Day 149/150 - Dar es Salaam to Moshi, Tanzania

Day 149: Well, Francis, my tour operator, never did show up with my refund for not coming through on the city tour.  I expected that to happen.  Anyway.  I left early for Moshi, 550 km away. I debated staying somewhere in between, but there was a lot I wanted to do from Moshi, such as safaris and village tours.  Plus, I was feeling good and the bike was running great, as usual.  The scenery was rather two-dimensional until about 50 km from Moshi where mountains started to appear.  I was half expecting to see Mount Kilimanjaro from a distance, but no such luck, too much cloud cover. Other than that, pretty bland day except for the riding.  Feels good to be back on the bike.

 Sunset in Tanzania

Day 150: I decided to check out the Keys Hotel, as the place I stayed at last night was less than stellar, but the price was right, 12 USD.  Lonely Planet recommended Keys Hotel as a legitimate tour company, so I rode the strenuous 5 km across town (just kidding) and booked myself 3 separate tours.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing, doing laundry (can’t remember the last time I actually washed some clothes ... I know) and walking around town.  You really have to watch these street scam artists.  A guy noticed all the stickers on my bike and said he could get a Tanzanian one for me.  I agreed and he disappeared and was back in 2 minutes. I asked how much.  10,000 schillings. What?  For a sticker.  I said no more than 2000 (1.30US).  He laughed, so I rode on to a curio shop I heard about where I found a nicer one for 1000 schillings. During that same time, 2 other guys accosted me wanting for me to visit their curio shops.  Unreal. Almost as bad as the street peddlers in Zimbabwe ... almost.

 Mount Kilimanjaro

Side note: Tanzania seems to have a power distribution problem.  I experienced this in Mbeya, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and now in Moshi.  Every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, the power goes out.  Some places have generators to get them through these black outs.  They can last from a half hour to several hours, day or night.