Hello Bloagateers!
Just arrived in Nairobi about an hour ago. First impressions after the initial “wow—we are really here”…
- Customs was quick and easy, though they did take a digital photo and electronic fingerprints. Every finger—both hands.
- Found our driver, George, easily amidst the throng of other drivers. He was waiting for over an hour as our flight was a bit delayed—he did not seem the slightest bit bothered by this. Apparently delays are routine.
- From the airport to the guest house---about 20 minutes--our senses were stimulated first by the overwhelming smell of something similar to a tire shop. Not quite as strong as the burning garbage smells of Central America.
- Many familiar names (Good Year, Fed Ex, Avis, various car dealerships) near the airport.. Nairobi appears to be quite a sprawling city, and I don’t think we saw much of it at this point—as it is late in the evening and dark.
- Many 6-8 foot high walls around hotels, hostels, and other developments where people live.
- They drive on the opposite side of the street here---fast. Going to be more adventures crossing the street I presume.
- We must flush the toilet using “grey water” sitting in a bucket, collected from the water used to wash clothing. No machines, I’m afraid.
Team Nosh
Crossing the street, on the other hand, is quite the effort. Here’s the order of operations:
1. Look left then right. All clear? Cross the bike lane.
2. Now, we come upon the street with car traffic and occasional bike traffic. Look for the cars coming from the one side and bikes from the other, then run to the island median separating the tram tracks from the road.
3. Be careful here, though you may not see a tram. There could be a car or bus on the tram tracks. Cross both lanes of tram tracks.
4. Then repeat the car lane and bike lane from the opposite side. Careful not to get lazy here, as the cyclists will come from both sides regardless of the side of the street they are on.
OK, a bit more about cycling in Amsterdam. It is so much different from NYC. First, everyone rides bikes as their primary mode of transport. Thus, the drivers get it and don’t hit them. Example; we met a local named Hans who told me none of his friends were ever hit by a motorist, and he was hit once a very long time ago. I only know about 5 people who cycle regularly in NYC and 2 or 3 of them have been hit. You know who you are.
The Amsterdam riders don’t go fast, don’t roll up their pant leg, but do perform a host of other activities. Baby’s on the seat or carriage in front or behind, babies in baby bjorns attached to parents riding, texting, ipod jamming, carrying groceries, transporting pizza, eating ice cream, walking - or shall I say riding - their dog, and waiving to friends sitting at outside cafes. The classic one is the carpool, with a friend sitting over the back tire with both legs on the same side of the bike. And nobody wears a helmet. We’ve been told this is because the Dutch care about their hair.
Hold on tight kiddo
Before hearing the factoid that tourists are the target/cause of most tram-to-bike collisions in the city, we rented bikes on the second day of two in Amsterdam. Our AirBnB residence was about a 20-30 minute walk from the downtown and we found a little bike shop close to the flat. Very easy to ride, and easier to lock up, and “because it’s Amsterdam, be sure to lock it up--twice,” said the bike shop man. We biked up through the wondrous Vondel Park and up along the canals to the Anne Frank House. It started to rain lightly but the line moved fast, and our bikes were safely locked against a street light post.
The museum was very interesting and Nicole was determined to read everything she came across. As if the story of Anne Frank isn’t sad and depressing enough, when we came upon our bikes, one of them looked like the back tire was run over by a truck, and in fact, that was the case! Very fortunately, I parked the bikes in front of a tiny canal tours booth, so the woman working there jumped out of her booth when a truck backed into the bikes and the street light, and she caught him at the traffic light. She left us a note (in a plastic bag because it was raining-- besides the wooden shoe thing, those Dutch are smart) which had the license number and the company of the truck. But now what to do? People don’t put bikes on trams and we had to be careful about splitting up sans cell phones. We never took down any info of the bike shop so we couldn’t call him (we tried the Google but that didn’t work). So I rode back to the shop. I told Peter, the owner, what occurred and he was very understanding. Seriously though, it was a good thing for the girl who chased down the truck and got the license number. Peter’s car was with his family on holiday, so I had to walk back to meet Nicole and put the bike in a cab to bring back to the shop. All-in-all it put only a small glitch in our day --could have been much worse had the woman not gotten the drivers info.
Our poor bikes
The now crooked lamp post
We closed our day visiting the FOAM museum that had an exhibit by Anton Corbijn, whose fame was achieved by photographing musicians (U2 hired him as their personal photographer). This exhibit captures the pain and struggle of each artist in different poses and settings while getting up close and personal with them. Some notables were Lance Armstrong, the Boss, Mick Jagger, Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, and Jonny Cash.
Tom Waits
We strolled around the city a bit more, ate a delicious Indian dinner, grabbed some drinks with the locals where we learned all sorts of things including the truth behind prostitution in Amsterdam. According to our new friend Hans, one of Amsterdam’s best kept and dirty secrets is that the red light district is full of women who were victims of human trafficking—not primarily women who “choose” prostitution as a career as tourists are led to believe. After drinks we, headed home to pack up and get ready for our 11am flight to Nairobi.
Karma Kounter
We are on our best behavior gathering Karma wherever we can, hoping that when we need some in return, we’ll get it. We’ve been keeping a karma journal---see below.
PLUS ONE: Nicole gave an LIRR ticket to an out-of-breath girl who didn’t have time to buy a ticket at Penn, saving her from egregious on train fees and part of her fare.
PLUS ONE Nicole found an iPhone of a woman who left the bathroom before her. I hurried it along to her and she was very grateful.
REDEEMED ONE POINT: Left my hat at a cafe only to realize it an hour later. Retraced our path to find it behind the counter safe and sound. Thank you Karma Lord!
REDEEMED ONE POINT: Left my hat at a cafe only to realize it an hour later. Retraced our path to find it behind the counter safe and sound. Thank you Karma Lord!
REDEEMED ONE POINT: Girl saved the day by getting the evil car mauling truck’s license number.
Total Karma points: 0.0
