Stayin' Alive

Nairobi is a strange place. You get here, you read your guidebook, and one of the first factoids you see is that "37 percent of Nairobi residents were mugged last year." When you walk down the streets, you pass public-service signs that say things like "Stay Alive! Avoid Carjacking! If you see someone stranded on the side of the road at night, don't stop for them!" Nairobbery, as jaded backpackers like to call it, supposedly recently overtook Johannesburg for the dubious honor of Most Dangerous City in Africa. Whoopeee!!

At the same time, the Western colonial influence is here in force. Everyone speaks beautifully accented proper English and there are swanky cafes downtown where you can eat cinnamon-swirl french toast and do the Sunday Times crossword (it took us about 25 minutes thanks to Zanj, Yes!). Sure, there's a guard outside the swanky cafe wearing a baseball helmet and carrying a machine gun, but other than that, it's just like being on the Upper West Side.

We're doing all the things you're supposed to do to stay safe here - not carrying a bag, never looking at a map while walking down the street, taking a taxi if you're going further than half-a-block at night. When I got into a cab at 4:30am to head to the airport to pick up Meg for our long-awaited reunion (which, by the way, totally rocked!), I warily scanned the streets for thugs and told the driver not to stop at any red lights. I admit that I'll be pretty psyched tomorrow once we get on a bus to make our way into Tanzania and towards our upcoming reunion with friends on the isle of Zanzibar.

But we managed to clear out some time to drive 10 miles out of town on safari to Nairobi National Park to see some zebras and giraffes and warthogs and ostriches. And yesterday we went to out the rich expat suburb to grab some Indian food and walk through a mall. You know you've spent too much time in the developing world when you get really excited about walking through a mall.

And, given that our hotel is officially on the border of the area where "you don't go out at night unless you're armed", we've been drinking a lot of wine and playing Hearts in our room and the bar downstairs once the sun goes down. But I'm not complaining. Amidst our mountain treks and jungle safaris, wine and cards with my girlfriend and my college buddy in a Nairobi hotel room is pretty damn sweet.

--rahul