Nairobi- check! (and a dead dude) 9/22/18
We slept really well last night. I slept the whole night through and woke up at 9. Time to get this day started. We opted for the hotel breakfast as we both needed coffee to wake us from the grog. The buffet consisted of Wheatabix (I needed some fiber after 5 days of cheese and bread), a "sausage" (hotdog), fruit and juice, a chickpea mixture, and Andy had more goat and kale (I wasn't ready for hotel greens due to the fiasco in India). The coffee was really good, but everything wasn't worth the $20. We knew it wouldn't be cheap here.
Out the door, said bye to the guard as he gave us a salute, we headed to get some cash and find an adapter for our electronics. This city is large, not a grid, so I got turned around a bit initially. No matter, we were checking out the sites. We first hit the electronic district, then one of the longest streets of car mechanics. The streets were very busy. We had to keep remembering to look right-left-right since they drive on the other side of the road.
As we strolled along dodging people on the sidewalk and tires being thrown, we found a group of people staring at something. As we got closer we saw a guy face-down on the ground, half on the sidewalk, half in the street. We didn't see any blood but I didn't need to get closer to know that he was dead. Andy took a closer look to see if he was alive (nope), I walked away.
We headed for a market in city center ... Nicer buildings, white-collar business people and traffic lights. Andy looked up and pointed to the top of the trees. Some of the biggest birds I've ever seen, especially in a city. They are called Marabou Stork and feed off city scraps and garbage. Then we looked higher and found them flying up around the skyscraper buildings- right in the city center! They were probably 3 feet tall w/ a 6-9 foot wingspan. They are also called "undertakers" because of the resemblance from the rear ....whaaaa?
We found the Masaai Market, and the sales dudes found us. As soon as we walked in 2 guys started chatting us up. We tried to brush them off but they assured us the way it worked was we pick out items we think we want, then the guys negotiate w/ us for one price, much cheaper. It was a shame that they wouldn't leave us alone. We went along w/ it for a couple items, not really intending to buy. Then it was time to negotiate. Andy asked about the price of the one painting. The guys first bid was $85. Are you fucking kidding me? After we laughed, Andy countered w/ $5 and stayed firm ... it didn't go much farther from there. We will not we buying anything in this market. Much rather buy directly from the people versus the sharks marking everything up.
Needing a break, we finally found ourselves in Uhuru Park. It was quieter, cleaner, away from all the hustle and exhaust. We saw people setting up portable rides, kinda like the moving carnival rides at home, just much scarier and smaller. It was early afternoon and time for some food. A friend recommended an Ethiopian restaurant so we walked the extra 3 miles. The road took us through the nice section of Nairobi called Kilimani where the Russian Embassy, hospitals, and nicer condos were located. We finally found the Hagerei Habesha restaurant. It had a lovely outdoor setting under the trees and away from traffic. We ordered the Bozena Shiro (beef w/ butter sauce), Ayeb-Begomen (kale w/ cheese), and Aterkik Alitcha (split peas w/ turmeric sauce). It was all served on a thin sponge-like wheat bread. It was all so delicious and very filling.
It was now 3 and time to start heading back since we were miles away from our hotel, plus we still needed to get an adapter. We walked back, I almost ate shit a couple times on the super even sidewalk, and we reached the area of town w/ the small markets. Some dude came up to Andy and said he was built like a rugby player and started chatting him up. He was apparently in college studying to be a physical therapist (he was very old), and he was going to Ohio next year. He was also part of a program to help get rid of Polio. We got to the store to get the adapter. $10 the lady said. It was $2 across the street. Andy bargained, she came down to $4. "These are higher quality, these are made in Africa, not China". OK whatever, she made a good pitch.
Back at the hotel with some beer to relax. We rinsed the city off us and our clothes, recharged the electronics... Today was a total success.
Out the door, said bye to the guard as he gave us a salute, we headed to get some cash and find an adapter for our electronics. This city is large, not a grid, so I got turned around a bit initially. No matter, we were checking out the sites. We first hit the electronic district, then one of the longest streets of car mechanics. The streets were very busy. We had to keep remembering to look right-left-right since they drive on the other side of the road.
As we strolled along dodging people on the sidewalk and tires being thrown, we found a group of people staring at something. As we got closer we saw a guy face-down on the ground, half on the sidewalk, half in the street. We didn't see any blood but I didn't need to get closer to know that he was dead. Andy took a closer look to see if he was alive (nope), I walked away.We headed for a market in city center ... Nicer buildings, white-collar business people and traffic lights. Andy looked up and pointed to the top of the trees. Some of the biggest birds I've ever seen, especially in a city. They are called Marabou Stork and feed off city scraps and garbage. Then we looked higher and found them flying up around the skyscraper buildings- right in the city center! They were probably 3 feet tall w/ a 6-9 foot wingspan. They are also called "undertakers" because of the resemblance from the rear ....whaaaa?
We found the Masaai Market, and the sales dudes found us. As soon as we walked in 2 guys started chatting us up. We tried to brush them off but they assured us the way it worked was we pick out items we think we want, then the guys negotiate w/ us for one price, much cheaper. It was a shame that they wouldn't leave us alone. We went along w/ it for a couple items, not really intending to buy. Then it was time to negotiate. Andy asked about the price of the one painting. The guys first bid was $85. Are you fucking kidding me? After we laughed, Andy countered w/ $5 and stayed firm ... it didn't go much farther from there. We will not we buying anything in this market. Much rather buy directly from the people versus the sharks marking everything up.
Needing a break, we finally found ourselves in Uhuru Park. It was quieter, cleaner, away from all the hustle and exhaust. We saw people setting up portable rides, kinda like the moving carnival rides at home, just much scarier and smaller. It was early afternoon and time for some food. A friend recommended an Ethiopian restaurant so we walked the extra 3 miles. The road took us through the nice section of Nairobi called Kilimani where the Russian Embassy, hospitals, and nicer condos were located. We finally found the Hagerei Habesha restaurant. It had a lovely outdoor setting under the trees and away from traffic. We ordered the Bozena Shiro (beef w/ butter sauce), Ayeb-Begomen (kale w/ cheese), and Aterkik Alitcha (split peas w/ turmeric sauce). It was all served on a thin sponge-like wheat bread. It was all so delicious and very filling.
It was now 3 and time to start heading back since we were miles away from our hotel, plus we still needed to get an adapter. We walked back, I almost ate shit a couple times on the super even sidewalk, and we reached the area of town w/ the small markets. Some dude came up to Andy and said he was built like a rugby player and started chatting him up. He was apparently in college studying to be a physical therapist (he was very old), and he was going to Ohio next year. He was also part of a program to help get rid of Polio. We got to the store to get the adapter. $10 the lady said. It was $2 across the street. Andy bargained, she came down to $4. "These are higher quality, these are made in Africa, not China". OK whatever, she made a good pitch.Back at the hotel with some beer to relax. We rinsed the city off us and our clothes, recharged the electronics... Today was a total success.