Travel With Tamara | Nairobi: Toi Market and the Buddhist Temple

Shop ’til you drop at Toi Market

Nairobi has more than its fair share of exclusive shopping malls but deep in its midst is a completely different shopping experience. Toi Market epitomises all that’s innovative and entrepreneurial about Nairobi’s urbanites – and gives you the chance to revamp your wardrobe at a hundredth of the cost.

This sprawling open-air market showcases what Kenyans call mitumba, a huge informal industry selling second-hand clothes. Should you wish to buy climbing gear to scale Mt Kenya or fitness kit for your yoga course, a dress for a wedding or a bikini for the beach, head for Toi Market and you’re sure to find it. Designer brands are here aplenty at prices to make designers gasp. Somewhere between thrift shop and flea market, but much more than either, Toi Market defies description. Plastic sheets slung over the maze of stalls lends an otherworldly light to the market, making it difficult to tell what time of day it is – or perhaps pausing time. Expect to lose several hours here, haggling for goods and snapping up bargains.

This town within a town isn’t just for clothes. If you want to do up your house without breaking the bank, head for the homeware stalls. For Kenya’s succulent fruit and vegetables find the fresh produce section. For wigs and wonders, shoes and slippers, toys and trinkets, bags and bracelets – look no further. All these are here.

Kenyans’ enterprising nature doesn’t end there. Within the market there are brokers galore. Some have their own stalls but aren’t above procuring goods from others, some are locals with in-depth knowledge of who’s selling what where. Organising payments by mpesa, they arrange delivery by Nairobi’s informal delivery service: the notorious boda boda motorbike taxis. While this is the perfect solution if you’re in a rush, it bypasses the true joy of Toi Market: the browsing and the wandering, the banter and the uproar, the hustle and the bustle. Come to Toi to experience an assault on all the senses and leave with the sense of a day well spent.

Meditate at Nairobi’s Buddhist temple

Sometimes, in nonstop Nairobi, it’s good to take a little time out. The city – hectic, loud and pungent – stimulates all the senses. Here is its antidote: a place to calm the mind and soothe the spirit.

Deep in leafy Loresho is Nairobi’s lovely Buddhist Temple. Anura Perera of the George Phylnormel Foundation built the Theravada Buddhist Centre in 1999 in memory of his parents, George and Norma Perera. An esteemed philanthropist, Anura also financed a project to deliver 50 wheelchairs to disabled Kenyans and constructed 55 houses for those who lost their homes in political conflicts. Under the direction of chief monk Bhante Wimala and resident monk Sobhitha Bhikku, the centre continues to provide humanitarian help to those in need such as building wells and providing eye care.

The centre, open daily, welcomes people of all faiths. Here you can sit in the meditation hall, stroll around the stupa and meander through manicured gardens. Should you wish to join a group, there are meditation sessions, reading groups, Dhamma talks and a well-stocked library. But perhaps the greatest joy of being at the temple is simply to pause in one of the private places around the garden and to breathe in the tranquillity.

The gardens reverberate with birdsong; tropical flowers bloom from lush foliage; water trickles over stone. Saffron robed monks step through the space, at times chanting and at other times moving in silence. Here your whole being slows down and you feel tension dissipate. You can meditate, releasing your thoughts and clearing your mind, or you can reflect on your feelings in peace and serenity. You can read a book or recite a poem. You can dwell on nature or stare at the sky.

Regardless of how long you spend here or what you do, you are sure to leave with a sense of peace.