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 013
Thursday, December 21 9:21 a.m.
I did eventually find the mysterious SPG that sold newspapers. I walked down the main road quite a distance looking for the letters SPG and popping into all the stores that in the West could be expected to sell papers. Most places treated me with disinterested brusqueness. I was about to give up when I saw a large sign for the …
Guinea 012
Wednesday, December 20 10:25 a.m.
My cold has arrived full force and I spent a difficult night dealing with a runny nose, a hotter-than-normal night, and a sudden increase in the mosquito population. Actually I don’t think there were more of them but being awake and miserable I tended to notice them. They’re a fast breed of mosquito, impossible to slap against the wall, totally silent …
Guinea 011
Tuesday, December 19 10:00 a.m.
A deep fatigue settled over me yesterday. I stayed in bed till ten in the morning and then did very little throughout the day, returning often to La Vina to lie on my bed and search the shortwave bands for intelligible sounds. And last night I slept deep and hard. It could be the heat, a cold that I feel coming …
Guinea 010
Monday, December 18 10:30 a.m.
Taking this room and staying in Conakry an extra week has had the desired effect. I’ve ceased to obsess about getting on the bicycle and “go, go, going.” I’ve relaxed and slipped another notch into what I’m beginning to think of as a Guinean pace of life. And even loading up my bicycle with my four pannier bags and cycling the …
Guinea 009
Sunday, December 17 9:10 a.m.
Evidence continues to mount that I’m an idiot. I was in Sundar’s shop yesterday when a heavyset Sierra Leonian woman struck up a conversation. She appeared to know Sundar quite well and had taken a stool to rest from the exertions of shopping. She’d bought quite a large amount of goods, including a case of fifty tins of tomato paste and …
Guinea 008
Saturday, December 16 4:50 a.m.
My second trip to see the rooms that are available for rent was strange but probably fairly typical for Guinea. At least I was the only one who seemed to find the process a bit unusual.
I went to Marie’s small apartment at 6:30 as we’d arranged. The small door into the compound was open and I just walked in. The yard …
Guinea 007
Friday, December 15 11:15 a.m.
I changed my pattern today and went out into Taouyah before my morning coffee. It was still cool and I wanted to take a look at the Taouyah market. Silly me I thought I’d already seen it – the row of stalls lining the main road. But yesterday Sundar sent the young boy who works at his shop off to the …
Guinea 006
Thursday, December 14 9:00 a.m.
My first bike ride was a success in every way and I feel like the arrival portion of my journey is coming to a close. My Guinea has suddenly increased in size from the few blocks in my neighborhood which I’ve learned is called Taouyah to all of Conakry 1, 2 and 3 which covers about ten kilometres of the end …