Trip to Mauritius - Part 2

The next three days we did a variety of activities. We did get a local flavor of Mauritian shopping. We were made to roam around malls for one and half day. The guides made sure that the tourists spent enough money to boost the economy. We went to two malls, Le Caudan Waterfront Mall and Riche Terre Mall in Port Loius, Mauritius. The malls looked a lot more spacious than in Bangalore. I was more surprised to see the youngsters there. Most of them were in pairs, holding hands, kissing in the privacy of the trees. The guys hairstyles were commendable, lots of gel and many innovative hair spikes. The youngsters looked very fashionable. They looked like a different breed of Africans, of Indian origin, were fair and spoke French. 

I had flavored sugar cane juice at the mall. I had sugarcane juice with mint and my hubby opted juice with ginger and lemon. The sugarcane juice acted like a base which took on the flavor of whatever ingredient was added to it. My juice tasted as though it was made of Orbit mouth refreshers so I drank half of my hubby's sugar cane juice.

We saw a lot of places. The dead volcano crater, which did not look like a volcano. We went to a Shiva temple which was located close to Ganga Talao lake. The lake and the surroundings were beautiful. It was a perfect location for the temple. We also had a fun excursion at House of Illusions. There was an upside down room and a room of mirrors which reflected the image in multiple directions. The last stop was the seven colored earth at Chamarel and the waterfall.    

                                                 A fruit stall at Le Caudan Waterfront Mall

The dead volcano crater

                                                              View from the Volcano Crater

The Ganga Talao Lake and the temple located on shore of the lake

Mona Lisa portrait made of dice at House of Illusions

The seven colored earth at Chamarel

The Waterfall at Chamarel

To be continued ...

Trip to Mauritius - Part 1

Mauritius looks like a tiny speck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, located below the Equator. You really have to zoom in google maps to identify the island. My hubby and I reached the island after a 5.5 hours flight from Bangalore. There are a few things that I noticed during the drive to our hotel. The island was full of sugarcane plantations and the ocean looked marvelous. The color of the water was different shades of blue which ranged from aquamarine to turquoise, with patches of dark blue close to the beach. During our stay, we observed that the color of the sea changed throughout the day and she looked her best in the afternoon. Most of the Mauritians were third or fourth generation Indians, with Indian names but spoke French.  

Our hotel was located in Trou Deau Douce. This part of the island was lined with hotels which had private beaches. The ocean added glory to the otherwise mundane hotel. There were a lot of foreigners in our hotel, most of them Europeans, who loved to get tanned. They lay on the beach chairs from morning till noon and applied loads of sunscreen. Well, our Indian skin does not need further tanning, so we gave up that plan of relaxation.

Mauritius offered a variety of water activities. On the first day we went for undersea walking and para-sailing. The undersea walking platform was quite far from the beach. At the platform, we wore the glass helmet which was connected to the oxygen tanks and jumped into the ocean. We were told to keep our feet planted on the sea floor. Walking was a struggle. Every movement took effort. Time passed slowly and the glass masks gave a distorted view. We were in a undersea forest of corals, surrounded by fishes with zebra stripes. I tried catching a few fishes, but they were quite nimble. Half the time, I expected to see a shark heading towards us and schemed about how I can run fast in slow motion. We spent 15 minutes in the undersea walk and by end of the 15th minute, the reluctant me had to be pushed on to the top of the platform.

The parasailing activity was close to the Ile Aux Cerfs island. The boat ride was very choppy. Given that we did not have life jackets, I held on to the boat, and prayed that we would not topple. On the parasailing platform, I almost decided to shun the activity because of my fear of heights. I hate the pull of gravity. One of the fellow tourists, pushed me to do it by saying that, you never know if you will get to try it again or not. I took a deep breath and decided to do it. My hubby and I were strapped to the parachute and then we were gently lifted into the air and dragged by a speed boat. We stayed in air for 15 minutes and the view was marvelous. The blue sky and the blue ocean enveloped us on all sides. We got a bird's eye view of the island. Para-sailing was my first favorite activity in this trip.          

    

                                                  View from our hotel room at Silver Beach

A beautiful sunrise at Silver Beach

                               

                               My hubby's photography skills are coming to my use :)

                                       The fishes which greeted us at the Undersea walk

                                        More fishes. Well, what else do you expect undersea?

We traveled to Ile Aux Cerfs from this Beach

                                                                      Ile Aux Cerfs

This is how people roll at Ile Aux Cerfs

Yes, I am on a secret mission to promote tourism in Mauritius

                                                  The cute restaurant on Ile Aux Cerfs

Yes, I did go for Para-sailing

The Entrepreneur Mouse - Part 2

Read Part 1 of the story here. 

As Maxi flew over Aalesia, Mynee Mouse felt excited and also nervous. From above, it saw a dense forest and from the trees, hung big chunks of cheese.

Maxi dropped Mynee in the land of cheese and flew away. Mynee looked tiny in front of the gigantic trees which bore the cheese. Mynee looked up. The cheese was all the way at the top. Mynee Mouse started its trek to the top of the tree. It reached to the top of the tree by nightfall. Mynee bit into the cheese. The cheese was delicious. Mynee got hold of some cheese and started its journey down the tree.

In the midst of silent forest, Mynee heard a shrill screech. A creature which was as dark as the night swooped past Mynee. The little mouse quickly hid itself in the tree’s borrow and waited for the nocturnal visitor to leave. Mynee reached the ground after the sun came out.

Mynee met other mice in Aalesia. They told that the nocturnal visitor’s nickname was Death. It caught the fat mice when they were high above the tree tops and ate them. The creature has become a menace over the years and killed several mice.

Mynee thought long and hard about how to escape the creature. The little mouse caught a twinkle by the corner of its eye. The roots of the cheese trees were covered by transparent spindly structures which looked like tiny spears. Mynee plucked the spears and stuck them to its body using the sap from the cheese tree. Mynee reached the treetop, gathered the cheese and began its trek down. Death waited to hunt this lean mouse down. When Death swooped down to catch Mynee, it’s talons hurt, something sharp pierced it’s feet. It tried a few more times and gave up. Mynee was far too intelligent to become a prey.

Mynee gathered the cheese and came down the tree, tasting the victory of its first battle with Death. Mynee made a sheath of tree sap covered with spindles and sold it as armor to the other mice in Aalesia. The mice bought the spindle sheath and paid Mynee with the delicious cheese. Mynee Mouse never had to climb the trees after that day. The short living spindle sheaths were selling so fast the Mynee Mouse had to recruit a few other mice to help it make them. Mynee had enough cheese to pay for Maxi to bring its family to Aalesia. Mynee lived happily in Aalesia with its family. 

                                                          The End.

The Entrepreneur Mouse - Part 1

Mynee Mouse, as the name says was a mouse that lived in Fammyland. Mynee struggled from morning till night to find cheese to fill its stomach. The little mouse almost got trampled by a herd of elephants and also lost a bit of its tail to a hungry eagle, during its cheese hunts. Mynee’s quest started afresh everyday and it ended only in the night.

Fammyland’s mice sometimes had visitors from a far away land, Aalesia. Aalesia’s mice spoke about the abundant, delicious, flavorful cheese from their land, which grew on top of cheese trees. They rubbed their round tummies in satisfaction as they thought about the cheese from Aalesia. Mynee Mouse’s mouth watered every time it heard about Aalesia’s cheese.

Mynee Mouse wanted to go to the land of cheese, Aalesia. It was tired of the day to day struggle to gather the cheese in Fammyland. The little mouse had many fears. It went to the grand old and wise owl, Sier to ask for his advice.

Sier spotted Mynee Mouse from a distance and said, ‘Oh Mynee, welcome! I haven’t seen you in a long time.’

Mynee replied, ‘Yes good old friend. I was busy hunting cheese.’

‘I came to know that it has become hard to find cheese these days’

‘Yes. Even if I find it, it is not sufficient for me. Too less cheese. Too less.’

‘Mynee, why don’t you go to Aalesia? I heard that place has cheese aplenty’

‘Yes good friend. I was thinking about it. I want to go to Aalesia, but I do not have the worms to travel.’

‘Work a little bit harder every day. You can gather enough cheese to buy worms to feed Maxi. Maxi will fly you to Aalesia’. (For the reader, Maxi is the crow who flew mice to and from Aalesia)

‘I am also worried about my family. How can I leave them here and go?’

‘Once you are in Aalesia, you can gather enough cheese to pay Maxi to fly your family to Aalesia.’

‘What if Aalesia is not as rosy as it seems. There could be dangerous creatures lurking around and they can eat me up.’

‘Now, now, Mynee, I know you are a brave and clever mouse.’ Sier said that and looked at Mynee’s chopped off tail. ‘You can figure out how to escape those dangerous creatures’.

‘Good friend, what if …’

Sier interrupted Mynee and said, ‘Listen, if something is important to you, you will find a way. If not you’ll find an excuse. Make progress or make excuses.’

Mynee Mouse thanked Sier for his advice. The next few months the mouse worked hard to gather that extra cheese for its flight. Mynee exchanged the cheese for a few succulent, freshly dead worms and took those worms to Maxi. Maxi gladly obliged to take Mynee to Aalesia. Off went the little mouse to Aalesia after it bade goodbye to its family.

To be continued tomorrow  ...