Whenever I travel overseas on business trips, I usually try to jot down notes about the country or city I am visiting, especially if it’s a location I think I won’t ever be able to go back to again. Oh well, for posterity’s sake. :)
This trip to the city of Dakar in Senegal has been an….um….interesting one so far. A lot of firsts.
Journey There and Dakar Airport
We took the Singapore-Paris-Dakar route. It was a tiring 13-hour trip from Singapore to Paris. Largely because I didn’t manage to sleep well. I caught 3 shows: Bridesmaids, The Beaver and Something Borrowed. There was a 9-hour layover in Paris and we ended up catching the train out to Paris city centre for lunch before rushing back to the airport for our flight. I’m proud to say I was the “tour guide” and led the way hehe. Well. Let’s just say that even when we got a little lost, I was still the one who asked for directions okay.
Flight from Paris to Dakar was…sigh. I was sitting next to this black guy who was tall and gangly and either kept poking me with his elbow or brushing his biceps against my shoulder. Did I mention he somehow managed to kick me twice during dinner? Though how he did it I don’t know cos we were sitting side by side. If you figure it out, let me know okay? Oh yah, did I mention he was an extremely fidgety guy?
And then voila, we reached Dakar. There was no aerobridge and we disembarked via a flight of rickety metal stairs. The first thing that struck me was how humid it was, considering I’d just come from a cold airplane. The second thing that struck me was that the Senegalese were very tall people. Tall. And very dark skinned.
We boarded a bus, and then had a 30-second bus ride to the terminal. Err…nice.
And then the long wait began for immigration procedures. WTF. I never knew there were that many people who went to Senegal. There were easily 200 people there? Many were French. And only a handful of us were there for the conference.
After the loooong immigration process came baggage collection. We stepped out of the immigration area…and were suddenly caught by the small size of the place (think Batam or Bintan immigration)….and the throngs of Senegalese men there. Quite chaotic. You’d walk a few steps and have a guy approach you.
“Bonjour! Welcome! Japan? China? Thailand? Where your luggage? I help you carry!” OR “Taxi? Need taxi?” OR “Hello. Hello! What hotel? Where? I bring you!”
There’s zero security at the airport. Come on, how the hell do these guys get INTO the baggage collection area?? I thought this was a restricted area in ALL countries leh! I wished to say “Bugger Off” but of course I couldn’t. A smile and a firm “no” seemed to be the better option.
And it was equally chaotic outside the airport. Even worse actually. I’m really glad the conference organisers provided free shuttle for all delegates.
Hotel
At this point, I’d like to refresh your memory. I titled this post with <<“D” Day>>. Know what the capital “D” stands for? Well, it stands for “Disappointing.”
After a 27 hour journey plus another 3hours to clear customs, travel, get to the hotel and complete check-in, all you really want is a nice room to rest in. The room was a letdown.
There was no complimentary water and no TV (although there was a TV bracket). There was a musty smell in the room, one of the lights in the washroom was broken, the table could not be used because the surface was really dirty (I have no idea what the stains were…bird shit? Lizard shit?)..the extra blanket could not be used too because there were quite a few strands of someone else’s hair, a Caucasian lady’s hair.
There were 2 safes but both were not working. The WIFI sucked, it was only available in the hotel lobby but I could not get onto the network. And then the worst thing of all is that my mobile cannot work here in Senegal. $%^^%&#@% M1 should look into having a telco partner here especially since both SingTel and StarHub already have partners here.
There was also a mosquito net covering the bed. An interesting experience since I’ve never ever slept within a net before.
No comments:
Post a Comment