Kenya Day 4: Museums, Monkeys, Lunatic Express, Oh My?
Syke's Monkeys are Taking Over
Originally uploaded by riggeronfire We ended up taking the morning to be lazy as possible, considering that Jonathan and I were still feeling the effects of jet-lag, and certainly, we weren't prepared to be getting over it very soon. We (Katy and I), let Jonathan hit the hay for at least 12 hours in hopes that he would be feeling better and have new eyes about him after our great dinner that night and our trip to Mombasa that evening on the train. Ended up enjoying some new local news, flipping through the Daily Nation, The Standard, and the delightfully colorful, Daily Metro, and crammed through a couple of Sudoku's to try to get some mental clarity. Luckily, we got a game plan together, and woke Jonathan up in time for some coffee and the rest of the Raisin Bran. We opted to to drive around town for a bit, and ended up finding ourselves at the National Museum of Kenya, where I got the opportunity to meet Ahmed of Marsabit, a fair sized elephant with gargantuan tusks, and officially the first animal protected by the Kenyan Wildlife service, and was followed by two park rangers for the duration of his life, to protect him from poachers. I quite enjoyed the rest o the local mammals, in addition to the moment where I posted with my head inside of a hippo's mouth. Enjoyment certainly ensued. Though the museum is a bit lacking in some aspects, I was pretty stoked that we got the opportunity to see the 24 hours in Nairobi exhibit, and it certainly felt like a unique way to really see and capture the city, and funny thing was, Katy's priest was in the photos, whom she has so aptly named, Hunchback.
I got my first ostrich meat experience at the museum cafe, which made an excellent burger, and really surprised me, as I wasn't expecting ostrich to be red meat - I'm think I'm in love.... Jonathan lead the charge, and went fruiting, ordering a "Raining Men" smoothie, and we went into the politics of why he would be otherwise embarassed to be ordering said beverage in the states. We all followed suit, and enjoyed or unrelatedly queer drinks. After our outing here, we made our move towards City Park, home to copious amounts of Sykes/Blue monkeys (which at the time, Katy assure me were Vervet monkeys.. LIES LIES LIES), all of whom were excited to see us, hoping we had peanuts to share. It didn't take long for me the realize that these monkeys were conditioned, and ended up making a game out of how many monkeys I could fool into thinking that I had something to offer them but my open hand. I bet Katy and Jonathan that I could get a monkey on my shoulder without any kind of physical provocation, and kept my word. Before I knew it, I had a monkey on top of me, and another one waiting for seconds. Major win, for sure. I was surprised by how friendly they were, how soft their hands were grabbing mine, and how little they weighed when I was mounted. I kinda wanted to take one home with me, but I figured that I would have difficulties working past customs. I also felt bad, because a bunch of kids were also tricking the monkeys, but doing so by throwing rocks at them, oy vey.
After Jonathan got hilariously swindled by our parking manager, we headed back to Katy's and packed for Mombasa, not knowing what to expect. Our tickets were purchased in advance, and all we had to do was wait. I was pleasantly surprised to find the car we were staying in to be quite cozy, safe and supported, and in a way, nicer than any cupee train that I boarded in Russia. Overall, I was impressed when I boarded the Lunatic Express! They even made the beds for you, and your stuff was always safe, as your door locked. Great! And, though lesser so desirable, they did serve you food as part of your ticket, and had a formal call to dinner bell sound. I was fascinated. The one issue that I encountered, was the fact that this train was friends to a large family of roaches, which, in the majority of my life, I am not friends with. So, we at odds for a little while. We forgot to pick up some cards, but our time was fun nonetheless. Went to sleep, clearing through all my podcasts, and eventually, switching to some available Erin McKeown.