My sleep was blissful and after five hours I woke up feeling very refreshed. I enjoyed a leisurely shower and went off in search of lunch. I settled for Aisha’s restaurant on Moi Avenue where I enjoyed a sumptuous meal of Biriani Beef and maji ya chungwa.
As my time was my own and the theme of the trip was “on a whim”, I randomly took a matatu to Mtwapa. One and a half decades ago I would spend some of my school holidays in Kiembeni and it was refreshing to pass by all the familiar places on North Coast. From Lights, King’orani, Tudor all the way up to Bombululu and Bamburi. The melodic conductors’ calling out to passengers was like music to my years.
The scenic drive was however rudely disrupted just after Shanzu College when the matatu driver had to swerve and brake suddenly to avoid hitting a nonchalant Swahili woman. It was the classic case of kill one to save many or kill many to save one and although it happened in a blink of an eye it was pretty scary. Luckily the driver managed to neither run over the woman nor lose control of the matatu.
After that scare we got to Mtwapa thankful to be alive. I walked into a Tusky’s to buy water and here I stumbled on “Wambui”. She was infront of me on the check-out counter and she had shopped for breakfast never mind it was early afternoon. Sausages, juice, bacon, bread and eggs were what had filled her shopping basket. She was very well put together and the curious man that I am I offered to carry her groceries for a chance at a conversation.
I walked her to her car which was not a Vitz and she briefly opened up about her life. She had been in Mtwapa for ten years hustling for a rich old white man and had only recently hit the jackpot. She was now the proud owner of a house, a car and seemingly had her life headed in the right direction.
After “Wambui” drove off, I walked around Mtwapa. There is a lot of construction going on and new buildings have sprung up all over. Unfortunately there did not appear to be any plan to the haphazard construction.
I also hang out or rather sat next to a group of young guys who were passing time playing board games and chewing miraa. The common feature amongst them was dreadlocks. Their conversation centered on landing an old white lady who would then transform their lives. Tales of folk who had succeeded and were now in foreign countries were told and it was clear to me that this was for all intents and purposes a career talk meeting. Never mind what the career was.
My walking around was making me thirsty and thus I looked for a pub to quench my thirst. I stumbled on Banhof which is a German-named pub run by Englishmen. The clientele was old very suntanned and obviously European men who spoke Kiswahili more fluently than most folk I know and a bunch of working girls who were doing all they could to attract the attention of the white men. The language of choice for the girls was Kikuyu and I could not help overhearing the gory recollection of their escapades the previous night. The desperation of these working girls was saddening but I reckoned when they looked at “Wambui” they convinced themselves that after kissing many frogs one of the frogs would turn to a prince and they would live like queens thereafter.
I also checked out the famous Club Lambada and Causurina but they were not yet kicking. At Lambada I sat at the counter and as I nursed my drink there were two Kikuyu men talking about buying land in Mtwapa. That felt very random! The bartender was also Kikuyu and the waiters were also Kikuyu.
Clearly Mtwapa has a high concentration of Kikuyus. From my observation, Mtwapa is also clearly a big destination for sex tourism and it does live up to its sin city tag.
Having had enough of Mtwapa, I took a matatu to the Nyali mall. When I was last in Mombasa, Nyali mall had not been built. Thus I reckoned it was worth a visit. It is bourgie-central and very much like Nairobi bourgie malls. Imagine my laughter when I saw Nairobi Sports House signage! There is also a Basic Intimates shop that had on the display a cow-girl outfit. Yes, Mombasa has got game like that!
On the third floor of Nyali Mall is Sheba Lounge which is an Ethiopian restaurant-cafe-pub. Its decor which is a mix of traditional and modern is quite lovely. I love Ethiopian coffee and I had several cups. The beautiful Ethiopian girls made me stay on and on and on.
I got back to town and enjoyed another lovely meal this time at Little Chef on Digo Road. It took twenty minutes after placing my order for the Pilau Mutton to get to my table but it was certainly worth the wait as it was finger-licking good.
After a shower and change of clothes, I was ready to hit the clubs. I went to Bella Vista which kind of reminded me of Rezourus in Westlands. The patrons were clearly non-coastals. If I was to hazard a guess I would have said these are folk who were from Nairobi and now happened to live in Mombasa. The first DJ did a terrific disco set which made me very happy. Then to my surprise DJ Kaytrix from Nairobi checked in and rocked the crowd. The place was by now packed to the rafters.
On my way back to my hotel I briefly passed through Casablanca Night Club. This place can make even the most jaded of people blush. There are no words to describe this night club. You have to see what happens to believe what happens.
My walk down Moi Avenue and Digo Road at the wee hours of the night revealed that the flesh trade is booming in Mombasa. I saw so many girls walking the streets with the police not disturbing them. I even saw a buibui clad working girl for the first time and that really threw me off. My two cents on that is do your business but do not disrespect the buibui but I guess to each their own.
After very insightful and entertaining day, I deservedly slept.
To be continued..
GOD BLESS KENYA!
Moderate Kenyan 