Banjul at Night

Banjul at night can be quite scary. Not because Banjul is especially dangerous, but because they hardly have any streetlights, and most of the shops close at 5pm. Consequently you stumble around in the dark looking for something to eat, and only find Vimpto. Yes, that's right, Vimpto, that great soft drink from the north of England is very popular here in The Gambia. In fact, they bottle it in Banjul. Despite the Vimpto, one night in Banjul was enough, and I have relocated myself to the tourist area on the coast.
Here I am, recovering from my upset stomach and mosquito bites, deciding what to do next, and they have Vimpto in the tourist area too, so all is not lost.
Gambians seem very friendly. People have chatted to me, and then gone off without trying to extract money, which is a bit of a novelty. That is not to say there are no tourist touts - 'The Touts of The Gambia' are many, not few.
My hotel seems to have a problem with the water, but everywhere else is either full, or very expensive. What gives? Senegal got knocked out of the Africa Football Cup today, nobody is very happy about that, except perhaps for some Tunisians, as they are the ones that knocked them out. The staff in my hotel are
blaming the referee. Some things are the same the world over. They have special 'tourist taxis' here, but I can't see what is 'special' about them, except they are green, and cost more then the normal ones. The drivers have supposedly had training in 'dealing with tourists'. I can't imagine what that training course is like.
My bag is broken, and all my clothes are filthy, yet I am not spurred into action to do anything about either of those things.
This is a very rambling kind of entry don't you think?