Menh!
It has been a while and have I missed you all? Very much! I am grateful for all the beautiful time we spent together catching up and making beautiful memories I never knew a day would come when I would not visit Connect in one day.
Within the time frame (September - date) I have been away, I have had six meetups!!!
3 physical meetups and 3 virtual Meetups. I don’t have a lot of time to write to ‘perfection’ as I usually would, so I would tell you briefly about the last one and also share some tips that may be helpful to you, if you are keen on really ‘helping people everywhere find places worth visiting and things worth doing’.
So, last week, my cousin had told me she was going to open her restaurant in Ologuneru, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
I had not visited her since 6 years and I thought; what a perfect opportunity to see the ‘coconut-headed girl’ who lives about 145 kilometres (about 90 miles) away.
But, how to visit a town without seeing my Local Guides, so I applied for a Meetup and got an approval to host; “Let’s Go G.A.G.A., Ibadan”, I intended to visit with Local Guides 5 locations in 2 days; the first my arrival day and the second my departure day.
On the first day; we visited;
- Cocoa House, Ibadan - the first skyscraper in Tropical Africa.
- Kokodome Plus, Ibadan - One of the oldest restaurant, lounge and club house in the city, I loved the ‘diving spot’ of the pool which the club house surrounds. The ambience, you have to experience it yourself
- Cocoa Mall - Yeah! You guessed right! The Cocoa Mall is located in the same complex as the Cocoa House. It houses Shoprite; one of the biggest Supermarket chains in Africa. Our walk around here was very slow, as we had to double check what offices and shops had reopened, closed or relocated after the Lockdown.
- Heritage Mall - You wouldn’t believe that right beside the Cocoa Mall is the Heritage mall, they are in such close proximity, that you could bet more than a dollar they were one and the same, however, they are not. oh! it has such an amazing roof top view and houses the Filmhouse cinema. that reminds me; I made a 360 photo here but Maps won’t allow me upload it, I guess 360 photos of inside view of shopping malls are prohibited, I came to this conclusion after my 5th attempt in different malls by the way. Please tag a Streetview Moderator for me. Thank you.
- Smoothies &Co: After a long walk, we sat to cool off to Mango and Papaya Smoothies. Honestly, I was severely dehydrated! I thought Lagos was hot! Ibadan is hotter! Abeg! Of course we took nice shots at their reserved Photo booth.
- We took off again and this time it was to; St. Joseph Catholic Church, Ibadan! Never seen a Catholic Church that had as much ‘real estate’ as this! Yeah, it’s common for Catholic Churches to run hospitals, schools, halls, convention centers, conference centers, Halls, etc. but this particular Church has a whole Shopping plaza!!!
, the biggest I have seen. They also had different times on their Mass schedule. Right across from this stands the Ishaq Abiola Ajimobi Central Mosque named after the immediate Past Governor of the State; Governor Abiola Ajimobi who died from COVID-19 Complications in June, 2020. - From there, we went to the very beautiful and uniquely constructed The Palms Shopping Mall. It’s a sight to behold! The Architecture, the structure, the extensive parking space, the bevy of activities… Most Cinemas in Nigeria are located on the top floor, but Viva Cinemas located here is located a ‘step below’, almost feels like you are going underground and I thought; what a great innovation for accessibility, everyone should be able to see a movie!
- From there, I went to where I made a fool of myself
Trenq 9D Virtual Reality Experience Center. Safe to say, I can’t tell you all about it. It’s located right before Viva Cinemas. - On Day 2; we started our meet from the same Cocoa House, but this time, we took a lift to the 24th floor! What did you think we went to do? Yes! We wanted a view of the ancient city sprawled right beneath our gorgeous feet
if I dare say so myself but more than that; we wanted to experience the Odu’a Museum (don’t worry, I will add this place to the Maps). Thing is; Photographs are not allowed here; but is a Local Guide a Local Guide if we cannot make them know that; “People everywhere must find Odu’a Museum and Hall of Fame worth visiting”, of course, I can only add photos that can ‘pique’ your interest to want to visit and not more’. The Museum celebrates more than the old artefacts and cultural pieces of the Yoruba heritage but has some great ‘keeps’ as well. - Ooooh, the Topfat Art Gallery!!! Talk about Monumental, life-sized carvings, displayed in a conducive environment with the friendliest attendants ever, talk about Topfat Art Gallery, what a place to be for the ‘art lover/art collector’. My favorite piece of Art is that of the Palmwine tapper on a Bicycle, it is so reminiscent of the Southern culture, I could almost bid for it…
- From there, it was time to see the great Agodi Gardens. The number of movies, songs, etc… that have been shot here! Hmmm! Let’s call Agodi Gardens, the location of set locations, you should see it too. I got excited as I watched; a Horse breast feeding its young!
I had never seen it before then! Oh! the Horses are magnificent creatures. At the Magnus Paintball Arena, Akinola (the attendant) almost talked me into missing my departure time to Lagos, as he convinced me into taking up arms 
I am thinking of the people I would love to shoot and play this game with as I write.
Let’s leave it here for now. We had a lot of fun, we shared tips, Local Guided, Ibadan sure ‘gbaalejo’…
.
. Well done 
Can’t imagine I’m so close to such beauty but haven’t visited it yet 
don’t doubt, I mean what can God not do 
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