Kenya

I should have mentioned the driving skills were amazing in Istanbul.  How they managed to navigate the standard transmission busses into tight spaces on steep hills was truly amazing.  The flight from Istanbul to Nairobi was slightly delayed.  Very full flight with lots of carry on baggage stuffed into the overhead bins.  Turkish Airlines service once again top shelf.  We've started our malaryia pills, so couldn't take advantage of the open bar.  Arrival in Nairobi was uneventful, glad to have documents/visas in order.  Ever hopeful that our little expiry date problem with the transit visas coming back through Nairobi from Seychelles won't cause difficulty.  Noticed lots of people still purchasing visas upon arrival.  Transfer from airport to hotel in a safari jeep.  The tour guide (Marci) and driver (Mark) were very pleasant, but not overly talkative at 2:00 am.  Marci did give each of us a safari hat, guide book package and a colorful Maasai Shuka as welcoming gifts.  

Huge relief when we arrived at the hotel and determined that our rooms were ready for us to check in, so that little speed bump worked out in our favour.  Scrambling a bit to figure out exchange rate for Kenyan Shillings, but think I got it right for the bell boy.  Grabbed a few hours sleep and now getting everyone up to prepare for our exploration of Nairobi.  Meeting Marci at 12:30.  Hotel is very comfortable so far.

If the breakfast test is the gauge, then the Nairobi Serena is the best so far.  Met with Marci to go over the itinerary and useful information for Kenya.  The basic advice is to look both ways before crossing and don't talk to strangers, made me feel like a kid again.  We also found out that we'll be better off buying an extra bag to lug our souvenirs around in.  Apparently shipping stuff home is prohibitively expensive.  Other tidbits were that losing your passport is a really bad outcome, so don't.  At this point, still struggling with the value of things, so hope I didn't offend Marci with the tip I gave her.

After that, we decided to hop in a cab to the Kenyan National Museum.  Bellman arranged a cab (James) who took us there and agreed to come back and pick us up.  Driving here is truly something to behold.  James said his premise is to assume everyone else on the road is mad and you are the only sane one.  While we were on an exit ramp, two fuel haulers apparently made a wrong turn and were actually backing up along the off ramp while everyone else skirted around them.  Arrival at the museum was interesting as they are very security conscious.  Bomb check the undercarriage, check the boot.

Museum was well worth the visit, spent time in the Hall of Mammals and the Hall of Humans.  Also enjoyed the Cycle of Life.  As it is Friday, there were a lot of school groups there.  It was quite entertaining to watch these young kids running around squealing. But the most interesting part was feeling like part of the exhibit.  It was really funny to have these little kids turn around from an exhibit to see us and just stare (apparently they don't see too many white folks).  Lastly went through the snake park and saw some of the nasty snakes of Africa.  Called James to come and get us and had him drop  us by a bank downtown.  Very busy at rush hour on Friday, but got that taken care of.  Shillings are an oddly priced currency and I think I'll struggle with the math and value of goods/services.