Day 14: Oye~ African Music Fest!

20th June, what a tiring day indeed!! the story was that while we were searching for the fruit tart the other day, we saw this leaflet about an African Music Festival to be held at Sefton Park's Review Field on the 20th, better yet, entrance was free~ So we decided there and then to go and gain a new experience, eventhough we hadn't finished studying for monday's exam, eventhough we didn't know the way to Sefton Park.. Brave huh.. hehe...

The map we had only showed the road the edge of the street that the park is supposedly in, so we decided to take a risk and walk there.. Well, we managed to walk all the way there. after a whopping one and a half hours! Luckily the weather was cool.. but we were starving by the time we got there, eventhough I had grabbed breakfast earlier..

Walked past parts of Liverpool I hadn't been to before, thats part of the famous Anglican Cathedral here..

Dunno why the colour is so weird here, the first pic shows the colour more accurately.. Will go insde and have a look if theres a chance next time..

Pretty castle-like building..

Just had to take some pictures, cos this was quite a distance from where we usually go to, so very slim chance that i'll ever walk all the way there again..

Nice architecture~

Another tower-like structure by the roadside..

The next part of the story is pretty tragic, haha.. Since we had been walking along Princess Road (where Sefton Park is located on the map) for quite some time and didnt see any sign of our destination, we decided to ask for directions from a friendly guy walking by (who the hell says hello when stopped by strangers on the street?! Should have known he was fishy..) and after asking us whether we were going to the music festival, he told us to walk right to the end of the road and go through the gates and it would be pretty obvious from there..

Ok, so we went through the gates and there was this enormous, beautiful, green park

Still got mood to take pictures at this stage, cos thought we would arrive soon.. haha..

Check out the date! 150 years old

The road to nowhere..

So the park was obviously beautiful and all that, but it was also obviously the wrong place, it was just too quiet! and huge, we followed the path but there werent any signs, or people for that matter, so we decided to trust the guy we got the directions from and just keep walking, until we realised we were actually in Princess Park and not Sefton Park at all.. It had started to drizzle at that time and we were beginning to lose hope, cos we had been walking for so long and we were hungry!

Luckily, 2 very kind security guards/ policemen/city council members, i dunno, they were wearing reflective vests suddenly appeared.. Must be my guardian angel at work again.. and we went to ask for new directions.. Each time we were confused which way to turn, they would appear behind us and point out the way, they were probably going to the same place I think, so weird..

Finally seeing Croxteth Drive (which is next to the Review field), was beginning to wonder if it even existed..

The real Sefton Park!

First glimpse of the tents that confirmed we were at the right place..

First thing we did when we arrived: Hunt for food of course!

We circled the food section once and decided against any local stuff like burgers and chips.. So african food it was, and we just had to choose this stall cos it smelt the best, eventhough there was a pretty long queue already.

Cost us 13.50 pounds~ Sigh... RM70++

Stew chicken with rice and beans (5.50)

Curry goat with rice and beans (5.50)

A patty, beef patty to be precise (2.50) hahahha, I ate (a) patty :D inside joke..

I only ate half k, was helping the photographer to hold hers.. It was really really good!!

African trinkets..

I squealed when I saw this! Im a softie for anything in the shape of a cute animal.. Adelynne bought this for 9.50.. I didnt get anything, restraining myself as usual.. haha..

African accessories..

Soapstone animals... *swoons* so cute..

Click to view the prices.. decided to let them go in exchange for a few more meals, haha..

more stuff.. many more stalls but I didnt get pictures of everything.. Some stores were selling tibeten and nepali goods tho, whats that got to do with Africa???!

The first group we saw- Kasai Masai.. reminds me of the malay phrase kusut-masai :S

Telling us to wave our hands in the air!!

Leading the dancing..

I turned around and saw this sight, couldn't resist taking a picture, hehe.. and no, I don't know these people..


A short snippet of Kasai masai's performance..

This guy whose name was Kwame or something like that went up to promote travel to Africa..

Second group- Group Lolou.. :)

The drummer..

I think he looks a bit like King Kong, don't you?? A nice bit of drumming tho..



Snippet of Group Lolou's performance.. I like King kong's drumming skills.. :)

Look like a zombie here.. :( Adelynne, your camera too bright lah..

Customary photo to prove I was there.. yea.. :D

Children's inflatable playground, I really wanted to try the slide.. :(

Cross section of the crowd..

Unknowingly captured this very cute scene.. :)

I wonder if as many people would come if such a thing was held in Johor, haha.. Brits really love sitting and lying on the grass, some people even came with tents to camp.. Something we wouldn't get in Malaysia I guess..

Left after watching 2 performances, cos we had to go buy some stuff from the store in Chinatown called Chung Wah supermarket.. This time we made a wrong turn and ended up walking even longer, about 2 hours, I had an aching back by the time we got home.. >.<

Stopping on the way back for a rest..

Ended the day exhausted.. But it was fun nevertheless.. I really don't mind walking any distance if its cool :)

PS: We swore that was the last time we would eat one portion of food per person, we were too hungry to think straight when we bought our food, usually we share one portion between 2 persons, and it was a huge mistake to eat an entire portion alone, I still feel nauseous when I see the picture of the rice now.. >.<>