Knoks Hotel is very pretty from the outside ...for a change! ...completely covered in vines with a courtyard.
The room looked beaten up ... is the best way to describe it... The blinds were all broken, the walls very grubby, the doors of the closet not closing ... but the bed was clean and very smartly made...
My cold had really developed with sneezing, sore throat and stuffy nose so i was glad to jump into that smart bed quite early!!
The next day was Sunday so Dela and i had made arrangements that we would meet around noon... i still was really under the weather with this cold and wanted to just take it easy for the morning...
Also i had decide to move to a more central hotel ... and i had made a reservation at the Sanborn Hotel that got very good reviews in the Bradt guide.
So at noon off we went .. upon arriving at the hotel i was told to come back in two hours as the rooms had not been vacated...
i left my luggage there and we went wandering in the Market.. The Market was quite empty but I wanted to orientate myself for Monday...
Eventually we found our way to the Bead Stalls..
The Market is this sprawling, seemingly chaotic area ... after awhile you could sense there was a kind of order. Apparently each vendor had a spot that he returned to each day (and apparently paid rent!!)... some had permanent stalls.. Along the main roads were the vendors who set up for the day ... with all kinds of contraptions in front of buildings.. then in behind the buildings in narrow alleyways are the permanent stalls.. Outside it is hot and sunny but in there it is almost covered making it cool and dim..
The Bead Market is in an area like this .. with small wooden huts ... the walls are laden with beads. Since it was Sunday only two or three stalls were open...
I told everyone that it was my first day and that i was orientating myself... the vendors here were the most laid back i have encountered. One of the men recognized me from Kofarudia Market..... I had bought a few beads from him and he gave me a brass pendant. They have symbols that mean something ... for example there is one for 'humility and strength' ... (i thought that was a very beautiful combination) , another that meant 'fortitude' .. but i got the one for 'love and relationships'. It is my symbol for renewed life...
It was fun to connect up with someone i had already met... i promised him i would find him again ... His stall is An10 ....
After wandering around a bit more... we tried our luck at the hotel again.. This time they were able to show me to my room ... oh my goodness! ...suddenly my last room looked like paradise...
The bed was dirty and looked like someone had slept on top of the covers... There were dirty, heavy curtains covering windows on two sides of the room but when you looked out it was into garbage ... it was tiny, dirty, dingy and dark!
After standing in it for awhile, i knew i would be claustrophobic with no escape... i wouldn't be able to go outside as there was no yard just road on all sides.. i couldn't even open the windows...
It was not the first time the Bradt Guide had really let me down. The information in it is invariably wrong.
That morning at Knoks Hotel as i was leaving i had noticed other rooms being cleaned and had checked them out... They were very clean and recently painted with new blinds. It was then i realized that the hotel was being upgraded and i had gotten one of the rooms that hadn't been finished yet... in fact the desk in my room was in the middle of being refinished as i arrived.. the guy was working on it in the hall with all the windows closed!! If someone had ignited a match i think the whole place would have exploded the fumes were so intense... i demanded that he open a window so that he and i would live to see another day... He looked at me all puzzled!! ... but i got him to open the window!!
All that to say, i got Dela to phone and ask that if i came back could i have one of the rooms that were already fixed... it seems i could come back and choose my room!! ... I guess Saturday night is the busy night and everyone was leaving today...
So we returned back to Knoks and this time i felt like i was coming home!! What a relief .... to wrestle open my door (i guess all the rooms have these doors that you practically have to break down!!! :) ... and see that immaculate, pristine bed!! ...boy! everything is relative!!
Something that was sinking in is the difference it makes whether you are a volunteer as opposed to an ordinary tourist here ... It is something i am going to think about but it is disconcerting how different people's attitudes are towards you ... It gives the world a feeling of an unreality again... who do people see? .. i become not a person to be discovered in her own right but an idea ... Another opportunity to be very honest with oneself.
I am very glad that i decided to go off on my own ... and i have work to do!! Investigate this new world of beads!!
