Summer is almost over!
That used to be a pretty depressing statement. But recently it is when I'm happiest... lately it's been 110+, with 100% humidity during the days, and only slightly cooler at night.
In a matter of weeks, it's going to cool down to 90's then 80's and stay there for the next 8 months.
Now that it's cooling off, people are starting to arrive in this town. Which means more traffic and more business... but once again like last year, Ramadan happens right after summer, which means 6 hr work days, and no eating in public for a moon cycle.
Ramadan and me get along pretty well. Last year I wasn't sure how I'd like it. But working in an American company in the middle east, they are very lenient... eating and drinking in certain rooms is allowed, and working from home is an option. The maximum of 6 hrs of work a day is also a good perk for that month.
So depending on the moon cycle, we are looking at this all going down in about 15 days. Which means about 2 more hot boring weeks... and then khalas!
Almost every ex-patriot ( and local I suppose) gets the hell outta this place during the summer. It's when everyone wants to visit their homeland, and when the locals want to take their kids ( who are on summer vacation ) to their holiday spots. It's been hard, Liz and I watched most all of our friends leave and come back all refreshed...
This is officially the longest I've been away from the states - going on my 9th month now! I deserve ZERO pity since I got to visit Kenya this summer, but I am still jealous! Other than family, I am missing the summer tours the most!
Speaking of Zero, they're an old band that hasn't toured for a few years... but they are back and on fire... check 'em out sometime... it's too easy to please with Kimock in your line-up.
29 August 2007
23 August 2007
13 August 2007
Africa Part 2: Lake Nakuru
Our Dutch safari partners were headed to a friends Kenyan wedding, so we dropped them off before we made it to the town of Nakuru. We got there during a bit of a rainfall, and by dinner time the electricity in town went down. That didn't stop the hotel from serving a hot Kenyan dinner(beef/rice/potatoes), or the pub from serving the tasty local beer Tusker around a sea of candles. We took an early nights rest, as we were getting up early to head out for our last safari day.
Lake Nakuru is famous for their Million-plus Pink Flamingos among much other wildlife such as: Rhino, Leopard, Lion, Baboon, Stork, Water Buffalo, and others.
We started the day by seeing a bit of commotion near the ticket booth. As we stood waiting for our guide, we heard shouts of security yelling 'Get Back', as a leopard on the other side of the fence ( about 30 meters away ) sprinted towards our direction. We hightailed it towards the building, but definitely saw the cat jumping and sprinting his way towards us... needless to say, we didn't find the time to snap any fotos!
After that quick scare we slid through the park hearing all the baboons making a fuss over a Lion in a nearby tree. He was just casually resting watching all of us pass.
We then stopped in closer to the lake to meet a few of the pink flamingos that lined the entire 40 Kilometer lake. We snapped a few fotos, but had to jump back in the car as some water buffalo wandered a bit to close to us.
We then stumbled upon some Rhino's and Lion's hanging about. Since our vehicle was fairly alone, we got to get pretty close and snap some cool pics. Was pretty cool seeing the Rhinos just feet from the car!
We then ended the trip on a visit to a high cliff that overlooked the Lake. The baboons are quite familiar with it's beauty ( or more likely the many tourists with food that come up there ) and usually spend their time up there harassing all of us Homo Sapiens. We managed to snap a few fotos, and talked to a German guy about the next safari we should take. He spoke highly of the Gorilla treks in Uganda!! Who's coming with???
Ben, Liz and I then headed back to Nairobi where we spent our last evening in town. Liz and I met a friend (Mohamed) who gave us a detailed tour around town, showing us different parts of the city and taking us to a couple markets. I got a pretty sick chess set carved out of soap-stone.
Liz and I met some great people, learned a bit of the culture, saw some animals and couldn't have had a more enjoyable first African experience... definitely looking forward to going back to spend more time in some other beautiful African countries.
Lake Nakuru is famous for their Million-plus Pink Flamingos among much other wildlife such as: Rhino, Leopard, Lion, Baboon, Stork, Water Buffalo, and others.
We started the day by seeing a bit of commotion near the ticket booth. As we stood waiting for our guide, we heard shouts of security yelling 'Get Back', as a leopard on the other side of the fence ( about 30 meters away ) sprinted towards our direction. We hightailed it towards the building, but definitely saw the cat jumping and sprinting his way towards us... needless to say, we didn't find the time to snap any fotos!
After that quick scare we slid through the park hearing all the baboons making a fuss over a Lion in a nearby tree. He was just casually resting watching all of us pass.
We then stopped in closer to the lake to meet a few of the pink flamingos that lined the entire 40 Kilometer lake. We snapped a few fotos, but had to jump back in the car as some water buffalo wandered a bit to close to us.
We then stumbled upon some Rhino's and Lion's hanging about. Since our vehicle was fairly alone, we got to get pretty close and snap some cool pics. Was pretty cool seeing the Rhinos just feet from the car!
We then ended the trip on a visit to a high cliff that overlooked the Lake. The baboons are quite familiar with it's beauty ( or more likely the many tourists with food that come up there ) and usually spend their time up there harassing all of us Homo Sapiens. We managed to snap a few fotos, and talked to a German guy about the next safari we should take. He spoke highly of the Gorilla treks in Uganda!! Who's coming with???
Ben, Liz and I then headed back to Nairobi where we spent our last evening in town. Liz and I met a friend (Mohamed) who gave us a detailed tour around town, showing us different parts of the city and taking us to a couple markets. I got a pretty sick chess set carved out of soap-stone.
Liz and I met some great people, learned a bit of the culture, saw some animals and couldn't have had a more enjoyable first African experience... definitely looking forward to going back to spend more time in some other beautiful African countries.
Africa Part 1: Masai Mara
Tom bo li de say de moi ya
Yeah, Jambo Jumbo
Way to parti' o we goin'
Oh, Jambali
Tom bo li de say de moi ya
Yeah, Jumbo JUMBO!
Some of Lionel's most famously mistaken lyrics... at least I was always completely clueless when listening to it. Turns out that it is Swaheli, and everytime I heard someone say 'Jumbo'(hello) this past week, I thought of this upbeat-yet-confusing chant...
My friend Mohamed who showed us around Nairobi said it roughly stands for: "Hello Hello, can I have a cent?" Which makes even less sense, but I guess it wasn't all that bad to be singing 'All Night Long' for 5 days. Liz is still singing it to me at home now.
We had a pretty sweet trip once again, and even managed to snap a few fotos.
The first day went about like this:
Airport > travel lodge > road to Masai Mara > game reserve for sun down activity > food at the camp site > campfire beers > bed.
When we got to the lodge, we met a couple of Dutch people, Thijs and Hanukkah ( actually have no idea how to spell her name!), and jumped in a van with them and our tour guide Ben. We then shot through about 7 hours of the bumpiest roads I've seen on this planet. It is hard to describe the roads(not even sure you can call them that) you have to take to get to the game park from Nairobi... but they aren't for everyone! We got to the park, dropped off some gear, and went directly back out to see some sun down activity before it was too late. We managed to see our first Gazelles, Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Elephants, and Giraffes before heading back for food/beer/rest.
Here's our crew:
We got up and did an 8-5 safari in the park and had a great time! The weather was in the 70's and 80's the whole time, which was heaven coming from Dubai, and so we made the best of it by sticking our head outside our trusty safari van's roof most the day.
Today we saw a couple of Cheetahs, and many Lions... including a full pride of Lions resting on top of a huge piles of rocks ( they stayed warmer up there off the grass )... Un-Be-Liev-Abl-E.
After we got back from the full day safari, we got to visit one of the local Masai tribes that are still living the way they have for hundreds of years. I got to dance with the 'Warriors' ( The 15-20 year old boys that protect and represent the tribe ) and liz got to dance with the female reps. Quite the show they put on for us! Here's a couple of video's:
They live in huts made of trees, mud and cow dung. They have a whole family in a tight little hut, and have about 20 of them in the village. The huts only last about 8 years, so they don't get too attached ;). We got to go inside and hang with a family for a few while they cooked some afternoon tea. We then saw the pens for the cows and the sheep. They create a pretty cool barrier to keep out predators, and have watch dogs and so forth if they do end up sneaking up.
The next morning we got to do an early morning excursion in the park to see the wildlife active during sun-up. Saw some pretty sweet visuals and then scooted off to the next place...
I have uploaded all pics from the whole trip here if you want to see more...
I will follow up with more on Lake Nakuru tomorrow.
Yeah, Jambo Jumbo
Way to parti' o we goin'
Oh, Jambali
Tom bo li de say de moi ya
Yeah, Jumbo JUMBO!
Some of Lionel's most famously mistaken lyrics... at least I was always completely clueless when listening to it. Turns out that it is Swaheli, and everytime I heard someone say 'Jumbo'(hello) this past week, I thought of this upbeat-yet-confusing chant...
My friend Mohamed who showed us around Nairobi said it roughly stands for: "Hello Hello, can I have a cent?" Which makes even less sense, but I guess it wasn't all that bad to be singing 'All Night Long' for 5 days. Liz is still singing it to me at home now.
We had a pretty sweet trip once again, and even managed to snap a few fotos.
The first day went about like this:
Airport > travel lodge > road to Masai Mara > game reserve for sun down activity > food at the camp site > campfire beers > bed.
When we got to the lodge, we met a couple of Dutch people, Thijs and Hanukkah ( actually have no idea how to spell her name!), and jumped in a van with them and our tour guide Ben. We then shot through about 7 hours of the bumpiest roads I've seen on this planet. It is hard to describe the roads(not even sure you can call them that) you have to take to get to the game park from Nairobi... but they aren't for everyone! We got to the park, dropped off some gear, and went directly back out to see some sun down activity before it was too late. We managed to see our first Gazelles, Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Elephants, and Giraffes before heading back for food/beer/rest.
Here's our crew:
We got up and did an 8-5 safari in the park and had a great time! The weather was in the 70's and 80's the whole time, which was heaven coming from Dubai, and so we made the best of it by sticking our head outside our trusty safari van's roof most the day.
Today we saw a couple of Cheetahs, and many Lions... including a full pride of Lions resting on top of a huge piles of rocks ( they stayed warmer up there off the grass )... Un-Be-Liev-Abl-E.
After we got back from the full day safari, we got to visit one of the local Masai tribes that are still living the way they have for hundreds of years. I got to dance with the 'Warriors' ( The 15-20 year old boys that protect and represent the tribe ) and liz got to dance with the female reps. Quite the show they put on for us! Here's a couple of video's:
They live in huts made of trees, mud and cow dung. They have a whole family in a tight little hut, and have about 20 of them in the village. The huts only last about 8 years, so they don't get too attached ;). We got to go inside and hang with a family for a few while they cooked some afternoon tea. We then saw the pens for the cows and the sheep. They create a pretty cool barrier to keep out predators, and have watch dogs and so forth if they do end up sneaking up.
The next morning we got to do an early morning excursion in the park to see the wildlife active during sun-up. Saw some pretty sweet visuals and then scooted off to the next place...
I have uploaded all pics from the whole trip here if you want to see more...
I will follow up with more on Lake Nakuru tomorrow.
07 August 2007
villa
Here's some fotos of our place
this is the front of the villa, there is a note on the door, but the sun faded out the words, and no one knows what it says. we stay in the bottom right room:
this next one is of our front yard. you can see that the grass has long died off, even though there are plenty of hoses to water it. you can also see the minaret that is roughly 25 meters from our bedroom:
this is part of our room, my part! the marley conglomerate was my birthday gift this year from myz:
we are in a borough called umm suqueim 2... it's in a pretty sweet spot:
and for a liz update, she scored a job at Stu Williamson Photography & is going to be a coordinator. tis a small company and about at 10 minute walk from home in the 115 degree weather! ask her about her sweaty interview!
we fly to Nairobi tonight, get picked up by a bus and drive 8 hrs to the game park... will hopefully get a picture or two from there. maybe we'll have some stories too... guess you'll have to visit here again to find out!
this is the front of the villa, there is a note on the door, but the sun faded out the words, and no one knows what it says. we stay in the bottom right room:
this next one is of our front yard. you can see that the grass has long died off, even though there are plenty of hoses to water it. you can also see the minaret that is roughly 25 meters from our bedroom:
this is part of our room, my part! the marley conglomerate was my birthday gift this year from myz:
we are in a borough called umm suqueim 2... it's in a pretty sweet spot:
and for a liz update, she scored a job at Stu Williamson Photography & is going to be a coordinator. tis a small company and about at 10 minute walk from home in the 115 degree weather! ask her about her sweaty interview!
we fly to Nairobi tonight, get picked up by a bus and drive 8 hrs to the game park... will hopefully get a picture or two from there. maybe we'll have some stories too... guess you'll have to visit here again to find out!
01 August 2007
the first situation
Welcome to the official Adam Thompson blog, the wait is finally over for all things Thompson... and with the first (of many) hints of arrogance out of the way, I'll officially start the ramblings:
I have recently moved from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, and am having loads of fun here already. We've spent our first night of debauchery in the Irish Village, which is the closest thing to drinking in a Western city... with beer gardens, british accents, and tasty John Smith pints at your finger-tips... unfortunately I had to make the 70-minute-drive over to Abu Dhabi the next morning, and I could already feel how fun this next year is going to be.
Our new villa is quite the place as we are two of about 10 people living here: a couple asians, a canadian, an american, and a few young arab dudes, it's sorta like the Real World, except without the annoying texans... with a pool in our yard that liz especially finds useful, and a mosque next door (that first prayer call at 4:30 is something else) - the place is turning out to be a decent find.
Liz has found her 'dubai-self' immediately by being offered two jobs already. She has signed into one, but might possibly switch to the latest sales offer... she's waiting to find out which is the sweeter deal... this is her excited about it:
We are taking a mini-vacation next week to Masai Mara park in Kenya, and are going to be safari-ing & camping right in the heart of the wildlife reserve. With 4 days and 3 nights outdoors, it will be a quick and cheap trip, but we are still pretty excited! A friend-of-a-friend hooked us up with the whole situation, and it was about the easiest-planned trip ever.
and the most recent pics of me:
I have recently moved from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, and am having loads of fun here already. We've spent our first night of debauchery in the Irish Village, which is the closest thing to drinking in a Western city... with beer gardens, british accents, and tasty John Smith pints at your finger-tips... unfortunately I had to make the 70-minute-drive over to Abu Dhabi the next morning, and I could already feel how fun this next year is going to be.
Our new villa is quite the place as we are two of about 10 people living here: a couple asians, a canadian, an american, and a few young arab dudes, it's sorta like the Real World, except without the annoying texans... with a pool in our yard that liz especially finds useful, and a mosque next door (that first prayer call at 4:30 is something else) - the place is turning out to be a decent find.
Liz has found her 'dubai-self' immediately by being offered two jobs already. She has signed into one, but might possibly switch to the latest sales offer... she's waiting to find out which is the sweeter deal... this is her excited about it:
We are taking a mini-vacation next week to Masai Mara park in Kenya, and are going to be safari-ing & camping right in the heart of the wildlife reserve. With 4 days and 3 nights outdoors, it will be a quick and cheap trip, but we are still pretty excited! A friend-of-a-friend hooked us up with the whole situation, and it was about the easiest-planned trip ever.
and the most recent pics of me:
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