FC WAMCO Games 2016 (Football Part 2 - Final)

Last week we made another trip to Agege Stadium. But before that, Madam broke the news about the MD's move. My family and his arrived in Lagos on the same day, 1st January 2015. Our children went to the same school, and  many times I seek  assistance from his Madam. To see them leave, it's sad but happy for them since the move is to a more important and definitely bigger role.

So, the finals were...finally here and I was happy as I can be. I get to practise using the DSLR and somehow the crowds are quite relax to see an 'oyinbo' (white man, foreigner) walking here and there taking pictures. I'm still learning. Trust me. Taking landscape photos are much different that taking portraiture or sports photos and I don't belong to any of those group. Worse, I do not edit most of my photos. 

Anyway, we arrived during the 3rd and 4th placing match which ended in penalty shoot out. Peak Team won! Next was a novelty match and our neighbour, Manwel scored the only goal of the match. Rahul, the outgoing MD arrived with his family by then (arrived from their look see trip to China). 

While waiting for the final match between Peak 456 and Three Crowns, there was a cheerleading routine followed by a free style football show and a singing performance. The MD gave his speech and were presented with a medal, mini trophy, a custom made shirt with all the brand from the company and....... a mock Green card (PR card) as souvenir.

The final game between Peak 456 and Three Crowns were ruthless. It was no time for half measure and went all out tackling and a few injured. At one time, I counted not 2 but 3 players injured at the same time!

But, we did not watch the game till finish. Madam wanted to bring the children back home. But I knew Peak 456 would win and they win eventually for a simple reason......before they start the match, all of the team member would gather at their goalpost and pray. Oh yes they prayed. Ask and thou shall receive. Congrats Peak 456! 

p/s: newspaper man, can use my picture..but please give credit oooo...... 

FC WAMCO Games 2016 (Football Part 1)

The company recently held their sports day over a period  of a few months. There were indoor games like Table Tennis, Scrabble, Play Station (Football) and Chess. Outdoor game was Football. 

The football games were held at Agege Stadium not far from the office/factory. Four teams vied for the coveted Champion Trophy and each teams were named after the company's product, Peak, Peak Choco, Three Crowns and Peak 456. 

Football is considered the national sport. No, it's more than that. It's an obsession. "Super Eagles" they're known world wide. They had been to the World Cup, won gold medal in Olympics  in 1996 Atlanta games and 2nd runner up during the 2016 edition in Brazil. 5th in FIFA ranking was their highest so far (now 50th tie with Burkina Faso). 

Legends like Nwakwo Kanu made way for the likes of John Obi Mikel, Umar Sadiq and Peter Etebo. The country stood still when they play and went berserk if the result were....tie or worse, a defeat. 

Back to the event at Agege Stadium, it started with the march pass by all the teams and opening speech by the HR Director. Dance troupe and a freestyle football show was next. I think there was a singer performed right before the match started. FIFA sanctioned referee and lines man/woman were the games officials. 

Frankly, I enjoyed the games...and taking pictures as well. I just want to see if I can upload 100++ pics in a post. Enjoy! 

NIGERIA: Lagos: Conversation on Conservation in Lekki?

If you ask me about Africa, top of my list would be Safari. 

And speaking of Safari, I bet some of us must've watched a TV series about a vet clinic in Africa. It was Daktari! Remember that? Babies of the 70's and early 80's? Need to jog you memory? Just click here for the opening theme. Ahhhhh the 'good ole days'. 

I did browsed for safari in Nigeria but to no avail. It was when my friend, Yunus and family came to visit us last month, he mentioned a name which I've totally forgot about it. It was Lekki Conservation Centre. So off we went with Khairy from MATRADE on a balmy Saturday morning.

toll gate at Lekki bridge

signboard to the conservation

NIGERIA: Lagos: Harmattan is back

I love the lagoon. On a clear weather, you could see the 3rd Mainland Bridge and as far as Ikorodu at the other end of the lagoon.  

Lagos Lagoon in sunny September

In late October, I witnessed a huge number of water hyacinth on the lagoon. It impeded the movement of boats and the local fishermen of the lagoon. The hyacinth come and go but at the moment, the number had decreased tremendously. 

Little I realised that, there were sign of Harmattan on the pictures taken below...

lagoon with water hyacinth in October

Harmattan. Harmattan who?

In these part of the Western Africa, dusty wind blown from the Sahara region into the Gulf of Guinea. It causes the sky to have some reddish tint. It will be like this till early March next year.  

Temperature wise? I would say it's between 28-32 deg Celsius in Lagos state. But in Jos, Plateu state...at night it would go down to a bone chilling 14 deg Celsius! It's dusty and could irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Asthmatic patients, just beware.

picture taken this morning (24th Nov. 2016)

Anyway, it's here....maybe in a different format (black and white?) the picture above would be better looking. Maybe...  

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 4 (Simon's Town)

What I like to do when I travel is to try the metro or train. It's a convenient way to get to your destination and it could be cheaper too. Since there was no train or tram within the city, we decided to go to any of the attraction by train, if there's any. One place DID cropped up in my search..... Simon's Town.

OK...I was so excited when I first looked at google map about the train trip to Simon's Town. A part of the trip will meander along the coastline of False Bay. Also, Simon's Town has it's own attraction too, the penguins.

Route from Cape Town to Simon's Town

We walked from the apartment to the main terminal in Cape Town. There are lots of train from here to all over South Africa for this station, We bought our tickets and head for the correct platform and chances are, your train would be there waiting to depart. If you're unsure about the train platform, fare, train time, the officers at the info counter would be delighted to assist you.

Cape Town train station

The train and platform info, ours was the 0149

the platform

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 3 (Robben Island)

The visit to Robben Island, permit me to say....was THE highlight of the trip. Three men who were 'institutionalised' on Robben Island came out and became the President of South Africa! A funny  fact but at great cost. The late Nelson Mandela was an inmate there for 18 years out of his 27 years in prison. 

Swing Bridge (right), Red Clock tower and
The Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island (left) 

For the online ticket, you can get them at http://www.robben-island.org.za . There are 4 trips per day (weather permitting) and online tickets usually sold quite fast. The trip to the island is about half hour to an hour, a three hour tour and another half hour to an hour return leg. All in all, we're looking at 4-5 hours total time. 

We took the last trip at 3pm and by 2.30pm, the waiting hall at the jetty was packed! 3 boats per trip to ferry visitors to and fro the island and each are good size vessel. Still, due to unfavourable weather conditions...they would cancel the trip. So they will ask you a contactable phone number when buying ticket. Just in case.

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 3 (Springboks Museum)

Third day!

Took an Uber to the V&A waterfront. Springboks and Robben Island today. The boat ride to Robben Island departs from a nearby jetty. 

The Cape Wheel

I like the V&A waterfront. There's so much to see (historical ones) and they have decent food courts serves halal meals. The children love the Hamley's and Toy Kingdom with the adjacent LEGO store. There are map all over the place so you won't get lost. 

Ben wanted to visit The Springbok Experience Museum just walking distance from the waterfront. Just look for the rugby goal post by a tall wall, across the road and you'll find the museum there.

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town Day 2 (Two Oceans Aquarium)

We alighted at the HOHO bus stop not far from the aquarium which is at V&A Waterfront. I was told by my friends who gave me specific list of places to visit with the children, this is a must visit attraction. voila! The Two Oceans Aquarium

We bought the ticket online as there's a 10% discount on each ticket. The ticket for adult is about RM41 or USD10 per person and children 4-13 ticket is 50% less than the adult. 

Two Oceans Aquarium, where two oceans meet, the Atlantic and Indian ocean. I recommend that you arrive either at around 11.30am or 2.30pm, during the feeding time. 

presentation by the centre's personnel

the I&J Ocean exhibit feeding

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 2 (Table Mountain National Park)

Day 2!!! 

After the HOHO bus trip, we had some idea where are most of the attractions are and which ones we would like to visit. But any visit would not complete if without the visit to the most visible feature of the town....Table Mountain.

View from the apartment

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Day 1

SOUTH AFRICA!!! Cape Town!!! 

Hello! Hallo!

Sawubona! (actually that's the name of the SAA inflight magazine - Hello in Zulu, I think)

Land of Spur, Ocean Basket, Debonairs Pizza, Shoprite, Game, MTN, Standard Bank/Stanbic Bank, South African Airways, DSTV, Trevor Noah and Mandela (the last two being aired almost on monthly basis). With Mandela most notably the 3 movies :

1) Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

2) Goodbye Bafana

3) Invictus 

(Will talk more on the movie much later..or just IMDB it...I mean not 1MDB, but Internet Movie DataBase...phew, that could be quite a....ahem topic. Steering away from it right now)

Cape Town during our visit was in the low to mid 20's ºCelsius and the sweater from Sarcasteek serves the purpose. At the airport, Jean-Luc came to send us to the apartment at Adderley Street in Cape Town's Central Business District. 

A few minutes after we left the airport, Jean-Luc began the usual 'tour guide' enquiry. How many days? Places to visit. Infos on the best time to visit the many places of attractions etc etc. It was during this time he mentioned about the settlements along the freeway.

SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town: Autumn Break ramblings...

Autumn break came and went, but we opted for spring time so we went down south to Cape Town, South Africa. Madam and the children had visited Johannesburg a year earlier and decided that I should do the same, albeit to a different city. 

We left Lagos on the last school day and naturally at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA), it was like a reunion of sorts. A dear friend of mine, Shatish once told me..."I tell you, the moment school ends it will be a 'white-out' day at the airport". What he actually meant was, almost all the oyinbo (white, foreigner) will be away for holiday or back to hometown, especially the ones with the children. 

We took the South African Airlines and the flight will transit at Joburg's O.R Tambo International Airport for about 2hrs before continuing our journey to Cape Town International Airport. Two thing I would like to remind any prospective travellers to SA....

1) Check with the airline if you're continuing your flight to other destination from O.R Tambo, do you have to get your luggage at the carousel and check in (again) at the domestic counter at the airport?

2) If you're travelling with children, and I mean your children apart from the passport, please bring along the original Birth Certificate or a copy with stamp and sign by authority (lawyer or officer at embassy/high commission) to certify the genuineness of the document (adopted children, bring the adoption document)  failing which, I don't think you can enter SA. 

Madam had difficulty last year when I was not around. I had to email her a letter giving consent to bring the children into SA because I am still around...if I am not (dead, extinct, late, lost, departed), then my death certificate would suffice.

Please check if you're travelling with someone else's children (I mean travelling with niece, nephew etc). Please check this leaflet provided by the Home Affairs Dept of SA (leaflet)

There's a reason for all these and best to just follow. It's you going to their country and not the other way around. For all you know, they're doing their bit to deter child trafficking in and out of SA. 

I always say to my friends, if you don't fancy going there...there's another 53 countries in Africa continent alone and a short flight out of Nigeria, will get you to Europe and even the Middle East! All in all about 120 countries between 40deg East and 15deg West of the world map (all from GMT line).

By the way...looking at the cloud over the Lagos Lagoon on the day we left Lagos, spring must be looking good in Cape Town, no?

storm brewing over Lagos Lagoon on Friday, 14th October 2016

NIGERIA: Lagos: Banana Island Cultural Festival 2016

Counting how many times you've been to a certain festival is a sure way of knowing how long have you been around or in my case, in Nigeria. We didn't miss the Small World earlier this year and last year in October, there was the Banana Island Festival. This year too we celebrated our Eid al Kabir twice in a row (2015) & (2016).

We arrived very much later. We missed most of the performance, even the 'Poco-poco' dance by the Indonesian group. I think we were late for everything! Missed the nice food too! 

NIGERIA: Abuja: Malaysia Day (16 September 2016) - (PART 2)

IMHO, the personnel of the Malaysia High Comm had done their utmost for the Malaysia Day in Abuja last month. I think it was the biggest event so far. Thank you are also in order for the sponsors of the event, IRIS, Edmark and the rest for making it possible for the HC to organise the event.

NIGERIA: Abuja: Malaysia Day (16 September 2016) - (PART 1)

Late August, I received an email from the High Comm's office in Abuja inviting Malaysians in Nigeria to celebrate Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) with them. There will be the flag raising ceremony and singing of the national anthem, Negaraku. A short speech from the Prime Minister would be read out by the High Commissioner himself and like truly Malaysian we are, there's the makan-makan (eating, feast). 

It was the 59th Merdeka celebration and we in Lagos, 8++km away celebrated by organising a small makan-makan for Saifuddeen. He and his family left this shore a few days after Merdeka day.

NIGERIA: Lagos: Eid al-Kabir/Eid ul-Adha 2016 (Part2)

What a difference a year makes, we met Malaysian that had been here for the past 8years, Nigerian house wives (Malaysian ladies married to local men) and new families in Lagos. One family arrived less than a month ago!

As usual, pot luck style. On the list we have:

1. Nasi Beriani and acar timun by Madam
2. Ayam masak merah (chicken in red curry sauce) and dhal by Puspa
3. Chicken curry and dhal by Capt. Gordip
4. Laksa Johor (a coconut-fish base noodle soup) by Huda
5. Nasi Impit (rice cake/rice cube) with kuah kacang (peanut sauce) and Red Velvet cupcakes by Nadia
6. An assortment of cakes brought by Khairy
7. Fruits, tea and air sirap by Ghana

Let's makan!

the food....yummy!!! njammm njammmm

NIGERIA: Lagos: Eid al-Kabir / Eid ul-Adha 2016 (Part 1)

This would be our second time celebrating Eid al-Kabir/Eid ul-Adha (click here) in Lagos, Nigeria. Alhamdulillah, thank Allah this year we were able to participate in the Qurban (sacrifice of livestock during Eid ul-Adha). 

In the morning of Eid, I went to my usual masjeed near Awolowo Road. The jama'ah (congregation) this year is much bigger and even the imam took his time before we began to perform the solar (pray). It was not until 9.30am and still, throngs of people entered the area we performed the solah so special, only twice a year according to the Islamic calendar. 

NIGERIA: Lagos: Friends

A batch of young guys are coming to our place for makan-makan (eat). Madam (Allah bless her) had slaved from morning preparing dishes for our guests. But before they arrived, we had a very  surprise visitor, MJ and his family. They came to our apartment, with red velvet cup cakes and in ...... wait for it......FULL Malay attire! Well done! Only it's a day early. The Malaysian community in Lagos will celebrate Eid ul-Adha tomorrow, together. That was the arrangement. Anyway, we had fun having lunch with all 3 rambunctious boys, Noah, Jack and Ali.

Tuoyo, Boye and Lanray

Deyo with Tuoyo's daughter