Once again my apologies that this is so delayed. I had a busy weekend involving a Canadian Dawa experience, Lacrosse, Jeopardy and hangover golfing..no time to blog I swear! I am enjoying my time at home, however I am having a hard time adjusting to the temperature!! You don't care about Canada...you want the juicy details of Kenya...moving on!
Where was I? Weekend clubbing, Cheryl's home, broken vehicles, chewing sticks, Masai Mara....and now we will move forward to what I call...Julie drama. Somewhere along the way a friendly little tick decided to move on in, attach itself to my leg and consume what I would call copious amounts of my blood (its my blog, I will exaggerate if I want to.) After feeling slightly under the weather all day, I was all curled up nice in bed in Nairobi scratching my 'bites' (still not sure if they are mozzie bites or fleas from the creepy dog at the kids home) when OUCH! I scratched a scab...or so I thought. My fear of bleeding all over Feisal's guest bed and making a mess had me out of bed reaching for the light. Big mistake. No scab here folks...what we have instead is a tick like thingy fully attached to me. Not sure about tick sizes and standards but this thing was rather large if you ask me (the size of the tip of my pinky finger-ish). I started freaking out immediately (silently in my head of course). What was this thing? Was it making me sick? Would I die if I didn't remove it?(we all know how logical I am while freaking out)...After battling this out for about 10 minutes I decided to treck down to Fei's room and see what he had to say. The Kenyan should know about Kenyan bugs right? Wrong. After about 30 minutes of intense whispering we both drew the same conclusion...burn this f***er off. So at 2 am I am laying on the kitchen floor with a package of matches burning my intruder off of my leg. (All documented on camera of course!!)
Burning Party!
Close Up of 'The Intruder'
Typical Julie drama...what can I say? While back in Nairobi I learned how to 'Karoga' which in Kiswahili means 'stir' and in English means COOKOUT!!! This is a trend we should seriously think of adopting in Canada. You go to a restaraunt, order the meat and all the fixins...cook your own food (much cheaper than full on eating out) and someone else does the dishes!! The Jeizan cooking gene strikes again..man was that tasty!
Karoga!
The crew @ Spice Roots
While we are talking about my eating experiences...I might as well share my traditional Kenyan food experience with you. Irio, Beef Stew and Sukuma Wiki...looks a little nasty but it was very appetizing! The lady at the restaraunt 'went easy' on me...now do you see why my pants are so tight these days?
Kenyan Cuisine
This brings us to the final days of my trip...and the best part of all...Mombasa. This was definately the true Kenyan experience. Despite the lack of radio, the drive between Nairobi and Mombasa was one of the best experiences of the whole trip. The landscape changed about 20 times during the 6 hour trip...from grass flood plains, to red sand fields, to the Tsavo national parks, to Mountains, to Sandy coastlines...all of it was unreal.
Roadside Giraffe
Red Sand Hill
Mountain
Self Portrait!! Pretty good scenery if you ask me :)
Mombasa Island
Downtown Mombasa (The Tusk Arches)
Our first adventure in Mombasa was lunch with Fei's sister and her family. Once again I was under the spell of the magic Jeizan cooking gene. Seriously, its not normal (or fair!)...they all cook like professionals! Then it was off to the crocodile farm with a full belly and a desire for adventure. The croc farm was pretty cool. Once again we showed up just in time for feeding!
Crocodile Farm
Feeding Time!!!
Pretty crazy stuff! After the adventure fix we went for dinner at the lovely Serena Beach Resort. Once again, the meal was fantastic. I am pretty sure that some relative of Feisal's works in the kitchen there :) After dinner, dancing and a few glasses of red wine we ventured to a club called Il Covo for more drinks and even more dancing. I must say, I had a blast and a half! Despite the DJ's need to play the same few songs two - three times I enjoyed myself!...."My dream is to fly, over the rainbow so high.."
Serena Beach Resort
Day 2 Mombasa...VERY HUNGOVER! We enjoyed a mid afternoon lunch followed by a trip to Fort Jesus. What a site! Fort Jesus was originally settled by Portuguese sailors in the mid 1500's and is built in the shape of a man (supposedly Jesus) laying on his back. The Arabs of Oman took over in the 1600's and ruled until the British takeover in the late 1800's when Fort Jesus became a prison until 1958. The fort was left as is and is very eerie but totally amazing.
Fort Jesus
Canon
After our Fort Jesus adventure, Fei and I went to visit his other sister on retreat...a little slice of heaven hidden away in the trees and of course was absolutely perfect. We enjoyed some tasty home cooked snacks and good company until sunset. I would definately go back there!! After dinner, Fei and I went to enjoy some outdoor drinks and a live band...can't remember their name so I will refer to them as 'the parking lot band' since they were playing in the parking lot outside a pub called 'Bobs'. I had an amazing time and didn't want the night to end because the next day would be my last in Kenya :( But like all wonderful things in life, the night came to an end and the morning came WAY too early! (The early morning included a hangover of course!). After breakfast, Fei and I went to Yuls (nice name!) beach resort and rented a jetski. SO MUCH FUN!! I actually thought I was going to fly off the back and was freaking out most of the time (this will really shock you I am certain)...but in true Julie fashion, I endured and had a blast. Fei is one CRAZY driver!! Sadly, like all things in life, my Mombasa adventure was finished. We started the long journey back to Nairobi a little later than expected :) A few traffic jams and one beautiful sunset later and we were back in Nairobi.
Sunset
Poor Fei. Hurricane Yulia was a little hard on my dear friend but like a trooper he kept going and took me to meet his brother "the Captain" (who hooked me up with a sweet Kenya Airways deal for my flight home....details to follow) and to dinner with friends before my departure. It was definately a good finish to a great trip!
What is this deal with Kenya Airways you ask? Well...I thougth I was going to get an upgrade to business class (pretty sweet deal) but it was even better than that. Not only was I upgraded or given a 'Jump Seat' but I got to ride in the cockpit for takeoff and landing!!! Shut up! No, really. I have documented proof for you to feed your skeptical eyes on!
Flying da plane
Moi in le cockpit
1 000 000 Thank-You's Fei for all of this. It wouldn't have been even close to the same experience without such a wonderful host!! 1 000 000 Thank-You's to your family too, such wonderful people. I am one lucky chica to have had the opportunity to get to know and spend time with them. Thank you again for the time of my life.
Bisous xxx,
Hurricane Yuls
