Finding A Supermarket In Bungoma
I'm in Bungoma, near the Ugandan border. It's another ordinary town, a bit like Kericho but a shade bigger, and not even in my guidebook. So that's good.
The sort of place I usually end up staying in for a while.
I've wandered around, and like Kericho, saw no other white faces. There's nothing for tourists here.
I suppose both towns could be considered the Kenyan version of Caterham, about the same size more or less as Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Warlingham and Whyteleafe.
And the supermarkets are easy to find. Just look for a row of fifteen or twenty new motorcycles parked in a line at the edge of the road. There'll be a supermarket right there. They all sell bikes.
This is Khetia's supermarket in the centre of town. McVities Digestives on offer, 25% extra for free.
And right next door is ........
Shariffs supermarket. Plus, there's an ordinary motorbike shop another three doors down.
This is a two-wheel town, awash with 'boda-boda' motorbike taxis and bicycle taxis. On the way in I passed a large signboard that I thought was a street map of the town. But no, it was a local council proposal for a system of circulation for both types of taxi in the central area of town, so that they don't completely block up the streets making it impossible for mere pedestrians (like me) to get around.
With a 2-wheel taxi parking place nearby.
When walking around, negotiating the main crossroads adds about fifteen minutes to any journey even though the roads are small and compact. It's a compact town.
First there's the narrow mud pavement, with deep concrete drainage ditch alongside, only partly covered.
There are three supermarkets close to the main crossroads, so that's three separate ranks of shiny new motorbikes lining the edge of the road. Then the solid procession of two-wheel taxis going this way and that, and the bicycle taxis going every other way as well, filling every piece of tarmac road and mud pavement.
So it takes a long, long time to cross.
Bicycles, with and without pasengers, pop up all over the place continuously and completely unpredictably. Out of alley ways and shop courtyards, from behind pavement kiosks, out of 'hotels' (that is, dining rooms) and everywhere else that you don't expect.
So, it's a nice place to stay in for a while.
This is the street scene from the terrace of the little hotel I'm in.
Looking in the other direction, my hotel on the left just out of the picture.
And a short-cut back from the town centre.
This fellow, an accomplished Kenyan musician and busker, has a permanent pitch outside the Shariff covered market. Other than that, I don't know who he is.
Bicycle taxis can carry two passengers, or three if they're children, usually on their way to school.
Motorbike taxis have a slightly greater capacity.
Friday must have been livestock day at the nearby market. A motorbike taxi went past the hotel while I was on the terrace. It carried the driver, one passenger, and a dead goat being held by the hooves by the passenger, upsidedown, its back on the seat between driver and passenger. A short while later another went past, with passenger holding onto two dead goats.
Motorbike taxis have a greater capacity for freight than the bicycle variety. Which I suppose I've been discovering on this journey.
A bicycle taxi drops off a passenger just outside my hotel.
And don't forget, you saw it here first, exclusive photo-reportage --
Here in Bungoma, secret road trials are underway for a new one-wheel taxi. To keep the details under wraps, the passenger seating arrangements have been omitted on this prototype.