i wrote this post on saturday, but was unable to post it, so here it is today :)
Hey all.
As it was Friday night last night, we went out and met up with some friends. We met everyone at a Japanese restaurant where we had completely amazing food. Every time you order something they bring you this little bowl of salad which was so nice, I have no idea what was in it, but some shredded crunchy stuff and then doused in a really nice gingery dressing.
When me, paul and tariq arrived we were bit early so we ordered some tempura prawns to keep us going, (naturally, they came with the salad beforehand) which were absolutely divine, and then people started arriving so there was a bit of a time delay, but eventually we ordered food. There are a lot of male expats in kampala but very few women, so in a group of about 20 men there were only 3 of us girls. Thankfully they were really lovely and I had met one of them before, so we stuck together.
We ordered a baby maha roll which was prawn and some sort of vegetable inside, and then nori and rice around the outside, with a slice of avocado on top. That came recommended to us and was absolutely amazing. I have never really had sushi before, and I was a little bit wary of trying it but it was very nice and at this restaurant they fly all of the fish in fresh that morning, and you really could tell it was fresh. We were the last little group to get our food and so by the time we got our baby maha most people had finished eating! It did have the advantage that we could go around stealing nibbles of everyone elses though, so I got to try a lot of things! The boys had some amazing teriyaki beef from the hot food menu which we couldn’t get enough of, and we were very pleased because we had ordered the teriyaki beef sushi roll, which was yet to materialise. When it got to about half 10 we got a bit more vocal about the fact we were STARVING etc as the owner was sat only one seat down the bar from us, and he gave his chef a bollocking, as they had clearly forgotten our order. They brought a chicken roll rather than beef, but we couldn’t be bothered to argue and it was very nice anyway.
I also got to try sake last night which I have never had before, and was oddly served warm. Not like red wine warm, but it had actually been heated up. I thought that was odd and that I wouldn’t really like it but the temperature definitely added something to it and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would (though I didn’t go back for another cup!). When we were finally through with the sushi the boys all decided they wanted to go to the casino as there was a cash poker game happening and they all have money to burn and wanted to get in on the action. Me, Hannah and Krisha just looked at eachother like please, no! And decided to make our own way to a bar, rather than going to the casino. It turned out to be a good move and a few of the boys came to their senses and came with us to the Irish pub that is so popular with expats in Kampala. There were lots of people there who I recognised, including a south African guy called Rob who I have been on a couple of nights out with, and tieese, the Brazilian girl I shared a hotel room with when we went to Rukinjiri. Hannah and Krisha who used to live here introduced me to lots of other people as well, and it was nice to be socialising a bit independently of paul, as I don’t want to get in his way and it can be awkward for me when I don’t know people and I don’t get introduced.
The boys came and met us in bubbles after a bit, and it materialised that paul had lost a little bit of money (though he didn’t say how much, and I expect our definitions of ‘a little bit of money’ are very different!!) but Tariq had won 400,000 shillings, which is about £100. When we got bored of bubbles we moved on to a club called iguanas which is popular with young visitors on projects like mine, because it’s cheap and has something of an African vibe to it, unlike some of the other places I have been to in Kampala.
We didn’t stay in iguanas particularly long as pauls friend Ron needed to get to Cayenne to meet a friend. I like cayenne as it’s a bit more civilised than iguanas though is less exciting, so we all trooped off. We got there and had a few drinks and it was fairly uneventful, but it was fun. The girls had bought a joint from a boda boda driver and ron seems to have quite a lot of power at cayenne so we went and sat in a corner to smoke it. It was funny because there was absolutely no weed in the thing, it was basically just a rollup. The security man got all suspicious and came over so we put it out and then we were laughing and we were like mate, smell it, theres nothing in it! Although he didn’t look too convinced, he was clearly a little bit fearful of upsetting ron, so he took it away and brought us a whole packet of cigarettes to replace it. They didn’t interest us in the slightest, but it was funny seeing his reaction.
By the time we were talking baout leaving cayenne it was nearly 5AM and I was absolutely knackered. I wanted to go home but paul and tariq insisted on us going to this place called club pa lui where they went the other night and paul upset someone by mooning them. Thankfully we got there and the bouncer said that they weren’t letting anyone else in because it was too late, so we all trooped off home. Ron and Krisha came with us which was nice, and me and krisha were planning to meet up today anyway, and we will probably see Hannah later as well. I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to be doing but they seem to know good places to go from living here so I’m sure they’ll have some ideas.
I cant believe how long this post is! Over 1000 words just describing one night, sorry if it’s not that interesting for you to read...
Love, Lucy xxx
Showing posts with label tracking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tracking. Show all posts
Monday, 29 August 2011
Saturday, 13 August 2011
backhanders and beestings....
so yesterday we went to see the gorillas. actually seeing them was absolutely breathtaking, but the trip wasn't without its problems.
we stayed the night at gift of nature lodge which was absolutely lovely. we were so pleased to have proper pillows and real scrambled egg in the morning!
it turns out we dint have permits (i dont think) but our trip was a 'special arrangement' between denis and his friends. having compared notes with someone else at the lodge who went last week, it definitely sounds like we got the rugged version. rosie and ross (who went last week) said they had a guide, and a man at the front and another at the back with guns, and the guide had a machete that he used to cut a path through the vines. we had one man who had nothing more than a stick to steady himself on the wet ground. not a gun or machete in sight! of course at the time we had no idea that we were SUPPOSED to have a guide with a gun, so we werent too woried.
the trek was very tough going, at high altitude its very difficult to breathe properly and the terrain wasnt easy to get through. you don't take paths, you follow where the gorillas have been, and when your guide can't cut the vines, you find yourself entangled and falling ungracefully on your arse really quite often. we trekked for about 6 hours in total, during which time we all got stung and bitten by an array of tropical insects.
finding the gorillas was an absolute joy, and such a relief to stop climbing. we saw the rare sight of two families crossing eachothers path, which mean that they were making aggressive sounds to warn eachother off. i would have appreciated a man with a rifle at that point! the first gorilla we saw was a big silverback male who had been extradited from his group. he was very funny and spent a lot of time with his middle finger stuck up at us! i have some great photos of that. we later saw a female who was only about 3m away from us, which was absolutely amazing/terrifying.
on the way back the climb was really hard, and i found myself having a panic attack because i felt like i couldn't breathe. i've never had one before and it was pretty bloody terrifying. one of our group as well, steve, was vomiting though he claimed it was just from the exertion of walking. when we finally got back to the car it was a very different story.
when we got to the top, we were all breathless, but steve didnt regain composure like the rest of us, and continued to struggle to breathe. he said he had felt fine until he was stung on the head by a wasp. getting in the car, it quickly became apparent that he was having a pretty servere allergic reaction to the sting. his lips turned blue, and he said he couldn't feel his arms or face. the serisouness of the situation was aparent to us, but the african road seriously hindered us in getting to hospital quickly. when we eventually arrived at the hospital they were so chilled out it was annoying, and they didn't seem too bothered. thankfully steve seemed to have manufactured enough of his own adrenaline by then to be slowly recovering.
thats about all i have to tell you at this point, its been a miserable rainy day here and i have a rotten cold, but tomorrow we are heading out to a wedding party of the sister of one of the staff at the lodge. they have kiled 3 cows for the occaision!
Love, Lucy xx
we stayed the night at gift of nature lodge which was absolutely lovely. we were so pleased to have proper pillows and real scrambled egg in the morning!
it turns out we dint have permits (i dont think) but our trip was a 'special arrangement' between denis and his friends. having compared notes with someone else at the lodge who went last week, it definitely sounds like we got the rugged version. rosie and ross (who went last week) said they had a guide, and a man at the front and another at the back with guns, and the guide had a machete that he used to cut a path through the vines. we had one man who had nothing more than a stick to steady himself on the wet ground. not a gun or machete in sight! of course at the time we had no idea that we were SUPPOSED to have a guide with a gun, so we werent too woried.
the trek was very tough going, at high altitude its very difficult to breathe properly and the terrain wasnt easy to get through. you don't take paths, you follow where the gorillas have been, and when your guide can't cut the vines, you find yourself entangled and falling ungracefully on your arse really quite often. we trekked for about 6 hours in total, during which time we all got stung and bitten by an array of tropical insects.
finding the gorillas was an absolute joy, and such a relief to stop climbing. we saw the rare sight of two families crossing eachothers path, which mean that they were making aggressive sounds to warn eachother off. i would have appreciated a man with a rifle at that point! the first gorilla we saw was a big silverback male who had been extradited from his group. he was very funny and spent a lot of time with his middle finger stuck up at us! i have some great photos of that. we later saw a female who was only about 3m away from us, which was absolutely amazing/terrifying.
on the way back the climb was really hard, and i found myself having a panic attack because i felt like i couldn't breathe. i've never had one before and it was pretty bloody terrifying. one of our group as well, steve, was vomiting though he claimed it was just from the exertion of walking. when we finally got back to the car it was a very different story.
when we got to the top, we were all breathless, but steve didnt regain composure like the rest of us, and continued to struggle to breathe. he said he had felt fine until he was stung on the head by a wasp. getting in the car, it quickly became apparent that he was having a pretty servere allergic reaction to the sting. his lips turned blue, and he said he couldn't feel his arms or face. the serisouness of the situation was aparent to us, but the african road seriously hindered us in getting to hospital quickly. when we eventually arrived at the hospital they were so chilled out it was annoying, and they didn't seem too bothered. thankfully steve seemed to have manufactured enough of his own adrenaline by then to be slowly recovering.
thats about all i have to tell you at this point, its been a miserable rainy day here and i have a rotten cold, but tomorrow we are heading out to a wedding party of the sister of one of the staff at the lodge. they have kiled 3 cows for the occaision!
Love, Lucy xx
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