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Published: September 18th 2007
Hello everyone! We have arrived safe and sound! We got into Nairobi Sunday night, after two long but uneventful flights. Our first impression of kenya was one of contradiction between development and poverty-- the road from the airport is lined with a combination of huge corporate offices, hummer/BMW dealerships, and people walkign along the highway. We got to our friend's house alright though, and went to bed pretty quickly. 28 hours of planes, airports, and cars with no sleep will do that to you though.
The following morning we walked to the Mall to get a local phone, which we are still trying to figure out how to make work, but haven't had a whole lot of success. We did pick a pretty choice ringtone for when it finally does though. Our first outing in Nairobi was a bit overwhelming, though I'm sure we were still in prime culure-shock mode.
After a quick change of plans, we decided to take an overnight train to Mombassa, instead of flying straight to Lamu. The train was quite an experience. Following dinner, we were told to lock ourselves in our compartment because apparently theives board and roam the train at night. We had a good lock though so we wern't too worried. Of more concern was the fact that we would have to wait to use the bathroom for 9 hours. There weren't any mishaps there, but one minor one occured as Ross tried to climb down from the top bunk and broke the step clean off the wall and ended up dangling from the cargo net he used to strap himself in at night. He wrote it up to shotty engineering. While we obviously couldn't see anything at night, we woke to amazing views of Tsavo National Park. Ross subsequently spent the next 5 hours with his head hanging out the window looking for animals. Asside from a few small antelopes (about the size of a rabit) known as dik-diks, he didn't have any luck. We did pass a lot of small villages, where small children would run up and wave. Which was pretty cool to see.
Eventually we arrived in Mombassa, and due to a mistake reading the map scale, ended up taking a cab a few hundred yards to our hotel. Mombassa is just as intense as Nairobi, if not more so, but tomorrow morning we are catching a bus up the coast to Lamu, where we are being met by someone who was suggested to us. He is picking us up in his boat and taking us out to the island, where we hope to spend a few days on the beach, pretty much doing nothing.
We already have a buch of great pictures but the cafe we are in doesn't have a way to upload them. We will put some up next time. Till then, take care all.
- Ross and Nys
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Meaghan Feodoroff
non-member comment
Yay!
So glad to hear you guys arrived safe and sound! Well, except Ross dangling from the safety net which pretty much made me laugh out loud to picture! Glad you made it through the train ride. I'm so excited to hear about all your adventures! The beach time sounds amazing, have fun!! xoM