I walked on the beach before work this morning.

Before that, I went to the gym, had breakfast and spent some time sunbathing and swimming in the pool.

Then sat on my veranda and half-typed , half-stared at the sea for a while before showering in the open air.

I’m working UK hours in a place that’s 5 hours 30 minutes ahead, so 1:30 AM UK time is when my alarm is going off at the moment.

It’s 31 degrees outside and will now get hotter day by day for the next two months, I more or less melted walking from my hotel room to reception today before getting into the car to go to the office.

An alien world passes before me every day.

Stray, almost generic dogs wander the streets, cows sit in the middle of the road, calm and relaxed in the knowledge that cars will actively avoid them.

Goats roam the roads by night, unknowable eyes glinting against headlights.

There are open fires on the streets, whether for warmth or waste disposal; I don’t know. They glow red and orange on back streets and in doorways, flickering shadows on walls and buildings.

Women still walk along with baskets on their heads; posture perfect and seemingly unaffected by the heat and the weight that they carry.

Up to 5 people in a family ride a single moped, with shopping and luggage, crash helmets are for wimps.

It’s a place of remarkable contrasts, the hotel is luxurious, has a good gym, a swim-up bar, wi-fi and possibly the most inept ‘technical support’ people I’ve ever met (more of that another time, I think).

the nearest village is incredibly poor, there’s no running water, a seawater well for clothes and cleaning and a water tower for drinking.

Indigenous high-status people are somehow more entitled and lazier than almost anybody that I’ve ever met in the UK – they don’t walk anywhere if there’s a buggy available and treat the staff in ways that would likely get them assaulted back home.

The streets are ‘safe’ – well for me anyway, I’m not sure that I’d like to be a lone female here, but they’re uncomfortable, there’s much more attention and direct appeals at begging than anywhere else I’ve been in the world.

Huge potholes, piles of rubbish in the streets, and people urinating and defecating in public are all pretty normal here.

I’ve got around 7 weeks in total to go on this trip and I think that I need to get my head around this new world fairly quickly.

I’ll post some updates on an occasional basis .

Apparently I have to go to a nightclub on Saturday…….