Dar es Salaam
TANZANIA
Dull in Dar
By AARON
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Pulling into the Dar bus station was no different from our past 4 days. The acrid smell of fried food, dirt, rotting fruit and motor oil all seem to hang in the air like a thick blanket over the entire lot. Thinking we were only about 2km from the city center, we opted to walk to our hotel instead of hail a cab. 15 minutes later, we realized that we were actually about 12kms outside the city center, so after quickly hailing a cab, we were off to our hotel for about half the price of what the touts inside the bus park were quoting.
Unless you want to go big time (and you can), the budget hotels in Dar are pretty simple. Our hotel, Safari Inn, offered a quasi-clean room with double bed, low level lighting, and most importantly, a fan overhead – all for the low price of around $14USD/night. The fan was the most important thing, because like a lot of African areas, Dar is hot. Really hot. So after a quick nap and a walk around town, Lyndi and I found a great little local joint that served Chicken Biryani and called it a night, since we couldn’t find any places that served beer. Again.
Next day was our full day in Dar. Not that we did that by choice, but thanks to the great roads in northern Tanzania, we got here in less time than expected. We walked to the ferry station first to buy our ferry tickets to Zanzibar and for once, the Lonely Planet had actually over priced its quote, saying a slow ferry was about $25USD, when in reality, listed prices were $20.
After a relatively easy ticket-buying excursion, we took some local transport up to the northern peninsula of the city to a place called Slipway, where you can forget you’re in a big capital and stay at a Doubletree Hotel and shop at one of the many expensive stores that dot the waterfront. Our main goal was to catch a movie, but after finding out that the theater here was closed, we grabbed a quick ice cream and hopped on a tuk-tuk to the mall on the outskirts of town. The mall was nice and even had a modern movie theater, but the movies were sub-par and overpriced, so instead we decided to spend our money on a nice meal.
Outside the mall, we found a nice seafood restaurant showing rugby and serving beer. Ice, cold, beer. Not that we have withdrawals or anything when we can’t find beer, but it is difficult sometimes to find a bar, or a restaurant that even serves it. So when you do find one, you somehow feel the need to take advantage of your unique situation, because you know that the next 5 restaurants may only be serving luke-warm juice. Our thoughts seemed to echo those of every other customer in this joint as well because next to every person’s plate at this place was a beer.
After a couple of cold ones and a nice seafood platter, Lyndi and I headed back to city center to catch up on some internet, and take a nap. That night, we were treated to a nice meal at Chef’s Pride (no beer – see?) and watched in triumph as the US National Team tied Argentina 1-1. Lionel Messi was pissed.
All in all I will say this: Dar is a port town, which automatically draws a negative in my book, but surprisingly, it is quite nice. Not that you would want to spend weeks upon weeks here, but there are places to “get away” in town, and even though the bars are spaced out quite thin, you can certainly find a good night out here if one is needed. Hell, they even have a casino.
