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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

My latest visit to Kampala City

Just yesterday i went to the city centre in a long time.
Was for a friend's wedding meeting which was so much fun and miserable as well.
The fun bit came that i met so many long lost campus friends and not fun
coz i was fined so heavily that i almost went home with nothing. Crime being i
was holding small meetings within the general wedding meeting that everyone had gone for.

Anyway, i realised that there are so many changes in Kampala city after a long time without being there.
There were so many new buildings, i saw a beautiful green park around railway house.That place infront of club rougue. And my God, traffic jams are still massive in Kampala. I also saw a new Bank directly opposite Kenya Commercial Bank. The way i gazed one would think i was from Kabale and in Kampala for the first time. Mateos looked so lovely that i had to drop by for a sweating beer.
Okay, i am not from the village and neither am i coming from outside countries. I am from Nalya and i work in Kampala. I work just near new Vision offices. Every morning i leave home for work and stop just after Lugogo. In the evening i return home after making the occassional stop over at my bank, supermarket, and bufundas all located in Ntinda trading centre. There is absolutely no need for me to go to the city centre. All i need ranging from groceries, recreation, medicines, banking services, laundry services, house brokers, schools and cinema i can get. Ntinda has its problems like the occassional traffic jams, the very poor state of roads(which part of kampala has good roads), poor drainage but they don't match upto what is in the city.
Its only last evening that i sat down and pondered what real development could look like. Just these few facilities and services i get from my local town make me feel so good. I save alot on transport costs, i can plan my travels very well, shopping is less tiresome and i dont have to scramble with alot of people for good services. Wonder if our country was really developed. How happy and healthy we would all be.
But again kudos to all the Ugandan people for always having a smile on their faces and ever looking so beautiful regardless of all the hard times we go through.


In a related incident let me tell yu about a very close friend who told me a very fuuny experience he went through. This dude was born in Mulago and raised in the Makerere flats. Was always dropped and picked from primary school, went to Kings college Buddo and Makerere College school for high school. While at University, he was commuting from home. His parents then shifted to Ntinda and he now works with Bank of Africa Ntinda Branch. A stone's throw away from his home.
One day this dude is at Crested Towers and has an appointment at MTN Towers but he doesn't know where it is located. He parks his vehicle and decides to use a boda boda. Boda guy asks for ugx 1000 to get him there. Dude rides past the crested towers round about slopes down to the road leading to shimoni(ex-shimoni), turns to the lower entrance of crested towers and heads to MTN towers.Time to pay the ugx 1000.Was that worth ugx 1000.
So i dont know what to call that, being spoilt or overly spoilt.
One or two of you may know this dude. Please go ahead and tell him i shared his story here. I'll settle our score over a "Uganda-wa" at our fav. kafunda in Ntinda this evening.

This dude has too many crazy experiences. I'll tell yu about him soaking and washing his suits and ties plus the results obtained.

Big love..............

19 comments:

  1. Booooooooooooots!

    interesting.. the thing abt the boda, kinda same thing happened to me once. i was at the park looking for some car parts store, guy is like i know. i take you

    yeah... i cda walked it!i was sooo not amused.

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  2. For a while i did think you were a summer back home for x-mas. but that boda story honestly- nice imagination.

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  3. know a guy who didnt know where the taxi park was till S.6, beat that :D

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  4. I had a Ugandan boss who never knew where the new taxi park was but anyway, he had just come back from outside countries.

    I studied with people in Mbarara from Kla who never knew how to get to the park because they were used to being picked up by their parents.

    I love Ntinda.

    But you travel to say Tororo, you'll feel like M7 has done nothing for this country. You'll want a new president. You'll get a rude shock at how backward the rest of the country is.

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  5. lol..so true...I had taken such a long time going into town and reached Shell Jina Rd but had kinda forgotten where the National theater was. The boda guy took my 1k and I was pained

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  6. Just reminds me of when i left Jinja to come and stay in kla....th cars, the people, the buildings....the HOT women...M_mm.

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  7. As someone bred in Jinja, who lived at home while at university and was dropped off and picked up every day; who worked in Industrial Area and lived in Kireka - never entering town - and who is now based back in Jinja, I hope I will be forgiven for not knowing where certain things are in Kampala.

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  8. haha, but i was droped home to school for most of life, went to nga, then macos and took my first taxi in s6 (was extremely glad about it0 and was picked and dropped for most of campus.... i still dont know all of kla! meanwhile my young sis amuses me more, she only knows nandos!

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  9. Nice weekend then since the week has ended.

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  10. 1. you are local
    2. www.neatsilverbow.com could not locate the old taxi park during the whole of first year
    3. you are local
    4. that could not have been byron. i saw him in the taxi park the other day. so he can not be he
    5. infact you are so local, you think hotloaf bakery has the best pizza in town

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  11. @Carsozy...whaaa. am not a mu-summer. am a lounger from ntinda.

    @Mudamuli....could that boss of yours say chicken in his local dialect? most forget.
    I also love Ntinda so much.

    @Normzo....lol

    @Lulu....yo lil sista must be having a very sweet tooth. Very funny gal.

    @Anti wa baana....The best pizza is at cafe roma nt hotloaf. Hotloaf only has the hottest waitress.
    And yes i am soooo local my hometown is Kanungu

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  12. @Tamzel...happy new year.

    The Emrys thanks for passing by.

    Tandra, i hate the pld taxi park. Even if a boda chap cheated provided he took me very far away from that noisy crowded place with pick pockets.

    @Emi....always keep 500 shs coins.

    @Petes mummmy. Jinja and kla aint so different. All are dusty and noisy.

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  13. get to know a new place each day.

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  14. And sometimes you realsie that the boda has taken a farther route to make you think your money was worth it.

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  15. bOdda freaks lol not worth it.WAts with weddings being a high school reunion.OTHERWISE LET ME READ SOME ME.yOU BE HOW?

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  16. a 500 bob coin.

    i need to come to uganda, soon.

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  17. @Lindah. i'll surely try. Thnx for passing by.

    @Minty, that's so true. Those chaps think they r so bright. Or r they? But too dirty.

    @Robyn. Thanx 4 passing by. I personally detest weddings. i find them so boring.

    @Silver bow. The makeover............wait for it.

    @31337. Please come soon. Actually u shd be there for Chanel's pareeee.

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  18. I miss, Ntinda, bodas...
    Well, this list could get long. lol

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