Travel and Friendship

The thrill of meeting new people is one of the most exciting components of travel. For a quick second or minute or day or week, I can forget about the realities of my life and assume the role of a fearless adventurer. I can shake off all the restrictions that tie me down in the real world and fully connect with another human being. The friends you make while traveling, however, rarely become life long friends. Once all parties return home, a break in communication slowly builds because everyone has to deal with the realities of their physical lives. Two summers ago, I backpacked and volunteered in South East Asia. You can read about my experience here, here,here and here. While I was at a hostel in Bangkok, on an unsuspecting night, this guy from Chicago who lives New York City joined our international group on the balcony. He was a pretty cool and laid back guy so we decided to travel to Cambodia together.


My buddy at I with our new friends.
Angkor Wat? bar, Siem reap, Cambodia.
Summer 2010

You can read more about the experience in this post. I think we traveled together for about five days or less but we instantly became good friends. When we were done exploring Siem Reap, he left Cambodia and I continued exploring southward. Because of the nature of travel friendships, I really didn't expect to see him again. However, we kept in contact every now and then via email.


With Canadian backpackers at the same bar.
I met them again in the Southern region of Cambodia
Summer 2010

I visit New York City regularly so whenever I'm in town, we try to hang out. When we first met in South East Asia, he had talked about visiting Cameroon. Yes! in case you were wondering about my nationality, I am from Cameroon. There is a post about my blog on yahoo answers saying I am Nigerian. As much as I love Naija, Cameroon has claimed me lol.


On our way to the see the magnificent Angkor Wat temples
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Summer 2010

Anyways, back to the story. So my friend said he wanted to visit Cameroon. I never took him seriously until he purchased his plane ticket. He ended up visiting me in Cameroon about a month ago and it was, without the doubt, the best travel experience of my life. This is the first time a foreigner has ever visited me in Cameroon so it felt like I was also rediscovering a new Cameroon for the first time. At this point, we are more than just friends. I would proudly call him my brother. We got to know each other better, he was jokingly adopted by my parents, my friends love him and my siblings get along with him very well.


Chutes de la Lobé,
Kribi, Cameroon
January 2012

The moral of the story is the next time you travel, you might find family. When I bounce back from blogging laziness, I will chronicle my adventures in Cameroon. I will also do posts about the do's and don'ts of traveling to Africa. Cheers mates!

Sondre Lerche does Beyonce

Happy 2012 everyone. I hope the new year is living up to your wildest expectations. Let's get right into this shall we? My favourite Norwegian artist Sondre Lerche decided to do a cover of Beyonce's hit song Countdown. The result? EXPLOSIVE. I absolutely love his indie interpretation of such a classic r/b song. Below is a clip of Beyonce performing Countdown on Jimmy Fallon live.



Sondre's cover



Brilliant ain't it? soothes the soul like warm tea. To download a free copy of the song on Sondre's website, click here...and that's all folks, for now anyways. I spent the last month in THE MOTHERLAND aka mama Africa so I will be back soon with some proper travel posts. My last visit was over 2 years ago so this was a very special voyage for me.

Cheers!

Washington DC in a week

Legendary cupcakes


Seasoned to perfection


I attempted to crash a private screening of Tinker Tailor Soldier spy because Gary Oldman himself was in attendance...didn't work out so well.
















Chinatown








At the French Embassy


My new kicks. Totes dope! I'm in love.




Cannot wait for this movie. Fassbender, Virgo and Keira Knightley? Talk about the holy trinity.


I was fascinated by the glow of this electric water purifying system.


This is not DC. This was taken today, in my disheveled office on campus. I should be writing research papers not taking pictures. Oh well...

Shingai Shoniwa bikes for breast cancer

Shingai is currently the face of Nike Training club. It's the perfect gig for Shing because the gal is fit and gorgeous. Her mum was inspired to start a charity organisation called Ponayi after recovering from breast cancer last year. To raise money for Ponayi, Shing biked from London to Brighton (a whopping 70 miles) fully bedecked in Nike gear and a customised African headdress inspired helmet. Only you Shingai, only you. Check out the full Glam UK piece when you have a chance. Also check out this informative interview Shing did with planetnotion.






Reason number 1,984,984,382,678,302,987,567 why I am hopelessly in love in Shingai. This post is making me yearn for a chilly London afternoon. Who wants to travel to London with me? let's book our plane ticket, fly over and bike from London to Brighton. We can camp on a mountain top, start a fireplace, drink booze and watch the stars. Let's do it. Now!!!

Tallgrass Film Festival

This weekend was the annual Tallgrass Film Festival held in Wichita, Kansas. Yes! a film festival in the nucleus of America's Bible belt. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver, it screens over 100 movies every year. For what its worth, Tallgrass is decent. The diversity of movies is impressive and the turn out encouraging. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of cinema so what do you do on a weekend with no homework or student papers to grade? crash a film festival.


9 in the morning, ready for the first feature



The first movie I watched was Circumstance (Sharayet), an Iran-based movie written and directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz. The movie was released to critical acclaim and won the audience award at the 2011 Sundance film festival. The performances are astounding and the soundtrack beautifully heartbreaking. It is definitely a side of Iran the Western media has tried laboriously to hide from the public. Check it out and be wowed. Here's the trailer.




Off to the iconic Orpheum Theatre for the next movie.


Ticket purchase booth.


The ceiling of the Theatre.


An original 1951 poster used to market A Street Car Named Desire. The theatre opened in 1922 so it has tons of historic pieces lying around. You can't even begin to fathom how excited I was to see this poster. To say I'm a huge Brando fan would be understatement.


The theatre bathroom was heaps cool





Had my tallgrass ale beer ready for the next feature. The movie is called Tyrannosaur by British actor-screenwriter-turned-director Paddy Considine. To be completely honest, this movie is the only reason why I came to this festival. I'm a huge fan of Paddy's work so it was impossible for me miss his feature film debut. The movie did not disappoint, Paddy did not disappoint. He, together with his phenomenal actors, delivered. I was a little bumped he was not present with his crew for a Q&A session but then again, I'm sure they have better things to do than coming to Wichita. When the closing credits rolled, I was speechless. There was so much emotion in me, I could not speak or breathe. It is that good of a movie. Tyrannosaur has been picking up some major Oscar buzz especially for Olivia Colman in the best actress category. My British readers probably recognise Olivia from the comedy series Peep Show. Trust me, there is no sign of a comedy in her performance. Olivia will leave you heartbroken, shattered, devastated and ultimately destroyed. I know I'm just an amateur blogger and what not but if I had a vote, Olivia Colman will be my choice for best actress Oscar 2012 (that is until I see Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady which, coincidentally, also stars Colman in a supporting role). Here's the trailer.


Ingenious! Here's a bonus video of Paddy, the amazing Peter Mullan and Colman at the Sundance Film Festival.




After such an intense cinematic experience, I needed alcohol. You know me ;-)
My beverage of choice? Caipirinha, a true Brazilian delight.


Next up? Tostones. After my summer in Puerto Rico, I can't get enough of this plantain dish. I have to confess though, I do make better Tostones than this restaurant.


Salad to top it all off and that was it for the day. On Sunday, I checked out a documentary called Elevate and later enjoyed limitless free wine and snacks at the closing Tallgrass Film Festival gala. I was too intoxicated to take any pictures so let your imagination roam wild.

That's all folks
Hasta Luego

^ ^

The Tattoos

Recycle sign. I was dumb enough to get my first two tats on two of the most sensitive parts of the body. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all but my tat artist took very good care of me.


From Arthur Rimbaud's Une Sainson en enfer.

“Elle est retrouvée.
Quoi? - L’Éternité.
C’est la mer allée
Avec le soleil.”

Translating poetry can be tricky. Many a time, translators focus on language and ignore the essence. I think the below translation does justice to the original text.

“It has been found again.
What? – Eternity.
It is the sea
Mingled with the sun.”


Tats recovery stage. My skin smelt like animal flesh when I took those wraps off.


More recovery.

I got the tats over the summer at this place called Harisumi in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a little pricey but you get seasoned tattoo artists and unrivaled service. All in all, a remarkable experience. I promise to be back soon with an epic post. Stay safe.

P.S
Passport Stamps is finally on twitter. Spread the love lovely people
^ ^

RIP Wangari Maathai

I woke up to unsettling news today: The death of Wangari Maathi. For a budding environmentalist like myself, mama Maathi was not only an inspiration but a role model. Her fearless environmental and humanitarian work in Africa and the world at large is truly unmatched. Death is, ironically, part of life. As cruel as it sounds, we are doing ourselves a great disfavour if we think otherwise. I'm heaps gutted that mama Maathi is no longer with us but I'm happy too, happy that she left us with so much legacy. She left us with the reality of what we are, what we have done, what we are doing and most importantly, what we could do. Mama Maathi, you have been through a lot. Go now and rest in peace. We love you.