My day was planned to be pretty low key. I wanted to get the second Western Union transfer and see the Museum and send postcards to the nieces. Other than that, no real plans. Just take it easy. The next night I intended to stay overnight in the airport in Lagos. Would it be just hanging out in a food court patrolled by Nigerian security guards and plenty of honest people doing the same as me? Or would it be defending my luggage from an onslaught of thieves eyeing my bags waiting for me to go to sleep or even just show a sign of weakness. Either way, I intend to stay up all night.
I got up nice and late and headed to the internet cafe. I did my usual stuff and lost my connection to my email just when I was going to send my itinerary to my parents. Sorry Mom & Dad. As long as you don't hear of any Virgin Nigeria crashes you shouldn't worry too much.
Then I headed to the post office. I got stamps but no postcards. There was a booth with postcards near the post office but they sucked pretty bad. I should either be able to find them in the Lagos airport or in Calabar.
I headed home to rest. Then I headed out to find the museum. I got lost on the way and I'm not sure how. The crowds in the Old City are thick and it's chaos. I had to cross a stalled convoy of gasoline tanker trucks. Eventually I found the museum described by Lonely Planet as the best in Northern Nigeria. I guess the museums in Northern Nigeria set a low bar. It was only N200 but it wasn't spectacular. It took me only about 10 minutes to blow through it. I passed a white couple who had a guide. The guides are apparently knowledgeable, but frankly from what I heard, he was going into more detail than I was in the mood for. I figured the couple was envious of me when I just read the descriptions by the photographs of the British troops in 1903 and blew past them.
I headed back to the hotel. I was tired and hot and wanted 2 things--a Star beer and to not be noticed by the Abuja woman. I got one of my wishes.
She wanted a Maltina and expected me to pay which I did since it's only a buck. So we chatted again. She was inside and saw me walk through the building. She suggested we go back inside because she was watching a TV show on the TV in there, but I said I preferred the cool outside. She was facing these 2 women at another table and then switched sides. She said they were jealous and saying bad things. They were speaking in their native language so I didn't know what they were saying. I'm not sure what this Abuja woman is. She asked if she wanted me to go get some suya, but I said I planned to eat some Chinese or Indian food later. She didn't know the Chinese had their own food. I guess she's a bit isolated. Also, I thought she knew what country I was from, but for some reason, she thought I was Zambia. I told her that, no, I'm American. We chatted some more about my trip. She asked me which is closer to Nigeria--America or Mali. I found it hard to believe it was a serious question, but it was. I guess as far as she's concerned, they might as well both be Mars. So odd. She got annoyed by the two women again and was a bit disconcerted by what they were saying. I didn't know what was going on. She wanted another Maltina. Dammit, but OK. A few ambulant merchants came by. One was selling cloth. The Abuja woman looked at a couple bolts of cloth. One was really nice and one was not really what I like. She asked me which I preferred. I sensed what she was up to. "I like that better", I said pointing to the nicer one, "but don't let me influence you because you are the one buying it." "You don't want to pay for me?" "Sorry, no." She sent the cloth salesman on his way.
It was starting to get dusky and I wanted to either eat Indian or Chinese food and that's over on the east side of town. She said she would walk with me until we got moto-taxis and she would go back to her town where her sister lives after I left. She led me a couple blocks south of the hotel for some reason rather than just flag one down on the big street by the hotel. One stopped. She talked with the guy after I told him I wanted to go to the Central Hotel. She told me not to take him, but he offered N50 (US$0.40) and I wasn't going to pass that up. A local price rather than a white price. I got on and bid her farewell. She warned me not to answer the door tonight if someone came knocking. Huh? I was a bit disconcerted. Who was she? Was she going to go back and try to convince the hotel staff that she's with me and they she needs the key to my place and then clean me out? I figured the hotel staff wouldn't fall for something like that. My experience is that the hotels are the hardest place to try to rip someone off. The entire staff knows who is staying there and they watch. African hotels have better de facto security than American hotels, in fact, simply because labor is so cheap in Africa that all hotels there have about 4 or 5 times more employees than an equivalently priced American hotel. And they keep an eye out for their guests. So I was a bit uneasy, but not too uneasy to ruin my expected meal.
The moto-taxi ride was great. It was the first one since my crash. I felt dominated by Nigerian since then. But now I was on the back of this moto-taxi and the driver was going up and down curbs and weaving between cars and cutting off other moto-taxis and being pretty aggressive. I had a couple of Stars in me, so I was just enjoying it. I felt like we were now dominating. I was reasserting my presence in Nigeria. I was on top of the world again. It was fun.
I got dropped off at the Central Hotel. It was now dark. I took at look at the Smart Tandoor restaurant and some Chinese place, but they both looked closed. It could just be that it was too early--only about 6:15. So I headed east one roundabout and headed south to where I knew there was another Chinese place and another Indian place. I found the Chinese Palace first and headed in.
As with all Chinese places in Africa, something critical on the menu is rediculously overpriced. It's always the soups and it's usually egg rolls as well. Here the egg rolls are pretty reasonably prices (N80 each) but the rice was overpriced (N280 for a small bowl of steamed rice). I got the mabo tofu (or as they call it, Minced Beef [Kano is heavily Muslim so it's not the usual pork] With Braised Tofu In Spicy Sauce--oh when will the world just learn how to say Mabo tofu?) and 3 egg rolls and an overpriced rice with a small bottle of water. The total came to about N1500 (US$12). It was a nice amount. I left and since this is a high class joint, there were moto-taxis out in front waiting for patrons. It was only N100 going back which is fair since it was night and you generally pay a premium to driver who wait for you rather than just meet on the street in traffic.
I got back and went up to my place. The moment of truth--did the Abuja woman convince the hotel staff that she was with me and get a key to my room? I opened the lock. Nope. Everything intact.
I set my alarm and watched TV. There was Entertainment Tonight which made me want to stay in Africa because I hate their forced insincere positivity and building up of celebrities and David Letterman which was fun to watch after so long--especially since one of his guests was Carla Bruni.
Then I packed a bit so there wouldn't be too much to do in the morning and went to sleep.
Thursday, November 20, 2008 21:22 Nigerian local time
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