Mombasa

After a really good night sleep I woke up, packed my things and headed off to the airport for the Zanzibar - Nairobi leg of the trip. First I had to find a taxi to get there and fortunately just as I was walking up to where the taxis park one came by. I asked him how much to the airport and he said $10. Despite knowing that the exchange rate is $1 = TSh1500, I asked what he wanted in shillings and he told me TSh22000 so we had a brief argument about that with him consenting that it should be TSh15000. It really makes me mad that these people try to milk the tourists so unnecessarily. The $10/TSh15000 is a fair price, why spoil it by trying to dupe the tourists out of more money. Anyway he got me to the airport quickly and safely so I was happy.

I could book in straight away for my flight and was given the boarding pass for the Nairobi - Mombasa flight too. Going through security in Zanzibar used to be really painful but they seemed to have ironed out some kinks. I still had to accompany my suitcase to be x-rayed and the immigration people were still unfriendly. It was the first time though that I didn't have a pat down search which made it a much more pleasant experience. The waiting area has also had a mini facelift and now there is a coffee shop there. Since I had missed breakfast, I was very happy to see this and had a very welcome cup of coffee.

The time seemed to go quickly and before I knew it the plane had arrived. It was one of Kenya Airways' Embraer 170s. The photo below was taken through the extremely dirty windows at the airport terminal.

The flight to Nairobi was quick, just one hour and there was some beautiful scenery along the way.

I was really hoping to get a glimpse of Kilimanjaro Mountain this morning and really did get just a glimpse - should have wished bigger! If you look VERY carefully at the photo below where the inside edge of the right third meets the inside edge of the top third there is a darker sliver with a brighter white spot on the left - this is Kili's summit!

I have not been lucky on this trip with seeing the mountain. So far I have flown passed it 6 times and only once was it not covered in clouds and that time I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane! I have 2 more chances so here's hoping.

Nairobi was misty and damp this morning. I'm sure the rain was very welcome, it was looking very dry. Below is just the view of Nairobi as we banked around for the landing.

I went through immigration quickly, in fact my details were not even entered into the computer. The guy just took my passport, asked how long I was staying and stamped it. I changed some money and by the time I got back to the carousel, my suitcase was there. I ambled across to the domestic departures to drop off my suitcase and heard one of my favourite questions: Do you want to go earlier? There was a plane about to start boarding and the check-in clerk changed my ticket and I walked through to the gate and onto the plane.

Arrival in Mombasa was at 12:30 instead of 14:00 which was good in a way and not so good in another. It was good to get the flying out of the way particularly since the plane seemed a little dodgy - a very old and rattling 737-300 Boeing - but bad because my friend Kizzie had arranged for me to be collected at the airport at 14:00 and I had no way of contacting the driver so just had to wait for him.

Mombasa traffic is always a bit of a nightmare and it took ages to get to my hotel. The hotel is not bad, I have stayed in a lot worse. It is down an interesting looking shabby street but is behind high walls with electric fencing on top of the walls. I had some negotiating about the price (again) because the guy on reception wanted to charge me more than had been agreed upon but he was amiable about it and we settled on the price that Kizzie had been given. I had to pay up front so I have only paid for tonight and told him if I like it I will pay the rest tomorrow.

The yard is very neat and tidy and I was offered an upstairs or downstairs room - I chose upstairs. He took me up to show me the room, I was greeted by a hideous pink corridor .......

...... and I was starting to think that this had been a mistake but my room fortunately is far tamer:

The bathroom is very blue but it is clean and there is warm water so I am happy. My only problem with my room at this stage is the bed, it has this weird piece of bed base jutting off the end of the bed and the very first thing I did in the room was bash my shin on it and have since stubbed my toes and did my other shin in!

As soon as I was settled in I went downstairs to ask for directions to the Nakumatt store. Besides water I also needed more reading matter and the Nakumatt stores sell books at really reasonable prices. The receptionist walked with me up to the store - it is really close but through some back alleys that I definitely would not be comfortable walking in a night but it was fine during the day. He left me there to browse around the shop and one of the first things in my basket was a big tin of mixed vegetables. I got what I wanted and went to check out. Although I had cash on me I wanted to charge everything to my credit card but apparently in Kenya you have to supply ID when paying by credit card and I didn't have any on me. Eventually he took my card but gave me strict instructions that next time I must have ID.

I returned to the hotel and had a feast of the vegetables and some yoghurt - two things I have been deprived of. Then it was time for a swim. The hotel has a small pool about 10 metres by 4 metres. The water was lovely and warm and I thoroughly enjoyed wallowing around just relaxing and swimming some lazy lengths. Tonight I will be settling down with my new novel and enjoying the thought of having a rest day tomorrow.

To end here are the views from my 2 windows and a section of the swimming pool.

That's it from me for today. Take care everyone!