Jet Lag in Addis Ababa

We were really excited to see if we’d wake up to a room full of animals since we couldn’t finish our pizza. Luckily, there were no critters when we woke up. We think the hotel is a bit overpriced for what it offers—20 USD. So we packed our backpacks and headed to Ras Hotel, which costs 200 birr and is right in the city center. But "city center" in Ethiopia doesn’t mean a lot of shops, restaurants, and hotels; I doubt you can find that anywhere. One of the first things we did was visit various travel agencies to book a flight north or south. It turned out to be a bit trickier than we expected. There are two flights a day, and they were all fully booked for the south. So we’ll start by heading north on Sunday. There are two prices for flights: one for Ethiopians and another for tourists, which is double the price. Our tickets cost 145 USD each. If we were residents, a flight would only be about 95 USD. A good tip is to travel with Ethiopian Airlines to the country. That way, you can also travel cheaper on domestic routes. The distances in the country are huge, and the roads are really terrible—even in the city, some roads are in pretty bad shape. It takes anywhere from 12 hours to 2 days to reach the places we want to see, so we’ll need quite a few domestic flights. We met two Ethiopians who spoke Danish. Quite funny! They live in Denmark and are back home on vacation. One of them lives in Horsens. Addis Ababa has a lot of spas, which is a bit strange considering how poor the city/country is, yet there are places where you can really indulge yourself. First, we went to a local spa where you could get massages, steam baths, saunas, and soak in hot springs. The place was super popular and packed with people who were willing to wait in line for 2 hours just to get a massage. Here, a massage costs about 60 birr. Not wanting to wait for 2 hours, we headed to the Hilton's spa. It’s a really nice hotel, but poverty is right outside the door. I didn’t think there were fancy, expensive hotels in Ethiopia, but I was wrong. They are pricey, but they do exist. A night’s stay costs around 250 USD. The Hilton's spa was really nice. A massage there only cost 120 birr. The temperature here in the capital is just right. It’s about 14 degrees at night and around 24 degrees during the day. It doesn’t get much warmer since the city is at an altitude of 2300 meters. People are friendly and helpful. There are quite a few beggars on the streets and homeless people sleeping by the roadside or between two lanes. Still, it feels safe during the day. We can walk anywhere. In the evening, we need to be a bit more cautious, but we can still stroll along the larger, well-lit streets. We had dinner at a popular Ethiopian restaurant with singing and dancing. The food is served on a large platter covered with a thin piece of bread. The dishes are poured on top, and you eat with your fingers. Before diving into the meal, a waiter comes around with a piece of soap and a silver jug of water so we can wash our hands. You eat the food with a bread that looks like a rolled-up towel. It’s said that several tourists have mistakenly dried their hands on the bread instead of eating it! Food is cheap in the country. We paid about 200 birr for two dishes, a bottle of wine, a beer, and water. We were entertained by dancers who performed what looked like tribal dances. They shook like birds and could move really fast. It can be tricky to find bars and restaurants since they’re often tucked away a bit off the main roads. You can’t really wander around looking; you have to know where they are.