Last night was supposed to be my last night in Bamako. So, I decided to splurge a fourth day and visit a Thai place in the same block as the Appaloosa, le Café du Fleuve, and the Hôtel Yamey. I got there at 7:01. It opens at 7. Whew! I didn't have to wait.
Naturally, I was the only customer. I ordered a Castel beer and perused the menu. They have 3 set menus--CFA 9000, CFA 14000, and CFA 24000. I felt about CFA 14000 hungry, so I got that. The entrée was a plate with a samosa, 2 deep fried spring rolls, and 2 shumai. They were all delicious. I savored every bite. Next I got chicken curry with rice. It was a yellow thai curry. That was really good, too. About now, the place is starting to fill up--mostly white people again except a table of 8 Indians or possibly Pakistanis (I never want to guess wrong--Pakistanis are often confused for Indians the way Canadians are confused with Americans and Kiwis are confused with Aussies).
Finally it was time for dessert. If I have a quibble, it is with the dessert--not the flavor--ice cream with melted chocolate hardened by the cold of the ice cream. But the timing. I would like to have finished my beer before getting ice cream. And when they brought the ice cream, that's when they asked if I wanted tea or coffee. The coffee didn't come until I was almost done since the ice cream was melting. I want my coffee with my dessert--especially when there is chocolate because I like the sweet chocolate/bitter coffee flavor combination.
Finally, since it was busy, I just sat there reading La Route/The Road.
Then I headed home. A guy found me right there. He spoke English (bad sign) and told me we was an artist (another bad sign), and walked all the way back to the Maison des Jeunes with me trying to convince me to buy these 2 bronze figurines. He started at CFA 10000. Then CFA 8000. Then CFA 5000. Then CFA 4000. I had decided not to buy anything in Mali because the merchants here use accusations of racism and I don't want to support locations where verbal abuse against tourists occurs. But this guy didn't. And I actually liked the figurines. So just outside the gate, I decided to buy them. He didn't have a CFA 1000 note--and I only had a CFA 5000 bill, so I got a CFA 500 coin and paid CFA 4500 (US$9). They were bit heavier than I had hoped, but oh well. They'll look neat on my desk. It's a couple sitting each with little bowls in their laps. The bowls are about the size to hold a chocolate truffle.
Then came my hellish night. I had been drinking the local tap water and it's been catching up with me. Last night was the worst. The bathrooms are a nightmare, the water tank is overhead and leaks on you while you're squatting. I'll spare the details. I made a few trips, each grosser and more hellish than the previous. I came to absolutely despise the Maison des Jeunes. Mosquitos were swarming into my 10'x10' room with filthy walls. There's so much junk on my walls, I can't tell what's a resting mosquito and what's just bits of garbage stuck to the walls. I didn't fall asleep until 5am. I sure didn't want to face a trip to Ségou in this condition.
So I decided to spend another day in the Yamey. I could get a hot shower, a very comfortable bed with the second nicest pillows I've had in Africa (the Carlton's in Banjul were #1), a mosquito free room, both a fan and AC, French TV--I don't understand it yet but I love listening to French French, and possibly the internet would be working again. And the woman behind the desk is so sweet and happy. So now I'll work on recovering for a trip to Ségou tomorrow.
September 18, 2008 11:39 Mali local time
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