February 27 - March 6, 2000 Nairobi, Kenya - Downtown Hotel Because of a screw up on my part, I will have to hang around Nairobi for the next week or two to get my papers straightened out for the motorcycle... Exhausted from going virtually non-stop through Egypt and then on a Safari, I was exhausted, and spent a good part of the night and day sleeping. During waking hours I started to get caught up on laundry which was long overdue. I spent late afternoon getting caught up on news. Nairobi is good for staying in touch with the finance world and markets. On many street corners one can pick up the Economist, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times newspaper, etc. IHT and Financial Times is usually a day or two late, and Economist comes out about 2-4 days late. CNN via satellite feed is always on and easy to listen to at the inexpensive restaurant next to my hotel. Through the many cyber cafe's, I can sit down for 300 ($4) per hour and read the more current Interactive Wall Street Journal, or any other on-line newspaper, and place trades like I last did in Burkina Faso. In Nairobi there are many cyber cafes each with different bandwidth, equipment and prices. While I wouldn't feel comfortable doing day trading here, they are excellent for doing some medium or long term positioning. I hung out at a cyber cafe until they closed catching up on on-line newspapers, and then hung out at the enclosed outdoor Thorn Tree cafe reading IHT and The Economist. Being 8 hours ahead of EST, means that the market doesn't open until 5:30pm, which means what use to be dawn patrol for market news, I have the entire day to do. The down side is that when all the cyber cafes close at 8:00pm in Nairobi, the market is still open for another four hours. My watch died two days ago. I suspect it's the batteries. For the mean time, I bought a digital watch at a boutique. I paid the asking price of 50 shillings (US$.66). What a deal. It looks like it's at least worth a buck. I ran into the Cal-Tech dude (Simon) today... the con-guy I had met six weeks ago approached me while I was walking down the street. He was looking a little skinnier. He didn't remember me. I reminded him that he was going to Cal-tech in January, and asked what happened. He said he is going in March now. He started on the racial bigotry questions in the states again, I said "yeah, yeah, and next your going to want to tell me about the secret underground plot thing." He said "I'm not going to tell you about any secret thing... but if I could just talk to you for 5 minutes." He didn't want to give up, but I kept walking, and he fell away. Later, I met another waco sucking water bottle that probably had glue fumes. She was following two caucasians that were walking in the same direction in front of me. She said that they were her mother and father, but they didn't want to believe it because she was black and they were white. They were just ignoring her. She began to follow me until I turned into the cyber cafe which was my intended destination. And on another block, a man sitting against a building with shoe shine equipment saw me and shouted out with finger out stretched pointing at my feet, "How much did you pay for your shoes???" Doesn't matter that he and others sitting besides him have asked me that a dozen times, or the fact that I'm wearing Teva sandals.... I just gave him a smile and walked on. The cyber cafe I like to hang out at is located on the 4th floor of a building. The building has two elevators but I always take the stairs. 6 weeks ago, I had walked into the building to find the security guards attempting to get the passengers out. Today I arrived and the doors had been pride off the same elevator, and the floor of the elevator car was about a foot below the the 1st floor. I don't mind arriving at the cyber cafe a little out of breath. I went to see the movie "The Matrix" which was playing in a Dolby surround sound theater. By the time I had bought my popcorn, I could hear things had already started. I went to hand my ticket to the ticket taker. He was standing at attention looking off in the distance, and replied "just a minute please". The music I was hearing coming from the theater was the Kenyan national anthem. I replied, "Oh, sorry", and stood there respectfully looking off in to the distance as well. When it was over, he took my ticket, and I walked up to the seat I had purchased. I paid an extra 50 shillings ($.66) for what was called a V.I.P. seat. This allowed me to sit dead center in the front row of the balcony in a special soft newly upholstered seat. I had arrived just in time to see the 10 minute news reel on what the president of Kenya did this month. President Moi gave a speech where he asked Kenyan's to produce more food. He attended a large celebration in Kenya, and later attended a funeral in Tanzania. After the ten minute news reel, there was a 5 minute intermission, and then the movie started. February 29, 2000 Nairobi, Kenya - Went out to the Hill Top camp ground which is about a half hour walk from downtown. Since it was off my map, I took a taxi there, and then used GPS and compass to find my way back on foot. The campground is were most of the overland travellers hang out. I met two motorcyclists. One was Annette, a Swedish girl heading from South Africa to Sweden on her Suzuki. Also Dennis, a white South African heading from Scotland to South Africa on his Yamaha Super Tenere. I had come out here to talk to a Danish guy who was travelling on a KTM that I had met at a cyber cafe yesterday, however he wasn't here. Supposedly also staying here are a Belgium and Dutch also on motorcycles. They are all camping out in tents. Meeting other travellers on motorcycles is one aspect I really enjoy about travelling. There is such a small few that can relate to the same kind of difficulties, and have interesting stories to tell. My $12 per night hotel is excellent value, and being downtown is in a great location to be in Nairobi for a week or two. However, it sucks for meeting interesting travellers, and sharing information. There's very little opportunity to meet other travellers at my hotel. ---- Hung out at the cyber cafe, and then saw the movie American Beauty. At 7:10pm I had already intended to be in for the evening. I got a wild hair up my butt, and decided to go buy some optical electronic switching stock. It felt a bit surreal walking out through the dark seedy streets of Nairobi at night to get to a cyber cafe and invest in the future infrastructure of the internet. Rather than go to my regular haunt, I went to a cyber cafe a bit closer, that's more reliable, has higher bandwidth, and higher prices. I encountered the hotel clerk con-man again today. It was the 4th time. He's the same one I met my first day in Nairobi. He keeps finding me and saying Hello. Every time it seems clear that he doesn't really remember me. When I remind him, he just wants to take off. Simon, the cal-tech con-man, does remember me. He keeps trying to get me to stop and talk to him for five minutes... His bottom line is usually he needs 9 bucks to get to Tanzania, or once it was that his mother was really sick. He'll talk to me every time he sees me. He's very persistent... thinking I'll change my mind. Today I met a new con-man (Joan), His spiel was almost identical to Simon's. He's going to Davis College in California, is concerned about racial problems in the US, and wants me to assure him that there isn't any. When I asked him if he new Simon, the cal-tech guy, he asked me how much I gave him.... (0), then he asked me for 10 bucks to get to Sudan. The lack of originality makes me believe there must be a book these guys get this out of. However they are very smooth. One day, having nothing better to do, I talked to Simon for a little while. I asked him what kind of response he gets from people about the racial questions. He said [about Americans], "some say there are no problems, but then I know they're bad people...fucking liars. Others say there are small problems..." And about Europeans, "they don't think that colonialism is their fault, It's the older generation that's responsible for the exploitation, but if Africa were powerful, they would exploit others too... it's human nature" ---- I walked into where locals consider the seedy part of Nairobi. This time intentionally, because of a good Indian restaurant I knew of there. Because the local matutus originate from this area, there was a lot of activity, and a lot of people. While this culture considers it impolite to stare, while my head was turned I could see out of the corner of my eye the attention I was catching. I could read on their faces, What's he doing here?" Some even look at me blankly with surprise. An unexpected Swahili greeting from me and they regain their composure with a smile. It's a clue that they don't feel particularly comfortable around here. Foreigners don't come here, neither do wealthy Kenyans. I think if I hadn't been living in this city walking the streets for so long, I might not feel comfortable. However, so long as I'm moving, or not standing around in the open, I feel quite comfortable. Especially in the seedy areas, I must be awake, and aware. My endorphins usually kick in to insure this. My pace is fast, and always looks directed, despite whether I have a clue where I am going. I try to look like I know what I'm doing, and that I don't have any time for delays. Anyone who is interested in me would have to break into a jog to catch up, and that would catch my eye in an instant. Facial composure is serene and friendly... Looking like a victim weakens ones appearance. I prefer to make brief eye contact with those I know are watching me. That way there is no mistaking that I'm aware of their presence, hence surprises are not likely going to happen. The friendly composure dismisses the eye contact as hostile. A serene composure strengthens one's appearance by not showing any fear. Solicitors, beggars and con-men read strength in determination and give up easier. Totally ignoring beggars works fine. However, totally ignoring solicitors and con-men I find often challenges them further, and creates some negativity. I'll answer minimal questions dismissively to keep an encounter friendly as I maintain my quick directed walking pace. I've walked in seedy areas with other foreigners and felt uncomfortable. One particular time that stand out in my memory, they were very concerned, One of them tried to look intimidating. That bothered me... intimidation is challenging, and leaves open only the possibility of a negative encounter. I tried to get them to relax and engage them in conversation as we quickly walked, but it was useless. I find it really disturbing to see all the glue sniffers on the street. There are so many of them... If I walk the streets, I'll probably pass a small group of them every 5 minutes. They pour floor cement into a small water bottle and carry it around usually up to their nose or mouth. More than half the ones I see are pre-pubescent kids. The rest are mostly young teenagers. Their clothes are often the color of dirt, so I suppose they sleep on the streets. They seem to completely ignore pedestrians. Often they are together in small groups just sitting on the side walk. It's so common that there's little doubt in my mind that any effort has been made to deal with the problem... The pot smokers are usually friendly regae listening guys, and are not very common. I haven't seen any signs of harder drugs. I doubt anyone could afford them. After it gets dark, the friendly hookers come out. They dress better and more conservatively than stereotypical hookers back in the West. They are either hookers or in the evening I become a sexual electro-magnet. I find myself ducking to prevent some over friendly woman from putting her arm around me. Occasionally they take my rejection personally, and I hear a "fa fuck you!" behind my back. Other than flat out rejection, I haven't figured out a friendly way to fend them off. They have no hesitation at attempting to make physical contact, which makes me worry about being pick-pocketed. A typical day over the past week while I wait for my carnet to arrive has been like like the following... This is a 10-15 minute walk to the cyber cafe. I'll get up in the morning. If I'm lucky, and AT&T can connect up with the Kenyan telephone service, I'll get a call between 6-7am from Sharon. However, she's only been successful two times this week. I'll maybe do laundry, or just take a shower and get going. I put out of sight any valuables (short wave radio, camera, etc.) lock up the window, and lock the door, keeping the key rather than turning it in. I walk down to the lobby, and greet Moses the manager, His decades spent working five star hotels has ingrained in him to call me Mr. Thompson. Despite the fact that this clean hotel would hardly make 2 stars at $12 per night. I'll walk out of the door of the hotel, and greet Moses the smiling Masai security guard who stands in front of the drug store next door. If David who is Luo, but identifies as a Rastafarian and is a taxi driver, or Paul the Kikuyu once a technician, now turned taxi driver sees me, they'll raise their arms up and say hello. They usually don't start work until after 10am, so I'll be having a late start if I see them. It's a good day if they can get 3-4 passengers per day, so they are always hanging around. I'll pass by "The Hollywood" bar which plays loud regae music 3-4 nights out of the week until 5am. I use to wear earplugs to sleep, but now I'm use to it. I'll walk down to Mbingu street turning at the Barclay's bank heading South. I prefer to walk on the West side of the street because the East has all the beggars outside of the Uchumi grocery store. However if it's around noon, there's a band of blind musicians making good music which I like to walk by and encourage. As I pass by the market on the East side, I likely pass one or two glue sniffing kid. Usually there is one or two guys with a stub for a limb or an atrophied limb sleeping on the sidewalk. The market lead-in guys pretty much know me by now, and no longer ask me to come to their shop. However, Leonard, the well dressed Masai, now born again christian and Paul and all the guys they work with still try to get me to come to their new souvenir shop. Despite the fact I've already seen it, and they've seen me everyday for the past 8 days. Further down Mbingu street, there's the short guy. The first time I saw him, I was quite startled. He looked as if he popped his head out of a hole in the sidewalk. He has no legs, and his torso is only about a third as long as it should be. He sits at a little over a foot tall. He usually just looks at me and smiles. Sometimes he'll say hello. He has a nice wheel chair folded up near by. I think he takes in a lot of money sitting on the street. I'm sure he has a pimp that takes care of him. After I pass him is often where I'll run into a con-guy whether it be Simon the cal-tech dude, or hotel boy. Hotel boy has come up to me four times now. I think the last time I scared him, so I think he's starting to remember me. I think all caucasians must look alike to him.... either that or he has a terrible memory. I cross the four lanes of Kenyatta Avenue, and there is usually 3 woman each with multiple kids. They can be found at this corner day or night underneath the giant BMW roundel, They send their kids after white tourists saying "Jambo, Jambo"... The mothers always say "Please sir, just one shilling". In the early morning (before 9am), they will be asleep sometimes on cardboard, sprawled out on the sidewalk with many pedestrians walking around them. This morning one of the woman was fast asleep with her awake kid suckling her. A block East on Kenyatta Ave, I pass by the Savuka office, where a couple safari tour solicitors hang out. Cowboy, Josh, George, Sam or some of the other's I know by face will be there. We always say hello, and usually shake hands. They gave up on selling me a safari long ago, and now we kid about who's going to by who a beer. 20 meters down from there the shoe shine guys will be up against the wall. These guys lack parietal lobes and never remember me from the day before, or my shoes. Every time I pass, they yell out "How much did you pay for your shoes????" as if they were astonished. I usually ignore them. As I approach the new Stanley hotel, the taxi drivers in the old Rovers ask me if I want a ride. Walking by the beautiful western style out door thorn tree cafe, I sometimes get lured in, to have a cappuccino of which they make a very beautiful, but weak tasting one. Down Kimathi street, I'll pass the newspaper vendor guy who has one cataract eye. He usually gets the latest International Herald Tribune paper before others which he'll hesitatingly part with for as little as a 100 shillings, or The Economist for 250. Burger Dome across the street has the best hamburgers in town after the the Thorn Tree cafe which is twice the price. Next I pass the money change shops, with shifty money changers standing around outside. Further are still more sleeping people with missing or atrophied limbs that sidewalk pedestrians walk around. Where the street ends at Ngina street, at the Norwich Union House on the 4th floor is the cyber cafe I like to go to. Maggie Klohoma introduced me to it. I always take the stairs up (5 flights) as the elevator usually only works for a day at a time, and I've been there when people have been trapped in it. In the cyber cafe, all five employees that run the 15 computers greet me when I come in, as I'm their best customer. They have stopped looking shocked when they tally up four hours or so of computer time. Except on Sundays they are dressed up in business formals, and seem to be much more educated than the average Nairobian. I'm on their frequent user list, and get a free hour for every ten. I always try to sit at station number 9, as most of their other computers, more often than not, have some little thing wrong. When I walk out of the cyber cafe, I've been seeing a lot of movies lately, at one of three nearby cinemas. If I cross the street, I'm at the Hilton, and will likely be solicited for a taxi. Sometimes I'll see some of my Savuka safari soliciting buddies. and stop and talk to them for a half minute. Foreigners usually don't head South of here, since there is a thick wall of Nairobians standing around. There's a bus stop where the sidewalk is packed with low-income locals, that Hilton guests would likely shy away from. Further down on Moi avenue, usually there's a large crowd gathered as a demonstrator demonstrates some trance thing as an M/C yells out in Swahili what's going on. Further on Moi, I'll pass more glue sniffers, and the likely hood of getting those "What are you doing here" looks from pedestrian increases. The Kenya Cinema plaza has two cinemas that play at 2:30, 5:30, and 8:00pm... There are quite a few people with virtually nothing, living on the streets jobless and homeless. I haven't witnessed any violence in the streets. Cops are rare to see. Hired guards that watch the shops are several to a block at night. Many of them are dressed in dark blue with a plastic baseball cap on their head. The other night I saw plain clothed guy walking down the street. He had two machine gun wielding bodyguards with him. --------------------- March 7, 2000 Nairobi, Kenya - Downtown Hotel Excellent day today! I picked up my carnet today from the Federal Express office. I couldn't leave the country with my motorcycle without it. I got my watch working again... I found a jewelers screwdriver I forgot I had. I had brought it along a while ago to retighten the screws on my glasses. I decided to fiddle with the watch for a while and got it to work. the problem appeared to be that the battery contacts were pushed back a bit. I just applied a little pressure such that they would, from now on, make better contact with the battery. I uploaded more journals, and nearly have all of them sent off. Back in '97, I had left with a floppy drive to make backups from my palmtop computer. The power supply was rather bulky and heavy, so it wasn't ideal. In Spain, I managed to blow the 110 power supply in a 220 volt outlet. (It died in less than a second) I like my new system better. Now, I carry the software for a desk top computer to transfer files from my palmtop to it's serial port. I went into a cyber cafe, loaded up the software, and then transferred the files. I then made backups to floppy disk using the cyber cafe's floppy drives. Much better than carrying my own drive and power supply. For interim backups, I pop in my 32meg flash card, and copy my files to that. I can't leave it in since it'll suck my palm tops batteries too quickly. I then sent them off using a web mail account (hotmail). I use to carry an acoustic coupler, and was forever looking for a public phone with an outlet next to it. On top of that I was paying hefty fees for long distance connection to my ISP back home. These African countries would be prohibitively expensive to do it that way. In Mali, I was paying $10 per minute. It would cost me $30 just to see if I have mail. In Kenya, the rate is more like 250-420 shillings per minute ($3.33-$5). The cyber cafe charges 300 per hour, and has 56kbps speeds which is quite a bit faster than my 9600bps modem. I got caught up on laundry, and then did some grocery shopping. All in preparation to do some travelling. I ran into Annette, the Swedish lone biker heading North. To my surprise, she was still in town, staying at the hill top camp ground. I told her I was planning to spend tomorrow night out there and would see her then. I had planned to spend a night at the campground hoping to meet some other motorcyclists, and get some tips and pass on some experience. Last time I visited the campground, there appeared to be more people travelling South than North. Naturally, I'm looking to exchange info with those people heading in the opposite direction. Annette was the only one heading North that I knew of however she said that two friends had arrived, who I presume are also heading North. ---- Dave Thompson http://www.roadkill.com/~davet/worldtrip ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com