I would really love to go to Mali one day. Did you find it more or less easy to get around? Where did you go? Is there a big tourism industry there? What kinds of things did you see and do?
(I am SO jonesing to do some more travelling! wah!)
A ghost? What's the deal? Is every frat on this campus haunted? And if so, why do people keep coming to these parties, cause it's not the snacks.
Xander ,'Dirty Girls'
All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American
Discussion of episodes currently airing in Un-American locations (anything that's aired in Australia is fair game), as well as anything else the Un-Americans feel like talking about or we feel like asking them. Please use the show discussion threads for any current-season discussion.
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Kate P. - Feb 11, 2004 7:03:12 am PST #6800 of 9843
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Jim - Feb 12, 2004 7:21:04 am PST #6801 of 9843
Ficht nicht mit Der Raketemensch!
Very easy, although you have to accept plenty of delays. There is a tourist industry, but it's very sharply divided between facilities for expats and NGO workers, and various levels of organised tours. We were very unusual as independent travellers. This, plus the fact that the local population tends not to travel much, means that in most cases you're stuck with tourist-specific transport or very very slow local stuff. Tourist transport is viciously expensive, and utterly unreliable. You can do a tour, but what we saw of them was kind of lame - we did just as well alone.
As to what we did - we were there for 4 weeks, of which we spent a week (in all) sitting by the pool in a nice hotel. We flew into the capital, Bamako, which is fantastic, both as an introduction to Africa, and for its own sake. If you like tropical cities, which I do.
After a day in B, we went up to Segou, a river-port on the Niger (everything is on the Niger - it's the only source of life in the country), where we went to the market, and visited a small, village of potters. Then to Mopti, which rocks - it's the central port, and has an amzing dockside market. That was our base for the whole trip, but we spent a few days in Djenne (I hated it, but it's amazing - the World's biggest MudBuilding(TM) is there), and the Dogon country (walking, escarpments like in The Lost World). The highlight, without doubt, was Timbuktu. We flew up there, and spent 2 days in the city, which is just bizarre - it's the nearest thing to Mos Eisley you're likely to find, from the Tuaregs to the sand-filled streets. Then we spent 3 days drifting down the Niger in an open wooden boat to Mopti, and saw hippos, which was amazing.
There are some (unlabelled and unsorted, sorry) photos here
All in all it was pretty awesome, although much the hardest travel, emotionally, I've ever done.
Kate P. - Feb 14, 2004 4:55:12 pm PST #6802 of 9843
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Jim, I can't get to your pictures--that link just takes me to the main Fotopic page.
It sounds like an amazing trip! Especially the part about drifting down the Niger. That's so exciting.
You can do a tour, but what we saw of them was kind of lame - we did just as well alone.
That was mostly my experience in Africa as well (I travelled through southern Africa with a few friends in 2002).
evil jimi - Feb 17, 2004 3:13:39 am PST #6803 of 9843
Lurching from one disaster to the next.
Shit! I missed the season premiere of Angel last week!
Allan Lang - Feb 17, 2004 2:59:13 pm PST #6804 of 9843
'And on that tragic day, an era came to its inevitable end.'
That's all there is.
Gunn now has stupid hair and learnt all of Gilbert and Sullivan
§ ita § - Feb 17, 2004 3:29:34 pm PST #6805 of 9843
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Gunn's head now has added texture, is all.
moonlit - Feb 17, 2004 5:48:32 pm PST #6806 of 9843
"When the world's run by fools it's the duty of intelligence to disobey." Martin Firrell
Hi fellow Aussies and all, I think I'm back (computer wise) on a more stable basis, here's hoping.
Congratulations Jim, and I'm pouting 'cos I can't see the pictures either but it sounds like a fabulous trip.
Evil jimi, bugger, me too, and insent to your profile address.
ita, I didn't finish sending you all the pics I'd been collecting for your birthday. I'll locate them amongst the ruins of the old computer and send them soon.
Emlah - Feb 17, 2004 6:39:33 pm PST #6807 of 9843
To every idea a shelf...
Shit! I missed the season premiere of Angel last week!
Evil jimi, bugger, me too
Damn, if I'd logged on yesterday I could have told you they repeated it at 11pm last night because the reception went wonky in many areas of Sydney last week. On the bright side, they did it on the basis of fan reaction, so it seems Channel 7 have a human being working for them who's only disguised as an axe-wielding robot with a default program of C:ProgramFiles/Screw Viewers/EatPuppies.exe.
I liked the premiere and look forward to the rest of the season.
scrappy - Feb 17, 2004 7:20:32 pm PST #6808 of 9843
Nobody
Aussies--we're captioning a series called "Kath & Kim." It was a hit there, yes? A very unusual mixture of broad sketch comedy and very spot-on human moments.
billytea - Feb 17, 2004 7:31:38 pm PST #6809 of 9843
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Aussies--we're captioning a series called "Kath & Kim." It was a hit there, yes? A very unusual mixture of broad sketch comedy and very spot-on human moments.
Yep. Friends of ours sent us all of season 1 on video. I didn't know whether to laugh or be appalled for a long time. (I eventually decided to go with it.) They also sent us season 2 on DVD. Now if only we had a DVD player...
So you get to caption it? Lucky you. I wondered how the yumour [sic] would translate to an American audience.