Tales of The Carry-On Kid: Tanzania Travel Log Vol. 8 – Kung Fu on the High Seas
This weeks segment will be a bit shorter than the last few as I’m sure you are all worn out from last weeks article about the dreaded scrum. This week we are going look at Kung Fu on the High Seas.
After making it through the scrum, regrouping and double checking our valuables, we boarded the ferry to the island of Zanzibar. We headed to the the second deck onto the “VIP” deck. I won’t lie, I am not a VIP, but the $40.00 ticket price granted us access. The first thing that hit me was a blast of cold air as we entered our deck. I’m talking almost ice cold. I was happy to feel this, as I tend to be more prone to sea sickness when I am in a hot cramped area. Then I noticed the seats. I was expecting some cushioned bench seats and was happy to see airline like seats that looked quite comfortable.
The biggest surprise for me were the series of flat screen mounted TVs mounted on this deck. I was surprised to find them on a ferry headed out to Zanzibar. We took our seats and settled in for the over two hour boat trip. After we had left the harbor in Dar Es Salaam the TV flickered on and the opening of the newest Karate Kid movie greeted us. I enjoyed this movie, it isn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen, but I have seen much worse. I was however extremely happy that I would have something to watch one the ride out to Zanzibar.
Other than watching the Karate Kid on a flat screen TV on a ferry running from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar, the most interesting thing was the fact that the movie was dubbed in Chinese. The whole dubbed in Chinese was telling. China has been spreading it’s influence throughout Africa for many years now. They have hundreds of building projects across the continent. China sells many of their consumer products to Africa as well. I remember walking thru a market in Burkina Faso and 98% of the products were Chinese.
If you haven’t seen the newest Karate Kid, it takes place in China. This means that there are many sequences where characters are actually speaking Chinese. I understand why, but it was still funny to see Chinese dubbing during the parts of the movie where the characters were actually speaking Chinese. It’s funny how the little things can bring a smile to your face.
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