February 16 :: Dakar, Senegal
February 16 :: Dakar, Senegal :: 73km / 2884km total
The most unpleasant ride of my trip. A traffic-choked, dieselly, cramped and, at times, dangerous road into Dakar. Madness. Navigation was tricky, too: I had to use dead reckoning for parts of the route since road signs and names were scarce. The only nice part of the trip was that a local cyclist (riding an Italian-made carbon fibre road bike) rode with me for about 20km, chatting away.
Off the bike Dakar was little better, and takes its place among the bottom of my list of "capital cities that I've been to". Its pretty much opposite to the rest of Senegal - cramped, dirty, aggressive, with a seedy undertone. I did what had to be done here, quickly - air ticket from Gambia to Sierra Leone (hopping over Guinea, a country now under martial law)... changed some money, and I checked out the market for shea butter (nothing to get excited about). Sure, some good food and drinks, but unless the nightlife proves to be exceptional I'm outta here tomorrow.
The most unpleasant ride of my trip. A traffic-choked, dieselly, cramped and, at times, dangerous road into Dakar. Madness. Navigation was tricky, too: I had to use dead reckoning for parts of the route since road signs and names were scarce. The only nice part of the trip was that a local cyclist (riding an Italian-made carbon fibre road bike) rode with me for about 20km, chatting away.
Off the bike Dakar was little better, and takes its place among the bottom of my list of "capital cities that I've been to". Its pretty much opposite to the rest of Senegal - cramped, dirty, aggressive, with a seedy undertone. I did what had to be done here, quickly - air ticket from Gambia to Sierra Leone (hopping over Guinea, a country now under martial law)... changed some money, and I checked out the market for shea butter (nothing to get excited about). Sure, some good food and drinks, but unless the nightlife proves to be exceptional I'm outta here tomorrow.
posted by Graham Durrant at 8:47 AM
2 Comments:
Graham,
Over Lunch with Chandeep this past Thursday we were reminiscing and your name came up. He enlightened me on your adventures and passed me your URL. This is fantastic !!
Chandeep and I both agreed that this is good fun for us never mind you. It allows those who are firmly tethered to the North American content to live vicariously threw the likes of you!
This is Exciting, Bold, Courageous, …perhaps functionally insane too.
I have passed around the URL to a few of the people here that will know you from the weeks of non stop, round-the clock coding …R-e-m-e-m-b-e-r?
Compared to this that was another life!
Stephen
Ha, good to hear from you Stephen. Hope all is well there. I still owe Chandeep a few lunches when I get back! Keep on plugging away at it all, keep our financial services industry afloat!
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