Nzulezu Stilt Village, Ghana

On my travels through the blogosphere, I came across an incredible hotel. It’s called Lou Moon Lodge.

 

Expat Opinionista makes it sound incredible: “What makes Lou Moon so fantastic compared to other Ghanaian coastal resorts is its location on a cove, giving you the rare opportunity to swim without waves and currents, and to explore the coastline by sea kayak.” After a quick meander through Lou Moon’s website I discovered that from the Lodge you can kayak/canoe to a place called the Nzulezu Stilt Village.

Zulezu is an Nzema word meaning “surface of water” and it is located in Western Ghana in the middle of Lake Amansuri. The inhabitants go about their daily life, but simply adapt to the watery conditions. To me, the stilts look terrifying and I am 100%  sure I would bring the whole place crashing down. However, it’s been standing strong for over 500 years.

Apparently their day of rest is Thursday, when no activity whatsoever is allowed to take place. Children are baptised in the lake and this is believed to protect them against drowning. Inhabitants of the village are said to have migrated here from Walata, a city in the ancient Ghana Empire. According to legend their ancestors were guided to this particular spot by a snail. These facts just make the place more and more alluring to me!

Oh, and this is how you get there. Awesome:

It’s officially on the bucket list. One day!

Eat/See/Listen/Love: 23/10/12

I’ve been a bit crap lately, apologies. Here’s a little round up of everything I’ve been doing (spoiler: not a lot).

Eat: Every time one of my friends comes to visit I try to drag them along to Margarita Loca. True, it’s only a five-minute walk from my house, but I promise, there are reasons other than sheer laziness. Nestled on Battersea Park Road, it’s the kind of place you can’t miss but you’d never think to visit. GO VISIT. It’s a Mexican/Cuban themed restaurant – all the tables comes with a sombrero and other novelty hat and the atmosphere in the place is great. True, the staff are a bit rubbish, but push past that and you have a great place serving great food. The pic above is of my Chicken Enchilada – only £7 and you get SO. MUCH. FOOD. Also – their cocktails are incredible.  Try the mango frozen margaritas or their lethal tequila.

(On their website you’ll find a number of special deals – as IF you needed any further incentive to go).

SEE/LISTEN: Last year I went to One Taste Festival in Balham. Basically, Brighton record label One Taste invite a whole host of amazing musicians to spend the day playing at The Bedford (Balham) – tickets are £20 and their event this year is on November 11th. Last year I discovered some incredible music there; Fiona Bevan was a great find and Alice Russell did an incredible set live. All of the artists are on the top of their game – great voices and extremely talented. If you like soul, acoustic, alternative music then swing by on the day. There’s also face paint, fancy dress, comedians, spoken word, classical music and LOTS of alcohol. Some of the rather wonderful Fiona Bevan’s music can be found below…

LOVE: I’ve decided I’m rather lazy when it comes to love. Well, when I’m IN love I’m not – I do all kinds of shiz that most people would consider cute (y’know, surprise visits, post it notes stuck to the walls telling my partner how much I love them.. etc) but regarding actually getting to that point – I’m very lazy. I was asked on a date not so long ago, but because it would take me more than 45 minutes to get from my place to his I backed out. I mean: if I can’t even be bothered to actually step outside my comfort zone (well, Zone 1 or 2) to go on a date, I’m not sure there’s much hope for me when it comes to forging a meaningful connection with anyone other than the Soho gays or that old man with a bald spot I sit opposite every day on the tube. Let’s just hope my one true love is hiding in Zone 1 or 2 somewhere!

Radiohead @ The O2 (London): 08/10/2012

GENRE: Alternative, Electronic, Ambient, Rock… the list goes on
BEST TRACK: Impossible to choose. At the moment I love Let Down and Myxamotosis.
BEST ALBUM: All of them… but at the moment: In Rainbows and Kid A
SOUNDS LIKE: They’re one of a kind. Seriously.

 

I’ve loved Radiohead for about 8 years now. I first heard Karma Police on that MTV channel they don’t have any more… you know, the one where they used to actually play good music by good bands. I instantly fell in love. Since that point I have seen them live 6 times, made some of my closest friends based on our shared love of Radiohead and they’ve sound tracked my life.

I was supposed to see Radiohead last week with my boyfriend – but things ended and I was left with a spare ticket. So, naturally, I decided to invite my mum. My poor mother who has had to put up with hearing my music blaring throughout my teens – but she walked into my room when I was playing ‘There There’ and demanded I copy the CD for her. She now adores them too, and she’s actually made one of HER best friends due to their shared love of Radiohead. Funny world isn’t it?

Anyway: when I went to the gig last week I wasn’t sure how well Radiohead would translate in the huge O2 arena. Don’t get me wrong, they can absolutely kill it when it comes to open air huge crowds. But I wasn’t sure how their new stuff would work in a massive arena. Caribou supported them and they did a great job – could have sustained the crowd’s interest a bit better though!

I needn’t have worried. They were amazing. It was made all the more amazing thanks to my friends Olly and Jamie who managed to get us into a VIP box! The view was incredible… (if you can get past the rubbish quality of my camera)

They played a mixed set. Quite King of Limbs heavy, and the lack of movement from the crowd when these songs were played was apparent. Naturally, I didn’t care; despite not liking King of Limbs as much as their previous work they could sing Happy Birthday and they’d make it heartbreakingly beautiful. People have been saying that their gig on Tuesday night was better set list wise, however I’d heard them play every song they played that night previously: Monday night they played Climbing Up The Walls. AMAZING, I adore that song and I’d never heard it live before. I did a mini scream and danced for joy. Well, as much as you CAN dance to a song like Climbing Up The Walls.

People associate Radiohead with being depressing. They couldn’t be more wrong. Listening to Radiohead makes me happier than anything – there’s one part of ‘Let Down’ which never fails to give me goosebumps: no other band could ever create something that powerful as far as I’m concerned. Take a listen and love. I DARE you not to:

At 3.40 the build up begins. At 3.59 the beautiful backing vocals kick in. And at 4.08 I, inevitably, get goosebumps. Swoon.

Set list was as follows….

• 1. Lotus Flower
  2. 15 Step
  3. Bloom
  4. Kid A
  5. The Daily Mail
  6. Myxomatosis
  7. Climbing Up the Walls
  8. The Gloaming
  9. Separator
  10. These Are My Twisted Words
  11. Like Spinning Plates
  12. Nude
  13. Identikit
  14. Karma Police
  15. Feral
  16. Idioteque
  17. Encore:
  18. Pyramid Song
  19. Staircase
  20. Morning Mr. Magpie
  21. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
  22. Reckoner
  23. Encore 2:
  24. Give Up the Ghost
  25. There There
  26. Everything in Its Right Place
      (Intro: Thom sang REM’s “The One I Love” – not on set list)

If you’re as hung over as I am right now, go listen to True Love Waits. It’ll help. Trust me.

Eat/See/Listen/Love: 05/10/12

EAT: I’m loving Bill’s right now. It’s just around the corner from where I work and it’s incredible. Bill’s is actually a chain but each cafe feels very independent. The Bill’s in Soho is inundated with people at all hours of the day, but take a chance and visit and I guarantee you won’t regret it. It also sells it’s own produce, although I haven’t purchased any.

Try their Elderflower Cordial (it’s best cold) – their cocktails are actually pretty good and reasonably priced too. Their garlic bread starter is THE best garlic bread I have EVER had… and that’s saying something. Don’t visit Bill’s without trying!

For my main meal I usually have the Halloumi burger with skinny fries (it’s filled with caramelised onions, hummus and red pepper – yum) but their Fish finger sandwich and burgers all look really good too.

Have to say – I tried their cinnamon mini doughnuts and I wasn’t that impressed. Barely a hint of cinnamon on them.. but do try the Eton Mess instead. Good times.

SEE: If it’s a nice day (I realise I’m posting this at the wrong time of year) I recommend a trip to Hoxton Square. Located on the square are some really cool bars – Zigfrid von Underbelly is just one of them. It has an awesome decor and plays some PROPER tunes during the day. I stumbled across this place when they had a DJ in the main bar area… amazing stuff. Playing Lion King remixes, reggae, soul – all sorts of amazing tunes to sip a cider and relax to. The Square itself is a great place to take some food and drink and just chill out!

LISTEN: I’m loving Macklemore at the moment. He’s a Canadian rapper and he raps in a way which doesn’t offend women and doesn’t adhere to consumer culture. I know what you’re thinking: “white rapper – ew” but check him out. Thrift Shop is my favourite of his work – the music and beat is amazing – and the fact he questions people purchasing Gucci t-shirts for $50 just makes him all the more awesome.  “I call that getting tricked by a business”.

Imagine a light hearted Lonely Island approach to rap, but he’s doing it seriously. Good stuff.

LOVE: I love it when you give me head but hate it when you give me headaches.