La Palisse Hotel Bugesera | I Wimped Out...
hi guys you might notice I'm back on the bike I feel bad about this but the camping trip got called a little short I could deal with the lack of electricity internet and phone signal but the lack of water kind of got to me I would have sold my rear tire for a shower by that point when I went to ask if I could upgrade to a chalet I found out that they were all booked out because a massive party was arriving from Kigali that itself I might have been able to cope with but I knew that it was aanda the next morning which is National community service day and that meant that I couldn't go anywhere until about midday the thought of being stuck at a frat party without modern conveniences kind of made my eye twitch and then a massive Blast Of Thunder sounded and I realized I had to make a snap decision there was a storm rolling in and in the immortal words of the Clash I had to decide should I stay or should I go so here we are driving into the dusk Kigali bound I know that I won't make Kari before nightfall but I might make my friend's place at Bugera Lodge so Gear Up clutch out and let's [Music] gos all right guys I've pulled into a petrol station to check where I am I think this is Bugera but I really don't know the place very well I usually only go to the other side Bugera Lodge and [Music] yata it's definitely getting dark now I don't think I'm even going to make the lodge the lights are really glaring and it's getting harder to see cyclists and pedestrians it's definitely not advisable to drive in Rwanda after dark if you can help it poon rain then we St on moving train we're just passing through Basera and it's starting to rain we're just out in a poison rain [Music] [Applause] you make me fly like it did the other night when it hurts the most this is getting way too dangerous for me but there is a safe haven up ahead and we St on the moving train every time there will be now play it out in a [Music] poison hi guys please don't think I'm a total for doing this um this clearly is not the campsite um I I feel really awful for having done this so basically I mean it was fine it was fine it just wasn't fine for me um you know I there was no electricity no internet which is fine I can live without those but there was also no water and I I I needed a I've been on the road for like 4 hours I stank I mean you've seen like the dust on my clothes I I was desperate for a wash um and they did offer to go and get me a bucket uh but then also I I sort of asked about upgrading to one of the chalets and they explained to me that it was completely booked out tonight because there was a big party happening a whole load of people coming down from Kigali and I'm just not a party girl in that I I I needed some sleep I needed a wash I needed some some sleep with all of it put together I just I I I I couldn't I was just too too um so what I decided to do was I got back on the bike and I mean it must have taken me a good like 25 minutes to slowly crawl down those steep hills but I'm not kidding you I found my off-road Spirit shall we say because it took me about 10 minutes to get back up the hill um I just uh yeah I just I went for it I did the whole standing up in the seat to go over the bumps kind of thing um so yeah I made it up there filled up with some petrol and just uh turned around and started heading back and I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it to keari before it got dark cuz it always gets dark at 6:00 here um and I like made the decision to leave I I guess it was about 4 430 4ish 4 4:30 um and anyway I knew that I could make it to kagali it's very very uh dangerous to uh to drive in the dark in Rwanda and when it's raining CU people mostly there's a lot of bikes and a huge number of pedestrians and nobody's got reflective Lighting on them um and when you've got the the street lights there are street lights but they're not really that bright uh so your vision is very very strongly impaired there can be another motorbike in front of you with no lights um you know it can get and then you've got like people and children wandering out and it's very dangerous um and so it was get it's been dark the past like couple of kilometers and raining really heavily I've actually got my waterproof trousers on and everything but I just I it's not safe to try and get to Kali tonight so I remember that years ago like back in 2015 I gave a workshop for the UN at this big hotel big hotel uh they've got a massive pool I'll show you tomorrow it's a huge pool and yeah funny enough I don't feel like going swimming just at this moment I feel like I've been swimming um but yeah so I remember giving a workshop here and it was a really nice hotel it's called Palace it's weird it's got like a couple of names it's called Palace but people also call Golden Lotus I'm not sure why um but yeah it's technically it's called Palace it's it's not that far I'm about like 20 minutes from home Kari at least um but it's just not safe so I splashed out $100 for a night in this place here and I'm going to make the most of it and I feel crappy for having done that but I also feel like I'm in my 40s now now and I don't mind camping and I don't mind roughing it a bit but I just I'm too tired so so I did this instead uh so one night of luxury I'm back to the hustle and bustle of Kigali tomorrow one day early I was going to spend a couple of days on choha but as I was sitting there I was kind of looking around thinking you know there isn't a lot to do there it's a nice place it really is it's a beautiful Lake uh the people who manage it are lovely really friendly people and you know it's it's fine but it just I just needed a little bit of this tonight probably the biggest television holder you've ever seen in your life a desk with electricity oh he what we got down here if we got a little mini bar have a little look oh that's I can't open it oh how weird is that they've got a fridge that's clearly supposed to be a mini bar there supposed to be drinks in there and I'm assuming snacks in there and they haven't put anything in it I wonder if it's cuz I didn't book the room maybe if you book the room they do that uh but maybe of course they can't put a mini bar in every room if they don't know if there's somebody staying in it maybe this room is huge this is the cheapest room they've got and it's lovely Hallelujah this is what I came for oh hell yes I came for a hot shower I came for a proper gorgeous shower and I remember this when I gave my workshop they had a bath and when I gave my workshop uh work were paying for the bar so I had a beer here and a bubble bath there and it was absolutely delightful maybe maybe I'll do that as well maybe I'll have a bubble bath and tomorrow I'll have a shower or I could run a bath and switch between the shower and the bath that would be decadence oh one really sad thing as well is um I've traveled everywhere I've been I've had my little cheap tripod which I can pop my phone on and uh I strapped it to the back of um the bike and when I arrived here I was uh sound's the tripod I have no tripod um so I'm really sad about that it was only very cheap but like I've had it for years and years and years and I always feel very personally connected to everything really and it's that kind of sadness of having lost it and uh H I guess I can order another one from Amazon and maybe get it somebody to I was going to say get it sent out but it's a funny shape so maybe somebody will bring it for me but okay so now I have another problem uh I've turned the shower on but it's scolding scolding hot it came on cold so I twisted it a fraction to the left uh and now it's absolutely I mean it's like boiled Kettle scolding and I can't reach the tap to change it because it's too hot to put my hand in there I don't know what to do I need to find an oh I've got a bog brush hold on oh damn it oh no I don't want to use I don't want to I don't want to the whole bathroom is completely steamed up I need something to reach the thing to push it sadly my tripod would have been the perfect Implement for this but I no longer have it damn what can I use found a coat hanger let's try oh my goodness it's so clouded up in here it is like SAA hot in here now there we go there we go oh my goodness me right let's try that again we need to return it to the the safety position uh H they give you fluffy slippers you better believe I'm wearing the fluffy slippers damn it fail it's really entertaining but in every one of these hotels that we stayed in they all seem to have exactly the same soap I am also just going to say it I've noticed that there's only one towel in the bathroom and not to be a total snob but for $100 a night I would expect to have at least a body towel a head towel and possibly a floor mat towel as well cuz it's getting a little bit little bit wet down there so I don't know is that unreasonable or is that fair I don't know you tell me that was a lovely shower it's exactly what I needed um and thankfully I did manage to bring one pair of smart jeans with me and a sha so I should be acceptable in polite Society I'm going to go and find some dinner do you think they'll let me wear these to dinner they're so comfy okay so I don't know if it's cruel or not but I'm tempted to ask them if they do laundry service and if they could do this uh cuz it's a lovely white shirt and it's entirely my fault this happened I usually tell my family never buy me anything white because in Rwanda the dust kind of kicks up uh but for some reason like a total I just put it on today think yeah i' be fine I didn't realize how much dust there was going to be and I don't think that my my top loading cold washing machine cold water washing machine is going to make a dent on that in fact I'm not even sure if it is possible to save this but if anybody can Palace probably can so I'm going to ask them if they can have a go okay let's just hope that I can find my way back here this could be my last recording if anybody finds this phone know that I got lost in the corridors and I've been walking around in circles for years [Music] it's so quiet here there's literally one other guest sitting across the room I have to admit I'm getting slight shining Vibes decided to distract myself by watching Ali Wong on hot ones I opted for the bacon and cheeseburger it looks good which comes with akabanga chili oil toothpicks and salt just what the doctor [Music] ordered my friend and I were talking the other day about why hotels outside Kigali tend to be so quiet there really isn't a lot of internal tourism most foreigners stick to The Lodges and the main tourist routes and most rwandans only go to hotels for Workshop shs and meetings NOS can book out an entire hotel but in between that they don't see a lot of trade I think I'm down [Music] here I do like all of the artwork everywhere let's try uh hold on a minute oh clever oh but interesting that all of the lights are still on cuz I thought I thought it was one of those things that you have to put your card in here and I thought that when I left the room it would turn all the lights off but it doesn't appear to have done that so I think I have to manually turn the lights off but that's fine okay so when it gets evening I really like mood lighting um I'm not a fan of bright Lighting in the evenings um I'm a bit confused cuz there's loads of these and I have no idea what they do cuz they look like light switches they don't appear to be changing any lighting oh no that's the bathroom okay ah there's three lights here hold on ahuh that's the main lights the middle one I don't think is anything oh and the hall light here what if I leave the oh no if I leave the hall light on and the main light off that's too dark let's try bedside light lights see it again what does that do that was the main light but that doesn't appear to do anything I'm so confused it's probably probably turning the lights on and off in the bar downstairs some really confused people down there oh hall light nothing oh there we go oh no that's the bathroom light that uh maybe if I combine that with the hall light still very dark but better than the full lights so it'll do morning guys the bed is so comfortable uh they've got blackout curtains so it's properly dark in here and it all went a little bit wrong I made a big mistake last night and I knew it was a mistake when I did it is I asked reception to wash uh my my my shirt uh cuz you saw the state that it was in and of course they did and they've just delivered it to me at 6:40 in the morning I it was s of I just have this on the door and I'm like you're kidding me it can't be for me it's like room service I'm like it's 6:40 in the morning and I'm knacked I'm still knacked I was driving for like hours yesterday I mean sensibly what you would do is you wait until the guests went down to breakfast maybe even you know give them a knock I don't know 8:39 if they haven't woke up at 6:40 in the morning to deliver a shirt that's the point of a hotel is people are here to sleep man and probably use the shower in the bath but just don't wake people up in the morning just don't do it really bad idea anyway so otherwise I do really like this place like I said it's very very soft bed anyway 6:40 in the morning so got to go back to sleep now I have to say I seriously seriously appreciate these blackout curtains that is quite marvelous see what's going oh wow it's bright up see what the world has to offer oo oh there a whole children's playground over there and I guess the pool's out there somewhere we have a quick look before we leave how are you open oh there we go you can go oh this is all very pleasant feeling bad about being grumpy about the 640 wakeup call they've done an absolutely incredible job with the shirt I really didn't think that was salvageable um but yeah it's uh beautiful it's back to new uh the laundry service here is incredibly efficient okay I had another lovely shower so let's head on down and see what's for breakfast this is really pretty these are actually real flowers really delicate again it was really quiet I was the only guest eating perhaps everyone else got up at 6:40 but the breakfast was really good it was included in the price and we began with some fruit bananas and pineapple tea and coffee in Rwanda are usually served with hot milk so if you want cold you have to ask for it amata aori then there was omelette and you could choose what to have in it it was served with freshly squeezed juice I opted for pineapple and then a choice of meat I asked for chicken but it wasn't available so I got these sausages instead and they were good it was is a pretty big breakfast and it'll certainly set you up for the day time to walk all of that off around the grounds wow I think this is the largest swimming pool in Rwanda [Music] [Music] that's the children's playground I saw from the window that's quite cute they also have a gym that you can use [Music] it looks like there's some private shallows over here as [Music] well some of the artwork here is really [Music] fascinating there's a little gift shop but it's not open at the moment this is actually quite cool I like the hoodie feels like really good quality actually wouldn't mind one of those [Music] right I think I'm just going to head back to the room I don't have to check out until 11: cuz it's a aanda today so nothing's really open until after 11:00 just have a nice relaxing chill out I like this place I really do that breakfast was just phenomenal it was like a three course meal you had the fruit The Omelette uh the sausages and the juice was freshly squeezed that was fresh squeezed pineapple juice um that was really good in fact that burger last night was brilliant the food here is really good and it comes quite quickly as well um and just wandering around the grounds I didn't bring my swimming costume um but that pool is amazing it's been there for a really long time because it I think it might be the biggest swimming pool in Rwanda I've never seen one bigger um the one at the Tennis Club at your at Armor is quite big but that is huge uh and at the moment it's completely empty which is really annoying because that would be the perfect time to go for a swim oh but it's lovely the grounds are nice there's a whole children's play area um it's just really lovely and this room is nice it's big it's spacious and the breakfast room was just really lovely decorated beautiful little flowers I really like this hotel so it's palis it's um I don't know how far it's about 35 minutes out of Kari uh through bugas towards Basera just before you get to Bugera um yeah and it's it's just a really nice place and I don't regret it JEA is beautiful I love the lake it's gorgeous um and I think if you're in a chalet it's probably perfect uh but just considering how far I traveled I was just a bit bit too tired um and I just needed a little bit of a little bit of luxury for the night um so yeah it's cool all right guys all packed up and about to do the final leg home I'm really not very far from home at all so um shouldn't take too long back to keari just one thing when checking out the network was down this is really common in Rwanda both at hotel and tourist attractions so it's always worth traveling with cash or Momo if you don't want to wait around indefinitely to use your card Momo is definitely the better option because some places like akagera Park won't accept cash ah it's a beautiful sunny day and we're the only motorbike left in the car park let's go home my lovely housekeeper Claudine uh made my bed and cleaned the house whil I was away I am very very much looking forward to getting into that tonight hello Cat creature [Music] hello hello oh you forgive me for leaving you oh hello sweet boy hello my lovely little jasmo little jasbo yeah love you Mr how hello Hollywood all right I didn't see you before I left it must have been a bit of a shock to come home and find I wasn't here but I'm back I'm back and we're all okay
2024-12-05 02:40
