Backdate: East Africa trip Aug 2015 Day 6 - 15th Aug - Visiting SS's grandparents (Chake Chake) + Manta Resort + Jenny & Pi's place + ZNZ Chinese dinner + TAMU Gelato

15/8/15: With our flight scheduled to leave 4.30pm from Pemba Island today, our itinerary for the day was understandably tight! SS, her mum, John, Alex, YJ and I had to leave Fundu Lagoon by ard 730am to visit SS's grandparents first before we proceed for their photoshoot over at Manta Resort.

Breakfast was simple toast with some veggies but it was tasty! The staffs were alrdy there awaiting and serving us by the time we got there at 6+am... very gd service imo. Had some time to step onto the jetty for a short moment before we left Fundu Lagoon resort. *The morning was very peaceful. We will all miss the serenity and awesome times spend there.*

We hop onto a van and headed over to SS's grandparents home. The house overlooks the vast blue sea. There were many fishing boats parked there too. *I reckon 80% of residents on that island have their home by the sea ba!?*

Her cousin opened the door and greeted us, before her grandma came out too. Pi was alrdy there too. The exterior is as seen in the photo above, and inside were bits and pieces of their simple lifestyle in Pemba Island. The main door, the small living room, bedrooms, dining room, alley leading into the kitchen... a bit of四合院的感觉.

Her ahma was obviously happy beyond words seeing SS and her family back, oh and of cos YJ, Alex, me and John, their grandson-in-law-to-be. She speaks Cantonese to them, and very basic Mandarin. I could only speak a bit to her, and ahma cut some Pemba oranges for us... it's flesh may be pale orange, near yellowish in colour but I can tell u it's super sweet~ yums! Ah gong was a man of few words (at least I can't recall I heard any~), but he was diligently slicing up a big fish in the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen myself, and took a pic of him preparing the fish. He was 100% focused, don't think he took notice of me at all.

We didn't get to eat it of cos, though I feel ah gong and ah ma would have had the intention of preparing dinner for us if we could stay longer. *We only had 1 hr, had to drive off to Manta Resort, and we were alrdy running late.*

时间匆匆。岁月也匆匆。不饶人呢。
The time SS had to see her grandparents was this short. She was crying when we were about to leave. Can see that she misses them a lot, well it's been a gd 20+yrs of nt seeing each other. We outsiders took family photos for them. *To tell the truth, my eyes were teary too. The thought of being away from your love ones is tough enough on its own alrdy.*
One incident I need to mention though. Pemba Island consists of mostly Muslim, and they are rather conservative. The weather was hot in the afternoon, so Alex wore berms. Later on, I heard that to dunno ah gong or ah ma, he macham "nv wear anything" LOL.

The journey to Manta Resort felt like it took forever man~ Manta Resort is located near the Northern tip of Pemba. I rmb we all fell aslp otw, the road was super bumpy. We passed through Nigezi Forest too... about half an hr or so just to cross that narrow-path forest. *Joked that that was the "trial test" to Safari game drive experience later on lol.* We reached the back of Manta Resort, and the staff first came to welcome us, before the two pretty daughters of the boss saw us at the reception. *Thanks to SS's email to them that we got this chance to visit their one and only underwater room hotel!* She even offered to serve us lunch, but sadly we couldn't accept it cos we were hurrying like siao due to the departure flight in the afternoon haiz.

Yes the sun was glaring and burning our skins away but heck the place is too beautiful!

We were told to change into their Crocs for visitors cos we had to take a 5mins boat ride to reach the underwater hotel. *Damn I was wearing white jeans trying to cover up as much exposed area as possible, but we had to step into waters due to the higher tide~ wet half my pants lo!* The wind was super strong too!

Yep so not just pretty photo-shopped photos we saw of the Underwater Hotel hotel on FB, I was there to see it for myself. The sea was indeed "blue-like-nobody's-business", but I thought, aesthetically, the room was only average to me. The selling point is the blue sea waters, sleeping under the stars and diving straight into the sea as and when you like. However, I didn't like the super cramp room and swaying of the room due to sea currents. As you can see below, the space with the steps leading down to the room is pretty narrow (too fat can't even squeeze in through it alamak~), and only one person is allowed on it at one time.  

The room is big enough for one bed, and a 1-person width per sides on the 3 sides... cramp I would say. *Those with Claustrophobia wouldn't be able to stand the place I reckon.* We can feel the room swaying up and down with the currents, plus it's daytime and they did not turn on the lights just outside the room, so the water was pretty murky. *Honestly, I wouldn't want to slp in the room myself~ probably cos I reckon the weather and view upstairs at night would be better as compared!*

Yes couples have the huge bed and space to themselves on top~ with no railings anywhr except for the stairs, one got to be careful not to roll into the sea when they slp LOL. Stand steady, cos we couldn't exactly stand still haha! *Feels like rocking bed leh!*

Darn the sun was scorching but the view was absolutely stunning. *If I were a sea lover, I'd love this place to death lol.* I'm sure SS and John's wedding photos, plus the superb photog skills from Alex, will wow us on their wedding.

It was a short time at the underwater hotel, but definitely an experience one would love to have in a lifetime. *Though, I dun think I can afford/willing to pay USD2K for a night's stay here.* We rushed back to our van once back on shore, and settled for another long drive back to Chake Chake, where Pi and Jenny's parents stay, and whr the others were waiting for us. *The temp outside went up to 39degrees celcius!!!* Had lunch prepared for us in the living room, before we hurried to go to the airport. *The tapioca chips below was made in Pemba Island~ Pi helped us to order, with less salt hehe~ I only paid 10000TsH for 10packets okay!*

There was a bit of queue cos they check ur luggages manually. The officer even had SS's dad open up one box of our food/stuff omg. *The pilot this time round was friendlier, but the plane was even smaller than the one we took to fly to Pemba.*

While we were flying, SS suddenly pointed out to us the "heart-shaped" island below... can't rmb if this was Misali though?

After alighting, we drove back to SS's place and then out to her uncle's Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Alex, YJ and I loved the bottled Ginger Ale from Zanzibar! It's much thicker than SG's. A pity I didn't take pictures of the dishes like cold chicken, steamed fish, prawns etc~ they were delicious! SS's relatives like uncle Kai and his family were there too.
After that, the whole grp of us jumped onto a lorry (literally packed and it's so fun feeling the breeze standing up~) and it drove us to Tamu Gelato ice-cream shop. *Kai treated us to ice-cream!*

I had the avocado flavoured ice cream and it was shiok! ST went ard taking polariods for everyone.

Somehw at one pt of time, Alex, YJ and I ended up talking outside the café. We talked about childhood and horror stories I think~ very comfy chat imo.
*It was a wonderful time spent with her relatives and cousins. Next up, YJ, Alex, SS, John, Jenny, ST and I leave for our Safari trip in Tanzania! Rawrrr!*