Dream destination

Who would have thought I'd find my dream destination in the Sep 10 edition of Newsweek?

At first glance, the pristine blue-green waters looked like Mauritius or Bora Bora. Upon reading I found out that it's Zanzibar. Zanzibar is actually the name of a group of tropical Indian Ocean islands just east of Tanzania. Pemba and Unguja are the two main islands. Unguja is the largest island and is commonly referred to as Zanzibar.

I found two lovely options for this island. One is Matemwe Bungalows (matemwe.com) - the lodge that features a porch with huge hammocks and a sumptious bath. For those who need to make contact with the outside world, they offer internet and telephone/fax facilities; television still hasn't made it to paradise. That sounds good to me.














Low season is from early Jan to end of March, the whole month of June and Sept to Dec 20. At 230 USD per person per night sharing, that's something to work towards.

High season's during New Years July-Aug and Xmas week.

Visitors are recomended to set aside an afternoon to get lost in the city of Stone Town's labyrinth of whitewashed houses, bazaars and courtyards. I'm excited already at the prospect of viewing the architechture, based on the island's Persian and European influences.

The second option that I discovered was Zamani Zanzibar Kempinski. I've stayed at the Kempinski in Munich and Beijing, and they've always felt very metropolitan and urban to me. A little bit lab-like environment, even - them being entrenched in German processes and efficiency. SoI'm a little surprised to know that there's a Kempinski in Zanzibar. I wonder if it's as efficient as their other hotels.

They've got this celebration package from USD 1192.00 for double occupancy in a Garden room double. This package include:

Four nights accommodation + Full buffet breakfast,
Round-trip airport transfers,
One bottle of champagne upon arrival,
Aromatherapy massage for two,
A private candlelight dinner for two,
A shopping and sunset dhow cruise.

A quick search on kayak.com showed direct flights on Kenya airways from Bangkok from about 2000 USD. Whoa. Maybe I'll stick to the luscious islands of my hometown state of Terengganu.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting factoid: Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock group Queen, was born in Zanzibar. He was originally named Faroukh Bulsara, and his father, Bomi Bulsara, was an Indian-born accountant who worked for the British Colonial Office in Stone Town.