Back in Nairobi!
Be sure to check out my updated route map. The red route is obviously the one I've actually followed so far (more or less).
Anyway after the first night in Mbita I decided would've liked to switch accommodation to something a little better, but stingy as I am, I'd already paid the 250 bob (about 25 sek) for both nights, so I stayed. The reasons for wanting to move were many - it was located directly underneath a noisy bar, the shared shower was a filthy bucket, the shared toilet was a really nasty hole in the ground with a gaping hole in the side of the wall facing onto the main street, and finally, the cats. A bunch of cats were screaming all night long right outside my room. When the cries woke me up at 0400 I at first thought it was a baby. Eventually after almost an hour of lying there listening to this racket there was a scuffle, a shout, a crash, then the most blood curdling scream of death I've ever heard. Then silence.
As heartless as it sounds now that I'm re-telling the story, I was enormously grateful that the little bugger had been decapitated, or drowned, or whatever! Unfortunately the next night followed a similar pattern - there must be an endless supply of these demon cats.
Anyway I spent the two days in Mbita walking around, swimming in the lake, chilling on the beach under a fig tree belonging to a guy with only one leg...
The 12 o'clock ferry "to Kisumu" does not, in fact go directly to Kisumu, nor does it leave at 1200! It arrives at 12 ish and leaves at 1430 for a town called Luanda, from there you get a bus to Kisumu. I was really looking forward to seeing the lake - the whole purpose of getting the ferry. Unfortunately, for the 45 min journey it was so hot that all the side shades were down and no one could see a thing!
Anyway got to Kisumu and got a tuk-tuk (I think that's what it's called) - one of those 3-wheeled cross between a car and a motorbike, to a nearby guest house thing.
Just as a side note to clear up possible confusion over the Kenyan transport system, you have: the aforementioned tuk-tuk, the matatu (mini-bus), the piki-piki (motorbike) and the boda-boda (a bicycle with a fat cushion on the rear package carrier).
Anyway I spent two day exploring Kisumu - quite a nice city, then in the morning of the third day (with the aid of some guy from Uganda I'd befriended) I hauled my katundu (bags) down to the reputable bus company booking office to book the bus back to Nairobi. 1100 shillings please.
No thanks! So we dragged the bags back across town to a bus "company" that only wanted 500 bob.
I should have gone with the expensive one! heheh sure enough we had to sit in the hot, grubby, noisy bus station, bombared with a steady stream of goods people brought onto the bus (from vcds and dvds to live chickens and handkerchieves).
The bus broke down just over half way, and we had to sit under a tree for about an hour until the engine had cooled down enough and the smoke that was billowing from it had stopped.
Eventually we got there (but due to the delays it was now nightfall) and I had to haul my bags all the way across Nairobi to the place I'd stayed the time before.
With the help of some taxi drivers, and a guy that had been on the same bus, I eventually stumbled into the place.
I spent most of the next day exploring Nairobi, which doesn't seem as intimidating as it did at first.
Am now staying with a family friend (a Swedish diplomat) in a very posh area - nice swimming pool, good food, running water etc.
A day or two of luxury before I carry on to the coast.
As heartless as it sounds now that I'm re-telling the story, I was enormously grateful that the little bugger had been decapitated, or drowned, or whatever! Unfortunately the next night followed a similar pattern - there must be an endless supply of these demon cats.
Anyway I spent the two days in Mbita walking around, swimming in the lake, chilling on the beach under a fig tree belonging to a guy with only one leg...
The 12 o'clock ferry "to Kisumu" does not, in fact go directly to Kisumu, nor does it leave at 1200! It arrives at 12 ish and leaves at 1430 for a town called Luanda, from there you get a bus to Kisumu. I was really looking forward to seeing the lake - the whole purpose of getting the ferry. Unfortunately, for the 45 min journey it was so hot that all the side shades were down and no one could see a thing!
Anyway got to Kisumu and got a tuk-tuk (I think that's what it's called) - one of those 3-wheeled cross between a car and a motorbike, to a nearby guest house thing.
Just as a side note to clear up possible confusion over the Kenyan transport system, you have: the aforementioned tuk-tuk, the matatu (mini-bus), the piki-piki (motorbike) and the boda-boda (a bicycle with a fat cushion on the rear package carrier).
Anyway I spent two day exploring Kisumu - quite a nice city, then in the morning of the third day (with the aid of some guy from Uganda I'd befriended) I hauled my katundu (bags) down to the reputable bus company booking office to book the bus back to Nairobi. 1100 shillings please.
No thanks! So we dragged the bags back across town to a bus "company" that only wanted 500 bob.
I should have gone with the expensive one! heheh sure enough we had to sit in the hot, grubby, noisy bus station, bombared with a steady stream of goods people brought onto the bus (from vcds and dvds to live chickens and handkerchieves).
The bus broke down just over half way, and we had to sit under a tree for about an hour until the engine had cooled down enough and the smoke that was billowing from it had stopped.
Eventually we got there (but due to the delays it was now nightfall) and I had to haul my bags all the way across Nairobi to the place I'd stayed the time before.With the help of some taxi drivers, and a guy that had been on the same bus, I eventually stumbled into the place.
I spent most of the next day exploring Nairobi, which doesn't seem as intimidating as it did at first.
A day or two of luxury before I carry on to the coast.
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