Day 29: Zurich

Miles logged: 18,908
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It's back to daily blogging!

My flights between Lilongwe, Johannesburg, London, and Zurich all went relatively smoothly, although I had to endure a 6-hour layover in Heathrow. My flight to Zurich was delayed by 40 minutes, and by the time I landed and passed through a surprisingly chaotic Swiss customs, it was nearly 5pm. Having spent the last 30 hours traveling, I really did not want to spend the night in a hostel, even though Zurich is very, very expensive. The places I had been staying in Malawi had also been much better than acceptable, which made me further dread the thought of a bunk bed and shared room.

As a graduation gift, my father had contributed to this trip with the instructions that I stay at some place wonderful for at least one night. I decided tonight was the night to cash in on the gift. I found an information kiosk at the airport, and within 15 minutes I had booked myself at a 4-star hotel, which even sent a shuttle to the airport to get me. I was a little disappointed when I first arrived and saw the exterior of the hotel. But once inside, and after the receptionist offered me a glass of white wine and I saw my room (complete with Swiss chocolates on the pillow), I was nothing but smiles. In the morning it was hard to part with the fluffy white towels that you can wrap around yourself twice...neither Malawi hotels or hostels seem to understand the greatness of a good towel.

Me and my bed and glass of white wine...thanks, Dad!



So I spent a good part of my evening watching British CNN on my personal flatscreen TV, but I ventured out briefly in the evening to get my first glimpse of Zurich. I was staying a bit of a walk from the old city, and was closer to more of the business areas. The city was very modern-looking and clean, although already dead silent by 7.30pm. One of my first observations was that most pedestrians not only walked entirely within the crosswalk lines, they also waited for the light to turn green even though there were no signs of a moving car anywhere in sight. Clearly, my time in Malawi had slightly altered the characteristics I find interesting in cities.

By 9pm, I was exhausted from traveling and back in the hotel room to get some rest. But I had spent some time thinking about my last blog, and Malawi in general, and there were other anecdotal tidbits I thought I would share:

1. A source of comic relief in Malawi was the t-shirts Malawian men were wearing. The shirts were clearly designed for the US market, but had been sent to Malawi either as leftovers or as donations. One of our boat tour arrangers was wearing a "Hooters Golf Day" shirt, and I'm fairly certain there are no Hooters on the African continent. I spotted Applebees shirts, a young man wearing a Fred Flintstone "bowling addict" shirt, and a very thin man wearing a shirt stating that "beer doesn't make you fat, it makes you lean...against bars, poles, and cars." A small source of humor, but still could be very entertaining.

2. At one point, Drew asked me about the things I found surprising about Malawi. My biggest surprise was the availability of certain Western items in Lilongwe, even though the basic supply of fuel for cars was a problem. The first night I was in Lilongwe, we went to its rather modern grocery store, where I spotted an entire refrigerator shelf full of sugar-free Red Bull. Who is counting calories in this country, and looking for an alternative to a caffeine kick? And who also needs it refrigerated and ready to go? Here's an idea, save fuel by storing the product on the shelf. Save even more fuel by not shipping it at all. But this was Malawi, nothing seemed to be 100% logical or planned out.

3. The other thing I found surprising is that the country's devastation from the AIDS epidemic isn't something that a tourist would easily perceive on the surface. I don't know why, and maybe this is total naïveté, but I thought with a 14% HIV infection rate among adults that the presence of the epidemic would be an unavoidable observation or characteristic of the country. It's not like I expected there would be dead bodies or sick people laying in the streets, but I thought I would somehow be able to sense its presence everywhere given the terrible infection rate. Not the case at all, at least for a quick tourist. The volunteers who spend time getting to know their communities - they clearly see the devastating effects. But I never really felt I understood what it meant for the country nor saw any signs of the epidemic during my visit.

I think that's all for now. If I have more thoughts on Malawi, I may share tangentially because the visit is likely one of the most interesting parts of this trip. I'm headed out of Zurich and to the Swiss Alps tomorrow.

More pictures of Malawi are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105899454615652413823/CorkAndKilkenny?authuser=0&feat=directlink