Last week we had a North Korean ship visit the port here. Above are some photos of it. It was moored at the dock next door to ours for several days and off-loaded a good bit of cargo before sailing away. In the U.S. we don't usually have an opportunity to see much of anything North Korean, so this was pretty interesting to me.
We went into town today and did a little shopping at a supermarket and then went out to eat at one of Monrovia's many Lebanese-run restaurants. It is very interesting to walk down the isles in the supermarket because the packaged goods seem to come from just about everywhere except Liberia. We seem to be living right in the middle of this activity as I guess most of it comes in on the ships that enter the port here. At the supermarket we bought several items, some for us and some for others on the ship. We bought pasta from Tunisia, butter from Denmark, bouillon cubes from Turkey, coconut cookies from Jordan, cake mix and canned peaches from the United States, coconut packaged in the United Kingdom, and some butter cookies from I'm not sure where. For these several items the bill came to $29 U.S. which is quite expensive, but I guess its not unreasonable considering the expense involved in shipping all of this stuff to Liberia. Thankfully most all of our food is provided on the ship so this was our first grocery shopping trip in Monrovia since we arrived. At the restaurant, I had a falafel, the boys had a cheese pizza, and Bethany and Jenny had a Taouk (chicken, french fries, and pickled cucumbers wrapped in Lebanese, pita-type bread with some nice garlic, mayonnaise-based sauce).
Kelly Grizzard, my boss (pictured above in a rather dignified pose at the restaurant), who drove us there had a Philly cheese steak type sandwich on Lebanese bread. So our dinner was more Middle Eastern/European/American than African. Maybe at some point, we can experience some real Liberian food although I hear that if you don't like spicy food, you're in trouble. I think we're willing and ready.
John
2 comments:
How much was the meal - do we need to increase our budget???
The meal was $27 U.S. before tip. That included a $2 (1.5L) bottle of water. I think its one of the more economical restaurants around. This is the first time we've eaten out since we arrived and I don't see it as being something we would want to do more than a couple of times a month if that.
Post a Comment