Hello from Mombasa....part IV

Dear family and friends,

I hope this email finds you in good spirits. I would like to wish those of you who celebrated the occasions of Navroz and Easter, a belated Navroz mubarak (greetings for the new year, a Persian tradition) and a Happy Easter! May you all be blessed with a year of spiritual and material happiness, prosperity, peace, love, unity and the opportunity to serve creation. Ameen.

Before I jump into the usual lengthy email, let me quickly give you an update as to what has transpired since my last email at the beginning of term 2, in January. Nearing the end of last term, around mid-March, I had a wonderful opportunity to go Muscat, Oman for about four days to attend an International Baccalaureate (IB) Workshop for new and experienced teachers of the IB Diploma Programme. Then, for my two week spring break, I finally went back to Mumbai, India (my birth place) after 16 years! It was a lot of travel within a few weeks. In my next email, I will share my experiences, off-course with photographs of these two brilliant cities. I must leave you in suspense for now J

Can you imagine, it’s already May! And here at school we are well into the third and final term of the academic year. I will soon have completed my FIRST YEAR as a TEACHER and will be looking to coming home for my summer holidays in July; a much needed and well deserved break.

For now, life goes on in Mombasa with me trying to make the most of each day. Some new experience is always consuming my mind , often throughout the night with the small moments each day interestingly having the biggest impact on me; they seem to stir or rile my morals most because they provide a continuous reminder of differences . And I am now realizing why it is difficult for people to live in a different environment - outside of their comfort zone - and to have experiences and encounters with people of different cultures, with different ethics and values, morals and beliefs, customs and practices ; and who live with circumstances, aspirations, a different purpose of being ; people who essentially have a different way of life than my own . However, at the end of the day, we are still all human beings which raises many questions about how to make these encounters, experiences or exchanges effective, meaningful, dynamic and comfortable, rather than ones which render feeling overwhelmed or fearful.

Too alleviate myself from becoming hyper-reflective (is that even a word?) and going mad, I have found outlets in watching many movies, TV shows such as CSI, 24, the Bernie Mac show, cartoons, and many nature shows, also listening to various genres of music, reading, talking to my brother and family and most importantly from my faith. I think it is vital to have people to talk to who are caring and understand your situation well for a person to live happily, wherever we may be.

Some fantastic movies that I have recently watched and I highly recommend are Black, Seven Years in Tibet, The Last Samurai, Monsoon Wedding, Shall we dance, Training Day and The Recruit. Fayaz, sorry I have not yet seen “My Brother Nikil.”

Let me share with you some personal comments on the way of life here that I find very disturbing, irritating and at the same time amusing. These are the things that will really test your patience of living in a developing world. Eventually, you do become more tolerable but it takes a lot of understanding. Please keep in mind that I am speaking from my experiences and I do not intend to generalize for all of Mombasa, or Kenya.

Firstly, I think I told you already that life here is very laid back. That means that when you need things done ASAP, forget about it, hahaha. People do not have the same sense of urgency in their life as we fellow Canadians, and I am sure, elsewhere. Everything here is done, as the saying goes “pole, pole” (pronounced, po leigh, po leigh), meaning slowly, slowly. And that too, words are many times repeated.

Secondly, the concept of a line-up does not exist here, perhaps in very rare instances such as a large grocery store. In school, during break time, you should see the students storm the location of where the snacks are sold, my god, no sense of order or a straight line. Or if you’re asking for something in a store, someone else will just butt in and start talking to that person, without much consideration that you may have been waiting to talk to this person for awhile.

Thirdly and also tied to the second point is, that sense or notion of let’s deal with one person at a time, first come first serve, or lets prioritize is not understood. It’s more like, let’s try and multi-task and make promises and then do nothing about it. Example, if you give someone a task in the morning and ask them to have it completed by the end of the day, they will assure you that it will happen. At the end of the day, nothing is done and the person will say don’t worry, I’m working on it. Here you have to remind people every ½ hour, that you need something done, it can be very annoying. The level of professionalism is very different.

Fourthly, don’t expect to see “law abiding citizens”, you do what you want and don’t expect to see law enforcement, very rarely! If you do see law enforcement, such as police, then it’s probably because they’re blocking roads by narrowing the traffic lanes in particular areas. And unfortunately, that is tied to the idea of security. Many times you need to be very prudent about the way you live your life. Regardless, you will stick out like a sore thumb primarily because of the shear size and closeness of the community. However, many residences and businesses have their own security people, so it’s not that badJ. Relatively speaking, Mombasa is much safer than NBO. With respect to the law, one of my friends here summarized it well, “here, you are always guilty, unless proven innocent.” LOL! You will also not see many ambulances around either. If people get hurt or into an accident, the kind citizens around will take you to get help.

Some others include cross-walks, traffic lights and the city’s drainage system. They have recently painted zebra stripes (pedestrian crossing) around some major residential areas. However, do you think that any vehicles actually stop or even slow down? It’s the exact opposite. Seeing people (pedestrians) crossing the street is perceived as a hindrance to the drivers and matatus (local van/bus transport), in particular. These vehicles will actually even speed up at times and especially with children or elderly people, they will try and scare them off the street by driving very close to them, including at traffic lights. On red lights, cars will slow down, but they will keep inching forward and honking at each other, until you realize you are in the middle of the intersection, and then you have no choice but to go. And there are very few traffic signals, so you better be weary of walking anywhere near the road, including the side-walks, because many times you will find these matatus using them on a red light, just to get to the front of the line.

And lastly, the city drainage system. Unfortunately, the urban planners did not do a very competent job. The months of April and May are considered the season for long rains. It usually pours for several days non-stop. This rain is much needed by the Kenyan farmers for growing and selling their produce. However, in the urban areas, the down-pour and poor drainage causes many of the city streets, including the side-walks to be flooded, so much, that cars have to travel on the same side as the oncoming traffic. And if you’re walking in the rain, be sure that you will get splashed on! Its happened to me a few times on my way to workL. These experiences are what makes living in Mombasa both challenging and fun.

In my last email, I had described to you the first half of my December holiday adventures. The story continues in this email of the one week and a half road trip (December 17 – 25) through the beauty of the north (Mt. Kilimanjaro), north-eastern and the eastern coast of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), including the historical and romantical island of Zanzibar.

There were five of us that decided to take this road trip together, Moez (the owner of the car who kindly agreed to drive us), Farouk, Farad, Feisal and myself. Imagine five men in a five seater, with the three of us sitting tightly together, bodies touching, sweat mixing in the back seat for a 12 hour journey, this was sure to be another exciting venture, but this time, we had Feisal’s IPOD! And it was just that, we had our moments of silence, laughter and excitement, philosophizing about life, and off course war with words. But at the end of this trip we had all learned much more about each other and created an everlasting bond that only we will be able to share with one another.

We set off from Nairobi, Kenya early in the morning and made our way to the Namanga border (Kenya – Tanzania) in about two hours. Here the borders officers were very thorough, checking the trunk (boot) of our car, checking the license of the driver, and the car permit and insurance. Note, you can buy a visa at the immigration office at the border, 50$ USD. Here the locals conned us (actually, Farad) during currency exchange and almost also convinced us to buy fire extinguishers for our car, saying that if the Police in Tazania stop you, they will fine you if you do not have one! After spending about one and a half hour, we were finally on our way to Dar es Salaam.

We drove from the Namanga border to Dar es Salaam via Moshi, The drive is relatively straight and easy because of many signs and only about two – three major junctions. It is also a safe and picturesque drive, as the roads are incredibly smooth (as good as our highways in North America) and the landscape of North Eastern Tanzania is serene; lush greens with small mountains (Eastern Arc Mountain range) and many hills. The drive from the Kenyan border to Dar es Salaam is about eight hours; however it took us ten hours as we stopped in Moshi for lunch. As you drive to Moshi, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa (about 6000 m), with its two very large peaks is visible. The mountain actually rests on the border of Kenya and Tanzania. During this drive you pass through many small villages that are on the bottom of many hills. You see many villagers out and about working away on their land, and there is lot of it. People are also ridding bicycles (with two or three passengers on a one-seater), many children are playing and some people are just sitting around their huts. A couple of things become readily apparent as one enters into Tanzania as compared to Kenya. The road sides are much cleaner, the air is much less polluted, and there are smooth tar roads (I’ve been told that the smooth roads only occur in the North-Eastern part of Tanzania), it’s really shocking, but greatly appreciated! After about two – three hours we arrived in the small town of Mosh (foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro)i. It takes about 10 minutes, maximum, to go from one end to the other. We drove around for awhile and decided to stop at some places such as the Ismaili Jamatkhana, which opened in 1957, we visited some small shops to buy some phone credit and then finally at a Sikh Restaurant for some Indian Chinese cuisine. The food was great; however, don’t expect your food to come before 30 minutes in Tanzania. After stuffing ourselves, we got back on to the smooth highway and drove very quickly to try and make up some time. There are no visible speed limits, unless you drive through small towns, and there may be random police check points. As we reached closer to Dar es Salaam, we would find very funny speed limit signs, initially close to a town a sign would read and then as you left the town a sign would read I guess
50
50

that means you can drive at whatever speed limit you wish to, but not at 50 J

It was about 10 PM and we had finally arrived into Dar es Salaam. We had made reservations in advance at the Aga Khan Rest House (formerly the Flamingo Hotel). Usually in December (peak season for tourism), you need to book reservations for the East African countries well in advance, latest October if you hope to find a respectable place with at relatively reasonable prices.

Dar es Salaam, meaning Haven of Peace, was given its name by the Sultan of Zanzibar in the mid 1800’s. It is a wonderful city on the coast of Tanzania (major port). It is Tanzania’s major city for many economic activities. During the modern period it was revitalized by Christian missionaries from Zanzibar and then as the seat for the German colonial government (Lonely planet East Africa, 2003). Tanazania’s national language is Swahili, in its purest form. But there are diverse ethnic groups, including South Asians and many African tribes. Dar is just like Mombasa, with its laid back atmosphere, Muslim and Christian influences in the architecture, spectacular beaches, and the hot and humid weather. One obvious difference is the much larger population and therefore, more and diverse activity and services available in Dar. We spent three nights in Dar before we left to visit the island of Zanzibar. The currency exchange from USD to Tanzanian shillings (TSH) is about 1 USD to 95 TSH. Remember to convert your Travelers cheque (TCs) into USD in Kenya or another country. In Tanzania I would suggest that you carry USD cash, the TC rates are poor.

While in Dar, we did some shopping but mostly spent time eating, relaxing and visiting places such as: Bristo’s Bar (large outdoor club), Chui Bay, The Slip Way (A mall, club and restaurant by the Ocean), Sea Cliff Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant, KT Shop (great lunch), various embassies, and did some relaxing at White Sands hotel and Oyster Bay (similar to the light house in Mombasa). We were very fortunate to have visited as many places, thanks to Imran, a local resident and a good friend.

We also spent time at the daring Kariakoo Market which is an area filled of local peoples, corners of streets dedicated to just shoes and sandals, and lots shopping stores for clothes, fruits and vegetables and many other items. There was bargaining everywhere! I could not take my camera to this particular place because I had to be sensitive to the local culture of theft. We did manage to even see a fight across the street which was halted by some local citizens and security guards.

I also had the opportunity to visit the historical Dharkhana Jamatkhana and the Upanga Jamatkhana, where the stage and scale that was used to weigh Aga Khan III against diamonds on the 60th anniversary (1885 – 1845, Diamond Jubilee) as the Imam of the Ismaili Muslim community, are kept. The value of the diamonds raised by individual and communal contributions was given back to the people in the form of the Diamond and Jubilee Trust Limited institution that was established by Aga Khan III, which continues to serve to all groups of people in East and West Africa and South and Central Asia, in areas of banking, insurance and property-management. These institutions are under the umbrella of the Aga Khan Development Network.

The day before we left for Zanzibar, I had a first-hand experience of bribery in
Dar, right in front of my eyes. It occurred during mid-day. I was in my friend’s car seated alone in the back when we were asked to pull over to the side by a female police officer. We did not see any reason for us to be pulled over and were questioning her motive. The police woman opened the back seat door on the driver side and came into the vehicle, just beside me. She asked my friend to show his drivers license. My friend did as he was told. She flipped through the first few pages and withdrew something that my friend had placed between the pages and politely said thank you and left us to go without any hassle. I was astonished, and asked my friend, “What just happened here? Did I just witness a scam?” My friend said that his license was expired and because he didn’t want any trouble, he put some money between the pages which she gladly took away and left him alone. He then turned and said, “it happens all the time!”

On the fourth day, we proceeded to the Island of Zanzibar but not without nuisance. We did have difficulties purchasing our tickets for the boat ride at the Dar port a few days before. As a suggestion, if you go alone to buy the tickets you will get harassed by touts attempting to get you to pay for many extraneous costs. We were surrounded by these people and this led to much confusion about the tickets. There are many ferries that have different names; however, they all operate under one administration. And there is no difference between first and second class, but do take the fast boats, which take 11/2 hours as opposed to 2 – 3 hours. We were so confused and were getting frustrated that we decided to quickly remove ourselves from this busy area and come back later. We asked Imran, who speaks the local language (the locals can easily tell if it’s a dialect of Tanzanian Swahili) to go and purchase tickets for us.

We finally managed to get ourselves on the fast boat and had an enjoyable ride to the island. Upon arriving to the island you will again be harassed by the local touts to carry your bags or give you a taxi ride for expensive rates. The most important thing is to get off the boat and get yourselves through immigration. If you have a visa for Tanzania then you will not need to pay, but you must still get an entrance stamp for your visit to Zanzibar. While in Zanzibar we stayed at the Mtoni Marine, about 10 minutes from the port/town. The ride should only cost about 2000 TSH. The Mtoni Marine was a 3 Star hotel. It had a good sports bar, restaurant and a nice beach. The rooms were equipped with AC, hot water and beds covered with mosquito nets. I think it costs us, about 35$ USD, bed and breakfast. The five of us shared 3 rooms, which made the costs very reasonable.

While in Zanzibar, we spent a lot of time at the market (across from old town). The market is a long narrow street (only about 1.5 metres wide) and has awesome shopping. The street is filled with people, both locals and some tourists. Most stores will allow for bargaining while others have fixed prices. There is a reliable place to exchange money in the market. After spending several hours at the market, we crossed the street to visit the famous Stone Town of Zanzibar. Again, very narrow streets, like a maze, only allowing motor bikes and scooters. Stone Town is known for having some of the largest, decorative and old front doors, beautiful mosques, exotic and romantic white sand beaches, bazaars, restaurants, hotels, including the five star gorgeous Serena (approx. 250$ USD/night), and shops full of curios and paintings (with the artist present).

Zanzibar’s people are mostly Muslim and culture is predominantly Arabic. There used to be several trading going on from Zanzibar to Arabia and Persia (Iran) during the 10th – 12th centuries. Later on, trading extended to India and other parts of Asia. Then, around the 16th century, the island was taken over by the Portuguese, but for not long as the British and finally the Omani Arabs became the ruling power. By the mid-19th century, the island of Zanzibar was a major commercial centre, primarily for trade in slaves, spices and ivory. The Sultan of Oman had also relocated his court from the Persian Gulf to Zanzibar. Eventually treatises were signed by Britain and Oman to abolish the slave trade by the year 1873. The Omani’s continued to rule under British protectorate until they were overthrown in a bloody revolution to gain independence in 1964.

Mombasa also has a very similar history, with Zanzibar, having been ruled by Arabs, Portuguese, Omani Arabs and the British. This was evident in the architecture and local cuture when I visited both Zanzibar and Oman.

The people of Zanzibar are very polite and welcoming. The streets are very safe. We were walking around at mid-night with no problems. That’s much more difficult and not advisable in parts of Kenya.

We also visited restaurants, such as Maharaj, Radha’s food house (Indian food), Sweet Easy (Sea food spaghetti) and the famous Freddy Mercuries (real name Farookh Bulsara, who was born in Zanzibar and was part of the music group “Queen”, who have the popular song “We are the Chapions.”) Freddy Mercuries is a restaurant on the beach front, most romantic in the evening. They have exceptional pizza.

One of the most enjoyable places to eat (you must if you visit Zanzibar) is at the Faroudanis Garden, located on the beach front of Stone Town. Here you will get the most delicious BBQ Seafood, including crab, large lobsters, shrimps and also some great keema chapatti (chapatti with ground beef and egg), mishkaki (bbq beef on a stick) and chips (fries). This place opens every night from 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM. The food is fresh and cheap; however, it is left out until close. So if you’re worried about getting sick, be there early. We took a risk and ate at 9:30 PM, but thank God, we were okay J.

I also visited the historical Zanzibar Jamatkhana, which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this July. Many of the first Ismailis who emigrated from the sub-continent arrived first to Zanzibar before settling in East Africa.

And most surprisingly I also bumped into my good friend Karim Essabhai. Karim and I have grown up since grade one together and both graduated from the University of Waterloo. Karim, a systems engineer, who has just finished volunteering in Kampla, Uganda, had been visiting Tanzania at the same time. It was very odd but so nice to see a familiar face. Karim is coming to visit Mombasa next week.

Our last stop in Zanzibar was taking a picturesque boat ride to the deserted Changuu Island (a.k.a Prison or Turtle Island). We were the only ones on the island with the exception of a few workers. On the island you will find HUGE and very old tortoises (see my pics), a beautiful white sand beach, and aquamarine coloured Ocean. There are no restaurants, so it is advisable to take your own snacks that will last you the day. The boat ride there and back is spectacular as you see the south western part of Zanzibar Island with all its architecture. You also see dhows and several other boats. We played some football, read, sun tanned, and off-course went swimming in the Indian Ocean. While in the water you see many tiny fishes all around. This was one of the most relaxing afternoons ever!

After spending four days, we sadly left the island to return to Dar es Salaam. We unfortunately did not go on the spice tour, but I promised myself, that until I am in East Africa, I will have to return to Zanzibar!

From Dar es Salaam, we hoped back into the car after spending one more night, and headed straight north to Mombasa, Kenya, via the town of Tanga, Tanzania. The roads from Dar es Salaam to Tanga are excellent, but then from Tanga to the Kenyan border, it’s all dirt roads with many many pot holes. The length of the drive is about 6 – 8 hours. We reached safely on Christmas night, only to hear and see the horror on the news that occurred in South East Asia the next day.

Stay tuned for the next couple emails as I will try and describe my experiences of Muscat, Oman and Mumbai, India.

I have taken many pictures of my experience in Tanzania, in particular Dar es salaam and Zanzibar island and have selectively chosen some (was very difficult) and put them up on a website (thank you Amirali J) for you to see the beauty of this country.

http://photos.yahoo.com/aziztraveling

Description of Pictures

1. At the Namanga Boarder (between Kenya and Tanzania).
2. Ismaili Jamatkhana in Moshi.
3. Street in Moshi.
4. Landscape between Moshi and Dar.
5. Landscape between Moshi and Dar.
6. A small neighborhood on the way to Dar.
7. Speed limit change.
8. Streets of Dar.
9. Streets of Dar.
10. Dar Habour (ferry and boat ride to Zanzibar).
11. Azania Front Lutheran church, near Dar Habour.
12. Osyter Bay – popular family gathering on Sundays.
13. Coast of Osyster Bay
14. Enjoying some Chinese food in Dar with our friends.
15. Town Jamatkhan (Darkhana) – clock tower (building to the left is the Aga Khan School and hall). We observed a wedding the night we arrived.
16. Some building in Dar.
17. Coast of Dar.
18. Moez, Farad, Feisal and Farouk posing on White Sands beach.
19. Group shot at the White Sands hotel in Dar.
20. Brothers, Farouk and Farad enjoying some Victoria fruit or bungo juice.
21. Scale used to weigh the late Aga Khan III at Upanga Jamatkhana.
22. Ferry Ride (Sepeda) – fast boat to Zanzibar.
23. Leaving the coast of Dar as we go to Zanzibar.
24. The Indian Ocean.
25. Me, enjoying the cool and wet breeze.
26. Mtoni Marine hotel – sports bar (NOTICE the flag in the background!)
27. view from our hotel.
28. view of the Dhalla dhalla – local bus transport in Zanzibar.
29. Stone town border – across the market.
30 Some homes on the boarder of stone town.
31. The popular market – across stone town. Excellent shopping for everyone.
32. Famous Zanzibarian stone town “Door”
33. Cool architecture in stone town.
34. Narrow and twisted streets of stone town.
35. Narrow and twisted streets of stone town.
36. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
37. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
38. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
39. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
40. Young girl having fun infront of a fruit vendor.
41. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
42. More famous Zanzibarian stone town “Doors”
43. Children playing in the streets of stone town.
44. Children playing in the streets of stone town.
45. An intersection in stone town.
46a. Fantastic canvas paitings.
46b. Anyone for crafts?
47. Part of stone town beach front – boat being worked on.
48. Enchanting water front
49. part of stone town’s coast-line (Serena hotel, way in the back ground).
50. popular restaurant
51. Zanzibar Serena hotel entrance with host.
52. Serena hotel pool side.
53. Serena hotel dinning hall.
54. Picturesque view of the Indian Ocean from the hotel. Dhows and ferry heading back to dar seen in the background.
55. Me sitting in the dhalla dhalla going to stone town in the evening.
56a. Entrance to the historical Zanzibar Jamatkhana, opened in 1905.
56b. View of the Jamatkhana building.
57. Faroudanis Garden – BBQ Sea food.
58. Zanzibarians playing a game of Carem during the night.
59. Part of the coast-line of stone town.
60. Hopping on to the dhow to go to Changuu (turtle) island.
61. Enjoying the dhow ride to the island.
62. View of the stone town coast.
63. Dhow and sail.
64. Approaching turtle island.
65. Farouk and I spectating a game of checkers.
66. Actually, it’s bottle cap checkers.
67. Topless on the beach…
68. Up close to a turtle.
69. A beautiful peacock walking by with its lovely feathers.
70. They don’t call it turtle island for nothing.
71. Going back to the main island.
72. Another view on our way back.
73. Everyone on Board! Going back to Dar.
74. Excellent view of Serena hotel as we leave Zanzibar L
75. View of Dar in the evening as we arrive.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of you that replied and commented on my previous emails. It’s always touching to read some very warm comments and get an update on how everyone is doing.

I hope to see many of you very soon!

Warm regards,

Aziz
p.s. Go Jays Go!