View from my hotel room
Last week I went on a work-related trip to Yaoundé, Cameroun. Like the title says, I found it quite a shabby city, with old buildings that are not very well-kept, rickety taxis, and so on. But it was also quite charming, in that sneaky way African cities sometimes grow on you, where you find yourself loving the noise, the hustle and bustle of traffic, the long lines of people waiting for public transportation on the streets and this generally electrified air about it.
Cameroun is located in west Central Africa, and shares a border with Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo. It is officially supposed to be a bilingual country – French and English – but this is only in theory, and I definitely gave my intermediate French a much-needed workout. Yaoundé is the second largest city in the country and the capital, while Douala is the largest city and the commercial capital…much like the comparison between Abuja and Lagos in Nigeria.
Room service…folon with smoked chicken and fried plantains
Besides giving me a chance to practice my French, I quite enjoyed the food in Yaoundé. Almost everyday I was there, I got treated to very sumptuous Cameroonian lunch buffets. The first of these was at Restaurant Public, which is located on a hill off the Boulevard du 20 Mai. The main hall has a canteen-like atmosphere and has a large lunch crowd from workers in the surrounding government buildings. The restaurant also has a more private dining area through a separate entrance, which of course, costs more, but offers a more pleasant ambience. The lunch fare consisted of Cameroonian staples such as Ndolé (bitter leaf…similar to spinach), fried plantains and plantain flour. I also had a very enjoyable lunch meeting at La Marmite du Boulevard, a restaurant right next to the Hilton Yaoundé. Again, it was buffet style, with fresh vegetables, pork, chicken, fish, plantains and so on. And I washed all this down with fresh squeezed guava juice.
Calafatas, a boulangerie and pâtisserie, was also quite a treat. It is one of the oldest boulangeries in Yaoundé and is quite well-known and patronized. I stopped there to grab a sandwich on one of my busier days and I could not stop myself from ordering a pain au chocolat, a pain au raisin and one sugar-covered beignet. When I got to the counter to pay, they had run of out change and I gladly got two more beignets. Eating all of this was no trouble at all!
Yaounde is a hilly city and the weather is quite cool, particularly in the mornings and evenings. I looked forward to the drives I had to make outside the city centre, where things looked…well…less shabby and more green.
All of these good experiences I had on the trip almost got negated by my flight to Douala getting canceled at the last minute, and me having to scramble to arrange a 4 hour drive instead. But it turned out alright in the end, and, I got to see a bit of Douala on my way to the airport. I will definitely like to visit Cameroon again, preferably for pleasure, and get to see more regions in the country.
This goes without saying but no matter where you travel to, it helps to learn a couple words in the local language. Your accent and pronunciation may not be spot on, this matters very little. People will be appreciative of your effort, more willing to help you, and it opens up windows for conversation (err in your new language :), or one you are more comfortable in). Even if you only learn the local word for hello or please, it certainly enhances your travel experience. Do it with a smile of course!
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