Picolo Beach Hotel

16th January 2010

So today marks the month mark of my absconding from England. Since 16th December, I have travelled from London, to Dubai. From Dubai to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. And then from Addis to Entebbe in Uganda, from there I’ve driven to Kampala where I stayed a night. The following day I crossed the border into Tanzania. I stagnated a while in Bukoba, and eventually moved through Mwanza, to Arusha, and then on to Dar es Salaam.

For the last week or so I have been in a hotel in the Kawa Beach region of Dar. Picolo Beach Hotel is a smallish hotel that oozes charm. It’s far and away the most comfortable hotel that I’ve stayed in so far. The hotel is being funded for me because my apartment won’t be ready until Monday. So I have basically stayed in on the hotel grounds because the centre of town is far away and I don’t want to sit in traffic for hours.

Dar is notorious for its heat and for its traffic jams. At this point I have experienced both of these! Temperatures have been ranging from the high twenties to the low thirties on a daily basis, and it gets very hot about an hour before the rains make an appearance. Some days you will sweat just sitting down. It’s bliss in comparison to what I hear England has been having.

Anyhow, back to the hotel. I was in a standard room for the first couple of nights before I got bumped up to the deluxe suite. I am hoping that I can get into the executive suit soon...that would be the best! Bakari, the hotel general manager, has been very accommodating and very friendly. We have regular chats about how the hotel business is going, about how good the food is, and about anything in general. He has given me passwords for the internet, and he moved me into the better room. Apparently he’s a very friendly chap! There is an Italian chef called Remo who has been living in Tanzania for 9 years and has fluent Swahili...and not a word of English. It’s fantastic, every day we see each other and say hellos in a variety of languages, and then conversation stops and he carries on about his business.

The hotel has a glorified sand pit which is meant to resemble a beach. There is a bar sitting on some decking by the sand, and a huge BBQ is next to that. Behind the ‘beach’ there is a building where the standard rooms are. Across the courtyard there is the main building with the reception. It is here where I am now, tapping away at the keyboard in my huge room. I’m at the back of the building looking out over the restaurant. Just to the side of the restaurant is a nice pool, which is possibly the most refreshing experience when it is sweltering.

The food here is a mix between traditional Tanzania grills, from the BBQ no less, and a lovely looking Italian menu, which I’ve not really sampled yet! All the food tastes ridiculously fresh, and is pretty tasty indeed. I sort of wish my new apartment was nearer to this place so that I could just run across the road and eat all the good food! I’ll have to remember how to cook I reckon.

The first day here was quite overcast. I went walking out to the beach which is about 5 minutes away and I was a bit disappointed. There was a tremendous amount of rubbish that had been washed up on the beach, and there was a lot of seafront development going on. It was not as appealing as it could be. I’ve only ventured up and down the main road twice in the last week, and that was because I was having lunch with the Professor. We have been to some local places which are meant to be very good. Foolishly I took the recommendation of one of the owners of the restaurant, and had oxtail soup. The soup was as I expected, a very hot broth. The oxtail, which I thought would be in the soup was actually a chopped up tail put around the bowl...equipped with bone, cartilage and the occasional ox hair. The meat tasted fine, but the concept was not a good one. I am quite put off trying that again!

I’ve spent the last week or so just relaxing and adjusting to the increase in temperature, I have written a report on the BDA, which needs a quick look over (which I should be doing now) and then I’ll send it on to the powers that be! I’ve been reading a lot, and I’ve decided to make a start on Harry Potter...I don’t know what to make of it yet though. There have been plenty of very bad American films on the TV. Today I watched one about a policeman who goes undercover to become a skydiver to track a drug smuggling venture. It would have suited Tom Cruise to play it...it was like a police version of Top Gun! Outstanding!

I haven’t really got much desire to keep typing here. I am craving the swimming pool and it is toasty enough to warrant such behaviour. I may have to redeem my musings in future posts as this is all you are getting from me today. Oh...remind me to tell you about Esra. He’s a legend!

Toodles.