Kanyindo's Random Rated Next Ramblings 4

Day 1 Fort Portal

We arrived in Fort Portal on Thursday evening. The journey was good, apart from the fact that our coaster broke down several times. But the view more than made up for it. 

Once we entered Kabarole, I was totally blissed out by how beautiful it is. Nothing but luscious green everywhere. Once again, I found myself holding back from screaming ‘’STOP THE BUS!!” and running out to inhale the delicious air. The sight of the tea fields is one that everyone should experience at least once in their lives.

Once we arrived, we checked out Garden Restaurant, where the auditions were to take place, and then made our way to Travellers’ Inn where we would be staying. 

I had been here two years previously, so was confident that my stay here would be much better than in Lira.

I wasn’t disappointed. The rooms here have an old colonial feel to them. Little balconies, carpets, bathtubs. It’s so old school, I just love it. There are plants all over the place, not to mention the beautiful skylight illuminating the center of the hotel. There are parrots and other birds that serve as a unique soundtrack to your stay at the inn. Though the little buggers can be a bit annoying at 2am.

Once we were settled, it was time for dinner. I opted for chicken, which is always a safe choice in my opinion, before heading back upstairs for a good night’s sleep.

I got up at 7am on Friday, which compared to my usual 4am starts is a decent lie-in, and got ready for the day ahead. After the disappointment of Lira, I decided to leave my expectations behind and just left myself open to whatever the day’s auditions would bring my way.

Fort Portal brought it!

For the first two hours of auditions, my fellow judges and I were pleasantly surprised by the voices we heard. There was the guy who sang gospel, the teeny tiny girl with the big voice, the young boy who did serious justice to an Ed Sheeran song and blew us away. 

It turns out that the best of Fort Portal came out at the beginning, because it was downhill from after our quick lunch-break.  The nonsense we saw, I tell you. One guy came through and I could swear he was high on something. And it wasn’t Coca Cola.

Like Arua, Fort Portal has its fair share of interesting stage names. Here is a round-up of my Top 5:

-    Bebe Hot (not to be confused with    Bebe Cool)
-    Wig Man (who was not wearing a wig)
-    Bad Man Fire Messiah (I kid you not)
-    Frost (erm… yeah)
-    Junior Blood (I did ask him where Senior Blo od was. He looked at me like I was the weird one)

I won’t go into too much detail about when Ken was asked for his empaako and thought he was being told mpaa ko (forgive my dodgy spelling). Or when Esther oh-so-sweetly shattered someone’s dreams of being the next big thing. Or when I was crying with laughter at the guy who I thought was singing about bubbles but was actually singing about Ba Boss. 

You’ll have to wait to catch the show on Urban TV.

Then maybe you’ll understand our pain.

But all in all, it’s been a great trip so far.

Time to go downstairs and eat more chicken.

Comments

  1. Unknown16 September 2015 at 18:26

    Its gd that u enjoyed our beatiful city and hope u will come back but thanks for posting .its me Hassan Omuchwezi amooti kugonza

    ReplyDelete

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