If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
"Robert Kay" wrote in message I shall never forget the (young) barman in a motel in Musina many years ago, who, after taking my order for a pink G&T came back after 5 minutes searching, with the announcement that he couldn't find a pink gin! Only white, meneer. Luckily the motel manager was with me, and he 'gently' explained what a pink gin was. The main reason I believe that story is because it's happened to me before. In Bronkhorstspruit. -- Moira de Swardt posting from Johannesburg, South Africa Remove the dot in my address to find me at home. |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
On Mon, 29 May 2006 20:35:50 +0200, "Peter H.M. Brooks"
wrote: Talking of which, why is is so difficult to find sugar free tonic in SA? Woolworths has recently launched a WW branded sugar-free tonic water. It's available at all stores in Johannesburg. I imagine it must be available in Cape Town too. BTW, the levels of quinine in tonic water will have no effect on preventing, curing, or treating malaria... but it's a good excuse to drink the stuff :-) |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
Marc Lurie wrote: On Mon, 29 May 2006 20:35:50 +0200, "Peter H.M. Brooks" wrote: Talking of which, why is is so difficult to find sugar free tonic in SA? Woolworths has recently launched a WW branded sugar-free tonic water. It's available at all stores in Johannesburg. I imagine it must be available in Cape Town too. I'll look out for it - I've found some sugar-free tonic, but, so far, it has only been in those tiny little tins that ought to have been thrown back as not yet ready for catching. I'd like to buy it in two litre bottles. BTW, the levels of quinine in tonic water will have no effect on preventing, curing, or treating malaria... but it's a good excuse to drink the stuff :-) Surely that depends on how much of it your drink - or, I suppose, whether you've had enough drink to turn you into a homeopathy believer. Not, of course, that believing in the nonsense will save you. I mentioned here that, a few years back, I found a chemise (in Constantia, actually) offering tablets that claimed to be homeopathic malaria prophylaxis - I reported them to the pharmaceutical society for what was, as I said, effectively a conspiracy to murder and I think that the practice stopped after that. |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
On Mon, 29 May 2006 21:52:20 +0200, "Robert Kay"
wrote: Yeah - that wasn't nice of us, was it? But you'd think that after all these years some rebuilding would have been done? And they asked for it. Anyway, let bygones be bygones. Moz should ask the Chinese to help them. After all, they built the Tanzam railways in the 60's. Robert, I don't really want to get into an extended debate about this, but sufice it to say that, regardless of who is right or wrong, "All's fair in love and war". What the Rhodesians did was perfectly understandable in the context of an army at war with another. Tactically you can't fault the crippling of an enemy's railway system. As for rebuilding, the Mozambiquans had enough to worry about for years afterwards, to worry about rebuilding a railway system. By the time they were in a position where they might have been able to repair bridges, the railway lines were in chaos, and so the vicious cycle starts. I've travelled alongside the now defunct railway lines through large parts of Mozambique, and from what I can see, it would be virtually impossible to repair any of it. I'm constantly amazed at how far explosives can throw a railway carriage. Starting from scratch would be the only option, and that would cost far too much for a country like Mozambique. From my point of view, getting the Chinese involved would be like signing away a birthright. The Mozambiquans would end up giving away most of the country just to have a railway line, and that would be disastrous in the long term. Marc |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
Marc Lurie wrote: On Mon, 29 May 2006 21:52:20 +0200, "Robert Kay" wrote: From my point of view, getting the Chinese involved would be like signing away a birthright. The Mozambiquans would end up giving away most of the country just to have a railway line, and that would be disastrous in the long term. I'm not sure about that. I think that there are some false metaphors here. The Chinese won't pack the place up and take it back to China with them. The Chinese don't enjoy foreign parts all that much either - which is why we don't speak Chinese now. Having Chinese investment, companies and so forth in the country is likely only to improve the lot of local people. They said that Tanzania and Zambia had sold themselves for a railway line. But there is the railway and there are hardly any Chinese people to be seen anywhere. It seems to have been an extremely good deal to me - though they certainly didn't need that vast and ugly railway station in Dar. The important thing, really, is to avoid importing Chinese customs, like slicing up shop-lifters and using the bits for spare-part surgery. |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
On 29 May 2006 23:46:59 -0700, "Peter H.M. Brooks"
wrote: I'm not sure about that. I think that there are some false metaphors here. The Chinese won't pack the place up and take it back to China with them. The Chinese don't enjoy foreign parts all that much either - which is why we don't speak Chinese now. My experience with Chinese companies in Lesotho, South Africa and Nigeria has prompted me to be weary of Chinese involvement in Africa. My impression is that Chinese expatriates doing business in Africa tend to be very exploitative and highly unethical, and they have no loyalty towards the country that they are milking. They dodge taxation, they under/over invoice as it suits them, they are involved in nefarious activities, they often endanger the lives of their employees, and they take all profits out of the coutry, leaving it in a worse position than if the business didn't operate in the first place. Having Chinese investment, companies and so forth in the country is likely only to improve the lot of local people. Investment for reasonable ROI with reasonable reciprocal agreements certainly would benefit the country. Investment with the view to getting as much as possible out of the country in as short a time as possible, can only be a bad thing. The important thing, really, is to avoid importing Chinese customs, like slicing up shop-lifters and using the bits for spare-part surgery. :-) |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
Zanzibar for Christmas
On Tue, 30 May 2006 07:14:52 +0200, "Moira de Swardt"
wrote: "Robert Kay" wrote in message I shall never forget the (young) barman in a motel in Musina many years ago, who, after taking my order for a pink G&T came back after 5 minutes searching, with the announcement that he couldn't find a pink gin! Only white, meneer. Luckily the motel manager was with me, and he 'gently' explained what a pink gin was. The main reason I believe that story is because it's happened to me before. In Bronkhorstspruit. I once stopped for lunch at a cafe in Marintal, where the menu had "Rice (or something else)" -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
traveling to Zanzibar, some hints ? | somedude109 | Africa | 3 | September 17th, 2005 11:54 PM |
Zanzibar - Terror, tourism and odd beliefs (from The Economist) | Hans-Georg Michna | Africa | 1 | February 20th, 2004 10:49 PM |
Zanzibar - Bluebay Beach Resort | Scrutor | Africa | 0 | February 6th, 2004 08:36 AM |
ZANZIBAR | Steve Outram Travel Photography | Travel - anything else not covered | 0 | October 18th, 2003 08:33 AM |
The Secrets of ZANZIBAR Photo Tour | Steve Outram Travel Photography | Africa | 0 | October 18th, 2003 08:26 AM |