Sunday, February 1, 2009

Our First Day Out


Sat 31st Evening
This afternoon we travelled into Jinja town to acclimatise, find ATMs where we could get some local currency, have a bit of a look around and then we enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant. Some people found that their cards only work at one particular bank, and unfortunately both branches of that bank had very long queues that appeared not to be moving. We will try again tomorrow. Again we were amazed at the people wandering around, not only during the afternoon but also at night as we came home. Jinja town is a place unlike any I know about in Australia. The vast majority of shops are tiny little rooms smaller than most stalls at Victoria Market. The streets were asphalted, but had huge potholes all over the place and parts that have just been washed away. Adherence to road rules in the town centre was as bad as anywhere else, despite signs pleading for people to obey them. We found of course that there are different prices for Mzungus and Ugandans and you have to work hard to get a bargain, whils some things are remarkably cheap. Internet access to upload these posts and check a few emails etc is 500 Shillings or about 45 cents! Tomorrow we are going off to church at the local church where our breakfast cook Grace attends. Should be fun.

1 comment:

  1. So good to read your blogs Ron. I loved Jinja. A truly remarkable place with people everywhere. I never felt unsafe in the least. The market has to be the best place in town. I got there at least 4 times. So different to Vic Market.

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