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Pole to Pole
Day 102: Dodoma to Kigoma
The train is not in good shape. Most of the windows are broken, and that's only in First Class. There are, considerately, two types of lavatory, announced on their doors as 'High Type' (European) and 'Low Type' (non-European). Once we are underway, I approach the High Type, prepared for the worst, only to find that it is not there at all. The High Type has vanished, leaving behind only a hole in the floor.It's seven in the evening. To the restaurant car for dinner. Hot and crowded, but there's something familiar about it. A metal manufacturer's disc by the door reads 'BREL, Derby 1980'. Of course; these battered coaches rolling across the East African bush are of exactly the same design as British Inter-City stock. They may look as if they've had it but they're thirty years younger than those which many London commuters travel in.
Chicken or fish with rice and potatoes. Run DMC rap music sounds loudly from the next table, making it difficult to hear my dining companion who says he is a footballer with CDA Tabora. CDA stands for Capital Development Authority. Not an easy one to chant on the terraces.
Choose another day from Pole to Pole
PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Pole to Pole
- Day: 102
- Country/sea: Tanzania
- Place: Dodoma
- Book page no: 229
Bookmarks will keep your place in one or more series. But you'll need to register and/or log in.
RELATED LINKS
- Health and Hygiene
- Day 12
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Day 27
- Full Circle
- Day 5: Taxila
- Himalaya
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