Monday, January 19, 2009

Windhoek and Swakopmund

I'm just now realising the wonders of resizing one's photos before attempting to upload them on a dodgy satellite connection. It does make them a little less pretty but saves me hours of failed upload attempts.

Although my friends who've lived there will, I'm sure, call me naive, entering Namibia from Zambia felt a bit like entering the European Union. The border crossing at Katima Mulilo involves a sweaty shoving match in a concrete hut on the Zambian side but complete serenity on the Namibian side. The building above is not the border but a church in the seaside resort town of Swakopmund. So are the next few.

I was excited to see curbs in Namibia but bike lanes?
This is central Windhoek, probably the cleanest most inoffensive city I've ever encountered anywhere ever. Of course, that's through the tourist's lens and I'm sure someone will correct me. This church, by the way, stands at the confluence of, I think, Robert Mugabe Avenue and Fidel Castro.
I traded this man, who by the way is a Namibian of German descent if it isn't obvious by the moustache, one hundred billion Zimbabwean dollars for one Zimbabwean cent. Though economists will tell you both denominations are equally worthless as money I think I got the better deal.

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