The Oriental Palace, Nairobi

just a brief warning i arrived home in the Uk last Wednesday night (should have been morning)having had the greatest holiday of my life! 7 days on safari (Samburu, Treetops, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara) then 7 days lying in the sun on the coast south of Mombasa. All amazing!! then... after a 45 minute shuttle flight from Mobassa we were informed by Kenya Airways that our flight was grounded & another plane would be available 9.30 am the next day (we were due to have flown at 11.50pm. Not to worry said the people from the airline we would all be put up overnight full board at a 5 star hotel in Nairobi, no problem we thought having stayed a night as the Sarova Stanley Hotel a fortnight earlier, 'if it's anything like that it'll be fine'. Well it wasn't! after 2 & half hours waiting in line outside the airport with no information from anyone we were told we were going to the Oriental Palace, 4 buses of people set off, it became clear we were not going to the same side of town as The Stanley (& similar quality hotels) was, this was altogether different - very rundown, no streetlights - very very seedy! The hotel foyer was tiny, filthy & a bit smelly as we began to fill in registration cards for our rooms as many people who had gone up in the lifts came down - the rooms were filthy, no lightbulbs, very poor, or in most cases, no bathrooms,... think dirty brothel to the power of 10. Everyone refused to stay. We spent the night in the Kenya Airways Premier World (VIP) Lounge, although there were no beds (!;o) it was clean & quiet. Were i to have to spend a week in either establishment a chair in an airport lounge wins hands down. Despite all the innoculations & tablets an African adventure requires i suspect nothing would protect you from what you might catch at the Oriental Palace.