Articles by Doug Nienhuis
I am a Canadian, and I am currently traveling through Asia with a touring bicycle. These are stories and pictures from my trip.
Guinea 053
Wednesday, February 7 8:06 a.m.
My concerns about the family’s eating habits appear to have been misplaced a result perhaps of too many late night fund raising infomercials with Sally Struthers working up throaty sobs over starving children in far flung places. I say this (quite callously I note now that the sentence stares back at me from paper) because later in the day I saw …
Guinea 052
Tuesday, February 6 8:00 a.m.
My second chicken was even more minimalist than the first. This one didn’t even come with a tomato. Just a knock on the door and a big white platter with a whole chicken planted in the middle of it. My first chicken came after a physically hard day and so I enjoyed it very much. This second chicken though was unexpected …
Guinea 051
Monday February 5 8:30 a.m. Telimele
Everything I do in Guinea seems to be or at least feels like an escape of one kind or another and my departure from Douki felt like much the same. The irony was that there was no need for it. As I said before, I wasn’t angry about anything. I was a trifle annoyed with the Mastermind but I couldn’t …
Guinea 050
Saturday, February 3 9:00 a.m. Douki
I got kicked out of my Fula Hut by a Frenchman who showed up out of nowhere and said he was with “two women from the embassy” who needed a place to stay. This happened at the worst possible time it was already dark, I’d spent an hour cleaning up and settling in after climbing out of the valley via …
Guinea 049
Friday February 2 6:47 a.m.
I tried to continue my journal last night but I was far too tired. I’m still tired this morning but I’m hoping a cup of coffee or two will perk me up.
I’m sitting on a tiny stool outside a small Fula hut where I slept last night. It’s odd being down here on the valley floor with the cliffs rising above …
Guinea 048
Thursday February 1 9:11 p.m.
What was supposed to be a pleasant four hour stroll down to the valley floor turned into a nine hour forced march. And there was nothing I could do about it. I was lost, drowning in the seas of cross cultural miscommunication. By the time I realized what was happening it was too late and there was nothing I could do …
Guinea 047
Wednesday, January 31 8:30 a.m.
It’s market day at Dongol Touma and Hassan and most of the population of Douki is on their way there. I thought about going along but decided to stay here. I’ll be cycling to Dongol Touma when I leave Douki anyway. I may even spend a night or two there. I know that if I took one of my precious days …
Guinea 046
Tuesday, January 30 8:26 a.m.
I wouldn’t say I was deliriously happy this morning. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a deep contentment. I slept better than I have for weeks. I put on a fresh and clean pair of socks, underwear, pants and shirt always a cause for celebration. I washed and shaved under the fig tree outside my Fula hut. The …