Comments on: And They Stoned Me: The Joy Of Cycling Ethiopia

By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:18:09 +0000

Ooh, I feel better about that. Thanks

By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:17:06 +0000

I would like to go back and travel through it. We never made it to Lalibela, so we have an excuse to go back. I think it has something to do with being on a bicycle because on rest days we didn’t have a problem at all.

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By: Turner Wright

Turner Wright — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:35:04 +0000

The runner will always overtake the cyclist on the uphill. Sorry the runners had to be throwing stones in this case, though.

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By: brian from nodebtworldtravel.com

brian from nodebtworldtravel.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:25:30 +0000

I’m glad I didn’t bike when I went to Ethiopia. But the fact that you stood out and they feel that anyone that can afford to visit can afford to give them money is a sad state of affairs. Beautiful country and so much more than I expected.

Just glad I missed the stoning part…

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By: Ryukyu Mike

Ryukyu Mike — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:38:02 +0000

An awesome story and interesting follow-on comments.

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By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:26:58 +0000

Thanks for all the comments and sharing your experiences. Cheers!

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By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:26:20 +0000

Those situations can get scary. A nice innocent moment gone bad. Been there before, good thing a bus was coming.

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By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:24:46 +0000

Haha, I also remember kids cycling on their old bikes leaving us in the dust. They were fast and they loved racing with us. Big smiles on their faces as they left us behind and everyone on the side of the road laughed and laughed. Crazy.
Definitely give Africa a try, if you can survive cycling Asia, you can survive East Africa.

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By: Troy

Troy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:27:05 +0000

Take those figures with more than a health pinch of salt. They were said over several jugs of Tej (honey wine) and then ‘remembered’ the day after. That said, I do clearly remember the diplomat getting the 3rd degree from a few other travelers that were there…didn’t like his frankness I suppose.

The point being that it has become a handout nation, whether of its own doing or not.

I have had similar rock throwing incidents happen to me in villages just across the water in Yemen, but that was generally in ‘tourist’ villages that were angered if you just walked through their village, took your photos and didn’t leave anything behind.

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By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:02:12 +0000

Well said Troy. I didn’t realize that their was such a population boom. A growth of 55 million people in a couple of decades is insane. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t have the same experiences in other struggling countries like Malawi and Sudan. Now reading your post…all of your points combined together explain a lot.

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