Vacation Excerpt: Nairobi to the Makindu

After I had finished with Nairobi, I was headed for Mombassa.  Early that morning I caught a shutte to downtown Nairobi where I planned to catch a bus eastwards to the coast.  Traffic getting into the city was pretty bad, and I arrived later than I would like.  The 'bus stop' to is  a long street with large brightly painted tour busses lining each side.  Touts harass pedestrians as they walk by with calls of "Mombassa?  Mombassa? You, my friend, are you going to Mombassa?"  All the rates were the same, and all the busses seemed similar on the inside.  I don't think there is much difference from one to the other. I was still waiting on some friends, so I ducked into a side cafe for some chai and mandaazi while I waited.  They arrived some time later-the traffic getting into downtown had worsened considerably in the few hours since I had arrived.  We selected the first bus we came to, paid, boarded and were soon on our way.

Rather than travel all the way to Mombassa in one day, we instead decided to stop over at the Sikh temple in Makindu.   The temple is simply a delight.  It's as if someone took a park and set it right in the middle of a busy Kenyan service town.  Outside the walls is Makindu-dusty and noisy.  Inside the temple compound is serene and quiet, with soft green lawns and peacocks roaming the grounds.  The temple has become a 'must see' for Peace Corps volunteers; it's a refuge from the stresses of Kenya, and it's free.  Donations are accepted, but the guest houses and meals are free of charge.

When we arrived we were met by a middle aged Sikh man, Amar, who welcomed us to the temple and helped us find a room.  On the lawn were several younger Sikh men playing a game of cricket.  They invited me to join, but I was tired and don't know how to play cricket, so I politely declined.

After dropping off our things and cleaning off a little, we went to the dining hall for tea.  At the dining hall we were required to cover our heads, and several bandanas and headscarves were provided for those who hadn't brought headwear, which was all of us.  The meals were vegetarian Indian fair.  Simple and delicious.  Lentils, potatoes, and wheat chapatis were accompanied by sour pickled mangos.  We took a plate of chapatis and lentils, a few cups of chai, and took a seat at a table.  The dining hall looked very much like any community hall back in the States.  The walls were decorated with numerous signs asking diners to eat all the food that they take, but since the food was quite delicious this was not a difficult request.

Afterwards we dropped our borrowed hats in the basket outside the hall, and spoke with Amar about the temple.  The temple itself has been in Makindu for some time.  The guest houses, however, are a more recent addition.  Besides the temple and guest houses, the Sikhs also run a hospital across the road.  He told us that we had arrived at a good time.  On the weekends the compound is often very full.  Indian families from Nairobi come and most of the guest houses are occupied and the dining hall becomes very full.  Amar himself had come to Kenya from India fifteen years ago.  Despite that, he speaks little swahili.  Actually, he very rarely travels outside the walls of the temple compound.

The next morning we caught a passing bus on the way to Mombasa.  It was another six hours before we arrived.