so we could see the smallest wheels of the economy turning and churning, right in our street.
Let's describe some of the differences with Africa! No (male) macho-behaviour, but friendliness and joy in the streets. Thai people are very aware of their own well-being and take good care of their mind and body. Everywhere you can see massage and beauty shops, lots of fruit sellers on the streets. And of course lots of monks all over the place. The Thai are very religious and next to the tens of dozens of huge temples around the city, there are mini-temples on every street corner. Sights that both we not often found in Africa. Furthermore, Thai people are very organized and ambitious, as opposed to Africa, where people tend more to accept things the way they are, being very close to, and in balance with nature and the animals.
Our last week in South Africa
Exactly 7 days before our flight out of Cape Town we entered South Africa from Swaziland. Much to our surprise, we received a 90 day visa without any questions or hassle..... So, in hindsight, rescheduling our trip was unnecessary. Anyway, we felt no regrets, as we met nice people and visited beautiful places, which we would not have if we would have have gotten a 3-month visa in the first place. South Africa remains undiscovered by us, this we have to do on our next trip.
We planned to drive straight through to Cape Town in two long days. The first day we drove about 990 km along scenic but good roads following the border of Lesotho. Endless stretches of roads, on and on, with little traffic. We stayed overnight in a small B&B in Colesberg, a no-name village somewhere halfway between Jo'burg and Cape Town. At our B&B a guy named Eduard showed interest in our Disco, or did he show interest in Peter, as ‘his pendulum swung the other way', so to say.... He never called, so we never know. The second day we decided to take the highway, as this would be less distance. This was true, however, we encountered a number of one-way roadstops where they were re-tarring the road and that slowed us down a little. Nevertheless, we arrived in Cape Town around 5 pm, after having driven another 800 km's, well before sundown.
It felt a bit like coming home to us, arriving in Cape Town after 4 months. We went by to Lena to get the key to our apartment and drank a beer with Lena and Gregor. On our travels through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and back to Cape Town we drove nearly 15.500 km, without any break-down or trouble with the car. Not bad. Along the way we used a little over 3.000 liters of petrol. Not (so) good. Our last week in Cape Town we stayed in one of Lena's very nice apartments, and spent most of our time with washing, sending stuff home, re-packing our rug sacks, doing some last-minute shopping and, of course, selling our Disco. We went to Top Gear, the car dealer where we bought the car from. The guy we dealt with was not working there anymore. They offered us a mere 39.000 Rand, which we refused. Later they called us saying a ‘third party' would be interested and offered 45.000 Rand. We negotiated a bit with Top Gear and were led to believe that the mysterious third party's best offer would be 47.000 Rand, which we accepted. The deal would go down on Thursday, our last day in Cape Town, but this gave us the opportunity to visit Hermanus, a town at the coast where you can do some good whale-spotting.
The day we went to Hermanus was very rainy, but we did spot some whales, amazingly close to the shore. No nice jumping, unfortunately, and no nice pictures, unfortunately. On our way back we came by a colony of penguins, which made us think about our first day-trip to Cape of Good Hope, where we also visited a colony of penguins. We noticed that were sort of closing the circle and saying goodbye to Africa.
Then our last day in Cape Town had arrived, time to sell the Land Rover. We were in for a sad surprise. Top Gear called that the mysterious third party had let them down, and that the deal was off. Naturally, Top Gear was willing to ‘help us out', against their best and final offer of 40.000 Rand. There we were, kept on a line for three days by Top Gear, no other options left and our plain was leaving tomorrow. We had no choice but to accept the offer. But this was not enough, no, Top Gear waited until the very last moment with handing us the bank cheque, and we just made it in time to cash-in the cheque and have the money transferred to our Dutch account in Euros. The latter required us handing over proof of buying and selling the car, complete with visa and banking statements. These were supplied by Peter's niece Ineke, and all went very smoothly at the bank.
We celebrated with a nice drink and having dinner with Lena and Gregor at our house. Claudia cooked a very nice curry, and after dinner we downloaded lots of videos and spoken books from Gregor's hard drive. All food-stuff that was left over we gave to Lena, along with some stuff we were not going to use or send home anymore.
Last day, a bit nervous, taxi showing up a bit late, but we are well in time for our flight. One final round over Cape Town, so as to allow us one last look, and off we went, heading for Singapore and then on to Bangkok. About 20 hours travelling joy laying ahead of us........
Kingdom of Swaziland
Once we learned that we could only get a 7-day visa for South Africa, we decided to stay longer in Mozambique (until our visa runs out) and after that spent some time in Swaziland to ‘fill up' our time until we could enter South Africa again (exactly 7 days before our flight to Bangkok).
The border of Swaziland turned out to be the easiest crossing so far. A busy but friendly customs officer date-stamped our passes, no visa charges, no car register asking for the vehicle identification number, the engine number, the weight of the car, engine content, number of seats, color, owner details, etc. Instead, we only had to pay a modest car entry fee of 50 Emalangeni (about 5 Euro). We entered Swaziland in the North-East, via the Lebombo Mountains (or rather Lebombo Hills), and liked the atmosphere the country breathed.
Our first night we stayed in Simunye Country Club, which had a nice swimming pool and a bed for everybody, so no sharing of beds required. It turned out that they had free and reasonably fast Internet there so we updated our weblog and read our e-mails. The next morning we were invited by the (South African!) managers to watch their pythons being fed, an experience that sticks. Living chickens were fed to the Birmese Pythons, who killed them quickly, and swallowed them whole. The guy also had a couple of cobras and other snakes, who were being fed also.
Close to Simunye there was Hlane National Park, where we camped for 4 nights. This was a beautiful national park, with lots of white rhino's right in front of the bar and sitting area. Really impressive animals when watched from such a close distance. We met with Jan and Jolanda and their daughters Zoey and Isis, who really hit it off with Lasse and Sil, even though they were only 2 and 4 of age. Jan and Jolanda were travelling the world for a year, and had been travelling for 7 months already, with Africa being their last stretch. We baby-sitted each other's children so each couple could go on a walking safari together (no kids allowed). A peculiar experience, to be standing 4-5 meters away from a couple of full-grown rhino's that are looking intensely at you (they're nearly blind). We also saw lots of nyala's, warthogs, waterbucks (even an albino one), giraffe and a huge crocodile (pretending to be sleeping). Our guide did his best to avoid running into elephants, as they were with baby's and very dangerous. The weather became very hot, over 35 degrees celsius, and together with Jan, Jolanda and their kids, we went to Simunye Country Club to cool down in the swimming pool and use the Internet.
On our last day we were visited by Tinus and Ronelda, who had been in Maputo for business (placing orders for building materials for their Lodge at Covane). That was a really nice surprise. They knew from an email that we extended our stay in Hlane, and decided to visit the camp where they once had been the managers for some time. We learned from them that the last days there had been severe riots in Maputo over increasing food and gasoline prizes, and that the city had become very unsafe; about 10 people had been killed, dozens wounded and several shops looted and burnt! Can you imagine, one week ago we were there, and we were impressed with the friendly and relaxed atmosphere the city breathed!
Our last action at Hlane was a sunset safari-drive, during which we saw a male lion from very close and a group of male elephants. How impressive, when a lion looks at you from such a close distance! On our last night at Hlane we had dinner at a paraffin lamp (no electricity at the camp), spotted an owl under the restaurant roof, and enjoyed a very cozy night, again with all 4 of us in one tent, as the zipper of the tent of the boys did not close and we were afraid of unwanted nightly visitors........
Time for a new place, Big Bend was our choice. We first went to Simunye Country Club again, to charge our mobile phone and use the Internet. We had to arrange documents from home to be able to sell our Disco and get the money out of South Africa again. We also had to pay our travel agent for postponing our flight out of Cape Town. We did this to make our time in Cape Town more efficient in light of selling our Disco, as we counted on getting a 7-day visa only for South Africa.
When we (finally) arrived in Big Bend, it turned out to be just what the Lonely Planet had described: a sleepy village amidst sugarcane fields and with a sugarcane factory. We could not find a place to sleep that we liked. We could get a room in a very run-down place, but the place lacked a heart and they asked a high price because there was a conference being held in town. We decided to cut through the inlands over gravel roads to Manzini, a larger town close to Mbabane, the capital. The drive through the inlands showed us that Swaziland also knows poverty, little villages with reed huts, dirty people and hungry children. Along the main roads you get a totally different picture of Swaziland, looking fairly prosperous and with an active economy, the people well dressed and educated.
We found a nice place to stay, Myxo's Backpackers, an old farm, away from the main road, close to Manzini. It had a relaxed atmosphere, with Myxo's sister, his kids and her kids playing around and Myxo's mother continuously baby-sitting the children. Lasse and Sil played with the local kids; amazing to see how they pick up English and even more amazing to see how they use their little knowledge of the language to communicate with other kids. We gave one of our tents to Myxo's sister, who was very happy with it and in return gave us some nice wooden carved figures (much to Claudia's delight). On our last day we visited the market in Manzini; a real maze of little stalls and shops, everything for sale (including products made from galvanized sheet from DVL3, Corus' new galvanizing line), and of course also a complete quarter where they were selling handicraft souvenirs. Sil bought a nice wooden crocodile here, with his name engraved in it.
Our next stop, which turned out to be our last stop in Swaziland, was the Horse Shoe Estate, near Mankayana. It was owned by Rusty and Gerda Evans (Tinus' sister). Unfortunately, Rusty and Gerda just left for Cape Town, but they instructed Elias, their main employee, about us and we were allowed to use one of their cottages for free (apparently Tinus had called his sister and told them about us). The only downside being there was no electricity, as they were repairing the power supply. However, they left some paraffin lamps for us and we put our freezer on gas, and thus managed to make ourselves very comfortable! We used our last week in Swaziland to do some home-schooling of Lasse and Sil (of course; they both nearly finished block 3 of 10!), but also to clean, wash and polish our Disco and sort out all our camping equipment. Much of our camping equipment (tent, extra blankets), together with our old shoes and some old clothes we gave to Elias, asking him to share it with his fellow workers at the farm.
After some days we met Rusty Evans, who returned from Cape Town. He gave us advice on the best route to Cape Town, after which we decided to remain at his cottage until it was time to go back to South Africa. We used our last days for some sight-seeing. We had already visited the House on Fire, a cultural venue with Internet café, bar and restaurant. House on Fire was literally out of the ordinary, creatively made with soul and love. Next, went to Khopho camp, a beautiful hiking lodge made by a local community, which was entirely situated in/between large rocks, with a magnificent view over the river below. The next day we visited Ngwenya glass factory, where they make the most beautiful sculptures from used glass (very impressive to see the routines of the glass blowers and their helpers). Later the same day, we visited an old iron-ore mine, which was depleted in the seventies, but where Bushmen already extracted hematite (a.k.a. red ochre for use in rituals and rock-paintings), 40.000 years BC! Even Claudia became exited about iron ore, as she learned that Himba women today still use the same red ochre on their skins. On our last day we hiked to Sibebe Rock, a large monolithic rock, just like Ayers Rock in Australia, however, without the many visitors that Ayers Rock attracts. Although Lasse and Sil were not really in the mood for hiking, we thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful scenery.
When we left Holland, Peter's colleagues gave us a small portrait of Queen Beatrix, in case we got homesick. We left it on the fridge of our apartment, so she could keep the king of Swaziland some company. On our last night we went to bed wondering what would happen tomorrow at the border with South Africa.....
Mozambique - Part 2
On our last day in Covane Community Lodge, Tinus asked us if we would like to accompany them on a ‘real’ 4WD-trip into Limpopo NP. Tinus had to do some maintenance work at a remote 4x4-camp and his car was fully loaded. He did not want to go with just one vehicle on this rough track, but we guess that the kids playing so well with each other also played some role. We happily agreed, and embarked on our first real outdoor tour, to this 4x4 camp without any facilities or personnel, and which, in the words of the locals, “was very much liked by lions”…..
The ‘road’ was bumpy and slow, often not more than 2 tracks in the knee-high grass. Sometimes a nice riverbed-crossing, but else it was quit boring to be driving slowly over such bad roads. Underway we were called up on the radio by a group of 4x4 campers as we passed their camp. We made a short stop-over at their camp. They were on a marketing trip for Conquerer, a company that specializes in 4x4 trailers and caravans. The owner, management and chief designer were all present, as well as some journalists from specialized 4x4 magazines. We were immediately offered a cold beer and soon found out that most of these Afrikaners had relatives in Holland and one was even married to a German. It was nice, though, to see these people being proud of their products. The chief designer assured us that for all models, unfolding and setting up would not keep you longer than 10 minutes from your first cold beer. Probably the most important design-rule for the company, judging from the way its management looked.
We pushed on another 3 hours and arrived at our destination after about 8 hours driving, in the dark. There, at Mamba Pan, we stayed 3 nights, enjoying the nice weather and leisure time, while Tinus and his two helpers, Peterson and Cedric, were making repairs. Peterson and Cedric also did all the cleaning and washing up after dinner. However, this did not feel right to us, so we started to do the washing up ourselves. On the day of our return, the weather was cloudy and not so hot, which made our long trip somewhat more pleasurable. The kids took turns in our car and that of Tinus. The last night at Covane we slept in a luxury chalet, which was paid for by Ronelda, as a thank-you for our assistance on the trip. How very nice. The next morning we exchanged contact details, said many good-byes and went on the road again, heading for Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
In Maputo we first tried a back-packers hotel, but we could not find the owner, so we went to the other side of the road to Hotel Escola Andalucia, an very nice, old-style, once luxurious, but now run-down hotel and school. We negotiated a good price (only to find out that the price on the bill was higher than agreed) and enjoyed the dark wooden floors, staircases, old-fashioned elevator (especially Lasse and Sil enjoyed that one) and our two room en suite. But most of all we enjoyed the students behind the reception desk, who did not speak one word of English (and made no effort to try and understand what we want either), but went in panic to the back-office to fetch the manager on duty. We spent a lot of time walking the streets of this beautiful city, which still showed the signs of neglect from the war, but which was gradually picking up. Lots of art made from remnants of the war (chairs made from old guns). The people were relaxed and we felt safe. One of our favorite places was Café Mundo, where the boys could play on the trampoline, while we were enjoying fast Internet. A good combination. We tried to get an extension of our visa for South Africa at the embassy, but without success. We did have to pay 500 Mts to a corrupt police officer because Peter crossed a continuous line while finding a parking spot….. In the hotel we met David, an Irish American, who had been travelling for 4 months to make up his mind about what to do with the rest of his life. We had very enjoyable discussions during breakfast, and shared the problem of the South African visa. He fell in love with a girl in Maputo, so he solved his visa-problem by lengthening his stay in Maputo.
Our last stop-over in Mozambique was Ponta d’Ouro, the most Southern village right at the border with South Africa. It was a beautiful spot, white beach, high waves, warm and clear water, but thoroughly ruined by holidaying South African. The place was packed with diving schools, compressors were running continuously during the day to fill all the diving bottles, and at night there would be loud music from the diving camp. There appeared to be no respect between the South Africans on holiday and the local people. Not a good vibration in the air. We enjoyed the beach and the sea, but decided not to lengthen our stay (very unusual) and head for Swaziland.
The road back to Swaziland was heavy; we took about 4 hours over a 130 km stretch of heavy sand. Once we nearly got stuck in the deep sand, but luckily we managed to reverse the car to a patch of solid sand again. We were nearly relieved to hit tarred road again, but the first big potholes (Mozambican roads are infamous for them) brought us back to reality again. See you in Swaziland….
Police harassment in Mozambique
On our way to Xai-Xai we were laser-gunned by the local police. They measured the speed of all cars entering a small village, right at the sign showing the speed limit of 60 km/hr. Naturally, everybody was speeding at that spot, so were we, and we were pulled over. I was quickly offered a choice between paying 1,000 Metica (25 Euro) with a fine, or only 500 Mtc without a fine (and a friendly smile from the officer and his colleagues, as their buying power would increase in that case). Peter chose the latter options, afraid that the paperwork would take at least a couple of hours and afraid that the official fine had to be paid in another town.
During our stay at Covane Community lodge, Peter went to do some shoppings in Massingir. Just outside Massingir there was something that looks like a roundabout; it has some sort of pillar in the centre and a vague circle of rocks indicate where you should drive. Not really conscious, Peter took a right turn via ¼ of the roundabout. 100 mtr further, Peter parked the car and was directed by and unfriendly police-officer to get into the car again, turn around and park in front of the police station. He would not tell why, but when the police officer was joined by two soldiers with machine guns, Peter obeyed. In the police office, it was made clear what Peter did wrong, and the question was asked what he was willing to pay for his offence..... Peter did not answer, but instead explained that in Holland they drive on the other side of the road. After some discussion in Portugese and English, Peter was ‘free to go', but only because he had admitted to his offence. Later we found out that a researcher from Maputo, who was also guest at Covane lodge and whom we had met there, had witnessed the whole thing and had started asking questions what was the problem. Apparently the police did not very much like it that things were being noticed and that somebody started asking questions, so they decided to let Peter go. Sometimes, it pays to be lucky!
Apparently, corruption is still widely spread throughout the country, and used by police officers to boost their personal income. It's about time they start to understand that making the tourists feel welcome will, in the long run, bring more benefit to the country.....