Indochine

The Lonely Planet says that Indochine has the classiest dining room in Conakry. And how! If it weren't for all the Africans, I would never guess I was in any place other than a G7 nation. It's not the usual African attempt to put a veneer of class on an unmistakable Third World substrate. It even beats every place in my home on Capitol Hill in Seattle (not counting the places on Madison & roughly 25th that I haven't been to). The closest thing on Capitol Hill is Monsoon on 19th. The food at Monsoon is a bit more sophisticated, but the ambiance and atmosphere makes Indochine the better place. And this is coming from someone who regards Monsoon as the first choice restaurant to take a girl on a third date on a Friday night when I thought I might get lucky and want the evening to be perfect.

I tried to go at 5:40, but they don't open until 6:30. I thought maybe they'd let me in for a beer at least. An more typical African place would have so I was a bit surprised that they just told me that they open at 6:30. Since I had some time, I decided to go find a beer (despite a sun still high up in the sky) and soon found le Belvedere, also mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Le Belvedere is an odd place. It's by the Rue du Donka, though pretty quiet for all the traffic. Le Belvedere is like a place for wedding receptions and large birthday parties. I had a Skol for GF9000 + 1000 tip (US$2). Then I headed to Indochine.

The waitstaff at Indochine is impeccably trained. The girls wear what I believe are called chompas--those Chinese dresses with slit up both sides of their legs. It's kind of funny seeing black women wearing them. Especially since they have nice big round butts that are a little bigger than the chompas are designed for. I started out with a beer and a beef spring roll. I had sweet and sour pork with rice as a main. Then for dessert, lychees in syrup.

I read La Route. I'm at the end of the unassisted French reading that I started in Bissau. And like in Bissau, I had to fight back the tears. Finally after about 2 and a half hours, I paid my bill (GF14700--I left GF17000 or US$34) and headed out.

I made it back in the dark safe and sound. When I got to the hotel there was a new guy at the desk who did something that hotel people almost never do--for reasons I don't understand. He made me prove that I'm in the room I said I was in before giving me the key. Usually, I just say the number, they hand me the key, and I could be anyone. That sort of made me feel good about the Hotel du Golfe. I started the AC and tuned the TV to CNN. It's nice here.

I like Conakry. Guinea has really exceeded my expectations to the extent I had any expectations about a country that last year I probably couldn't have identified on an unlabeled map.

September 1, 2008 9:58 Guinea local time