The Mall and the Bazaar: Two Shopping Extremes in Lusaka

One Friday afternoon after work at the hospital was finished for the day, Kaleb, An, and I went exploring around the city.  We stopped first at Manda Hills Mall, a Western-style shopping mall complete with a multi-level parking structure, Wal-mart type department store, movie theater, and a Chinese restaurant selling sushi!

 Movie theater at Manda Hills Mall

 Hungry Lion, a Zambian version of KFC, packed with customers

The three of us picked up some fried chicken at Hungry Lion, a popular chicken chain in Lusaka.  The place was packed, and we were eager to see what the fuss was about.  Though the fried chicken was a good price and tasty, I decided that I liked the chicken at KFC better.

Kaleb and An enjoying their Hungry Lion fried chicken

After the mall, we headed to the local bazaar in downtown Lusaka.  Some of the wooden stalls had been abandoned, but enough had stayed in business that we could peruse the goods for sale.  Many of the stalls had hung speakers from their roofs, from which unseen announcers rattled off some sort of information in Nyanja.

 

vendors in the foreground, Samsung tower in the background

I'm still in awe of how people balance everything from boxes full of soda bottles to baskets of produce on their heads

Fries for sale

Though the prices were low and the goods plentiful, Kaleb, An, and I were mostly interested in window [er, stall?] shopping so after we had traversed most of the bazaar area, we headed back home.  Despite returning empty-handed, we arrived back at the eye hospital with an appreciation for having been able to take part in two vastly different shopping experiences... and having acquired some new odors from our walks.