Uganda part 2

David Thursday November 26,2009
Today was our last full day in Kampala and we started it off by having a nice breakfast and then making our own way into town. First we walked to the nearest road to try and get a matatu, but we had no luck so we continued to walk until finally one stopped for us. We wanted to go to the garden city mall, the one we went to yesterday so we asked the conductor if he was headed that way. He nodded vigorously and said “yeah, yeah, yeah” and hustled us into the van. We soon found out the had no intentions of going anywhere near the mall and that the conductor just wanted us to get in so that they could make money off of us. The conductor actually tried to cheat us and tell us the fare would be 1000 shillings to where it would let us off, but thankfully Dane had a guardian angel next to him, an older Ugandan lady and she told Dane that we were only to pay 600 shillings. She then got worked up about it and scolded the Conductor. The conductor by then feeling embarrassed allowed us pay the right amount. Even after we had gotten off the Matatu (which was not really anywhere near the mall), the lady very kindly showed us where to go and she tried to find a matatu that was headed that way but she couldn’t so she arranged a taxi for us.

So we got in the taxi but only went a few meters before we were stuck in a traffic jam. We waited and waited but we hardly moved an inch. So we decided to just get out of the taxi and start footing it and try and make it to the mall using Dane’s map. So we walked and walked and while Dane refused to ask directions, Nancy would ask every block or so, for directions from the locals. It was a real classic case of how men like to read maps and ladies like to ask directions.

Along the way to the mall we came across a really good market, where we spent a while buying more souvenirs. We finally made it to the mall, and we went straight to finding somewhere to eat. As we were looking Candice let out a gasp and squeal of delight she had spotted a pizza restaurant. Now this was truly a moment where you think it might be a mirage. A legit pizza place is really hard to come by in kitale. In a way it was kida a mirage because we thought it said Pizza Hut but infact it said pizza hot but it was delicious anyway and we were thrilled to bits.

After eating Candice and I really felt like watching a movie at the cinema, so while Nancy and Trudy got hair cuts and Dane went back to the market, we went to see what this cinema business was all about. You see we had gotten used to things not being quite as what they seem to be or what were used to, so we were a little skeptical about what kind of cinema this would be. As it turned out it was one of the nicest Cinemas I had been too. And guess what we saw? The new Michael Jackson movie “This is it” Believe me it was the last thing I thought I would be doing while in Africa, but I really wanted to see it. It was sorta a live concert/documentary of Michael Jackson preparing for his last 50 concerts he was going to do at the O2 arena in London. It was spectacular footage even though it was only dress rehearsals and no audience and we enjoyed it through and through. Walking out of the theater I had to remind my self I was in Uganda and not somewhere like Vancouver. We then met up with the others and took a taxi back to the hotel.