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Well, here I am in Nairobi! I landed at the airport at ten past eight this morning (ten past five English time). The flight took about ten hous altogether, and although there was really bad turbulence most of the night it was generally a good flight. After landing I had to queue to sort out a visa, which cost $50 but wasn't a problem. When I had my bags I left the airport to find a friendly local waiting to take me back to the hotel.
The minibus ride there was certainly an experience! There are basically no lines on the road, so there are as many lines of traffic going in each direction as can fit- and if the traffic's moving too slowly they just take up the pavement as well. The drivers are completely crazy, undertaking and cutting up, and street sellers walk up and down between the lines of cars trying to sell anything from Kenyan flags to hideous flowery straw hats, to saucepans through the open windows of the cars. When I arrived at the hotel, John (the minibus driver) tried to get Becky and I to go on a day trip outside the city with him. We told him we needed time to think about it, so he then proceeded to spend the rest of the day outside our hotel stopping us everytime we left to try and convince us to go on this trip- finally coming in to the hotel and phoning our room. In fact, everytime we went anywhere we were set upon by people offering us safaris, taxi rides, trips to markets etc, and after being stopped by John (three times), then George, then Simon, we got the hang of just saying no and walking off.
The city seems a friendly enough place, although the dust and the traffic are horrendus and there doesn't seem to be a huge ammount to do. At street level it all looks rather dirty, but the view from the roof terrace on top of the hotel is much more impressive. After wandering aorund the city for a little while we returned to the hotel, and watched some Nairobi TV. For dinner we had a special Kenyan curry at the resteraunt, followed by Kenyan vodkas at the bar. We haven't seen too much sign of the violence or protests, but we have been warned not to go out at night, as last night police used tear gas on mourners at a mass funeral. In the bar, when the news came on, it all went completely silent, and every singe person was just staring at the TV for the duration of the report, which just shows it's very much a real concen for the people here. Even though it was all in Swahili we got a pretty good idea that there isn't likely to be a resolution particularly soon.
Anyway, I don't think we're going to risk leaving the hotel again tonight, so we'll probably just get a good nights' rest ready to catch the bus that will take us over the Tanzanian border, and to Kilimanjaro, early tomorrow morning.
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