"Table for one sir?", so came the greeting from the waitress as I walked in to the restaurant of my hotel for dinner. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, given that I was walking in on my own carrying a book, but still...it was a bit depressing to hear. It certainly made me feel a million miles away from life in Sudan.
Having left Doro -possibly one of the most underdeveloped and deprived areas in the world (you cant even get coca-cola there now) - on Tuesday, I arrived in Dubai, UAE - the 7th richest country in the world (according to the IMF). The contrast could hardly be more stark. Last night I checked in to the opulent Marriott Courtyard Hotel, my room comes complete with king size bed, wide and varied room service menu and a minibar. This is on top of at least five restaurants to choose from and staff who appear to be at my beck and call whenever I wish. A week ago I was eating lunch under a tree trying to avoid bat excrement from landing on me...
Perhaps the most galling thing about it is how easy it is to go from one scenario to the other without batting an eyelid. You'd expect that it'd take a while to adapt, but it doesn't. One minute your standing in a (literally) stinking hospital ward with dying children around you, the next your being presented with five different types of bread to accompany your (admittedly delicious) meal. Perhaps that is just the way it has to be...if you thought about it too much you'd probably go slightly insane.
Anyway, in time honoured fashion, now that I have departed from Africa I shall again depart from the world of blogging. Lest I get lured into writing about hard life is as a consultant engineer living in the west end of Glasgow. I dont think any of us want that to happen.
And so, again, I shall bid you farewell, at least until Africa lures me back again. Now I wonder if there's anything left in that minibar...
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Those bats were big! It was good to hear your thought
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