We had a wonder around the hotel which is joined up with the Elais sports club in Kinshasa, which has squash courts, tennis courts, an amazing 50 meter pool but is sadly being renovated so is empty :(. We ended up being persuaded by a ball boy (who obviously got paid per lesson) to come and have a lesson. So K and I ended up playing tennis which was great fun and a nice way to take up an hour of the day.
Once tennis had finished we were once again at a loose end and getting hungry. But K has been in the hotel for 3 weeks now as she arrived before me and we are both a little tired of the hotel food. Now, right across the road is a shop called the Peluoustore, which according to my boss is like the waitrose of Kinshasa, and K and I decided to venture out of the hotel to walk to the store.
Peloustore although only 120 yards away, is the other side of an 8 lane highway, where as previously described there are pretty much no road rules and everyone is out for themselves. We decided our best strategy for survival while crossing the highway would be to spot a local who was waiting to cross the road, and follow them. Safety in numbers we hoped. So we found an intelligent looking guy and tried to keep up as we dodged and weaved through the Saturday morning traffic, and made it across the 8 lanes safely to the other side. I’ll try and put up a photo of the 30 juin highway to give you all a better idea of the feat undertaken.
Peloustore although only 120 yards away, is the other side of an 8 lane highway, where as previously described there are pretty much no road rules and everyone is out for themselves. We decided our best strategy for survival while crossing the highway would be to spot a local who was waiting to cross the road, and follow them. Safety in numbers we hoped. So we found an intelligent looking guy and tried to keep up as we dodged and weaved through the Saturday morning traffic, and made it across the 8 lanes safely to the other side. I’ll try and put up a photo of the 30 juin highway to give you all a better idea of the feat undertaken.
Shopping in any other country is always fun, new brands and thing to look and laugh at. Bacon flavour Pringles, Mrs H Ball flavour chutney simba crisps (Sam I couldn’t believe my eyes!) So K and I strolled around the store snaking up each aisle. We even were giving free tasting of baileys as we went. Who knew that happened in DRC? We also saw a drink called tango congo that claims to be a remedy for
- hiccups
- hypertension
- diarherra
- chills
- fever
- flu
- maleria
- heavey legs,
the list went on and on- I had to buy some of the stuff just for the label. It's a clear orange tinted liquid, but then you shake it up it turned into a muddy puddle. The smell was ridiculous the type that makes you gag - it might well be the cure for everything but I think I'd rather suffer the illnesses than the drink!
We picked up a little picnic lunch of bread, ham, cheese and numerous new flavours of crisps- Carribean Onion and Balsamic Vinegar crisps –yum! Paid and followed the same strategy to make our way back across the vast highway, and ate our little picnic in my room watching crappy cable movies. Which was delightful.
After we went for a drink with our Belgian colleague H, who took us to my favourite place in Kinshasa yet, an ice cream bar! H had grown up in Congo, and had plenty of friends who still live here and he had found out about this place through them, and apparently its a very hip place to be on a Saturday afternoon. With over 50 flavours of ice cream, it was the perfect way to end our picnic meal, and let me tell you the portions are HUGE. Asking for 2 flavours will get you approximately 5 English scoops worth and at $3 it’s possibly the only food sold in Kinshasa at a non exorbitant price. Kinder chocolate and vanilla- again YUM.
I possibly, will be the only person who comes back from Africa fatter than they arrived, given the amount of food I’m eating and the fact you can’t really walk anywhere, and once you get home after work at 6pm its almost dark. Heyho.
H is already living in the house that I will be moving into next week so after our ice cream adventures, we went back to the house for me to have a look, and wow it rodeserves the nickname it’s been given- le chateau. It’s a beautiful place with a pool, BBQ bigoms and tonnes of living space in a gated community. I’m loving the hotel but it will be a lovely place to stay there, and we sat with a beer on the terrace, and chatted for a while.
Tomorrow K and I are getting up early to go to a Bonobo sanctuary which are little monkeys- more on that tomorrow- so H drove us back home. Excited for tomorrow!!
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