Aheh....: NIGERIA: Lagos: Small World 2017

Thursday, 16 March 2017

NIGERIA: Lagos: Small World 2017

Once Upon A Time...

That was the theme for 2017's Small World in Lagos, Nigeria. The grounds of Federal Palace in VI (Victoria Island) once again used for the spectacular event.

This time around, I had a new partner, Khairy of MATRADE. My Madam was away in Netherlands on a business trip. In fact she arrived on the night of the event.

someone is happy

Shathish family

After the usual vow "what happens here, stays here" and sealed with a pinky...we proceed to the entrance gate (hahaha..this part didn't happen). We were on our way to the entrance when we bumped into a group of Malaysians in Lagos.

Puspa and her husband Shathish plus MILs were present too! Ok...have to behave in front of them or risk of being grounded by our Madam. Asian ladies are tough cookies.... cross them at your own risk. Not that we're scared, we just want to live... hahahaha

Azerbaijan and Russia were the first two booth we went, to start the ball rolling. Azerbaijan with its Plov (Pilav, Pilau, Pulao - rice with saffron served with beef) and the Russia with my all time favourite...bread and roe, and a new dish of cow tongue and wasabi. We queued again...then again..then some more, thank you.

This year, Indonesia made a comeback. They were absent last year and had made quite a return. With ornamental umbrellas in front of the booth, we quicken our pace and were welcomed by a lady tending to the guests.

I had sate (satay, marinated beef or chicken on skewer and served with peanut sauce) and a few other finger foods. But it was the kueh or cakes that hit the spot. Malaysians and Indonesians do share the same palate although each has their own version and name, but the taste is there albeit different in shape or colour.

Khairy with his counterpart from Indonesia,
Bapak Nino Wawan Setiawan
of Indonesia Trade Promotion Council

Chicken sate/satay

We took our time from one booth to the other and in between visited the beverage booth. Funnily, it was during the function last year that I think I like the taste of Bitter Lemon. It stuck!

We head out one last time, made one full round before making our way to Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. At the India booth, we had to give the chicken tikka a pass. Too full from the free flow drinks at the beverage canopy.

Before the show starts, it showed various charities and NGO that would receive donation from a number of nations that participated. Then there was a short shadow performance and the Chairlady of Small World emerged and gave her short speech before the start of the first performance from Nigeria.

This year's performance were very much different, of course. Some dance, some tell stories thru the dance they perform, like Indonesia, Spain and others. One or two injected a bit of comedy in their performance, like Italy with their across the human civilisation performance. Like I said, each is unique.

Having said that, I think the performance from The Philippines was a bit let down from last year's. This year they performed their own rendition of Micheal Jackson's "Thriller". Nevertheless, I'm sure it's not easy to get the group together and practise the routine for the big event.

This time around we decided to wait till after the performance. DJ Tamme "King of Snake" entertained the guests until Madam sent me message that she's on her way back from the airport. That was our cue, we left the place and head home....Madam..such a fun sucker.

Nigeria