CHOCQUIBTOWN - Somos Pacifico. How amazing is this group?
The one place I want to see the most…
is Palenque San Basilio in Colombia. In the midst of the massive love affair I am having with Colombia at the moment, and so getting to learn more about AfroColombia is way up on the list.
Colombia: the Central Bank with an art collection
Colombia is a revelation. Let us start with the central bank webpage advertising an art collection open to the public. Where else is that done?
“Exhibits Permanent Banco de la República Art Collection consisting of nearly 3,000 paintings, sculptures and assembly of Colombian and Latin American masters from the XVI century to our days. [...]
Escape to Accra
Accra is my new favorite place. Got here yesterday morning and instantly fell in love with the place. The warmth, the openness, the constant positive references to Africa, it’s too much so now I must find some way to spend more time here. On Thursday evening I went from the airport in [...]
Chilling in Djibouti
I just got back from Djibouti and the amazing Palace Kempinsky. It is a beautiful behemoth of a hotel with almost no guests: courtesy of it having being built for the recent COMESA Heads of State Summit and with very few other conceivable reasons for existing. But then before I get into that [...]
Lamu Calling
Word is out, the ticket is in hand, the speedo packed and the aspirin counted, I am going to The Kwani Literary Festival in Lamu from December 21st to 28th. What could be better than surf and sand and books and people who love them?
Lamu from the tourist brochures is described as ‘hypnotically exotic’ [...]
Charm kills art and I fear it has murdered in Addis Ababa
I was recently rewatching Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited when a friend of mine, who is on a one-year writing fellowship in London asked whether he should move house to Oxford so that he could commute to London for his classes. Oxford, which is a city that I enjoy and like, is ever associated in [...]
Change of Subject and Trip to Asia
I suspect that there is a saboteur out to get bullets and honey; in the last week paragraphs have disappeared from the blog and I just now had a techie friend fix the problem (with embarrasing ease.) Maybe this is what I get for dipping my toes into Kenya’s treacherous tribal wars, in which case [...]
Staring Death in the Face on the Drive to Jomo Kenyatta Airport
After a week of Digital Indaba polemics, entertaining outraged comments from South Africa, I had my moment of Outrage on the way to the airport yesterday morning. My flight for Addis Ababa from Nairobi was scheduled to leave at such a time as made it necessary for me to be at the airport by [...]
A Son of the Soil in Khartoum
I am in Khartoum and I need a drink. Badly. But there are none to be had here or at least in no place that I know. Most women are covered up demurely which only seems to raise my curiosity rather than diminishing it. This is my first time here and [...]
From the Land of the blondes to that of the Two Niles
I left Copenhagen a few days ago and find that my experience of that city was quite underwhelming even without having expected much on arrival. Perhaps it is because I was there for too short a time to appreciate anything more than its architecture and its tourist face. But even on the level [...]
Up North in the Land of the Blondes
Back to the land of high-speed wireless internet. Otherwise known as heaven. I must post about Copenhagen even if it is only about my initial impressions which are shrouded in a heavy fog of ignorance. Before I do that though, do you believe that there is such a thing as destiny when you meet [...]
Destination Djibouti
My brother and I have been in Djibouti for the past six hours or so and I am already in love with the city. In the first place, after more than fifteen winters in the US and the UK, there is nothing I enjoy better than extreme, humid heat. To celebrate, I foolishly [...]
And then I woke up in Amsterdam
Your friendly blogger has been in the Netherlands for the past couple of hours after a long sleepy flight from Addis Ababa. How surreal it is to step off a plane a few hours later and be somewhere so different from where I left. I have never gotten over the feeling that flying is [...]
Concorde or my first two hours clubbing in Addis Ababa
And so now it can be said: mmk has visited the famous Concorde in Addis Ababa. And what little shreds of innocence that were still (reluctantly) hanging off me have now been stripped and buried for all eternity. Oh yes, to this son of the soil, innocence is a past state of being. [...]
My Best Friend’s Wedding
I just got back to London from Washington DC where my close friend was getting married this past weekend. Now this is a friend I have had since boarding school in Nairobi; we went to the States for university at about the same time; and roomed together in Brooklyn for some years. BK [...]
Fasting Diary: The Path (Back) to the Warrior
I have been fasting for the past six hours and cannot think from the hunger. I am delirious with it and cannot imagine that I will be able to maintain it for a week. My stomach after hearing that Head Division had ruled the start of a fast went into full scale battle [...]
The bitter tears shed when I compare my trip from home to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta Airport and from London’s Heathrow to my flat.
Back to the African Bullets & Honey monster after more than a month away from its ravenous hunger. I only got back to London early this morning after a month in Nairobi. Allow me to once again – because I believe I have blogged about this before – give you a glimpse of the inevitable [...]
What is English honour I wonder?
Is there such a thing as English honour? I mean really, what is this thing bandied about in every film and novel about the English ruling classes? I only bring it up after watching the latter half of a 1960s TV adaptation of Kidnapped, the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. The word honor was uttered [...]
Goosie goosie gander where shall I wander? To MMK’s belly?
Well, say it then, what did you do on Christmas day? At the last minute, having expected to have a quiet day, I decided to go the whole nine yards and engage in a feasting, gifting orgy. As usual the rush of the mob took me headlong with it and I was unable [...]
Fearful Streets and Burning Hearts in Addis Ababa
I just flew back from Addis Ababa where I have spent the last couple of days attending a meeting. The streets were empty of traffic, as most city residents remained indoors in response to demonstrations and riots that have wracked the city for the past week. At least forty-five civilians are dead, killed [...]
Mommy, When I Grow Up I Want to be a Gigolo in Monaco!
Your friendly blogger is in Monaco and blogging less than fifty yards from where this photo was taken. Yes, indeed, it is time to break into song:
Well we’re Movin’ on Up!
Movin’ on Up!
To Monaco!
Movin’ on Up!
To a dee-luxe apartment in the sky, We’re movin’ on up!
Movin’ on Up!
To Monaco!
Movin’ on Up!
We’ve finally got a [...]
Dr. Roland Returns to Breakdown Riga’s Art Nouveau Architecture
A few months ago, after I had visited Paris, my cocky little pronouncement on IM Pei’s glass pyramid was taken to task by my friend, the redoubtable Dr. Roland, who wrote an entertaining and thought provoking post on the symbolism and ideas in architecture. A couple of days ago, fresh from Riga, I asked [...]
Riga
A closer view of Saint Mauritius, patron saint of the Hanseatic League’s unmarried merchants.
Riga pic
Riga
Riga pic 2
Old Town, Riga. The dude behind me penned over 200,000 folk songs and stories which form the foundation of Latvian nationalism. Remember that you folks who are always goin on about wanting to record your grandparent’s stories (and yet never getting round to it). There are more than 1.2 million of the [...]
Jurmala Beach, Latvia: “mommy, how come that uncle is so dark?”
My hosts using more energy than is healthy for a man on vacation like myself. A few minutes earlier, they translated how a little girl who had pointed at me while asking her mom politely in Latvian, “mommy, how come that uncle is so dark?” I would have loved to hear the answer. [...]
Jurmala Beach, Latvia: Stiletto Heels on the Beach
I noticed thousands of little holes in the hard packed sand on the beach and thought that they might be some kind of insect or crab nests. But they turned out to have been made by women walking on stiletto heels on the sand! I did not believe it till I saw it [...]
Jurmala Beach, Latvia
Lazy blogger takes a breather on Jurmula beach on the Baltic Sea, 30 minutes by train from Riga, Latvia
Riga pic 3
A closer view of Saint Mauritius, patron saint of the Hanseatic League’s unmarried merchants.
Riga pic 4
Riga
riga 5
Old Town, Riga. The dude behind me penned over 200,000 folk songs and stories which form the foundation of Latvian nationalism. Remember that you folks who are always goin on about wanting to record your grandparent’s stories (and yet never getting round to it). There are more than 1.2 million of the [...]
Alien in Riga, Latvia
I have just spent my first 24 hours in Riga where I will be for the next four days and yes, there is even a chance that I shall tear myself away from the sidewalk cafes and do some blogging. As I was expecting, I was the only brother on the streets with the [...]
Guess What I was Doing…
When not blogging, this is what I do in the Welsh countryside: wear stupid looking helmets and swing around on wires. This was a corporate retreat and we were doing the skytrek where you get transported for 2km high above the ground from platform to platform hitched to a wire. Then we did [...]
Gannibal: the Moor of St. Petersburg
On the right is Ibrahim Abram Petrovich Gannibal flanked by his great grandson, Aleksandr Pushkin.
The extraordinary Gannibal was the African great-grandfather of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, who spoke proudly of his own inherited “blackamoor profile”. Read a review of Hugh Barnes’ extraordinary biography about this Chadian who changed the face of Russian history.
The Indian Shopkeeper
This morning, I went to my local corner store here in London which is run by a family of Indian immigrants. Since it closes at 2pm every Sunday, I asked whether it was because of some government regulation. ‘No’, came the answer,’ I work everyday of the week and take Sunday afternoons off [...]
Back From St. Petersburg
Indeed I am back, back to the land of boiled cabbage and queues. In the White Night of St. Petersburg’s summer, blogging, surfing and generally keeping up with the world receded in importance. The hangovers did not help for that is a land where beer is considered a soft drink and seeing some dude taking [...]
The Vodka Haze and Related Matters in St Petersburg
Never ever try and blog as a Kenyan in St Petersburg, Russia. It is not possible; it is beyond the bounds of credulity and possibility. They have this clear, tasteless substance called Russian Standard Vodka and it really has been sad for this particular African. The toasts don’t stop, or the misplaced [...]
pic
Graffiti outside the flat that Raskolnikov supposedly lived in. Raskolnikov is the most famous of Dostoevsky’s characters. The dude basically offs old ladies believing that he is beyond the bounds of good or evil, and of course this has made him madly popular among angst-hungry western intellectuals.
another pic
This is a picture of an African scalp outside Kazansky Cathedral in St. Petersburg. I am living just up the street and have spent an inordinate amount of time seating in a small park next to the cathedral. It was, I am told, built at the beginning of the 19th century by Alexander [...]
An African in St. Petersburg: The Arrival
From today, I will try and keep a kind of diary of my two-week trip to St. Petersburg. Hopefully I will be able to find a computer that I can use to upload the pictures that I am taking.
The Arrival
I flew into St. Petersburg yesterday evening on a flight from Vienna. I have [...]
pic
Bob Geldof lets out the strange mix of profanity and plea making that has become his signature tune. Whenever I catch these so called Africa saviours on TV, the urgency of their appeals and the faux concern they exude always leaves me enraged. They use African poverty and suffering like a prop for [...]
Kenyan Blogger Party in London and Nairobi
I know that many bloggers like to be anonymous on account of their sick thoughts and libellous posts. Be that as it may, I am going to host a small party for Kenyan bloggers at one of my palatial homes in London during the course of July or early August. The point of [...]
Blam! And You Thought You Knew Architecture (I.M. Pei)
One of my best friends, Roland, recently sent me a response to a cocky little email I had sent him awhile ago just after I had visited Paris for the first time. On seeing I.M. Pei’s famous glass pyramid in the Louvre, I pronounced it Mitterrand and Republican France’s middle finger to the monarchism [...]
Blam! And You Thought You Knew Architecture (I.M. Pei)
One of my best friends, Roland, recently sent me a response to a cocky little email I had sent him awhile ago just after I had visited Paris for the first time. On seeing I.M. Pei’s famous glass pyramid in the Louvre, I pronounced it Mitterrand and Republican France’s middle finger to the monarchism [...]
Paris pic
The beautiful sights one is likely to see in the Louvre Gardens.
Paris pic2
Fit bastards. You will notice the woman in the yellow T-shirt who was also a Capoeirista, but in terrible shape. Yet there she was doing these crazy somersaults and twisting every which way. I was aghast, it has been years since I could be flexible enough to fold a fist!
Capoiera pic - Paris
Capoeira on the streets just outside the huge and madly expensive Printemps. It was right about this moment when I decided that I indeed need to get my lazy self fit.
Paris3
Lazy blogger after an afternoon feeling badly dressed compared to sleek Parisians, decides to spend scarce funds to purchase pimp suit.
Paris again
Lazy blogger hanging about Paris playing at being a tourist while worrying about his dissertation the whole time…
Kenyan Election Monitor Claims UK Vote Rigging
As the hapless Brits head to the polls today, I have decided to represent Kenya as an election observer just in case the Labour Party or its Conservative and Liberal Democrat rivals should decide to rig the results. Tony Blair has been looking particularly dodgy and given to the sweats when interviewed on TV, looks [...]
A Quick Note From An African in Paris
I have just returned to London from a long weekend in Paris. Ah, Paris - all the clichés are true: the waiters are abrupt, the women sophisticated and the city is pathetically beautiful. There was such a relaxed atmosphere, which was especially noticeable among Africans when compared to their London or even New [...]
Can a 419 Scam Letter Lead to Romance?
I received a 419 email letter a year ago and on the spur of the moment decided to begin a dialogue with the writer, a Miss Naomi Bangura whose father “lost his life in the course of the crisis in Seira loene.” Fortunately for her, he had willed her $14.3 million in a Cote D’Ivoire [...]
Stop Moaning: The English Response to Years of Defeat
How did the English ever manage to conquer such a large swath of the world? London can barely run itself much less entire continents, I should know because I live here.
Train tracks are held in place by blocks of wood, rusty nails and a brick. The train system, like virtually every other public service [...]
Stop Moaning: The English Response to Years of Defeat
How did the English ever manage to conquer such a large swath of the world? London can barely run itself much less entire continents, I should know because I live here.
Train tracks are held in place by blocks of wood, rusty nails and a brick. The train system, like virtually every other public service [...]
Dr. Roland Returns to Breakdown Riga’s Art Nouveau Architecture
A few months ago, after I had visited Paris, my cocky little pronouncement on IM Pei’s glass pyramid was taken to task by my friend, the redoubtable Dr. Roland, who wrote an entertaining and thought provoking post on the symbolism and ideas in architecture. A couple of days ago, fresh from Riga, I asked him [...]