Djenné - Stepping back in time...

After suffering a day long bus ride from Bamako, a bumpy bump pick up truck ride
then a ferry,
I got to the World Heritage site - Djenné, a island city northeast of Bamako (circled in the map above).

This guy is pushing the ferry away from the dock. The other picture shows horse carts crossing the river to get to Djenné for its weekly market. There were only 2 windows open on the roof of the bus, no AC. I never knew my behind can sweat so much. Everytime the bus slows down or stops, sweats dripped off my face.

Why stepping back in time? Why a World Heritage site? Just look at this photo.

Djenné is known for its mosque, the largest mud structure in the world! http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/mali/djenne.html

Unfortunately I just missed the annual remudding of the mosque events when I arrived at sundown, missed my chance of getting mud on my face, and possible chance of seeing the courtyard of the mosque.

At Djenné, all the houses and other building buildings are in mud or mud brick, no concrete or steel structures are allowed to preserved the unique architectural style of this heritage site. I felt like I was stepping back into a medival town. The color of the town is dried mud. There were very few trees, especially during the dry season. Thanks to the world heritage site status, thousands of tourists flood this town every year, as a result there is electricity and tap water in most compounds. A negative side effect of the flourishing tourism (here and many other touristic sites in the 3rd world) is extremely annoying kids, who call out "white people" incessantly, circle around you and stare, ask for cadeau (beg for money) and won't leave you along, the worst is touching your "white skin". A few more "worldly" kids will call out chinois (chinese) or mimick "nihao" (but sound more like hin-han) to me. It baffles me why they must calls us out when they see white people so much. The best policy is ignore them, but sometimes they just drive me over the edge and I give them really dirty look.