Dar Es Salaam

Everyone there was excited about Obama. It was a great conversation starter.

Dad and I were both curious about what it looked like inside an African mall. It was pretty much like a normal American mall except that some of the shops looked like they didn't have any electricity even though they were open. After I took this picture a security guard with an uzi walked up to me and asked me if I wanted to go outside with him to see the sign that said 'no cameras'. I said "gulp, that's fine, I'll just put the camera away" and put it away faster than you can say "Michael Fay".

City Bus Classic. Stencils, baby!

This is a ride.  I never saw anybody on it, but I think it's operated by a guy riding the bike at the bottom. Where's Lance, I wanna fly!

Daladala city bus - more personality than NYC cabs.

It's hard to tell, but this ketchup is pink.

This is a buddhist temple. Note the swastikas.

 

This picture was taken in a Indian Paan shoppe. Paan is a small snack eaten in a single bite which contains around a dozen ingredients. It's also mildly narcotic. The customers in front of me were two Indian women visiting from Zanzibar. They said they come to this paan shoppe every time they travel to the mainland, buying about 40 or 50 of these little treats which last them about 2 weeks. I got to watch this man lay out 50 fresh leaves and meticulously add pinch after pinch of countless mystery spices, herbs, and compotes. During this time, a couple of older disheveled 'paan heads' would come up and just grab a leaf, wipe some of the goo on it, and gobble it up right there. It didn't seem to bother anybody, but it was strange. 

Here's my dad at Sea Cliff Village where we stayed shaking hands with a Massai porter. The Massai are struggling to hold on to their heritage, but like the American Indians, are being quickly gentrified out of existence. The lucky ones are able to make a living posing for tourist photographs, like this one.