Cows are relaxing on the local beach.

Africa has plenty of insects that dream of biting tourists (and locals too). Some hotels come with mosquito nets on the beds.

At every hotel I've stayed at, around 7-8 PM, a specially trained person comes to the room and treats it with repellent.

And I also spray myself with all sorts of chemicals once a day so that bugs don't bother me when I'm outside.

I made it to Zanzibar by ferry. Everything would've been fine, but getting on that ferry was no walk in the park.

As soon as the taxi was pulling up to the terminal, about 7 self-proclaimed "helpers" swarmed the car and literally sprinted the last 50 meters or so to keep up with us.

The most pushy guys grabbed my suitcases straight from the driver's hands and started dragging them toward the ferry, but I managed to fight back and haul my stuff myself.

Then there was another "absolutely essential" service—someone insisting on escorting me to the ticket counter where I needed to pick up my pre-booked online ticket. I couldn't really shake off this "help."

Of course, any "help" they provide comes with an expectation of payment. So if you don't feel like paying, it's best to nip it in the bud right away if you can. But sometimes you have to say no more than once.

This is what lunch looks like around here (~ 240 rubles). The meat portions are ridiculously small. And it's like this everywhere I've been (maybe I just don't know how to choose properly). But there's way too much rice or potatoes.

Spent an hour and a half buying a local SIM card. Not an Indian-style ordeal (though even in India these days you can avoid such hassle), but it took forever.

There was a SIM card shop right across from where I was staying. It seemed logical to buy there. The seller honestly tried to follow all the rules and submit my data to the regulatory authority (that's the law). Except the internet on the regulator's end wasn't cooperating.

After the fifth attempt to submit the application (each taking about 15 minutes), I gave up and went looking for another shop. Just around the corner, in 10 minutes they sold me a SIM registered to a local person (technically not allowed, but apparently if you really want it, you can make it happen). Why didn't I just go there in the first place?

PS. The connection is mediocre: sometimes the signal just disappears. A couple years ago the local regulator even fined all the major operators for terrible service quality. They say it's gotten better :)

Tanzania's National Museum.

I somehow managed to get inside. You can't buy a ticket with cash—only card or local mobile transfers. Of course, card payment doesn't work (no connection to the bank) :) I had to buy a ticket using a mobile transfer with help from locals.

The museum is amusing: a few exhibits on historical topics, a hall with paintings and photos of local presidents, and that's it. Except the main halls are all mixed in with some kind of technical rooms. You walk around and can't tell if you're done or if there's more.

Dar es Salaam is a very colorful city. There's not much to do here (I covered all the interesting spots in half a day), but the atmosphere is really cool. It reminded me of the Indian countryside, except the Indians are replaced by Black people and there's less litter.

One of the coolest spots in the city is the fish market. Fresh-caught seafood and all kinds of fish are brought in throughout the day. The fishing boat captain sells the catch at auction, it goes to regular vendors, and then finally to the end consumer.

Sometimes the fish you buy doesn't go home with you—instead, you cross the street where specially trained folks will cook it for you, and you can eat it right away.

Taking photos at the market is tricky though. The local security guards see a camera and immediately swoop in: "Hey, what are you photographing? No way, stop right now!" And then they offer to sell you permission for a "photo session." They'll even print you a receipt :)

I tried to get away without permission, but ended up having to spend some cash. The "permission" comes with a guide included—one of those same security guards. He wasn't much help, except for one time when he shooed away a beggar. To be fair, that was literally the only beggar I saw all day.

The atmosphere is incredible. The real action happens early in the morning, but it's interesting even during the day.

A separate story about my taxi experience.

At the airport exit, they offer to get you to the city center for $35. Supposedly official taxi. Seems like they have a special rate for white people.

Taking Uber costs just $5. That's a 7 times difference! Though, Uber isn't allowed to stop right at the terminal exit. There's a special parking lot a hundred meters away (:

But the drive was really weird: high beams were on (!), the parking brake wasn't released (!!), and the empty tank warning light was flashing like crazy (!!!). I was honestly already preparing to push the car to the nearest gas station, but it worked out.

Made it to Dar es Salaam! 🎉 You can get your visa on arrival (they let in visitors from almost everywhere). But first you've gotta fill out a form. Nothing complicated about it, except you need to use a pen to fill it out.

The local border guards apparently decided that by 2020, nobody travels without their own pen anymore, so they just put the blank forms on the tables with nothing else.

Meanwhile, airport staff refuse to share pens with arriving passengers. So people are basically borrowing pens from each other left and right. Big shoutout to some Spanish travelers who came to my rescue. Otherwise I'd have been hanging around the airport until my return flight! :)

At least now I'll know what the store is actually called in Russian :)

PS. The new Istanbul airport is basically this massive shopping center that somehow also has planes flying out of it. The scale is absolutely mind-blowing.

Внезапно подумалось, что куда ни приедешь, на радио в основном крутят местные и англоязычные произведения. А другие языки (за редким исключением) обходят стороной, хотя там тоже немало интересного.

Исправляю эту несправедливость небольшой подборкой по следам пары предыдущих поездок того, что меня зацепило на радио или просто в интернетах. Послушайте её прямо сейчас на Я.Музыке или по ссылкам ниже:

🇫🇷🇪🇸ZAZ – Qué vendrá

🇪🇸Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 - Mas que nada
🇪🇸Alvaro Soler - Sofia
🇪🇸Play-N-Skillz, Daddy Yankee - Not a Crime (No Es Ilegal)
🇪🇸Soda stereo - De musica Ligera

🇪🇸👼Pepo Lamberti - Mi Burrito Sabanero

🇫🇷Les Rois du Monde - Romeo et Juliette
🇫🇷Noir Désir - Le Vent Nous Portera
🇫🇷ZAZ - Je veux
🇫🇷Vanessa Paradis & -M- "La seine"
🇫🇷Calogero - Face à la mer

I'm back. What really stands out is the incredibly high concentration of drivers who think turn signals aren't necessary. I guess everyone's just supposed to magically know what maneuver is coming (spoiler: they don't).

Even the way people use signals is different though. Here, people love turning on their blinker at the same time they're already changing lanes or like a second before. There, they usually signal well in advance. Sure, you get weird drivers on the roads there too, but noticeably less often.

But they definitely don't have the whole "thanks" hazard light thing down. They use it to warn about traffic jams where you need to seriously brake or even come to a complete stop.

If you're in Amsterdam, check out Rob Wigboldus Fishmonger. They've got amazing herring there.

As for me, I'll wander around the city a bit more in this lovely drizzle and strong wind, then head home :)

Driving through downtown Madrid at night was really not my thing, even with zero traffic. Nights are when the city does maintenance: garbage trucks collect trash from bins near buildings, they wash sidewalks in the city center (!), and do all sorts of other useful (and not so useful) stuff.

The catch is that they block off some roads and alleys while you're trying to navigate, and your GPS stubbornly insists you need to go down the temporarily closed lane. And when you skip a turn because there's a fence blocking it, that smart car lovingly reroutes you a couple kilometers out of the way, only to send you right back to the blocked alley you missed.

So to cover 650 meters, I ended up driving for like 20 minutes with a million detours.

Outside the city though, the roads are really nice. And driving is comfortable.

Madrid's Prado Museum starts letting visitors in for free 2 hours before closing. Every single day.

Half an hour before the free window starts, there's already quite a line. Still, 15 euros per person though :)

upd. While looking for food, I chatted with a Lebanese restaurant owner. He says this rush is connected to the holidays. Many locals go around to restaurants to celebrate. That's why you need to book well in advance for these days. On other days, there are no such problems.