Monday, October 8, 2012

Day at the Mall


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.

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