Mombasa

Mombasa for a night! (read crappy downtown Mombasa as opposed to the north side where all the cool stuff is ). Great city vibe – British colonial and coastal. You can see it in the old buildings. You can almost smell the ocean of it wasn’t for all the trash. But, the businesses, the noise, the dirt – definitely Indian.

Many of the Indians came almost a century ago or so to build the railroad and never left. For what it’s worth though, they brought some good things with them.

For one, Gujarati food (as if I had no Gujarati friends that I had to go all the way to Africa to have this food. Hope you are reading this Samit, I want some home-cooked food!). Quite nice though. The soupy/creamy/curry thing with the cheese and peas was very good. If I could only remember the name of anything Indian I eat, I could almost order without assistance. But clearly I can’t.

For two, chapatis – regional staple. We ate it all the time! Or at least I did because I happen to find them amazing. The fattier, greasier and more deep fried, the better. Fat women are indication that their husbands take good care of them. Hence all the food made to make you fat! And probably why men and women get the same sized portions for lunch at the UN.

For three (the more I keep going with this weird numbering, the more awkward it gets, but I should be done soon, Indians are not famous for that many things), tuk-tuks:

Loud and not very comfortable, these semi-legit taxis are everywhere. Pro – breeze, con – they almost flip over on U-turns. I rode one for the sake of having done it and because you can’t walk 500 meters alone at night when you are a white woman in downtown Mombasa. Well you could, but not even the locals would strongly advise for it.

Called it a night after dinner though; early wake up to head down to Funzi!