July 17, 2007

We have two weeks left on our trip from today. We just took a great little mini-break, so let me tell you about that.

Will and I traveled to Mombasa from the 11^th to the 16^th. The train station in Nairobi offers an overnight ride to Mombasa for $50. It’s Kenyan first class, so we got dinner, a place to sleep, and then breakfast the next morning. We were designated to this little room with two bench seats stacked on top of one another. That’s where we slept. It was basically a fold down couch with a blanket, sheet and pillow on it. Not bad for $50, but a little less than what I hoped for for first class. So we got on the train around 6:45, took off around 7 and then dinner was served immediately. They have the ‘dining car’ where everyone went for dinner; four to a table. We sat with this very nice couple from San Diego who had been living in Shanghai, China for the past two years running their own import/export company. Will heard ‘Shanghai’ and was immediately interested. They turned out to be great people who told us all about living abroad, their safari in Kenya, and what they were looking forward to in the states. From studying abroad and now living in Kenya, I’m learning that Americans are very interested and attracted to a different lifestyle, but they still love those things about their home country too much to let it go completely. Myself included. So dinner was fun, but the food was poor. We stayed and just chatted for a couple hours because we had nothing to do back in our cabins, but eventually went back around 9:30. We’re so use to going to sleep around that time in Rongai that I figured we’d be able to fall right asleep.

I was so wrong.

I’ve ridden a train only three times in my life. Twice in France and once from Washington to New York. Those were great rides and only lasted a couple hours. There was no fear and no unnecessary rumbling, but I was scared for my life while riding on the Kenyan railways. I think that my brain was just so turned on and alert that it didn’t have the capability of tuning anything out. It was a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride with the cabin cars constantly jerking, and the more times we bounced around the more I became paranoid that we were going to slide right off the track or collide with an oncoming train. We’d make random stops that would last only a couple minutes at a time, if that, and I definitely thought that the Mungiki or corrupt police officials were going to come on board and take us away. It wasn’t a nice situation to be placed it, but I think I eventually fell asleep around 4 AM just because my body couldn’t handle it anymore.

We got up for breakfast around 7:15, dragged ourselves to the dining car, and sat with this Welsh man who had moved to Mombasa for the construction business. My mom complains that I mumble while I talk, but this man did more than that. He’d speak, but would hardly open his mouth. He didn’t make enough noise to understand the words that were coming out, and the fact that he had a Welsh accent didn’t help. He’s one of those people that could’ve been really cool, but wow, he just didn’t speak clearly or with any sort of intelligence. Breakfast ended and we eventually arrived in Mombasa around 10:30 AM, an hour earlier than expected.

We arrived at the train station and immediately took in a deep, deep breath. The air was so clean and wonderful to take in; it was definitely an exciting moment to know that we’d be staying in such a clean place for a few days. The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze and our spirits were quickly lifted. Esther had helped us make reservations at a hotel a few days earlier, so we only have a 20 minute walk in front of us before we got to our hotel. We stayed at the Castle Royal Hotel, which was located in Central Mombasa. It wasn’t on the beach, but it was in the middle of the city so there was a lot going on and the Northern Shore was only a 30 shilling Matatu ride away. Our first day there was very relaxed. We just showered, ate some good food, grabbed some things at the local grocery store, and hung out at the hotel. We had a little porch attached to our room so we could just sit out there and read or just people watch for a while. There were a lot of restaurants by us, so I checked out my Lonely Planet guide for a place that sounded good and that was close, and sure enough there was a beer garden about 100 feet from the opening of our hotel. We checked it out and it turned out to not as good as hoped. Although it’s outside and under the clean Mombasan sky, there were no lights to illuminate the place and the food menu was poor. We didn’t want to stay, but we felt obligated to hang out for a big so we just got a couple of Tuskers (we’re sooo tired of Tuskers) and then headed to the Canton Chinese Restaurant that was right next to our hotel as well. We love Chinese, so that went smoothly. Those meals always end up costing more than we plan though, but after we’re finished eating, it feels so worth it to spend some extra money on food you know you’ll love. So that was our first day.

Day Two. We headed to the beach today after a lazy start. Our hotel had breakfast included with the rooms, so we made our way downstairs around 9:40 to make the 10 AM breakfast cut. That turned out to be quite yummy and much more impressive than traditional continental breakfasts that are sometimes included. Note: There was a Gelati (yes, Gelati, not Gelato) place attached to our hotel so we made frequent stops there. Many scoops of Peach gelati made it’s way into my stomach during the few days we were there. But anyways, after we indulged in some gelati and hung out for a while in the morning, we caught a Matatu and headed to the Northern beach coast, but specifically, Kenyatta Beach. Right now isn’t tourist season in Kenya, so the beaches were pretty secluded. We were able to find a nice spot to just drop our stuff off while we jumped in the Indian Ocean. We quickly realized that we’ve both been missing water a lot since being here. It was so, so refreshing to swim again, especially under the hot sun. We spent the afternoon at the beach, grabbed a late lunch and then headed home. Because we ate lunch so late, we didn’t want to make any big dinner plans, so we just headed to Perfect Pizza, grabbed an alright-pizza and some drinks, and brought it back to our hotel where we could just relax and veg out. We were finally out after dark and we took advantage of that, but we didn’t explore any extreme night life in Mombasa.

Day Three. Very similar to our previous day, except we made sure not to have a late lunch because we wanted to go out to a nice restaurant for dinner. We headed to the Tamarind Restaurant which is one of the nicest in Mombasa. We just read about it in the Lonely Planet guide and decided it sounded great (there was supposed to an incredible view). So we got there and wow, it was a lot nicer than we had predicted. The restaurant is gorgeous and has this outside-garden look to it, and it’s right on the harbor so every table outside allows you to see the lights from the city. It was an incredible view and the food was so delicious. Being so close to the water, we decided we had to get seafood, so I ordered Lobster Swahili while Will got a prawns dish. The best, and most expensive lobster I’ve ever had. I’m not exactly sure what they did with it, but I think they created this sauce that had other seafood meat in it (crab, prawn) and then put the lobster meat with that. It was so good. I kept thinking about it after we went home because I wanted to remember exactly what they did. We also had sashimi and calamari to start off our meals, and that was delicious too. And for the first time, maybe ever, I was too stuffed to have dessert. Probably not the smartest move, but I just couldn’t put anything else into my stomach. I’m also realizing now that it was probably one of the best dinner’s Will and I have ever had and we didn’t even get a picture of us there. But it’s ok. It was wonderful and if I’m ever in Mombasa with my Dad or Mom, I’ll ask them nicely to take me back to that restaurant.

Sunday was our final day in the city. We rented out our hotel room as a ‘day room’ so we could keep all of our stuff locked up safe while we roamed around and did whatever we wanted. It was a dreary day with some light rain, so we didn’t do much other than eat and rest. We were going to attempt Indian food, but once we got to the restaurant I lost all desire for their gourmet, so we headed to this restaurant called the Casablanca Club, which apparently is home to many prostitutes and their customers during the night (and a couple during the day). We got a couple burgers, fries and drinks and it turned out to be only $8, so that was great. We were counting on eating a big Chinese meal right before we got on the train so we wouldn’t have to worry about eating train dinner. Luckily, we found a place that was open from 11 AM- 11 PM and chowed down before we left for the station. We got to ride a rickshaw from our hotel, which provided entertainment and an easy ride, and that only cost us 100 shillings. Everything went smoothly with the train this time. We were pretty use to the shaking and rumbling, so it was just a matter of zoning it out. We had dinner with a nice couple from Belgium who could only speak four languages. I reminded them that Americans spoke only one. So we had another not-so-tasty dinner and then headed back to our cabin. We ended up falling asleep pretty early, woke up for a while, and then just passed out for most of the trip. It was very nice to actually get some sleep on the ride this time. We skipped breakfast because it was just too much to have to get up and eat crappy food when sleep was so much nicer.

We got into Nairobi a little later than planned (around 1 PM) and since we had skipped breakfast we were very hungry. We ran to Bakers Inn, an easy place where we could grab a cream doughnut for 25 shillings, and then headed to Nairobi Java House, this great coffee place that we just found the day we were leaving Nairobi. They have the most excellent milkshakes (dessert here just doesn’t compare to the United States) and an extensive food menu for a coffee place. So we ordered two milkshakes (vanilla and double mocha), a Greek salad, side salad, cheesy bread, two Turkey Bacon Clubs, side of guacamole, and then a Strawberry sundae to finish ourselves off. And we ate it all. I think we spent about $40 on lunch which is just ridiculous, but it was so good that it was well worth it. I can’t wait to go back; I’m sure we won’t bother trying other restaurants now that we know we can count on a great place. The place was also filled with every Mzungu in Nairobi, also. We had planned on seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when we got into town, but we got in later than planned and it wasn’t showing at the theatre closest to us. We’re gonna have another go this weekend, I think. I have to see it. Mrs. Phillips was nice enough to send us a package and when we had stopped by the VICDA office the Wednesday we left, we saw it. And it was huge. We weren’t going to be able to get it home without a taxi, but as we were leaving the VICDA office on Sunday, John, one of our coordinators with GVN, told us that the new volunteers were being dropped off and that we could just catch a ride with them into Rongai. So instead of having to pay 1500 shillings to get home, we just took a much longer ride, but still arrived before dark so Esther and Manasseh didn’t have to worry. We picked up two new volunteers that are staying in our house. They’re a young married couple from Carrboro, NC, right next to Chapel Hill. They’re only staying for two weeks which is unfortunate for the kids at the orphanage, but it’ll still be nice to have new faces around. We opened the package Mrs. Phillips sent and were graced by the presence of peanut M&Ms. A lot of them. That was such a wonderful sight. We also gave baby her Hello Kitty® sunglasses, which looked very stylish on her.

Today is Esther’s birthday and we wanted to do something for her so she knows how much we love her. She’s only turning 30, which surprised me, but really shouldn’t have. She looks very young, but her voice and the fact that she works so much makes her seem older. She’s very young and fresh though, which is great. We went to Tusky’s in the morning (supermarket in town) to show Amy and David how to get into town, and also to pick up some things for Esther. Will bought her a nice lamp, but we also bought a cake and some icing mix so we could surprise her with that later. We also picked up some Coke and Rum (Esther’s secretly loves rum) as another surprise for her. I think she was very appreciative of our efforts, especially since her husband didn’t do anything for her. Also, I found out that they don’t blow out the birthday candles here and make a wish. I had to teach her that, and hopefully she’ll use it next time there’s a birthday. I had to buy this icing mix because you can’t just get frosting in a can, and it was basically just sugar, sugar and more sugar. All I did was take two egg whites and then slowly add this mix (and red food coloring) and I had Kenyan icing. It was so sweet, but Baby and Manasseh loved it. It was a successful birthday and I was very happy to see Esther so pleased.