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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 14:38:23
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If people dont go they are missing a good night. The band is good and sometimes its nice to have a pizza as a change from African food.
I think the place has a happy atmosphere, not a seedy one. |
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demo
Gambia
7 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 14:58:35
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| does anyone know where i can get a translated version? to English by the way... thanks |
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MeMe
United Kingdom
541 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 16:22:32
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I'm sure between us we can all chip in with some translation if you're stuck, Demo  Would that not make for an interesting project, fellow Bantaba members hahahahahahahha ... |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 17:10:21
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I dislike Ali Baba, in fact i think it is a very seedy place. But then, i never feel very happy in the Senegambia area - nothing African about it, could as well go to a Spanish costa (which i dislike as well). So, i don't go there if i don't have to.
Please, don't make the mistake of thinking that every couple consisting of a white woman and a (younger) Gambian partner are having a very dubious relationship. 'Never judge a book by the cover' - that is what i was taught, even when i was very young. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 17:45:54
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I agree about senegambia in general and much prefer to stay at Kotu. Then I spend most time in the villages or relaxing by the pool. I love swimming.
But Ann I do love live music and enjoy Alibaba and the cotton club and the entertainment at Badala park. I enjoy dancing.
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 17:57:36
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Never mind, Bev - we all have our peculiarities :-)
But i'd rather sit somewhere quiet and hear the sound of the waves....not much 'people-watching' there, that's true.
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When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 19:29:24
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| Oh I do that too! And look up at the stars at Tendaba. The night sky there is fantastic! |
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ylowe
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 20:54:04
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quote:
Originally posted by gambiabev
But Ann I do love live music and enjoy Alibaba and the cotton club and the entertainment at Badala park. I enjoy dancing.
gambiabev,
Cotton is the place to be and the crowd is more decent. First night during my last visit i was taken to Wow night club and my cell phone was stolen. I offered $100 to anyone who finds it because i had some phone numbers stored in it but no one came up. i stopped going to that area and later found cotton. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 21:15:35
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The cotton club is REALLY cool! 
I love the saxaphone player from Senegal. He is fantastic. I love watching the brilliant dancers.
I like Joker too....but WOW I am not so keen, very dark and smokey. That is seedy! Lots of VERY young girls. I wonder if their parents know where they are and how they are bringing home money? |
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Lily
United Kingdom
422 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2007 : 23:49:28
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Personally Ali Baba's is not my idea of a good night out in The Gambia (I don't much like the food!!). But I have been there - to meet English friends of my age (middle aged, I'm afraid) who go there with their (much younger) Gambian boyfriends. They are great guys. Their relationships are NOT my business.
Prostitution is a hard word. It has all sorts of implications and all sorts of value judgements get attached to the term. I wouldn't class what goes on in that documentary as prostituion.
The truth is that people DO go to The Gambia for sex (visit Amsterdam Dolphins and countless other places to see). The truth is that young men provide sex for older white women and that young gambian (and nigerian and other countries) women provide sex for older white men.
You can not deny it. And you can not say that a documentary that "reveals" what we all know goes on is sinister. It's factual. I have lost count of the number of young men who have propositioned me and offered me sex. I HATE it. If it wasn;t for my genuine Gambian friends (men and women, families and all ages) I would have stopped going a long time ago. (And I'm not knocking genuine relationships which I also see.....)
But the documentary is also selective and biased. And that reflects our world and our world's media. It selects and chooses the stories that will attract the most attention and HEY, guess what - it works!! |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 01:17:23
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Rather too blunt to call it prostitution for lack of a better word. Sorry for anything offensive. The producer(s) would have had some ugly intention for casting such images and choosing to tag it on little Gambia. Humans are generally motivated by adverse information about others. Success stories attract less attention that information on desaster. |
Karamba |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 10:55:59
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| i agree with Lily, if you don't find the geniune gambians you are in big trouble. you will not enjoy gambian at all. you wil just stay in the hotel and by the pool. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 12:00:09
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I agree, but people have different ways of enjoying themselves. Not everyone is interested in culture, some just want to soak up the rays and some want to drink alot and some are sex tourists. Each to their own. Gambia relies on this trade, sadly.
To aim for the more up market tourists that want to know about the country and want to help is a good aim and enviromentally aware tourism will appeal to such people. But Gambia doesnt have the wildlife or the variety of scenery of other countries it is competing with.
As a Muslim country I would be very happy to see Gambia outlaw 'hard liquer' !
A beer or two or three or a few glasses of wine is fine, but to be rolling drunk in a Muslim place seems very disrespectful to me.
I love the atmosphere in Joker, because on the whole it is not drink fuelled. Most people are drinking soft drinks or beer. This makes things much more peaceful. |
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Babylon
Sweden
691 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 19:04:22
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Honestly, I just feel sick seeing unattractive, shameless old grannies getting a shag in Africa and who happily pays for it. Itīs just simply nasty. The kids in the beggining of the documentary ("rastaboys"?)look like two twelwe year olds! Child prostitution exposed right there!
BTW, this is the same video Eve posted some months ago. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 19:19:52
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When does a boy become a man? When does a girl become a women? In Uk legal age for sex is 16, but usually that takes place with someone of a similar age and alarm bells would ring if one person was much older than the other when one is so young.
My 'gut' feeling is most people dont become properly adult until their mid twenties. I was 24 when I had my first daughter. Perhaps for boys becoming men it takes a little longer say 30?
Once you are a 'proper grown up' then I think you have the sense to make your own decisions and live by your own choices. So I would say a 30 year old Gambian guy with a 50 year old women..SO WHAT?! But a 18 year old Gambian with a 50 year old women..oh dear........
Personally I would prefer not to be dating someone that numerically it is possible I could have given birth to! 
I'm 47 this year. I think its ok for me to see a guy in Uk or Gambia, white or black, between the ages of 32 and 62.....though 32 is a bit young and 62 a bit too old. I prefer a man between 40 and 55.
The guy I have been seeing in Gambia is around 30. By my own 'rules' he is a bit young. But he has had alot of responsibility at work and home from a young age and is much more mature than an english 30 year old.... they would seem more like a son! Somehow in Gambia numerical age seems less important. |
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