We were a bit concerned that Doogles was going to turn out to be a very noisy place to stay. So it came as a pleasant surprise when we slept through the night in relative silence. Even the very noisy bus station next door quietened down after about 10pm.
Setting off on our first morning in Blantrye we headed into the city centre to have a look at the sights, which didn't take that long! Having made a stop at the Hindu Temple, where we were rather sweetly given permission to take photos, we headed towards Victoria Avenue.
Our guide book seemed to imply that Victoria Avenue is Blantyre's main street. Which it may be, but all we found along it was banks, offices and the odd restaurant. It seems like in most of the African cities that we have visited, there isn't a great deal to see in Blantyre, despite it being the oldest settlement in Malawi. Having wandered round for a while we headed back to a coffee shop and had a second breakfast.
Walking past the turn off to Doogles we continues along the road to have a look at St Michael's church. Built first in 1882 and rebuilt in 1888, the church is quite an impressive construction made entirely of local handmade bricks and wood. The surrounding grounds are also quite pleasant.
Having seen the sights we returned to Doogles grabbed our bikes and rode back to the Chichiri mall to get some shopping. Between the Walmart owned Game and the South African based Shoprite supermarkets, we managed to restock our food supplies. It was strange wandering round such modern shops after the more typical, often poorly stocked, tiny stores found in the rest of Malawi. Having bought food we went to the pharmacy to get some Bilharzia medicine. We are not sure that we have Bilharzia, but it is fairly likely having swam in and had a great deal of contact with the water from Lake Malawi. All of the advice we have received is to buy the medicine, wait three months before taking it and everything should be fine. Getting treated in the UK is apparently very difficult and involves a quite expensive test procedure. Debs has four tablets to take while I have five and at 100 kwacha each (about 40p) it seems silly to not get them.
Back at the camp-site we had a nice dinner made from the supplies we had bought earlier. Followed by a few beers while chatting to some of the other residents.
Aside from another trip to the supermarkets and a short walk to the post office, our second day has been very quiet. We are both feeling that it is time to move on now, we have been in Malawi for long enough. Two more days should see us at the border and into Mozambique.
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