31.12.11

December 2011, Malindi, Kenya - Happy New Year!

December 31, 2011: (Click on pics to enlarge)
I decided to write this post few minutes before I has my New Year's Dinner Party after reflecting and looking at my last post which was in December 2010.
Nearby Che Shale Beach Resort -Very blue water,white sand,
& perfect humidity not make you not to wear no clothes;)
What a surprise it was for me that I did not even post anything since and finding out the year have flown by like a rocket into a sky.  This is impossible!   This is what my work at dotafrica has done to me.  What was possible however is that I took off sometime to enjoy a holiday.

Breakfast in-front of beach everyday!
w/my little finding "I love Malindi bag"
Karaoke nights at my hotel
@my hotel Ocean View Beach Resort & Spa, Malindi  
Returning to the US as I planned was nearly impossible for my state of mind & body, as taking yet another flight to anywhere especially on the holiday season where the human traffic is highest at airports, and worrying about luggage weight and airport security  etc . was causing me  unexpected hallucinations.   Therefore after consulting with the locals, I decided to take a drive down to a place called Malindi, a beach town 8rs Central Coast of Kenya.  With my driver Abdulla in the front, and me  taking the whole backseat, few pillows, my netbook, 2012 economist magazine I picked up in Nairobi, piles of summer cloths in a luggage with no worry on how much weight, picnic snacks, packs of water, and our Land-rover 4 wheel drive, it was exactly what I needed.
On the road to Malindi wit my driver, taking comfort 
in the back seat, yes wifi-works

With Town Popular MamaLisa, also the owner of my
Hotel who adapted me on New Year's eve!
@ Scorpio beach bar
@Papa Remo Beach,  in Watamu   

Vasco da Gama point
Some pic are posted here to share the scenery.. and what a scenery of blue water and white sand beaches... There are many resort hotels around the vicinity, all serving great seafood as well, other favorites aside from my hotel include, Che-Chale beach above (great sea food menu), Papa Roma beach (also called lover's beach, amazing view and seafood, see in pic!), Kilili Baharini Resort hotel (delicious menu & classic, well managed restaurant) and of course the famous Lion in the Sun owned by the famous Flavio, where I had my daily workout and an amazing

massage & health club services!  Don't forget to stop by, after having lunch at the "Old Man and the sea" an  old & famous restaurant, with an impressive menu ,although not kept up, yet a tradition at Melindi, and then go by the  Scorpio Hotel,  for a wonderful beach view and walk, & worth having a drink by the beach bar and buying the local music from the bartender who makes sure    you enjoy listening to it,
The restaurant Menu Story of the
Old Man & the Sea 
and also adjacent is the  Vasco Da Gama pillar,  Malindi's most famous monument,  erected by the Portuguese explorer as a navigational aid in 1498.   At any rate, my hotel Ocean View Resort &; Spa is the newest and I say will take home the price for 'a most relaxing, on-beach resort hotel and most responsive to guests, especially to high maintenance one's like me;)!  Grande Lavaro MamaLisa!   BTW, you have 2 book everything by personal connections as it was the holiday season, no joke.  My reflections - I  kept imagining what the colonials were fighting for long ago.   This one in particular is an Italian dominated place with lots of influence in culture and industry which is mostly tourism.
More story to post next year 2012, as my hotel is ringing bell for dinner.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!