Nepal-Kenya

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Sunday was my last day in Nepal & I spent the morning blowing excess rupee on bits n' bobs for my onward journey, plus a bit of internetting. Went to lunch with Colm, Richard, Lance & Curtis & finally got my nacho fix. Richard & I shared a cab to the airport with Lance & Curtis following closely behind, as their flight was around the same time. Once again the Kathmandu airport didn't fail in it's security rigmarole. Same as last time with triple x-rays, body & bag searches & like last time, Air Sahara's flight was delayed by an hour, but fortunately this time I had Richard to keep me company & pass the time with.

Once in Dehli, Richard & I went our separate ways, as I was continuing on to Mumbai later that night. I waited in the transit lounge watching the cricket, until the bus came to transfer me to the other terminal. Good job they checked my ticket because I actually needed to be upstairs in the same building. Somebody had given me the wrong information, but fortunately there was no harm done. I noticed the Air India clerk had checked my backpack through to Nairobi, even though I was transitting in Mumbai for around eight hours. He'd just assumed I would stay in the airports' transit lounge & after I'd had a quick think, decided it wasn't such a bad idea. After all, I hadn't arranged any accommodation & was arriving around midnight; how bad could spending the night in an airport be I thought. Plus I figured it was Air Indias fault I was getting stuck here instead of spending the night in Dehli as planned. They'd changed the flight times on me, so I assumed they would at least let me use their lounge whilst waiting - apparently not... At least not free of charge anyway, even though it was practically empty. I argued my case with the little man at the Air India service desk, but he wouldn't hear of allowing an economy passenger into their First Class Lounge; because of course I'm such a pleb! Fortunately the nice young man at the Air India lounge took my 500 rupee payment, put it straight into his pocket & showed me through to a lovely couch with my name on it. He offered drinks & snacks, then turned off the lights so I could sleep, leaving with the promise he'd wake me in time for my flight; which he did & even offered me more food & beverages. Great service & well worth the USD$11- it cost to get in, that's for sure.


After a fantastic sleep, I woke up Monday morning feeling refreshed & ready for my flight to Nairobi. It was pretty uneventful, I dozed for a while, they fed us a couple of times, I read & even watched part of a Bollywood film. Something I'd been avoiding, but it was actually quite an interesting storyline, with lots of twists & of course much singing & dancing. Although the flight arrived late, my transfer driver had waited & whisked me off to the hotel where I had a cold shower. Checked out the internet, which was slow & very expensive compared to Kathmandu. I think it costs about fifty cents an hour in Nepal, whereas the hotel was charging almost five US dollars. Could just be the hotel, although I was told there weren't any other internet places nearby. In fact it seems there isn't much nearby, at least within walking distance & because security isn't great, I've been told not to venture out after dark either - welcome to Africa!!!


After veging out for most of Tuesday, I became bored & so booked a side trip for five nights to a place called Bamburi Beach. It's a tourist area near Mombasa & I fly out tomorrow. Had dinner in the hotel restaurant with Erin & Wayne. They're an Aussie couple I met yesterday who are also staying at the hotel. I thought they were on my tour, but it turns out there is a shorter Abosolute Africa tour departing Wednesday which they are booked on. Shame really, they seemed pretty cool.


The hotel wanted to charge a half nights room rate for a late checkout on Wednesday, which I politely declined, however I did spend much of Wednesday morning in the hotels restaurant, writing my journal. My flight wasn't until mid afternoon & I figured it was about time I caught up again. Headed to the airport about one o'clock & arrived in Mombasa around four. Got chatting with the two people I was sitting next to & the flight flew by; mind you, it was only fourty five minutes. The lady next to me was from Nairobi, travelling to Mombasa on a couple days of business. The man next to her was born in the Maldives, grew up in France & had spent much of his life travelling the world managing hotels. He currently works & lives at Tiwi Beach (near Mombasa) with his South African wife & child. I enquired about taxi prices & he offered to drop me at my hotel as he was driving home that way from the airport. Turns out I was staying much further north of Tiwi Beach than anticipated. I thanked him for the offer & he gave me his card & told me to ring if my hotel was unsuitable or if I had any problems with anything. Apparently he knows the manager where I am staying & said to mention his name if I needed to, which I thought was really nice of him to offer.

I arrived at the hotel & was put in a twin room, so requested a change & was moved to a room with the biggest bed I've EVER slept in. If theres a size bigger than a king bed, this was it; it was like two queens lined up side by side & so comforatble too.

I headed to the bar for a pre dinner drink & chatted to a retired German lady; the only other patron there. She was married to a doctor who'd died quite a number of years before. They had holidayed at the hotel in the eighties & returned every year since. She now visits alone & has made many friends over the years, who also return on a regular basis, so she feels comfortable there & stays for weeks at a time.

Unfortunately for me, her friends are also all German retirees, which I discovered when they started heading down to the restaurant for dinner en masse at seven o'clock. Breakfast & dinner is included in my holiday package, which I don't mind because it doesn't make me feel bad not trying out local places. (It's still not safe to venture out at night & I figure solo taxi rides will get expensive quickly, so am happy to stay close to home after sunset). After ordering another beer, I meandered to the restaurant for my first meal here. It was a three course buffet with a decent amount of variety, that was pretty nice. After dinner I felt like a stroll & because the hotel backed onto a beach, figured it would be a good place to explore. The barman had said it is safe to walk along after dark, but I was approached by a couple of dubious characters & have decided not to walk there alone at night time again.


Woke up very early on Thursday morning & flicked straight onto the movie channel. Have been deprived of English movies since I left home & am determined to use the next four days to get my fix. Went down to breakfast & managed to spot another female under forty also staying at the hotel, but didn't have the nerve to say hello. Overthought the whole process & ended up feeling like a loser, but aw her again after breakfast with a friend & introcuced myself. One girl is from the USA, the other England, however they are only staying one more night. Was hoping to make some friends to go patying with, but it seems the Kenya Bay Beach Hotel is completely dominated by geriatric German residents, who do little more than eat & sunbake the hours away.

Decided I need bathers to go swimming when the sun finally comes out, so took a taxi to the local shopping centre. Bought some essential suplies, then tried on every pair of bikinis before settling on a pink & brown two piece with back & neck ties. Debated on a one piece suit, however it appears every female hotel guest has at least two pairs of bikinis & I will not be outdone by a bunch of grandmas. Am slightly concerned about possibility of old men having heartg attacks at sight of young, unwrinkled flesh - only time will tell...

Three hours of internet later, I returned to the hotel shortly before dark, had a drink in my room, another with dinner & had another early night; nothing like a relaxing holiday I suppose.


Friday was the first sunny day since my arrival in Bamburi Bay; time to test out the new bikini. Spent much of the day in & next to the pool working on my non existant tan. Chatted to a staff member called Elias about various activities I could do & other life matters. He was quite nice & I was thankful for somebody to converse with. He warned me about getting burnt, to which I told him the sun is much stronger in Australia (owing to us having no ozone layer) & I don't wear sunscreen there, so should be fine. Had forgotten I'd begun taking the anti malarial drug Doxycycline, which makes you extremely photosensitive & proceeded to get burnt to the colour of a lobster! Don't want to face Elias again for fear of an 'I told you so' that I totally deserve.

Yesterday at the internet, I met a guy named Vincent. Turns out he's in the process of moving to Australia for a year through his church. He wants to learn more about Australia before arriving in February & asked if I would go out for a drink so he could pick my brain. I accepted, both because I wanted to help the guy & because I was craving for the company of people under one hundred... Unfortunately the sunnburn took the wind out of me, plus it was hard to move & as clothes were not really an option I was forced to cancel. I felt bad though, as I didn't have Vincents contact details & had to wait until he'd travelled all the way to my hotel to let him know. After much persuasion on Vincents part, he finally relinquished & left me to go sulk on my stupidity in my room.


Spent a lovely few hours Saturday snorkelling over a nearby reef. It was nothing in comparison to the Great Barrier Reef, but I was pleasantly surprised at the variety & colour of the fish around. The visibility wasn't great & I think the reef may be slowly dying, but it was a nice change from the hotel & I had a good old chinwag with a nice couple from Canada.

Met up for a drink with Vincent mid afternoon & arranged to meet for a proper drink later on. I headed back to the hotel for dinner, Vincent arrived at nine & we went to the bar next door called Il Covo. He'd gone there with friends last night, had had a great time & spent the first drink telling me tales of half naked, drunken Russian prostitutes dancing & making out on top of the bar. The girls must be hired entertainment becuase by our second drink they'd returned & were back on the bar near the end of my third beer. Only had a couple more drinks before doing a houdini & disappearng back to the hotel.

A knock at the door in the early hours woke me; it was Vincent. He'd slipped past hotel security & was asking for a place to stay, as he claimed his friend was not yet home & he didn't have the funds to go find him. I explained it wasn't appropriate for him to stay & after much pleading, he still wouldn't go & I was forced to call security. Unfortunatly there was a mix up in communication & reception sent up somebody with a room key, who wandered off, leaving me to shuffle Vincent out the door. I felt terrible because he hung around outside for a while asking to stay & then wanting money, but I ignored the noise & he finally went away. About 4:30am I got a phone call from reception telling me an extra charge would be added to my bill for having another person staying. I couldn't believe the nerve of these people; 4:30 in the morning!!! I vaguely remember mumbling something about sorting it out in the morning slamming down th phone & drifting back to sleep.

At 7am I got a friendly wake up call from reception, requesting me to come & discuss my visitor with management. I was pretty miffed at being woken up so early when it had clearly been a late night & was requiring a lie in. Wanting to get it all sorted quickly, I showered & headed to reception where the manageress proceeded to make me wait fot fifteen minutes while she messed around with other people. She explained the night manager had left a note about me having an overnight visitor & I would have to pay some ridiculous extra fee. I told her what had actually happened, to which she said she'd look into, but accepted my explanation.

I spent the remainder of the day catching up on emails & writing my journal. My cat Skky had been hit by a car a couple of days ago, so I called home to check on her condition. The vet thinks she might have a broken hip or pelvis, but is taking some x-rays to confirm.


Had another seven o'clock wakeup call from reception regarding the Vincent incident. Tried explaining it had all been worked out yesterday, but apparently I was still required downstairs ASAP. Turns out the manageress had had the night staff involved stay back to work it all out. We talked the whole thing through again & it was decided the securty guard would be fired & the extra guests 'supplement' cost deducted from his wages. I felt this was quite unfair & tried to reason that perhaps the hotel didn't have enough security to begin with, but the manageress wouldn't listen & basically dismissed me. Figured there wasn't much point arguing it further & was pretty sick of the whole thing, so I headed off to pack & get the hell out of that place.

Checked out & got a taxi to the internet shop where I spent four hours catching up. Made some more calls home & found out Skky is due to have her surgery tomorrow. Turns out she has a broken hip & dislocated pelvis, but hopefully it wont require a specialist surgeon, or it could end up costing me an arm & a leg. The same taxi driver picked me up around two o'clock & took me to the airport well in time for my 4:30pm flight back to Nairobi. Flight was pretty uneventful & I caught a cab back to Herron Court Hotel in peak hour traffic & had dinner at the bar, hoping to meet up with people from the tour. Saw one or two possible candidates, but they could have been there for other reasons so I just went to bed instead.

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Photos

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Kenya Bay Hotel, Bamburi, Kenya