The Flat Head 3001 World Tour

[kiya]

Amazing photos, i can't believe the places these jeans have been...

[ranonranonarat]

great pictures dkatz, finally we get to meet the homegirl! sweet pictures of you together and i think you deserve a break from the shit that has been going on recently! never get tired of happenings in kampala! the swallows are amazing, hope they didnt "rain" on your parade. ha!

glad you got my PM expressing my thanks for you buying me a pair of these 3001s when you come back!

[beatle]

Amazing photos, i can't believe the places these jeans have been...

I know - Denim History , right there...

[Max Power]

fantastic pictures and great tour, there.

[dkatz]

Amazing photos, i can't believe the places these jeans have been...

Thanks to you for making it happen, dude!

Actually on that note- these suckers are gonna need some serious TLC when they get back to America. Could I drop them by SELA (or SESF if I make it up there again) for some darn lovin', and a posted box ready to take them to BAerts?

great pictures dkatz, finally we get to meet the homegirl! sweet pictures of you together and i think you deserve a break from the shit that has been going on recently! never get tired of happenings in kampala! the swallows are amazing, hope they didnt "rain" on your parade. ha!

glad you got my PM expressing my thanks for you buying me a pair of these 3001s when you come back!

Hahaha I might have to start capitalizing the "H" in "homegirl". Showed her this thread for the first time recently (before getting her permission to feature her here too), as well as the reps in my supercontrol... she wanted to know when it will be her turn to wear the pants! Guest feature coming soon I suppose...

And is that what the PM said? Hmmm I must have mis-read it... could have sworn it said you'd be sending me that Corter squid wallet as a token of appreciation for my contributions to the tour.

And thanks beats, Max, and everyone who's lavished rep on me. You all are going to give me a big head over here.

[kiya]

Yup, bring em by any store.

If they smell ripe then please wash them first.

[aho]

So when do we all get inducted into a world record book???

[dkatz]

Yup, bring em by any store.

If they smell ripe then please wash them first.

The smell ain't too bad, however they are taking on the sickly yellowybrown color that everything here turns. So I will be washing them upon my return stateside.

[dkatz]

Moving right along...

Actually had most of a day in the office on Monday for the first time in a while.

Spent most of it on the phone (which I could have done anywhere...), in the empty office nextdoor.

still on the phone

still. fucking phone.

After some meetings, headed off to the bus-park to catch an evening bus for Mbale (East)

Brought some helmets with me to leave with my Mbale staff.

Aaaaaand back on the bus. Printed out a fascinating paper on the effects of knowledge of candidates' corruption charges on voter behavior in Brazil (I miss romping around the field of Latin American policits!)

I do not understand how Ugandans wear heavy-ass winter shit so often - like the guy in the sweater there. I was pouring out sweat.

Hawkers at a bus-stop, night-style

Reading more papers by headlamp. Supernerd steez.

Finally reached Mbale around 11. Unfortunately the hotel I'd had in mind to stay at turned out to be out of my budget (60,000 Shillings - $28ish... extortion!) so I wandered town, exhausted, until I finally stumbled on a place that worked. And how lovely the lighting was!

Off to my meeting the next morning. 3001's chilled in the backpack while I put on my officialpants (Outlier Workwear Pants, Iteration 2 - picked them up in New York and love 'em!) for the meeting.

more in a moment...

[dkatz]

Wound up a bit early so stopped at a local spot for some breakfast

"katogo" - traditionally leftover's from dinner the night before.

Boiled flavorless plantain-like bananas

slightly bitter but mostly flavorless greens

flavorless gristle-beef bits

bit of brown beans

Ugandan cuisine. Sigh...

The view from the charming breakfast spot

Walking to my meeting

Meeting itself was... interesting. Kinda went like a sword-duel. Parry, feint, thrust. But I'd come in ready for a battle and came out of it the victor!

Aaaaand back on the bus. Five hours to Kampala

Papyrus forever.

Next day, ready to the roll to the office for a half-day

Comfy bus-clothes. Pocket-tees are essential for holding ticket, ipod, loose change when you're jammed so tight the person next to you is all but on your lap, and you're bearhugging your backpack so getting into your pockets is little more than a faint dream.

At the "bus station"

Lovely, lovely Kampala.

Aaaaand back on the road, to Arua (again, a week and a half after my last visit). Heading back up for a check-up meeting since my team in Arua is the first one off the ground and I want to use lessons learned by them in getting the other teams (Mbale, Mukono, Mbarara) rolling.

15 hours of round-trip bus is a bit ridiculous for a 1.5 hour meeting, but nothing serious can really happen over email or phone here... so it's necessary.

At a bus-stop. The hawkers descend. Goat meat muchomo anyone? Chapatti? Fresh milk?

[dkatz]

freshly Pasteurized milk, anyone?

Mmmm... this is how they make the famous, highly sought-after Ugandan Trash-Beef

On the road again

Crossing the Nile

Sadly, I still haven't been to the "source of the Nile" in Jinja - just an hour and a half or so East of Kampala!

The bus stopped about 5km out of Arua town and... wouldn't start again. Rather than sit around and wait for it to spontaneously start working again (which it did, and rumbled past me about 20 minutes later), I decided to enjoy a bit of a walk into town.

Hit up the Ethiopian restaurant again (Arua is not quite the epicenter of epicurial variety), but had meat this time. No pics because I was caught up in conversation with the first other muzungu I've seen in the joint.

My usual hotel was all booked up, so I wound up being directed to another, charming spot.

I routinely get some nice chuckles out of the rules posted in hotels here.

Hammered out a bit of work in the main room before heading off to the meeting (3001's again temporarily stowed in the 'pack for meeting-time)

And off to the meeting, through Arua town

[dkatz]

aaaand the deluge continues...

through Arua town

Berkeley's Street Level Cycles ain't got shit on Arua

After a productive meeting, back to the bus. Had a few minutes to kill so took a seat at a little breakfast stall, where they served me... uh... this:

What appears at first blush to be a combination of two varietals of unwell feces turned out to be mashed brown beans with, essentially, peanut butter. It tasted about as delicious as it sounds.

And some very sugary tea. That was nice.

Museveni was in town for some campaigning, so a little parade of his party's (the ironically-named National Resistance Movement) rocked on by.

On the way into town we actually passed by a fatty military helicopter which I suppose was how he rolled into town. Slightly radder than a bus.

At the bus station. I love this guy. He just sits at his little Red Bull table and yells "KAMPALAKAMPALAKAMPALAKAMPALA" at the top of his lungs at random intervals.

Some sort of NRM rally off the road

I noticed, as I got on the bus, that it was the same one I'd been on the previous night. I managed to forget the fact that said bus had broken down on the way in to town until, about two hours into our journey out of Arua, the conductor announced that this bus was spent and a new one would be coming to pick us up soon. The nun in front of me was pissed.

Remarkably only took about 45 minutes for the new bus to arrive!

My president on a nun's ass. Also women in the West really need to get on this whole attaching-your-baby-to-your-back-with-just-a-piece-of-cloth kick. Way cheaper than those crazy ass contraptions we buy

Classy dudes like this one often hop on buses between stops to try to convince you that they're legit pharmacists and that this Chinese tooth powder will not only cure your toothache but make you grow a meter overnight and be able to beat down witchdoctors with nothing more than a casual glance. This photo doesn't quite capture his gleaming-white and shiney-silver-striped suit.

Another highlight of the bus-ride was when they started showing Sheena: Queen of the Jungle - a delightful 1984 flick about some busty usually-nude blonde white chick abandoned in the jungle of the Kingdom of Tiagora and adopted by the shaman (named "Shaman"... and isn't that a word from some Native American language, anyway?) of the Zamboli (not Zamboni - I had to double check with the sub-titles) tribe to become Queen of the Jungle, then fight off the evil brother of the King from mining the magical healing dirt of the Ga;ksadfiauteaskj Mountain - the holiest place in Zamboliland - accompanied by a dorky American reporter who she falls in love with. It. was. amazing.

Incidentally, apparently Shaman was played by Princess Elizabeth - a Buganda Princess and the first Ugandan to appear in a Hollywood film... and later a lawyer and minister in government. Damn!

Okay just a few more...

[dkatz]

Today. In the office, with a newly made kitenge shirt!

Umbrellas!

And a kitenge bandana

Back on the phone...

That should be it for travels for a couple weeks, hopefully. I'm pretty exhausted from running all over the country, and could stand to actually get some office-work done (which is why I'm doing this instead...). I'll keep you guys apprised of anything interesting going on with the 3001's in Kampala!

[jigsaw]

dont know if i cant live there with the food like you describe as leftover and tasteless.....it look tasty but...

shoot some more food please..

[ranonranonarat]

great updates as usual and my favourite one so far. the food actually looks tastier than it sounds! looks so flavourful but alas im wrong! oh, and that shirt is fantastic. love it!

[dkatz]

^ believe me I'm not deceiving you... the food really is remarkably bland.

After the few weeks of non-stop running around, it was absolutely wonderful to have a lazy weekend vegetating around Kampala. Actually, truth be told, I barely even felt like I was in Kampala this weekend - spent most of the time at home or in very, uh, un-developing-world places.

Friday night was my first night going "out" in Kampala in a looong time.

Met some friends for some mediocre pizza, then to a party at some (relatively speaking) swanky-ass apartment, and then to a bar in the back of a Land Rover Defender.

I've had this Tankfarm shirt since I worked at Nordstrom, way back when, and I still absolutely love it.

Saturday. Made it out of the house around mid-day and trapsed over to Le Petite Village - a nice little area that feels like it's anywhere but Uganda. They have two of the few legitimately good eateries in town (other than the ubiquitously amazing Ethiopian and Indian fare): Le Chateau, with one of the biggest and best fillets I've ever had for $12 (!) and Quality Cuts butcher, with some pretty dang good deli sandwiches for $2 - $3; as well as a decently good French bakery (only good baguettes in this country) and a hotel. It's right next to the American Embassy and feels like the West.

As we waited for our Quality Cuts sandwiches, we drooled over the display case full of MEAT

aaaaand wound up coming home with some marinated buffalo chicken wings

and then we beasted some sammiches

Not quite done with our epicurial adventures, we trapsed over to Le Patisserie for some mediocre espresso and a fucking BOMB chocolate tart.

A friend who started a fair-trade craft company here (awava - check it out)

told me about a big craft fair going on at Kampala International School. My first time visiting the place... I was blown away by the facilities. NOTHING like anything else I've seen in Uganda. I don't think I ever played on a football field this nice in the States! Bahai Temple in the background (I should pop up there and take some pictures with the 3001's for you all).

The craft fair. This looks like America... tripped me out!

Picked up a few gifts for Mom. These pot-holders made me giggle like a school-girl.

Look to be made of a patchwork of kitenge fabric

[dkatz]

And some home-made papaya and chilli jam, for Mom.

And an interesting gourd-bowl for me.

It's interesting to note one of the ways I feel like I can tell I'm starting to "grow up" is that I've found myself actively shopping around in Uganda for home-decor, to decorate the "home" I hope to have once I'm back Stateside. I'm getting tired of this lifestyle I've been living for years of constantly hopping around and restarting my life, and not having a home that I feel like truly is my home.

Walking out, Homegirl and I were amused by this image as being very indicative of Uganda: "rustic" beat-up house, goat, boda-boda men in waiting

Did some grocery shopping to prepare for a night in. Always amused to see this gracing the shelves of Ugandan markets.

By the way... 53,800 Shillings is about $25. For Carlo Rossi! Andre sparking wine and Franzia boxed wine follow similar hilarious price patterns.

I love balconies.

Bought a rad little Dell projector online and brought it back from the States with me. Set it up to watch the new Robin Hood, which was pretty profoundly disappointing.

Sunday morning, a fatty breakfast was super-necessary. As was finishing the wine...

everything always with guacamole/avocado!

Quick trip to the store after deciding that more wine and avocados were necessary.

Drank and snacked our way through the day.

[dkatz]

Needed this sorta relaxation so hard...

Not a bad view

[ranonranonarat]

cool updates, the meat section looks fantastic and im surprised they have something like that. on top of that, the football field, seriously agree that i don't think even i can find something like that in urban singapore!

[beatle]

looks like you have good food ...and fun...perfect

[dkatz]

Right then, where was I?

Monday, had to drive out to Mukono (~45 min East of Kampala via my super-sneaky back roads) to get a document signed by someone. He was, naturally, late, so I did what I've become best at: waited.

Picked up American Gods by Neil Gaman recently, but I've only just cracked the cover (reading two other books concurrently, hah)

Driving back to Kampala...

I DON'T KNOW

Ducked out of the office at a reasonable hour for once (daylight!) and went to my favorite spot in this city - a little patch of grass at the end of my block. Brought a book and my pipe and enjoyed the view - down through some of Bugolobi, across the marsh and up into Kitintale - as well as the call to prayer from the local mosque come sun-down and the calls of the birds flying between trees.

One of the only peaceful spots I've found in this city.

Tuesday, in the office. Hopped upstairs to the water-tank-rooms for a quick WAYWT shot

Boss

Fremont

Tanner wallet-cum-camera-case

you-know-what

Mount's Bay

Amazing how relaxing a full day in the office is!

Wed, had to hop into "town" for a meeting. Definition of clusterfuck.

And again: waiting. This meeting was only an hour late!

Fortunately I had coffee and the Internet.

Back at the office, popped into the mediocre lunch place across the street

APC Madras

Freeman

Mediocre local food buffet for 7000 Shillings (sorry no pics), but a nice "garden" and view (relatively speaking) - you can see the under-construction Hilton across the way at the top of the hill.

Walking out of the restaurant - there's the office! Across the way, top left of that building... you can barely make out the bright blue plastic table we have on the balcony.

[dkatz]

I fully acknowledge that this is the nicest office - or at least office-view - that I will ever have.

Wed night, a friend decided to throw together a Mexican feast. Despite the resultant gastrointestinal chaos from a gut no longer in cheesy-greasy shape, it was amazing.

home-made tortilla chips

SO MUCH guacamole (all of the ingredients for guacamole are DIRT cheap here!)

salsa

tortilla soup

cheese enchiladas

I decided that my loudest (locally-made) shirt matched the Coronas I found at a supermarket and brought along.

Unfortunately the tailor did a TERRIBLE job on this shirt (hence no closer-up/cleaner shots). Gonna try to find more of the fabric and have it re-done.

Thurs, had to head back to Mukono. Decided I'd take lots of pictures along the way.

Coal-vendors outside Bugolobi Trading Center

This seems like a good spot for a trash truck to do a 3-point turn.

The all-white-clad (and massively corrupt) traffic cops always amuse me. So I took a picture. Bad move.

You'll notice the one on the left flagging me down. She started accusing me of using a phone. I showed her it was a camera. Didn't help. She kept asking "Is it okay to use a camera?" and I kept saying "Obviously I don't know - is it?" but she'd just keep talking over me and re-asking the question. I got irritated. She told me she was going to give me a ticket, but kept trying to give me an in to offer her a bribe. I told her to show me the regulation-code against photographing-whilst-driving (I know it's a bad idea - don't need a police code to tell me that - but, it's the principle) and give me the ticket. She finally went and grabbed her compatriot, who proceeded to give me a ten-minute lecture about how they should report me to the embassy because it's a security threat to take pictures of police activity so I was probably a terrorist, but because I was American they'd let me go. Then he repeated that about 15 times and let me go.

Pretty impressed with myself for getting off ticket- and bribe-free (I decided I'm done with bribing - fuck that shit, I'm not going to contribute to this country's farcical institutions).

Power dynamics here are so funny. If someone decides they're higher "status" than you (cop:driver, bank-teller:customer, government anything:anyone else), then they will just talk over you and repeat the same thing over and over again. If you try to say anything, they just talk over you again and repeat what they already said, as if reinforcing that what you say/think is irrelevant and only what they say matters. So the way to get out of anything is to just let yourself get talked at while nodding and doing the Ugandan "Mmm". I could go on a lot more on the topic, but I'll restrain myself.

Right then, back on the road to Mukono, back to taking photos.

Emissions controls? Why? Then my when I blew my nose, the result wouldn't be black!

Coke anyone?

Brick-works. Mud harvested from the big clay-marshy areas, formed into brick-shape and stacked to dry. I find this area quite bizarrely pretty.

Raw bricks are then stacked into these big pyramids with a hole through the middle. Wood is packed into the hole and ignited. The heat and smoke cure the bricks.

(sorry blurry/inaccurate)

This traditional method is massively inefficient as opposed alternatives and results in higher-cost construction (lots of mortar needed) and less consistent bricks (more likely to collapse), but I still enjoy seeing how they're made.

I've got another two posts worth of material at the moment, but I think I'll leave it at this somewhat-digestible amount for the moment.

[Lendo]

dkatz you are doing one hell of a job here my friend!!!

[almostnice]

Needed this sorta relaxation so hard...

WTF?!! my favourite sort of relaxation,but i wouldnt dare to post pics of it.

[dkatz]

Haha, sorry to disappoint, fellas (including farmer) - not that type of relaxation.

And thanks, Lendo!

[ranonranonarat]

hahaha looks like after your run-in with the cops, it didn't really stop you from taking pictures while driving did it?

[dkatz]

Now that superfuture has deigned to grace us with its existence again...

Still on the way to Mukono (completely disregarding the cops' warnings about taking pictures, Ranon!)

Seeing these buses in my mirror kinda creeps me out...

And these sorts of moves, in traffic, are why buses are constantly getting in gnarly accidents and killing tons of people here. A friend's colleague was just killed (along with a number of other people) when a bus flipped. It was on the route from Arua, too, which I take frequently. Freaky.

Anyway. Finally reached my destination. Had to use the facilities before popping in for my quick meeting.

Ugandan urinal...

Charming, right?

Had to make some phone-calls before hitting the road again. Pulled up a nice piece of grass

On the way back, stopped by some woven-mat makers on the side of the road

Dyed reeds, waiting to become mats

I find these incredibly beautiful

Picked up a couple for the home. Colors are a little bit off

Upon reaching Kampala, straight into town I went, towards the Registrar of Documents

At the bottom-left, on the planter, you can see one of the ubiquitous Museveni campaign posters. When he overthrew Obote in 1985, he swore high and low that he had no interest in remaining in power past one five-year "presidential" term. Dude's now seeking his fourth official term, shooting for a solid 30 years as president.

[dkatz]

Still cruising through town...

MUZUNGUUUUU!

Finally reached my destination: the belly of the bureaucratic beast. Proceeded to spend the next four hours being sent in circles and told completely different things by every person I spoke to. Charming.

At least the Registrar has a nice view!

The spire, to the right of center, is Gadaffi Mosque - a pretty gigantic and beautiful mosque built for Uganda by Gadaffi. I visited when my family was in town, but am planning to go again soon and go up the spire for a killer view of Kampala. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do it while the 3001's are still on my legs!

At the top of the hill, behind-right from Gadaffi Mosque is Namirembe Cathedral - the seat of the Church of Uganda. You can barely make out a brick-red colored dome at the top of the hill. Actually one of the most peaceful spots in this town up there.

Finally directed to some bureaucrat who I was told would be in a meeting for another hour, so I figured I'd go hammer out some work while I waited. Sometimes I set up my office in strange places. At least I had a delicious Quality Cuts sandwich to keep me company!

In case anyone wants to know how to go about filing for registration in Uganda...

After four hours, I was finally directed to another woman (who I'd been to before). I got to her desk as she was walking away from it. She told me I would have to come back tomorrow. Charming.

Friday, off to another meeting. I really like this little blue house

Post-meeting

Popped over to the fabric markets to gather some materials for a little something-something I'm putting together for a littlesomething-something

The selection du jour.

Grab bag bitches!!!

That's all for today, folks. Until soon!

.

[BAerts]

Yo, D, did you blow that knee out already? That was a clean repair when I had them. So begins the "deterioration" stage of a pair of jeans. I think we can draw this one out, though. :-)

[aho]

Page 102 (the last pg) is dead for me...Lost in the sufu void...? I guess we'll have to keep posting until it hits a new page?