Stage 3 - 30th January 2014

Decided to have a relaxing day today. First went for a walk around the area, popping down side streets to see what was there - as usual lots of street food being cooked, served and eaten by local people but also lots of massage parlours, some very respectable looking, others suggesting something more seedy! It was hot and humid so we set off for the local park, which is only a few minutes walk from the hotel, where we intended to sit for a while and do some reading but, on the way, we met a big political demonstration (I had mentioned to Dianne as we walked the streets near the hotel that all seemed strangely quiet with very few cars on the roads; now we knew why).  I know the advice from the FCO is to avoid anything like this but it was rather compelling. Thousands of people carrying flags and blowing whistles were moving slowly down one side of the dual carriageway, essentially, stopping all traffic. They also had with them several 'speaker vans,' (big trucks with rows of speakers) from which loud speeches were being made, with cheers and whistling coming in response, I couldn't understand what was being said but there was some formats that are universal I thing, e.g. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out being one that comes to mind! The speaker vans were used as the focal point - I saw 4 of them, about 200 meters apart - and they occasionally stopped, for some time, to maximise the disruption to traffic. The whole affair seemed to be good natured with not much evidence of police or soldiers - there were soldiers present but they sat and watched the procession!

We took a few photos and then went to the park - we could see the procession passing and I estimate it took over 2 hours for it to pass where we sat.

Dinner at a street-side restaurant with some really nice wine!