Random hits on the keyboard

The days in Addis Ababa are phenomenal - because of many adventures, like being able to access the internet all the time, making calls, meet with many of my country's people and Dal Bhat after 2 centuries. On top of all the reasons, I went to Tomoco coffee, the first coffee exporter in Addis.  I can not explain the aroma and taste in words. The coffee ...... The aroma and .....

  Every morning I take a walk around the area. There are parks, high rise buildings - many of them are under construction. The wider road, with trees on both sides, chain of vehicles, functioning traffic lights and big public buses are exactly what we were told what development looks like. The city mayors of Kathmandu in 1990s vaunted it. And I had been believing this until I visited Scandinavian, where I see one or two-story buildings, narrow two-lane roads with wider cycle lanes, and almost no overhead crossings. Scandinavian countries, no way, meet Nepali definition of 'development'. As per the Kathmandu major's definition, Addis is a developed city. The roads are wide with overheads, and no dust on the street. There are pizza hut and McDonald's. And this morning, there was no water in my hotel. I called reception. A few minutes later, a water tanker delivered water to the hotel. I came to know that there is no sufficient city water in the hotel. As a Kathmandu dwell...

Meeting Lucy is one of the 'to do' things in Addis Ababa, as strongly suggested by many. So, I planned to meet her. I was excited and I was nervous. What should I wear? Should I take a taxi or walk? I finally decided to walk and planned a rendezvous on a Saturday morning. I checked Google Maps and found that it would take 50 minutes to walk. I left the hotel at 08:00. I didn't want to be late. On the way, I passed a market, wide busy streets, the African park, the Unity Park, and the Prime Minister's office. I walked as suggested by Google Maps. I see a local market and footpath book stores. There were many books stores and Obama's book - the promised land - seemed to be the best selling. The book reading is perhaps the symbol of the modern Ethiopian Renaissance after the 80s famine. I reached way ahead of the schedule. I scaled the distance in 30 minutes. I waited for half an hour - watching the people pass by, watching the people pray in a church. Finally, the clo...

I decided to resume my blogging (monologue). I will be publishing my old blogs soon. It is important to capture the experiences when they are fresh, I feel my recollection of old Afghanistan days has gone mild. Let me have my Ethiopia experience live. Additionally, it is always fun to share how I see the world. And here we go..... I came to join a new job in Addis Ababa on 1 March 2021. Ethiopian Coffee has always been on the top list followed by Ethiopian food. Let's talk about travel first. The Kathmandu airport was a mess. The PCR report has to be signed at the airport by an official, who probably is only obeying orders from higher authorities to do so. The top officials perhaps did not think enough that this would create havoc. There was a long winding queue at the entrance and who knows some 'super spreaders' might have been around. The rest of the journey was nice, except for the pain in my neck while trying to get some sleep. The hills around Addis Ababa airport remi...