Partying in Point Noire

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This will be my last entry in my little West Africa journey. The city I've been at for just under a week is Point Noire, in the Republic of Congo, or Congo-Brazzaville.

To sum things up in a sentence: I've had one hell of a fantastic time here and I already miss it. I've spent my nights drinking with many new friends and dancing till my feet are sore all throughout the night. The local beers, Mutzig and one other with a crocodile on it are very tasty as well! Everyone speaks French and I more or less am able to communicate with everybody even though my french skills are not that good. I was amazed at how much hidden knowledge resides deep in my noggin as well. I guess it pays to have paid a little attention back in school all those years ago.

Ok, the bars and dance clubs. There are a couple really awesome ones along the beach and are mainly touristy in nature. One being (in english), “The Pyramid Club” which is this great open bar right along the water with a great pool bar as well. My favourite though would have to be the platinum club which is pretty much locals only right off the beaten track, but I got in seeing as I'm nice and made a bunch of friends. I tell you, the ladies will tire you out (dancing that is).

The food, from the motel selection to the various vendors on the street are all impressive and cheap. The Parisian culture certainly shows itself with a lot of dishes, but the local flair gives it that wonderful african taste. I also had more goat-kabobs, which I'm now addicted too. The fruit as always is pretty much straight off the trees and explodes in your mouth full of juices. I think I also had one of the best steaks in recent memories at this little hole in the wall joint right downtown.

Getting around is like any place in West Africa; just hail one of the thousands of blue/white cabs. I felt totally safe in this part of the country, though I would never wander around at night unless I had some people with me. There are only a few paved roads and there is sand everywhere, so my sandals got a good workout.

Even though there were not many tourist places to go visit, I still kept myself way to entertained. Along the outskirts of the city is thick rain forest which nobody really enters. I finally managed to buy some souvenirs too, which were incredibly cheap. Malachite figures, carved ebony and mahogany statues, you name it, they had it. Cheap Rolexes as well! I walked away with a bunch of nice figures to remember my trip with. If you wanted, and went digging you could find ivory, various gems and other possibly dubious in origin stuff. Like I said, they had everything.

Now I'm sitting back in Nova Scotia enjoying not working but missing all the good times I had which are far too many to list here. I can definitely see myself heading back to Ghana and the Congo later on in life, though I may wait on exploring Nigeria again until all the kidnappings stop.

Now it is time to dream about new trips and adventures. I'll be updating this when I'm off to Montreal for a spell sometime in August.

Toodleedoo for now!

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Photos

Point Noire
Need to shove a normal picture of me in here

Souvenir stand
Good place to go shopping!

Point Noire
View from my room

Point Noire
Another view from my room

Point Noire
Another view from my room

Point Noire
View down one of the main roads in the centre of the city

Point Noire
Another view of the main drag

Point Noire
Another shot of stuff from my room window

Point Noire
Downtown

Cab
90% of the vehicles on the road are coloured like this

Club
One of the many clubs

Train tracks
Everyone crosses these tracks if you want to head right downtown

Vendor
One of the many street vendors

Souvenir stand
Another angle from the cab

Point Noire
Random shot of a shop

Dave
Dave at one of the local bars

Me slightly drunk
My pal Dave is there as well

Leah
This gal feeds me lots of booze

Comments

[Field Engineer Doug]

look what I found
I typed in a search for Pt. Noire and bar into Yahoo, and your blog is what I found. I think I worked with you on the Comanche. Funny to see dave on the blog too. HA HA HA HA. Isn't Pt Noire a real tourist destination. Mama Nunu really knows how to take care of us, huh.

[michael]

fun
i lived there as a white man when times were bad, but the pepole were good i miss my friends. i once had i lived there for a year. i saw alot of sadness, in the 90s.

[Barbara]

Thank you
It was lovely reading about your holiday. It made me remember my holoday in Senegal and the photos of the place are sooooo similar. I hop to get there again some time. Thanks Again... Barbara

[Marc]

Point Noire
Don't know who Mama Nunu is, nor where here place is. But what I do know is that it is worth while paying a visite to "Le Crépuscule". The place closes at 1 min to 8 in the morning and re-opens at 8 o'clock. Also La Terrasse, if still existing, is a nice place. Marc