Travel vs Vacation

Most people think travel and vacation are two of the same activities. People may use their "vacation" time to travel. But you are not vacationing when you are traveling. So I always argue (usually the only one) they are very different. Here are the dictionary definitions:

Vacation: Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
Travel: The act of going from one place to another

Vacation to me means I am staying in one spot like a beach and doing as little as possible. Travel on the other hand is very exciting with constant motion which can be tiring and even stressful. My mind and body are constant simulated by history, stories, culture, ruins, hikes, churches, temples and conversations. One of my favourite things is taking a mini vacation in the middle of my travels. I highly recommend doing that when planning your travels. In South East Asia, I made sure to fit in some R&R under the Phuket sun; in East Africa, it was a few days on the beaches of Zanzibar.

To me, travel is a lot more than just about going from one place to another. Travel is about learning and gaining perspectives. Growing up, my parents told me this old Chinese fable about a frog in the well (井底之蛙).

There was once a frog who lived in a well. It was happy and grateful with the spacious well he called home. One day an old turtle who lived by the sea passed by the well and chatted up with the frog who lived in the well. The turtle told the stories of the ocean's vastness and wonders. But the frog couldn't believe such a place could exist. How could there possibly anything be better than the well?

The rain had came down hard this year and raised the water level of the well. The frog took the opportunity to finally leap out of the well. Moved by curiosity, the first thing the frog did was to visit the sea. It was awestruck by endless openness of it all. When it returned to the well, it was still a happy frog & grateful for its home, but a bit uneasy now it knew how much larger reality was than its tiny precious well.

Beach, Sun and Much Needed R&R

After a short, but delayed (again) morning flight from Addis, we only had one night back in Nairobi to re-pack and be ready to be "shipped" out to Zanzibar, Tanzania. I must say when we landed in Nairobi again, it felt very different than the first time we landed here. Compared to Ethiopia, this capital now seemed so modern and metropolitan.

Shortly after achieving independence from Britain in the early 1960s, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the nation of Tanzania in 1964. Zanibar is an archipelago made up of Zanzibar, Pemba Islands, and several islets and 6° south of the equator. We landed in Zanzibar mid afternoon and took an one hour taxi ride to the resort. As we drove through the street, I was trying to take in the sights and sounds as much as can. The lines of palm trees reminded me of any beach town. Children sat in front of their mud brick houses and waved at cars going by.

The next day we hung out on the white sandy beach, swam in the crisp blue Indian ocean and worked on evening out our spotty farmer's tan. As much as I love trekking through mountain and learning new culture, but sometimes doing nothing is oh-so blissful. We also arranged a snorkling day trip to Mnewba Island area reef. Unfortunately, it was very windy and water was a bit rough, we had to cut our trip short. On the way back, we spotted several dolphins leaping around. I have never seem dolphins in the wild and this more than made up for having to deal with the rough sea.

Zanzibar's other must see is the magic of historic Stone Town. It is said to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa. Needless to say, I didn't mind cutting my lazy days a little short to check out this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first place we wanted to check out was the Anglican Cathedral. The church's altar stood on the location of the whipping post from the former slave market. Next to the Cathedral was a hostel and orphanage and the cellars below had been slave chambers. The dark and creepy space that one can barely stand up in use to hold up to 75 people at one time. It was unimaginable to fathom once upon a time, human beings were kept and sold like animals.

Stone Town made up of winding alleys, bustling bazaars, mosques and fancy brass-studded wooden doors. We spend the rest of the day just wandering (or getting lost) through the fascinating labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways.

As a big fan of street food, I had to check out the Forodhani Gardens night market. It was hard to decide between skewers of tuna, calamari or even baby shark (really?) or fried plantain, samosa and wash everything down with a glass of sugar cane juice. I finally decided on a Zanzibar pizza, a greasy pancake stuffed with carrots, pepper, onion, minced meat, topped with spices and other unknown ingredients. It was really good and filling.