入关过程中最大的体验,自己要准备好被人当成“移动的ATM”了。第一个迹象就发生在被拉进隔间做检查的时候。护士姐姐采样完成之后就非常热情的问我,”你从哪儿来呀…从米国来有没有给我带什么礼物啊?“ 我(默默的):hmmm难道我们之前认识?看到我一脸不开窍的表情于是干脆捻起两个手指表达了怎么还不给钱的意思(当然表达形式还是非常客气的)。我想想好吧反正口袋里刚好有点零钱于是就给了一张5刀的现金。事实证明这应该是一个错误,因为当其他所有工作人员都看到小姐姐眉开眼笑的从隔间出来后,我后面排队的过程中就不停的有人来跟我要钱。我一边心想你们要不要再明晃晃一点一边只好说,身上没现金了(即便这么说,还会有人面色诡异的问,真的没有了吗?。。。)而其实我是真的没有了,因为后面司机和酒店的小哥哥小费都是应该要给的。这里提醒大家,记得带好现金,尤其是小额的现金。坦桑尼亚人民非常热情,而这种热情在旅游行业尤为突出,for a good reason:客官,别忘了给点小费哦。
另一个关于小费的提醒。与在美国时的习惯不同,在住宿的bed and breakfast以及Safari的campsites,小费不是直接递给你的服务生,前台,清洁工等等。正确的打开方式是在前台会有一个 tipping box,在checkout的时候把小费一起放进这个tipping box。每天结业的时候所有的员工会一起打开这个盒子然后按照比例分配小费。如果只是把小费递给你的服务生,可能会在checkout的时候被前台误以为没有留下小费哦。
酒店手续办完之后我趁着天还没黑马上拎着相机出来“扫街”,并借此深刻的体会到了当地人民对游客的“热情”。就算是五六岁背着书包刚刚放学的小朋友,最少也会一句英文“give me money”… 而路边的小商小贩就更不用说了。在之后几天的游记里我会详解描述一下我看到的当地人,生活,经济,和游客以及当地旅游业之间的关系,这里就先不多说了。不过虽然“give me money”乍听起来有点可怕但是这里更多的是语言限制,当地的治安和游客的人身安全还是很有保障的;口袋里的钱包可能会被偷走,钱包里的钱可能会被讨走(尤其是如果你脸皮不够厚,耳根不够硬的话),但是所有的随身财物至少不用担心会被抢走。忽然觉得自己要求好低哈哈。
Day 270, my Covid-era life on the road has finally come to a rather sudden end.
During the 3000-mile rush towards something I can tangibly call home, as I was passing by the places where I packed so much memories, the volume of thoughts flashed through my mind left the car on auto pilot. (No my car doesn’t really have that feature.)
In Nomadland it says “ I don’t ever say a final goodbye. Let’s just say, ‘I’ll see you down the road.’ And I do. I see them again.” Somehow to me what that means is I don’t have to fear losing something if I’ve never had it to begin with. And now I’m rushing towards where it all started, where I had nothing to begin with, where it will come to an end.
There is a yearning desire in human nature for meanings, for the consensus has long been reached that only a fool would pursuit without it. Sadly it took me so long to realize so often meanings are not for me to discover but rather to make up. I don’t set out on a journey because I want to get somewhere or find something. I leave simply because I’m without a reason to stay. After that, along the way, somewhere I will run into stunning views, will meet intriguing people, will hear jaw-dropping stories, when that happens I get to tell myself “this is why we get here” so I don’t feel like a running fool.
As if I could forget without a home travel is not travel. Without a home to go back to, I’m just living a vagabond’s life.
In search For some place more home than the road feels.
In search for someone more myself than I am.
Have you ever met a place that speaks to you? Echoing of the footsteps, breezing of the wind, burbling of the rivers, blinking of the stars, or perhaps also the silence of the mountains, they are also speaking to us non-stop, as long as we care to pause and listen.
But few do.
I’ve been accustomed to this daily routine where my happiness comes from beating the traffic and anxiety comes from misused colors of a reporting chart.