My heart did a quick leap. Finally! After delays and delays for takeoffs in each and every airport that I passed through, the plane finally landed in Entebbe International Airport, the old capital of Uganda. Great! Next step? No idea. Typically it would be immigration, baggage pickup and then customs, in that order, before I am able to get out. But I was quite certain that somewhere there would be a glitch. And voila! After some visa confusion (as I insist over again and again that I do not need a visa for entry, while the Americans apparently did, I played the blind person as I just walked out without much caring for stopping to be checked… As they say, ignorance is bliss.
My parents and my youngest sister met me at the airport. From there we travelled another 40mins into Kampala, the current capital, where we will be spending a night to catch the ferry to the island where dad works the next day. As I look out at the dusty houses, the worn road, I couldn’t help but felt a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps you know, perhaps you don’t. I spent my childhood in estates because of my father’s work; and until today I remember the dirt smell of the truck, the bumpy roads, dust everywhere. You can say that I was well contented to be here.
After a short rest, and a quick swim, we head out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. You might or not be aware, but there are many Indians here. I recommend watching “The Last King of Scotland” to brush up a bit on your Ugandan history. In short, the Indian food is very, very good; very, very spicy; very, very authentic. In fact, it was so spicy that I was sniffing...! From dinner we went to a bar/club/hangout (never found the right word to describe it, but you get the picture), where we met loads of people from dad’s work. It was opened air, very dark, only the stage had lights as there were some performers, and since the people we met were all Africans, I couldn’t tell them apart at all, seeing that besides their eyes and white teeth, I had trouble seeing them in the darkness! There were two memorable things to take away from this place: 1. an earthquake (perhaps it chased me all the way from Japan… 2. the funny performances. Tired as we were, we ended the night early since it was going to be a long day the following day. I was so happy to be able to sleep in a bed after spending 24hours in planes! (A total of 5 airports (Tokyo-Osaka-Dubai-Addis Ababa-Entebbe), 4 flights. Left 9pm, arrived 9pm (JST))
No comments:
Post a Comment