"The Church of St. Mary of Zion is considered the holiest sanctuary in Ethiopia because of its repository for the crown of many of the former Emperors. While painting I had to contend with yet another student asking questions about my religion. I found myself getting really annoyed with him.
 
This town of Axum, that was the country’s most ancient city having been founded in the first century BC, turned out to be a much smaller place than I had expected, and showed few outward signs of its once great past. In fact, apart from an ancient obelisk and Cathedral the town had the look of a most rundown and neglected backwater. 
 
After my night in Selassie, (I had been bitten all over by bed bugs and ended up throwing the offending mattress on the floor and laying my sleeping bag on the chain metal bed and trying to sleep on that), I was determined to find somewhere I could be sure of getting a good night's sleep. I tried 5 hotels, none particularly good, and was about to give up when I noticed a sign to another hotel down a side street. To my relief it turned out to be even better than I had been hoping for, and I felt at the time it was more like an answer to a prayer. Attached to a restaurant, it had rooms built round a court yard with a well kept garden. The 8 or so large airy rooms were clean, and each had its own shower and loo. Unfortunately this hotel was not very friendly, it cost £4 a night.
 
After booking into the hotel I was glad of the chance to have a short rest out of the midday heat before setting off to have a proper look at the town. While walking round I also called in at the tourist office hopeing for some general information  on the area, but they had nothing, and only seemed to be there to sell tickets, at £3 a time, to travellers wanting to visit the historic sites. Later back at the hotel, I got talking to a local man who was working in Germany and just home on holiday for a few weeks. He spoke excellent English and seemed to have pleanty to talk about. In Afterwards I joined him and his lady friend for a meal at the hotel, making for an enjoyable evening.
 
The following morning, hopeing to find some hot milk to have with my breakfast, I called at one of the town's busy cafes. They had just sold out, but a young English speaking student had overheard my request and offered to take me to a nearby dairy. The dairy, that was in a courtyard surrounded by a high wall, had a house at one end, and a large cow-shed at the other with 4 cows. The lady that was running it made me very welcome, inviting me to sit in her living room while she boiled the milk, the student also joined me. When the milk arrived she also bought us cakes. The bill for 4 cups of hot milk and 6 cakes came to about 30p. Initially I had been grateful for the students help, but found that I was then stuck with him for the rest of the day, and though his English was quite good he had little to say that was of interest and I soon started to find his presence a real drag." - MH