Kampala: The Weekend
Following that, I didn't really have time, as I was working almost continuously at one job or the other since. Therefore, the huge delay. Fear not, now is the time for such things.
Friday
The day wasn't full of all that much excitement. It was spent mostly promoting legal tools and running around like an idiot, trying to find the Afghan delegation. I finally found her, and had some professional type discussions about improving the Afghan judicial system. She seemed excited about the project. It was exciting, I felt like I was getting real type things done.
Otherwise, that wrapped up my time at the conference. It was really exciting. I learned tons about the project I'm working on, especially that its alot bigger than I had once thought. I'm much more excited to be working on it than ever before.
Also, I saw this sign every day, which I thoroughly enjoyed throughout.
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| From Kampala 04 June 2010 |
Saturday
The weekend, I had to my own, as there were no Conference activities, so I could see the area. My former roommate in the Hague came to town for the day, which was fun. We began the day, with a very mediocre breakfast at another hotel. While the breakfast was less than spectacular, we noticed that the place housed what we thought might be Idi Amin's favorite pool. Naturally I couldn't let the opportunity to take a photo next to a vicious dictator's favorite swimming hole.
Classy as hell.
We then headed to Colonel Gaddafi's Mosque in Kampala. I had heard good things about the place. Gaddafi built the thing for Uganda a few years back, officially as a friendly gesture for a fellow African nation, but most likely as a way to stroke his own ego. It was fairly easy to tell that we were coming close to the place, as signs like this appeared.
It was a beautiful place, once we arrived. the Colonel knows how to do a place of worship up right. It's on a hill top, overlooking the city, which is on a series of hills and valleys, much like Rome. I took a photo of it in the distance on Sunday.
We were shown around the mosque by this nice fellow called Mahmoud, who was more than happy to give us a guided tour and share his religion with us. The place was really beautiful, as you can see from the photos below. As always, I'm generally impressed by grand houses of worship.
Click the photo to embiggen
And of course, I couldn't leave you without a series of photos of an infidel posting ostentatiously in front of the mosque.
And finally, here is a shot of our classy tour guide in front of the Holy Koran. I told him all about my favorite Mahmoud, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf a.k.a. Chris Jackson. He seemed excited about that fact and kept saying his name over and over, I'm assuming so he could remember to look the former Tiger great up on the internets later on.
He was a damned nice fella. If you are ever in Kampala, run up to the Mosque and say hello.
Following that, we asked the taxi driver to take us to Jinja to the source of the River Nile. I couldn't be this close to one of the world's great rivers and not go see it. So we hopped in the cab and headed to Jinja. We saw some nice sites along the way. Some other crazy sites in the city, which we will see later and lot's of coffee farms, like below.
Once we got there, I was much more impressed with the source than I thought I would be. I always imagined the source of a river as being a piddly little spring or snow melt, but not this one. It beautifully extended off Lake Victoria, as it narrowed into the grand river and merged with a huge natural spring. Much bigger than the alleged "big" spring in west Texas. I don't think I'm eloquent enough to describe it, so I will let the visuals do the talking, for the most part.
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
Here is where the lake flows into the river.
Which narrows towards the bridge and flows all the way through eastern Africa, through Egypt, where it built an empire, and into the Mediterranean.
I attempt to properly take in the majesty of it all.
We then hopped onto this little boat, to take a trip to the island, where the Nile officially begins.
Mile zero, if you will, which is marked by this rock.
The source itself, is made up of water from Lake Victoria, which constitutes about 60% of the water and a natural spring, right underneath the source, which makes up about 40% of the water. You can see the spring bubbling to the surface, before its long journey to the Mediterranean.
We saw this little kingfisher, hunting in the spring.
The source of the river was first discovered by Europeans by John Hanning Speke, in 1862. This obelisk was placed on the spot where he first viewed it. Allegedly he spent hours looking upon the great river from this point.
It was an amazing place, and I highly recommend it, despite what Lonely Planet might say.
We finished off the day, by heading out and hitting a few Kampalan clubs with some of my friend's colleagues. It was quite the day.
Sunday
My final day in Kampala was a great day, as well. I met up with Stella, the local Kampala attorney I met at the conference, which I believe I mentioned before. She gave me a wonderful guided tour of her city. Unfortunately, I did not get alot of photos of that day. Foolishness on my part, really, which should be expected to anyone who knows me well (which is all yall).
We began the day around noonish, when she met me at my hotel, and we proceeded to take a walk around the city. She showed me some of the sights, including the Uganda High court building, and her law firm, which were nearby. She then proceeded to take me to her university, Makerere University, which is the second oldest university in all of Africa. It reminded me a bit of LSU, not so much visually, as it looks quite different, but in as much as it was a large sprawling campus, with lots of trees and natural beauty. Unfortunately, they did not have a grand, giant stadium, like Tiger Stadium, but I won't hold that against it. Here are a few photos of it.
The gates (similarities to the North Gates)
And the University Seal
And the Law Faculty, where Stella studied.
We then walked up a steep hill, which is a stark contrast to LSU's flatness, to the Agriculture Science Faculty, and had a beautiful view of the city.
Following that, Stella took me to her apartment where we enjoyed the beautiful view she had from the balcony, along with some tasty local cuisine from the cafe down stairs and some sort of ass crazy Korean soap opera that she had an obsession with. I can't really describe the show, but there was lots of insanity and drama, I assume is befitting an Asian soap.
Here's the view from the balcony
Where I saw this crazy, large bird in the distance.
It looks a bit like the idiot condor from the Looney Toons.
From there, we walked down to a street market, that was mildly insane. Unfortunatly, I didn't have the presence of mind to take any photos, but believe me, it was quite the site. I can't really do it justice, but it was a huge place with just about everything you could imagine. From full on suits, down to random assorted crap. I'm fairly certain one could live his entire life just on what they sell at that market, and have no real change in lifestyle. It was great.
Following that we hopped on what they call a taxi there, which is more of a small bus, that seems quite random and hetic, but they make it work. You can ask the driver to stop pretty much anywhere you like along the route. I was quite amazed at the effiency of the thing. We headed to Stella's auntie and uncle's house, across town which was a great experience. I think it was the highlight of my trip. They invited me into their home and treated me like family. It was great. They just kept offering me beers and food for the rest of the evening. Such a lovely family.
The most entertaining story of my time in Kampala occurred here. Stella's cousin had a baby, that was probably one year to a year and a half. Most of the time I was there, he looked at me with an expression that was, as best I could tell, a combination of confusion and fright. Every once in a while, when I looked back at him, the poor little guy would burst into tears. He appeared to be terrified of me. Stella and her cousin were very apologetic and almost embarassed by this. They explained to me, in the most diplomatic way possible, that "he has never seen anyone...of...your...complexion before." As it turns out, I was the very first white person the kid had ever seen in person. I'm kind of honored by that fact. I felt like Colombus, minus the smallpox and genocide.
After an sublimely excellent day, it was time for me to head to the airport to be whisked away, back to Europe. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and would love to go back one day, when I can have more time to enjoy the country.
And, as always, I will leave you with a short photo essay of some of the sites that haven't made it to the blog yet.
My hotel for the week. Famous for being the first hotel in Kampala, and mostly for the large amount of prostitutes at the bar next door.
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
I'll miss the place's charm.
Mandela National Staduim, the Ugandan national soccer team's home turf. It's no Tiger Stadium, but classy none the less.
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
If you look closely, it's a painting of President Obama. They clearly love Obama round those parts. I saw a ton of Obama tshirts and more than one bar named after the man.
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
As a former British colony, tea is serious business...SERIOUS business.
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
MLK College...I don't even think there's one in the US. How are they ahead of us on our own national historical figures?
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| From Kampala 05-06 June 2010 |
And that is all from my time in Kampala. Good times were had by all.
With that I will leave you. Apologies again for the delay, but it's been quite the hectic week. I'm catching that World Cup Fever, as we speak. These Euros go crazy for World Cup soccer (I refuse to call it football, despite what they all say). The World Cup around here is like SEC football season times ten. They freaking love it to fanatical levels. I almost fear for my safety if Holland doesn't win it all. All these Dutchies have high expectations. However, nothing would make me happier than for the US to meet Holland in the elimination rounds and defeat them. Oh the gloating I will do. I've already done so with the Engish, as we tied them 1-1 in the opening game. It still feels unnatural and wrong to be happy with a tie, but I've been assured that this is a huge result for us.
USA! USA!...WE GONNA SHOCK THE WORLD!
