A short 1-day layover in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, before flying to Egypt.
Due to the relatively short time I had in Ethiopia, there were only two things that I wanted to do: Visit the local Sholla Market, and eat injera for lunch and dinner. I ended up doing a little more than that – But that didn’t even matter. What mattered the most was the valuable experience of learning how being Chinese is like in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has very good relationship with China, which has invested billions of dollars in Ethiopia particularly in their infrastructure. The evidence is everywhere: I was greeted by an Ethiopian airport staff at the gate in Mandarin Chinese; as I walked out the airport, the new airport terminal expansion project is being done by a Chinese firm, and the area is boarded up all around with Chinese text describing the project; then half a mile from the airport there was this gigantic billboard in Chinese, describing the Ethiopian Railway project (part of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative launched by China in 2013). Of course there is Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies stationing in Addis Ababa. Political consideration aside, China is able to benefit from their investments in developing countries like Ethiopia, while creating a large number of job opportunities for the locals. A win-win for both countries.
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
Overall, I have had very positive experience in Addis Ababa. Sure I heard some horror stories from travelers who went to some other parts of Ethiopia, but Addis Ababa is very safe. Beside being aware of pickpocketing in some areas and being careful of certain people who want to take you to his brother’s coffee shop and make you pay a hundred-dollar tab, most people are genuinely friendly; not being racist / stereotyping, but I am curious whether locals were friendly to me because I am Chinese or maybe they are friendly to all other travelers. I hope they understand though that I personally did not invest in these Chinese projects (nor did I buy any donkey), so I am not sure if I deserved their kindness 🙂
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
Walking alone in Sholla Market was an interesting experience: It is a huge market with hundreds of merchants selling anything from donkey to coffee, and there is hyena-feeding every night. However, there are very few tourists around (In fact, I was at the market for a couple of hours and I didn’t see a single tourist). It was a nerve-wracking experience: At times I felt like there were a thousand (probably more) Ethiopian locals in the market, then there was this one Asian-looking dude walking around looking totally out of place! Don’t get me wrong, people were very friendly: Almost everyone looked at me with a smile, and many times some little kids half my height looked at me smiling and said “China. China.” (probably one of the only few English words they knew) – I was getting A LOT of attention to say the least (the curious but I-will-leave-you-alone kind of good attention). I hesitated over whether to take out my camera because I didn’t want to get more attention than I was already getting, so I ended up just snapping a few pictures with my phone.
@AddisAbaba
This is how locals take buses in Addis Ababa: There are many of these mini-vans on the road. There is no time schedule and people simply squeeze into one of these buses when they see one coming. The bus driver would simply yell out the name of the next stop (in Ethiopian of course) and you would get off. Fare is very cheap: $3 Ethiopian Birr one-way (about $0.13 USD).
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Ethiopia is so far the only country where my Google Fi SIM card has no coverage. I didn’t want to get dropped off without knowing where I was, otherwise I would love to try taking one of these buses.
@AddisAbaba
This is how locals take buses in Addis Ababa: There are many of these mini-vans on the road. There is no time schedule and people simply squeeze into one of these buses when they see one coming. The bus driver would simply yell out the name of the next stop (in Ethiopian of course) and you would get off. Fare is very cheap: $3 Ethiopian Birr one-way (about $0.13 USD).
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Ethiopia is so far the only country where my Google Fi SIM card has no coverage. I didn’t want to get dropped off without knowing where I was, otherwise I would love to try taking one of these buses.
@AddisAbaba
Ethiopian soccer.
@AddisAbaba
National Museum of Ethiopia, where the Lucy skeleton (from 3 million years ago) is being kept.
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Of course, this picture has nothing to do with Lucy. Just a picture near where the skeleton is preserved.
@AddisAbaba
