This is the longest we have stayed in one place, but it did us good. Nairobi is a wonderful place and we can see why there are so many expats here. On Friday night we went to Purdy’s Arms, a pub type restaurant like Slug and Lettuce. We could just as well have been in Durbanville, we even heard Afrikaans at some of the other tables.
Caro wrote her two exams on Monday and Wednesday. So for the rest of the weekend she just studied while Hugo worked. On Monday she went with a taxi driver who came recommended and who waited at the venue until after the exam. The notorious traffic wasn’t that bad and Caro was more than 2 hours too early for the exam. Caro was the only student writing UNISA exams on both days, so they basically rented the venue and hired the invigilator just for her (on those days). If she receives her marks in the next few weeks without any problems, we will be seriously impressed with UNISA.
For the second exam Hugo went to the University with Caro using Uber, which was much cheaper. The KCA University is next to Thika road, a massive twelve lane highway. Hugo was even allowed to sit and wait in the same venue. After the exam we went to the IMAX in the CBD of Nairobi. We watched the new Pirates of the Caribbean in full 3D IMAX. Included in the ticket price is cupcakes and juice and the 3D glasses are hired and not bought. After the movie we went to The Hub shopping mall in Karen.
It is one of the nicest malls we have every been to. The mall is built around a large open square and there are large lawns at the back where people sit and have picnics. The mall has a Spur, Ocean Basket, Burger King, Dominos, KFC and plenty of other restaurants. The main attraction for us, however, was the Carrefour supermarket. It is the largest supermarket we’ve been to since South Africa, at least in terms of variety of products. The cheese section had 100s of different cheeses. To make it even better, the store was celebrating their first anniversary in Kenya, so there were huge discounts and buy-one-get one free specials. We bought so much things it feels like it will last until we’re back home. Realistically it will probably only last two weeks or so.
On Thursday, a public holiday in Kenya, we packed out and re-organised everything. We’ve been hearing a clacking sound lately going over bumps. Hugo asked Chris from Jungle Junction to join him for a short drive to see if he can find the cause of the sounds. He immediately narrowed it down to the suspension. The right leaf spring was so flat it hit the chassis every time we went over a bump. Since everything was closed today Chris suggested we go to a spring shop tomorrow morning.
Hugo thus set off to Chui Auto Springs on Friday morning. At Chui one of the sales people noticed that the spring didn’t just sag due to old age, the main/blade was actually broken clean off. Chui only sells spring and doesn’t remove or replace springs. They first suggested I find a mechanic to take the spring leaf off and then bring that back to them. Luckily they checked the model number and said that their LN 166 leafs should fit and if not you can bring it back. Hugo bought two main leafs for only 3700 KES (about R400). Hugo first contacted Chris to ask whether he would be able to help, but he would only have time on Monday. Caro then sourced some other options. After Hugo refilled the gas bottle at Chemigas he went to Jeff’s Garage which is within walking distance of Jungle Junction. They managed to change remove the leaf springs, fit the new main leaf and reassemble everything in under 4 hours. The MonkeyMobile now looks much better.
Friday evening we started watching a new Netflix series. We watched until way passed midnight. The next morning we slept late and then finished the series. We only got out of the tent at 13:00 in the afternoon. Caro made a lovely Chinese stir fry with our newly bought Oyster sauce and thick soya sauce. Later the afternoon we started packing up and then went to the Hub again for some more shopping and Dominos pizza. We only got back to Jungle Junction after dark and then packed everything in, so that we can just get up and go tomorrow.
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