Lamu - A swahili coastal town that seeps into your soul without you knowing..

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For some reason, the song "I've been to paradise.. but i've.. never been to me.. " keeps singing in my head when i'm in Lamu.. dunno why..

Anyways,.. Decided not to go Malindi after Mombasa.. cos they say is it's really touristy.. and i just want to relax and do nothing in lamu.. and Lamu is only 6hrs from Mombasa if you take the Tawakal mini bus.. 2hrs to Malindi.. and another 4 to Lamu.. 600ksh (67ksh=1USD)... actually the bus stops at Meroke(merowe?) and you take a boat to Lamu island.. 50ksh normal boat, 100ksh speed boat.. throughout the journey.. the scenery along the way just remind me of highway 3 along the east coast of west malaysia.. macam driving up to Cherating.. malindi looks just like pattaya.. with many different resorts/hotels along the coast..

Spent a total of 4 nights in Lamu.. it's a great place really.. small arabic coastal town.. narrow alleyways between buildings that are 3-4 storeys high.. Lamu is really a town that just grows on you.. after just 2 nights, you stop looking out for donkey shit on the streets and didn't really mind even if you stepped on some.. you just take things real easy there.. yah, real easy.. i've been getting lazy too.. i've stopped tallying my expenditure every night.. so i dun really keep track of where my money went in Kenya from this point onwards... haha..

When you are in lamu.. many people will ask you to go for dhow trips.. look at their souvenir/art shops and buy some stuffs... but after about 2 days.. and after you've walked up and down the coastal street many times.. they sort of recognize you and dun bother you too much anymore.. Lamu is a small town.. and people learn things about you.. i only tell one guy i would be leaving on the 29th.. and soon after, some people came up to me and say.. "wah.. you leaving tomorrow.. never come and buy things from me.. " wah.. how you know i leaving tomorrow? wah.. and oh.. i think they dun get much chinese and koreans, so everytime they see a yellow skin person, they'll go konichiwa! o-hai-o! sometimes i dun bother.. sometimes i get irritated and tell them "i not japanese. i chinese!".. lucky i not anti-jap chinese.. or else sure sibeh tulan to be called japanese.. and one of the locals told me they did have an incident once.. when a china chinese tourist got into a fight with a local cos the local called him a japanese.. heh.. i'm sure that'd happen from time to time..

oh. speaking of yellow skin people. i met a girl from Singapore in Lamu! what's the chances of that.. heh.. and guess who else i met in Lamu? On the first night. i met 3 koreans.. and after some introduction.. i discovered that one of the is one of the directors for Da Chang Jin.. and another one actually acted in it.. the third korean is their friend who's been working in nairobi for 9 years and speaks a smackering of kiswahili.. wah.. maybe i should have watched da chang jin when i had the time.. then maybe i'll be more awed.. haha.. the koreans were going on a day trip on a dhow the next day.. and invited me along... ooh... why not? talked to the captain (Captain Ali, quite a nice simple guy).. and i had to pay only 600ksh (67ksh=1USD).. and lunch included.. so why not? i'm in!

26th April 2007 - Day Dhow Trip to Manda Beach

I had initially hoped to find some other people who are interest in doing multiple days trip on a dhow.. we'll sail to some island.. camp there... and continue they journey and travel to the islands further north of the lamu archipelago.. but no luck.. so i guess a day trip will just have to suffice..

travelling on the dhow is nice.. it's always nice to be on a sail boat.. helped captain ali and his helper, Crab, to tighten to lines etc.. and when the wind is strong, in laser sailing we hiked out to counter balance the boat.. but in a dhow.. they have a wooden plank extended out and you climb out to lever and balance the boat.. had a few go at it.. quite fun.. there are sometimes when you have to help the crew do some work on the dhow.. especially when wind is strong and you going upwind and you need to have a very tight line to harness the most energy out of the wind..

Our dhow sailed to Manda beach, a beautiful stretch of sand with nice blue waters... Captain Ali will cook a swahili lunch (which turned out really good.. fish cooked in coconut juice and curry) for us there using firewood etc.. there was a creek there where we tried to do some fishing.. to add some more fish to the table.. but the creek had too much sandflies/insects and we gave up after like 10mins.. so we went back to the beach.. and headed to a beach bar located further down and spent the rest of the day there..

Travelling with the koreans are pretty interesting.. especially when the korean actor saw me using my DSLR.. he requested me many times to take his photographs on his own DSLR... and man! he is really natural in front of the camera! the first time i took photos for him.. i was like i framed, and took one shot.. then i realized that he's forever just changing different poses.. different angles.. so i realized that maybe he's used to just posing and the photographer just clicked away.. so i turned on auto mode and snapped away... snap snap snap snap snap.. wah.. very stressed.. never took photographs for a real celebrity before..

27th April 2007 - A day of recovering from sunburn

Today is a painful day for me.. i was lying in the sun for too long the previous day on Manda Beach.. shoulders and back was all burnt.. move your muscles a little bit and you can almost hear your skin creak.. ouch.. so i stayed in Lamu town.. took lots of shower to cool my body down whenever I'm near my guesthouse... oh.. i had like 10 glasses of juices today.. i'd just go into the different restaurants/cafe and order different juice.. each big juice only 50ksh (67ksh = 1 USD).. oh! besides Indo and Vietnam, and recently discovered Ethiopia.. Kenya is another country where they drink Avocado juice!

28th April 2007 - Last day in Lamu

Decided to make today my last day in Lamu.. went to Shella Beach in the morning.. nice villas.. expensive place to stay.. there's this White House that many travellers stay in.. and the locals told me the house is owned by Naomi Campbell.. dunno real or not.. Turned out today is my lucky day.. a family in shella is commissioning a new dhow today, and when they commission a new dhow.. they have free lunch for everybody.. anybody.. so i was invited as well.. nice mutton pilau.. nice community kampung spirit feeling..

Went back to manda beach for the afternoon.. by right you have to charter a boat which cost you a bluddy 500ksh to get across.. but after the lunch, i met a captain who's going to manda anyways.. and he was at the lunch as well.. and he offered to bring me over for free! yay.. but i'd have to find my own transport back to Lamu.. so i spent the whole afternoon on manda again.. i had the whole Manda beach to myself.. there was really no other tourists besides me that afternoon.. this time, with my tshirt on ALL the time.. even when i'm swimming .. haha.. so i didn't suffer any sunburnts today, but for some reason, there were loads of sandflies that weren't there before 2 days ago! so i have more than quite a few sandfly bites.. very itchy.. anyways, i caught the staff boat (for the beach bar) back to Lamu.. paid the captain 100ksh to go back...

So last day in Lamu... i waved good bye to the pristine beaches.. and prepared to go back Nairobi the next day..

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Photos

A Typical Street in Lamu
Getting lost in the narrow alleyways can be a pretty fun experience!

The Korean guys and me
From right, Mr Director of DaChangJin, Mr Actor who acted in DaChangJin, Yours truly, and their driver

Wood Carved Doors
The Swahili culture is pretty big on beautifully carved doors like this.. A lebanese traveller i met said a door like this would cost more than US$30k back in his conutry.. wow..

Manda Beach
They have private villas on the beach.. some can be rented for holidays..

Our dhow berthed
we anchored near the coastline and waddled onshore... to cook lunch, catch fish, and enjoy the beach..

The Fish and My Bag
Fish we bought from the market..

Captain Ali shaving coconuts
to cook swahili lunch for us..

Crab
Captain Ali's assistant

Comments

[Pearlyn]

OMG!
OMG! Is he the lead actor? He looks quite cute from the pictures leh. Any close up? Wah, you actually photographed a celebrity! You are a celebrity photographer! WOO HOO!

[Chivalry]

Dunno..
I have not watch big long today before.. so i dunno if he's the lead.. but he's quite cute.. but very hiao.. hehe.. for those drooling out there.. he changed his shorts on the dhow.. and i saw everything.. haha.. very stressed taking his shots actually.. but with the camera clicking, and him posing in so many different poses in constant fluid motion.. i feel like those professional photographers.. ;p