February 24th, 2009

Well, I found the Sony Service Centre, but the bad news is, it was about an hour after I sent my camera back to Canada via DHL. At a cost of $165! What makes it a little more depressing is it’s really close to the Indian Embassy, and if I had gone back that way the first day… But I didn’t, so that’s that. To make my day a little more frustrating, my visa didn’t come through and the guy at the Embassy said I wouldn’t get it till Saturday. Though they said it would take 5 days, they actually meant 5 working days, and here’s the catch: here in Yemen the office workers’ weekend is Thursday and Friday, nd the Canadian weekend is Saturday and Sunday, which means communication between Ottawa and Sanaa is only really open for three days a week, i.e., three working days a week. I have to go and pay for my visa tomorrow morning. That means I will have to change my flight again.

I bought a second painting today, and have to figure out a way to mail them both back tomorrow. I went to place I thought was McDonald’s, but the fact that I could order a Pepsi and there were no burgers, kinda clued me in it wasn’t. It was actually called Al Harama’s. There is a KFC and a Pizza Hut here, but so far I’ve resisted the temptation to go get a pizza. Though tomorrow I might get one. They advertise on TV (so does McDonald’s), and every once in a while the commercial gets me in the mood for pizzza.

I recorded the weird chanting on my digital camera, and if I can figure out the HTML coding, you can see it here:

25 February, 2009

So I hope that works for you. I have my visa for India, but even though I asked for a double entry so I could travel to Nepal, it’s only a single entry. I will be spending a few days in Mumbai getting oriented, then heading down to Cochin. Or something like that. I mailed off my two pictures today. Cost $130! I just realized I forgot to send the Coke bottles for Al Kevino’s Diner in Wolesley. I guess I’ll take them to India, and send them with whatever I might get while I’m in India.

I met an English guy called Adam at the Embassy and he got his visa in only 4 days! After we went to KFC to eat and walked back to our hotels which are quite close. Had a tea with him at my usual place and came back to the hotel. I may try one more time to visit the National Musem. It would be a great end to my visit here in Yemen.