Monday, April 30, 2012

Entebbe Airport


My room at the Serena Hotel


My view from my room




The Streets of Kampala


























Matooke




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Saturday is Wedding Day

Saturdays in Kampala are wedding days. Weddings in Uganda are very big and normally takes place on a Saturday. Their weddings are pretty much the same as South African weddings, except that they invite about 500 people and that every guest contributes. Meaning everyone helps to pay for the wedding and still brings gifts. Pretty cool! The weddings are quite extravagant, the brides have about 7 bridesmaids and a few flower girls and are all dolled up to the max. There must be a couple of serious tailors and material shops in and around Kampala. While we were whizzing around town, rushing from meeting to meeting we came across 11 weddings! So much so that wedding parties had to que to have their photo's taken.

We took to the streets in the morning and walked across to the Sheraton hotel and viewed the Speke hotel across the road. There is a tiny Indian restaurant next to the hotel that apparently serves very good food, but lacks atmosphere. Our next stop was the Ugandan National Bookshop where I found a really cool Ugandan cookbook. The book explains all the local cuisine and how to prepare pots for steaming with banana leaves. Guess what the first recipe in the book was? Matooke :)

Lunch was at Fang Fang's, a Chinese Restaurant. We ordered chicken fried rise and tried the local gin, Maragi. The food was good except that there was hardly any chicken in it (sometimes I really miss Asia) and the gin was different as well. It's slightly sweeter and apparently comparable to the gin in Malawi. After the waiter served our food, we got a box of tissues. Still wondering what that was for as we both had proper material napkins.

We did a couple of inspections in the afternoon and then headed out to the Speke Resort in the South. Gaddafi apparently stayed there and refused to stay in their rooms. He always pitched his own tent on the lawns. Weird.

Frederick, a friend of mine, was in Kampala the day we arrive. Unfortunately I missed him, cause we were tied up with work all day. He stayed at The Cassia Lodge. On our way back from the Speke Resort, we stopped at Cassia Lodge to check it out. The lodge is located on a hill and has the most amazing view of the city and its surrounding areas. It overlooks lake Victoria, the source of the Nile. We had a delicious steak and tried a local beer called Moonberg. We've tried a couple of local beers and they have all been really good. If you ever get to that side of the world, you have to try Bell, Club, Nile Special, Nile Gold and Moonberg. If and when I come across another one, I'll let you know.

There are a couple of other nice hotels in Kampala. The Metropole, Protea and Emin Pasha are a few to check out. Emin Pasha is on of the few that has a spa :)

The end the day we stopped at an Italian Restaurant for dessert. I had ice cream drowned in Amarula and Bonny had chocolate mousse. I thought I was getting a Dom Pedro, but ended up literally getting ice cream drowning in Amarula. Delish!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Matooke

My second day was spent in meetings and driving around looking at various properties. We met some interesting people and tried the local cuisine. I tried Matooke. Matooke is the most eaten staple. It is eaten green, before it is ripe. The fingers have to be peeled to remove the outer covering which contains sap and cannot be eaten. I'm talking about banana's. Basically it's various squashed bananas. This was served in banana leaves and served with a delicious ground nut sauce. Matooke does not look very appetising and doesn't taste like much I'm afraid. Apparently most of the local cuisine is prepared in banana leaves and mostly made on coal ovens.

Apart from the Matooke, I did taste the most AMAZING beef ever. Soft and tasty. Om nom nom

We came across an amazing little backpackers in the Bugolobi area, east of Kampala. It's called Red Chilli Hideaway. I'm going to have to go back to Uganda and stay there. They've got bunk style rooms with separate bathrooms and have a really cool general area with computers and a pool table. They serve delicious home made pizza's and ice cold beer :) Don't you just love how people always hang around backpackers drinking beer?

Whilst exploring the area we found another little quaint hotel, called Le Bougainviller Hotel. It's a French family run hotel situated in the hustle and bustle of the city. Walking around in the gardens and between rooms, you really feel like you are in the middle of the country side in France. A real hidden jewel in Bugolobi.

Dinner was at Khana Khazana, an Indian restaurant. It was delicious but super spice. We had chicken curry with rice and butter naan. Mmmmm... It's surprizing how many Indian and Chinese restaurants are in this city.

Stay tuned from adventures with pot holes, book shops and a Chinese restaurant called Fang Fang.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

This is Africa

Welcome to Uganda. Sitting in the back of a car making your way to Kampala is truly an experience. It's about an hours drive without traffic. Taxi's, boda boda's , busses and locals crawl the pothole infested roads. there are no street lamps, no lights, no traffic lights, no signs, just bright headlights and hooters. What an experience, what a roller-coaster ride! I have been extremely privileged to travel up into 'donker' Africa, Uganda, recently and man what an experience!

This was my second time up north and once again i find the people super friendly. Nauseating actually. It's a nice change though, it makes one think that people so poor can be so happy and so friendly. Think about it, the unemployment rate is something ridiculous like 60% or something (don't quote me on this), but still everyone is happy and it's super safe.

Kampala is the capitol of Uganda and houses about 31 million people. We stayed at the Serena Kampala Hotel situated slap bam in the middle of the city. I arrived in my gorgeous room, applied tabbard (it is a malaria area) and went to stand on my balcony. I was met by a choir of frogs, so much so that you cannot hear the people on the balcony next to yours. I was on the fourth floor overlooking the magnificent gardens of the hotel listening to the frogs sing. Reality check for sure. I'm one lucky girl! I wished for the internet to go on so that I could skype with the world and share my amazing experience.