Day 3: Nairobi to Kisumu to Sindo

For the next 7 working days, I’ll be working with the honey social enterprise. The first 3 days will be in rural Kenya as we felt that a field visit was critical to better understand the company and that the data that all of the reporting focuses on. As today is a holiday, we took full advantage of spending the full day traveling to Western Kenya.

The Head of Field Operations (HFO) and another mgmt. team member picked me up at 6 am, to head over to the local bus depot. HFO called “his guy” and we got three tickets to the bus from Nairobi to Kisumu (7 hour ride). The HFO and I got acquainted and debriefed on the organization and my project.  After lunch (and some internet time before rural Kenya), we rented a car, had some car trouble which we worked through just in time to drive onto the last ferry. We backed the car in and got out to enjoy the beautiful Kenyan sunset!

After arriving in Sindo, we had an adventurous ride through the dark and bumpy roads. Thirty minutes and several GPS location checks later, we found our contact and checked into the local guesthouse. We grabbed dinner which involved a walk down dark village roads and the perfect opportunity to use my manager’s LED keychain (thanks C!)) It was a long day and one which allowed me to transition into local time, 7 hour time gap conquered! Off to learn about field operations tomorrow.

my 800 KES room

Day 2 in Kenya: Switch hotels and debrief

Late check-out followed by a quick ride to the next hotel. The taxi stand inside the hotel mentioned a rate of 2000 shillings (80 KES to 1 USD) which is an outrageous cost for a 2 km/5 min ride. Once we arrived I asked for a receipt to which he responded he had no receipt pad. I asked for the fare and he said that he was told that they had told me. I asked him to call the hotel to check the rate, he said his phone had no credit. Hm. We settled on 1000 KES, later finding out that it should have cost 400 KES. Bamboozled yes but instead of 5x as much, more around 2x. It happens. The driver promised to drop off a receipt (and change if he found out the fare was too much). We will see!

The Country Lodge – my mainstay for the two weeks – is nice and connected to the lovely Fairview Hotel which has 5 restaurants and a pool. I’ll be spending most of my evenings at their garden café.

Met with the water social enterprise’s main contact to debrief on the project which I’ll be working on for three days + post return to NYC. My goal is to interview clients and sales managers to come up with a Client Engagement Process. Earlier in 2013, they launched a retail storefront and sales program to sell drinking water in a low income neighborhood. At around 500 subscribers, they are in need of a consistent approach to maintain contact with their client base.

Day 1 in Kenya

When booking the flight, I knew the one hour connection time in Heathrow would be tight but it was the only flight choice available since the booking was done a week in advance.

After rushing through the airport, or aiming to as the security lines were backed up, the flight was delayed - the pilot did not feel that he could continue with the scheduled flight. It was nice to have some time to stretch my legs and check out what Heathrow’s Pret was offering (Chicken Raita wrap + Lychee Mandarin juice) but at the same time my concern for 11 pm arrival in Nairobi was looming over my head.

The flight was packed, mainly with Brits. Customs and luggage pick up was smooth. FYI – getting your visa on arrival is pretty seamless, dependent on the line. I got mine in NYC which was also a breeze (after they opened the door to the consulate which took about 45 minutes, long story). The arrivals area was well lit, with many people waiting for their loved ones and a line of drivers with signs. I scanned the sea of Kenyan men to find my ride, he wasn’t there so I took a seat at the café and hoped for the best. After 15 minutes, I made my way back to the line and found him. We arrived at the hotel 30 minutes later, where they searched the vehicle (under the hood and trunk). Quickly went through security check for the bags and checked in.

GCP in Africa: Kenya

Through my company's Global Citizens Program (GCP) in Microfinance, I will be spending two weeks in Kenya with two local social enterprises, both focused on nutrition within the low income communities.

The GCP allows employees to apply for skills-based international volunteering opportunities with partner organizations. I went through a rigorous interview process back in April and am proud to be 1 of approximately 10 people selected.

My main project will focus  on implementing and reviewing the management dashboard of an African honey social enterprise. Also, another opportunity came up to work with a second social enterprise that focuses on water so I took it! They are a fairly new start-up and need me to construct their client engagement process.  I have committed to working with them offsite as well, since two weeks for both projects is a bit tight.

Should be an exciting and challenging two weeks! Over the past few days, I have been reading up on both organizations and speaking with CEOs to understand the history and culture of each.

Overall, my organization is working on a fund that aims to alleviate HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. At first I wondered how honey fit in, but with so much of the population with HIV/AIDs, it’s critical for the individuals to have proper nutrition for the medication to work. Honey is highly nutritious, an anti-oxidant and affordable. And obviously clean drinking water leads to a better quality of life as there are less health issues overall.

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City - time to give Mekong Express another go! Glad we did because the bus half full so we had out own seats, nice cool AC with no dripping situation and a normal bus driver/guide. Everything was going well until about 2 hours in. All of a sudden, we were waiting to in line to get the entire bus on a ferry...the entire bus! So somehow that worked out fine and then began all the cross-border checks. Getting out of Cambodia was easy but we stopped three times in Vietnam, and had to get off the bus twice, with all of our luggage. Needless to say, this took forever and our 6 hour bus ride turned into almost 8 hours.

Ho Chi Minh City is different than any of the other places we 've been on during this trip. Its a bustling city, just like any other major city out there. We grabbed a quick and expensive for Vietnam ($10 each) dinner and passed out.

Our last day consisted of visiting the Opera House, Notre Dame (this one is brick red), the Reunification Palace, people watching in a park, Benh Thanh market haggling, lunch at Pho 2000 (visited by President Bill Clinton in the early 2000's) and a nice night out on the town. We hit up some rooftop lounges and enjoyed the sunset while we recapped our travel adventures. Good times!

24 hours stands between me and my couch.

All in all, it was an amazing journey and so happy to have shared it with one of my oldest and closest friends. There's much to be said about spending 17 days straight with someone and coming out of the experience with lifetime memories, a higher level of respect and appreciation for each other and knowing that we can get through any crisis together with a good sense of humor on our side :)

So, as Het's been saying all trip long, BINGO BANGO (as in done, finished). Another successful trip under our belts!

Cambodia's capital: Phnom Penh

Our bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was...interesting. 6:30 am pickup, then transported to a large bus terminal, tagged our luggage and then onto the bus. The guide spoke in english throughout the trip but we could not understand a word of what she was saying. We kept looking at each other and saying "did you catch a word of that cause i have NO CLUE what shes saying?" Which was followed by bouts of laughter. Ha. Then the AC started dripping on us, which was nice in a way since the bus was so hot and it helped me cool down. The bus driver apparently had some errands to run because we stopped on the countryside, he bought some food, called his wife (assumption), then an hour or so later, dropped off the food to someone who was waiting on the side of the road. Also, there were stops for his roadside bathroom break and drop-offs of two women on the bus in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless, about 7 hours later we arrived in Phnom Penh, all in one piece and luggage intact.

Outside the Central Market

Since we had about 24 hours in the capital city, we decided to forgo lunch and head to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Luckily along the way, we stumbled across an upscale cafe called Brown and grabbed a snack. We spent about two hours in the museum walking around in rooms where people had been tortured and killed. Pictures of victims filled up many of the rooms, along with written accounts of some of their time there. From what I gathered, during the Khmer Rouge Regime, innocent people were captured and taken to the secret prison and interrogation center called S-21. There they were accused of crimes that they had not committed and tortured and beaten until they gave a full confession. Then they were piled into a truck and taken to the killing fields.

After, we walked around the bustling city for a bit, stopping by the Central Market and then sat on the riverside to people watch. We tried out Phnom Penh Indian for dinner (thanks Neeluz!) and it was delicious. Best garlic naan ever.

they would smash babies on this tree

The next day, we took a long ride through dusty streets to the Choeung Ek killing fields. We walked around for a few hours, listening to the audio tour. Just unbelievable how cruel people can be and that genocide has occurred so many times in history...

bracelets in remembrance of women/children

Tried a local fave for lunch - Beef Loc Lak. Very yummy, but only if you like peppercorn.

Next: 2 pm bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. We considered flying but it was more than we wanted to spend and decided that we'd give Mekong Express another go.

Siem Reap: Part II

Day 3 in Siem Reap: We spent the afternoon at Ta Prohm, which unlike the the other Wats has been left in its original condition. Huge trees have sprung out from under the original buildings; it was my favorite of the three sites we went to in Siem Reap. We had planned to see the sunset at one of the hills but it was overcast every day we were there so the sunrise will have to do for this time around! Funnily enough, we had Mexican food for dinner and chatted it up with our waiter who told us about his life in Cambodia and how he makes ends meet.

On our last day in Siem Reap, we went back to Common Ground and to the National Museum which was very nicely done, highly recommend this to anyone going as it gives a comprehensive overview of Cambodian history without being boring. Afternoon break and hit the night market for our last round of shopping in Cambodia. Picked up a few t-shirts and a token item to remember my time in this country by. 

For dinner, we tried some local eats at a nice place across the river called Viroth's. Gorgeous setting and our extravagant meal was about $8 each. The local soup, kind of like a Tom Yum, was delicious. Cambodian food is unlike anything I've had before. Whereas Vietnamese food has a subtle but refreshing taste, Cambodian food has tasty, complex flavors that are hearty yet not heavy like Thai food. Will be on the lookout for a place in nyc.

6:30 am bus ride aboard the Mekong Bus Express to Phnom Penh next. 6 hours with locals and tourists on a bus. Should be interesting...