Arrived back in Kuwait last Friday morning. It only took 22 hours overnight from hotel to hotel, at least the bar in Dubai airport was open 24 hours so managed to get some Guinness during my 5 hour stopover.
Lagos - what can I say?
After a dubious start with no room at the inn and the worries raised regarding the security of the city, things turned out pretty good. Don't get me wrong, it is definitly NOT a place to visit ubless you have to, as there are few amenities or relaxation places, bars, restaurants etc. But when you try to make the best of a bad spot you can have some fun.
The people I met there, as is the case anywhere, made the place livable. They were a collection of long term ex-pats who have made Lagos their home and mainly oil workers just passing through for a few months/years with no intention of staying.
Once you scratch the surface Lagos seems to be the last wild frontier town where almost anything goes. The people are aware of the need for tight security, with armed police at the doors of the places where foreigners gather, but are pretty relaxed about the situation. It is a bit disconcerting the first time you go to a bar where you have to run the gauntlet or armed guards but after a while you just nod to them and enter, just as you do the bouncers at the pubs back home on a Saturday night.
I managed to fall on my feel and was luck that Pat's bar was just around the corner from my hotel so I could walk there and back. I met a whole collection of odd-ball characters there, I suppose you must be a little strange just to accept a contract in what most of the rest of the world considers one of the 10 most dangerous places on earth. They ranged from the ex-military from all cornerd of the empire who cannot get off the adventure trail to the young graduates looking to get on it for the first time. There were the guys who just loved the place and have taken a local wife and want to stay and create their own business, the ones that have a family back in their homeland who have taken up with a local girl as their in-country girlfriend to deflect the bipedal mosquitoes and the others who are like a kid in a candy shop and want to try a diferent sweet every time.
Then there are the bipedal mosquitoes, the bar girls. These come in roughly two flavours, the hard core working girls who are out every night looking for a mark to spend the night with at a cost of up to 10,000 Nira (£40/$80) although I have been told that you can haggle although I heard the going rate was about 8,000. A lot of these girls had travelled up from Port Harcourt in the oil fields of the Delta region once the ex-pats pulled out a few months ago once things there became too dangerous. Then there are the weekenders, the young college girls who are looking for fun, dancing and a few beers. If someone can supply these great, if they can find a foreign boyfriend so much the better. These girls ask money, as does everybody in Nigeria, for things like text books, cloths, shopping. I heard that after they get you hooked they also have a whole army of sick relatives that need taking care of. People have to be tough to get by.
On the whole like most places I have travelled to it took a little while to get into the local culture and find out just what the place is like. I feel that I was starting to understand the island when I left. I still could not see the attraction of staying for years but would not be adverse to returning to learn more. I have always thought that 3 months is the minimum needed to get a good feel of a place, as work takes up most of you time, so a month was a bit short. But still better than 2 week holiday time anywhere.
If any af the people from Pat's ever get to read this, then thanks for a great time.
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