Ethiopia sixty-first day - 25/11/13 otherwise known as 17/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

I woke at 4am, had a banana and some water and packed up ready to get the bus to Axum via Shire. This bus journey is supposed to have the most spectacular view in Ethiopia - we will see!
The bajaj we arranged did not arrive, but a cheaper one did so we hopped in that and were at the gates like everyone else, ready to board at 5am. When they opened it was a scene similar to that of a herd of cattle running in the wild with all the ticket men shouting destinations and steering people onto the correct buses. Luckily I heard "Shire" so we showed our tickets and boarded a pitch black bus which was already almost full - I have no idea how they got on so fast, with so much stuff! It was like the bus from Addis to Bahir Dah for me but a level two this time. I used my towel to stop my knees banging on the chair in front of me and fell asleep a lot. It was hot, bumpy, dusty, noisy and stopped only 3 times in 10 hours - once at Debark for quite a while when some more tourists got on - Daniel - from Brazil, joined us onboard and continued on to the hotel with us as he was travelling alone too! The second time was almost 7 hours into the journey when the left-back tyre burst and had to be changed on the roadside and again shortly after that (about 20 minutes) in a tiny village, so that children could get on the bus and sell us 'bombini's' (like a donut ball without filling) and various drinks.

My bottom, back and neck killed, then when we reached Shire, the minibus driver tried to rip us off, his taut told us 22 birr each and he wanted us to pay 200 each. So we complained loudly near the offic and a guy took us back to the minibus and got us on for 22 Birr each. Again, upon arrival the bajaj driver tried to charge us lots to get to the hotel but eventually one said he would take us all for 10 Birr.

Now my belly is full of Spaghetti Bolognese - the only food I've eaten today apart from my breakfast banana and four bourbon biscuits and I have had a couple of cokes to wash it all down. I've had a great hot shower and washed my very dusty trousers ready for the next few days adventure. I will never! forget todays journey - my life was never more in a driver's hands, especially turning corners less than 30cm from sheer drops off mountain cliffs. We also passed a refugee camp for people from Eritrea (a former part of Ethiopia) and expereinced many police checks afterwards to ensure no Eritreans had left the camp (I presume) on our bus or minibus!