We’re in Kenya, much to our surprise. Our taxi driver arrived, our airline existed, our various COVID tests and documents were correct, our visas went for a full three months, and there was a guy waiting outside the Mombasa airport to whisk us to Diani, where we are for the next couple of weeks.
It is a far more connected feeling place than Zanzibar, even the industrial outskirts of Mombasa as we drove through them, though impoverished and with bare infrastructure (eg the ferry you need to get out of the city centre, requiring at least a half hour wait every time), it all felt more outward looking. Our part of Diani is a prosperous part resort, part suburb, and our place definitely has a more boutique vibe than the choice Zanzibar offered between backpacker dive and generic resort. I must say, it is nice to be in a place which is nicely done up, has comfortable furniture, is clean and can be sealed off from insects and has good lighting. Almost invariably, when we go to a new place, my first task in the evening is to move around lamps until the lighting becomes bearable, or gets as close to bearable as I can. I have in the past even bought lamps for this purpose. Another delight is the mosquito net around the bed, which is of a type I’ve never seen before. It’s on a curtain rail on the ceiling so can be pulled back and forth easily, extends about 10 cm past the best on each side so it doesn’t feel suffocating and best of all, there is a fan in the ceiling above the bed. So very civilised.
We arrived, dropped our things and dashed out for lunch. It was 1530 and we’d only eaten a boiled egg each since waking. We went to a Japanese restaurant recommended by our host, with few expectations. These were exceeded – it was perfectly respectable, and unlike some of the Japanese restaurants in, say, Istanbul, it was prepared by people who were familiar with Japanese dining and culinary aesthetics. The fish was all local, there was a perfectly adequate cold soba dish, and generally it was a pleasure after the culinary travails of the past month.
Next to us was a Kenyan Indian gentleman and his Polish partner. He was very friendly and she was patient with his friendliness, and he invited us over especially on learning I was from Lahore as his ancestors were also from there. He felt very strongly about eco education and, specifically, littering.
We went for a coffee – though I had tea – and a surprisingly nice apple crumble, then walked down one of the streets leading to the beach. We weren’t able to get to the beach as it appears to be private access only in some of these streets, but it was a nice walk with some immense trees, monkeys, and a blue lizard with an orange head. Also some very large houses with beautiful gardens, and one with an immense water tower that looked like it should have a sniper perched on top.