I managed a little extra sleep last night compared to the night before despite my new friend trying to scratch his way to Narnia.
Breakfast knocked even earlier at 7am which I didn't mind too much as I was already up and I intended on putting some decent miles in today.
I left the hotel at 8am and submerged myself into the morning rush. It was surprisingly straight forward as I only had to make two turns to get on Mombasa road. When I get back I will be putting my order in for some new lungs however as the filth that I was breathing in formed a nice layer over my body which was clearly visible in the cracks of my arms.
As the traffic subsided and I pulled away from the city centre, I really started to enjoy the ride. The road was excellent and I was very pleased to have my own path which was about a car wide and had no collarbone shattering surprise speed bumps.
The views were decent if not a bit common by now but Nigel was purring like a well fed Lion so I was happy to soak everything in and keep the scenery flowing. Months ago back in England I had planned to stay at a place called Salama as it tied into my 60 mile a day plan. I ended up arriving there at midday so would stop instead for some food. I said yesterday to never stop for a Kenyan unless they call your full name, another rule in Kenya is to never trust their signs. I stopped at 3 "Bar and Restaurants" in Salama and not one had so much as a packet of nuts!
I set off again towards the vast plains of red dirt and cool looking trees a tired, annoyed and very hungry man. A couple of miles later I found a random building that stood alone as some sort of motorbike repair/convenience store/cafe. I asked the nice looking lady if she served food and she said yes but it would take half an hour. This normally turns out to be 2 hours but I was willing to wait as I had already cycled over my average mileage and I had no clue where the next food place could be.
As I waited for my cooked food I ate some cakes from the shop. I sat outside the shop on the ground and was joined by a man that just stood over me. If we were in an airport then his actions were well worth reporting. I looked up a few times and he would be staring at me. I said hello and he replied with "mazungo." Great, not heard that one before but it was clear that I was in the sticks as there was very little English getting thrown around.
I didn't feel too good being sat down on the floor so i moved to a chair where I could see Nigel and the weirdo in one shot. He disappeared after a few minutes of my "nunchuk packing" stare and I was then given the call that my food was ready. Food was boiled peas, chickpeas, sweet corn, cabbage and carrots and it was very filling. I was stuffed and feeling tired so I layed down on the ground next to Nigel and a few feet from the local crowd. I could feel the eyes getting heavier and the head nodding and before I knew it, my whole body jolted. Quick as a flash I ended up knocking my open water bottle across the floor. That was probably my cue to give my cheeks a slap and make a move.
As I got back on Nigel a crowd of around 20 people gathered to see me off. None of them saying anything, just staring at me as I put my gloves back on, dusted myself off and pedalled away.
After chatting to a local I had decided to stop at a town called Emali that was supposed to be about 30km away. The rest of the ride was pretty straight forward other than a section where my nice clean cycle path was tainted with loose asphalt chippings that are very dangerous if I turn on them.
I arrived in Emali in less than 30km and spotted a great sign on the road for Sky Hotel. The sign looked pretty professional so I followed the arrow and pulled up at the Sky Hotel just a few metres down the road. First impressions on the ground floor looked good. Walked into reception and asked if there were any single rooms available and unfortunately there weren't, there weren't any rooms available as it happened because they hadn't been built yet! So today I have experienced 3 restaurants that don't sell food and a hotel with no rooms, really? It's a sad thing that the no roomed hotel didn't surprise me at all.
I went a little further and found an absolute gem of a hotel instead. Cheap, hot shower, quiet and there was only one big hole in the mozzy net, I was very happy. Maxwell the manager was explaining that they were currently having difficulties with the power, as soon as i entered the room the lights came on! So I had my hot shower that washed my tan away and collapsed on the bed feeling tired but extremely satisfied.
I didn't drop off as my belly wouldn't let me so I went for a wander around the town to find a restaurant. Emali is a very cool little place. Loads of different colourful shops all lined up with good music coming from the bars. I chose a restaurant with a top floor balcony so I could sit, eat and watch Africa do its thing. The prices were really cheap as well so that helped.
I ordered beef stew with chapati and chips for a quarter of the price I've been paying in Nakuru. To start off with, the stew was goat (I can add being able to tell the difference between goat and cow to my CV now) and I've woken up to better tasting chips on a Sunday morning so I sent them back. The portions were small but I didn't mind as I was getting what I paid for and the chapattis were decent and filling.
After I shovelled it down and wiped the plates clean I got the bill which wasn't the value I had in my head at all. Here we go again! I thought. I called the woman in command over and asked her to get the menu. The values on the bill were twice sometimes 3 times as much as what was on the menu. The lady's excuse was this, "well our menus are just to show what food we have to offer and the people don't look at the prices, everybody else pays different values" haha well seeing as I've spent the last 4 months in Africa NOT being "everybody else" then I'm sorry but this mazungo plays the restaurant game somewhat differently.
The lady looked like she was going to cry and tried to use the "but what am I going to tell my boss" sympathy excuse but i wasn't having it. Too many times this happens and too many times cost prices are plucked out of the air the second they see my dirty white face. I paid the values on the menu and was even generous and paid 20shillings extra for a bigger drink then what I got. The total came to 310, i looked into my pocket and all i had was a 1000 note...damn. I did feel guilty giving it to her but its all I had. She didn't have the 90 so she gave me 700 change and then had the cheek to demand the 10. The way she said it was the final nail so I made her aware that I was already paying extra and happily exited the building with an "asante sana"
Again, its the little things that unfortunately most white people just let slip but it results in poor Kenyan attitudes and other innocent tourists that cant afford some things getting screwed over.
I was happy with how I handled the situation and walked merrily back to my room for hopefully a quiet, uninterrupted night sleep.
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