jambo!

we left turkey for dubai in the middle east by plane. and lets just say that life in an emirates jumbo jet is peachy keen by my standards. the in-flight entertainment is about as good as any satellite TV, the radio had me jumping and singing in my seat, the booze... well, there was whatever you needed. hell, even the food was good. to top it all off-- they were serving BUDWEISER beers on the plane. ohh dear, a taste of home.

we landed in dubai and it was in the late evening. we managed to find a really cheap hotel and we crashed pretty early.

the next day i stepped outside and the heat hit me like a ton of bricks. i kid you not, it was like a goddamn inferno out there. i mean my fingernails were sweating i was so hot. it was nuts though, men still wore the full on traditional muslim cover-alls. women would, in some cases, be covered from head to toe. somehow, some way this was all ok amidst the heat. we were drinking water in quantities unforeseen.

we took a much needed break and took a leisurely bathing session in the persian gulf. HAH! the persian gulf. try that one on for size. the water was nearly as warm as the heat outside, but it was still refreshing. i swam out about as far as my straggly arms could take me and then i turned back around. as i swam in, i damn near pooped myself in the water as a jellyfish whiz-banged right beside me.

see, im not so hot when it comes to all these crazy sea creatures. fish i can handle. jelly fish? forget it. i was out of that damn water faster than a speeding bullet.

the heat no longer mattered, i was not setting foot in that water again with that monster jelly fish on the prowl.

now dubai-- its a city of near ruthless development: playground of the rich and employment agency for the poor. it truly is the beverly hills of the desert. the city has really come in to its own for for its location efficiencies being the gateway to the middle east. development started back in the late 70's and early 80's. now, companies are setting up shop in dubai, shopping malls are a dime a dozen (ENORMOUS mind you), western food attractions are rampant (even the dairy queen for christs sake!) and half the living population is now composed of ex-pats. good lord!

but this sort of ruthless development i was speaking of.. i wont forget to back that one up. heres a few examples.

1) ski dubai: thats right folks, its 110 degrees out there but they have a facility for indoor skiing attached to the mall of emirates. kids are sledding down hills while parents hit the slopes. thats right, a full on ski hill in the middle of the desert. they call it an example of "incredible engineering" i call it unneccesary.

2) the world islands: they have built islands in the middle of the persian gulf for people to buy. each island is a county in the world and the collective of them all shows an entire globe from an aerial view. from an airplane you would be able to see each country and the arabic script that surrounds them. kind of incredible to look at-- but seriously? what purpose does it serve?

3) the dubai "business marketplaces": towering skyscrapers are popping up to form these business centers. they look cool on paper, but really it is just a glorified way to have a game of "lets see who can build the tallest building."

this is seriosly only a few of the examples.

so needless to say dubai isnt exactly the middle east that we are seeing on TV right now. certainly you get a lot of middle eastern culture in the way of traditional dress, VERY little alcohol is served (only at hotels), the food is all cooked in the halal method, etc.

getting back on the emirates jet to take off for africa didnt sound like such a bad idea when it was time to leave dubai. all i could think of was the endless amount of food and hospitality. hah! certainly enough we had to get through a bit of shit before we were actually sitting in those posh seats.

first, bryan and i are carelessly perusing through the airport in dubai-- browsing for souvenirs, taking some photos, hell-- even checking our email at the free internet booth. shit hit the fan when over the loudspeaker we hear "ladies and gentleman, final boarding call for emirates flight 717 service to nairobi."

we hopped on our horses hurdling everything from small children to peoples luggage that they were toting around. needless to say we made it. phew!

when we got the to the gate, the airplane wasnt there-- we had to take a bus to get out to the area where the plane was. no problem, right? holy mother of god, that was some of the toughest 10 minutes i have had in a while. two gentleman standing to me right had perhaps the worst body odor i have ever smelled. scrreeeeech goes the record.

im talking worse than any china man's stinky feet on the train and worse than any russian's polyester induced sweaty train stench.

i had my head buried in my shirt. i was beginning to feel nautious (sp?). young children were clinging to their mothers for help. i began to get light-headed. i tried to mouth the words "take a shower" to these stinky men but the words couldnt leave my lips (ok, that was an exaggeration)... but still. the smell made me really want to vomet, and i feel like typically i can handle that crap. i was a bit frustrated.

uh-oh.

so then we pull up to the airplane and there is a mechanical failure. BAD NEWS. we now have to ride back to the terminal in the same bus-- and thats right-- with the SAME stinky men that we there before. oh man, just get me out of here.

eventually we got on the plane. excellent. we chatted up the flight attendants for a while and demanded a cold beer. and thats about the time when things started to get cool...

first, the beer she happened to bring out was a victoria bitter (an aussie beer i happen to quite enjoy). that was just a peach of a surprise really. i definitely did not see that one coming! i enjoyed that, and then another, and another, and another..

and then the flight attendant comes racing over and asking us if their is an emergency... "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (i had to think for a long time) NOPE. no emergency here. we just rang the bell to get another beer."

she replied, "ok, well stop ringing the bell every two seconds. we really thought someone was in trouble."

"nope, no problems here.. just a beer would be great."

minutes later she comes back with two beers and still a bit perturbed that the bell for the flight attendants was STILL ringing.

"ok, is there an emergency now?"

"most definitely not. everything is just fine. the beer tastes great" ( meanwhile i have managed to spill half the thing down my shirt as i sipped it.. really looked like a fool).

turns out we discovered that the button on our seat that you push to signal for the flight attendant was stuck. that thing had been ringing for a looooooooong time. no wonder they were always checking on us. we just thought the emirates service was once again fantastic..

as we landed in kenya, mariah carey was playing on the stereo. such a welcoming sign really. we gathered our bags and staggered over to catch our ride. i sang along to the music and people laughed.

my first whole day in africa was today. first impressions: holy crap! i mean life here is so much different than i have seen anywhere. people can be extremely poor, little children beg on the streets-- but yet this country holds the worlds most optimistic people. i forget where i read about that, but it was actually a measured study that africans are some of the worlds most optimistic. the glass is half full in these parts and i absolutely love that. its infectious and amazing really. the people as i have experienced so far are incredibyl friendly. then again there are also some that just want to take your wallet-- but overall, just a beautiful place. i feel like i cant really write too much on this continent just yet though-- there is so much more to experience.

here in kenya, hello is "JAMBO!" its swahili-- the language spoken mainly here in kenya and also in tanzania. i love it. such a cool word to say! JAMBO! JAMBO!

things get pretty exciting from here on out. we begin our big overland excursion down to victoria falls in zimbabwe tomorrow. like i said last time we traverse through tanzania, malawi, zambia and zimbabwe. we camp the whole way through with the exception of our time in zanzibar. we end the journey on 4 june in zimbabwe at which point we skip down to south africa for the grand finale of the whole trip.

now THAT seems pretty crazy-- even talking about the "grand finale."