Surprising First IMPRESSIONS OF NAIROBI S7 EP.03 | Pakistan to South Africa Motorcycle Tour
Do you see your luggage? Yes. I have the receipt. Egypt Air. If you are coming here, don't bring your drone.
This mall is also very beautiful. Out here, by the main road, you will see the market and street food. I may not feel very confident as a solo traveler in these areas.
Okay... He's saying that he can only take me this far. We can't go beyond this point. Assalam Alekum and Good Morning from Nairobi, Kenya. It's our second day here. We had a somewhat different start to our day, as compared to our normal days. Why?? As I told you that I came here via Egypt Air flight.
And they forgot my luggage in Cairo. They had told me that they will deliver my luggage by 10 am in my hotel today. When I called them today, they told me that they will do it by evening. And I thought since the luggage has finally arrived, I can just go myself to collect it. Better than waiting all day at home.
All my chargers and everything else is in my luggage. I carried the expensive stuff with me. I am good. Thank you. Sitting with me is Irfan.
He came to meet me in my hotel yesterday. And just when I was about to leave today, the reception informed me that Irfan is here to see me. Thanks Irfan. So, he's accompanying me now. We are so glad to have Abrar here in Nairobi.
My whole family follows your channel for a very long time now. Thanks very much. And now here I am with you. I'm gonna show you around in Nairobi. Thank you so much. This is a great benefit of having some local with you. Take a look at that. People here are really friendly.
I make sure to roll the windows of the car up when I'm recording. Because I saw some videos where cameras were snatched while they were recording. Rather than portraying a negative image of Kenya, I'll try to take necessary precautions myself while I'm here. The roads a little busy here, early in the day. We are gonna take the express way. Right? Yeah.
That way we'll reach there in no time. Back at the airport. Let's try our luck here and see if we can get our luggage. I've come to the same place from where I left yesterday. I think I'll get my luggage from here.
Let's go and ask them to see what they have to say. So they told us to get a pass before collecting the luggage. Here's the pass.
From the security office... which was in front of the arrivals area. They took my passport and gave me this entry pass. So now I can go inside. We'll go there and look for our luggage. So far, the interaction with Kenyan people has been really nice. If you are going some where and you need directions... Or when I needed to get this pass, for instance...
I've found these people to be very helpful. They would rather come with you and take you to the place yourself. And I really appreciate this.
When locals in a foreign country treat you in such a polite way, it makes your trip much more pleasant. This is the exterior of the airport. It's a beautiful building. We are in the luggage area now.
Lets look for... There it is. I've spotted my luggage. Here it is. This little guy has been a source of worry for me since yesterday. Let's talk to the guy on duty here.
Excuse me, brother. That is my bag. Do you see your luggage? Yes.
I have the receipt. Egypt Air. So, he told me that he will get his book and then hand me over my luggage. And did you see the smile on his face. That's how polite they are.
He weighed the luggage and now he's making an entry in his book. You are all good. Thank you very much. I'd like to share something with you. If you are coming here, don't bring your drone. Because drone is not allowed here. The customs guys confiscate it.
I read some reviews and few people shared that the authorities can charge you as well. On account of bringing a drone without permission. For this reason, I did not bring my drone. In fact, I did put it in my bag first.
But then I decided that I don't want to lose my drone. It's a new and expensive drone. Don't want to let my 3000 USD go to waste. That's why I left that at home. We are on the express way now.
You can see high rise buildings on both sides. It must be the CBD or the financial district as they call it. Right? Yeah. Driving for us, is Samson, who is a Kenyan local. So far, the area that we have passed through seems like a really well developed area. One tends to have a lot of misconceptions about other countries. One doesn't know what to except when one's actually there.
We haven't been to such areas as yet. So far, the overall impressions of not just Kenya but overall Africa has been rather nice. Firstly because of the weather... And then because of how clean the environment around us is... Then it's really green. No issues regarding the safety aspect. Also the people are quite friendly.
All these factors, when summed together... Give you the best start to your tour. So far, it's been great. Let's see what happens next. God willing it will continue to be great. We need to take care of a couple of tasks and for that we'll have to visit the city area. We'll go to some mall as we have to purchase a SIM card.
Have to meet another local. Let's see how our day unfolds. We have come to a shopping mall by the name of Serene Center. Lets see this African mall with you.
We'll also sit in some cafe for a cup of coffee. It will give you a bit of an overview about the place. We are having our breakfast at Barista and Co. The breakfast that you are seeing right now is called Jerusalem. And you all know how much we love Jerusalem.
I was going through the menu when I saw this name and decided that I'm ordering this. It includes this bread, salad and some eggs. Other than that, we have cappuccino. We have another guest with us. He's Asif.
He had a similar breakfast. He doesn't want to be in the video so I'm not showing his face. Let's have our breakfast and also pray for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. May Allah protect them in this difficult situation. May they have a free Palestine.
We are now in the West Gate Park. Beg your pardon. West Gate Shopping Mall. It's also a very beautiful shopping mall. The area where I'm staying is called Westlands. I think I must have mentioned it already.
It's a bit posh area and has many beautiful shopping malls. The other shopping mall where we went is just a few minutes drive from here. You can see how amazing this mall is.
If you remember, there were some terrorist attacks in Kenya in 2013. They were carried out by an organization named Al-Shabab which is quite active in Somalia. Those attacks happened in this mall. About 71 people lost their lives and more than 200 got injured in those attacks. That tragedy happened in this mall. Overall, Kenya is quite a safe country.
However, rare events like this one do tend to happen here. Heading to the Safaricom outlet to get a SIM card. We have got ourselves a SIM card. It's an e-SIM that can easily be used in an iPhone. And I have subscribed to a 40 GB Safaricom data package. Normally, I upload my videos using SIM data.
The overall internet connectivity is really good. The hotel has a really fast internet as well. But it's always good to have a second option in case the internet connection faces problems. That's why I took a package with more data.
That has cost me 3000 shillings which is around 20 USD. That rounds off to 5500 PKR in Pakistani currency. Kenyan Shilling is almost double in value compared to Pakistani rupee. 1 shilling gives you almost 2 rupees. All in all, this shopping mall is really amazing.
To be honest, I'm really impressed from what I have seen here. This is one side of Kenya. And we'll try to see some other sides of Kenya in this vlog and share with you. This mall does give you the impression of being somewhere in the Middle East or Europe. There aren't too many people in the mall at this point in time. Probably because it's day time on a Monday and most of the people will be at work.
We have just rode out of the post area of Westlands. All of Nairobi, or Kenya for that matter, is not like what we just saw. You'll get to see different kinds of lives here. The total population of Kenya is about 48 - 50 million. So you'll see a whole spectrum of life styles here.
Much like most of other countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and even Europe... You see a broad mix of life styles. Samson here is taking us to his area. We expect to see a different kind of life there.
Samson, what's the name of the area where we are going? Lucky Summer. Lets see what we get to see there. As I said before... Most of the people here...
Samson, for instance, speaks English fluently. But English is not their first language, although most of them do speak. But their local language is Swahili. Right? Yeah. Most of the Kenyans talk to each other in Swahili. Or English.
Almost everyone here speaks English. Let's see were we headed. We are also observing the life around us, while we are on our way. Because there are areas, where going alone or even on a motorcycle can be unsafe for me. It's sort of my first day here out in the streets. Although it's my second day in Kenya but first day out.
Going to a risky neighborhood on the first day... That's why it will be better if I go there with a local. Samson works with Irfan so he offered to take me there. We are passing through a rather interesting looking market right now. It's a residential area by the name of Baba Dogo. In our language, Baba is the word we use for our fathers or some respectful elder.
The word carries the same meaning here as well. And Dogo means little. So you can say that Baba Dogo translates to Little father. The lively place that you are seeing is a local market of this area. Every area here has its own market. We are in a different area now.
The building you are seeing here is the mosque of this area. Some locals standing outside the mosque. Assalam Alekum Wa Alekum Salam How are you guys? Fine.
There aren't any divisions here like a Muslim area or a Christian area. Everything is mixed. Kenya is a country where there is no discrimination on the basis of race, color or religion. People live happily with each other.
The population is mainly Christian. But the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh population is also present in considerable numbers. Because many people from India migrated to Kenya during the British period. Let's show you around. By the main road of this area, there is a market and street food vendors.
You can see these women are selling corn cobs. Back there, you can see pools and game shops like in any other neighborhood. There's a barber shop as well. Some riders are also standing there. The people standing there with motorcycles... Samson tells me they are Boda Boda.
What does that mean? They are there to help us in some places where we don't have much access. You can say that it's a service like Uber or Careem but on motorcycles. I have seen such people at many locations.
Look at the street life here. This is not an uncommon scene where kids from a congested neighborhood play out in the streets. You can clearly see the difference in life in the posh area and a local neighborhood.
Another interesting thing... The houses here are very small. Of course the rent at any place is different.
But it would be interesting to ask him about the average cost of livelihood here. Samson, what will be the minimum rent that people pay here? The minimum is 5000 shillings. That's almost 10 thousand PKR.
The one I told you is of the bed seater. It's a normal and simple life, but still complicated in a way, according to us. But we call it better. A bed seater is like having multiple beds in one room? No No. It's a room that has a toilet inside... A kitchen...
And some space for you to put your bed... May be a chair and a TV. Like a studio apartment. Yeah.
Here they call it bed seater. It sounds like a Spanish word. I mean you can sit on the bed. So he's saying that you can sleep on the bed or sit on it. They call it bed seater.
We are still walking in the neighborhood. Overall, I haven't seen any security issues here. But these safety grills outside the doors do give an idea that people have taken measures. Far into the distance, you can see a mountain. Well, that's not a mountain but it's a dumping yard for garbage.
Overall, it's a rather lively area. But to be honest, I don't think I'll feel confident roaming in this area without a local. We have now reached the end of this neighborhood, near Nairobi river. You can't really call it a river because there's a lot of garbage on its sides and there's a smell as well. More like a small canal. But this is like a boundary that separates two areas.
The names of these areas are a little difficult for me to pronounce. He's saying that this is the end of his area. We better not go beyond this point.
Lets now go back to the area where Samson lives. This road is unsafe. When it's past 10, it's unsafe. Even in this area, there are some buildings... That makes you think that these people are comparatively well off... In comparison with the previous area for instance.
So, you will also say a bit of a mix here. One thing's for sure... Whether poor or rich, these people know how to be happy. These guys are cooking something by the roadside.
Brother, what's the name of this food? What's the name? Gumo? They are frying it in oil. It's made from flour. However, I don't feel like trying it. Here you can see some more riders in front of a market. I think, we are in a different area now.
This road is the main business hub here. The whole area is market area. And it extends further into the streets. We are back to the point where we started. I think this short tour is enough to give you an idea about the area. And how different the life is in different areas here.
That's a tourist's perspective. Being a local, you can really spot the difference between two seemingly similar areas. But as a tourist, the perspective can't miss your eye. That's what I tried to do here. Time to say goodbye to Samson.
Okay brother Samson. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. See you soon again. That's my cousin. The guy who is drinking from the red mug.
This one too. What's his name? Alex Samson... Alex... Nice to meet you, Alex. We are here for a meal. The name of this place is Diamond Plaza. Right?
As soon as we got here, no less than 6 menu cards are presented to us. And all these guys are here to note our order. Back there, you can see the contact numbers of restaurants from where you'll get the food. The main problem now is how to decide what to eat. Thank you very much. Give us a few minutes to look at the menu and decide.
Take your time. Thank you. I have asked Irfan to decide. Lets see what he decides.
Assalam Alekum Wa Alekum Salam We are good by the grace of Allah. How are you? You are welcome to join us. I was looking for an Uber to go to my hotel. I watch all your vlogs.
Finally our meal has been served. We have ordered quite a few items. Lets show you. This is spinach. This is a local dish called Ugali.
It's made from rice, molded in a spherical shape. You eat it with this spinach. This here is mutton. These are chicken wings. Here it's called posin. Some fries...
What's this? Chicken Tawa. Okay. And those over there naans. You can say that we have ordered a mix of Kenyan and desi food.
Our drinks have also been served. It's pineapple mint. That's our dinner for the night. Let's see if we can finish the food. Irfan, please start.
Where shall we start from? Shall we start from ugali? I think we have to eat it using hands. I have already washed my hands. Let me put some spinach on it. Nevertheless, it's healthy. Light Spinach is really nice. They have used some spices.
However, I don't know exactly which ones they have used. But it's delicious nonetheless. The food here seems rather familiar to our taste buds. I mean you feel a distinctive desi touch in the food here. So the good thing is that if you are not able to find halal food.... The food in this whole area is halal though...
But in case we don't find it, we can always eat spinach and ugali. Let's eat our meal now. Lets hope you liked this vlog. If you did, don't forget to Like, Subscribe and Share.
It was a humble attempt to show you Nairobi. Hopefully, I'll spend another couple of days here. There's so much to see. I just want to show you some of the most important things in the country. A bit of nature, a bit of culture and some of local life. So, we'll go to other cities as well.
And we'll also go to national parks and see wild life. You'll find that in our upcoming vlogs. Allah Hafiz
2023-11-15 13:27
