September 2002

ihana.com - big trip - diary - suriname - september 2002

 

Paramaribo...

...waterfront...

...and palm tree park

Friday 6 - Monday 9 September

In Suriname they all speak dutch which isn't the nicest of languages, fortunately a lot of them speak english too and we ended up having quite a good time in Paramaribo. The town is surprisingly nice, it has its minging bits but the old buildings are mostly restored and theres even some outdoor cafe bars in which to sample the excellent Parbo beer.

'Te koop', one fetches more than t'other

Dave and Ulrich...tell Wolly I sent you...

Happy birthday Elvis

Wolly and Frank

We drove around town for a couple of hours looking for a cashpoint which worked, but one didn't exist so we changed a few US dollars. In the touristy cafe district, frequented by many pale skinned Dutch tourists, we found hotel Sabana, staffed by the slightly crazy Elvis who offered to show us around town. After a visit to an Indian restaurant we went for drinks in Walkabout bar and to Touche disco, which wasnt very wicked.

Saturday we spent all afternoon updating the site on a mega-slow and unreliable connection before heading back to Walkabout where we bumped into Dave, who was well impressed with the trip and sent us over to his mate Wollys bar, Buda Buddah, which is pretty wicked. Wolly was also suitably impressed with our story, which earned us some free drinks and free entry to Touche, which was a bit better, but nothing more than that.

Tour de Paramaribo

Plenty of...

...old buildings

Cathedral

Mosque

Justice building

After a lazy sunday taking some pics around town and chatting with Elvis on his birthday, we headed to Millenium disco which was supposed to be good, being ladies night, unfortunately it was almost empty so we went to sleep. On Monday we set off into town to get some cash out to pay the hotel. After a few hours of wandering around it became obvious that no bank in Suriname accepts Visa, only Mastercard which was thrown away years ago due to lack of use. After a bit of head-scratching B phoned the UK and got his muvver to Western Union some money over, which arrived in a few minutes but costs a fourtune. Thanks Mum!

Debts paid, we headed to the border, arriving after dark to sleep at the military police compound next to the ferry which crosses into French Guyana.

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