Cheeky monkeys

I was hoping that our bus from Nairobi to Kampala would take somewhere close to the estimated 11 hours, and that we would arrive nice and early in the morning. That would have allowed me time to get to the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) office before they closed at 1pm (it was a Saturday) to inquire about getting a permit to see the mountain gorillas. But of course the bus took 17 hours and so we arrived after the office closed.

So after lunch I decided to head out to one of the really nice places to stay as a treat after the long journey. I negotiated with a motorcycle-taxi guy, and was a little suspicious when he accepted a low price, but we headed off regardless (the place was a few kilometers outside the city) . When we arrived I got talking to the caretaker guy outside the hostel who informs me that the hostel was closed for renovations, and had been closed for months. It was immediately obvious that the taxi guys knew full well this place was closed (it's a very popular backpacker place, highly recommended by the guide), which explained why the guys accepted a low price - they knew we were now stuck outside the city and obviously needed transport to another hostel, and assumed we'd have to pay them more to take us there.

But they hadn't reckoned on encountering a machine-savvy dude such as myself, who certainly wasn't going to let these cowboys away so easily. I asked the caretaker guy if there was anywhere else within walking distance, and all he could suggest was a place right next door, but that it was a real luxury place, and very expensive. So I told our motorcycle-taxi dudes to wait for a bit as I legged it next door (about 150 meters up the road) and checked it out. It turned out to be a mighty luxurious place alright (The Kariba Country Club), with a price tag to match, but I reckoned I'd rather pay these guys $120 extra for a plush place than the taxi cowboys $2 to bring us to a different hostel.

So I legged it back to Sarah and the lads, asked them to drop us both up the road (I hadn't paid them anything up until now of course). They didn't know exactly what I was at, so said OK, and then I just hopped off at the Country Club, paid them the low initial taxi fare and said thanks very much and goodbye. They were pretty peeved to say the least, as their little plan had backfired, but I was walking away when Sarah started to cave in to their pleading for more money. I kept telling her to just walk away, trying to explain to her that they had attempted to cheat us, but she ended up giving them a few bob more - which kinda pissed me off, as really she was rewarding them for trying to rip us off. Ah well, you live and learn I suppose...

So anyway, the Country Club really was lovely, and a great relief after the long bus journey. It was really quite, so I had the lovely swimming pool, steam room and sauna pretty much all to my myself, and I made the most of all of them. We were waiting for the UWA to open on Monday morning to see what our next plan of action would be, so we just relaxed at the Club and walked around Kampala for the weekend (checking out all the five-star hotels of course, of which only one is really worthy of the stars - the Nile, which I hope to go back to and eat in the restaurant, apparently the best in Uganda (it was closed on Sundays)) .

Suppose I should mention the only Irish bar we've been in so far, simply because I think the name is cool, and it was actually a really nice, genuine bar. Even though we were there early afternoon on a Sunday, the place had a really cool feel to it and I'd hope to go back if we spend much more time in Kampala. Anyway, it's called Bubbles O'Leary's - and I reckon it's worth a visit if your passing this way any time soon.