Rooney scores again

There were two slightly concerning aspects to my journey from Amman to Nairobi: Egyptair only had 1 hour to get my luggage from one aircraft to another and I had booked an airport pickup via my agent in London for my 3.45am arrival into Nairobi.  Egyptair did me proud on the luggage front but alas there was no driver to meet me at the airport.

A nice taxi driver called Patrick spotted me and asked if I needed help.  I explained that I was to be met but when his passenger didn't appear, he came over again.  Kindly he rang my hotel for me and after putting me onto the lady at the hotel, she told me that they had no record of an airport transfer but that Patrick worked for a reputable taxi company and that I should travel there with him.  Patrick was very impressed with my surname - he had a Rooney 10 shirt hanging in the front of his car.  Despite being a Man Utd supporter, he was a big Steven Gerrard fan and so again, football smoothed my passage.  The English Premier League is like an additional religion in this part of the world.

A ventured tentatively into Nairobi during the day to visit the bank.  Arriving from the very safe Middle East (in the sense that street crime/theft is largely unheard of), I was overly aware of the need to be far more alert.  I felt relieved to make it back to the hotel with all my errands achieved and rewarded myself with a swim in the pool.  I started chatting to a couple of American/Canadian girls and arranged to go out again with them later on. We had planned to visit a market but by the time we left it was too late and so we decided to walk into town and promised the hotel staff that we would take a taxi back!  It would be silly to be wandering the streets here after dark.

As the girls live in dry Kuwait, we chose a restaurant with a balcony to enjoy an early evening beer.  Searching for bottles of water, we heard some lively music coming from upstairs and decided to pop our heads into "Steak 'n Ale".  Turns out that we had stumbled into the locals Friday after-work drinks pub!  The waiter sat us at a table with a gentleman who was waiting for someone.  He didn't seem overly impressed and we wondered if he was waiting for a date which we were about to ruin...  In the end he wife arrived and was absolutely charming!

Am having a quiet day at the hotel today, catching up with sleep and trying to organise my photos and get them online.  I'll be meeting my fellow travellers later this afternoon and heading off on the "truck" tomorrow morning.