O pen up…

On day 3, we were left alone to adventure around the island. We had taken the wonderful decision to hire a scooter (scooty, kinetic honda kind) on that day. We did not even have a map with us and we set towards North and with the help of the sign boards, we reached Port Louis and spent the afternoon at the Waterfront again. While coming back south, we decided not to turn west and proceeded southwards. After a while, we reached a nice restaurant on the south-west coast and stopped there for tea. It was a nice feeling to have a good tea after a day long trip from the west to the north west, back to the south-west of the island. While we were riding, we were caressed by the breeze from the sugarcane farms, the winds from the hills we drove past and the nice sea breeze that welcomed us in the evening as we drove west towards our restaurant.

The next day, we were taken to the east coast, from where we were going to be taken to a small island. We did amazing adventures like – the undersea walk (yep we walked under the ocean), double tuber (where the tube on which we both sat was tied to a motor boat which while speeding made us jump up and down, left and right on the water) and parasailing (that was amazzzing, we were up above in the sky above the ocean for about 4 minutes and guess what – I made a perfect landing). Overall, it was a fun-filled day and we got to know two more couples honeymooning in Mauritius. That evening, we had a nice chat with one of those couples who were staying at our resort.

The next day we hired a scooter again and set off to Port Louis again. This time we explored a little bit of North Central part of the island. While returning, we explored the west coast (I managed to find a musical ice cream van where Deepthi so badly wanted the “tring tring” musical ice cream they sold). Then we chanced upon another honeymooning couple we had made friends with and spent the evening chatting.

The next day, we were to return back to India, but we had some 3 1/2 hours left with us and decided to enjoy the ride on the scooter through the time. I took Deepthi to the Center of Mauritius to the volcanic crater where Deepthi wanted to taste the ice cream they sold. From the centre, we asked directions back to the west coast. Everyone was suggesting to us to take the same road we came by and to not hit the road that takes us to the forest area and to the mountains. The kind of adventure couple we were, we took the forest road. Through the curves along the lush green forests we drove and as we came more towards the South, we had to climb some hills. We managed to find another great valley area with wonderful view of the South coast and nice waterfalls adorning the hills. And through the hills we drove, passed by the Shiva statue and finally hit the South coast, drove along the South-west coast and back to the west coast.

It was ammmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing………..

The first day, we were taken on a car on the South tour. We were lucky to be taken in a car for the pennies we paid – the other honeymooning couples had to settle for a bus, some of them not even having the pleasure of sitting side by side. Apart from the fact that we were taken to more shopping places than we wanted to go to, we enjoyed the trip. The roads, the people became more familiar to us (believe me Mauritians are not the best hospitable people – but they are very interesting with their French accent). We got to see the huge volcanic crater, Troux Aux Cerf, from which the island had formed ages ago. The huge Shiva statue (yes most of them were hindus – they were more religiously celebrating some Murugan festival than probably we do in Chennai), some waterfalls, seven coloured earth and the amazing South-west coast.

The next day we were taken on the North tour and were taken to Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. The Caudan Waterfront, a huge shopping mall just beside the bay, was an amazing place to hang out. We had our lunch there in an Indian restaurant ‘Namaste’.

Hi,

So I returned from US on 20th Jan and set off to Mauritius the next day – our first anniversary, with Deepthi. I was in a true holiday mood  and felt very emotional when we were in the Air Mauritius flight. Beleive me, even Air India would feel good after you fly Lufthansa (had a real bad experience in Lufthansa while flying in and out of US). Deepthi and I exchanged some nice words to each other as we set ourselves on the journey. After 6 hours of flight, the first glimpse of Mauritius enthralled us. Amidst the lush green hills and the sugarcane farms we landed and it was very hot outside , some 37 degrees celsius. Just 2 days earlier, I had experienced -2, so Mauritius felt like heaven to me. Most of the people we met were of Indian origin, of course it had been 4 generations since they had left India. We were given our itinerary which did not look promising, but I had all the hopes for a great holiday. The drive on the island was very nice, we introduced ourselves to the 2 couples travelling with us in our coach. They had come on honeymoon, which made us the senior citizens there !

The resort where we were put up wasn’t that great – but we felt that was value for money. And since we were not on our honeymoon, we did not need such niceties. The hotel was on the west coast (yep we had a beach beside our hotel). The beaches in Mauritius are amazing and are very interesting. They are surrounded by a coral line which is some 30-50 feet away from the coast. The tides stop there and their impact almost becomes zero by the time they reach the coast (This coral line had actually helped Mauritius survive during Tsunami). The water with its aqua marine blue colour can fill the hearts of any romantic.

Hi,

If you know a little bit of me, you would know who I would support for the presidential contest that is going on in US. Of course, the gigantic, the fearless, the charismatic, the one and only Barack Obama. Read the entire story on this link http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/barackobama/story/0,,2066992,00.html . I had watched the video on youtube (don’t have the link but you can easily get it if you type in Obama 2004 democratic party convention). He is ammmmazzzing, I never saw anyone spreading the message of hope so effectively as Obama. Most of his speeches are marked with the ecstasy of the crowds marked by some radical statements made by Obama.

Although his appeal for ‘United States of America’ is very USA specific, somehow I feel the entire world senses a lot of hope with his arrival into the US political arena. I really do not know the nitty gritties involved in the US primary elections, caucuses, etc, but I know he does have a strong contender in the name of Hillary Clinton. Any other day, when a name like Obama had not become this popular, Hillary would have been a sure-shot candidate for the US presidentship. But I am sure America would not want to lose out on the charismatic leadership of Obama and would probably reserve the next tenure for Hillary.