Advertisement
Published: April 21st 2007
A view of Downtown Nairobi
it's actually a nice and clean city.. but the poorer surrounding sub-urbs is still full of mud tracks and shanty houses.. WOohoo! I've made it to Nairobi in one piece! No bandits.. no robbery.. just some abrasions and scratches.. and my neck and back is sore.. more on these later.. the Moyale - Nairobi leg is one of the toughest leg of travelling.. i enjoyed it tho.. but probably won't do it again.. haha..
Crossing the border Crossing the border from the Ethiopian side was hassle-free.. you just have to figure which building is the passport office and which building is the customs.. and which order you have to go to them.. After finishing with the formalities on the Ethio side.. you then walk along a road leading to the Kenyan side of Moyale.. oh, if you have any birrs remaining, you can change with the guys hanging out along the streets.. after much haggling.. i got 6 kenyan shillings (ksh) / birr, which the bank rate is around 7.x... i think..
The Kenyan border is abit more complicated.. as in the people running the posts.. you arrive at a row of buildings at Kenya, and you first come to a police post, and the police man tell you to go to immigration office, which is about 3
In between Ethiopia and Kenya
View of the Ethiopian Border post doors away.. then come back to the police post.. so i went to the immigration office.. nobody there.. and i had to look around for the immigration officer.. when i found him.. he said things like this is not your passport.. the photo dun look like you.. i sort of know where this is going but just talked cock like i was fatter.. now i travel in africa i'm thinner so i dun look like the photo etc.. eventually he stamped my passport.. and asked me to go back to the police post..
at the police post.. the police asked if i was carrying any bombs or things like that.. i said no.. and then he said something like.. "you know, normally when people come out of the immigration office, it's customary for them to bring a little something to the police post.. " i acted blur and said.. oh, did i missed out any forms? is there a form that i must fill in to bring to you.. he talked some more. but i acted blur some more.. and he called in his senior officer.. so i waited with him for 5 mins.. and when the senior officer
In between Ethiopia and Kenya 2
View of the Kenyan side of the border came.. they talked something in kiswahili for about 2mins.. and then the police man said. "ok.. nevermind.. you can go.. " so i just walked off..
i later found out that corruption is still existing in kenya.. even though the offices have "This Office says no to corruption!" poster pasted everywhere..
At the Kenyan Moyale town Once you arrived at the town.. you get people coming to talk to you and ask you about arranging transports to go Marsabit / Isiolo / Nairobi.. being fresh, and my guidebook says zilch about Moyale.. i let one of them guide me into town and find me a hotel for 200ksh/night.. I stayed in the Sheriff Hotel, right by the 'square' where the buses/trucks/whatever depart every morning..
I also got a local sim card that cost only 300 ksh (about USD 5, haven't really figured out the exchange rate) with free incoming calls and sms! sms to singapore costs 10ksh.. so people.. feel free to call me up for chit chat or something.. it's free for me =)
The number is
+254 721 114 028 so call me people! haha.. but i dunno what's the charges from singapore..
My room in Moyale-Kenya
Basic room.. with a view actually.. mum, i dun stay in bad rooms! and sometimes i may not hear the phone ring cos the phone is in my money pouch.. so forgive me if i answer too late or not answer at all..
The buses/transports leave everyday from Moyale to the south around 9am.. you can get somebody to arrange the transport for you..brokers.. and you pay them around 100ksh when they get the job done.. sometimes the fee is included in the fare you pay.. a non-cabin ride to Marsabit costs about 600ksh.. isiolo about 1100... and nairobi about 1500.. prices flunctuates pending on demand and supply... and non-cabin means you ride ontop of the metal cages on the big trucks.. on on the open area of the small pick up trucks.. expect to pay about 50% more for cabin seats.. which i think is definitely worth it..
forget about the bus.. it's really unreliable.. the bus brokers will tell you the bus will be leaving today.. but when it's 830am and it doesn't look like the bus will be full.. they will then announce the bus will not be leaving.. and you have a mad rush for truck spots.. which is what happened to me.. so i didn't get
Another use of my monopod
I found another use of my monopod.. besides its other use of a hitting stick for self defence.. to block doors! haha.. can't be too careful in a frontier town.. a cabin seat in a truck.. should have jsut gone for a truck cabin seat right from the start and not place hopes on the bus..
the best deal i'd think is the pickup trucks cabin seats.. pickup trucks are fastest.. followed by bus.. and then cargo trucks.. in the end, i managed to get a pickup truck non-cabin slot for 1200ksh.. cos of the sudden shift in demand caused by bus announcing not leaving..
The journey to Nairobi Well.. now i know the difference between a bumpy ride at the back of the pickup truck vs in the cabin of a 4WD.. it's a LOT bumpier! there was once where one of the crewman of the pickup truck had to shout the driver "oye! careful! the chinese guy just flew into the air!".. and landed with a big ouch.. lots of corrugation.. lots of rattling.. so much rattling at a certain stretch that my heart was hurting.. i was wondering if it's just waiting for the rattling to hit a certain resonant frequency and then my heart will just go "Splurk!" and i lay dead at the back of the truck..
But i've discovered the
Moyale Sunrise
Woke up just in time to catch this sun rays warming up the clouds.. open eyes.. wah.. grab camera.. all within 10 seconds.. key to riding at the back of trucks.. be well cushioned! i sat on my day pack to adsorb (not 100%, but good enough) the up and down vibrations.. and i put my big pack against the side panel of the truck and put my back on it.. and then comes the star equipment of the day - my air pillow!! stuff it wherever else you need cushion.. amidst the mangle of the bodies of other passengers and the truck equipment and spare tyres etc stowed at the back of the truck.. i was actually thinking of taking out my sleeping roll and rolling it around my body.. haha..
It took the pickup 6hrs to reach Marsabit (10hrs for cargo truck).. we left at 10am.. arrived at about 4pm.. and we continued to Isiolo, which is expected to take 5 hrs (9 hrs for truck, 7 hrs for bus).. drove thru the night and arrived at isiolo at about 930pm.. driving at night is a lot more bumpier.. cos the driver wants to get there faster.. and can't see the road as well.. so a lot of times you get unexpected bumps on the road and OUCH.. the night
Brokers gathering at the 'square'
at about 8am.. people and trucks and buses start gathering at the 'square'.. this is the main daily activity of moyale.. the highlight of the day for most people.. shiok.. work for 3hours in the morning.. then do nothing for the rest of the day.. ahah sky is brilliant tho.. and i saw a BIG shooting star streaking across the sky...
the road is bad due to heavy rain the day before.. and we got stuck in mud at one point for about an hour and had 2 flat tyres.. i'm glad they have like 3 spare tyres ready..
the scenery is pretty good really.. you get a taste of the "africa" landscape.. saw a group of gazelles.. saw a flock of ostriches.. and of course.. many cattle and goats.. the landscape gradually change to desert as you move out from moyale.. and you go thru the desert.. and hten you get more trees... and then grasslands... and then forests.. oh! you get to see a meteorite crater about 200-400m in diameter too.. which is pretty cool for me.. never saw a meteorite crater before.. didn't take photos.. too dirty to touch my beloved camera..
as you pass thru northen kenya.. you also get to see the traditional tribes people tending to their flock.. ok, maybe except for the AK-47 they are carrying, they are still quite traditional.. with their traditional garb and all.. some of the herdsmen carry only spear as well...
Me on the back of toyoto pickup.
only managed to fire a couple of not-so-good shots off on the truck.. you can see the camo uniform of the AK-47 wielding soldier at the right corner.. he gave strict instruction not to include him in the photo.. don't defy a person holding an AK-47 there's this tribe.. where the girls wear only a circular cloth with beads etc on their neck.. and covers only 3/4 of their breasts.. wah.. quite sexy.. haha..
oh, northern kenya is bandit country.. and when we left moyale.. we had 2 soldiers sitting in the trucks with us.. one of them sitting right next to me with his AK-47 pressed against my thigh... another had another rifle with a rectangular cartridge.. dunno what it is.. M16? but no, we did not have any bandit encounter.. i was thinking it'd be bad sitting next to a soldier carrying a gun if there ever was one...
stayed at a cheap local lodge for 150ksh (can smell live chicken etc in the courtyard) and took the 630am bus to nairobi this morning.. i am now sore all over from the bumpy ride the day before.. well at least it's not long and torturous.. it's just short and torturous.. =)
Nairobi First impressions of Nairobi city centre:
My room in Nairobi
My 1400kSh room.. quite expensive.. but quite nice, bright, and i have my own toilet.. which is important.. cos i was washing my pants in it last night for an entire hour! very nice city.. modern.. nice architecture.. nice pubs.. etc.. and they have ATMs with plus/visa systems.. haha.. had a beer at a outdoor pub in the afternoon and talked to some locals.. and they said nairobbery was a thing of the past.. they beefed up on security and street lighting in 2006.. and you dun see many street kids or people idling on the streets or beggars anymoer.. at least not in the city centre.. stayed at this embassy hotel.. not bad.. 1400ksh.. cheap by nairobi standards..
ok.. it's getting dark.. i'm going back to my hotel.. dun want to test the nairobbery is no more theory too vigorously on my first night.. will put up some photos later if i decide it's relatively safe to come out. haha..
cheers!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 16; qc: 82; dbt: 0.0787s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Psycho
non-member comment
Jiang Gong Shu Zui
Hah hah hah.... can you make amends for not answering my many calls and thus wasting my IDD charges by uploading the photos of those sexy African tribeswomen? (IDD charges start the moment the phone rings, not the moment you answer) Many guns with rectangular magazines. Should have taken a photo so that I can try and identify it for you. Then would have had more details for your trip!