"you are under arrest!"

This morning at a minibus terminal in Lagos, a policeman came up to me and yelled at me sternly "you are under arrest!" I froze for 2 seconds and the notoriously brutal and corrupt images of the Nigerian policemen and soldiers took hold of my mind. I didn't feel scared by him and decided to be cool and just play along, I said with a big smile "oh, reeeeeeeally?" Then he laughed, too. It turned out that he was just trying to mock me. And I was a little amused.

for the 1st time I made some money in Africa

Today in Lagos, I made N10 by teaching an okada boy how to write his name, Sofa, in Chinese. Now I can go buy 2 500ml sachets of drinking water! :D

I don't like supermarkets in Africa

First of all, they are mostly only affordable to the well-off locals and rich expats; secondly, if the change that they should give back to you is too small, they always just keep it and make you take the loss.

For example today in Lagos, I bought a 1L bottle of juice for N245. I gave N500 to the cashier lady, but I was only given N250 back as change. When I asked about the N5, she just handed me a small candy (as if she was giving it to a begger) and said they didn't have N5 change. I was upset because firstly , as customer, why should I take the loss for their fault for not having small changes; and N5 can get me a 500ml sachet of drinking water on the streets. So I protested against the injustice and asked to return the juice and have my N500 back. I spoken loudly because I wanted to make a scene and to make people there see that this is NOT right. Maybe to other customers, N5, N10 or even N20 is no big deal and they are rich enough to "forget" it. Well, to me N5's monetary value is also very trivial. But I just really dislike this kind of practice! So in the end, I got my N5 back, and I will not go back to this supermarket again. I have encountered this same unpleasant practice in Ivory Coast as well. So are Africans really poor or rich?!

after north and west, now it's east Africa

Now it's been confirmed, I'll fly from Nigeria to Tanzania next Thursday Wednesday and travel around in East Africa for a few weeks. Then my parents and a bunch of their friends will fly into Tanzania, and I'll join them for a safari holiday, then we will all fly back together to Beijing via Dubai, and that will mark the end of my trip this time in Africa.

driving in Africa

Is so bad and dangerous that in Nigeria when you travel long distance (intercity), they often ask you to provide your next of kin's telephone number...

Lake Chad, and Fulani nomads

Back in Kano now. I'd spent 2 nights at/around Lake Chad. The first night I slept at a Christian pastor's house. The second day and night I spent visiting Lake Chad and then was invited to stay/roam in the bush with a family of Fulani nomads. These nomads had come from their hometown in Diffa, southeastern Niger to this bushland, which was once part of Lake Chad, 3 months ago in search of pasture for their herds of goats and cows. Of course to them, there's no border or passport.

in Kano, Nigeria. Maybe I'll head to Lake Chad next

 (indigo dye pit in Kano)

Arrived here by bush taxi from Zinder, Niger. I will be in Kano for 2 nights. I'm thinking about going to see Lake Chad next.

(breakfast: bab with sugar)

So dry and so hot

After Niamey, now I'm in Zinder. OMG, Niger's so dry and hot! Can't really get out and do anything after 11am. My washed clothes and flip flops dry in an hour, inside the room! And my average daily fluid intake is about 5L.

in Niger, no Chad

After about 19 hours on the bus, I arrived to Niamey, Niger this morning at nearly 1:00am. I didn't check into a hotel, instead I slept roughly in the open air inside the bus terminal's compound on a bench first, then on a foam mattress on the ground. It didn't feel so bad once I had the mattress, as long as I coated my exposed skin with plenty of mosquito repellent. Tonight I'll go back to the same long distance bus terminal and sleep in the open again. Why? Because it's free, and I'll take a bus from there to Zinder tomorrow.

I went to the Chadian embassy in the morning hoping to get a visa (Lonely Planet says visas are available for CFA15,000 and issued on the same day). Well, they are only half right. A visa still costs CFA15,000, true. But now the process will take several months because all the applications are now sent to Chad for approval. So my plan to travel through northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon to reach Chad is now dead.

In Benin, will head to Niger on Monday

I just arrived in Cotonou, Benin this morning. My rucksack got a bit soaked in the rain while it was actually stowed in the cargo/baggage compartment in the belly of the coach. The border crossings through Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin were swift and hassle free, though we were very lucky that the Togoless borders only just reopened today (they were shut for a few days due to Thursday's presidential election). Another coach from the same company had been stuck at the Ivorian/Togoless border since Tuesday.