China Garden Hotel And Apartments Nairobi

... her and left me with a bruised ego and slightly sore head.

With my morning activities proving to be more strenuous than I planned I decided to take afternnon easy with a visit to the elephant orphange, 23 baby dumbos, feeding and play time later, let's just say I now I have an adopted baby ele - take a look at the pics and tell me you wouldn't!!

... for the market. It was a very hot afternoon and with hawkers constantly hassling you when all you want to do is look, it was very easy to get ****** off, queue grumpy Helen. We did manage to haggle quite well for some nice flip flops for Helen, paying about half the price for two pairs for what she normally pays for one pair in London.

Tonight went to dinner at the famous Carnivore restaurant with a few of the others from the tour and to also watch the All Blacks v Wales ...

... minutes to get to the church. When we got there we took our seats and awaited for the ceremony to start. The ceremony itself was very much like religious Western ceremonies. They even had bridesmaids, groomsmen, and juniors of both (Patrick, Carlos' older brother was a junior groomsmen-- too cute for words!) The bride was escorted down the isle by both her father and mother, and as soon as she reached the front the entire church ...

... was a great surprise. We were back to rough dirt roads and areas less traveled, which lead us through some amazing desert landscape, reminding me of Mauritania in its endless plains of rock, sand or trees. The local tribes people were colourful and interesting - most women wearing hundreds of beaded necklaces and bright cloth. Our interest in them was reciprocated....given the limited number of tourists heading this far north.

Our crossing into ...

Arrived in Nairobi at 6am this morning and experienced rush hour worse than London! Very strange to see huge storks sitting in trees next to the highway.

Both feeling rubbish today probably from a combination of lack of sleep and malaria tablets. Can ...

... along the edge of the rainforest on a small path, then across a fallen log into the unbelievably thick forest cover. From here, the path went from recognizable animal paths, to barely recognizable, to hacking our own path with a machete. We scrambled and climbed up a near vertical wall of thick strangling vines until our guide suddenly stopped and told us to drop our bags. A strong odour overtook us, and he nodded when we asked if it was the ...

... ignorant country but we are quickly finding out that in Nairobi at least, the reverse is true. Their problem is perhaps trying to catch up too quickly with the West and this too can cause problems of its own.

Today we had lunch at the famous Carnivore Restaurant. It is known for serving wild game – buffalo, giraffe, gazelle, impala, wildebeest, zebra, and crocodile – grilled over a charcoal ...

... travellers - yey! I hope I don't have to share with a Marlene reincarnate eh Lucy?! According to the rooming list I'm sharing with Fiona tonight, she's not here at the mo though. We leave for Tanzania tomorrow so will write again in a few days.

Keep in touch and let me know all your news,

Lots of love
Jo
xx

PS: Huge special thanks to the following: Charlie for putting up with a very stressed me for three days prior to ...

... However we discovered the wonderful Java Coffee house 2 mins from our hotel and we had delicious coffees and brekkys there, a bit pricier but worth it. We also had all our clothes washed properly (but not as good as expected) by a laundry service shopfront nearby.

Thursday and Friday July 23rd and 24th as above. The hotel was good but very noisy outside with a pub one side and construction the other so sleep was not the best and of course the call to prayer at 4am topped it off.

... on Monday night, which was of course received much better than when I tried to cook on my first visit. My culinary skills are limited when a microwave is not available.

And finally, the real reason I decided not to blog until I was safely back on American soil – we had a little trip to a Kenyan ER on Thursday night, and some stories just don’t need to be shared while they still have the possibility of scaring your mother to death.

I was feeling pretty ...