October 6, 2012
New Market Shopping Center
To get a feel of the area I live, I decided to take the
three mile walk to the shopping center. The streets are somewhat confusing due
to the hills, high walls, and all the street names starting with “Runda”.
You would think walking at mid-day would be tortuous, but
being at about 6,000 ft. elevation with low humidity and a nice breeze, the
walk was very pleasant. Asking
directions is always a challenge and walking an extra mile because of either
not understanding or not knowing, just makes getting to your destination that
much more enjoyable.
The “New Village” shopping center could be found in any
upper-income American town, complete with a maze of passageways which could
compete with our experiences in the medina of Fez, Morocco. The food court
offered meals from about 15 different countries. I was even to buy a battery
charger for my camera which I was unable to buy in the U.S.
I tried to take pictures in the shopping center, but was
quickly facing a security person who said it was against the law to take
pictures of the buildings or passageways. He did let me keep the one picture.
Kenya is way ahead of the U.S. when it comes to cell phone
service. You put money into a cell phone account which is very easily
transferred to any other account or cell phone. It is fast, easy, and very
cheap.
Converting money has its own problems. No one takes $100
bills unless they have been printed after 1999, for some places after 2006.
This is quite different from the black market traders of Uzbekistan.
I decided to walk back a different way and the road I was
supposed to take. I ended up in some other town exhausted. The cab ride back
was not bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment