Little India in Nairobi Part 2

I don't do much (any) traditional shopping here. Streetwear type stores do exist - Two British chains you can find in most of the shopping malls -  Woolworths and Truworths - but the prices are so sky high for wal-mart quality stuff that it is just not appealing.  Anyways, for some reason I just don't have the urge to shop that sort of stuff here anyways - When you aren't bombarded by shopping centers and billboards all over the place and people dressed to impress constantly reminding you that you need to compete, you find that the desire to buy buy buy more cute tops and jeans and little cutesy dresses and 12 pairs of tennis shoes and 7 pairs of leather boots, etc begins to diminish. I've really enjoyed being away from all that - as much as I LOVE my trips to Marshalls and TJ Maxx in the US. (I'm exclusively a bargain shopper - even at home).

BUT! That does not mean I don't shop here - I go nuts with the cool hand made African and India creations - the stuff that is hard to get in the US or just tons more expensive - I have a small addiction to that stuff. In fact, I think at this point someone needs to declare a moratorium on my handicraft and ethnic clothing buying. Am I really going to be able to wear and use all this stuff when I move back?? Will it be okay to have a house (sorry, I mean apartment - for a second I forgot I'll be moving back to DC where buying a house costs you  half a mill) full of african masks, rugs, paintings, tapestries, statues everywhere you turn?? I'll have to stamp passports at the door - it's that bad.  Anyways, this is about India and stuff from India.

A huge expo of vendors from India was in Nairobi for 10 days and somehow I found myself waiting at the doors for the place to open on opening day. It was like black Friday at Target for me! I was literally one of like 6 people like standing there staring at the gate watching the clock.  Finally they let us in and it was a STAMPEDE..of 6 people...I'm trying to make it more dramatic.  The vendors weren't all set up yet but I still managed to buy a couple of tops in the 15 minutes I had during my lunch break. I decided to just leave after that and come back once everyone was set up. I was a bit nervous about this since I had to take a three day trip to Uganda for work and I was unsure if people were going to come and buy all the good stuff before I got back - but it was all still there and I scored some great finds – there are a few things I’m actually annoyed at myself that I did not buy – ugh. Here's all the awesome stuff I saw (much of which I ended up buying):

I ended up buying the orange on on the left side of the photo

Beautiful saris

They had these beautiful lambs skin purses - so I got one. So cheap!

These are the ones that i wish i would have bought but didn't. He wanted $20 for these HUGE saris. They were gorgeous so detailed and awesome colors. I could have done something super cool with these - curtains or something. Damn. They are much more expensive at Diamond Plaza for nice ones like these.

Love the colors - didn't buy.

Loved but didn't buy.

Loving this top - just need to find the right fancy pants

For most proper Indian women, pants are worn under this - but not for hoochie American lady!!

I just had this one tailored to be a bit shorter so that it's not such a gown.

I go back and forth on loving this and hating it. But it's mine that's all that matters.

I bought this really cheap beautiful sari material. I figured I can make a table cloth for xmas or something cool like that with it.

Yes, I do have worker man hands. And it looks like arthritis or something..but it's not. I'm trying to show you the jewelry here!

        
LOVE ALL MY NEW International Flair!  And so cheap – that’s the best part.  Cost me way less than a trip to Marshalls or TJ Maxx normally would for all  that I bought. What do you think?

Crap you can buy on the side of the road in Nairobi

I’m pretty sure Nairobi was using drive thru’s before McDonalds was even a dream in the mind of Ray Kroc.  Seriously, you don’t even have to leave your car to buy a hot meal, get groceries, furnish your pad, choose a pet, accessorize your outfit, etc if you do not want to.  All you have to do is sit patiently in traffic or know which street to drive down for whatever commodity you are looking for. I’m not sure how some of these vendors decide what they are going to sell. You’ll see a guy that is selling like dixie cups, paper clips, and kitchen knives. I just don’t get how he came up with that selection?!  Here are just SOME examples of how it's done here that I was able to snap photos of without getting my phone ganked out of my hand through the car window. (Fair warning, if you have a soft spot for little furry friends, the photos at the end are sad)

Here's what it looks like as you sit in traffic - people come out of the woodwork and sell things up and down the roads between the lanes.

Perhaps you need a wire Christmas Tree or some beautiful dresses?

Or a beach ball

 

I was just thinking...I wish I had a pinwheel, a furniture duster and a bandana right about now.

Oh I like these things - they are those string balls that hang over your lightbulbs..pretty.  And you can see all the furniture they make and sell there as well as birdcages.

You can find some really nice stuff actually - These basket drawer sets are not cheap. I've been bargaining for something like that for 2 years now..can't get them below $60!

 

Me Likes. Me Wants.

They have flowers like you have never seen here. And they are cheap. No excuses men! The stuff in the back are banana leaf baskets and Christmas tree ornament hangers and wind chimes.

Roses are red, violets are blue, buy my flowers or the wire motorcycle the guy behind me is selling.

This guy sells signs painted on crappy plywood - but I love how colorful everything is. We had him make us a giant black, white and red Nairobi sign and we have it hanging in our kitchen. Cheap art with a vintage feel.

 

The Nairobi Optical Gallery/Khalil Eye Care (Uncle Mike/Sam, you guys have a Nairobi affiliate when you're ready to branch out)

 

Phone credit - this one is standard and useful.

Then there is the SAD stuff – there is one road specifically for puppies and bunnies and kitties. It’s called Peponi Rd but I call it Poopy Puppy Rd.

Little kitties in a box

Puppies

awwww..how sweet are they?? It breaks my heart to see how they keep them in tiny little plastic boxes

Said boxes...

Poor poopy puppy  - he's tied to the fence and can't even move. I hate it. But this is life here -  making a buck is first and foremost and I get that ..but it would be nice if they could at least be a bit more humane at the same time. 

If I was a street vendor, I would sell toilet paper, double (and tripple) A batteries, and toothpaste and maybe tomatoes.  So, what would you sell if you were a street vendor? What are those key things that you feel like people always get home and think “Damn! I forgot to buy _____!”.  Perhaps for you it’s beach balls and sunglasses…if so, you are covered here!

West African Bead Market Day

It’s the Hobby Lobby of Nairobi! The shady West African bead and handicraft market!
My friend Megan told me about the place, though she had never been.   So, me, Megan and her friend Marianne decided to go together one weekend.  The plan was to meet up there, which wasn’t so easy.  This place was in the heart of downtown Nairobi – In a place very culturally distant from my Westlands bubble, a place where business is going on everywhere and traffic is chaotic with buses and overloaded trucks and cars and PEOPLE squeezing into every inch of space possible. I had a driver accompany me that day since driving downtown AND finding parking is mostly out of the question – Plus, there is no way I could find my way around there without hitting a pedestrian or ending up in Timbuktu (literally).  My driver wouldn’t even let me out of the car until my friends showed up since he was honestly worried about my safety down there. So this is all to say, this place was in an area of Nairobi that i don't frequent but for Hobby Lobby, I had to try.
The place has no sign – you just have to know to find the Safety Line Lodge – a hole in the wall joint – and then find the nearby stairway and just go up. The stairway is dark and leads to an open sort of courtyard where you see about 3-4 small rooms/shops. It's the type of place that I've been taught my whole life to avoid..you know the creepy, dark stairway leading to the shady hidden from the street rooms.
But it was so pretty great -  All the beads that make all the necklaces sold at the artisan markets were there! The recycled glass beads, the bone beads, the painted beads, every color and size imaginable..all sorts of beads could be bought by the strand.
 
The shop owner was not happy about me taking photos so I could only take a few inconspicuously.  Imagine what you see in those photos, just covering 4 large walls. There were TONS of beads. And those cool beaded drums – those were around $60 though. The beads varied in cost – some were around $1 for the whole strand, some were like $20 or higher. I bought a few of the cheap strands of white bone and then some brass pendants – I’m no Tiffany and Co designer but I figured I’d take a stab at making something.  How can you really mess up a white strand of beads anyways???

Besides beads they had some pretty cool West African textiles – There is a noticeable difference between east African and west African textiles – the West Africans are known for the stuff; so colorful and vibrant and interesting.  So I couldn’t resist getting a couple of pieces – No clue what I’m going to use them for – but I keep thinking that once I’m gone, I’m gone and maybe I’ll wish I bought more stuff.  Okay, that’s Doubtful since I own enough African materials, masks, art, jewelry to open my own shop at this point – but I figure that if I was living at home, biweekly stops at Costco, Target and CVS buying stuff I don't really need would cost me even more..so I’m justified.  Anyways, I’m thinking I’ll use them to make a wall hanging or headboard for a bed, or maybe table runner?? Or perhaps a nice toilet paper or tissue box cover…KIDDING. jeez.

Here’s my final products on the jewelry:

And this one below is something I want to make but I don’t quite know how to execute it. I don’t have any clasps or anything..I just have some elastic string that someone gave me. Hmm, I’ll have to make up an equation and come up with some logarithm cause it’s such rocket science. LAME.
Any ideas on what I can do with the cloth I bought? Lemme know!

Going Tribal

No, this is not a blog about doing neck stretching exercises, walking on hot coals,  or fitting saucers through my lip and earlobes.  It's about Nairobi shopping!
It is a RARE occasion that I buy myself something here in Nairobi that isn't from the local craft market, made from cheap wire and beads, and costs less than $5.  And it's not because there are no nice shops in Nairobi - There are quite a few extremely talented Kenyan designers that made some really cool stuff. One such designer is Adele Dejak (that's the link to her blog/shop).  She owns an accessory store that I am a little obsessed with in Nairobi. There are 3 locations and I have stalked all three of them for over a year and a half now without buying ANYTHING. Being the bargain hunter and cheap ass that I am, spending $30 - $40 on non-fine jewelry or $50 on a purse is something that is physically challenging for me...obviously or I would have bought something by now.  I think the fact that we use mostly cash here makes it hard too - there is something a bit easier about paying with plastic.   But something snapped this past weekend. AND I BOUGHT THIS NECKLACE AND EARRINGS!:

The necklace so cool - it's leather and brass and just sort of wraps around your neck and hangs.

Yes, it says Joy right in the  middle

Hadn't quite gotten around to showering and make-uping yet that day..sorry. I'm just trying to show you the earrings here. They are awesome brass flowers hanging from a brass hoop...Lenna+flower earrings = LOVE

 Here are some other awesome pieces that I want to slowly acquire....I'm thinking one thing a month. Price range is like $15 - $40 for earrings/necklaces - $80 - $300 for the purses and nicer stuff. Needless to say..i'm sticking with the cheaper end..though I swear I'm getting a cool purse before I leave Kenya!

Love the chunky chain bracelets and neclaces. That cuff makes me crazy.

I come and stalk these purses every weekend. They make them out of various materials - mostly they are leather, kuba, kitanga, wax dyed printed materials, they also use old recycled industrial plastic bags, recycled burlap rice bags, and other cool materials to make really amazing bags. These range up to $300!!! The cow hide ones are AMAZING and HUGE.

LOVE this printed clutch with the leather tassels -

Me likey

 

Here are some other photos of her amazing purses from her Facebook page

Recycled burlap rice bag

Kitenge cloth and leather

HUGE cow hide bag - Is this a PITA foul? Do I care?

Animal Feed Recycled Plastic and Leather - But I think I'll pass on this since I don't really need to wear anything with a cow on it and the word FEED.

This is a different shop called Banana Box but I LOVE LOVE LOVE these Bakuba cloth and leather purses. They are sooo expensive because the woven material Bakuba is handmade and is imported from Congo. These purses are like close to $200..ugh.

I'll keep you updated on my monthly purchases. Cool stuff.  I sort of forget whether I can get similar stuff back at home for half the price. I'm sure I'll walk into Forever21 during my next trip home and find cheap versions of all this stuff.
XOXO