Kampala

---

---

The drive from Sipi to Kampala, in the absolute luxury of Stu and Karens Toyota Prado, saved us about 7 hours of bum- and knee- bruising matatus from Sipi to Mbale, then Mbale to Kampala. In addition to this luxury, there was also entertainment! A new, surely unbeatable record on Brain Training on the Nintendo DS was set by Adam at 1637 on the way. (Beat that lads!).

Horrible moment: on the way down the winding road from Sipi we saw the aftermath of an accident where a truck + trailers seemed to have gone straight on at a bend. Later foun out that truck AND trailer were carrying A LOT of soldiers and their families, and approximately 70 PEOPLE died in that one accident. Horrific.

Anyway, we stopped off at Jinja on the way for some lunch at a place called Two Friends just around the corner from Nile River where we went Rafting, where staff ineptitude had reached epic proportions. We order our food. We wait, oh for about 45 minutes. We get our drinks. We wait a bit more, maybe fifteen more minutes. The waitress appears and tells Marianne that they have run out of peperoni for her pasta dish... only an hour after ordering. We tell the waitress that we don't mind and that we'll have it without. Then we wait a bit more...and a bit more... I decided to have a quick shave and Marianne finished reading War and Peace. And we waited...and oh yes... did I mention that we waited a bit. Then after just over two hours or more we finally get our food. This place seats a lot people from the table arrangement in the garden, I'm surprised there weren't emaciated customers lying around on the grass trying to crawl feebly to their cars to go and get some food.

So we didn't exactly see Kampala backpacker-style. Karen, Stu Chris and Keiren very kindly invited us to stay at their place for a few days. Bliss! You can't imagine how nice it is to stay in of an evening, to sit in the living room in front of the TV with a dog on your knee, when you've been on the road for several weeks! To be able to cook in a kitchen instead of on a camping stove! But more than bliss, more than just home comforts... they have a MAID! She did our laundry for us and (more fantastic still) she even cleaned our hiking boots of the Mt Elgon mud. Finally (and I have run out of superlatives for this) she actually washed Adam's sandals. Has she lost her sense of smell? Is she immune to biohazards? Nevermind, the main thing was, we were clean! We had a very relaxing few days, caught up on some internet and photo stuff, shopped, had some nice meals, recharged all camera batteries etc. Didn't really see much of Kampala!

So big thanks to Stu, Karen, Keiren and Chris!

---

Photos

I may be the oldest...
...but I am the BOSS!
Spud is in charge of the many Bretell family canines