tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59572459928798189342024-03-13T18:34:35.920+03:00Dennis KiokoKenya, Africa: General life and a dash of ICT usually with a satirical and critical sprinkling.The Scape 🐈http://www.blogger.com/profile/18331691347132070542noreply@blogger.comBlogger223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957245992879818934.post-65630939371261058572022-12-06T00:50:00.020+03:002023-02-23T15:32:55.500+03:00Lusaka and Livingstone Zambia to Namibia By Road <p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Zambia is a pretty large country, an exciting one and with no shortage of potholes. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">For instance, take the direct route from Lusaka - Livingstone to Namibia through the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo border crossing. Typically, roads are either good or tend to have potholes here and there. However, the last 120 kilometres of the Livingstone to Sesheke/Katima Mulilo route are best described as potholes dotted by some road here and there for the just thirty kilometres past Kazungula town, which is also the Zambia - Botswana border crossing. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXGVuqMSaPdaJeDCI0fmGPqQwLmeq7vsdN6TS6ZnICv14-KdZvsx80wLDhgBhmv-h9vT1gsZ6gLPug_4t4b2MMMoaNse53tTGKlwuyQuTpVkgRBm1xknZS3GqEJwg7iSSGRLyXRaQNmzaQCt_afVpXhHrS9gZrtdv7jPmOAtmB5OcmyJzEab-S4J3EA/s4000/Kazungula%20-%20Sesheke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxXGVuqMSaPdaJeDCI0fmGPqQwLmeq7vsdN6TS6ZnICv14-KdZvsx80wLDhgBhmv-h9vT1gsZ6gLPug_4t4b2MMMoaNse53tTGKlwuyQuTpVkgRBm1xknZS3GqEJwg7iSSGRLyXRaQNmzaQCt_afVpXhHrS9gZrtdv7jPmOAtmB5OcmyJzEab-S4J3EA/w640-h480/Kazungula%20-%20Sesheke.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Trying to drive to Sesheke is so bad it will take you anywhere between 4 hours to 6 hours to navigate those 100 kilometres. You may or may not have your dignity at the end and your vehicle may be in more than one piece. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">If you really must use the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo crossing as of December 2022, then take the 900 kilometre longer detour from Lusaka to Mongu then back to Katima Mulilo. It doesn't guarantee you absence of potholes, but at least there's more road and less pothole. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Otherwise, the only other option is to cross through Kazungula into Botswana then drive about an hour to the Ngoma Botswana - Namibia border crossing. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Crossing through Botswana is not cheap. If your car is not registered in Zambia, you will either need the AA Carnet or get a Botswana agent to register a bond for your vehicle. A car/SUV with no trailer will get a bond for a total of 300 Pula one way (about $25) and a cancellation of 200 Pula when you cross back (or are no longer going to cross back). </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">On top of that, you will have to pay about 480 Pula one way to drive to Ngoma or 680 two way (to and fro) paid in advance. In addition, you will need to pay 150 Pula one way to cross the new Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi. It's a masterpiece and an essential piece of infrastructure, and while you may be used to burning bridges, what you will burn is real cash to cross this bridge. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Besides the eye watering fees, other requirements are not having a fever (they don't check for Covid vaccinations but simply take temperatures) and Yellow Fever vaccination (not sure whether there are national exemptions here). </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Do note that Botswana accepts card payments for the road fee and bridge fee. You will find lots of entrepreneurs as you get to the bridge from Zambia who will try to convince you that Botswana only accepts hard cash in Pula and you need to buy currency from them at exorbitant rates.</p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">You are about to pay exorbitantly for the bridge and the one hour transit through Botswana, you don't need to cause yourself self-inflicted harm by falling prey to these guys by changing money with them. In the words of a misogynistic T.I. "Never mind what the haters say ignore them till they fade away"</p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Whoever you are, whatever you do, please do not try the Kazungula - Sesheke road till it's fixed. That road is one of the reasons why Jesus was crucified. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Zambia is exploring its options here as it says it lacks funds and is highly considering a toll road(Not that there aren't enough toll stations in Zambia). The road is good for about 20 kilometres, then you will see things. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Be wise. Take the Kazungula crossing into Botswana, pay unto Caesar your entire inheritance, and drive at 80 kph limit to the Ngoma border. It's a scenic park road, but this is Botswana - don't question their many rules including the 80 kph limit. Note, both the park and the border close at 6 PM. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Both borders are extremely efficient - the only delay you will face is trying to find an agent if you hadn't arranged for your car bond in advance. The AA Carnet eliminates the need for a bond. But a bond is way cheaper 🤠. Compared to the typical chaos of a Zambian border post, this one will shock you by it's efficiency.</p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Again, remember your options from Lusaka are either 900 extra Kilometres through Mongu to Sesheke - Katima Mulilo, or pay the about $150 through Kazungula - Ngoma. </p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-681fed48-7fff-9ce1-37a9-b67a0ca2fcc1">Should a little or big devil try suggest driving from Kazungula to Sesheke, banish that devil to the tenth level of hell. </p><div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div><br></p></div><div><div>Taking third place is County2County in Westlands along Westlands Road helped along by its balanced smokey, beefy flavour with the bits of fat rendering to the rich taste. It could do with a little more tenderness though. </div><div><br></div><br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic3eZnmQy4s/YXvmEHn7G7I/AAAAAAAA2WA/fwmIPELxGyEYzPp_lhT9mzfmFfLIDQq1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20211023_163050.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic3eZnmQy4s/YXvmEHn7G7I/AAAAAAAA2WA/fwmIPELxGyEYzPp_lhT9mzfmFfLIDQq1ACLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/20211023_163050.jpg" width="480"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brisket at County2County with coleslaw along Westlands Road</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div>County2County prices their brisket at 1,900 shillings for half a kilo with accompaniment, and 3,000 for a full KG with no accompaniment, again making it pricier to our first 2 contenders. They serve brisket on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The brisket is served with a barbecue sauce, some red cabbage coleslaw and a choice of fries, wedges or ugali.</div></div><div><br></div><br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TqoAc_EmGRU/YXvmdzJGzeI/AAAAAAAA2WI/l0R7al_z_cE_FL44a_gssVvwuwnYVtG_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20211023_173945.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TqoAc_EmGRU/YXvmdzJGzeI/AAAAAAAA2WI/l0R7al_z_cE_FL44a_gssVvwuwnYVtG_QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/20211023_173945.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The smoker at County2County</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br></div></div><div>Fourth ranked is Smokehouse Barbeque located at Saifee Park around Bogani Lane in Karen. The cuts are a little tough and might need more time in the smoker. Other than the chewiness, they still pack the flavour of a nice brisket. Pricing starts at KSh. 1,000 for a quarter KG (250 grams) and KSh. 1,600 for 400 grams. A little bit more smoke and they move higher up the ranking. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20rYkfDf9Fc/YXvszRfuNdI/AAAAAAAA2Wk/7OGbs92dWIsUySqe4JBo95xCOieS6o1vACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210605_161737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20rYkfDf9Fc/YXvszRfuNdI/AAAAAAAA2Wk/7OGbs92dWIsUySqe4JBo95xCOieS6o1vACLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/20210605_161737.jpg" width="480"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brisket at Smokehouse, Saifee Park </td></tr></tbody></table><br></div></div><div>(See note below about Barbeque Pit) At fifth place in our ranking are Barbeque Pit, located in Nairobi West opposite T Mall, at Magharibi Place. Interesting enough, according to my very trusted reviewer, they had the best spiced brisket. They however need more hours on the grill to make the cut and move higher up the ranking.</div><div><br></div><div>A kilo at Barbeque Pit costs about 2,000 shillings. Being next to Maru's Bhajias makes for a nice accompaniment of bhajias. They however hold the highest promise if they were to hold that meat to the smoke just for a little bit longer. Should they hit the 16 hours promised time, their brisket threatens to overthrow the hallowed Texas Brisket. </div><div><br></div><div>That wraps up our Nairobi Brisket Review. If you really want to have Brisket, I recommend you head over to Texas Brisket in Kikuyu or to Bali's Best along Magadi Road. </div><div><br></div><div><div>County2County and Smokehouse are great alternatives, though you'll want to insist the smoking takes a little longer. </div><div><br></div><div>Favouring County2County is the proximity to town/Westlands. By the time of updating this piece, it appears Nairobi Barbecue Pit no longer offer the brisket. </div><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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Thousands of global flights every hour and air conditioning fanned its spread like a dry wind would in a forest fire. </p><p style="text-align: left;">There was even further disbelief in mid-2020 when it became apparent that many countries were even struggling to keep a pandemic in check. Developed countries, supposed to have the best healthcare, suffered the worst outbreaks amidst disagreements on measures such as quarantines and wearing of masks. </p><p style="text-align: left;">In yet another twist, technology advancement finally came to our rescue with the speedy development of vaccines, including the safe pioneering of never-tried-before mRNA vaccines.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><br />Flying under the radar was the role social media played in the swift spread of information on the pandemic. In turn, the information helped determine what measures worked and which didn't in combating the spread and managing patients. <p></p><p style="text-align: left;">At this point, we would be tempted to heave a sigh of relief and pat our backs thinking that the situation had been salvaged. </p><p style="text-align: left;">A closer looks though shows that we may be very much where the pandemic found us when it comes to preparedness. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The same countries that struggled with first and second waves continue to grapple with continuing spread, flying in the face of all wisdom. Specific examples here would only contribute to a feeling of self importance for the rest rather than act to stress the point. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Vaccination, supposedly the world's redemption, has failed to launch in many countries. A biting shortage continues as the developed world keeps vaccines and the manufacturing process secret for their economic gain. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The United States continues to drag its feet in opening up the manufacturing process while countries like Germany have fought the opening up altogether. Ironically, most of the manufacturers for the additional vaccines would still end up being in Western countries in contrast to their fears that life-saving healthcare would leak to their economic competitors and no longer be profitable. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Some of the arguments the West has taken against being more involved in successful vaccine roll out in developing countries is that those countries only have themselves to blame for bad governance. </p><p style="text-align: left;">It misses the fact that the West has actively played a direct role in these countries being governed poorly, and one way to achieve better governance is through improved access to healthcare. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, the West itself is struggling to vaccinate its entire population thanks to misinformation and lack of proper structures to support vaccination amongst their vulnerable. </p><p style="text-align: left;">More than a year later, it would be more accurate to say the world is at a better place towards eliminating the pandemic. </p><p style="text-align: left;">However, governments all over struggle to make any learnings. This is because pandemics are much less a medical problem and more of a political one. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The only way politicians and governments learn is when their very existence is threatened. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Only a few politicians have lost their jobs to the pandemic, notably Donald Trump to some extent. The only country leaders to lose their lives come from 2 East African countries - Burundi and Tanzania. </p><p style="text-align: left;">It would be wrong to conclude that there are no consequences, for much of the political reckoning is yet to come. Like a pandemic, few see it coming until we are in the thick of things. </p><p style="text-align: left;">As for pandemics, perhaps it is important to remember scientific advancements don't get rid of them. They only mean that the pandemics we get are those best suited to the lives we live - be it the comfort of thousands of flights every hour and air conditioning. </p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div><br></div>Much local holiday travel in Kenya involves going to the Coast. If not the Coast, most holidayers end up in Nanyuki or Naivasha. But what if you wanted to go somewhere else, what are the alternatives? <div><br></div><div>An interesting itinerary would be Lake Turkana, through the Kerio Valley and Kerio Escarpment. This is a trip doable both by public transport or as a self-drive. Given the distance, it takes at least 2 days by road - though it's manageable in one day if you have 2 drivers. </div><div><br></div><div>However, it would be more fun if you explored different destinations on your way up and back, which I'll highlight below. </div><div><br></div><div><b>1. Iten - Kerio Valley and Kerio Escarpment</b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>The Kerio Valley is a breathtaking valley within the Rift Valley, with the Elgeyo/ Kerio Escarpment forming one boundary of the Rift Valley and the Tugen Hills forming the other. The Tugen Hills are within the Rift Valley and one of the oldest features on the planet. The Kerio River flows in between falling over the escarpment at the Torok Falls. </div><div><br></div><div>The best way to take in the scenery is to drive to Nakuru, then on to Marigat. The drive from Marigat to Kabarnet offers a very scenic approach to the Tugen Hills followed by an ascent up the hills. </div><div><br></div><div>The road then descends to the Kerio Valley through 2 viewpoints. You can always stop by the roadside, but it's best to stop where you are visible by drivers going both ways due to the sharp bends hence minimising risk of an accident. </div><div><br></div><div>This route offers the shortest but most scenic ascent into Iten as compared to the alternative through Eldama Ravine. </div><div><br></div><div>It's advisable to leave Nakuru by 1 PM to make the best of the scenery in daylight. </div><div><br></div><div>If taking public transport, it's best to be in Nakuru by 10 AM, then take a matatu to Kabarnet, and another to Iten. While the matatus don't stop at the view points, a window seat will work well for the trip. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div><div>The road is tarmacked all through, but has a series of potholes to Marigat. If you have time, you may consider touring Lakes Baringo and Bogoria which are on the way too, and separated by a swamp. </div><div><br></div><div>In Iten, the Kerio View Resort is parched just over the escarpment offering views into the Kerio Valley below. Double rooms go at about KSh.12,000 on half-board. The hotel and bar are well stocked with good meal options. It also features an athletes' village as Iten is a high altitude athlete training camp. </div><div><br></div><div>More affordable accommodation options are available within Iten town. </div><div><br></div><div>Samich Resort offers an alternative, scenic peek into the Kerio Valley, but at this time remains shut after closing down for renovation during Covid. The route to Samich through Eldama Ravine is however the less scenic road though the views here may be better. You could also take a circle through Iten then back to Samich which is way longer but offers the scenic views.</div><div><br></div><div>The valley has a smoky haze most of the year due to land and charcoal burning both in the valley and all the way in South Sudan. </div><div><br></div><div>Stock on shopping such as ice in Nakuru as Iten offers few options with variety. </div><div><br></div><div>While in Iten, you could visit the Torok Waterfalls.</div><div><br></div><div><b>2. Turkana - Lokichar/ Lodwar</b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></b></div><div>Iten to Eliye Springs is currently 8 hours by road - avoid the road through Kapedo unless you really know what you are doing as it is a bandit prone area. </div><div><br></div><div>You may therefore find it easier to have an overnight stop at Lokichar which is 6 hours away. The Black Gold Resort is recommended at about KSh. 5,000 for bed and breakfast. Alternatively you may proceed to Lodwar which has a livelier nightlife and more options.</div><div><br></div><div>If driving, you can almost totally avoid the Eldoret- Kitale highway by going through Moiben and the Cherangani Hills, then rejoining the Kitale Highway just before Kapenguria at Maili Saba. You'll have to take a short untarmacked section between Moiben and Cherangani. </div><div><br></div><div>If taking public transport, you may consider taking a matatu from Iten to Eldoret, then to Lodwar which is easier.</div><div><br></div><div>The road is scenic as it winds down the escarpment from Kapenguria and again as it makes its way through the small gap in between the hills at Marich Pass. Caution is advised when driving due to the steep descent, sharp bends, potholes and trucks which crash often.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div><div>Between Lokichar and Lodwar, the road remains largely under construction. Some sections of the old roads have corrugations, and these can be avoided by following the sections motorists have carved out beside the main road - where you see the matatus and trucks driving along. </div><div><br></div><div>In Lodwar, Ceamo Prestige Lodge is a recommended place to stay, though lots of other options exist. </div><div><br></div><div>Previously, the road was bandit prone between Kainuk and Lokichar, but is now safe with increased security and ongoing road reconstruction. There are also potholes along this stretch. </div><div><br></div><div>There are lots of police road blocks on the road from Kapenguria, though these shouldn't be a bother until after Kainuk. Here, you may be hassled and it's generally advised to leave "something small" should that happen to you. </div><div><br></div><div><b>3. Lake Turkana - Eliye Springs</b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></b></div><div>About three quarter of the road to the Elite Springs is untarmacked. It is however motorable including by non-4 wheel vehicles. The shoreline stretch to Eliye is sandy and you may get stuck in some sections if in a non 4WD/AWD/AWC. You can call the resort or call on other motorists to tow you out. </div><div><br></div><div>If on public transport, take a Probox taxi from Lodwar to Eliye Springs. There's no proper public transport on this stretch. </div><div><br></div><div>Lodwar has well stocked shops and supermarkets and you can shop at supermarkets such as Kilimanjaro before heading to the Lake.</div><div><br></div><div>You will need to have your tyre pressure at two thirds the recommended pressure - for 35 PSI, your pressure should be 25 PSI to 29 PSI. This is due to the corrugation and sandy stretches which will shake the car too much if at normal pressure. You can manually deflate the tyres should you find the car skidding or shaking too much. However ensure the sidewall doesn't bulge as this brings a risk of the tyre coming off the rim. The aim is to have enough leeway to avoid the tyre bouncing off the corrugations but wrapping around them. Remember to reinflate your tyre once back to Lodwar as deflated tyres last shorter on tarmac. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Eliye Springs are one of a few springs that feed Lake Turkana. The Lake shore is sandy and dotted by Duom Palms which resemble Coconut palms. </div><div><br></div><div>The water is warm and enjoyable to swim in, though the lake is crocodile infested and lots of people have fallen victim to the reptiles. Swimming is at your own risk and totally not recommended from dusk and at night. </div><div><br></div><div>You can take sunset boat rides at about KSh. 3,500 per boatload or rides to Central Island at about KSh. 20,000 per boat load. </div><div><br></div><div>Accomodation is available at several camp sites which range at between KSh. 600 to KSh. 800 per person. </div><div><br></div><div>Non-camping options are largely the Eliye Springs Resort, which is not much of a resort. Rooms on half-board start at KSh. 13,000 for a twin bed and KSh. 28,000 for a double hut. Traditional huts go at KSh. 2,000 a night but have shared toilets and bathrooms. </div><div><br></div><div>It's however recommended to do a tent and mattress at the campsite as it's cooler, or take the KSh. 13,000 twin rooms which go at KSh. 8,000 for one person. </div><div><br></div><div>Note that the power at Eliye goes out at 8 PM as it's solar generated off-grid, while Eliye Springs Resort runs it's generator till 10 PM. It's still quite hot indoors until past midnight where temperatures may drop below 30 degrees when the lake gets windy. You will therefore need to plan to have your devices charged and a light to move around after lights out. </div><div><br></div><div>Besides chilling by the lake shore, you can take walks around the lake. Due to the hot weather, the walks are best early in the morning or at sunset. Avoid walking at night due to scorpions and snakes. </div><div><br></div><div>The lake itself sits in a low basin flanked by a 10 to 20 metre steep hillside marking previous high water levels. The Ethiopian Highlands are said to have erupted later cutting off Lake Turkana from the Nile where it got its fish and crocodile from. Decreased rainfall from the Congo weather system led to a fall in water level and it's disconnection from Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria which were once all connected. </div><div><br></div><div><b>4. Kapenguria - Barnley's Resort </b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></b></div><div>While heading back from Turkana, you can take advantage to stop over in Kapenguria for a night or so. The Barnley Resort is a homestay and campsite just outside Kapenguria town run by The Barnley family for decades. </div><div><br></div><div>It's currently run by Richard Barnley who's in his sixties and quite the gifted and hilarious orator. His hilarious stories will have you wiping tears. </div><div><br></div><div>Accommodation can include dinner and breakfast, or you could opt for dinner at the nearby Kesogon shopping centre. </div><div><br></div><div>By public transport, take a matatu to Kapenguria and then another alighting just before Kesogon, or a matatu to Kitale and alight at Barnley's before Kesogon.</div><div><br></div><div><b>5. Kembu Cottage</b></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></b></div><div>Kembu Cottage offers a number of cottages in Njoro, set in an expansive farm with hundreds of horses and a few cattle. </div><div><br></div><div>The units are nested amidst grass and tree expanses setting the mood for a relaxing stay or for those seeking some inspiration from mother nature. </div><div><br></div><div>Cottages start at KSh. 7,200 per night and half-board at an additional KSh. 3,000 per person. The good here was the best so far in all places visited. </div><div><br></div><div>A self-cook option may be available, but be sure to bring all your ingredients. Equally, stock up all your supplies in advance as the nearest proper shopping option is in Nakuru about 20 kilometres away. </div><div><br></div><div>Some of the cottages come with an all-glass sitting area with a fireplace for cooler nights. </div><div><br></div><div>Besides the cottage, there are dozens of tracks around the farm where you can walk along amidst horses and cattle grazing in their paddocks. </div><div><br></div><div>By public transport, take a matatu to Nakuru, another to Njoro town and then a taxi to Kembu Cottage.</div><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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</div><br /></div>Buying tyres is a dilemma - how do you get the best tyres without spending much more than is necessary? <div><br /></div><div>If that's your dillema, well, you have come to the right place. We will look at tyres that are at the sweetspot of durability, performance and affordability especially for SUVs. </div><div><br /></div><div>You'll find that most of my top picks are Asian brands. These tend to last longer and are more affordable. European brands are engineered more for comfort and ride quality. So if comfort is your top concern when buying tyres, I would recommend Pirelli and Michelin. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>1. Otani</b> </div><div>Otani is a little known tyre brand made in Dubai. It however rates quite highly for durability and hardiness, with most of its tyres coming in 'Extra Load' specification. Extra Load tyres are designed if you carry a lot of weight or if you do a lot of towing. Even if you don't, it means you end up with more hardy tyres than your manufacturer recommends. Propelling Otani to the top of my ranking is their relative affordability. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>2 . Toyo Open Country </b></div><div>Toyo's Open Country All Terrain tyres are rated as the best when it comes to durability, dependability, and comfort. All Terrain tyres are especially notorious for sacrificing comfort for hardiness, yet the Open Country manage to be all rounded. The tyre us also available for Highway Terrain, and for Urban Terrain designed for city hazards such as kerbs and potholes. It is prone to be more widely available than Otani, but slightly more costly. Toyo comes from Japan. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>3. Kumho Crugen / Marshal Crugen </b></div><div>Straight out of Korea, Kumho has been quite innovative in striking a balance between cutting edge tyres and durability. The Crugen brand is especially designed to last longer while offering a comfortable ride with some of the latest technologies. It's especially a recommend fit for low profile tyres that face a lot of hazards and hence which will need to withstand the dreaded sidewall bulge. While these come in Extra Load, in a few countries such as Kenya, they will be available in the lesser, ordinary 'Standard Load' specification. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>4. Pirelli Scorpion Verde AS</b></div><div>The only reason these tyres don't rank higher is that the Asian competitors is the bit that European tryes are more engineered for comfort. The Pirelli Scorpion is however an exception in that it's more of designed for durability. It therefore means the tyre has deeper treads, which means it's noisy for those who value quiteness in a tyre. On the other hand, it's less noisier than almost all the tyres on this list. The deeper treads are what make the tyre long lasting. It is also available in Standard Load and Extra Load variants, with of course the Extra Load tyres recommended for those looking for sturdier tyres and sidewalls. The Scorpion is highly recommended for those seeking a blend of comfort and durability. It's a well suited option for European makes. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br /></div><div><b>5. Achilles Desert Hawk</b></div><div>The Indonesian brand has proven itself in making very durable tyres that the tread pattern lasts for years, way beyond the 3 to 4 year duration when you should replace your tyres. The tyres are equally hardy, coming in an "Extra Load" configuration for heavy duty usage. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>6. Nexen</b> </div><div>Nexen is a little known Korean brand, and quite unbeatable when it comes to affordability. However, little is unknown about this tyre hence why it ranks low, yet higher than Chinese tyres. Contributing to its positioning higher than Chinese tyres are its Korean origins. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>7. LingLong/Atlas</b> </div><div>LingLong is among the world's top 3 largest manufacturers of tyres. Their tyres are also known to last for ages. Why they don't rank higher in my list is due to their use of hard compound. This makes braking a task, especially in wet conditions. They are however quite affordable. If pressed for money, go for Extra Load rated LingLongs or Atlas. However, these aren't speeding tyres. So drive moderately! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yet, that has been the most convenient thing about getting a fitness tracker, or more so, a smart band. </div><br />The smart band turns your wrist into a screening device for which calls to pick or to ignore, without having to dash across the room or house to check your phone whenever it rings. <br /><br />The other surprisingly convenient thing about these smart bands is how long their batteries last. One of my early fears was a device that would need charging every other minute. But my first try saw the Mi Band 5’s battery carry on for 21 days after charging. This was with no heart tracking and low-level sleep monitoring. <span><a name="more"></a></span><br /><div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NZqFOro1Tw/X_diJxk020I/AAAAAAAAsy0/vHWiIADECOEL7qsyV4VXAzrC6B8hDtEkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20210105_184756.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NZqFOro1Tw/X_diJxk020I/AAAAAAAAsy0/vHWiIADECOEL7qsyV4VXAzrC6B8hDtEkQCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/20210105_184756.jpg" width="480" /></a>The battery life is so good that I have switched on some of the more battery intensive features - like more accurate sleep monitoring and heart rate monitoring. Again, I still get more than 2 weeks of battery life under this more intensive monitoring. <br /><br />I could monitor sleep before - but it was inaccurate sometimes in that just lying in bed could count as sleep. It does tell when you wake up, but if you spend time reading in bed it would sometimes count that as light sleep. The more accurate monitoring is a bit more exact, but if you wake up mid-sleep and just lie there, it may still count that as light sleep. <br /><br />But sleep and heart rate monitoring were not even why I bought the band. My interest was in tracking my fitness or lack thereof, and to adjust to maintain a balance so as to not be too unfit. The bonus reason was that I thought the band could monitor blood oxygen levels - which is an indirect way of monitoring if you have a serious bout of Covid-19. <br /><br />The band works very well if you exercise by walking or running. It is highly accurate in counting steps and intensity during the exercise. <br /><br />I am yet to try other exercise monitoring such as swimming, yoga, freestyle weight lifting, rope jumping, treadmills, rowing, and elliptical machines - which need you to manually pick the modes. <br /><br />Another thing it does well is control music playing off your phone. You can pause music on any app on your phone, skip next, add or decrease volume - a remote control on your wrist. <br /><br />There’s also a timer and stop-watch, which are useful for other tasks such as timing cooking. <br /><br />The Mi Band 5 is made by Huami who sell it as the Amazfit Band 5. The Amazfit has extra features such as the more useful Alexa voice search and the oxygen sensor, but the Mi Band in China has Mi Voice search in place of Alexa. Outside China we do with less features. <br /><br />On the other hand, the Mi Band has a better app with a more intuitive design than the Amazfit, to the point of the rating between the 2 apps being worlds apart. Seems the Amazfit app is not as good. Additionally, Amazfit may have gone for more features over usability, while Mi Band may have decided perfection is better than quantity. The apps seem interchangeable though. So you could buy the Amazfit and use the Mi Health App. <br /><br />Another alternative is the Honor Band 5 and Honor Band 6 which were done by Huawei. Huawei has recently sold off the Honor brand due to American sanctions which complicated sourcing of components. The Honor bands carry more features including the oxygen sensor, and the app still carries a higher rating. <br /><br />All in all, the bands have made significant progress as exercise and health monitors. Think of them as personal coaches and health practitioners on your wrist, with a mix of a personal assistant. They are also quite cheap at about KSh. 5,000 or $50, and as low as KSh. 3,500 or $35. <br /><br />What’s amazing is what they are able to accomplish with just a small sensor on the back of the band resting on your wrist. <br /><br />In the very near future, it should be possible for bands to monitor your health and let you know when to seek a doctor’s consultation, performing some sort of early diagnosis. Equally, voice search will advance to the point you can use your wristband for even more complicated tasks and queries - you can Google by asking a question and get a response. <br /><br />At the moment, wristbands need to be connected to the phone to perform most of their functions. This will likely remain the case into the future - but expect more and more capabilities to shift onto the bands to the point they can operate for even more hours without the phone. <br /><br />The band can currently monitor exercising without the phone, though they require the phone for GPS/location capabilities with the exception of a few bands which have their own GPS. The only downside for GPS equipped bands is that the feature is battery-draining, hence why most bands leave it out or have it only when you select an exercise to monitor. <br /><br />Verdict? A band makes a for a very good birthday gift for a friend. It’s quite interesting and intuitive, and is only set to get more useful over the future. Then, bands will act as a personal health and task assistant - they will alert us whether we are healthy or bit, when to seek medical help, and help us automate our day to day tasks with voice assistance. <br /><br />In Kenya - smart bands are available at Xiaomi shops at Westlands’ Mpaka Road, and at other Xiaomi shops around the city. The older Honor Band 4 is available at Huawei shops. Newer versions of the bands are available online on Amazon and AliExpress. Amazon has debuted its own bands but they are still in testing at the point of writing this article. <br /><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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Sparkling water is sold as a premium drink. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This got me researching into what it really takes to make your own sparkling water. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a></span><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The easiest way to make your own sparkling water is to buy a DrinkMate or SodaStream Soda Makers or Carbonator. They are available on Amazon, easy to use and the gas is available at Carbacid along Lusaka Road. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After considering the reviews of the DrinkMate and Soda Stream, I decided to get my own kit. This includes a 5 litre keg cylinder for carbonating the water, a 600ml or so carbon dioxide cylinder, a valve/regulator and connecting gas pipes. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I </span><a href="https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001122763012.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.22124c4dylFSa6" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bought this kit on AliExpress</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that goes for about $120 and an equal amount for shipping (</span><a href="https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001122763012.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.22124c4dylFSa6" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001122763012.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.22124c4dylFSa6</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) The tax on the kit came to about $50, bringing the total amount to just about $300. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took about a month to ship in the kit and unfortunately, my first regulator was faulty and would let in gas at full pressure blowing the pipes and emptying the cylinder in minutes. The gas you get is pressurised. It took me about one more month to get a working replacement. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It costs KSh. 900 to refill the 600 ml carbon dioxide cylinder at Carbacid. So far I have done about 3 to 4 batches of sparkling water and the cylinder still has gas, coming in at more than 15 litres. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The commercial price for 15 litres of sparkling water would be KSh. 1,500 for disposable plastic bottles and about the same for the returnable glass bottles. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So indeed the kit saves you money since you do more than 20 litres of sparkling water, and it is more environmentally friendly since you no longer do the disposable bottles. You however need to either buy your own glass bottles or reuse plastic bottles. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One other thing - carbon dioxide dissolves better in colder water. While SodaStream/DrinkMate seem to work well at room temperature, if you decide to get your own kit you will have to get some space in your fridge or chill it in the freezer. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you don’t have enough space in your fridge/freezer, a fifty-fifty hack is to carbonate at room temperature under high pressure (20 to 30 psi on the gauge) then bottle the water and chill the bottles so the water dissolves. </span></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FO_qOp9G3fo/X96SDPg07QI/AAAAAAAAr64/rb0VssBpK6E-ZQIz0Pv-vXqZadGzVmpRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20201215_131136.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FO_qOp9G3fo/X96SDPg07QI/AAAAAAAAr64/rb0VssBpK6E-ZQIz0Pv-vXqZadGzVmpRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/20201215_131136.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tap gasket can be quite troublesome when it gets offset. <br />On the right is the pressure release valve and on the left is the <br />carbon dioxide input valve. These need some familiarity before use!<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If using your own kit, it’s a bit of a learning curve. You need to figure out how to release the ball valves by pulling the bottom back then pulling the valve out. Failing to do so ruins their springs. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Equally, the tap gasket may get misaligned and become troublesome such that the gasket can let out water at pressure when you try carbonating the keg. The solution is to use a sharp tipped object such as a knife to reseat the gasket such that the valve is in the middle and well supported by the spring. You get some space rubber gaskets though, but managing a leaking gasket can be a pain. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All in all, a keg carbonator/soda maker is a labour of love. It is more hands on than a SodaStream or DrinkMate kit, but once you have it figured out, then it’s a breeze in the park. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The toughest bits are topping up water - it can’t be full otherwise it won’t carbonate properly. You then have to learn how many times to carbonate especially when the keg is full. You need to run the gas a couple of times, then you can shut it off or leave it open, but it takes hours to dissolve. So if you shut it off you need to run it again or at least twice for it to sparkle enough when full. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for cleaning - I will recommend a solution of bleach and water to about 0.5% or so bleach. While bleach is corrosive especially for metal, it makes for an excellent cleaning compound. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFIcTaSyLU4/X96SDI3r7qI/AAAAAAAAr60/61-gqu-6AscLvXGVymZJ7epsfgkUrhX2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20201215_131118.jpg" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFIcTaSyLU4/X96SDI3r7qI/AAAAAAAAr60/61-gqu-6AscLvXGVymZJ7epsfgkUrhX2gCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/20201215_131118.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You'll need to figure out how to cleans your kit. <br />A solution of bleach and water works quite well!</td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is it worth it - I would say yes, especially if you’re a fan of sparkling water. I’ll however issue a disclaimer - only get the kit if you find yourself buying a lot of sparkling water. You don’t want your $300 investment sitting idle, do you? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Should you be interested in getting your own kit, you could always let me know and we could exchange notes. </span></p>
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High quality ingredients mean more refined flavours</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been running an experiment for months now. Have you ever considered that you could be having a much better beer than what you had last weekend? Most people don’t think so, but the many who have undergone my experiment have found this to be the case.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The experiment involved trying out craft beers, and many of my friends found that they liked beers from Bateleur better. These include Dire Straits - a medium beer, or Bila Shaka which has higher alcohol content for those looking for a punch. Even ladies, many who confess to hate the taste of beer, have found these beers to be pleasant and even drinkable. Kenya is truly in a new beer age. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKUbsEgZGPI/X9uogcmztlI/AAAAAAAAr1o/NpWJvHhNEXUwrefQaewqIrJ8Oj-AiNytgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200601_173152.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zKUbsEgZGPI/X9uogcmztlI/AAAAAAAAr1o/NpWJvHhNEXUwrefQaewqIrJ8Oj-AiNytgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/20200601_173152.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">254's Craft Beers are also quite <br />popular and potent</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bateleur makes solid-tasting beers where they take advantage of the hops - the ingredient used to flavour and make beer bitter - by bringing in higher quality hops to complement higher quality barley. Hops highly lend to the smell and flavour of beer. Dire Straits, one of their three main beers has a crisp, fruity taste while keeping its serious-beer characteristic. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another friend however swears by a rival craft brewery - 254. 254 Breweries does a variety of beers - though I have found them to be on the lighter side of the palate taking a grass-like taste. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Is however clear is that more and more Kenyans are going for quality. This means that instead of people just focusing on getting drunk and on the taste of their beer as a second aspect, they are starting with flavour first. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The change has elevated the prospects of Bateluer and 254 Breweries. Their beers cost between KSh. 200 and KSh. 250 for just 330 millilitres (Carrefour now has them from as low as KSh. 185 on Jumia). This is high compared to the KSh. 200 to Ksh. 350 that bars charge for 500 ml of Kenya Breweries beer. So it follows that the quality must be higher. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And indeed, it is. Take a sip today. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ulsUqtZz0U8/X9uogJcaR_I/AAAAAAAAr1g/2ZVipTpDceEMt5LC1XuwsxcH3j5K0YMNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/20200531_183007.jpg" style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic"; font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ulsUqtZz0U8/X9uogJcaR_I/AAAAAAAAr1g/2ZVipTpDceEMt5LC1XuwsxcH3j5K0YMNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/20200531_183007.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">254's Stout takes a more coffee flavour<br />over the grassy hops across its range</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yrkT2QF4VsA/X0V1TjmvmJI/AAAAAAAApE0/-wj4to8qmfk-UkPvyQxfFJ_-ZDnh6H2-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Berlin%2BNineties%2BMusuem%2BAK47.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yrkT2QF4VsA/X0V1TjmvmJI/AAAAAAAApE0/-wj4to8qmfk-UkPvyQxfFJ_-ZDnh6H2-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Berlin%2BNineties%2BMusuem%2BAK47.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
<div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">An Installation at the Berlin Nineties Museum commemorating victims
killed </span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: center;">
while trying to escape across the Berlin Wall. Despite it's cruelty,
the Nazi regime rose to power and remained popular promising
solutions to the
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
numerous problems Germans faced in the 1920s and 1930s.
</div></span>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<span><br />Why do Kenyans, or any other electorate for that matter, vote for cruel
politicians or so-called leaders?<br />The common argument is that the
voters are ignorant, or were “misled” or had “no option”. But this is not
true.<br /><br />People know who and what they are voting for. People
intentionally vote for cruel politicians especially when the voters form part
of a majority - clan, tribe, race, nation, class or other majority.</span><div><span><br />It is not that they do not know the politicians are cruel. They
simply assume that the cruelty will be experienced by others - the minority -
and will never be experienced by them. They deal with the conscience by
arguing that those experiencing cruelty must have done something wrong to
deserve it.</span></div><div><span><br /></span><span><span><a name='more'></a></span>This comes out clearly in
<a href="https://www.theelephant.info/author/dkahura/">Dauti Kahura’s writing</a>
in The Elephant, a topical East African blog. In one of his pieces, Kahura
notes that the voters can not believe that their businesses are suffering as a
result of who they voted for. The unwritten rule is that they voted for
someone from their tribe and thus their businesses shouldn’t be on the
receiving end of punitive government policies.</span></div><div><span><br />Such policies are a
preserve of the minorities - those who have no one in government to speak for
them.</span></div><div><span><br />And this is why the majority voters can’t believe that they
are the victims of government policy. Demolished houses, import bans and high
import taxes were supposed to affect those who supposedly “didn't vote for the
government.” After voting for those in power, they can't understand why their
businesses are suffering from lack of supplies and their mansions are
demolished in the middle of the night. Isn’t the person they voted for no
longer thinking about them?</span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PvFTXNrUT4/X0V2XmRj3iI/AAAAAAAApE8/CWLLLd8CQ4cpGWIsRAlWZGKr4gHmzwZHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Berlin%2BWall.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span>A modern-day street in Berlin depicting where the Berlin Wall
cut across<br /></span>
</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br /><span style="text-align: left;"></span>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<span><br />But there’s a small problem. When you ignore injustices against others,
the minority - the problem is that those injustices will soon be redirected
towards the many.</span></div><div><span><br />Politicians equally get brazen - the fact that
they keep getting elected irrespective of what they do makes them confident
that they can get away with anything. This is how dictatorships last between
20 to 30 years. The harm they wreck only begins to affect most of the regime’s
supporters later. In the early years of the regime’s rule, harm is mostly
directed to the minorities and opponents, and most supporters feel that only
those who have broken the law have a thing to fear.</span></div><div><span><br />Considering
themselves non law-breakers, they keep supporting cruel politicians, only to
realise that injustice has no boundaries. It eventually comes for everyone,
and then, it is too late and needs more effort to get rid of.</span></div><div><span><br />There’s also the fact that human beings are secretly cruel. We
only hate injustice as long as it affects us. If it affects people who don’t
look like us, maybe they have done something wrong. </span>
<div>
<span><br /></span>
</div>
<div>
<span>It has been said that one of the roles of a politician is to commit cruel
acts on behalf of their voters - to do the kind of things that a voter
agrees are not moral, but which they nevertheless support. For instance,
wars tend to have popular public support yet people would agree that killing
especially innocent people is not moral. Yet, going to war has often been
used as a strategy to win elections.</span></div><div><span><br />The only thing that stops
people from backing cruel politicians is personally experiencing the cruelty
of such politicians. Warnings never work. People see the good side of bad
politicians and the bad side of good ones, so bad ones dominate until most
people realise cruelty is not the answer.</span></div><div><span><br />It does not further
help that cruel politicians tend to be the populist type that promise
instant answers to complicated problems, especially during difficult times.
<br /><br />Voters and the citizenry somehow believe in the absurd promises
and things said by populists. They have faith in the miracles that populists
promise to deliver, despite them being impractical or almost impossible and
more often, cruel to sections of the population. </span></div><div><span><br />Sometimes, many
times, people and entire communities are thrown under the bus as populists
promise instant solutions to complex problems. People are more keen on the
instant solutions and less so on who is thrown under the bus - that’s how
the cruelty starts and keeps going.
</span>
</div>
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</script></div>The Scape 🐈http://www.blogger.com/profile/18331691347132070542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957245992879818934.post-64452253849803803462020-06-08T00:38:00.003+03:002020-06-14T01:48:04.914+03:00In a Westernised World, Covid-19 is the Perfect Pandemic <span id="docs-internal-guid-c34c2a4d-7fff-0f1a-bb77-7c4ad4a38e4f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mzw6Wfe5HgI/Xt1eD3MpXmI/AAAAAAAAm6g/IDfvKV4dOTwOs67vvQ2C2dOnAybryM6XQCK4BGAsYHg/s4608/A%2Bnew%2Bdawn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mzw6Wfe5HgI/Xt1eD3MpXmI/AAAAAAAAm6g/IDfvKV4dOTwOs67vvQ2C2dOnAybryM6XQCK4BGAsYHg/w640-h480/A%2Bnew%2Bdawn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do Pandemics usher a new dawn? <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the last more than 100 years, the world has undergone numerous advancements. Human beings have been to space and the moon, we have powerful nuclear bombs and nuclear energy, bullet trains, planes that fly half around the world, and we can now treat and cure hundreds of diseases that tormented our ancestors. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet, despite all these scientific advancements, the world is being ravaged by a pandemic. Worse, one that can be eradicated by people just staying home for 3 weeks. What went wrong?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, it is important to understand that the world, by nature, is destined for pandemics. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forests get extreme wildfires, wild animals get almost wiped out by diseases or drought, and human beings get pandemic. Drought too was once a problem, but the wonder that is the modern supply chain means shiploads of grains and all sorts of food can be easily moved from one part of the world to another. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pandemics, like wildfires, droughts and much more are nature’s way of introducing chaos into a system. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature favours change, and it favours variety and evolution. Chaos is a destabilisng factor that leads to life rearranging itself to achieve more variety in a bid to survive. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without this chaos, everything begins to behave in much the same way, otherwise known as going with the flow, and the system adopted becomes extremely powerful. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like the Tower of Babel, nature soon comes up and changes things. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human beings have however learned to harness nature to do what we want thanks to all the technology know-how we have amassed in a bid to survive better. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then, why have hundreds of thousands of lives been lost to covid-19. Why has the whole world been brought to a standstill? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, it is important to note that any disease can be a pandemic, but many of them do not make the cut. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is not that the many diseases that do not develop into a pandemic are lacking in any way. Once upon a time, typhoid, the bubonic plague and in between the 1918 flu reigned terror on humanity. Today, while typhoid and the plague exist - they are largely under control. Typhoid still has outbreaks that wreak havoc, such as the ongoing one in Haiti. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What this tells us is that for a disease to become a pandemic, it must fit our current lifestyle and it needs to be deadly to some extent. It shouldn’t make everyone who gets infected too sick too soon, or it will be easy to detect and have to be dealt with. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this is where covid-19 falls. It is a disease that spreads out of close contact and can be spread unknowingly. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What makes it even harder to stop is that doing so would either need an instant cure, a vaccine or people drastically changing the way we live. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The biggest challenge seems to be that we are unable to change how we live. While we retreat to our homes at the end of the day, our lives involve working in large, open plan factories and offices. During lunch, we sit in expansive restaurants that are table after table. At the end of the work day, we take mass public transport that in developed countries means checking in (and touching) a few pay-stations and then using the same bus and train cabins that will be shared by thousands of other passengers. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over the weekend, we may head to a couple of malls and restaurants for shopping and dinner. We also take our kids on a shopping outing to the supermarket in the mall, and our dates to a restaurant dinner. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our bosses are busy and jet in and out to meetings and company offices across the world at crowded airports and through planes that need to make quick turnarounds. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Any disease that can be easily spread by touching things that others have touched or by being in close proximity with other people will strike gold in this world of ours. Worse, if a sick person can spread the disease over a number of days, yet be healthy enough to go about with their activities, then you have a disaster. This is what covid-19 is. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure, if we all stayed home for 3 weeks, we would drastically reduce the number of infections. But Western culture is not based on staying home. It’s based on commuting to work, sharing open spaces, restaurants, and shopping. Not going to work means no pay. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">For many people, having a meal means purchasing from an eatery. We are no longer in the age where people lived in largely self-sustainable farms where they could cook what they harvested. But even in those times, we had pandemics that were spread by traders and merchants. Farmers needed to buy clothes and other goods, and the Bubonic Plague was conveniently spread by rats and people onboard merchant ships. </span></span></p><div><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Worst of all, Western Governments have proven that they are politically incompetent when it comes to dealing with pandemics. Perhaps its their belief in supremacy over everything else, but between the UK and the US, failure of the government to take early action contributed to the raging pandemic now. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the experience in Iran, Italy and Spain, it was clear that this was no normal disease. Yet, such a small proportion had been impacted by the disease by April 2020. By then, only about 3 million of the world's population of 7.5 billion had been infected, or just 0.04%. Even today, only 7.7 million people have been confirmed infected or just 0.1% of the world's population. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This means that it would have been easier for the world to pool its resources to fight the virus. If we had all all halted flights, asked people to stay home, then taken stock of all N95 surgical masks that stop the virus and the protective equipment, and allocated them based on where there were more positive people, we would have rapidly reduced the number of new cases in 3 weeks!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead, each country worked on its own trying to grab as many masks and as many tests and protective equipment as it could. The US and UK chose to ignore the threat for far too long taking no action until the disease was well established amongst the population. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These early blunders mean that the world lost the chance to take an early lead and beat the virus back. Today, we are in a continued state of suspension where the pain of shutting the economy is high but the progress against the spread of the virus remains flat. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The practice of Quarantine is said to come from Venice where merchant ships coming from infected areas were supposed to spend 40 days just outside the port to ensure any infections on the ship ended before it could dock. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In modern day Kenya and Uganda, while restrictions in travel have been applied for the majority of the citizens limiting the spread of Covid-19, truck drivers have emerged as the most affected and biggest spreaders of the disease. Again, key entry points for the disease in both countries were the air-ports of Nairobi and Entebbe and the sea-port of Mombasa. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The more things have changed, the more they have remained the same! Modern-day trucks are the ships of times past. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Countries find it hard to lockdown everything for 3 weeks since people need supplies, and most supply chains can not withstand a few days' closure. The Just-in-time concept means that everything arrives at the factory or supermarket the day that it is needed, not a day earlier or later, and there’s little capacity for storage to last beyond a day, let alone 3 weeks. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have definitely made quite a number of advancements from medieval times where little was known about diseases, yet, while we know enough, most governments have proved incapable of taking measures that can stop the spread of a pandemic. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If people are to remain home for 3 weeks, they would need supplies, and indeed some governments, especially in Asian countries, have taken to supplying quarantined citizens with food. Western governments, however, struggle here having spent the last 30 years divesting and defunding social services. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indeed, what we see is that developing countries across the world from Vietnam, to Uganda, Kenya and even South Africa have been quite better at reducing Covid-19 spread compared to countries rated as more developed. There are a few exceptions such as Brazil, and such exceptions stand out by having taken the same path as Western countries. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In short - we face the perfect pandemic. It spreads based on our westernised lifestyle, especially where cold, wintery weather encourages indoor activities. We have been caught pants-down because we have designed extraordinarily efficient supply chains that can not store a few weeks of supplies. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is why the West is leading both in calls to reopen the economy and in numbers of those affected by Covid-19. This is a western pandemic. Developing countries have had more success than their developed counterparts, and it seems the hit shall mostly fall on Westernised economies. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the day, it appears that no matter how much humanity is advanced, we still can’t outrun nature. Nature still holds the chaos trump-card (pun-intended) and the more systemic we become, the more likely that chaos will strike to create ground for a new order. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our scientific knowledge may be quite advanced, but science plays second-fiddle to the very basic field of politics. That creates a fertile thriving ground for politics. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pandemics accelerate changes that would never have happened or if they did, would have taken hundreds of years to appear. And so far, it seems there is no way for humanity as a whole to avoid this chaos of pandemics. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Therefore, it can be concluded that we are destined for the disruption that pandemics bring. The forest regrows after a wildfire, but it is not exactly the same forest that existed before. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For humanity, most of us will take a hit from the pandemic. Some very wealthy people will no longer be so wealthy. And some who were not so wealthy will emerge better on the other side. Behaviours that were common before the pandemic will be replaced by different ones. This means that whole groups pf people may emerge better off. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Kenya, motorcycle riders who make deliveries have seen demand for their services rocket. Across the world, medical supply manufacturers will end up with a lot of money in the bank. Live music concerts were rare and costly previously, but we have had so many free, high-quality, live concerts on YouTube and Instagram. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the West, it is said one of the drivers of the revolt against racism has been record numbers of people out of jobs. Ordinarily, they would not have had time to participate in political issues such as protests. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a former Premier of the Soviet Union once said that "There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. The world is changing. Pandemics change the world. </span></font></p><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>
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</script></div>The Scape 🐈http://www.blogger.com/profile/18331691347132070542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957245992879818934.post-25223686374396153442020-06-06T00:20:00.004+03:002020-06-07T20:37:52.496+03:00Why are Mosquitoes Found in Some Parts of Nairobi?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQoHjiqEE4Q/Xtq2hR59VNI/AAAAAAAAm2o/HL94P4ryZYUF231LMtYlVduII9XUuoiRgCK4BGAsYHg/s2048/machakos%2Bpeople%2Bpark.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQoHjiqEE4Q/Xtq2hR59VNI/AAAAAAAAm2o/HL94P4ryZYUF231LMtYlVduII9XUuoiRgCK4BGAsYHg/w640-h480/machakos%2Bpeople%2Bpark.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Machakos People's Park circa 2014. Let me assure you, that's neither a Marina nor a Jetty. Such stagnant water bodies around Nairobi form breeding grounds for mosquitoes if there are no control measures. </td></tr></tbody></table><br />Ever wondered why some places in Nairobi are mosquito prone, while others are not?<div><br /></div><div>There's popular folk-lore that Nairobi was established a settlement because it's altitude, or height above sea level, is above that preferred by mosquitoes. But this proposition quickly runs into headwinds as much of Eastlands, including JKIA, the country's main airport (long pun coming) are frequented by mosquitoes. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, I got an expert from the <a href="http://www.icipe.org/">International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology</a> (ICIPE) to clear some air on this buzzy issue. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here is what Professor Clifford Mutero of ICIPE had to say:<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div>"Nairobi has always had mosquitoes. No part of the city is too high for mosquitoes to breed and survive. However, it is important to note that there are many different species of mosquitoes, and some of them are not present or common in Nairobi.<br /><br />The presence of stagnant water, which provides mosquitoes with suitable breeding habitat, is what is likely to determine whether a section of the city has mosquito infestation or not. Another factor would be mosquito control operations e.g. spraying with insecticides. However, mosquito control is not carried out on a routine or coordinated fashion in Nairobi and, therefore, has no bearing on whether a certain part of the city has mosquitoes or not.<br /><br />Suitable mosquito breeding habitats may be in the form of:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>surface water pools and puddles due recent rain;</li><li>puddles of water at building and road construction sites;</li><li>collections of dirty water in blocked drains;</li><li>poorly covered septic tanks;</li><li>poorly covered water storage tanks;</li><li>small dams/ reservoirs;</li><li>Foot prints and hoof prints at the edges of slow moving streams or dams;</li><li>Small water collections in discarded tyres, pots, plastic and metal containers.</li></ul>Fortunately, the majority of mosquitoes found in Nairobi belong to species which do not transmit malaria. They are mainly mosquitoes that cause biting/noise nuisance at night (mainly Culex mosquitoes) or itchy bites during the day (mainly Aedes mosquitoes). Anopheles mosquitoes which transmit malaria are presently not common in Nairobi."<br /><div><br /></div><div>That clears the air on why mosquitoes are common in Nairobi, but Malaria is not endemic. </div><div><br /></div><div>As to why some parts of Nairobi have more mosquitoes than others - the response on breeding habitats gives some clarification. Eastlands may be a mosquito favourite because it is flater, hence more water pools, and also because of, surprise, open water tanks as a response to water shortage in the city. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Western bits of the city are sloppy hence have better drainage of stagnant water. This is stretching it, but the volcanic soil in the Western bits of Nairobi are better daining than the black cotton of Eastlands which is swampy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, if you live in an area that relies on boreholes for water supply, you may have fewer mosquitoes due to a closed water supply since tanks don't need to be outside or open. </div><div><br /></div><div>Bizarre, right?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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Print newspapers are near monopolies. Setting up a newsprint plant and investing in distribution vans is very costly. You therefore end up with a handful of papers or even just one for a certain geographical zone. <span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br />But on the internet, there are no printing costs and distribution costs. <br /><br />The print edition of The New York Times gets to Nairobi a day later. The online edition is immediately available. Arguably, The New York Times can afford much more good talent that any publication in Kenya. What this means is that should a global incident happen in Nairobi, I have the option of catching up with the latest happenings from hundreds of outlets, many of which have the best of talent of both local correspondents and in-house writers. <br /><br />Again, what this means is that for big news items, which have been the “bread and butter” of local news outlets, there is now global competition. The larger global media houses then skim the “cream” of the readers by having alternative stories both from local and international talent. <br /><br />The second problem comes from Digital Firms. Geeks have sold the promise that if you are good enough, you will attract enough eyeballs and become rich. Yet, Silicon Valley firms are stuffed with geeks - so how are media houses required to outdo them in pay-per-click adverts while also delivering the best of news?<br /><br />Many people find “serious” news exhausting and prefer light news that features entertainments or conspiracies. It is no accident that fake news has thrived in the era where adverts are sold based not on quality, but on how many times they are seen. Somehow, the very bright people of Silicon Valley either can’t figure this, or they now understand they're caught in their own trap but don’t want to change to what is a more expensive option. <br /><br />Thus, the only way for newspapers to survive is to serve a lot of alarming news to most of the world like the Daily Mail does, or to pick the cream of the audience around the world and charge them a fee like The New York Times, The Economist and The Financial Times do. <br /><br />The Economist costs about KSh. 2,500($25) per month or KSh. 625 per week. The Financial Times goes for KSh. 3,950($39.5) a month or KSh. 1,000 a week. The New York Times comes in at a more affordable KSh. 800 ($8) a month or KSh. 200 per week. <br /><br />A Kenyan newspaper goes for KSh. 60 per day or KSh. 420 per week in print. A little steep compared to The New York Times, but probably accounts for delivery and printing costs. <br /><br />Also important to note that the New York Times has more subscribers due to the high population of New York, the United States and its global audience. They can therefore lower their subscription fee to reach more people. <br /><br />Therefore, papers that are finding themselves caught up in the shift to digital need to find a way to make people pay for news, fast. An advertising funded model only works on a global scale, not local. Equally, relying too much on such a model then trains your audience not to pay for news. <br /><br />The trick though is finding a sweet-spot - a price that’s not too high that it puts off most people, but one that’s low enough it feels like “free”. <br /><br />While much of this article had been written in the last month, Safaricom, Nation Media Group and The Standard have recently unveiled a KSh. 20 ($0.2) offer for daily versions of their newspaper. This works out to KSh. 140 ($1.4) per week or about KSh. 600 ($6) per month. <br /><br />Going back to our global comparison, this is actually a price that falls within the sweet-spot, which in my own estimate should fall between KSh. 10 to KSh. 20 ($0.1 - $0.2) per day for Kenyan newspapers. At this price, they can convert lots of online “free” readers to buying their digital papers which then locks in subscription revenue which is more reliable than online advertising. <br /><br />This can be just a start. There is an opportunity to have more targeted digital periodicals based on popular interests - such as motoring, cooking or child upbringing. These can be treated as value adds that are again sold at a price point that falls between KSh. 10 and KSh. 20. <br /><br />Unless you have as many visitors as the Daily Mail, relying on online advertising is futile. Forget what the techies tell you - even a priest will encourage you to toil to fund their religion.
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Which one is cheaper?" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exactly which tube is larger? Which one is cheaper?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Exactly how much does a tube of toothpaste cost?<br /><br />Looks like an easy answer, right? I mean, it’s exactly the amount you pay for the tube. <br /><br />That’s until you walk into a supermarket and realise that something weird is happening. <br /><br />Other than the very small tubes, most of the other tubes look the same size. Or rather the boxes look the same size. <br /><br /><div>But then why do they cost vastly different prices - why do some tubes cost twice or almost thrice the price of others if they are the same?<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />It does not help that different manufacturers use different measures to detail what’s inside. Some put it in grams, others in millilitres. Maybe others in millimetres, though this is a unit of length and you would therefore need width hence I doubt anyone uses it. <br /><br />What then happens is that if you are comparing toothpastes and if you are hoping to get the one that’s cheapest, you get very confused. <br /><br />Are milliliters and grams the same? Of course they aren’t, unless you are comparing water. To convert between the 2, you need a mathematical formula containing the density of the particular toothpaste - or the weight in grams per millimetre. <br /><br /></div><div>But why are the boxes the same or almost the same size? Well, you open up the boxes and find the tubes inside vary in size and do not necessarily reflect the size of the box. Some are wide and short, others are narrow and long. It needs a little more than a simple glance to determine which one holds more toothpaste. <br /><br />And that’s how it becomes impossible to determine which toothpaste brand is cheaper than the other as you walk down the supermarket aisle. <br /><br />The game is rigged and is better left to mathematicians who can easily figure which is which. Your choices are going with what you think is the cheapest simply based on cost, what your mother bought, or the toothpaste you last saw on an advert. <br /><br />The same game plays over at the tissue aisle, though to a lesser extent. Tissues are more standardised at 200 sheets and 2 ply, and either virgin pulp or blended. <br /><br />What happens here is that a pack of 2, a pack of 4, a pack of 8 and a pack of 10 all cost different prices for each tissue brand. Some brands have deeply discounted 2 packs or 4 packs but their price per roll costs more for the 8 and 10 packs. Again, it does not help that the prices are usually not multiple of 10s or multiples of 2. <br /><br />A price like 279 shillings for an 8 pack becomes very difficult for many to determine what the price per roll is. There are too many remainders and decimals involved. <br /><br />What tissue and toothpaste makers are practicing is a form of price-discrimination. Price discrimination means realising that different people are ready to pay different prices for the same thing - a Toyota LandCruiser VX and a Toyota Passo both have 5 doors and 4 wheels, but very different prices. Same as a mug of Senator Lager and a bottle of WhiteCap, which are both half-litre beers from the same brewery. <br /><br />Price discrimination is a strategy that a business person deploys to ensure that they are not “leaving money on the table” by under charging those who want to pay more or overcharging those who can’t afford a high price. <br /><br />While the tissue rolls is a good example of price-discrimination, the toothpaste tubes is more a case of appearances - the same way you buy a swollen packet of crisps only to find 5 crisps at the bottom of the pack and a lot of air at the top. </div><div><br /></div><div>125 grams/100 ml of Close Up toothpase will cost you between KSh. 238 for buy one get one free (2 packs) at Carrefour and KSh. 239 for one at Naivas. </div><div><br /></div><div>140 grams/100 ml of Colgate at Tuksys goes for KSh. 200 (April 2019 prices), while 220 grams of Colgate at Carrefour goes for KSh. 220 (December 2019 prices). <br /><br />Give it a try next time you buy toothpaste or tissue at the supermarket. Try to rank what brands are cheaper than the others, and whether that rank remains the same both for small and larger packs. Good Luck, you will need it!</div><div><br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ63PDCoyII/Xq3yg_aklGI/AAAAAAAAmcg/SKR42nINMosbNfaF7OUnQ9JvJ9rm6CphACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot_20200426-141139_Chrome.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ63PDCoyII/Xq3yg_aklGI/AAAAAAAAmcg/SKR42nINMosbNfaF7OUnQ9JvJ9rm6CphACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Screenshot_20200426-141139_Chrome.jpg" width="441" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">To the average Kenyan, the supposedly poor person is simply a thief in waiting </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In Kenya, when the government first announced measures against Coronavirus - many people on social media pointed out that they would especially affect the poor. More specifically, it has been said that if the poor didn’t get help soon, they would turn to crime. <br />
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This should be good, right? It shows that we care about the poor? Yet, it raises some dark questions. Was the concern here really about the poor? Why is it that we only remember the poor when bad things are happening?<br />
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I know a number of people who are going through rough patches due to the measures to combat Coronavirus. There is reduced spending by many businesses and equally by many individuals, and this is directly having an effect on numerous individuals and businesses whose income has effectively dried off. It does not help that the government barely has a welfare fund - when times were good, we spent away all the money. <br />
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Normally, these people would not be classified as poor. But they are really bearing the brunt of Coronavirus. No one had warned us of such a threat and few, if any of us were prepared. <br />
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Yet, publicly, much of the impact is said to be going to the poor. <br />
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I find this omission quite interesting - many ordinary people are affected, but discussions on the impact have been narrowed down to only the poor, with the threat that the poor will steal. <br />
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More interestingly, no one ever describes who exactly these poor people are. There have been few attempts that hint the poor live in informal settlements, but most of those talking about the “poor” don’t exactly specify who those are.<br />
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It is probably assumed that when we talk about the “poor” everyone understands who we are talking about. <br />
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Notably - you would wonder why the poor only have 2 options - being poor or being criminals. <br />
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In effect, people thought of to be poor are branded as criminals-in-waiting. If we don’t sustain their poverty at a certain level, then they will become thieves. <br />
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Interestingly, one of the biggest issues in Kenya for years has been grand corruption where billions of shillings are lost, and acres of public land are grabbed. No mean feat, and no supposedly poor person can pull off such grand schemes. <br />
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If you also follow crime closely, you will discover it requires proximity. Gold scams in Kenya have been on the rise, but they are pulled off by appearingly well-to-do people on other well-to-do people. A person struggling to put their next meal on the table can simply not wake up and go con a millionaire through a complex gold scam. <br />
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Likewise, much small time crime often happens in specific areas - usually around informal settlements. The victims are commonly people who live in those areas or people who happen to move around those areas, but rarely the well off. <br />
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First, crime is about access and opportunity. Criminals like to have a very good idea about their target and the pay-off. Otherwise, it is very risky to just hit anyone. It could lead to increased risk but nothing from the victim. <br />
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Crime in informal areas is low risk and low to medium return, while at the periphery it is medium risk and medium return. High risk crime such as robbing banks or wealthy homes is left to professional criminals or the connected, since the state pays more attention to such crimes. <br />
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I came across <a href="https://twitter.com/SisBree/status/1254172962380529664">a concerning incident in South Africa where women who had saved to build their own homes were holding night vigils because of a crime wave from an informal settlement that had formed next to them</a>. These women are not necessarily rich, yet are the victims of crime. They simply happen to live next to an informal settlement and so they become attractive, low-risk targets.<br />
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Women in Phillippi on night vigils for several days now, many distress calls for protection have yielded no intervention from the powers that be <a href="https://twitter.com/PresidencyZA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PresidencyZA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofCT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CityofCT</a> what will it take to stabilize this situation? Would this be allowed to continue if it was in the suburbs? <a href="https://t.co/zIUmaZo40v">pic.twitter.com/zIUmaZo40v</a><br />
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— SisBree™️ (@SisBree) <a href="https://twitter.com/SisBree/status/1254132782932115456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2020</a><br />
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The Cape Town incident just happens to be the reality everywhere. While many people imagine crime as a Robin Hood “Poor robs the rich” , low income earners are the largest victims of crime. Crime is classist. The rich steal amongst themselves and low income earners steal from other low income earners.<br />
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Crime is not so much explained by poverty, but by inequality. If poverty was a major factor, then Kenya would be much more crime prone than South Africa where the average income is higher. But the opposite is true and this is because South Africa is more unequal. <br />
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On average, each Kenyan produces about $1,710 or KSh. 171,000 in economic output per year compared to $6,374 or KSh. 637,400 for each South African. Of course this is heavily skewed by mineral production in South Africa which only passes through a few hands. In contrast, Agricultural production such as tomato, cabbage and sukuma wiki earnings in Kenya are distributed amongst more people. <br />
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Also, crime can be costly. If you are into armed crime - you need to purchase a gun and bullets. Sometimes you may also need to pay for protection. In short, we can not conclude being poor leads to crime - there’s too much risk and calculation involved. <br />
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So, then, why do we imagine people we take to be poor to be potential criminals? <br />
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This can only be explained by what gamers call a god-mode. Ordinarily, people view the world as revolving around them and they also see themselves as nice people.<br />
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Our concern for the “poor” comes from this niceness, but as gods, we further justify our concern by imagining the worst that could happen to the poor. This way, any action we take is very meaningful - it saves a poor person from stealing, or worse off, dying!<br />
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It does not stop there - we also have a second motive to view supposedly poor people as criminals-in-waiting. <br />
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We live in countries with poor governance and bad government policies. Such are usually made by the political class, who having creamed off the wealth from society, are considered rich. Naturally, we hold hopes that one day they will be taught a lesson - and this is where the poor come in. <br />
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If the poor stole from the rich who make bad decisions or refuse to take appropriate action, then it will be karma in perfection. This then leads to the fantasy that the poor will not only steal when they lack the basics, but that they will somehow selectively steal from the rich, who deserve to be stolen from!<br />
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An extension of this fantasy further views the poor as future revolutionaries. This again stems from the frustration of broken political systems such as in Kenya. In turn, such systems create the hope for a quick fix - a revolution that will wipe out the ruling class and replace them with responsible leaders. A fantasy thus develops that there shall be soon an uprising of the poor, who again, will selectively target the rich during this revolution. <br />
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Yet, if anything, history proves us wrong. Sure, revolutions may upend the ruling class and the wealthy - but again, much of the harm is borne by the poor. There are no clean revolutions. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic is a form of natural revolution, yet the rich are fairing on quite well while low income earners bear much of the burden. <br />
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In the Post Election Violence of 1998 in Kenya, the ruling class emerged unscathed while ordinary citizens and those in informal settlements bore the impact. <br />
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Furthermore, revolutions are anything but quick. Looking back at the Arab Spring, the only countries that are back to some semblance of normal are those that returned to the Status Quo. 10 years later, Tunisia and other countries that underwent change are still going through periods of turbulence. Syria has been at war for 9 years and about 500,000 deaths later, it is now clear that the regime is going nowhere. <br />
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The French Revolution lasted all of 10 years. The fantasy that there will be a few days of revolution where things change for the better remains just that - a fantasy. <br />
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Our view that the poor will be revolutionaries is a perfect example of self-preservation. <br />
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People who consider themselves not poor and not rich can afford to hold such views which outsource the dangerous work of being revolutionaries to the poor, and the equally dangerous task of being victims to the rich. All the while, we ordinary people will be conveniently out of harm and only suffer slight inconvenience.<br />
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A third driving force for such views against the poor can also be attributed to Protestantism. Beliefs around Christianity are strongly held by the majority of the Kenyans, with Protestants being quite common. Among other things, Protestantism encourages taking a high moral view of oneself. This is one of the rewards of sacrificing the lures of the world to follow the religion. People who are poor are thus looked down upon and viewed as lacking the right work ethic amongst other views.<br />
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The problem with these widely held views against the poor is that, ironically, they lead to government policies that harm those who do not earn much. <br />
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If you were to task a typical Kenyan with fighting crime - they already hold the view that crime and poverty are two sides of the same coin. Realising the challenges in trying to tackle crime by itself, they often switch to taking measures against the poor with an expectation that such will result in reduced crime. <br />
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Eventually, we come full circle. When we ourselves are tasked with government policy, we go from viewing the poor as criminals-in-waiting, to taking measures against them to stop them from committing crimes, given that we see them as potential criminals. <br />
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In essence, we are that very thing that we fight - the clueless ruling-class-in-waiting and the out-of-touch-rich in waiting. <br />
<br />
It’s time we gave the poor a break - by viewing them as human beings just like ourselves, rather than inferior people who need to be rescued by us. Such views are simply a mirror of who we are. Should you want to help someone, do so because they are a human being, but not because they are a poor person who needs saving from doom. I know it’s hard, but once you do it once it is no longer as hard.<br />
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLXcNREU8Co/XqX6JIbtLxI/AAAAAAAAmaw/zWW47uiayAofWVINebC5YWTAzB6jInmWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/KB%2BLager.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLXcNREU8Co/XqX6JIbtLxI/AAAAAAAAmaw/zWW47uiayAofWVINebC5YWTAzB6jInmWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/KB%2BLager.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KB Lager settles quite quickly when served and is very drinkable while warm. It's flavour maintains a strong profile of roasted grain. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In Nairobi, beers are usually served cold, or sometimes warm depending on the mood of who’s serving you. <br />
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Outside Nairobi, warm beers may come as a standard and you may have to specify that you indeed would prefer a cold beer, as I once found in Naivasha. <br />
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I was at an infamous bar next to the Nairobi - Nakuru highway and this was my first time ordering a KB Lager. By the time I realised I had been served a warm beer, it had already been opened and the only option was a second bottle of cold beer then I could mix half-and half. <br />
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It did not escape my attention that the waitress serving me slightly hesitated when I asked for a cold beer. I got the impression that it was taboo to order a cold KB Lager. <br />
<a name='more'></a>Indeed, there seemed to be a difference in flavour, but this would only become distinct about three months later when I had an entire crate to myself. <br />
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KB Lager’s character is defined by a bold “roast” or roasted flavour profile, which hits the front and mid palate (the tip and middle of the tongue).<br />
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Its ingredients include both barley(malted) and cereals as tends to be the case with other mainstream Kenyan beers. The roasting of the grains are probably what lend to KB's character.<br />
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While I initially had my KB cold, I realised it did not set off the right notes as when I first tried. I then remembered the waitress’ hesitation at serving a cold beer, and so I tried it warm. <br />
<br />
Interesting enough, I found the beer more palatable when taken warm rather than cold, and that’s how I proceeded to enjoy it henceforth.<br />
<div>
<br />
Thus, I would describe KB Lager as a beer designed to be drunk warm, appropriate if you do not have a fridge or for occasions where you may not have enough cooling capacity. <br />
<br />
It comes in as a medium beer at about 5.5% alcohol volume that also prides itself as "sugar free" and is packed in a 500 ml bottle. While this may vary from person to person, it is a comfortable drink that doesn’t give a strong punch and which can be drunk over a more relaxed session. It should also be tolerable the morning after without much of a hangover.<br />
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Keroche Brewery who are the brewers (and perhaps lending the name KB also) define KB Lager as an “affordably priced” beer meaning it’s cost comes in on the lower side. The beer is available at select bars and supermarkets and also online at SkyGarden at about KSh. 150 a bottle. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />
As countries scramble to meet the explosion in demand of medical supplies through locally manufactured alternatives, Kenyans have been wondering why the country even imports. Such optimism misses the fact that such factories are located in protected EPZs rather than across the country (<a href="https://twitter.com/MOH_Kenya/status/1250312954282512387">Image of Shona EPZ from Ministry of Health's Twitter Page</a>) <br />
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For many people in Africa, more so Sub-Saharan Africa, local manufacturing is a concept we are very much in love with. We wish that our countries manufactured 90 percent of what we used locally, and by doing so, our feeling is that our countries would become developed countries.<br />
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Of course, manufacturing 90% of all locally consumed products means we would only import 10%. Early in school, we are taught that 1+3=4, and likewise 4-3=1. <br />
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Equally, if by manufacturing 90% locally means that we import very little, then the assumption is that importing very little means we manufacture a lot locally. And so, many people call for the banning of imports to promote local manufacturing. <br />
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Most governments understand that banning imports is hard, and so what they do is raise taxes on them. But interesting enough, raising taxes on imports does not lead to increased local manufacturing. Instead, it leads to a decrease in local manufacturing. <br />
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In 1981, manufacturing contributed to a quarter of sub-Saharan African economic output according to the Brookings’ Institute. This has gradually fallen to 10% today, or less than half of where we were in 1981. This is despite the effort of many African countries to ban imports, or more practically, to tax them out of existence. <br />
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So, what is happening - why do efforts to manufacture more lead to less manufacturing?<br />
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Well, simply put, banning imports to promote exports or local manufacturing is like deciding that you need to cook better food than your neighbour, but instead of improving your cooking skills, you ban your neighbour from cooking!<br />
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Sure, if your neighbour does not cook and you cook, logically, you have made better food than they have by virtue of them not participating in the comparison. But if they are better at cooking and they keep cooking, then your strategy to ban them from cooking becomes hard to implement since you have no control over them. <br />
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In turn, African countries should not be focusing on so called “import-substitution” policies, but should rather focus on local manufacturing as an issue on its own. <br />
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The problem with local manufacturing is that you can not do it without imports. Looking at the world’s top 20 exporters, only Brazil and Russia fail to feature in the world’s top 20 importers. Brazil is a heavy agricultural producer and Russia exports a lot of minerals, both being raw materials rather than manufactured produce. They are also not far off, featuring in the list of top 30 importers. The world's 4 largest exporters are also the world’s 4 largest importers. <br />
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Manufacturing is defined as value addition, rather than local production. So this means that manufacturing involves a lot of taking what already exists, then adding something small to it and you end up with a finished product. <br />
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For instance, African countries are obsessed with car manufacturing. Top car manufacturing countries like Japan and Germany happen to import a lot of car parts. Japan, which is a global car manufacturing giant, has cars among its top 10 imports! <br />
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In fact, Japan and South Korea are notoriously known as countries that barely fully produce anything locally - they import everything they produce. South Korea makes both the chipsets that run our smartphones and the ships that bring in our oil, but the silicon and iron needed for both are all imported to Korea. <br />
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Kenya largely manufactures the cooking oil and soap it consumes, but it relies on crude palm oil imports from Malaysia to manufacture cooking oil. Sure, we can grow oil palms locally, but that would involve either replacing maize or sugarcane as much of Kenya is arid and semi arid. To top that, we still import sugar and maize because we do not produce enough locally. <br />
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Kenya is also a leading tea exporter, and in fact we can almost entirely manufacture tea without any imports. But we need to import the ink that prints the tea packages for export, and we need to import the fuel and truck that will transport the tea to Mombasa for loading on a ship. We also need to import the spares for the machines at the tea processing factory. <br />
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In short, it is quite difficult to adopt an almost 100% export policy. The more you export, the more you import because of the very many things that are needed in value addition. <br />
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Even further proof can be seen in the disruption brought about by the coronavirus that has led to disruption of air and sea freight between countries and the shutting of factories in top exporters like China. With Kenya’s borders almost closed, local manufacturing could never have been easier. Yet, we were almost facing a crisis of items running out if shipping does not resume. <br />
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What we are seeing is that even with the shutting of borders and absence of imports, the problems that make manufacturing locally persist. <br />
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In Kenya, the Ministry of Health’s Twitter page has been posting images of locally manufactured Personal Protective Equipment. Notably, this manufacturing is taking place in an Export Processing Zone. <br />
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All local manufacturing is good, no? Well, The Economist found that most of the investment and benefits of Export Processing Zones(EPZs) do not go to the local economy, save for the jobs created - which are also not so much high paying. EPZs are exempted from paying taxes and therefore much of the revenue and in turn the profit goes back to the investor’s home country or some other country. <br />
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More importantly, there is the question why such manufacturing thrives hidden away in EPZs rather than in the rest of the country. Many manufacturers in Kenyan have pointed out that it would be cheaper if their factories were located in other countries and they simply sold the finished product here. <br />
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That tells us we have a local manufacturing problem. Much has been documented about it. Electricity prices are high because some of the power producers are expensive, politically connected outfits. <br />
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Moving things and setting up a factory is very costly. Everyone from the politicians at the top, to the governor, to the chief, the police and government inspector all want some form of payment to not frustrate you. After all, the fact that you own a factory and dozens of vehicles to transport things shows you are "rich". The general population equally regards any ownership of some form of capital as proof of bottomless riches. This leads to doom if your factory operates in a sector with low profits or if you simply hit a rough patch.<br />
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Looking at publicly listed companies, we can equally see that firms in the service sector are consistently more profitable than those in manufacturing. <br />
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In a simple analogy, the public can tell how much a cement or beer company is selling based on how many trucks from the company we see around, which we can also stop and demand bribes or taxes from. <br />
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It is however very hard to tell how profitable a bank is from looking at its vehicles or how many buildings it has, and therefore it is very hard to extort money out of a bank. The governor can not simply walk into the local bank branch and demand to shut it down and in turn disrupt its operations, but they can do so for a factory. <br />
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The cost of delivering a service does not grow proportionally to the quantity you sell. A bank does not consume more electricity or need more trucks to issue more loans, but a factory does. So services are more profitable. <br />
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Which then makes you wonder which sane person would invest in manufacturing rather than in services? <br />
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It sounds like a cliche, but the extent of corruption is the number one reason why African countries don’t manufacture. Sure, it is cheaper to make toothpicks in China, but it is insanely expensive to attempt to make them in Kenya you would even wonder why you tried. <br />
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For African countries to become manufacturing giants, they must address their “eating” problem. As the proverb says, we can’t have our cake and eat it. The more we demand to eat, the lesser the size of the cake. It doesn’t even matter if we ban cake from other countries, our appetite is still too much!<br />
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We must decide if local investors need to be supported, or whether they need to be eaten from the way termites slowly eat away your door until it falls off. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EyCGF72OjMY/XneiP6N4ttI/AAAAAAAAltg/BT51QHblAQkOHy7SPlTlesCtqbL2SyoQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20200125_193235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EyCGF72OjMY/XneiP6N4ttI/AAAAAAAAltg/BT51QHblAQkOHy7SPlTlesCtqbL2SyoQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/20200125_193235.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
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A fancy Bosch iron box with floor showing electrical damage from the appliance. Though more expensive than standard iron boxes, the appliance has proved not to be as reliable nor easy to open up. </td></tr>
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It once used to be that the more you paid for an electric appliance, the better the quality you got.<br />
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Then, the world moved to China and it simultaneously became cheaper to make quality appliances, but incredibly cheap to make cheap appliances(here cheap means poor quality than low cost) Turkey also became a global manufacturing hub for appliances, which meant that we now had thousands of brands to choose from since anyone with some money could manufacture easily.<br />
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More choice, I am shocked to announce, has not been necessarily better.<br />
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So if paying more for an iron box or cooker does not mean you are paying for better quality, what does it mean? Well, it means you are paying for more features, including a long list of confusing features you may not need. Even more confusing is that sometimes the extra features are available in the cheaper product, but they are hidden or disabled!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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Sometimes, paying more nets you an appliance that actually lasts - but with a catch. If the appliance has parts that need replacing often such as a coffee maker glass jug or nylon filter, you will find that the part is no longer available as the entire appliance has been replaced with a newer model with incompatible parts. <br />
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All these are things I found out when my Bosch iron box literally went out in a blaze of glory, and when I tried to replace the nylon filter in a Black&Decker Coffee Maker. <br />
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I had gotten the Bosch iron box about mid-2015 at a supermarket stock clearance, and it was a fancy model going for about KSh. 4,000 down from KSh. 8,000 ($40 from $80). It was a steam iron with a safety feature where it could switch itself off if accidentally left on or if left lying flat on a garment. <br />
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It was so much for safety features when sparks erupted from the bottom in the middle of ironing. Moreover, I realised that you couldn’t just open up the iron box. It uses a very proprietary screw with a 6-star slot and a protruding spike in the middle. The only place I can find that screw driver is possibly a Bosch service centre, and not for lack of trying. Few other appliances use such an impossible-to-unscrew screw. <br />
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Granted 4 years may be a long time with an iron box, but then purchasing an iron box that costs more than four times the average should deliver way more ironing days and they should not almost end in a catastrophe. <br />
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People tend to buy Bosch as a premium brand with longer lasting appliances, but I would suggest that this quality does not at least apply to their iron boxes. A cheap model from another brand will work just fine and save you money. <br />
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As for my Black&Decker coffee maker, it still works perfectly years later, save for the fact that its parts are no longer available. What you will find interesting is that it has been replaced by a model that looks exactly like the one I bought. The parts though have slight adjustments such that they do not fit into each other. You would wonder why such a model update would be necessary if it meant that parts for both models become hard to stock simultaneously. <br />
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An appliance buying strategy I once found dependable was buying a cheap appliance brand where the variety was limited and where the controls were largely manual. Such brands had few electronic circuits in them and were therefore less prone to failure as these are what tend to fail in fancy gadgets with touch and button interfaces. Such brands also took so long to replace a model that you knew what they had in stock had to be dependable. <br />
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China (and Turkey) have made it cheap for any brand to outsource their manufacturing. People also want to buy something that looks modern with fancy shapes and fancy colours. Therefore everything is manufactured at the same factories but with different names, and models change very fast based on what’s the latest feature. <br />
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The only way out of this quagmire is to buy based on reviews. This means buying last year’s or last-year’s-but-one model which was highly rated by those who bought it. Of course there may be a trade off such as increased power consumption from older devices - but you will all agree that slightly increased consumption from a fridge that lasts years is better than one that breaks down after less than six months. <br />
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For items like cheap coffee makers, old models with all-metal parts don’t need replacing and will probably last years. <br />
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It may be wise to begin your appliance purchase by looking up the brand on Google, Facebook or Twitter, or for specific models, looking up customer reviews on online sites. The challenge here is save for Amazon, most online shopping sites do not have proper customer review sections. This leaves you with searching for what people said on Google and social media. <br />
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Also brands do vary over time, and across their range of products. In Kenya, Ramtons, a local brand takes a lot of flack for fridges that keep breaking down. Yet, I have owned a Ramtons fridge for 8 years now with no issue and a Ramtons cooker oven for about the same amount of time too. <br />
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My fridge seems to be no longer available and replaced <a href="https://www.ramtons.com/fridges-freezers/fridges/207-liters-2-door-direct-cool-fridge-white-rf-267">with the RF 267</a>. Of course I should point out that the models people have been complaining about are the lower-priced smaller models which are refreshed more regularly and likely more modern compared to the larger, less moving stock. Either way, the complaints are quite numerous. <br />
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My takeaway here - Google before you buy and go with what gets overwhelmingly recommended. Price is no longer a determiner. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This post is the last in these series of my first Euro</i></span><i style="font-size: small;">Trip. You can click here to read my previous post on my real experience in Madrid</i><i style="font-size: small;">. <a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2020/01/eurotrip-madrid-in-2-days-it-has-its.html" target="_blank">https://blog.denniskioko.com/2020/01/eurotrip-madrid-in-2-days-it-has-its.html</a></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-2492358c-7fff-aa8e-a5ba-9873a428a96c"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">I was headed to the airport, en route to my final destination - Mallorca pronounced as Majorca (with a Y in place of the J). The island of Mallorca had ended up in my itinerary by accident. When exploring cheap flights between Madrid and Munich - my starting point, it appeared that all flights went through Mallorca. It, therefore, made sense to have a stopover at the island. <br /><br />Again, the Madrid airport is packed during summer and it would be a good idea not to have any check-in luggage for a European stop unless you love queueing in long and winding queues. The Air Norwegian flight between Madrid and Mallorca was hassle free and comes highly recommended. <a name='more'></a> </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YE9ASLdEqP-SiDSPhxAocqHfqWNglAnCcbGCJdPrFMAUvPLP9CuFxP2nXdaEIH2IkJrVucE0v8vCZbnLIucNZjviSaDcqhP1fc3M-5CBY-k_xwuzDkJyvdgaTgZ0Lm5PWzwauBLa" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />Shooters (A club), in Mallorca<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There is also the breathtaking view out of the plane as you approach the Mallorca airport, with the blue of the ocean punctuated by a number of boats here and there. The first task after alighting from the plane was finding the bus, in my case, to Palma de Mallorca.<br /><br />Mallorca has a German side and a British one. It feels like <a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2011/04/kenyas-south-coast-modern-coast.html" target="_blank">Diani back in Kenya</a>. Of course, the British side is smaller (and further away). Palma is the main town close to the airport and pretty popular with the Germans, which explains why my Munich connections were through Mallorca. The British side does have one thing for it - there is a large club that has a hotel annex meaning that you can check in to the club and never have to leave until you need to head back home. <br /><br />I took the Airport bus to its last stop at Arenal, which was about a kilometre or so from my hotel - the Hotel Amazonas. With a few hours to spare to check-in time, I decided to grab pizza just off the beach. Lunch was followed by check-in, which was followed by the rude discovery that WiFi was an extra 6 or so Euros per day, which I was not going to pay, followed by a nap. <br /><br />Later in the day, I woke up and grabbed a pair of shorts, a vest and threw a shirt on top to head to the beach. Unfortunately, I did not have sandals or any open shoes, but this was quickly resolved from the hotel’s “lost and found”. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="478" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/AO-Z9y3JMSUERsN8UYhp_peFoXlYe5XCmP0FlVhU0HTRf2v2b62A7Lco8NF0b_utA-mCAGotERW_o7I0b-xsBbmhyL27gGK2Ja2DEmOErW5N-zyk45BDGYyxpesgUj0cKnwXDhNH" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />The Palma beach in Mallorca<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">From Barcelona, I had picked the lesson that it was not a good idea to carry your phone to the beach if there was no one to watch over it. I therefore made it to the beach in my clothing and nothing else. I left my shirt, vest and the borrowed sandals by the shoreline and waded into the water. <br /><br />The beaches at Mallorca are quite busy, while the waters are shallow, warm and quite rewarding. Deeper into the ocean, there was a group partaking in some form of water sport where they were towed in an inflatable dhow at high speed, floating and slamming into the water. <br /><br />In summer, Mallorca happens to benefit from late sunsets, which means that you have extra time to play around in the warm water or swim around for those who prefer showing off their amphibious skills. <br /><br />The evening saw me head back to my hotel for a change to something slightly warmer, my wallet, and my phone which I had missed for the few hours I had been playing around in the water. <br /><br />It also happened to be time for dinner, which saw me head to Restaurante China Ming, which I had found closed at lunch. It proved to be worth my time, with starters, a sumptuous main course, dessert and wine all coming at about 10 Euros. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NJRGpbuVgXY7WinuuQJQPRok7zKzWsT13f7OkV9xB9v3CXWud54U7VtiMNTjv-MUdevrkqhNrX31P9WmAbeRmNhhklgk1qci8ee-NrgVRSmos7-sTtfNntrUQMaWUf59V1BbBIds" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />One of the courses at the China Ming Restaurant, Mallorca<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dinner then led to an attempt to explore the Arenal section of Mallorca, which somehow saw me finding myself at what billed itself as a black club - the Black Magic Disco. I make it sound easier, yet I had to walk two or so kilometres past the Black Magic before resolving that I would probably not find any other interesting place and hence doubling back. <br /><br />Well, it’s not like the Black Magic disco was that good - it did try to play (black) hiphop before throwing in the towel and giving in to the popularity of reggaeton. But this was not before some Germans waded in and attempted to dance to hiphop until someone volunteered to teach them a couple of moves. <br /><br />The takeaway though was that I should have gone to a more regular club, as I found out when I was leaving for the hotel just after midnight when I decided to “just have a look” by popping into Club Shooters. <br /><br />I ended up spending more than two hours in there. The DJs were playing an entertaining mix, blending the electronic music that is popular in Europe and the usual Western Pop. To top it up, the crowd was quite lively and the lighting played a big role in adding to the party atmosphere. <br /><br />It was somewhere past 3 AM when I staggered into my hotel and my bed, from which I had to rouse myself before 6 AM for my airport run. It was so early that I had to take breakfast all by myself, and they had not even finished laying it out. I then caught an express bus to the airport, just outside the hotel. <br /><br />Again, there was some traffic on the highway leading to the airport, another reminder that people were up and about their lives and not everyone was here on holiday. As we got off the bus at the airport, I had to rouse some chap who had fallen asleep across the back seat. Seems there is quite a number of people who stagger right out of the club and straight to the airport. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RKOy_nn61L5_JzOteUa28Y0lPJ7JENL6uD9r9oOqUA3_YhjpIUXv1-sQ1fKzvNHH8i3wYG-Csw3LhH9ooFipAEIpbEhBxK2hRgLhAiMzwjl0CGPk9FTSdLgskHnRl5pKQ5QJYHLc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />The Alps, as viewed from a window - plane<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mallorca’s airport was really packed, even to a shocking extent. Besides navigating hordes of people, including the many kissing couples, you also come to the realisation the airport is quite large and it takes quite a while to get to some gates. <br /><br />My flight back to Munich was on Laudamotion, which saw us overfly the Alps on a pretty cloudless morning which provided for breathtaking views of the mountain ranges below. It also resulted in the realisation that the Alps come to some abrupt end about 50 kilometres from Munich, with the city seemingly on some plain. </span><br /><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 20pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Munich - The End </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Landing back in Munich, I came to the realisation that one of the S lines was under repair and there was therefore only one other S train out of the airport before connecting with the U5 to my apartment, resulting in a longer trip and tour of Munich. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/0PG8Slub5iRKcE6UPtcKEoyG1LnWj1eGMN-XDvcd0ZcBZGoPlBN6hqxn5gyP6HrX_XU2MuymrTeH7o7IcaEvvi_LiQmkgv0XZvIngzupWNu4c769bXpbsk9OnyiXI6G_oJowrkZ-" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />Pork at the Gaststätte Scheidegger in Munich<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Being my last day in Munich, it also meant that it was time to buy gifts, which in turn meant a trip to downtown Munich. The airport train ticket also happens to be a full-day ticket for the entire Munich transport network and this came in handy when getting around. Some of the gift shops in Munich are the Deutsches Museum Shop, the Bayern Munich gift shops and the Breitengrad gift shop at SchellingStrasse, down the street from StammBar. <br /><br />The coming morning saw me take my chance with the U5 and the S3 back to Munich Airport. I had been warned that I should probably take the Lufthansa Airport Bus or a taxi to the airport given my morning flight on a weekday ,and my having several pieces of luggage as the Underground can be packed. <br /><br />Luckily, this proved to not be the case as though busy, there was enough space for me and my luggage on the U5, while the S3 is basically an airport train - just don’t get on the wrong side of the train as it splits at some point near the airport and only part of the train goes to the airport! Nothing like the peculiarity of German trains to make for a befitting end to a Euro Trip!</span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Like Milan, Madrid is another capital city with not much to offer, unless you are a football fan. However, unlike Milan, Madrid does have some soul and even prides itself as the gay capital of Europe, which is a title that Berlin also claims. <br /><br />My transport option from the airport in Madrid was the subway, which I found dependable. Alighting at the Plaza De Espana, I slightly got lost before making my way to the <i>Nemrut</i> restaurant for a late lunch and early drink, followed by laundry at the highly recommended <i>Open Wash Lavandería Autoservicio</i>. It is more automated than my other laundry at Milan and I had learned not to shrink my clothes, yet, the setting I chose was not as satisfactory in cleaning my clothes. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br />Laundry was followed by my hotel at <i>Abel Victoriano</i>, which was a small and pleasant place. The room only had a window opening to a dark staircase, but it was well done and came with a fan. I also think I had picked a cold somewhere and it peaked here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />I did not do as much of the neighbouring streets as I intended as there was a visit to an Ikea to be done. Having picked a smaller city store, I found it did not stock the paper lampshades I was looking for and I was in no mood for a visit to the suburbs. The mosque opposite the Ikea was worth the stop, as so was the large frog sculpture along the way. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/nrOKoqaEEw5sX5z8n1YWFt6U61-e5Kjr5AGXj-IzgQO-pmXGrc0Zn20QYUqeodRE64QFwbRj13nNYpOjBghHMw8i2Jvc-o45VbVg_dkuKlvKNSg1Rat-wGA06U6-liVm8T-8Ni71" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />
A street in central Madrid, a city which prides itself as Europe’s Gay Capital </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />After the Ikea, my next stop was at the Balenciaga shop where I was looking forward to getting shocked by their outrageous designs. It was underwhelming. Besides some Chinese shoppers, there was not much at the shop and there was also the fact that the staff had their eyes glued at me in my short time there. A freak on the internet but unremarkable in the streets.<br /><br />Next stop was across the city at the “seven tits” hills. It was a long walk that took me past a Bentley dealership where I had the luxury to take in the Bentayga, and there was also the quirky burger shop inspired by the Bentley shop. Then, I crossed the road into the park, which has some interesting brick structures and is also a worthy stop by itself, though one I did not have time for. <br /><br />I broke my long walk at <i>100 Montaditos</i> for a couple of 1 Euro mini-sandwiches alongside large 2 Euro beer mugs, with my favourite mini-sandwiches being the pulled pork and the feta cheese. <br /><br />Well rested, I was soon back on my walk to the park, which would soon bring me to an encounter with the entire six lanes of the M30, which I came to learn is billed as Spain’s busiest road. Crossing it was possible by way of a footbridge which was less than half a kilometre ahead, which also allowed me to pause and take in the traffic as it zoomed past both ways. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DBk5xtB_cXHqZSJHkGjY8Qin59noRwqVi1hWl4MiLNVocPunT3-poaj5zoZAvj_5-IjkYWktTAEukqH6UE0B-hwX-vdlQazHs04l7rStpAYGC4kiTvgeE-OzHN9Sb7BmJzP1unpu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />
The El Retiro Park and Garden in Madrid </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The bridge brought me to the brick-walled apartments of the Vallecas district in Madrid, and about two kilometres later, I was finally at my destination. While the area around the park gradually rises, the park suddenly juts from the ground as a series of steep, almost flat-topped hills. <br /><br />The slopes are carpeted with grass with a sprinkling of shrubs and trees, with gravel paths snaking their way around the slopes to the top. You can choose to snake your way around the gentler paths, or should you feel sufficiently fit, there is similarly the option of taking the steeper and shorter paths to the top. <br /><br />The park is littered with people walking their dogs or those running around, trying to catch up with their breath. Closer to the top, you will find groups of people, especially younger people lying by the sides taking in the views of the city. The paths around the top also have benches here and there, where you can also sit. <br /><br />Siete Tetas Park quickly proves that it is worth the trip from the excellent view that you get of the brick apartments in the foreground and the expanse of the city in the background. The view especially becomes golden as the sun sets, painting the landscape in a multitude of shades right before your eyes. <br /><br />I left the park when the sun had just set, with a goal of walking the more than six kilometres to my hotel as fast as possible. I now had a better sense of my bearing around the city and with few detours, the walk back to my hotel was pretty much straight forward. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ke9ycmMxZ0AqvOsfVcosJ7T1WhwSB44Atmq6V-lBfcZjw6a9a8OUyyCoX-8SnT7LUMtYLkFuGUA_gZgYYslLbfTJ6oyrgm_4pl9eI-gcoOJ7XatM0W4hEw0Wl7826B2pPWFB2sLk" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />
Madrid’s M30 motorway </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I walked down the streets of Vallecas, crossed the M30 and this time joined the <i>Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona </i>(Avenue of the City of Barcelona) before walking down along much of its length. At some point, there was what looked like a promising pizza eatery offering 7 Euro pizzas that I really wanted to stop at, but I was afraid that it was getting late and I was not familiar with how safe walking the streets would be. For extra safety, I stuck to the wider main avenues that I was sure had more people and vehicular traffic. <br /><br />The <i>Avenia de la Ciudad de Barcelona </i>led into the <i>Paseo de la Infanta Isabella</i> (Boulevard of Infanta Isabella, a princess who was heir to the Spanish throne and who died in 1931). The boulevard shortly ends at a roundabout that can be quite the obstacle for those new to it and crossing on foot, after which I crossed into <i>Calle de Atocha</i> (Street of Atocha). <br /><br />Branching off <i>Calle de Atocha</i> are the <i>Calle de Carretas</i> and <i>Calle del Carmen</i> which take you straight to Central Madrid’s Gran Via (Great Way). The Gran Via preserves a good chunk of its dated architecture and neon style lighting denoting its role as a shopping district. One thing that is important to mention is that even at night, Gran Via is teeming with human beings and may aptly be described as a sea of people. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Awn37q33z3zh-obz-afkdOapWjO-f8ZkYzCa7qPz12eT6gTNx5sKDoEc3tU5ojLc98xZTLSlopPM5eLTXqep78YTAGpBhUx1StFtXlqVxLBPtVGGuxZ3RSd93Ae78LVEBg_R1kAM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">The brick structures of Nuancia, Madrid</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I branched off <i>Gran Via into Calle de San Bernardo</i>, which was the street leading to my hotel - the Abel Victoriano. Feeling more relaxed now that I was near my hotel, it was time to look for dinner. Relief came in the form of <i>Cerveceria Lena</i>, a restaurant by the street which has photos of its offerings and the pricing right by its door, giving budget customers like me some confidence on what we would like to eat and spend on. <br /><br />The <i>Cerveceria Lena</i> is a restaurant with about two rows of seats and tables, and also a long bar which separates the open kitchen from the seating area. It also has a TV set mounted right on top of the door and seems to be a favourite place for those looking to catch up with football or the latest Euro-show. Seating at the bar results in lower prices compared to being served at a table, and you can guess what I chose. <br /><br />There were about two other people in the restaurant who seemed to be there for some international football match that was showing. I ordered some fries, pork, egg, lettuce alongside starters of bread. There was also the obligatory beer. Altogether, that should have set me back somewhere between 11 and 13 euros. <br /><br />Well fed, it was time to walk back to my hotel and call it a day - one in which 18 kilometres were walked. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/rLQbSS4aTk-BRCZZZlq6QhLXH3VbvZfMg5hjTBBpkZVx3CkClvwHLBy_tDiVvaW9qrKA8lo-HngOq-v2WAgrSOxR9cqugwXnSKv3MNkIaMnbX-njVIv55WhTUuS7Zb2d9VT4i38P" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Madrid from the Siete Tetas Park </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the sun rose, or rather, before the sun rose - it was time to wake up, pack, have breakfast at the restaurant downstairs and start heading for the airport. It was a shock for me when I stepped out into the street at 7:30 AM and found the sun was not yet up. The second surprise was the Madrid subway. I might have been on holiday, but clearly, Madrilenas were needed at work, for the trains were not only full but were packed like a can of sardines. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Next in these series, we hit the island resort of Mallorca! Come back next week to read about my experience. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i>From Nice, I caught a flight the next day out to Barcelona. This time, the flights were cheaper than the trains and the buses took too long. I also found out I happened to be lucky in that this was not one of the weeks that Vueling delayed a literal thousands of flights. <br /><br />Important to note is that if you want to have fun flying cheap between Schengen countries, then ensure you only have hand luggage. The queue to check in luggage can be horrendous, and so can be the costs. So, travel light. It is cheaper to keep laundering a bag of clothes than to pay for check-in luggage.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ukQTPOsE8NrWXoZIBhmbOXBmHzTMcjWSpJrtmC_nwZKLosQBEF3lpDObCGOfn8eQic5mY_NEBbhlpHW6t5C8mIcF0PKvt8TueN-UGdMB2KwLG5yjarJKpvwgKzyHwv0l0YLT2JYd" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><br />
Barcelona’s La Rambla with its hundreds of tourists. The city receives more than 25 million visitors annually </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Barcelona is otherwise known as the pickpocket capital of Europe, but with the almost 30 million visitors annually, you are still very likely to leave without encountering the Eastern European pickpockets. The Catalan state has also done a lot to beef up security, but also one of the perks of being black is that you are more likely to get suspicious looks rather than get pickpocketed. <br /><br />I was staying at the Hostal Europa, which though not expensive, was neither cheap. I came to discover it is right next to Barcelona’s most touristy area which may explain the cost. The other thing is that Barcelona’s streets are still packed at 2 AM, and at 3 AM. That’s what 30 million tourists and being Europe’s most popular destination gets you. <br /><br />There were a few clubs that play hip hop, but my joy was short-lived as I came to learn that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to figure out how to reserve, pay, and get into a Barcelona hiphop club in two days. I got frozen at the Jamboree Dance Club for all two nights that I was in Barcelona. Those hoes really ain’t loyal. <br /><br />There’s a bunch of interesting things to do in Barcelona if you really don't care about the Flamenco (some Spanish dance) and if you can not figure out how to hang out with Messi or Enrique Iglesias. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gwLmD_CqLYZmOeBWdckjYnB-P1MKEQRd2tdBeTjxg_zKOZqtW-IUxk9NbE8pZxMxoDDePn6Em4sZlIXkNEhQlUf9idI5H75m8VsdxEHVUzheKZpJ-EEETvOhJrU6FqlVtrVGXWHL" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia. Construction began in 1882 and the church is set for completion in 2026. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">For starters, there is the <i>La Sagrada Familia</i>, which is a grand Catholic Castle Church that has been in construction for more than 100 years and will still be under construction until 2022 or some point after that. It is not only grand and imposing but similarly captivating. I spent no less than three hours marvelling at this sight and finding different angles to photograph it. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br />Then, there is the <i>Bunkers del Carmel</i>, an old air-gun fortress from the Spanish civil war which is now more of an elevated point from which you can take in most of Barcelona. It is full of tourists. In fact, Barcelona is so full of tourists that the steps up to the Bunkers have graffiti commanding tourists to “go back home”, and also reading “fuck tourists”. <br /><br />If heights are not your thing, then there is the Barcelona beach on the other end. Just make sure you lease one of the lockers if you are by yourself as no one will accept to watch your stuff - remember you are in the world's pickpocket capital, where rackets are rife. <br /><br />In between, there are lots of restaurants and bars, and if you can stand European music, the bars may be cool. If you can, remember to comment on Jamboree’s Facebook page and carry an entrance fee to their club or you will have less of an option. Suckers. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1O6jq9doj9Fh_jyIBX-jt-2RRPubQb-dh8h06y0sQViARYXVZzpk5wB5VOZbtlPMPGcvrnhg4f1oEwIMMv_sCqUJYqq5EXFWOPkx8ECwJvNA4ehb2xAiydd9QksQ_grHvDyUqW0E" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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The Boqueria Market has been open since 1840 </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Did I mention there are lots of other tourists they are almost under your armpit? There’s also the “futuristic” buildings to see for those interested in design and architecture. These were built in the early 20th Century and were seen as a vision of what buildings would be popular in the future. They mostly have a wavy design; to put it, they are interesting. I did not go into any of them, but it is fascinating to see that we have been consistent in always picturing the future as very different from the now, and also wrong in getting it right. <br /><br />As the capital of secessionist Catalonia, you will also notice the yellow of Catalunya’s flag hanging from Barcelona windows and the yellow independence ribbons everywhere. It is also an enterprising city with lots of businesses, especially small businesses in the vehicle-restricted backstreets. There is also the <i>La Boqueria market</i> off the tourist-popular <i>La Rambla</i> street, and here, you can admire different meats and vegetables from stalls that have existed for more than 100 years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Barcelona rightly marked my longest destination stay of three nights. It felt melancholic as I caught the Aerobus, sort of a bus-taxi, to the airport for my next destination. The packed Air Europa flight was delayed for an hour, which gave me time to catch on my sleep before we departed for Madrid. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/0fTPziZWJz8C_Z_OQa0lntkNoLUGqTV_acuRfACj450ssam_Y20mN0pDlw2JOcmgNj5KKu31akwo0jDQ475wEXZcPlWGocnDX0dQg2zhakKZDa8NMOQ_628Uy9PwVjoIMqo0fEus" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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Casa Mila is one of the modernist buildings strewn around Barcelona. Built in 1906, this building sought to capture how the future would look like </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><i><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2020/01/eurotrip-madrid-in-2-days-it-has-its.html" target="_blank">Next in these series, read about my trip to Madrid, yet another boring European Capital. </a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nice is a couple of hours drive from the French-Italy border, but not far enough for you to bid goodbye to the undulating Alpine hills that drive into the sea <a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2019/12/boring-and-architectural-milan.html" target="_blank">(S</a></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2019/12/boring-and-architectural-milan.html" target="_blank">ee my last post on Milan here).</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Nice bus stop is interesting enough situated at the airport - and you can even walk into the airport and explore different options to get around, such as helicopters. Should you not be aware, Nice airport also serves Monaco, which is a rich-people place which also hosts a Formula One track. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />Nice was undergoing some transport expansion with a new tram track at the airport, but which was not set to be operational until 2019. So our option to the city, 7 kilometres away, was a Metro bus which required you to buy a ticket inside the airport terminal. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1lk0QbMFuLZbjCKfmi6tgpJi_5vN2QUh83Je2ridqssL0DcYOxsfzKrhHxNoyx0KjpQRzQiIexYQ0Tk-vUM1b26qH76pjXHMSRG1VO2XDQMVUvoaUNdtDSCxiLIOiyaWCmltJ0RD" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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Nice as viewed from the promenade, with its rocky beach in the foreground</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />My first stop in Nice was the Casino Supermarket, where I was treated to a racist security check being the lucky, random shopper to get a patting, and one so intrusive it would feel more familiar in Nairobi. The city was still reeling from a terrorist attack where some deranged chap drove a truck through the Promenade that stretches from the city to the airport along the beach, driving on the pavement and killing more than 60 people. <br /><br />My stay was at some sweet hotel where I had two beds to myself. On my first day, I quickly made my way to the old town which consists of narrow streets and a host of eateries, bars and other touristy places. There is also a park up a rock which provides a vantage point where you can view the whole of Nice, but which gets shut at 7 PM by some strict guard. <br /><br />Do not despair though, for you can still spend hours catching a breathtaking view of Nice by the beach as the sun sets and also watch planes fly across the sea to land at the airport on the other side of the beach. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nice has an interesting beach, full of large pebbles but nevertheless frequented by the locals. Having caught enough of the sunset and early evening, you can stroll into the old town for some traditional pizza slices followed by drinks at any of the fancy and costly joints. <br /><br />And having missed the wine tour in Florence, I took extra care to catch the bus into the hills surrounding the city alongside bemused teenagers on their way from school. The bus was driven fast and my heart skipped several beats as we went round hairpin turns and up the steep hills where a view out of the window was rewarded with a valley falling dozens of metres below.<br /><br />I eventually got to my stop and began my trek to the three planned vineyards I was to visit. First was <i>Château de Bellet, </i>which was a short walk from the bus stop. It has a main building which I think at one point was a church - it was almost double storey in height, with steep roofs and the inside still had the hall feeling of a church and an altar. At the moment it serves as an office. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/gPLl7e1dLBuDlpeR9yGYT6Wl4tsAUR3TJBmoRT8_9yZGt52zshTfZ06fgEYjES2B1bVLr9Fp64OeKqhRkDmEG69dBjkOB7IHAIzHrO0_6i_FnBL7vSiEAEmZu52TNi1x_TBPmRNL" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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The Domaine de Vinceline - Bellet vineyard</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />The staff at <i>Château de Bellet </i>were kind enough to offer me a taste of the wines they produce and I immediately took a liking to the white, which was fruity. The explanation was that it had to do with the barrels - something like the whites were done in new barrels and the red in used barrels hence the reds ended up with more flavour and body. <br /><br />Now, it is at this point that I met the ridiculousness of French regulations. Can you believe that despite the beautiful view and weather, vineyards are not allowed to sell you wine to drink at the establishment because that now makes them a bar? I do not know what possible problem the French were trying to solve with this ridiculous regulation. <br /><br />The vineyards here are not expansive, especially give the terrain - but the same vineyard tends to have several parcels around the same area with processing and storage done at a central location for all. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5hlA2aH076nc2IhWuLhwpU5051HD1lfXXgbC0nqi9SAcJD0cOf7eyCMnwEemiJj8LZ-3Rn7BmNYXBbuzD_ZpnBpzkFq5NmJNf20Oh0-IxlwylWmsyL2klCEy4SWUrm_eKrs3bbAT" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">A Nice street by night </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Since I could not savour the wine thanks to the over-ambitious regulations, I decided to visit the other two vineyards. My next stop was the <i>Domaine de Vinceline - Bellet </i>and on my way, I was lucky to find a farmer preparing a new piece of land for a vineyard. There were at least two heavy earth moving equipment and him, which contrasts with farming in Kenya which would have been dozens of people working by hand and no equipment. <br /><br />The <i>Domaine de Vinceline - Bellet</i> is a little off the tarmac road that winds its way around homes and vineyards. Just as I branched off the tarmac, a white and fluffy dog joined me on my way to <i>Domaine de Vinceline - Bellet</i>, which is so inconspicuous that I passed by it before walking back to ask for directions. The family I asked for directions from was having lunch and turned out to be actually the proprietors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />They welcomed me and started by showing me around the property, explaining that in 2003 they sold all they had to buy the property and invest in a vineyard.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> It takes between one and a half years to three years to age a wine after pressing it. The press is also located at the vineyard, which mostly produces red wine, but has a few white grape vines. The name <i>Vinceline</i> is a combination of the couple’s names. Though farming is mechanised to a good extent, there is a limitation in the steep slope of the land. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />I had a great time with the Vincelines and they are quite gracious hosts, taking the time and effort to explain wine production and all that it entails. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/y1_H1shXsjH5_s1tiCllER86S_RNllf44hSI82pxxhb42vUCH_ZOUXbQ6v_JZSA7y-WKEC5BxOep-Sk6y_sUDKmKHt60-1OT-O6BkjRUt8cVAiYXqzLyagJCOcfbwPi423Cd12uE" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">The path through the woods in Nice’s Bellet wine region </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">As for the dog, it was not allowed to accompany me into the vineyard, but I would later meet it as I tried to visit the third vineyard. By some happenstance, the dog belonged to the <i>Domaine De La Source Famille,</i> which was to be my third stop. That is until I made it through the gate and into the main buildings. Everything looked nice, forgive the pun, but unlike the dog, the family were not as welcoming and it even felt that I was intruding into their farm. I had to apologise and beat a hasty retreat, and I am not surprised they have a three-star rating. Perhaps they should leave the very welcoming dog to run things. <br /><br />I made my way back to <i>de Bellet </i>and found their 3 PM tour just beginning. I, however, opted out as I felt it did not make sense at this point in time having had a tour at</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>de</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Vinceline</i>. I walked back to the main road, this time taking a shortcut through an adventurous track in the woods and emerging at the stop ahead of the one I had alighted from. There was a beautiful chapel by the road and also a water fountain which came in handy after the draining activities of the day, and before the twenty-to-thirty minute bus wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />It was really cheap taking the bus and walking around the vineyards guided by Google Maps, though I think there are other options such as driving and even guided tours, though, of course, these are really costly. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/hsErqsqG3wRFlXhX9OwDkESCU5ChPe00euSGonGCJ_DdpmdX6CqVVAGjEyGvuCuuZwh8ewXvXkbJiMn1NQ2RSiDCTarJEoakhYW5Hdn7ZxaIyFOXVa5LQX3aLniSTfMBHUnRW1MY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Nice’s Fountain Miroir d’Eau (Mirror of Water)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />Having spent a fruitful day with the grapes, I returned for yet another golden sunset at the beach next to the old town. This time round, I had more hours to catch the sunset and I would swear it was totally worth it. <br /><br />I then tried to follow it up with some clubbing, ending up at the <i>Les Distilleries Idéales</i>, where a Chinese family was really having a good time and were fun to watch. There’s the <i>American Bar</i> close to the beach, but like everything else American, it is more hype than substance. I was also frozen at one establishment probably due to my race, and my attempt to find a more fancy place ended up accumulating more miles rather than revealing any place worth writing about. Clearly, I do not learn. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2020/01/barcelona-one-in-25-million.html" target="_blank">Next in these series, read about my visit to one of the most popular tourist destinations on earth, Barcelona. </a></i></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">I eventually did find my hotel, which was close to the Milan Central Station, itself a large and interesting-looking building which I never went into. <br /><br />As for my hotel in Milan, the less that is written about it the better. There was the noise filtering in from the neighbouring rooms - it sounded like it was a long term stay for Asian and Nigerian migrants. There was also the furniture that did not look like it had been dusted in ages and the broken flower bed and soil along the balcony that appeared to have been undisturbed for months. Let us say, this location takes the crown for the worst place I have stayed in. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sbgjHhdPZKwedd41gJmeDhr4-m-pp6-BLi2gUR2kTQUjT1789STlIWq4MZJdZn2XBRhalloKKepotdm3l_XL59KIasUwzea1uBsV3fAn3CSiIZPeFVDKpHNF7XCIb17HJo7Otysm" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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One of Italy’s high speed trains</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Milan was also the city where I learned that there is a reason that commercial dryers at pay-to-use laundry shops warn you to watch the temperature. I chose 20 minutes on high and my socks shrunk, and my shirts almost melted. <br /><br />In the two days I was here, I established a routine of having breakfast at this cafe a short walking distance from my hotel, where on one day I found teenagers listening to music including STL’s <i>Lookie Lookie</i>. I tried finding out from them the hot clubs in Milan - but they spoke just enough English to let me know they do not speak English. <br /><br />That left me to attempt to find my way around the night scene but there was not much besides the <i>Monkey Cocktail Bar</i>, which plays a wide variety of music including dancehall and afrobeats and spots a quirky decor. <br /><br />The only other place worth mentioning was <i>Barba</i>, which is a bar with an old school feel including a black-and-white tube TV, tapes and vinyl on the wall, and even Bic pens. Wow. Both places also come with great service. <br /><br />From Milan, I caught a FlixBus to Nice, which gave me the opportunity to try out the FlixBus App that is revolutionising travel in Europe. FlixBus is an ultra cheap bus that you can book to basically any city in Europe. The green buses are not owned by FlixBus, but by families and other contractors. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4wmy0RlFqoYHiTEiEzxOfDMgZaBmU29PtHURhsKEa-sfFMO4WgX5w9QbhTo_0gEIGI6LOXdWfvvpaJluOLEltemyuc83Df4VEWqTYyQoTa4JbczaevdehcXEIpKahlBhL3AYPQi-" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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Milan’s redeveloped Central Business District with the Unicredit Tower in the foreground and the Bosco Verticale forested towers in the background</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I was afraid I would miss my bus as I got lost on the subway. Forget the Munich trains where the same route goes in opposite directions. In Milan, the same route splits at some point leading to two different destinations. You guessed it - I took the wrong train and had to double back to end up at the right station. <br /><br />Like in Rome, I ended up at a bus park, but this one was a little different in that it was way out of the city and seemed to exist purely as a bus park, with the train-stop and a cafe where I could grab some reasonably priced breakfast. <br /><br />My bus was late, almost 40 minutes late, and I came to see why this was the case. The traffic out of Milan was terrific, more of stop-and-go traffic. The bus stop seems located at such a place to get passengers on to the AutoStrada, Italy’s inter-city pay-per-use highway system. We were soon on the Autostrada and stopped at one of the truck/bus stops that line the highway for a driver shift exchange. <br /><br />As we got closer to the Italy/France border the scenery changed to more of a hilly landscape as we encountered the Alps. The Autostrada is designed as a flat highway meaning that you do not dip into valleys or climb up hills, but rather, you have a series of bridges across valleys opening up directly into tunnels through hills. The bridges were so high that there were whole towns way, way under the structures.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/VTe4Oy8NelxhPl5xB9NIn3p18cwOCpGzSeULxRCwy99VqMJLUQJih54XctEf_-xRFjYOoMXEJb6O82cT2QRTrRgNdqJoA7CvLNXUS9hGVEn6I-wDURHHGnbza99cZyF5nFiERp3x" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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A high speed Italian-France train as viewed from the Autostrada. Beneath is the town of Imperia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Alps seem to marry with the sea around the border, with the weather also changing to a rainy and foggy summer. We drove out the Autostrada for a stop at a town known as Savona, before proceeding along our journey to Nice in France, which was in itself jaw-dropping thanks to the steep drops that hugged the bridges. <br /><br />The French-Italian border is a nondescript point without much fanfare through which you drive into the French equivalent of the Autostrada. It is an unmanned border with no stop, and also the point where your phone makes the switch from Vodafone Italy to France's SFR. </span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2019/12/nice-new-wine-old-town.html" target="_blank">Next in these series, my efforts to visit a vineyard finally bear fruit, plus more of what Nice, France has to offer. Click here to read.</a></i></span><br />
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</script></div>The Scape 🐈http://www.blogger.com/profile/18331691347132070542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957245992879818934.post-78920280157784931452019-12-16T20:33:00.000+03:002020-01-19T01:16:02.517+03:00EuroTrip - Florence in 2 Days: The Young Meet the Renaissance <span style="font-size: x-small;">Firenze is the city that the Renaissance is said to have sprung from, though it is even disputed whether a renaissance actually existed or it merely exists in our imaginations, given the benefit of hindsight. The renaissance was supposedly this period where Europe began prospering economically thanks to the emergence of trading and literature. It is said to have begun with the rich textile trading families of Florence. <br /><br /><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2019/12/some-trains-lead-to-rome.html" target="_blank">My journey from Rome to Florence was meant to be on a train, probably Trenitalia (You can read about my experience in Rome by clicking here).</a> But then, there is Rail Europe’s badly designed website which increases the possibility of making a wrong booking time when you are booking a series of rides. And so it happened I had booked an evening rather than morning train. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">Luckily, I had discovered the GoEuro app and also found that for less than 10 Euros, precisely 8.99 Euros, I could grab a large, blue BusCenter bus from Rome to Florence. The ride would take just under three hours from the Rome Tiburtina bus station. <br /><br />One shocking thing I found with the bus stations in Italy is that they were few people milling around and they were effortless to use. In Nairobi, the main country bus station is a place I really try to avoid - teeming with criminals, overcrowded, and usually with mounds of garbage here and there. I was therefore expecting crowds and pickpockets at the regional bus station, but much to my surprise, found the train stations were in fact more crowded than the bus stations. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="478" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QB0NCvDmDz4R92qvn7c5cn2h0tVCimmuWsrjvwTxT3neipe1HFUgQLM6TfPdl96GQWr1zmK5C8NmTAaQchf5WrEa9CX31GZUostUBd8mcV6ddLzCp_YmUQn87maB6BO0w9xj88i1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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The Scandicci Bus Station in Florence </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The journey from Rome to Florence was quite easy, save for the realisation that the bus drops you off at a bus park along the Autostrada (Italy’s toll expressways that link the cities). Well, Autostrade(the firm that manages the expressways) does try to make the bus park as convenient as possible complete with a restaurant, and there is a tram link into the city. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br />I took the relatively new metro into Florence, before picking a bus to my hotel which was just outside the city centre. The city is quite clean and walkable, though it had decided to rain yet again. One of the things I first noticed was that Florence has quite incredible restaurants. I got to finally enjoy a proper serving of Risotto, unlike the small and misleadingly-priced servings I had had in Rome and Venice. <br /><br />So, yes, Florence is a friendlier town with a lot of young and friendly people in it. The main attractions in the city are its rich history complete with iconic buildings - they aren't ruins, yet - magnificent chapels, and the museums that I avoided to save on my Euros. <br /><br />Besides the buildings, there’s also the Arno river that snakes its way around Florence and the historic <i>Ponte Vecchio</i>. This is a bridge across the Arno river which plays host to a row of decades-old buildings on either side. The buildings do have a more interesting history compared to their current fate as a tourist photo backdrop and tourist shops. As for the city, it probably does owe its existence to this river. <br /><br />Beyond the bridge, there is the <i>Piazzale Michelangelo</i>, which is set on a hill across the Arno River, and from where you have excellent and picturesque views of the city. It is recommended to catch at least one sunset from this vantage location as you watch the summer sunset bathe the city in its golden colours. You can walk to the location - think of it as a walking tour, though you can also catch one of the city’s public buses to the point. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ALiR3mlmQVN1SBEPwjPnLtSLBTN4ZPYwasCa5GAtRAxa6pYZBe0d3KmiFpQfClZNg0-QUC0jqZ_YFgMXtRCzCQyrsbi4JO3TWiJHnYS2F3T96gMy1m6CZdiOFWIe8Eb_w-9DljjK" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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My second attempt at Risotto at Ristorante Pizzeria Senzanome was quite rewarding and satisfying. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I found it interesting that the town has adopted the city buses such that some of the routes are served by vans rather than buses, probably because the demand is not as high for a regular bus. <br /><br />Talking of transport, there was a lot of ongoing construction as the metro train was a recent addition and was therefore still undergoing expansion to serve more places around the city. <br /><br />Unlike Italy’s capital of Rome, Florence is a city that is equally alive at night, which we can attribute to the significant population of young people. This is not to say older people can not party, but yeah. <br /><br />Popular spots include the <i>Babylon Club</i> (the name says it, it is packed), the more hospitable <i>il Vinile</i>, if you are looking to talk, and the <i>Green Street Bar </i>if you are a hip hop head looking to party. <br /><br />It would be a waste if you were to travel all the way to Florence without trying out the uniquely Italian sandwiches at <i>Osteria All'antico vinaio</i>. These consist of cured meats and a hard bread, and you can have them with a bottle of wine, a beer, or even a soft drink. The restaurant is hugely popular and has queues snaking all the way outside. On top of that, it is quite affordable and the servings are very generous. This is an experience you will definitely want to try more than once. <br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JuLGOuzzoUCH-rShEgQkUhQS0pwIPt4Hk3uN1PX1DKHaS_ytnLAfxI5PsEvX5eoYtLh340KXcRN9IzigDskpnesvd7RGUzL0azs9WNV_MZqvSR0DatKTBLght0ll2BJmcFzxEzjp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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The Florence Cathedral with the characteristic stand-out architecture of Florentine structures </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">And then, there is what I missed. There is the wine country tour, and again, the grapevines around Florence are quite picturesque. If you are not looking to spend more than 100 euros for this trip, you could catch the bus to Chianti, but I’d suggest you do it before 11:30 AM so you have enough time for your tour and to catch the bus back. I overslept and therefore could not run my tour, also given that it was a rainy day. <a href="https://www.greve-in-chianti.com/getting-to-greve/getting-to-greve-eng.htm">For the wine tour, see details here</a>. <br /><br />All-in-all, Florence does have lots to offer and is highly recommended, but make sure to plan well. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3gQ0ZEHC7UjmswxrFAaWxtu_zDbvT_kIZsTW5PayuVSgwL-zthm_lKBMGHBBN1f5jCrRqYrZT916OmCJcd4wr4wwhua6D149EoAR-hlAFy-I4Jgrin0YWqLwgjb2hjKoy8Ao9t04" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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The Santa Maria Novella Basilica just round from the Florence SMN Train Station </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">From Florence, my next stop was the so-called “fashion capital” of Milan, which happened to be the most boring destination in my trip. I will let you in on a tip - unless you are an architect interested in some unique buildings, you will want to skip Milan. It is expensive and boring without much to see. If you want fashion - go to Austria unless you are really a fashion industry industry. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="479" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/87jCmM_bri6y_C152jvAjmbjCW1nIEY23ctljTRe3sbwjsP3U8sMALX8ajU7XrjTxrlGEa4i8rGjHSj5kpUBjxla8Ue5Un40uiepM-eNs71lXuyPGJmQY3h1sPIUtoeMRsyoMtIp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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Florence from the Michelangelo Plaza</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I caught a high-speed train from the Florence Santa Maria Novella(SMN) station to the Porta Garibaldi station in Milan. This was one of my best train rides on my trip with comfortable and spacious seats. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://blog.denniskioko.com/2019/12/boring-and-architectural-milan.html" target="_blank">Next in these series, Milan, one of the most boring-to-visit cities in Europe </a></i></span></div>
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