From Nairobi, Kenya to Chennai, India
Monday June 8, 2015 (Africa, Kenya)
Well, it’s that time again – relocation! After spending a relaxing couple of weeks in Nairobi we’re moving onward to Asia. Although we haven’t been entirely positive about the city, we’ve had a lovely time here because of some great people: our Airbnb host Hameed, Al (a university-era buddy of mine and fellow Aussie exchange-taker), and Al’s partner Jazzmin.
First, I’d like to mention the “Fire Fighting” sign we found in the building we’re staying in. No judgment here guys, but if it were up to me, I’d probably leave “Fire Fighting” set to ON. Maybe it’s just me.
On Friday, we all went out for a night on the town. I cut some serious rugs. I’ve realized that I’m generally a fan of empty clubs playing good music. So much room to demonstrate my moves without bumping into anybody. Drinks whenever you want them. Why do people look for clubs with other people in them, anyway?! The same night, we encountered an unfortunate arrangement in which guys on the street were hawking puppies. Just wandering around at two in the morning trying to sell puppies to clubgoers. Mildly distressing, to say the least. But outside of that, we had a blast checking out the nightlife here in Nairobi.
Last night Sandra and I went over to Al & Jazz’s place for a board game night. We played a version of Carcasonne that I had painstakingly constructed out of bristol board a couple of evenings ago. Why would I create such a thing? Let’s just say that the availability of board games any more obscure than Monopoly is non-existent. It went over really well! We followed it up with a six player game of Settlers of Catan, from which Sandra emerged victorious on her very first attempt at the game! Throughout the games, we also gorged ourselves on some chocolate chip cookies that Sandra had made. Delicious! It’s actually near impossible to obtain chocolate chips here, so Sandra improvised by chopping up a Nestle bar. It worked a treat!
Today we picked up our Indian visas. It’s a good thing the process was so painless! We showed up at the agreed-upon time and received the agreed-upon documents. Rarely do things seem to run so efficiently when travelling aboard, so we are counting ourselves very lucky.
After grabbing the visas, we wandered over to Steers for a last hurrah with Sandra’s ice cream dream. A butterscotch sundae for both of us. Of which I’m only allowed to eat half of mine, and must donate the remainder to Sandra. These are the rules.
On the walk home, I tried to capture a bit of the madness that is Nairobi traffic. Pictured is a roundabout. Notice the brake lights and lack of motion blur: nothing is moving here. We walked about five kilometres away from town, and the entire walk was accompanied by a static line of cars. Every couple of minutes it seemed one or two would shift forward a foot or two. And that was about it. I’m quite sure I could handle a commute like this exactly once. After that, I’d be either walking, cycling, or moving my place of residence. It’s crazy.
Now to tonight: our last dinner in Africa! Our Airbnb host Hameed kindly treated us to Indian food. It was very tasty and an incredible send-off for us as we head to India tomorrow. It’s going to be a long flight with a couple of connections and lengthy layovers – we look forward to our safe arrival!