Things I'm thankful for

My 7th annual list:

1. This frickin' amazing life I lead... seriously, I get to travel the world, live in the cutest house ever, have people paid to take care of me and the house, make more than enough money, and do what I love....seriously?
   
2. That I didn't have to move or start a new job this year. Being settled is wonderful.
   
3. Great friends; I'm so blessed to have such great friends around the world. I've loved girl weekends with Amy around E. Africa, meeting up with Muna in Thailand, seeing all my great friends and colleagues in India, meeting up with old and new friends in South Africa and Cambodia, the friends I'm currently seeing while in the US, and I can tell I've made some lifelong friendships in Nairobi.
4. Travel; another year of new countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa) and revisiting some old great ones (India, Cambodia and Thailand) and great trips within Kenya.
   
5. Being able to be home for Thanksgiving!
6. New animals; The gorillas were clearly the most impressive but fun times diving with sun fish and swimming with dolphins too. Now, if only I could finally see a leopard!
7. Nairobi climate; after many years in Delhi, I am constantly appreciative the year-round beautiful weather. And am currently appreciative of the much needed rains.
8. Electricity; for a variety of reasons (drought reducing the hydroelectric capacity of Kenya, my company not paying the bills, wiring problems) I have learned how much I love electricity and how much better it makes my life.
9. Routines; anyone who knows me will not be surprised at this but I have some great ones in Nairobi... dance classes, monday movies, frisbee
10. It was a hard decision picking one last one but I think the prize goes to India: I don't know if it's because of India or that it was my first post but I feel like I've learned so many life lessons from my time there - patience, trust, how to laugh in difficult situations, how to let people help me, how to value the small things (walking, breathing, beef), what a truly amazing work environment can be, what real struggle looks like, and that I will always be equipped to handle any situation.
    

thoughts on being back in India

So the last post was on my first impressions returning to India (written from the Mumbai airport). This is now reflecting on being there about 3 weeks (written from back in Nairobi).

The best parts by far was reconnecting with friends and colleagues. I'm not even sure how to articulate how wonderful it was. Here are some snippets of other reasons I loved being back:

On the first day, I took a nap and then left the hotel in Gurgaon to grab a taxi to Delhi to meet up with Radhika. Forgetting the Gurgaon is bizzaro-world and not at all like Delhi. There are no cabs. I found bike rickshaws (which aren't practical for long distances like that) so I was trying to ask them where the taxi stands were... they clearly had no idea what I was saying or where taxis were but were willing to pedal me there for 100 rupees. An older indian couple overhead me and tried to help. They realized the rickshaw wallah didn't know what he was talking about and offered to drive me to a taxi stand. That's the first bit I love, that it's safe to get into a stranger's car and that they'd offer. They couldn't find a stand either and called a taxi to meet us somewhere and then pulled over to run some errands. I was so late and they were running errands! But they were being so nice I couldn't really complain:)

Later, I had a taxi take me to Lagpat Nagar where I wanted to buy some more shoes like ones I had bought years ago and see if I could replace some curtains that I had bought that had ripped. Found the shoes (bought 5 pairs) but they no longer had the same curtains. Then I tried to call my taxi driver to find out where he had parked. Unfortunately he didn't speak English and spoke really really fast hindi that I couldn't understand so I ducked into the nearest shop and just handed the guy at the counter my phone. There was a line of people waiting to pay. He talked for 2 minutes with the taxi driver, when I apologized to the line, they were all very friendly and understanding and then the business guy called his assistant to walk me to the place the taxi was. I mean it was nice enough of him to help me but sending someone with me to find him was seriously going above and beyond.

I think that's part of it - I feel like I have this well-developed skill set for navigating India; hindi, head bobs, body language, tone of voice, knowing that I should let other people help me rather than trying to do stuff for myself, knowing how to talk that is most likely to result in people understanding me, knowing where things are, etc. And now I don't use those skills at all. Seems like a waste.

Overall, it's so nice to realize there are a growing number of places I feel at home and surrounded by wonderful friends and colleagues. What a blessed life.

First impressions of being back in India

I am returning to India one year and 13 days after they refused to renew my visa and told me to “get out of our country”. I am so excited to see old friends and colleagues (many are both) and fill up on fresh lime sodas and chicken kathi rolls but this trip happened a bit quickly so I hadn’t had much time to process what being back might be like.

I guess before I start I’m going to need a disclaimer - this is only interesting if I’m honest, which means not trying to make myself sound like a better person than I am. Because honestly, my first reaction was complete annoyance. And it took me by surprise. I entered the boarding area for the flight and 95% of passengers on the Nairobi to Mumbai flight were Indian and people were coughing things up and clearing their throats and I could feel my body getting tense with annoyance and a feeling of superiority. And then came the boarding call – a wild dash to the front with absolutely no respect for the line (I had to check myself there to not say queue, which is what I would say now) or personal space. As I walked on the plane I realized that this trip was likely to take a lot of patience, and given the last few weeks, that wasn’t going to be easy. So I took a few deep breaths, lamented that since the office had moved I wouldn’t be able to go to my old yoga studio and tried to prepare myself. Then on the flight, I was surrounded by men. Many in tight pants with lots of decoration who thought they were really attractive. The guy in front of me leaned his chair back put his hands behind his head into my space, leaned the chair in front of him forward (no one was sitting there) and put his feet up so all I could see in my line of vision was his enormously ugly feet in the air. And the men on both sides of me all knew each other and were yelling back and forth across the plane – only made worse once they started downing the little bottles of whisky. And then I was reminded of the Indian male stare. Wow, I didn’t miss that. I guess what struck me is that I have a knee-jerk prejudice against Indians….and that surprised me the most. I found myself thinking, “Indians are the worst nationality to travel with”…. Or “Indians have the least respect for cultural sensitivities of others”… or a variety of similar things, all of which are not true – most cultures suck to travel with (including my own) and most cultures are overly sensitive about how they might clash with my culture and when they are I get annoyed that they haven’t kept their own culture!

On the flip side, several moments made me smile. As the plane landed (and everyone turned on the phones IMMEDIATELY and jumped up despite the announcement not to) one guy said to his friend, “chalo?” (shall we go?) This has got to be one of my favorite words in any language – so simple, catchy and useful. Then his friend responded with the head bobble and I realized that I don’t instinctively do that anymore, I wonder when I stopped? I miss it. Then there’s the new Mumbai airport…. While I think more airport projects should be contacting people like me who travel a lot to advise on how to make it all better (i.e., I would have added a mani/pedi place and a dairy queen), it’s a major upgrade. Everything is clean and well marked. There were plenty of immigration desks (granted it was 2 in the morning) and a guy who told you which line to stand in. The domestic check–in was right there, well-marked and easy (if you ignore the fact that my flight was cancelled and therefore I had a 6 hour layover). Transfer bus could’ve been better but was free and easy to find. Domestic terminal has free internet kiosks! And an ATM that takes my card! And a place open at 3am with cappuccinos that can make change from the 1000 rupee notes that the ATM gives! Clearly there is nothing that makes me happier then well-marked efficiency.

I guess the key moment for me was at immigration. The woman ahead of me was travelling with a small child and an old man – she was probably about my age. She wasn’t aggressive or subservient, she was just calmly trying to get through the system, and watching her allowed me to snap out of my generalizations about all Indians and remind myself of the vast diversity. Somehow I’ve started to separate all the people who were so kind to me in the 4 or 5 years I was there from “Indians”, which makes no sense at all.

So here I am at 4:00am in Mumbai airport (1:30am Nairobi-time), so thankful to have been reminded of that before the rest of this trip, because I have 8 more flights in the next 18 days. And wondering what time is appropriate to call the office driver to tell him my flight is changed that will allow him to leave the house later but not wake him up……

It’s good to be back!

Run-ins with the Nairobi cops

So I figure one of the elements of life here in Nairobi that makes it substantially different than India is the cops. India is known for its corruption and I had a few run-ins with cops there. My bike would get towed to the police station and when I tried to pay the ticket, no one (meaning the cops) knew how to do that. I had to just pay the guy looking after them (who appeared out of nowhere as soon as I tried to start up the bike). After a few times I learned I could negotiate this fee. The other incident was when I got pulled over for not running the red light. Everyone else was so I almost didn't notice it was red and I stopped in a pedestrian crossing. Others kept driving through on the red light but the policeman waved me over and said I was blocking traffic :) Other than standing there answering "no" every time he asked me my father or husband's name and finally feeling success after a half an hour (and a rather large crowd, who kept explaining to me that he wanted to know my husband's name) when he asked MY name, I don't remember how that fine got paid...I feel like maybe he let me off with a warning...

But it's very different here. I've been pulled over at least 15 times. Most of the time it's in two places where they often set up check points. One is near my office and the other is on a large road that leads to my house from the other direction. They typically set up as it turns dark. I get pulled over because of having a Rav4, and when they can see me the fact that I'm a white girl ups the odds. The only purpose I can see of these stops is to make a little money on the side. I can't find a legitamite value to them otherwise. I've never been asked outright for a bribe, they usually just state some trumped up violation and fine. I've managed to escape so far without paying any of them.

1. The first major incident was when they claimed I hadn't pulled over quick enough. I find it quite hard to figure out when I'm supposed to pull over and when they are waving the flashlight to mean keep going. They insisted this was a federal crime that required a night in jail. Essentially they were waiting for me to offer to pay something so I wouldn't have to go to the station. I had two out of town visitors in the car so felt boosted up by them. I kept insisting that they should write a citation and eventually they got frustrated and gave up.
2. At the other location, it's far more enjoyable because usually Gabriel pulls me over and what he wants is to marry an american girl. When I say I think my husband would object he asks if I have a sister. I know he asks others for a little something something but generally he's pleasant.
   
3. A group of us got pulled over on the way to Nakuru, my friend Brandon was driving. We were in an SUV with 5 mzungus (white people) and lots of luggage. Clearly, we were a good target for getting money. They pulled Brandon out of the car and insisted that he was violating laws by driving with sandals. Clearly this is not a law. He ended up paying them about $20 although they started asking for like $500! This incident prodded me into getting copies of the driving laws that I now carry around.
4. The last incident was near my office again and this time they insisted my liscence had expired. Since I just got it, I knew it couldn't be right but lo and behold the authorities had forgotten to write the expiration date (they had written when it was issued and they are all good for one year). I pulled out all the paperwork I could find on driving laws (they actually don't mention driving with an expired license as a offense), I think I was annoying the officer so much with paperwork (which was my strategy) that at one point he threatened me with a federal charge if it didn't say what I claimed it did. He was threatening to take me to the police station for the expired license anyways. Then he insisted he take the license and I follow him to the station (since I wouldn't let him in the car). I agreed to follow him to the station. But I refused to give him the license, because I knew once he had that (he had it at the beginning but had given it back and I could tell why he wanted it this time) he would demand money to get it back. So I gave him a photocopy insisting that he only needed to be able to track me down in case I didn't actually follow him and the photocopy would be sufficient. Apparently I wore him down and after about 20-30 minutes he said, "let's stop wasting time, you can go".

So now I take bizarre measures to avoid these parts of the road. I go to the road from work and if I see them I turn the opposite direction and take side roads to loop around them. Or if I'm sure they will be there I sometimes take a much longer way home. This combined with the high rates of car jackings and similar crimes is obnoxious because they could be dealing with those problems. AND I'm sure that taking these back roads at night isn't increasing my safety but at least I'm not guarenteed to be stopped by men with big guns.

Pemba, Mozambique

So my friend Amy (pictured below at spa) was in Maputo again for work last week and when I had last been the plane made a short stop in Pemba, which is along the north coast, near Tanzania. Pemba looked so beautiful as we landed that I insisted we should go back. This seemed like a great chance. There aren't many flights direct from Nairobi (two a week) so I flew in on Saturday evening and left Tuesday noon. A short trip but just lovely.

Somehow in my head I thought it was going to be a lively beach town (something that seems rare on this coast, with most places catering to resorts and rented houses- so not many beach cafes and the like). But I was wrong. We stayed at the Pemba Beach Resort, which was stunning but basically the only thing in "town". To be fair we didn't look very hard but after reading in the books that it had not much else, we didn't bother. The resort wasn't very full and was very tastefully done with a great spa, those lovely infinity pools overlooking the ocean, a great gym etc. We basically just lounged around and read. I read two books (haven't finished the second yet) on Kenya that were fascinating; White Mischief about the 1930s expats in Kenya based on an unsolved murder of a white guy in Nairobi in 1941. The second is It's Our Turn to Eat about a Kenyan whistle blower of corruption in the government (the first Kibaki one, about 6 years ago). Both books are supposedly banned in Kenya (I can confirm I can't find them here but I'm not down with the 'book crowd' so maybe it's not true). Either way, they are both fascinating looks into the Kenya, which I realize I barely know.

On Monday I went diving in the morning - for the first time in my short diving life, there was no one else but me and the dive instructor. Nice guy John from South Africa. It was a bizarre dive actually. For some reason I could descend (John later said it's very salinated which might have had something to do with it) - I eventually had to literally dive down. And when I got down, my flipper unclipped and while I was trying to re-clip it I bumped into the coral reef, which tore apart my hand. It was quite pretty though, I'm not usually amazed by coral but when there's not so many huge fish and turtles and eels and lobster and the like, you pay attention to the smaller stuff. So we were investigating the fish and coral and then John indicated that I should listen, there were whales calling. And then we rounded a corner and saw this amazing Ocean Sun Fish - picture off of wikipedia is on the left. I've never seen anything like it - even in movies or books. I think it was about 6ft long but John thought it was a lot bigger (and I'm horrible at those estimations, so I'll believe him). It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen (he had never seen one before either) -doesn't seem like it's the correct shape for anything!

I highly recommend the resort, as a lovely do-nothing kind of vacation. There's water sports and spa treatments, etc but we certainly didn't surround ourselves with mozambiquen culture. Although it was fun trying to remember my Spanish! (they don't speak spanish but I figured it was better than english!)

Gorillaz!

The pick up for the gorilla trek was at 6am, from there we headed to a backpackers lodge in Kampala to pick up two more people. I was quite nervous that they would be an annoying couple or something and I’d feel like a total third wheel the whole weekend but it turned out they were brothers from the UK, John and Alex. Actually they were very fun and it turned out great! The trip to Bwindi – where the gorillas are- ended up being 11 hours! On really bumpy roads in a very uncomfortable van. I went with Gorilla Tours – and it went very smoothly and the driver, Robert, was very nice but I think I’d do it differently in the future. The trip cost about $470 and only included the road trip and two nights hotel in Kisomo. All in all, it seems extremely overpriced and the road trip was miserable. The countryside was beautiful tho. As we crossed the equator and got closer to the forest, the landscape became very hilly, and all the land was terraced farmed (mostly corn, bananas, beans and sugar cane). I expected more untouched land, especially since the President is really against family planning because he wants population growth (reportedly because he wants to be powerful like China!)- I was thinking there would be unused land to house all these new people he wants. But, while there’s certainly no population density issue – it’s all rural – it’s also all used. As we got further we passed gorgeous lakes, and could see a range of volcanos. We could actually see both DR Congo and Rwanda from where we were (our hotel was about 14kms from each). I also realize how much I see in my travels that I just don’t understand;
– Why are all those people arguing?
– As they are cutting the horns off the cow head on the side of the street, what do they do with the horns?
– They almost appear to be quarrying for gravel and sand, is that possible?
– Why have they drilled square shaped potholes into the road?
– Do the older kids get embarrassed when mom buck bathes them on the side of the road?
– How is billiards so huge that there are pool tables in rural villages under thatched umbrellas; doesn’t the rain ever come sideways?

We stayed at Travellers Lodge in Kisoro, which is a historic base for gorillas research, and was frequented by Jane Fosey and the like. It was plain and simple but nice, and the food was great! We didn’t get into town much. On Saturday night, Chelsea was playing in the finals against Everton and John and Alex were big fans so we went into town to catch the end of the game. That was fun- two rooms of men watching the game and no one really seemed all that concerned with who won – they just liked the play.

So on Saturday we got a 6am start to another 1.5 hour drive to the park. There were two other people who joined us (so we were 5, it can be up to 8). The ranger started with a talk on the facts; about 700 mountain gorillas exist today – they don’t survive in captivity so there are none in zoos. 350 of them are in the area I was in. One family group of about 20 was in the specific area, Kuringa, that I was in. They say there’s about a 95% chance we’ll see gorillas but a small chance we won’t. So we started out and hiked down the mountain to the ranger camp and right there were the gorillas. One smaller silverback (just means younger and not as silver), Lafiki (the bottom most picture) and several other younger males. They were knocking down all the banana trees, but they don’t eat the bananas, just the inner parts of the stalk. We hung with them for 40 minutes or so, and then moved on. Walking further was much more difficult – no paths, just machetes. We weren’t so much walking on ground as bunches of roots and branches, so it was easy to lose footing. We found one eating alone (apparently they just eat and rest). We were about to leave and he sort of charged to warn us that he wanted to be where we were. Then we found the big family group of about 15, including the dominant silverback, Safari (picture of his back is above) and 6 month old twins. Apparently twins are really rare. As we were standing there, a juvenile female wanted to join in and walked past me and looked at the ranger with a naughty look in her eye (I swear) and then tugged on my pant leg and then ran off. The ranger said she wanted to play☺

And that was it – an hour went by and we were shuffled off. Climbed back up the hill and had lunch.

Uganda - pre gorillas

The beginning of the trip didn’t start out so well. The plan was that I would come into Entebbe early afternoon Sunday and then make the 2-3 hour trip out to Mbale so I could visit a health camp we were doing there the following day. However, in planning this the office forgot that Sunday was the day that school started up again so traffic was ridiculous! It took us about 6 hours, so by the time I got there it was 8:30pm, I had missed dinner and was exhausted! The camp was good to see but they forgot to plan for lunch and it was in a rural village where there was no food for sale (and a cholera outbreak) and then we had to leave really early and because the traffic was such a mess again I didn’t get back to the hotel until after 9pm! I had to start training a group the next day, which isn’t how I like to start these trainings (exhausted) but the rest of the week went much better. It was also great to see Mbale and the countryside – tons of banana trees, very very green – maybe because it’s rainy season but I think it’s just a lush country. Also – people seem to be fetching water all day every day in big yellow containers. Usually, water fetching happens in the morning and the evening but here people were carrying these jugs around all day! Finally, the terrain is quite diverse, there were moments it reminded me of Pennsylvania farmland, and then moments of Montana plains with mountains in the back. But mostly it was jungle-ish.

The hotel we had the training at was very nice, Ranch on the Lake, which as the name suggests is on Lake Victoria. I think this side of the lake is prettier than the Kenya side but I haven’t really spent a lot of time on the Kenya side so I shouldn’t judge. One very nice thing is that Uganda doesn’t have the crime rates that Kenya does so it’s much safer. In the evenings I would go for a jog around the hotel. It doesn’t get dark until about 7, which left me time for a quick jog. The hotel is about 5km off the main road, on a dusty path. The first day I went with my iphone but the villagers (adults and kids alike) were so friendly that I felt bad that I couldn’t hear them. The kids wanted to race me, and because it’s not Kenya I could still beat them (in Kenya I’d lose). Ugandans are certainly very friendly – everywhere I went people would wave hello. Kids and adults. As I was jogging I actually felt bad because people would so jubilantly wave hello to me that they would lose the balance of the heavy jug they were carrying on their head. The next day for my jog, I went sans iphone and it was very fun to talk to all the kids. Some of the adults recognized me from the day before and would congratulate me on running every day. I ended up going to a church with a soccer game being played on the grounds. One little girl in plastic yellow flip-flops and a red checkered dress (a typical school uniform) jogged at least a quarter mile with me. Chatting and laughing hysterically! The jogs were definitely the highlight of my days.

It was weird to come here and get absolutely no sense of Kampala. I was really looking forward to the good Mexican place I’d heard about (you can’t get Mexican anywhere!) but that will have to wait until next trip.

I was originally scheduled to fly back to Nairobi on Friday morning but instead called to see if I could get a pass to trek to the gorillas and did!

Mozambique

A few weeks ago I was in Mozambique for the East and Southern Africa retreat for my company, which was in Maputo.

The weekend before Amy and I wanted to take a long weekend at a beach. However we didn't start looking early enough so most places were booked (May 1st is labor day around here), and getting around Mozambique is really expensive. We ended up going to Ponta D'Ouro. The ride there was about 4 hours on what was essentially beach sand. Very up and down and unfortunately Amy suffers from motion sickness so that wasn't fun. Most people apparently come from South Africa (Durban) and not from Maputo so everything's geared for them. You can only pay for the hotel in South African Rand, but since I was flying from Tanzania, I transferred through Joburg and thought it would be easy to get Rand. Oddly tho, there is no ATM in the international terminal, so I had to get a visa to get out to the domestic airport to an ATM. Sometimes it's very nice to be American, so we can get visas easily in most places.

We stayed at Dolphin Encounters, a place that does dolphin research and hosts trips to swim with dolphins. The first day we were there the water was really choppy and so they didn't do any dolphin swims, but it was a pretty day to lay out on the beach. On Sunday we went for a morning dolphin swim which was actually pretty cool. We must have seen 60 dolphins but because we had a large group (12) and people were splashing when they entered the water, the dolphins mostly just swam away. But I did get to swim with a few as they would go past me:) They were almost close enough to touch, but you are not allowed as that harms the protective coating. While I would have liked more interaction with them, it was still pretty cool. And while we were in the boat they were swimming all around us.

I wanted to go kite surfing but didn't realize that the weather had to be just so, so missed my chance. On the last night we were there the power went out. And annoyingly the water was pumped in so no water either. We hadn't showered since the dolphin swim and NEEDED a shower! Since I've lived in places with frequent power cuts I don't mind that it happens, but be prepared. It was strange that they didn't have flashlights, or lanterns or back up power/water. So in desperation, feeling very dirty, we headed out for food and a place with light. It ended up being a place with some live music - a guy with a guitar and a kazoo doing cover tunes. It was quite amusing.

All in all, could have been better but we were able to laugh and I'll remember it fondly. The rest of the week was in Maputo which was nice but not as phenomenal as I had imagined. Very good seafood. But we had a quick layover on the way back to Nairobi in Pemba which was one of the prettiest beaches I've seen. Definitely heading back there sometime!

Joburg

The thing that struck me most about my time in Johannesburg, South Africa the past two-ish weeks is how a country deals with trauma. Usually when we're talking about this, in cases like Cambodia or Rwanda, we're talking about war or genocide. In South Africa is was the longer and more insipid Apartheid. On Saturday I went with some colleagues to the Apartheid Museum (the picture of the Joburg skyline is taken from there) and so was put face-to-face with how recent and brutal the era was. And then we went to an outdoor concert featuring Freshly Ground - a great band - and the park was filled with mixed race groups, kids of all races dancing together. I won't say there isn't still some tension- it is almost palpable, but definitely under the surface but right now there was more interracial mingling in bars and restaurants than I remember in the States. And it only ended 20 years ago!

South Africa was lovely and I would have really enjoyed Joburg but the idea of moving somewhere that has even higher crime rates than Nairobi doesn't excite me much. I didn't experience anything but my level of alert in Nairobi is as high as I'd like to be.

On Sunday, a colleague suggested checking out a gospel church in Soweto (the slum-ish area outside of Joburg where Mandela and Tutu lived). It was fantastic - we ended up going to Grace Bible Church which was huge, there were probably 1000 people there. The music was great and well appreciated, there were huge jumbotron screens and powerpoints. People got up and danced (swayed) to the music, thunderous applause followed and people were really friendly despite the fact that David and I were the only white folks in attendance. It struck me that versus the sermons I've witnessed in the US over the past few years, there was a lot more emphasis on being thankful for what small things we have versus dwelling on sinning. Likely that's a result of the income levels of the church but that message went down better for me. It was also really nice to see all the age ranges come together for a few hours every week and just sing and reflect.

We all stayed in a guesthouse (Melville Inn) in a part of the city called Melville which is a small street lined with restaurants, bars and cooky shops. All the places had outside seating and the weather is great (but cool). I have to remember how much I like that lifestyle.

It was also great to travel with 7 colleagues who I rarely see - we had a great time, went out every night - even if only for dinner but it was really fun to be surrounded by interesting and talented people.

Cambodia and Thailand

So the weird thing about Cambodia, Phnom Penh specifically, is that I've been there 3 times in the past 4 years for a total of maybe 5 weeks and it's starting to feel like a home away from home (away from home). I have nothing to say about it because I no longer do interesting things - I meet up with friends (colleagues), go to my favorite boutiques, cafes, bars and spas. I've stayed in the same hotel the last two times so no need to explore there.... the funniest moment of this trip was on the way to the airport I noticed a guy riding a motorbike on the sidewalk holding the leashes for two small dogs and I realized that was how he "walked" his dog - by driving slowly on his bike! How lazy have we all become???

So after a week working in Cambodia, I met up with Muna (from India fame) in Phuket, Thailand. We only spent the night in Phuket and left early the next morning for Railay Beach. We had picked Railay over Phi Phi, where we were originally going to go because I kept hearing how overbuilt and overrun Phi Phi had become since lax rebuilding guidelines post the tsunami. However, based on Railay - I'm afraid of what Phi Phi might be cuz Railay was pretty overrun. I guess the difference is that they had several beaches that were exclusively resorts, so if you pay the money you live on the nice quieter beaches. However we stayed in a cheap place (that was very nice but not a great location) that was on the side of the pennisula with no beach and just restaurants and shops and a very trashy/dirty walkway.

We didn't have a ton of time - the first day we walked around to one of the beaches (Pha Nang) and decided it was a little crazy busy and there weren't any easy snack stands, only restaurants at the resorts. In one way the pennisula is really well thought out (it wasn't hit by the tsunami), there are nice walkways to get from beach to beach and the limiting of backpacker places to just two beaches leaves the other two relatively clean. But then there are areas just full of trash, along the walkways.... so close to getting it right.

The second day we wanted to get away from the crowds so I suggested kayaking. Muna had never been so we tentatively started out and it was nice and easy. We decided to head for a island that seemed not too far away - although I had a nagging feeling that distances in water are always deceiving. About 2 hours later we tiredly landed on Ko Poda. I hadn't thought the whole thing through and was horribly sunburnt on my legs, just the front of course. And had two lovely stripes across my feet. We laid out and had lunch and I snorkeled a bit (it was great snorkeling) for a few hours and then headed back. We were both a bit intimidated by the trip back because the way there had been exhausting. And it felt like we weren't moving at all - although the scenery was..... It didn't take us too long to realize that because we were moving with the tide, it was an optical illusion so we were in fact moving really fast (or much faster than on the way there).

And that was sort of it. On the flight back, my flight from Phuket to Bangkok was really delayed so the connection in Bangkok was very tight. I thought I had been very smart to store my bag in left luggage in Bangkok but it did mean that I had to go collect it. Thankfully there was a Burger King in the Phuket airport so I could get a whopper there but I absolutely had to get one more Blizzard at the DQ so even though I was running through the airport I stopped for the Coffee Oreo Blizzard. Thankfully the next flight was delayed too. I should have made one more stop at Boots.... next time!

Western Kenya

The first thing that struck me on this trip is that these trips are my lifeblood. It's truly the thing that keeps me going. This trip was to Western Kenya. I flew into Nyanza and the flight was late so they said the road wasn't good enough to travel at night (with all the potholes and bandits) so quickly changed my hotel reservation to make one in Kisumu. I realized that I've become quickly spoiled by really nice hotels, as this one - The Imperial - was just fine but didn't meet my stupid high standards:) Kisumu is on Lake Victoria (which also borders Uganda and Tanzania) and I wanted to get out and see it but wasn't there during daylight hours so sadly didn't. Next time.

So early the next morning we drove the hour and a half to Kakamega, which is the capital of the Western Region of Kenya. Unlike other regions I've been to in Kenya, this area didn't seem so great for farming and we mainly saw subsistance farming. After a brief stop at the office we drove to Luanda, a small town. Luanda happens to be about 30km from Kogelo, which is where Obama's family is from. Some of the small shops would have pictures of the Prime Minister (who is Luo like them and Obama), the President (who is Kikuyu) and Obama!!

I spent the first day visiting womens groups telling them about a free clinic day the next day. The women would often start off by dancing and singing. The first group gave me and my colleagues garlands, which was very reminiscint of my india days! During the first group I also awkwardly clapped and swayed and felt very white. Therefore I vowed that the next time I would get more enthusiastic. However, the next group that was singing and dancing I happened to be taking photos. So I put the camera down and ran over to start dancing and the song ended! But they noticed so sang it again especially for me:)

The next day was the free family planning clinic day, which was fairly standard. The thing that struck me though was the nuns who kept coming in for IUDs. I wondered if maybe nuns here don't do the celibacy thing. I finally asked someone if they were indeed nuns and it was explained that they were not nuns but born again Christians. Sawa. I also got to go fetch lunch by myself during the day as all my colleauges are crazy busy on these days. I rarely am allowed to walk around freely in these small towns and it was really nice. I can see how pleasant it would be to just live there and have a simple life - just a few shops and most people know each other.

Maybe someday.....first I really need to learn Swahili

Safari Number 2

Since my friend/colleague Diane was in town for work, and she was going on a safari I decided to join her for a night. I arrived back from Tanzania on Friday night and left Saturday for Masai Mara. Got two game drives, one on Saturday night and one Sunday morning and we were back in Nairobi by Sunday afternoon.

It's an expensive evening but so worth it! Ended up staying at the exact same place I stayed before. Except this time we got the free upgrade so the tent was pretty amazing. The best part of the room though was the dik-diks that lived outside the tent (tiny little dear-like things).

I realized that you can't see everything in two drives - Diane said she saw cheetahs and hippos on her first two drives (which we didn't see again). And the contrast between when I was there in September where the animals seemed to be EVERYWHERE and this time where we could drive for 40 minutes and not see a single animal (not even an impala or gazelle) was pretty stark. But we saw quite a few lions (a single male with the coveted black mane, a group of females and cubs that I think were the same ones I saw in September, and a group of young males sunning themselves). We chased a rhino who seemed totally freaked out and was running really fast in zig-zag motions. And there were giraffes, a few zebras (they were everywhere before), some elephants, and the expected impalas, thompson gazelles, hartebeests, etc. My goal was to be able to identify the various gazelle things and tell them apart. I think I really only mastered the hartebeest. I guess the only thing I saw this time that I hadn't seen before was the jackal. The nicest part was spending time with the lions. They really looked like cuddly big cats and it was tempting to go lay in the sun with them. It's hard to remember that they are brutal.

Zanzibar!

I have just had one of the most fun trips I can remember. Maybe just cuz I had no expectations but it was incredible!

As I need to be in Tanzania over a weekend for work and I’d already spent a weekend in Dar Es Salaam and truthfully, I think it might be boring if I was there alone. I decided I would spend the weekend in Zanzibar instead. I did some very last minute planning and only bought my tickets a few days before I went – so the good flights were all booked. Since I couldn’t leave the office at 2pm on Friday (I was there for a special workshop after all), and the only other flight was at 5am (so I would have had to leave my hotel at 3 and wouldn’t be able to dive since there are rules around how close you can dive to flying), I searched a bit and found a charter flight which turned out to be hysterical. I get to the airport and there’s an office with the company name on it (no check in desk) with three men sitting there. No one was at the desk, and when I asked they said he’d be right back. I had no idea if I was in the right place, if there was some other desk I should be at or what I was waiting for. He eventually came in so I went up and asked and he asked me to wait for the people who were there before me. That would have been fine but I didn’t know what I was waiting for. He clearly was a one-man show and would talk to a passenger and then go out and fuel a plane and come back and talk to someone else. Finally it was my turn and he gave me a boarding pass (no ID check) and told me the flights were usually quite late. As it turned out it was quite timely – we took off only 15 minutes late. It was a little prop plane that could seat about 19 people, but there were only about 8 of us so our luggage went on the other seats. Great flight with very pretty views of Zanzibar as we came in. And so nice to travel without any of the normal security hassles – they screened the bags but that was it. Remember what that was like?

I thought the hotel transport quote from the airport was too high so I decided to try my luck with local taxis. Some guy showed me a rate list and off I went with my taxi driver Ronaldo. He was fabulous and substantially improved my Kiswahili (although given where I was starting, that’s not hard). It took maybe an hour and a half. I got to the hotel (Nyota Beach Bungalows) at 9pm where the manager said he had been awaiting me and kept the restaurant open for me. No check in – just gave me a room. There didn’t actually appear to be any other guests, in this adorable place with stone beach huts that at $40 a night was one of the cheapest places on the stretch. So that evening I spent having fresh fillet (pronounced with the ‘T’) of tuna and Serengeti beer on the beach (which was too dark to see) thinking this was as good as it gets. BTW the hotel was minimal but great, provided good towels and beach towels, a great mosquito net that I contemplated stealing but decided to just keep an eye out for, a fabulous hot shower (despite the shower head falling on me twice) and the friendliest staff.

The next morning I got up early to take my 15 minute stroll down the beach to the dive center where I had booked a day of diving. Immediately I met this lovely woman, Amy, from Britian. I don’t always like traveling alone – even diving – as sometimes you end up in a group of people who all know each other and ignore you – but there were about 14 people on the dive and all were friendly and were made of up tons of stragglers like me. The diving was pretty great, lots of turtles, the snorklers swam with dolphins (bummed I missed that) in amazingly beautiful reefs and water. And the dive center was probably the best I’ve ever used, so safe and professional and had plenty of staff to keep with the group. On the way back (after 2 dives) I made plans with Amy to go to her hotel (she was staying at the dive center hotel) for dinner. My dive partner was on the fence about going back to Stone Town (the capital) or finding a cheap place to stay in Matweme (which is where we were). When I mentioned my place he decided to give it a shot. Which meant that then I had a friend, Jon – a corporate lawyer from NYC - at the hotel as well. We spend the afternoon chatting over the only food the kitchen had available at the time, Pringles. And then headed back to meet Amy for dinner. Her hotel had a big buffet and they sat us with a couple we had dived with earlier; they were from New Zealand on their honeymoon. Lovely dinner that lasted long into the night and I was very glad to not be walking the beach solo late at night. Amy was excited as she had gotten a coupon for a free bottle of wine and didn’t want to drink a whole bottle by herself so split it with me and Jon.

I spent the morning working – preparing the week of presentations and trainings I was going to do in Dar. There was also a deaf, mute guy that worked at the hotel who liked to interact with me. First he brought me an incredibly fragrant leaf; I tried to place the smell but all I could think of was lemons. He showed me various trees on the compounds. Later he came down to the beach to see what I was working on. He indicated he was deaf and mute (which I had already guessed, given that he hadn’t said a word) and made the “you and me are thumbs up” symbol. To which I agreed. He then said “you and me are….” And indicated the symbol that you make during the magic penny song when you say “and roll all over the floor”. I’m not sure what that meant exactly.

The tide moves substantially and often so that there was no beach when we walked to dinner and tons of beach when we walked back. As the tide goes a half a mile each high/low tide it’s interesting to see how the locals work it. When tide is in they fish. In low tide the kids dig out worms from the sand in a fascinating “smoke them out” maneuver, and the women and farm seaweed (literally, there are plots). The beach has people on it working but very few touts (they seemed more like people just walking along asking you for money than actual touts) and you are not bothered much. Conversely there aren’t a lot of restaurants or cafes or anything lining the beach.

John and I decided to head back down to the other hotel to see who was around at about noon. We first ran into the couple from New Zealand who took us into their honeymoon suite (free upgrade) that was AMAZING!! Not overdone at all, just wonderful. An airy cabin with open rooms and a kitchen (with a chef), a small pool just for them and incredible ocean views. Almost worth the $450 a night it would normally cost! Amy came along as we spent a lovely afternoon around their suite and eventually made our way over to the real swimming pool for snacks. And then it was time to leave. I will likely see Amy this coming week in Dar and Jon in a few weeks in Nairobi – it was so nice to meet such fun people so easily. None of them are living like I am, they all live where they’re from and were just doing some holidaying but they were very welcoming. And while I had this image of Zanzibar as paradise – from where I’m not sure, does anyone know how that impression came? – the beach was absolutely beautiful and while it was really hot (and I did burn while working on the beach this morning) it was also really breezy so not uncomfortable for sitting around at all. I highly recommend this trip – for just lazing around☺