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Post by onlyMark on Jan 22, 2019 16:39:42 GMT
I’ve no idea why I’ve suddenly come across a number of short videos that I never thought to look for before. They are obviously not mine. Each has information about what I see and experience every day. I thought, if you have the patience, that they would give you a bit of an insight of what it is like for me being here in Lusaka. They are far better than trying to describe it or just show a photo. Some of the videos are good, some not so, but they still can be quite informative and give a window into my life at the moment.
They are all within easy reach of where I live, in fact only a few minutes walk, apart from one or two that I’ll point out. First there is one regarding a place called Tusha Lodge. It is a typical budget place but nevertheless quite attractive and worth considering for those who don’t wish to spend the often extortionate amounts that accommodation normally costs here. The most expensive room costs $26 Roughly $1 = 12 Kwacha now.
It’s just a couple of streets away from me, the beginning and end feature the “lodge” but the centre section deals with a couple of things again close by. The first is a small shopping centre (Foxdale Court) that I could go to, but don’t as there are better ones for food purchasing. Then a short street scene followed by a craft market held every Sunday that we sometimes walk to and have a wander round. The touts are a bit of a pain though but usually mild-mannered. I did quite a while ago make a little photo report of this and mentioned that very little is made in Zambia. The things from material are, but the rest tend to come in from surrounding countries (and Zambia is surrounded by many countries).
Then the video moves on to my usual shopping centre, East Park Mall. An easy walk but I usually go in the car to carry the shopping bags back. It shows the entrance to Food Lovers Market, my go to place for fruit and veg and the subject of a later video, as is the mall. If you notice the staff at the end saying hello, you’ll start to see the various facial features showing that as there are about seventy two languages in Zambia, and each will be from a certain tribe, hence there are similarities, but also differences in build and so on. The history of the country shows there has mainly been a melting pot of tribes and whereas I experienced quite a lot of racism in, for example, Kenya, between tribes, there is none of that here (after all this time I would have seen/experienced it, so I’m reasonably confident in saying that).
Another point, if you think you are good with languages, is that at a minimum, most people are fluent in at least three, from the lowest class to the highest. The house help we have twice a week speaks four tribal languages and English. I’ve not come across anyone with two or one. Have a quick look -
The next shows East Park Mall. It is one length of shops, at one end is Food Lovers, at the other there is a quick glimpse of PicknPay, a larger general supermarket. I usually go to both when I’m shopping. Walking takes about ten minutes, there is a fish restaurant that served quite reasonable sushi, of all things, though as expected it all comes up from South Africa. I go for the hake every time. There is also a Lebanese I attend for falafel wraps/tabbouleh/fattoush and an Indian for thalis. Also, about the best ice cream shop in the city and recently opened is a take away I won’t be visiting called “Goat and Chips”. There used to be an excellent pie shop as well, but that was taken over by a shawarma place (that isn’t the Lebanese) -
Then we have Food Lovers, the place for good veg in this mall and one of a chain around the city that do have mostly the nicest stuff like that. Though, you’ll find that it will be about a third more expensive on average than the other supermarkets. At the start you’ll see the shop juice bar near the entrance, good and fresh stuff, to the left of that is a small cafe that does about the best toasted cheese sandwich and chips I’ve found. It is also part of Food Lovers. The video as made as part of the old mannequin challenge if you are wondering what they are doing and is good fun. Especially to catch out those in the background that are moving. By the way, beef fillet is currently about $8 a kilo -
Next is where I do not shop. It is the central local market a ten minute drive away shortly after an outbreak of cholera when most of it was shut down. You can see the drains at the beginning. I have actually no idea at all why there are so many people standing/sitting and appear to be waiting. Can’t work it out -
This is one of the city centre streets, again ten minutes drive, after a usual rainstorm. You can see how cholera rears its head from time to time, as the water from the sewers and rain gets into the wells which are not very deep. If you can afford it, you have a borehole dug -
Again about ten minutes walk away is a small office park with some places to eat. The park houses a few HQ’s of banks and such like There is a very good Indian restaurant there, but not the best in the city, but a good Thai and a cafe. As you watch, ignore the USD conversions. They are way out. The local money, Kwacha, amounts are right but divide by twelve to get USD and fourteen to get Euros. The Thai I’ve been to ten times or so, because it is handy for me, and the cafe two doors along (the Indian is between them), The Mint Lounge, I’ve frequented more times than I can shake a stick at -
Virtually every Sunday morning I can hear the singing at this church from across the houses. I must admit, even though I’m not religious, sitting with a coffee in my conservatory (Germans would call it a Winter Garden) and with the patio doors open to get the sounds wafting in, is very pleasant (and such a lot of noise from so few people. Not like in the UK at all). If you’re going to do religion, that is a good way -
Enough of my European and expensive, relatively, food, this is how to make the standard carbohydrate eaten at least once a day from corn flour/corn meal (not cornflour for thickening stuff, but flour from corn). Most of you know of this sort of thing I suspect as it is widespread among many countries but just has different names - polenta is one version you will definitely have come across. Here it is called Nshima, a name I’ve mentioned a few times over the reports. It comes in various grades of fineness, this one looks like what is called “Breakfast” as it is fine and powdery. If a Zambian asks you if “you have eaten today” it doesn’t matter what you have had to eat, if you’ve not had nshima then you’ve not eaten and you will be sat down and fed some.
With the nshima will almost certainly come as a classic traditional meal some fish or chicken or sometimes beef, but usually some green stuff. In the video the fish is bream, which some confuse with tilapia, but I’m sure you don’t. Bream can be fresh or dried.
The green stuff or other veg comes in various shapes and forms, mostly very simple with a little sauce of tomatoes and onions, and can be one of the following dishes - kalembula, which are sweet potato leaves, impwa, like a bitter tomato, delele which is okra and chibwabwa, the leaves of a pumpkin. Also lumanda with ground nuts, the sour leaf of a plant I think is hibiscus, and cassava leaves which make a dish called katapa. A standard is bondwe, a form of wild spinach. There is a smooth mix of greens with peanuts called ifisashi.
The local place I’ve been to a few times just up the road from me serves the same meal and would cost about $4, but from a street seller would be maybe $2 - $3 at the most. A portion of nshima is less than $1 usually -
If I find anything else of interested (to me anyway) I’ll add it on, but for now, that’ll give you a little idea of a small part of my life.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 22, 2019 17:15:27 GMT
Great fun and it's nice to see your stomping grounds Mark. Theres a quick glimpse of a blue hurricane lamp hanging against a pinky-terracotta wall that jumped out as a lovely image (I'm strange that way) in the first video. Not seen all of them yet but I enjoyed the ones I've watched so far. Great stuff.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 22, 2019 17:58:10 GMT
What a great idea for presenting your area, Mark! The videos are great, but all seem to be set at the lowest resolution. Raising them really enhances the experience. In the first one, for instance, at the highest resolution I got really close looks at the market items. I'd kill for those bicycle sculptures.
The lodge rooms look the way many lower priced Mexican hotel rooms look, but other places, mall, etc., look like the US.
I am fervently hoping you'll go back to the City Market for some pictures. The video seems like it might have been part of a news presentation at the time of the cholera closing.
Loved the church singing, which has the spirit of American gospel music but sounds definitively African.
The section on local food is fascinating. Would not have guess that about dried bream. Great information about the vegetables. I am imagining what the Zambians would do with the greens in a Mexican market. They would find their pumpkin leaves, at least, and would probably be drawn to the bags of leaves called guias, which are a mix of pumpkin leaves and a variety of wild greens such as lamb's quarters and others.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 22, 2019 19:24:01 GMT
This is a brilliant tool. I haven't watched all of the videos yet, but I will. One of the best things about websites like Anyport (yet not wanting to beat our drum excessively) is that it generates interest in things about which we know nothing. I have paid much more attention to Zambia since you moved there and even my prime leisure interest (cinema) has been affected, since I saw movies like I Am Not a Witch or Gabriel and the Mountain.
Zambia is a lot less discreet than it seemed to be at first.
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Post by casimira on Jan 22, 2019 22:43:26 GMT
I haven't viewed them all yet but thus far am enthralled and enjoying what I've seen. TBC.
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Post by questa on Jan 22, 2019 22:46:10 GMT
Thanks to you, Mark for putting this together. The more things are different, the more they are the same. Just about all these views could be anywhere in Indonesia...floods of dirty water v. flashy Malls, unsealed bus stops and dress for church. Other cooking uses rice rather than other grains and the greens in Asia are water convolvuous and spinach with green peanuts. I wish I had the factory that makes that green paint...it covers the tin fences and walls all over Indonesia.
Carry on.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 7:40:11 GMT
Theres a quick glimpse of a blue hurricane lamp hanging against a pinky-terracotta wall that jumped out as a lovely image (I'm strange that way) in the first video. You're not strange at all. Why do you think they show it? It's not just you.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 8:08:29 GMT
Bixa - lowest resolution, no idea and seemed ok enough on my computer but I can see the difference when I alter them. The bikes are about $12 each I think. There or there abouts. The city market is still not properly open and possible won't be for quite a long time. It's due to bureaucracy as regards health and changes in the rules that stall holders must get certain permits now. The church singers are lovely and it is usual here. The music is influenced by many things, not least of all normal gospel singing but there can be elements of reggae in there as well. Dried bream is everywhere as obviously it doesn't require refrigeration. There'll be stalls of it piled up at every village. Another fish eaten a lot of and either dried, frozen or fresh is kapenta which is sardine/sprat sized. You can get crayfish too. Greens here are a very big thing. I can't identify half of them in the supermarket, but there's usually a really big load of them. I think if a Zambian was in Mexico he'd just eat anything green. K2, I keep meaning to see those films but never got round to it. Can't find them anyway. Less discreet? That means...? Casi, thanks. Hope you enjoy them. Questa - "convolvuous" - yeah, just the word I was looking for. It was on the tip of my tongue.
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Post by bjd on Jan 23, 2019 9:31:06 GMT
Zambia looks like a place I would like to go. Not sure I would put on much weight there if the staple food is nshima -- do they just serve it as white lumps? Not flattened or fried or anything? I remember getting various unrecognizable greens in Kenya. Mostly tasting like kale. But the Zambian food looks better than Kenyan food.
I realize too that I sound like a Westerner looking for local colour, but it seems a shame that the supermarket has everything wrapped in plastic. More expensive and more waste, even though it might be cleaner. The oranges look rather expensive.
Anyway, thanks for these videos. Tushi Lodge looks pretty good and I would stay in a place like that without hesitating.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 10:03:00 GMT
I don't eat nshima and haven't for a long, long time. I did a few times but much prefer normal carbs. The reason being I just cannot understand why it is not 'jazzed' up a bit. Often not even salt and pepper. I spoke to our cleaner who more or less said it is what it is. It's the traditional way and what people expect. A lot of the food could be so much better with some spices/herbs added. I have a Zambian cookbook and there is just one recipe that uses a spice other than a touch of salt and/or pepper.
"Cleaner" in Zambia is more important than ecology as regards packaging. Though each supermarket does have one day a week where they don't use plastic bags. You have to bring your own re-usable ones. Bear in mind also that a hell of a lot of food stuffs are imported so some packaging is often needed. The oranges are a typical example of local and imported. You see the big sign saying 17.90 a kilo - these are imported. To the left there is a sign saying 24.90 for 2 kilos. They are local. The first is equivalent to Euro 1.32 and the second is Euro 0.92 a kilo. Expensive?
Grapes per kilo E2.13, Golden Delicious apples E1.25, gem squash E0.96 and butternut, E0.74. The most expensive things are bell peppers, yellow and red ones. They are extortionate. As is cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini. Mangoes are a bit less than E2 for four. But bear in mind these prices are often up to 30% more than in a normal supermarket.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 23, 2019 12:17:09 GMT
I think I'll pass on the wallpaper paste thanks.
You don't think they were all hanging around at the market waiting for you to arrive so you could be served first?
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 13:53:11 GMT
I think that might be true.
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Post by breeze on Jan 23, 2019 15:34:15 GMT
How did those workers at Food Lovers market hold their poses for so long? Impressive, and a clever video.
Nshima looks like grits to me (ground white cornmeal, if you don't know the word). My husband's father was a southerner (US) and he inflicted grits on his kids, who hated them even though he doused grits with lots of butter. He inflicted opera on them too which they hated as kids but turned around later. Grits, no way.
In the nshima video, there's something smooth and brown in a frying pan. Peanut sauce?
Thanks, Mark.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 16:39:16 GMT
There is a dish involving peanuts but it isn't this, but the sauce initially looks like a peanut sauce. At the end though there is another shot of it where I'm sure you can see bits of onion in it and the colour is more red. If so, then this is just an onion and tomato sauce and there is an overlap, to me anyway, between what they call 'relish' and a local word, ndiwo. They seem to be generic terms for whatever veg/sauce combination you have with nshima. A peanut sauce, as it looks like and we think of, is not something you have here so I'm doubtful it would be.
Grits are about the same as far as I know.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 23, 2019 16:53:13 GMT
I initially misread that as girls are the same as far as I know.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 23, 2019 18:39:22 GMT
Nshima looks like grits to me (ground white cornmeal, if you don't know the word). My husband's father was a southerner (US) and he inflicted grits on his kids ... *takes regional umbrage* Yes, nshima does look like grits, but grits is/are ground hominy (and delicious!). In an example of the forum coming full circle, Mark once initiated a conversation on nixtamalization, which is what is done to corn to make it hominy. I looked up nshima, about which there is rather a lot of information online, and it is made with cornmeal, not with hominy. From what I've read, in parts of Africa chile peppers are well appreciated and there are even local varieties. I guess we can assume that is not the case in Zambia. Mark, do produce prices go up and down according to season, as they do here in Mexico? Some of the prices you quote seem quite reasonable, depending on season. Why is so much produce imported? Is it the land itself which isn't suitable for farming, or that + irrigation problems? I once read that the food writer MFK Fisher had Chinese friends who were students when she was living in Paris. She would undertake to feed them, as they were poor students. She found out later that most of them would fill up on rice at home before heading to her house, since her meals lacked the rice that made them feel full and satisfied. Even though I quite like tortillas, which many foreigners, including me, initially find disconcertingly bland, I could never eat as many tortillas at one meal as most Mexicans consider normal. I imagine it's the same for the Zambians and their nshima -- many cultures have their essential starches. Since I'm from Louisiana, I always find it odd when various soups and stews are not served on top of a mound of rice, as any sane person knows is the right way. The city market is still not properly open and possible won't be for quite a long time. Are there casual markets for people who don't want to shop in supermarkets? For instance, the dried bream -- is that only in village stalls, or also available in the city? Do remind me to pick up some of those bicycle sculptures when I come visit!
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 23, 2019 19:46:18 GMT
I struggle to remember what I wrote this morning, never mind just over eight years ago. You are right and I've never had grits so I would have little idea. You can buy chilli peppers quite easily and I have no idea who uses them apart from those that aren't Zambian as the Zambians don't. Probably the big Indian community amongst others. Prices do go up and down with the seasons, quite dramatically and there can be whole weeks/months when there are things you just can't get - unlike in the west where most things are available year round with maybe a week or two when not. There are also problems with supply chains and, for example, there was no coca cola to be found anywhere for at least a month. Now it is Nescafe. Not long ago it was potatoes.
Most foodstuffs are imported, there is quite a lot grown locally but not enough, apart from basics, to supply the demand. Plus the climate is not conducive to growing things like root vegetables and not many fruits. Lemons are one example where we do have a lemon tree in our garden but they are slow to grow and quite small. The traditional food is based upon, as you would expect, things that are easily grown here and widespread, like green leafy things that I don't like anyway, maize meal, chicken and fish from the rivers and lakes - but also it is a mentality thing - it hasn't been long in history (and I mean way less than a hundred years and more like sixty or seventy) that the economy has had to move towards agriculture by itself. Yes, there were colonial times when there were big enough farms, but since Independence (1964) when there became no central UK governance, they went downhill for a number of reasons.
On the farms run by foreigners the foreigner retained the knowledge and didn’t pass it on. He saw no need to and even when the writing was on the wall, there was still an attitude of that the locals couldn’t manage themselves nor were clever enough to do so. When farmers died out and there seemed little reason for their offspring to carry it on then due to the political situation i.e. Independence, the farms died too. Thus local Zambians had no idea how to farm industrially plus the mentality thing (that is all too common as a generalisation) that as long as they had a full belly as the little bits of land they did have were anyway high producers due to the soil and climate, they didn’t look to the future. In fact it is the bane of Zambia and many countries, this forward thinking thing.
Any high producing farm here is again owned by non-Zambians as many have moved back in to take up the opportunities present from a relatively stable and friendly country - quite a few have come over from Zimbabwe since their land grabbing episodes. It has happened here by the way, but it is very rare. The locals have only in recent times started moving away from hunting and foraging and growing enough just to feed their extended families and maybe sell a bit as well. Irrigation, though we do have a dry season, is not such a big thing as you’d expect. The big thing is not the supply of water, but the investment to get it and distribute it properly, plus drain off the rains when they come so the ground doesn’t get waterlogged. As long as enough is being grown to feed the family, that is enough. Don’t forget also that relatively Zambia has a small population. There are vast, vast areas of no one. Thus the locals, once they’d maybe farmed out a field or two, just moved on a bit, maybe a hundred metres and started again.
There do appear to be many similarities between our two countries, many differences, yes, but it seems attitudes to a number of things are very similar. Casual markets - yes, they abound. Often little stalls at the side of the road selling some vegetables, sweets, soap etc. They are invariably run by women as it is beneath the men to do so. They run them for their pin money, for a little independence and often as the only way to make money as jobs can be hard to come by. Many women sell only one or two things from a bucket, many build a little hut with a counter, many set up a table somewhere. The things you’d expect. But always the women. Yes, dried bream is one thing sold, but actually only one in ten stall wills sell it as it isn’t something the stall holder has made or grown. They’ve had to get it from somewhere else so even though the profit margin may be higher, the bringing it to market is more involved.
Also there are areas that specialise in different things - so travelling between here and the north, say 500km, you’ll see the normal tomatoes and onions close to Lusaka and a little further on as the main things sold on side of the road stalls. Later there will be red sweet potatoes, then white ones, then honey, then near the Luangwa river it is fish, then live chickens....... and so on. One thing I look out for as when I see it I know I am nearly there (South Luangwa National Park) is when you see the kids at the side of the road selling a “treat” from Malawi. This is a stick/skewer upon which is a line of dead rats or mice. All lined up nicely like they are lying on top of one another.
In answer to, “Are there casual markets for people who don't want to shop in supermarkets?” the answer is that in reality only a small proportion of the population shop in supermarkets, me being one of them because I can afford it. Most only go to get a bag of maize meal or some oil or some other basic they can’t get at the market. Most live day to day and never step foot inside one.
I’ve reserved some bike things for you, just in case.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2019 1:58:45 GMT
I'm learning a lot! The agricultural aspect will probably be tough to change, for the reasons you name.
One thing that is very different between Zambia & Mexico is the market vendor thing. There might be more women vendors, but not a bunch more. Many stands -- meats, produce, juice, dry goods -- are run by married couples or by a parent and a child.
I love that you can travel and see that areas specialize in different things. That is one way Mexico and Zambia are alike. Going from this state to the neighboring state of Veracruz can feel like a radical change. Actually, when I was young you could still see local specialties on the side of the road driving from South Carolina through Georgia to Florida, for instance. Well, in south Texas roadside stands still abound.
This is a great thread, which has the feel of those Henning used to make, introducing us to the way he lived in Cambodia. We're in a fair way to learn as much about Zambia, now.
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Post by questa on Jan 24, 2019 2:10:28 GMT
Dear Mark, Your description of the life and development of the people in Zambia is so close to Lombok, Indonesia that I would like to share some examples with you and the Dear Readers. I will not take over your terrific posts but may add a little below your post to show 2 different countries. If you do not want to have me trailing you, just say so. On the farms run by foreigners Many of the Zimbabwe farmers moved to Lombok where tobacco grew well, and tried to set up there. Farming for cash crops was a new concept, the old men never quite got the message. A British farmer spent a fortune installing a special irrigation system which required the taps to go on every 4 hours for 10 minutes only. Not used to dealing with ssmall units of time...the older men explained they had never used minutes. So he bought all the old boys digital watches and drilled them in 10 minute intervals. Then they needed a 4 hour example. The Muslim call to prayer works out roughly 4 hourly, so they decided this was "near enough" to irrigate. So the farmer had a great year (on paper)but not so in reality. [/i]
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2019 5:09:38 GMT
I finally managed to catch up on this thread and saw all of the videos. This is all very informative, particularly to see how different a lot of East Africa appears to be from West Africa. During my trip to Kenya, I learned all about the day-to-day or meal-to-meal existence of many people, where the concept of planning for the future does not appear to exist. West Africa still has a lot of gigantic farms because most of the colonists never left, which maybe wasn't such a bad thing after all -- I don't really know enough about it all to judge. But people think a lot about the future in Western Africa, school is super important to them, as well as buying all possible consumer goods that they can afford. Some of them might live in shacks but have a massive European living room set because that's what they saw on television in "nice" houses. In the French and Portuguese speaking countries, the populations are still mesmerized by the Eldorado of Europe. I guess it's no worse a goal than many others they could have, but of course we always hope that they will put more faith in their own countries and improve them -- not just the cities.
Of course, we all know that China is investing billions on the continent, which should be great, but they seem to see the populations mostly as tools to start producing all of the things that the Chinese need and want, and if they have to rape the natural resources even more than the Europeans did, it doesn't seem to be a problem for them. We'll probably need another ten years to fully understand if the Chinese are heading for catastrophe or if they can actually kick start some of the economies. For example, I can easily imagine the Chinese building a gleaming covered market in Lusaka to replace the diseased one, but that doesn't mean that they local population would want to use it.
Everything you have shown abour nshima looks nasty, but I can see why it is so popular. If you have been raised on such a thing from your earliest age, it automatically triggers hunger because it is the basic definition of food. I lived in the land of grits, but I never tasted that horrible stuff until I was about 14 years old and went on an overnight school trip. Everybody just gobbled it at breakfast and I was appalled. One forkful was more than enough for me.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 24, 2019 7:28:09 GMT
China and the Chinese is a very big subject here. Needless to say the attitude of the population is at odds with that of the politicians. In the city and outskirts their influence is quite insidious and their investment is a double edged sword. A little known example, that is maybe anecdotal but does have some truth in it is that half of the property taxes paid when selling houses is paid to the Chinese government. At one point recently China requested that a Chinese police force be formed in Zambia to protect its assets. Quite how accurate that really is, I don't know. But what I do know for sure is that, "Zambia's police force has scrapped plans to employ eight Chinese nationals barely 24 hours after it unveiled the scheme, following a public outcry." "...the decision prompted widespread anger, especially in light of a ruling taken earlier this year (2017) that bans police officers from marrying foreigners for "security reasons". Not even Zambians with dual-nationality are allowed to join the police." www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42413330Plus, there are in reality no accurate figures of how many Chinese are in the country. All they can go on is the applications for work permits which is twice the number of the other nationalities combined. It's not that the Zambians object to skilled workers or investors from China, it is that often you see a Chinese national performing a job a local can do. One Member of Parliament asked why he sees so many Chinese selling stuff on street corners, pushing wheelbarrows and sweeping. The answer from the Minister of Home Affairs was, "Some of those Chinese nationals you see pushing wheelbarrows are actually engineers. They are unlike us. They are multi-talented." And this is all too often the thing people complain about. A Chinese made road after the first time the rains come -
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Post by questa on Jan 24, 2019 9:19:56 GMT
Mmm, bit of a worry about the 3 Gorges dam, what?
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 29, 2019 11:37:32 GMT
I've put the cat amongst the pigeons.
I've received a speeding fine issued from a static camera. It is equivalent to 22 euros, so not much really, plus you don't get points on your licence, which is good. Nevertheless, the principle is that the speed limit in shown to be 80km/h on a section of road. Later it drops to 60km/h. I was fined for doing 64km/h. I was confused as to why the fine when I thought the limit was 80km/h. I've been back along the stretch of road and now seen a limit sign hidden behind a large tree, of 60km/h.
I turned round to the beginning of the stretch and made a little video. No need to watch it all but you will hear me giving a commentary aimed at the head of the Road Traffic agency responsible, a man called Soko. I have informed him of the relevant regulations in the Roads and Road Traffic Act that make the hidden sign unenforceable and requested my money is returned for the reasons in the video. I have posted it on the Facebook page for the agency. We'll see what the reaction is.
The video is below but the relevant point is at 6:30, just before the sign appears -
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Post by questa on Jan 29, 2019 11:55:35 GMT
Oooh...you stirrer! I love it. More strength to your arm. Good luck with it and keep us posted. (First time I've heard your voice...nothing like I had imagined )
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 29, 2019 12:02:53 GMT
No! Bit of Midlands in there...
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 29, 2019 12:59:22 GMT
A lot of Midlands in there. And of course to my ears it doesn't sound like that.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 29, 2019 14:13:55 GMT
A lot of Midlands in there. And of course to my ears it doesn't sound like that. I was being kind....
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 29, 2019 14:32:00 GMT
Right oity toity me.
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Post by mossie on Jan 29, 2019 14:44:04 GMT
Run him in Officer Klatchka, I saw the sign plainly and easily in his video, he is just a troublemaker
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 29, 2019 14:54:22 GMT
I'm awaiting a response, if there will be, from the authorities. It may be I'll need prison visits.
And Questa, you had some other voice in mind? There was a post some considerable time back where I spoke in dialect.
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