Day 157
Sleeping location: Addis Bright, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Distance (km today/total): 16 / 11449
Estimated climb (m today/total): 100 / 84600
Diagnosis: “infection”
Distance (km today/total): 16 / 11449
Estimated climb (m today/total): 100 / 84600
Diagnosis: “infection”
Day in three words: Heal me doctor
The insubstantial curtains favoured in Ethiopian hotel rooms meant that I again woke up early, but this was good as it meant I could get to Addis with the majority of the day left. The ride was pretty easy, with one long climb at the start followed by mostly pleasant gradual downhill (annoyingly containing some absolutely lethal speed bumps). On the climb I stopped to watch three hapless men trying to catch a rogue chicken, which was as funny as it sounds. Addis didn’t start to feel like a city until pretty late on and the traffic was surprisingly light the whole way. It was probably the nicest ride into a major city that I’ve done, and it made me wish I’d just done it the night before. For most of the way I was following signs towards “Semen Terminal”, a fact which I present here with no further comment. Rebecca had already paid for two nights in a dorm at a hostel which currently had no running water, so I decided against joining her and went to a nearby guesthouse instead.
We had both earmarked Addis as a place to tick off a lot of admin, and first on the agenda for me was to visit a doctor. I had had stomach issues since Mekele 3wks earlier and had lost an alarming amount of weight in that time and never really felt 100%. Helpfully a hospital was a block away so I went to check it out. It was slightly confusing but surprisingly efficient and cheap with hardly any waiting; I paid £6 to register and see a doctor, then a further £11 for a battery of blood and [other substance] checks. At registration I was astounded to see that I weighed 78kg - the last time I weighed myself, in Italy and having already lost some weight since setting off, I was 90kg. On the upside, my blood pressure was perfect when it’s usually on the high side. A couple of hours later I went back to get the test results, there was more waiting this time, but I did have a nice chat with an old man called Alam who was sat next to me. He was a honey exporter and weirdly agreed with me when I told him there were no bees in Ethiopia.
When I got to see the doctor he told me, rather boringly*, that I merely had an “infection” and prescribed some antibiotics. These cost me £3, taking the grand total to £20 and about 3hrs of my time, which is pretty impressive. The pharmacist told me not to take the antibiotics with dairy or fizzy drinks, but I foolishly/cleverly failed to ask if this included beer, and so assumed it did not. In the evening we went out for a dairy and fizzy drink-free meal of pizza and beer, followed by ice cream. I was now on a mission to restore some weight so I ate the best part of two pizzas, which was great. After this we went to a bar (more beer) and watched Leeds (my team) absolutely hammer Arsenal (Rebecca’s team) but still lose 1-0. Addis is an absolute goldmine of Nice Things that we haven’t seen since probably Cairo, so a life of luxury seems like the obvious approach over the next few days.
*I was hoping for something cool and interesting like Cholera or Dysentry
The insubstantial curtains favoured in Ethiopian hotel rooms meant that I again woke up early, but this was good as it meant I could get to Addis with the majority of the day left. The ride was pretty easy, with one long climb at the start followed by mostly pleasant gradual downhill (annoyingly containing some absolutely lethal speed bumps). On the climb I stopped to watch three hapless men trying to catch a rogue chicken, which was as funny as it sounds. Addis didn’t start to feel like a city until pretty late on and the traffic was surprisingly light the whole way. It was probably the nicest ride into a major city that I’ve done, and it made me wish I’d just done it the night before. For most of the way I was following signs towards “Semen Terminal”, a fact which I present here with no further comment. Rebecca had already paid for two nights in a dorm at a hostel which currently had no running water, so I decided against joining her and went to a nearby guesthouse instead.
We had both earmarked Addis as a place to tick off a lot of admin, and first on the agenda for me was to visit a doctor. I had had stomach issues since Mekele 3wks earlier and had lost an alarming amount of weight in that time and never really felt 100%. Helpfully a hospital was a block away so I went to check it out. It was slightly confusing but surprisingly efficient and cheap with hardly any waiting; I paid £6 to register and see a doctor, then a further £11 for a battery of blood and [other substance] checks. At registration I was astounded to see that I weighed 78kg - the last time I weighed myself, in Italy and having already lost some weight since setting off, I was 90kg. On the upside, my blood pressure was perfect when it’s usually on the high side. A couple of hours later I went back to get the test results, there was more waiting this time, but I did have a nice chat with an old man called Alam who was sat next to me. He was a honey exporter and weirdly agreed with me when I told him there were no bees in Ethiopia.
When I got to see the doctor he told me, rather boringly*, that I merely had an “infection” and prescribed some antibiotics. These cost me £3, taking the grand total to £20 and about 3hrs of my time, which is pretty impressive. The pharmacist told me not to take the antibiotics with dairy or fizzy drinks, but I foolishly/cleverly failed to ask if this included beer, and so assumed it did not. In the evening we went out for a dairy and fizzy drink-free meal of pizza and beer, followed by ice cream. I was now on a mission to restore some weight so I ate the best part of two pizzas, which was great. After this we went to a bar (more beer) and watched Leeds (my team) absolutely hammer Arsenal (Rebecca’s team) but still lose 1-0. Addis is an absolute goldmine of Nice Things that we haven’t seen since probably Cairo, so a life of luxury seems like the obvious approach over the next few days.
*I was hoping for something cool and interesting like Cholera or Dysentry
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