Author: Alan Orth | Page 3

Kenya, Rants

The “Most Intelligent” City in Africa

CNN reports on the news that Nairobi has been ranked, apparently for the second year in a row, as the “most intelligent” city in Africa.

According to the Intelligent Community Forum, “intelligent communities” are those that have taken “conscious steps” to create an economy that can prosper in the “broadband economy.”

Well that’s definitely misleading: it’s not about intellectual intelligence. The forum merely considers the fact that Nairobi has relatively fast/cheap broadband, incubators for tech startups, and the ability to pay for stuff everywhere using our phones. Yeah, it does. Shrug.

So What?

The reality is that Nairobi is corrupt, dangerous, dirty, and expensive. I don’t think it’s any consolation to Nairobi’s denizens that their city is “intelligent.” Nairobi also has one of the most “painful” commutes of any city in the world. And the insecurity in Nairobbery obviously contributed to Kenya’s abysmal ranking in the 2014 crime index.

All of that doesn’t just stop being important because we can stream YouTube videos without buffering! We should be focusing on metrics that matter, like the Human Development Index or the Global Peace Index.

Food, Travel

A Bulgarian Christmas

In my experience a Bulgarian Christmas is family, food, and snow — all in large portions. To be fair, minus the snow, that pretty much describes any time of year in Bulgaria! Allow me to elaborate (and share a few specifics)…

Food

For the purposes of this list family and food are one in the same; recipes and traditions about food are passed down from generation to generation, and food is enjoyed together.

Apparently, according to traditions in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, people are supposed to forgo animal products like meat, eggs, milk, cheese, etc for forty days before Christmas. In practice (and probably more so in urban areas) it seems like people generally only do this on Christmas eve.

Christmas-eve loaf (without milk, butter, or eggs)

Christmas-day loaf (with eggs, milk, and butter!)

Travel

Five Glorious November Days in Zanzibar!

I can’t shake the feeling that Zanzibar felt like a combination of Lamu — Kenya’s small island with winding stone alleyways, coconut-infused Swahili dishes, etc — and the Kenyan coastal towns of Mombasa, Watamu, and Malindi.

Here are some of the highlights from my visit…

Fine Dining in Paje

A clever entrepreneur built a gourmet restaurant on top of a rock a few meters off the beach in the small Southeast town of Paje. It’s (obviously) called The Rock and the view is absolutely stunning during the day. Blue sky, blue water, sand bars, coastline… perfect.

And, as if location, location, location wasn’t enough, the food is delectable; I believe it was the first time in my life I’ve had home-made cinnamon ice cream. You definitely need to go there.