Kigali Diary - stories from the city!
It's not easy to sum up Kigali in a post, so I will do it though a series of short stories. Kigali is the capital of Rwanda and has a population of about 1.2 million. It was founded in the year 1907 by the Germans.
This was my first visit to the country and I tried to make the most of it by spending as much time as I could out on the streets and interacting with people, apart from enjoying great coffee at every cafe I could locate :)
If I have to write about one thing that impressed me the most about the country then it has to be its cleanliness. The city is spotlessness clean and the roads everywhere have footpaths. All cars follow traffic rules and its hard to miss the sense of discipline.
I will hope to try and understand the city and the country and hopefully will be bring it alive for my readers also. Here are the first few stories...
Ethiopian Airlines
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Coffee at 36,000 feet! |
I had ordered for Hindu meal and they very happily served me chicken. When I told them I want vegetarian food, they looked clueless for a while. Of course I had not expected chicken with Hindu meal (thought Hindus are not always vegetarians), so even I was surprised. Anyway I took some wine and dug into my my bread and butter. And this is when they surprised me with a full platter of cheese and greens. My day was made :)
Kigali - first impressions
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Just as we were reaching Kigali... |
There wasn't a piece of paper on the streets, everyone followed traffic rules, there were parks all around and people were very friendly. I spent hours walking alone in town, and though everyone looked at this Indian guy walking purposelessly, I never felt unsafe. I didn't carry my camera with me, so was just soaking in the city.
You can also see a lot of police and what looked like military all over the market area. I tried taking a Selfie with a group but they politely refused. We did have a chat after that about the role of police there. The bunch was very keen to hear about India also from me.
Kigali - early shopping experiences
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A fairly crowded but neat lane... |
There was a beer and a milk container made out of wood which I really liked. Our of habit I mentioned that they are charging too much from me and they said it was because I was a rich man. I was such an honest answer that I paid them the price he initially told me and not the negotiated one. In my opinion, even his increased prices were very very affordable, or maybe I actually do qualify as a rich man here :)
Coffee in Kigali
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Coffee in the market... |
In Kigali, I actually had to look hard to find one. The market is large but surprisingly there are very few eating places. Many mobile shops, many stationary shops, many household shops, but very few for coffee. The first two places I found had already run out of their daily quota (it was only 3pm), and walked around and asked around till I found this sort of formal coffee shop.
I am sure not many tourists come their way because when I asked them for coffee with milk separate and no sugar, they went into a huddle to decide what to do :) Finally I got my black coffee with a rather large cup of milk (four times the coffee). The coffee was delicious...and it costed Rw 1000. From the French press I got, I could have three full cups!
Motorbike taxis - TVS Victor
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Getting all nostalgic about TVS Victor :) |
Though I was warned that these are often pillion rider killer, I still took one. It was super fun to ride even though I was cold, and the trip didn't feel like a killer one at all. I had my own helmet and it felt pretty safe. Moreover it was just one fifth of the cost of taking a full cab. I think I will use it much more often here, esp when I travel alone.
My first Rwandan meal
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My Tilapia meal! |
The fish was really good and I am sure I will have more of it in the next few days also. As for Mutzig, I will have that and experiment with other locally brewed variety as well. Someone also mentioned a local scotch and that's also on my list :)
Beer and more beer
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At the bar with my first bottle of beer :) |
Mutzig was the first beer offered to me and I loved it! I will soon be writing more on beer in the country (including local beer) but Mutzig is certainly the most popular bottled beer there!
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