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 029
Monday, January 8 7:23 a.m.
I’m already showered, dressed, and drinking a cup of coffee made on my camp stove in the bathroom. No electricity yet this morning so I’m writing by candlelight. To begin the day so early is not unusual for me here. In fact I was awake much earlier and forced myself to stay in bed. What I do is pull my sleeping …
Guinea 028
Sunday, January 7 8:45 a.m.
I’ve been in Kindia nearly a week now and it’s starting to feel like time to move on. But not today. Today I’ve been invited to a kind of memorial service for Ashaki’s uncle. He died forty days ago and the entire family and many friends have been arriving all weekend for the service or “sacrifice” as Phd has been calling …
Guinea 027
Friday, January 5 – 8:00 a.m.
I find myself not exactly at a loss for words but unsure of which ones to use first. Not because the experiences of the last couple of days have been profound but they were involved and send my mind branching in many different directions.
I spent yesterday in the company of Ashaki, a thirty-six year old professor at Conakry University. She …
Guinea 026
Wednesday, January 3 8:00 a.m.
Yesterday was another sick day. I don’t know what it was but it started when I arrived in Kindia with a low grade fever and the fever stayed with me all day and was joined by the usual assortment of stomach problems. I was tired beyond belief and couldn’t move which was fine because every time I moved I felt nauseous. …
Guinea 025
Tuesday, January 2 9:00 a.m.
The police checkpoints on the road continue to be a pleasant surprise. Each time I crest a rise and see the telltale cluster of vehicles and old rope pulled across the road my heart sinks and I brace myself for the worst. But so far I haven’t had any problems. At most of them I’ve been completely ignored. I slowly pedal …
Guinea 024
Monday, January 1 10:00 p.m. Kindia
Words may have failed me in describing my bed in Mambiya but when it comes to describing my first impressions of Kindia they run screaming from my pen like frightened children. It’s these car and truck skeletons that make a particular impression. I didn’t know cars could be so stripped and yet still retain a car like appearance. Things have …
Guinea 023
Sunday, December 31 – 2:30 p.m. Mambiya
I imagine somewhere in the world there is a place more grim and dismal than the tiny room that was produced for me in Mambiya but I’d hate to think what it would be like. A Turkish prison perhaps? I could have continued on and completed the final forty kilometres to Kindia – I had the time – but …
Guinea 022
Saturday, December 30 8:00 a.m.
I came across Ali around 6:30 last night sitting in the chair of honor in the semi dark outside his house. He said that he had fallen sick to his stomach and so hadn’t been able to have dinner with me. It was a particularly believable tale because I had just spent much of the day myself trapped near a toilet. …