Broke camp again this morning and said goodbye to Dirty Girty (our truck) for 4 days of rest and relaxation on Zanzibar. We got the fast ferry across from Dar es Salaam to Stonetown. The ferry was airconditioned and played the movie, the Italian Job. The trip was just under 3 hours and thankfully it was calm as we have 2 people who do not have their sea legs. Apart from having to lug 4 large boxes of alcohol, juice and soda which were a little heavy and cumbersome, the trip was on the whole a very pleasant experience. We are back in an area that is 97% Muslim so being on budgets we decided to buy alcohol in a less Muslim area as prices were much more reasonable.

Arrived in Stonetown around 1pm and spent the afternoon wandering the cobbled streets seeking out bargains. Decided that as tomorrow is Christmas and there was no parcel waiting for me from home (yes Mum, 2 people had parcels waiting from home on our arrival, but don't worry I didn't have space to bring a parcel even if I wanted to!!) that I had best get myself some Christmas presents as this would be my first year without a Christmas parcel from home. 2 paintings, 2 dresses and a santa hat later I decided that all was redeemed and I was ready for xmas :) Xav even got a football shirt as it was the first I have seen whilst shopping in Africa. Not sure how happy he will be about a Tanzanian shirt though.

Tonight we went to Africa House which was the first English Gentlemen's club built in Stonetown and is now just a hotel. We watched the sunset over the water which was really rather lovely. A little hungry by this point we hit the night market. The night/fish market is on every night at the waterfront and has about 80-100 stalls all selling food - yum. Stalls are either savoury of sweet and have basically the same stuff. Savoury stalls had kebab sticks of all different types of seafood or chicken or beef, some salad, samosa's and falafel. It was just under 1 pound for each skewer, depending on how much you bartered and they then took it and barbequed it which seemed to be just reheating it. I had some really lovely fish and also a great spicy lobster but then a very chewy scallops. It was a little hit and miss but very fun trying to decided what to have and then from which stall. A great skewer feast was then topped off with a Zanibarian style pizza which had nutella, banana and peanut butter. It was more pancake than pizza but whatever you called it - it was delicious. Stomach aching and overfull we headed to a bar for a cocktail and then home to luxuriate in our rooms that were air-conditioned. Amazing sleep was had in the air conditioned room. Seems like it has been years since I slept in air con, even though it has only been a few months...