Impressions of Gambia and Ziguinchor

I usually do an impressions post but I didn't do one for these places yet. Banjul is an interesting place. Rainy, English written everywhere--often misspelled--like the "Lub Bay" at the local gas station. They seem a bit behind the Senegalese. But that may be just because Banjul is a really small city whereas Dakar is a large city. There a lot of stores near the port. Many sell African cloth. If I were a sewer, I would be in textile heaven in Africa. The cloth here is the most amazing cloth I've ever seen in my life. I had a hard time finding postcards. I guess they don't really do them here. I found some at the museum, but that's it.

A lot of the goods here move around in wheelbarrows. You're always seeing people carting stuff around in wheelbarrows. Seems inconvenient. A two wheeled cart would be much better.

The public transportation system is a bit tricky to learn at first, but I figured it out just as I was leaving Banjul. Were I to stay there longer, I would have done D6 bus rides to the Atlantic coast rather than the D200 taxi rides.

The Atlantic resorts are semi-decent. They try. But there's no getting around the fact that The Gambia is a poor and slowly developing nation.

Ziguinchor is bigger than Banjul, apparently. The downtown is probably smaller, though. It was wet the whole time I was there. I walked the streets that had stuff according to the Lonely Planet. There wasn't much there. I saw the big boat that lies it's way between Dakar and Ziguinchor sitting at dock. Quite an impressive boat. Maybe that boat is why all those white people were there?

Even though it isn't really a tourist destination, there is still apparently enough tourism that the "Mon Ami! Ça va?" shysters can still be found.

La Flamboyant Hotel is quite interesting. They don't seem to trust anyone. You have to pay before you get your room, and when you checkout, they check your mini-bar fridge before giving you your deposit back. I guess it makes sense. Just sort of odd. They also require a long code to get the WiFi. But the WiFi connection is good. I downloaded the iTunes update and 22 episodes of This American Life. And got all caught up on all my blogging--both the ones I read and the one I write.

But not much else stands out about these places other than that.