Two days ago Agnes and the two of us went for dinner and cinema for the first time in Kenya. We watched the "Bad boys for life", and we all quite enjoyed it. We got home in the evenining and went right to bed. Yesterday we woke up very early as we had planned to walk up the Ngong hills mountain, all packed with adventure clothing, action camera and provition. In the car on our way to meet up with Agnes however, the sky turned dark and it started to rain. The driver warned us about climbing the mountain in rain and all, so when we met up with Agnes in the city we decided to change our plans.
1. The Nairobi National Museum (some culture)
We started off by taking an Uber to the Nairobi National Museum. It was so much larger than we had anticipated and we almost got as much walking done inside that building as we would have gotten in the hills. It was very interesting however, as they had showcased items and written stories about the history of Kenya. They had a magnificent bird exhibition with birds of all kind.
Outside the building the exhibition continued with a collection of living reptiles. The best snake picture (down left) was contributed to us by Agnes.
2. The Nairobi Arboretum (some walking)
Inside this city forest we went for a walk and took our picnic that consisted of some fried egg sandwiches and cookies. The nature in the park was beautiful although there were no signs to guide the way and certain roads just ceased to exist right of a sudden.
3. The Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) (some viewing)
After going through security, handing over the passport, getting a visitor's pass and paying the fee - we were able to get to the elevators at the KICC, the conference tower with a helicopter pad view point out over Nairobi. Instead of calling down the elevator by normal means you had to type the desired floor on a display, and the correct elevator would come for you. It was 27 floors up, and there we got to another security checkpoint and a notice of that it was "four more levels up" but that there was no elevator for that section. After taking several wrong turns and opening multiple wrong doors, we finally got to the top - and it was worth it. Agnes took some great pictures that she kindly shared.
4. The Maasai Market (some shopping)
After the awesome viewpoint we decided to walk to the Maasai market which we could see from the helipad. The market apparently started 500 meters before the perimeters of the actual market, with people trying to "be friends" for good deals. After an hectic entry to the market place by a horde of people dragging us (kind of kindly though) in all directions, we eventually got separated. As soon as they found out about the two of us being engaged however, we were quickly brought back together. I said that if I was to buy anything at all, it would have to be a Maasai blanket. He brought me to one with a starting price of 9300 shilling (930kr)... I eventually got it for 1700 shilling, but that was still 3x the price I should have payed according to our hosts and friends back in the apartment.
All in all an super fun but tiering day.