I
had planned to visit this land previously but in my ditsy state, I went to the
wrong airport and when I realised it and rushed to the right one praying that
the flight was delayed, I found that the plane had just left. I had forgotten
whatever I had planned back then but the intention never went away. I told CT
of this land during our trip to the Land of Frankincense last year but was only
able to resurrect my research in December 2017 when work pressure eased
slightly.
The
research continued in earnest in January; I was hoping for more but it is not a
land usually frequented by visitors and information is either limited or quite
old. I only bought our air tickets less than a fortnight before departure and
waited until the last possible minute to change money, hoping the Euro would
depreciate further but of course it didn’t. As we would only be there for a
week, I suggested we depart late on Friday instead of Saturday (the air fare
would also be lower if we departed on Friday) and CT agreed.
I
drew up the following rough itinerary and emailed it to a couple of Algerian
friends:
Friday,
26 January 2018. Day of departure.
Saturday,
27 January: Algiers. Tipaza. Night bus to Ghardaïa
Sunday,
28 January: Arrive Ghardaïa early morning. Overnight in Ghardaïa
Monday,
29 January: Second day in Ghardaïa. Night bus to Sétif (bus to Constantine via Sétif departs at
20:30 – info as of 3 years ago)
Tuesday,
30 January: Arrive Sétif
and on to Cuicil Roman ruins at Djémila. Depart for
Batna, overnight in Batna/Timgad
Wednesday,
31 January: Visit Timgad. Depart for Constantine?/El Eulma by bus/train
(there’s also train fr Sétif
to Constantine and Sétif
/El Eulma to Algiers), overnight in night bus/train
Thursday,
1 February: Arrive Algiers early morning, visit Tipaza, overnight in Algiers
Friday,
2 February: Mid-day, depart for airport and flight back to MY
They
both replied that my plan was too ambitious, if I travel as if I was racing, that
the public transportation in Algeria is lacking and is nowhere near anything
like Japan’s, that I should be realistic as I would be jetlagged after a long
flight and should take into account the language barrier. While I appreciated
their feedback, I was surprised at their low confidence in me and the public
transportation. If anything, their feedback spurred stubborn me into wanting to
prove them wrong. Besides, this is not the first time I’d embarked on something
crazy and hectic.
Friday,
26 January 2018
Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul
My
colleague kindly dropped me at KL Sentral after work and I took the 20:30 coach
(it arrived late and departed only at 20:45) to KLIA. We had checked in online
(the airline website was unhelpful so I had to find another site to do this) so
I wasn’t overly worried. The queue was short but slow. We were given boarding
passes for both KUL-IST and IST-ALG.
Saturday,
27 January 2018
Istanbul-Algiers; Algiers-Tipaza-Algiers; Algiers-Ghardaïa
We
landed at IST at 06:20 and after going through the transfer process, went to
perform morning prayers. We just had enough time after that to walk to our gate
and immediately board the plane. Clumsy klutz me spilled my water all over my seat
and the Turkish guy next to me; fortunately, he didn’t really raise hell
although if he did, I would thoroughly understand. He spoke to the cabin crew
who calmly went to get some freshening up cotton towels and I sheepishly wiped
myself and seat down.
We
landed in Algiers at 09:40 and after going through immigration process, went to
collect our bags. We had been advised by Imen not to change money at the bank
or money changer but to change our money in the black market. Oh, and if you’re
heading there, they prefer Euros to USD. We were finally approached by a chap
who offered us 160 dinar to each Euro. Another guy offered us 150 dinar so we
settled for 160 dinar. We decided to change €50 and change more downtown.
After
that, we walked out of the terminal and asked for directions to the bus stop. Turn
right when you exit and walked past the car park on your left and continued on
until you hit a roundabout and turn left to find the bus station. We had to
wait about half an hour before a bus came and after that for the bus to fill
up. Welcome to Algeria!
Bus from the airport to the city
We
got down near Park Sofia and walked up to La Grande Poste d’Alger where we were to meet
Nadjib, one of my Algerian acquaintances. He showed up about ten minutes later
and we got into his car. It was Saturday and the streets were full of people.
He couldn’t park anywhere so had to circle the block before he saw us. We then
drove to Tipaza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 55 km or an hour away.
La Grande Poste
After
parking his car, Nadjib led us to the Tipaza Roman Ruins. We paid the entrance
ticket of 100 dinar and wandered around the site. Walk on further past the
theatre and you’ll come upon a corridor of columns which lead you to the
Mediterranean Sea. This sprawling complex includes the coastal hills and even
though the ruins are not that well preserved (probably also due to the
elements), the setting sure is spectacular. We had agreed to meet Nadjib after an
hour but it was enough time to explore the complex.
We
went to perform prayers at Mosque Nour el Islam at Place des Martyrs –
fortunately for us, there’s a section for women because women are generally not
allowed into mosques in Algeria – before continuing our tour to the small
Tipaza Port. Then we returned back to the car and drove back to Algiers. I
finally managed to doze off for a short while in the car.
It
had rained in Algiers and pretty heavily too during our absence from the look
of the wet roads. We went to a restaurant to have dinner before Nadjib drove us
to Gare Routiere du Caroubier (the main bus station in Algiers for intercity
buses) and helped us buy tickets for the bus to Ghardaïa. We decided to take
the 22:00 bus and paid 1,150 dinar each (if my memory serves me right). We then
thanked Nadjib and bade him goodbye. As it was still early, we went to perform
prayers and used the bathroom before boarding the bus. A local guy chatted up
CT asking if she was a doctor and he helped show us to our seats and show us
the bathroom when the bus stopped at a rest area sometime during the journey. He sat across the aisle from us and read the Quran throughout except the few times when he succumbed
to sleep.
To
be continued
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