I was woken up at about 0230hrs as Alison could hear thunder in the distance and fearing that it would rain wanted to take the washing in, not that it mattered as the clothes were still wet in any case. At 0300 hrs it belted down until about 0600hrs as I was just waking up.

Our intention for the day was to go to Lilongwe with a stopover at the pottery in Nkhotakota. We left Flame Tree campsite at 0930hrs after saying goodbye to our host Tony. It was only then that we learnt he had internet connection between the hours of 3-6pm and that we could have made use of it. Oh well, if only we had known earlier!

The road south narrowed a wee bit but the surface was still good with minor potholes every now and again. But the rain obscured the view, so we didn't see much of it. By 1215 hrs we were passing Nkhotakota looking for the pottery which was supposed to be 2.5 kms from the town. We were about to give up looking for it as Adrian was making a nuiscance fof himself when we came to te sign indicating the turning to the pottery.

The road in was as usual for this part of the world, bare earth wth a little bit of gravel if one is lucky enough. When we got to the pottery , all the staff were out for lunch especially the one who conducted classes that we intended Adrian to have a go. We decided to have lunch ourselves at the cafe contrary to earlier declaration that Alison was going to make soup for us on arrival. That was when these two Peace Corps Volunteers, Angela and Kristy approached me to ask if we were really from malaysia.

We had an interesting conversation and compared notes on our observation especially on young kids walking on the road unattended, some of them hardly four years old. Although they start schooling at an early age apparently, only 20% of children make it to secondary school. Angela was interested in Buddhism and intends to get a posting out in the Far East for her next assignment. Then it was time to say goodbye and although we heard that the road was closed, apparently to the North where there was no effect on us, we left the pottery at 1530hrs.

20 kms down the road we could see a large crowd in front and we were informed that te road was not passable due to the bridge having been swept away. I wanted to have a look myself and true enough there was a gap of about 3 metres right across the road, caused by the inner lake having burst its bank and water running into the Malawi lake. The kids were all excited when I took photographs and wanted themselves too be in the photos and I obliged.

We had no choice but to go back to the pottery where they have camping grounds, for the night as by the time we got back it was already 1630hrs and we couldn't make Lilongwe before dark. Plus the fact that we didn't know what the condition of the road was going to be like.