Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Day 0 - Nairobi

I still wake up in the morning with the vision of a better life
you see, the option of defeat is just not written in my story
people say I'm foolish, people say I'm blinded by faith
but if I run out of air, if I crash, I don't care, I'm gonna do it my way
I can make it through this, you can throw the world in my face
but the fear gives me life and I swear 'til I die, I'm gonna do it my way
My Way - Aloe Blacc

That song started my Kenya playlist. It has more conviction than what I have actually. I operate in a pessimistic state and I lack faith but I chose to start with that song because I wish I could be that brave in that same conviction and I need it to hype me out. So last week I was in Kenya. Nairobi is the capital city for those of you who are challenged in geography. I myself couldn't point where Kenya is in a map before this, hopefully I can now. It was an alone trip again and you know me, no matter how many times I have done it, I am very fearful which turns me to be very prayerful. Why did I choose Kenya? All the answers will be very pretentious and sound arrogant. First is because I have written before about not many things amuse me anymore, so I needed to go somewhere completely different, a place so unknown and unfamiliar. Then there was COVID and I spend all these years in a city so I feel like I need to go to big open spaces, to nature. Then I just kinda want to tick off my checklist; I don't have such bold ambition to visit every country in the world (because money and time), but stepping into every continent is achievable and going to Africa would complete that. Okay, I actually haven't been to Australia and I have no desire to do so in any near future, but I have been to New Zealand - it's not same different, but I consider that as completed. Then the last reason is because I turned 40 this year and though I hope being alone at this age doesn't signify it will be like that for the rest of my life, at this point it is looking like my reality, so I feel like I need to be braver at this age and it sounds really cool, marking the start of this decade of life by doing something extraordinary. Extraordinary for me, because I was so scared. I have written before I could manufacture crisis for myself and so I had a lot of fear. This is despite of knowing that God has been there for all my trips and there hasn't been any trip I did that I hate, but there's just so much anxiety. This is something that I really need to work on, to not let my thoughts run all over the place, but they control me instead of the other way around. I wonder if God gets bored hearing my prayers, maybe He would like to say, "chill girl, I've got you". Now that I'm back, it's all okay really. Of course there were moments of awkwardness, well at least I thought it was awkward, but I guess I was cool enough to keep it cool and acted like it's fine, and it's really fine. I had a really good trip and I don't mind going back. Of course I have many people to thank to, especially my driver / guide which I will talk more about in the next posts, but really I thank God for not abandoning me despite my lack of faith.

Anyways, I took Qatar airways to Nairobi. Transit was in Doha, my first time being there. I don't know, maybe I'm getting old but I found myself feeling very tired during that transit time that I had to make a real effort to stay alert. I dozed off a few times on my flight to Nairobi and I was really tired that I refused the meal. By the way, applying online visa to Kenya was easy peasy, it doesn't cost as much as Schengen or US visa but the stingy me still found it a bit much. Then you need to use Global Haven platform to self-report your COVID vaccination status and this confuses me a lot, because I don't know who maintains this platform, which countries are using it, and there doesn't seem to be a verification process to really verify if people are reporting truthful information. You get the QR code acknowledgment right away. At least in Indonesia, they really do verification on the paperworks that we submitted. Anyways, I shouldn't complain since it made my life easier. So, landed in Nairobi airport, first step was showing that QR code proof of vaccination which the staff didn't even check / scan, so you and your friends can kinda show the same print-out and it will be fine. Seriously, I find it easier to see Kenya through Indonesian eyes :D If you really want to see rules and processess being done professionally and properly, then you will get disappointed with how things are run. Anyways, after that we could enter the building for immigration check. Suddenly the guy behind me asked if I'm Indonesian. He said he looked at my passport and I'm so glad that he said Hi because just like that there's comfort, maybe too much that when we said good bye, the anxiety grew again. The fact that he said Hi made me think yeah that is what Indonesians do, you should be friendly to each other. I wondered if the immigration officer thought rarely do I see Indonesians and yet today it's two in a row. The guy was there for work for a week and he worked for a non-profit which I thought was noble. I googled him afterwards and his background is illustrious. It's something that I realized after this trip that it's bad enough when you see your peers achieving a lot more as compared to you, but then you see younger people doing and achieving so much more and it makes you question your life, like what have you been doing. I say God has different paths for everyone and yet it's easier to say than to internalize. Anyways before I got my luggage, I exchanged some money. First concern was if the person who was supposed to pick me was there and he was. So that's one worry done. I arrived in the morning and the reception had to call her manager to get the okay to let me check in early and they did - praise God!!!

It was kinda too early to be holed up in the hotel room, so I decided to just go to the National Gallery nearby. I've googled the way there but then I kinda lost my orientation exiting the hotel that I asked the hotel security guard on the direction to walk. He then told me to be careful, like don't be holding up my phone. He also kinda looked at me up and down to make sure I'm not flashy. It's kinda discouraging to hear this, but I know he's being kind and he understands the reality of the city. The hotel itself is in CBD area and on a Sunday it was quite quiet. At one point I saw the building, but I wasn't sure where the entrance is and I walked away from it. A guy walking some distance in front of me kinda read my mind and turned and told me where the entrance is, so that was nice. The female security guard at the entrance was kinda unfriendly, but oh well. Was a bit confused because the ticketing counter was empty but then a lady came. Then I found out payment must be made using M-Pesa, which was like what?!?! How about the old people who don't use phone or smart phone? Then the lady said, "Okay pay me and I'll transfer it". So at least that was solved. I was the only person visiting and the gallery was small and for a ticket price of 1000 KSH for foreigner (around 10 SGD ++), it's kinda not value for money. I didn't stay very long, but there were some interesting things in there. The first picture below is an artwork made by students.

After that I made my way back to the hotel, stopping at the cafe / restaurant nearby to have a meal. I went there for all my meals in Nairobi. I also got a cake to go, it was okay. Tried my best to stay awake so that I could sleep most of the night. I did doze off while watching The Circle but I caught the ending. I think I decided to really sleep at 7 PM something. I was awoken a few times and in those small windows of consciousness, I told myself that this time for a long sleep was not just for the long tiring trip but also for the lack of sleep daily in my real life :D

:) eKa @ 9:28:00 PM •