Arrived in Mombasa at about 8.00 this morning after a very pleasant 13-hour train journey in a sleeping compartment. We saw a lot of Kenyan countryside on the way. There were beautiful, hilly valleys and also tiny mud-hut settlements occupied by people wearing filthy rags.
Mombasa did not strike us as a particularly fantastic place; in fact, it is a bit of a dive. Most of it stinks and all of it is dirty and dusty.
After obtaining a map from the tourist information shop, we bought a bus ticket to Dar es Salaam and some stamps from the post office. We had thought we would be able to get a first-class sleeper to Dar, but a 14-hour bus ride is near enough.
In the afternoon we walked to the Old Town and Fort Jesus on the south-east of the island. We didn't know anything about the fort and there is an entry fee so we didn't pay much attention to it. Instead we sat at the top of a cliff and gazed jealously over the water at the beautiful white beaches and posh resorts on the mainland.
View of mainland from Mombasa Old Town.
In the evening we went to Moon's Cinema in the north of the island. It was a very basic establishment. The floor was painted concrete and the seats were wooden and leather. We paid 15 shillings for our balcony seats—the balcony being a slightly bigger than average step at the back of the room.
The film was a Japanese epic called Ninja Warrior from Beyond and was dubbed to American English. It was, of course, totally shit, but the locals loved it.
Mombasa did not strike us as a particularly fantastic place; in fact, it is a bit of a dive. Most of it stinks and all of it is dirty and dusty.
After obtaining a map from the tourist information shop, we bought a bus ticket to Dar es Salaam and some stamps from the post office. We had thought we would be able to get a first-class sleeper to Dar, but a 14-hour bus ride is near enough.
In the afternoon we walked to the Old Town and Fort Jesus on the south-east of the island. We didn't know anything about the fort and there is an entry fee so we didn't pay much attention to it. Instead we sat at the top of a cliff and gazed jealously over the water at the beautiful white beaches and posh resorts on the mainland.
View of mainland from Mombasa Old Town.In the evening we went to Moon's Cinema in the north of the island. It was a very basic establishment. The floor was painted concrete and the seats were wooden and leather. We paid 15 shillings for our balcony seats—the balcony being a slightly bigger than average step at the back of the room.
The film was a Japanese epic called Ninja Warrior from Beyond and was dubbed to American English. It was, of course, totally shit, but the locals loved it.
Comments