Masala Dosa on the Mekong

The pretty Ethiopian waitress had a flower in her hair. I said, "It's very nice." She smiled at me and said, "Addis Ababa!"  I was on my way back to India after travelling through northern Ethiopia. The middle-aged woman seated next to me on the bus from Addis Ababa to Bahir Dar gestured to me to have some more coffee. The bus was scheduled to start from Addis Ababa at 5 a.m. and it had started before time at 4:45 a.m. It was a non-air-conditioned bus. The bus had a driver and a hostess, a young woman. She handed me a ham sandwich, a small carton of juice for breakfast and some paper napkins. There was a middle-aged woman seated next to me and she had brought a large flask of coffee along with paper cups. She did not know English. She kept offering me cups of coffee. The bus stopped for lunch in Debra Markos. The hostess told me, "Debra means 'church' in Amharic. Debra Markos is 'Church of St. Mark.' " Everyone got down and washed their...

My phone rang at midnight. The taxi driver said, "If you want me to come at 4 a.m., it will cost you double the fare". "This is blackmail", I said. He replied, "It's not blackmail. It's Ethiopia!". I was travelling through Ethiopia to find the source of the Nile River. "Why are you travelling to Ethiopia?", asked the woman immigration officer in Chennai airport in southern India. I said, "Tourism. I am just travelling". She refused to believe me. "Nobody goes to Ethiopia", she said. She refused to stamp my passport. She took me to her manager's office. He asked, "Where is your visa?". "It's a visa on arrival", I said. He shook his head in disbelief. I said, "You can check with the airline. They have the information". "That's why they have issued the boarding pass to me", I added. While I waited in the manager's office, they went to meet the airline staff to check....

 " Coconella, Monsieur ?", asked the little girl. I said, " Oui ". I thought I would get a coconut with coconut water. She brought a huge fruit, bigger than a pumpkin! I was travelling on the Côte Est Railway in Madagascar, a classic African train journey. I was in Fianarantsoa, commonly referred to as Fianar, in Madagascar. I was staying in a Chinese owned hotel and had just finished my breakfast of chicken noodle soup and coffee. I think it was the first time that I was having noodles and coffee. I have had noodles and tea and I have had noodles with liquor, but I don't think I have ever had noodles and coffee. I asked the Malagasy receptionist, "How do I get to Ranomafana?". I wanted to go to Ranomafana National Park to track lemurs in the wild. Lemurs are primates that are found only in the island of Madagascar. She said, "You can take a taxi-brousse (bush taxi) going to Manajary and get down at Ranomafana". I said, "How do I get ba...

I was trying to explain arranged marriage to the woman. She said, "Boy meets girl. They kiss and fall in love. The parents arrange the marriage". I said, "No!". I was travelling through the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, to find the coin with the lowest value in the world. I had just landed in Nairobi airport in Kenya from India. I was on my way to Antananarivo, commonly known as Tana, the capital of Madagascar. The small concourse was filled with people. There was barely any space to walk around. The display boards were not working. I had to find out the gate number for my flight to Tana. There were a million people in front of the information desk, all of them trying to find their gate numbers. But I have been through Nairobi airport several times before. I walked to the coffee shop at the end of the concourse and ordered a coffee. As she was giving me my coffee, I asked her, "Can you tell me my gate number?". She stared at me, then smiled and checke...