I was always asked, "Is Luanda a nice place?"

"Surely ja!"

"what about the food?"

"good.. Unlike European food, Angolan food can be very spicy. They also have cabe (translation: very spicy vegetable from Indonesia), they call it jindungu. So feels like home…. Supermarkets here are more than okay."

"what about the shops? You know, for clothes, shoes, bags…."

"errrrrr…. Don’t know… I see some, but really I don’t know…"

"no shops?? What would a girl be without shops??"

"errrrrrr….."

To be honest, I have not yet made research on shops here in Luanda. But would you need shops for entertainment if you have beaches on your doorstep? Huehehe, maybe yes maybe not, it really depends, but let's just skip conversation on shops as it is also an interesting topic I would like to post some other time.

musulo islandWhen I usually spent weekend visiting malls in Jakarta and strolling Oxford Street in London, I have different type of weekend now that I am in Luanda. Weekend here means beach time! At least for us: marthijn and myself. The closest beach from our house is Ilha de Luanda (means: Island of Luanda). There you can find many restaurants & cafes and we can practically lay down on the beach with sunbeds provided by the restaurants.

Last month we, together with 2 of our colleagues/neighbors/friends (hehe, yaaa.. we all live close by), went to Musulo Island. It is actually a peninsula in South of Luanda, but to get there is by crossing the strait, that’s why they call it “island”. We took a 40min drive to the south of Luanda where the harbour is, and from there we took a speed boat to Musulo Island. I was told that we can actually spend a night there in the island but we decided to come back just after sunset the same day.

The island itself is quite nice. It is not a white-sand-beach-clear-blue-water kind of island as you would normally find in a tropical archipelago, but it is quite okay for a weekend gateaway. There are some houses where you can stay for a day (we didn’t take those) and there were also some restaurants. The lunch was nice, they served big big lobsters, barbecue and typical Angolan food. It was quite pricey though. We took a buffet with $50 per person all you can eat. For Angolan standard, it is not too shocking, really. But if you are somebody from the South East Asia where food is delicious and extremely cheap, you would cry out loud to think about the numbers. My tip is only one: simply do not compare. Different location, different rule. Period.

We didn't have the time to explore the island more, but it was not at all a regrettable experience. Next time we will be back, and see if I can tell you more about the place. :)

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