ByCHRISTINA ZHAO, Vice

My first driver gives me two choices. The first is his favorite Somali restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush, London, to drink unpasteurized camel’s milk. The other is London Central Mosque.

While I’m sure camel’s milk is both nutritious and tastes absolutely fine, the second option is definitely more appealing, if not without a caveat. Religion scares me, to the point that I’ve avoided people of faith for 26 years with almost complete success. My one slipup was when an ex dragged me to his cousin’s baptism, where the kid screamed for his life while the priest waterboarded him in the name of God, so you can maybe see why I have my hang-ups.

We talk about camels the entire way: eating them, raising them, riding them, and drinking their milk (which apparently never expires). Shafi even shows me pictures of the camels he owned in Somalia—camels that have their own photo folder on his phone.

“I love camels. My father’s side of the family are camel people,” he says. “They have energy. They reserve food. They are very strong.”

The mosque is more than just where people go to pray. It’s a communal watering hole, a meeting place, a place for rest, a place of learning, and a place for social gathering, complete with a library, bookstore, museum, teaching rooms, and a food hall. Upstairs, the wives are gossiping; downstairs, the husbands are praying; and in the courtyard, the children are playing Magic: The Gathering.

There are people sleeping everywhere. One guy is sprawled out on a table in the dimly lit canteen, three more on the floor in the prayer room, some under the sun in the courtyard. This place feels a world away from the noisy city streets outside—the Wrigley’s-covered bus stops, oil-slicked roads, and hordes of Spanish tourists inhaling hot exhaust fumes while they wait to see a wax figure of will.i.am.

Read more: I Asked London’s Uber Drivers to Take Me Somewhere ‘Fun’

Source: Vice