Nickerie

Well the Snoodies have been off the air for quite some time now -- blame my fellow Snoodies, one left for Tanzania and the other fell in love and started a night MBA program.  So they basically both disappeared.

I took a trip to Nickerie recently and decided to talk about my trip a little and figured that this is the forum to do it on....

First off, Nickerie is about a 4 hour drive from Paramaribo -- be careful in both Saramacca and Coronie as the police like to lie in wait with speed guns and hand out tickets.  You can make the trip closer to 3 hours if you speed, have no other traffic and notice no cops along the way.

About the only entertainment about in Nieuw Nickerie is going to the market or going swimming at the public pool.  Of course, you can always take a trip to the salt water flats and see the birds.  :)  In NN though.....

Where to stay in Nieuw Nickerie -- there are a variety of apartments and hotels in NN.  So far, I've tried three.  In order of preference (worst to best):

3. Hotel Concorde -- this hotel is two blocks west of the Residence Inn/ big market square.
Cons first: there appear to be three types of rooms -- on the ground floor there are small rooms with windows that look out on the hallway -- so you keep your curtains closed.  The rooms are kind of cave like.  Local television only.  Upstairs on the left -- there are nicer looking bigger rooms with balconies -- they actually look very nice.  Upstairs on the right are standard looking smaller rooms -- about the size of the downstairs rooms but with the ability to open the curtains and get some sunlight in the room.  At night though, the walls and ceiling come alive -- as things walk through the walls on in the ceiling all night long.
Breakfast is sad -- you tell the lady what you want, for example, bread, cheese, tea and that's exactly what you get, one soft (hot dog style) bun with a slice of cheese and a cup of tea.  No buffet -- no changing your mind, going for seconds, etc.  There is usually a cold option (cheese) and a hot option (like shredded chicken).

Pros: the prizes are reasonable about 80 srd per room.  The location is good -- walk to 'downtown' and the market.  Beds are reasonable, there is hot water, the air-conditioner works well and the restaurant has decent Indonesian food.

2. Regency Hotel Nickerie -- this hotel should really be tied with the Concorde in preference.  The hotel is located close to the hospital -- so not within easy walking distance of the market but still definitely within walking distance.
Cons: this hotel is not for light sleepers -- there is a bar next door which has karaoke on some nights and a DJ on other nights.  Between the music, the noisy air-conditioner and the automatic air freshener that automatically puffs all night long .... sleep is not easy to come by.  Another factor that kills it are the sheets -- they are cheap and rough causing the skin on your legs to become irritated after a while.
Pros: breakfast is a nice buffet upstairs on a great balcony with lots of wind.  There is bread, plenty of fixin's for your bread, as well as, fruit, yogurt, and cereal.  There is also a restaurant on this same balcony and the bar next door also serves food.  In the back is a casino.  Hot and cold water, cold air-conditioners, okay mattresses and good pillows.  The best feature was the free wi-fi.

1. The best spot to stay in Nickerie is in the apartment above the Self Reliance office.  A great big house with several bed and bathrooms, a huge living room, kitchen and nice balcony.  Also very reasonable prized.  Good quality beds and furniture.  You make reservations through the Self Reliance office.

As for food in Nickerie -- we didn't really get too adventurous.  Like I mentioned before the Concorde has a relatively good Indonesian restaurant.  Another local hangout which is okay is a place called Nancyland -- it's around the corner from the Self Reliance apartment and offers free wi-fi.  It's a burger, fries, BBQ place with ice cream sodas.  :)

We also tried the local sit down Chinese restaurant called (I believe) Kow Loon -- or something like it.  The waitress had no recommendations because "she doesn't eat there but always brings her food from home".... not really very encouraging.  The food as .... okay.... typical not really good Surinamese Chinese food.

The rest of our stay we spend primarily on the terrace by the Residence Inn hotel.  This is quite an experience.  The terrace seems to be permanently understaffed.  There is only one employee who mans the bar and the terrace.  Things are veeeerrrrryyyyyyyy sllllloooooowwwwwww......  and a little off as well.  The first time there we were not offered a menu -- we kept having to pull information out such as -- soooo do you have hamburgers?  Oh yes,....  oookkkaaayyy and what else....  Well what would you like.....  JUST GIVE US A DAMN MENU already.

After some frustrating moments (the bitterballen were all gone) we settled on an order of french fries and a cheeseburger.  The french fries were at least hot.  The cheeseburger.... the cheese was on the bread and so not melted at all.  The burger was very very solid -- probably put on the cook top straight out of the freezer.  Odd...

The things were ordered and tasted during our visits:
- pindasoep (peanut soup): basically your basic Maggie bouillon soep with spoon of peanut butter dissolved in it.  The chicken in the soup had this tasteless, dry, pre-cooked and then added at the last moment flavor.
- french fries: the first day they were your normal order of french fries (ketchup/mayo) with a slice of cucumber, tomato and lettuce on the side.  The second day, they apparently ran out of lettuce and added a spoonful of bitter melon on the side..... uuuggghhh

- sweet and sour fish: delicious fresh fried crunchy fish with a tomato/ Chinese pickled vegetable sauce.  Came with rice and long beans.
- vegetarian special: supposed to be a stir fried mix of local vegetables served with either rice or french fries (everything is served with either rice or french fries).  This was interesting -- the vegetables were potatoes - sliced thinly, frozen veggie mix peas, carrots and corn, some pieces of cabbage and maybe two pieces of something green like bok choy .....  very very interesting.....

So .... not the best food place so far but still plenty to explore.  The trip will try the Royal Inn since they supposedly have their own pool.  :)