India

“Incredible India” is what the tourism campaign says.  And it’s truly incredible… incredible how one place can be so disgusting.  India is a fascinating place – full of interesting history and some amazing monuments – but for me, a lot of that was overshadowed by just how gross things were.  Traffic is horrendous and the drivers could give even an adventure seeker a heart attack.  The worst part is the honking.  Indians honk their horns incessantly and for any and every reason.  There is never silence in India – even when all other noise goes quiet, there’s always the constant hum of a million car horns honking.  The air is smoggy and hazy and everything is dusty.  There is little colour and little green to be seen because of the pollution.  Trash litters the streets, the sidewalks, the alleyways, and just about everywhere else you can think of.  Cows are also everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  Roaming around and shitting all over the place.  Pepsi is ubiquitous – much more so than Coca-Cola – which is a major indicator that a place sucks.  But the worst part, and I hate to say this, are the people.  I know many Indian people outside of India and they are so lovely.  Our local tour guide, Shivraj, was also so lovely – one of my best tour guides ever.  But the general population – at least the part that interacts with tourists – seems to be full of terrible touts, hawkers, and scammers.  Beggars fill the streets and would often come up to me with dirty hands and touch me while they asked for a handout.  These were usually women who had a naked, crying baby in their arms.  At first I felt bad, but after the first few, I just was annoyed.  Shop owners constantly and aggressively try to pull you in to their shops.  Random people on the street will start talking to you – pretending to be genuinely interested in you as a tourist – but it always quickly turns into an offer to take you somewhere – likely a store, restaurant, or hotel owned by their mate.  It was always a scam.  They all just want to cheat tourists out of money.

I know India isn’t all bad.  My tour took us to the main tourist cities, so I imagine it would be less in-your-face elsewhere.  I definitely want to go to back one day – India is a big country and there’s a lot to be explored, particularly in the south of India.  But for now, I’m happy my trip was only 8 days.  And I feel like I don’t need to ever go back to the places I’ve already been.

A few highlights of my time in India:

Delhi:

I had a half-day only in Delhi and our group pretty much only saw the India Gate – a big war monument.  That was enough for me.  It was a big, disgusting, crazy city and I was pleased to move on.

Jaipur:

Jaipur was much more pleasant than Delhi, but that’s not saying too much.  Our group strolled around some markets, went to a gem making workshop, explored the old City Palace, and visited the UNESCO-listed Amber Fort.  The fort is a huge palace with ornate decoration in a small town outside Jaipur.  This was definitely a highlight.  The two bigger highlights from Jaipur, however, were Jantar Mantar and seeing a Bollywood film.  Jantar Mantar is/was the royal astronomical observatory and (allegedly) holds the biggest sundial in the world along with various other sundials and devices that tell not only time, but also advise on the constellations, the zodiac, and more.  The largest sundial was accurate to two seconds!  It was fantastic.  That night, we saw a Bollywood film – the debut movie of one of India’s most famous stand-up comedians.  In the film, he accidentally married three women but was trying to marry a fourth – the one he actually loved.  Most of it was in Hindi, but we could ascertain quite a bit despite there being no subtitles.  The audience was super engaged with the movie and it created a great atmosphere!  

Agra:

Our first stop in Agra was the Agra Fort, another of India’s UNESCO World Heritage sites.  The fort was built by and home to several Mughal rulers – the Muslim invaders that ruled the Indian sub-continent for over 300 years starting in the early 16th century.  Different rulers added on different palaces to the fort.  One of the more interesting sections was the gorgeous prison room where the sixth Mughal ruler kept the fifth Mughal ruler, his father, after he deposed him (and killed his three brothers so they couldn’t take the throne).  The Agra Fort also gave great views of the Taj Mahal, Agra’s (and India’s) most famous tourist attraction.  The Taj Mahal was built by the fifth Mughal ruler (before he was imprisoned) as a mausoleum for his favourite wife.  Their story, as we were told it, is one of the greatest love stories recorded in history.  I would tell you all about it here, but you can just read it on Wikipedia instead.  The Taj Mahal was gorgeous – a stunning building on the outside (and surprisingly small on the inside).   The gardens were well-maintained and everything was delightful despite the mass of tourists there.  Then you walked out the main gate back to the real world full of touts, cows, and dirt.

Aside from the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, which was definitely the highlight of India, there’s absolutely nothing else to do in Agra.

Orchha:

A little-known small town that’s fairly new on the tourist circuit, tiny Orchha was a great break from the big cities of India.  A convenient stop between Agra and Varanasi, Orchha boasts a big palace complex known as the Raja Mahal (and the attached Jahangir Mahal) which was first constructed in 1531.  There’s a lot of history to this palace, but the most important thing for us was that THERE WAS A BOLLYWOOD TV SHOW BEING FILMED THERE DURING OUR VISIT!  It was a random awesome happening:  stars, cameras, make-up, props, extra, and more.  We were able to walk around and take pictures with the props and selfies with some of the extras – all local boys who were paid a little to stand there in gladiator style attire.  The other big draws of Orchha are two temples:  the large Chaturbhuj Temple, where a wacky guide took us on a fantastic tour up random staircases to the roof for a photo shoot, and the Ram Raja Temple, where we attended an evening prayer ceremony.  The Ram Raja Temple was interesting in that it didn’t look at all like a temple.  Turns out it was part of a palace but became a temple when a statue of the god Rama was temporarily placed there and was unable to be moved.  Ha!

Elsewhere in Orchha, we explored fifteen old cenotaphs dedicated to some old kings, took a cooking class (which was more of a demonstration but was still delicious), and visited a unique paper factory where old cotton clothes picked out of the trash are turned into high quality paper.  The factory is a government initiative to employ people.

Varanasi:

Everyone who speaks of Varanasi always raves about it, but to be blunt, I thought it was pretty shitty.  After our overnight train, we visited silk workshops in the Muslim area of the city and navigated our way through aggressive touts every three feet.  We took our first and only cycle rickshaws (and certainly my last cycle rickshaw ever) through heavy Varanasi traffic.  The big ticket items in Varanasi were an evening boat trip and a sunrise boat trip on the Ganges River.  As with all of India, the pollution was thick so the air was too hazy to actually see the sunrise but we did see evening and morning prayer ceremonies as well as locals bathing and doing laundry in the river.  Cremations were taking place in two spots along the river with ashes later to be dumped in.  Overall, I just didn’t think Varanasi had much to offer aside from the Ganges, and the traffic, noise, pollution, and aggressive locals really made getting around the city rather unpleasant.  The highlight of Varanasi, however, was a delicious lassi shop called Blue Lassi.  That brings me to…

Indian food:

Indian food is fucking delicious and I’ll argue with anyone who disagrees.  Blue Lassi above serves all sorts of lassis – Indian yogurt drinks often flavoured with fruit – which I had two of each day.  There were the breads (naan, cheese naan, garlic naan, paneer naan, roti, puri, chapatti, and more) and, of course, the curries.  I had butter chicken every other meal, along with plenty of chana masala (chickpeas), paneer (Indian cheese) in a variety of different dishes, and a new one that I had never heard of before:  murgh kali mirch – a chicken dish cooked in an almond and yogurt sauce.  I had samosas, drank plenty of masala chai, and only strayed from Indian food once in eight days (I had to get Mexican food at least once, right?)

Overall, the food (and the Taj Mahal) were the highlights of India.  I was excited to be done with India – for now – and was curious to see what Nepal would look like.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in India, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100309975064311.1073741892.3000370&type=1&l=fcc9009ba7

Dubai

My flight from Mauritius to India had a layover in Dubai, so I decided to extend my layover from a few hours to four days.  Dubai (the city) is the capital of Dubai (the emirate) – one of seven emirates (sort of like states) that make up the United Arab Emirates.  Dubai is not the largest, nor the most populous, nor the richest of the emirates (that honour goes to Abu Dhabi), but it certainly is the most cosmopolitan of the cities/emirates.  Dubai is a wonderland for travellers: fancy hotels, fancy restaurants, fancy shopping, gorgeous beaches, and tons of sights and activities – all at price which I really couldn’t afford.  Given the intense heat (it was hovering around 40 degrees C for my stay), the city is super air conditioned – so much that it was actually freezing, especially when walking inside drenched in sweat after even just a short walk outside.  There were some marvels to be seen: reclaimed land in the shape of giant palm trees (and even the world!), driverless metro trains (I got to sit in the front and look out the window at where we were going… little things like this excite the kid in me), and of course the world’s tallest building.  And then there were some not-so-marvels – just remnants of the old Dubai in the historic quarters and markets.

A few highlights of my time in Dubai:

Dubai Mall:

The Dubai Mall is FUCKING AMAZING.  It was beyond my wildest dreams.  Growing up in the suburbs of Miami, I was all about mall culture (because there is nothing else to do in the suburbs of Miami), but that all but died when I moved to Australia.  It was reignited here.  The Dubai Mall is massive.  MASSIVE.  It’s the biggest mall in the world (well, technically there’s a larger one in China, but as with so many things in China, it’s pretty much completely empty).  It has over 1,200 stores.  I walked around for over an hour and finally made it back to my starting point.  Then I realized that I had three more levels to explore.  I spent about eight hours in total at the Dubai Mall.

The Dubai Mall has everything:  every American restaurant you can imagine (I got an Auntie Anne’s pretzel and a Magnolia Bakery cupcake!), every American shop you can imagine, and then all of the Asian and European ones too (I had my first experience at a Waitrose!)  There’s an Olympic-sized ice skating rink.  There are three Starbucks.  There are dinosaur fossils and a waterfall.  There’s a huge aquarium, an A380 flight simulator, and a rather disappointing fountain and light show outside.  Sure, the nearby Mall of the Emirates was the original big mall in Dubai, and sure it has a winter wonderland complete with a ridiculous ski slope, but Dubai Mall still wins on every metric.  I was in awe.  The Dubai Mall also has the entrance to the…

Burj Khalifa:

The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa has two observation decks. The first, for the poor people, spans levels 124 and 125 and is 456 metres above the ground.  This is nowhere near the top of the building despite the observation deck being called “At the Top”.  Then, a building in China opened a higher observation deck so the Burj opened another one on level 148 and charges what amounts to about two years of wages to go up there for a half-hour (but it includes all-you-can-eat dates and all-you-can-drink coffee for the half-hour you’re allowed up there so start guzzling!)  I opted not to splurge as the cheap ticket was already over $50 and it would have cost at least six times that to get higher up.  The views were, as expected, fantastic.  The Burj charges a lot more for entrance at sunset time, so I opted to buy the last cheap ticket around 4pm.  I stayed up there for several hours to get daytime pictures, sunset pictures, and night pictures.  There’s no seating up there (so that people won’t do what I did), so it was quite uncomfortable after a while, but it was worth it anyway.

Old Dubai:

The old section of Dubai was quite a treat – a bit of respite from the glitz and glam of the rest of the tourist areas.  I walked around the gold and spice souqs (markets), walked through the Bastakia Quarter (an old, well-preserved heritage area), and took a little boat ride across the Dubai Creek.  Unfortunately, my visit to Dubai coincided with Eid (which is sort of like the Islamic version of Christmas but obviously not like Christmas at all) so a lot of things were closed – including most of the museums.  The exception was the super excellent Dubai Museum.  The museum went through the history of Dubai and also included displays on Emirati culture, archeology, and more.  The information panels were full of interesting information but were still quite concise.  I give this museum an A+.  After my successful museum visit, I opted for a middle-eastern lunch of falafel and pita and hummus and happiness.

Vinod’s apartment:

Accommodation is super expensive in Dubai.  The city seems to have only one hostel and it was $80 per night (WTF?).  Hotels were obviously worse.  So I logged onto Airbnb and found a room to rent.  At just under $70 per night (AUD), this turned out to be one of the cheapest options on Airbnb in Dubai and my most expensive accommodation of the entire trip to date.  The room was in the apartment of a man named Vinod.  Vinod and his wife are originally from India (nearly everyone in Dubai is an expat of some sort and India seems to be the biggest place of origin – nearly half the population is from South Asia).  Their son has gone off to university in Canada, so to keep occupied, they rent out his bedroom to tourists.  They were super chatty and super accommodating.  They took me on a driving tour, made me some breakfast in the morning, took me out to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant, and introduced me to a delicious Indian ice cream-like dessert called kulfi malai.  I even watched a ridiculous Bollywood film with Vinod’s wife.  Their apartment was in a real neighbourhood far from the tourist zones (but near a metro stop!) so this was a great way to have a different, more authentic, and more affordable Dubai experience!

Jumeirah Mosque:

Most mosques around the world are not open to non-Muslims, but the Jumeirah Mosque is one of the few exceptions to the rule.  It is here that the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding hosts the mosque visit including a talk entitled “Open doors. Open minds.” which introduces visitors to Emirati culture and religion.  As most of the normal staff were on holiday for Eid, one of the higher-ups (I think he was some sort of director) hosted the talk on the morning I attended.  It started off great – learning all about Emirati culture.  After a while, however, it started turning into a propaganda machine aimed at convincing westerners to come to Dubai because it has many western values and it’s a great place (to spend your money – hence the name “do buy”).  We were told how Emiratis have no problem with Jews.  We were told how Emiratis have no problem with gays.  We were told how Emirati women are free to wear whatever they want.  We were told how immigrant workers have a great life in Dubai.  But Israelis are banned, being gay is illegal and comes with harsh punishments, I’m pretty sure women don’t exactly choose what they wear, and there has been a lot of press about the poor treatment of many immigrant labourers (though not as bad as in Qatar or Bahrain).  It was at that point that a little voice in my head started screaming “BULLSHIT!” over and over and I sort of zoned out.  The next thing I know is the sheikh dude is bragging about his Ferrari or Lamborghini or whatever mid-life crisis car he drives.

Other activities:

I also checked out Jumeirah Beach – but I didn’t stay for long because it was hot and sunny, and by hot and sunny, I mean comparable to being on the sun.  The Lost Chambers aquarium at the Atlantis resort on the man-made Palm Jumeirah was cool but ridiculously overpriced.  I like the cheap one in Cape Town a whole lot better.  I got some Mexican food, which like many things in Dubai was overpriced (and not that good).  To make up for it, I tried a latte and ice cream made with camel milk!  It was interesting (but again, wayyy overpriced!)

Finally, I got woken up at 4:30 every morning by the fucking call to prayer.  I hate to be insensitive about other religions, but it was seriously loud, seriously early, and seriously ridiculous.  I could hear it through my ear plugs.  Pray all you want as many times per day as you want, but maybe start at 9am?  Ugh.

After Dubai, it was time to go somewhere a lot more affordable.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in Dubai, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100307091158681.1073741891.3000370&type=1&l=6a8768ab35

Gap Year Q1 Summary

Although I’m a few weeks behind in my blogging – I still need to blog about Dubai, India, and Nepal - I thought I’d give a recap of the first quarter of my gap year.  I sort of got bored on my flight from Nepal to Malaysia so I sort of calculated a lot of facts and figures.  If you like statistics and lists, then this blog post is for you.  If not, then maybe you should stop reading and do something else.  Like build a rocket.  Or watch porn.

Total time spent:  91 days and 90 nights

Start:  Morning of Sunday, July 12 at Sydney Airport

End:  Evening of Saturday, October 10 at Kuala Lumpur Airport

Continents visited:  2

1.  Africa:  75%

2.  Asia:  24%

In transit between continents:  1%

Regions visited:  5

1.  Southern Africa:  49%

2.  Mascarene Islands:  26%

3.  South Asia:  15%

4.  Middle East:  4%

5.  Southeast Asia:  4%

In transit between regions:  2%

Countries visited:  12

1.  Mauritius:  23.5 days / 23 nights  (26%)

2.  South Africa:  22 days / 22 nights  (24%)

3.  Namibia:  10.5 days / 11 nights  (12%)

4.  India:  8 days / 8 nights  (9%)

5.  Nepal:  6 days / 6 nights  (7%)

6.  Botswana:  5 days / 5 nights  (6%)

7.  UAE:  4 days / 4 nights  (4%)

8.  Singapore:  3.5 days / 3 nights  (4%)

9.  Zambia:  2 days / 2 nights  (2%)

10.  Lesotho:  2 days / 2 nights  (2%)

11.  Zimbabwe:  1 day / 1 night  (1%)

12.  Swaziland:  1 day / 1 night  (1%)

In transit between countries:  2.5 days / 2 nights  (3%)

And just for fun – time spent in countries that drive on the:

1.  Left side of the road:  96%  (all countries except the UAE)

2.  Right side of the road:  4%  (only the UAE)

This quarter was a milestone because it ended with me visiting my 50th country overall:  Nepal!

Border crossings:  16

-  9 land border crossings including 7 by vehicle, 2 on foot, and 1 by river ferry

-  7 border crossings by air

Airports visited:  10*

Sydney, Singapore, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Dubai, Delhi, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur

*One of my flights also landed to re-fuel in Kolkata, but it was unscheduled and I didn’t get off the plane so it doesn’t really count.

Airlines flown:  5

Singapore Airlines, British Airways (operated by Comair), Air Mauritius, Emirates, AirAsia X

Accommodation:

1.  Camping:  27 nights  (30% - all in Southern Africa)

2.  Hotels:  15 nights  (17% - mostly in South Asia)

3.  Guesthouses:  11 nights  (12% - all in Mauritius)

Other types of accommodation:  Airbnb (Cape Town and Dubai), studio apartments (Mauritius), hostels (Southern Africa), lodges (Southern Africa and Nepal), airplanes (2 overnight flights), a cargo ship (2 nights), with friends (Singapore), and one overnight train (India).

Bathroom situation:

1.  Shared bathroom:  47 nights  (52%)

2.  Private bathroom:  41 nights  (46%)

3.  No bathroom:  2 nights  (2%)

And now, for some less statistical lists…

Top 5 Experiences (in chronological order):

Ok, so I had a hard time narrowing it down to five, so I decided to do six.  It’s an extra three seconds of reading time.  Deal with it.

1.  Game drives – I had some amazing wildlife sightings, particularly in Chobe National Park in Botswana and Kruger National Park in South Africa.

2.  Cape Town – After three weeks of camping, I was in need of some city time, and Cape Town delivered on everything that I needed.

3.  Mauritius factory tours – From sugar, sea salt, and rum, to vanilla, tea, and even gluten-free biscuits, the factory tours of Mauritius offered a unique and nerdy tourism experience.

4.  Rodrigues – I enjoyed everything about this little island:  the beaches, the hiking, the no-stress environment, and my accommodation in particular.

5.  Dubai Mall – If you think it’s dumb to have a mall on this list, then go to Dubai and see for yourself:  this place is jaw-dropping.  I’ll blog more about it soon.

6.  Being in Nepal – I’m not sure I would have liked it as much had I not gone to India first, but Nepal was a breath of fresh air (literally and figuratively) after a bit of time in India.

Bottom 5 Experiences (in chronological order):

1.  Flight over the Okavango Delta – I splurged on a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta in Botswana, but the plane was small, hot, and uncomfortable, and the views were good but not that good.  I was bummed that I had spent so much money on it.

2.  Freezing tent poles – Disassembling metal tent poles in freezing temperatures was not fun.  We had a few mornings of frigidness in Botswana and Namibia, and my hands ended up cracking and getting all nasty.

3.  Quad biking in Namibia – So it turns out I’m just not one for adventure sports.  I already knew this, but this confirmed it. It was fun for a while, but some of the sand dunes were big and some of the angles were just too steep for me to be comfortable with.  I’ll stick to brunch next time.

4.  Getting sick – I got sick for 24 hours in Kruger.  I had a fever and some other symptoms that screamed “food poisoning!” but I’m pretty sure the culprit was actually the somewhat dodgy pool at our campsite in Swaziland the previous day.

5.  Being in India – India is very interesting, but let’s be honest:  it’s a disgusting place.  I’ll be blogging about it soon.

Overall, I had no major mishaps on my travels, so I’m quite pleased with this bottom five list!

Top 3 Places I Could Live (in preferential order):

1.  Cape Town – It reminds me a lot of Australian cities (just cheaper and with more crime…)

2.  Singapore – This could have been first but it’s so expensive and sooooo hot!

3.  Mauritius – I think I would miss Mexican food too much to live here full-time, but it would be a great place for a vacation home (if I could ever afford one…)

Top 3 Places to Visit Again (in preferential order):

1.  Nepal – Six days was not nearly enough.  I’m going to need to go back here on my next gap year.

2.  Cape Town – I would have liked more time in Cape Town, particularly to try more cafes and hit up the wine regions.

3.  Rodrigues – I would like to go back and do more hiking (and eating) around the island.

Top 3 Accommodations (in preferential order):

1.  Villa Mon Tresor (Rodrigues) – I’ve already blogged about my amazing guesthouse in Rodrigues.

2.  Vinod’s apartment (Dubai) – I had a great Airbnb experience in Dubai and I’ll be blogging about it soon.

3.  Drakensville ATKV (South Africa) – This campsite in the Drakensburg region of South Africa had an epic massive indoor heated pool, and it shit all over all of the other campsites that I stayed at.

Are there any other statistics that you’d like to see?  Let me know.  Maybe I’ll calculate them on my next long flight.  But first, let me take a selfie.

Me with Shivraj (my amazing tour guide from India) and Kathleen (a tour-mate from the US) at the Kathmandu Airport as we leave Nepal marking the end of my first quarter of travels.

The Hilarious Buses of Mauritius & Rodrigues

It may seem stupid, but I just had to devote a whole post (and Facebook photo album) to the buses of Mauritius and Rodrigues.  Why?  Because they are fucking hilarious.  Seriously.

I didn’t notice it at first, mainly because I had a rental car during my first two weeks in Mauritius, but as soon as I got to Rodrigues, I was forced to take note of the public bus system.  “Public” is a bit of a misnomer because the buses are all privately owned.  Long story short:  I think anyone can buy a bus and import it to Mauritius.  This means that there is no uniformity of the buses – each one is unique – and they must get them from all over the world (wherever is cheapest) because I was definitely on a bus that had the word “PARANDO” (“Stopping” in Spanish) lit up at the front every time someone pushed the button to get off.  I asked a local if they knew what that was and they had no idea.  Ha!

So, once you have your bus, then you can apply to the government to get a permit to run a service on a pre-determined route (the routes are all devised by the government and drivers can’t stray from that).  Fares are also set by the government so it’s fair for passengers.  All the rest of the details are left up to the driver/owner.  And that’s where the hilarity ensues.

The buses can be painted however the fuck you want to paint them, and some of the Mauritians and Rodriguans took liberties to make their buses as unique (and hilarious) as possible.  You could definitely tell that some of the imported buses had not been repainted (I took a ride on a bus called “Princess Tours”), but for the ones that were painted by the locals, it all started off fairly innocent:  one of my first rides was on a bus named “Road Commander”.  There was also the “King of the Road”.  Then it strayed a little bit to “Angel of the Road” and “Fast Ride”, which is completely ironic because the buses were anything but fast.  On Rodrigues in particular, the island is only 11 miles (18 km) long by 4 miles (6.5 km) wide, but it still took nearly an hour on the bus to get anywhere.  Why?  Because the drivers go slow to ensure they don’t miss anyone (they want the revenue on their bus), and then they stop at some stops and get off to grab a drink, or they stop along the way to have a quick chat with the driver of a passing bus.  It’s all very nonchalant and I’m pretty sure I could have walked faster in many instances.

Let’s get back to the names.  From there, it just got weird.  There were buses named “Lucky Dream”, “Sweet Dream”, “Just for You”, and “Still Loving You”.  Is the driver still loving me?  Or is he still loving the bus?  I’m so confused!  There was also a bus named “King of Love” (hahahaha!) but my two absolute favourite buses were:  “Lovers Choice” – which sounds like the name of a sex shop – and “King of Rod” – which is supposed to be short for “King of Rodrigues” but they really should paint the whole name on because otherwise it just sounds like a super fabulous gay porn movie.  Seriously.

There was a bus named “Knight Rider” – presumably the bus hasn’t been repainted since the 1980’s – and one devoted solely to “Spiderman”.  Then there were several buses with airplanes painted on them (dream big!) and one with a ship… aptly named “Titanic” – which only gives me the image of the bus speeding onto a beach and then tragically plunging into the water.

Because the buses are privately owned, the owner-drivers can do whatever they want.  For example, they can have all of their friends on board at the front having a bit of a party… with their loud music.  Oh yes.  The drivers would plug in their smartphones and blast loud French rap (and even some Spanish rap!) while they drove along.  It was LOUD.  I felt old.  It would only get louder in the afternoons when ALL of the schoolchildren would fill the buses.  Like, ALL of them.  Squeezing 3 into seats for 2 and 4 into seats for 3 and taking up the entire aisle standing.  And because you should treat your bus like a temple, you may as well include some incense burning to give your bus a nice aroma.

At face value, the bus system seemed a bit third world, which was not the impression that Mauritius gives off.  Looking a bit closer, and despite all of these quirks, the bus system was actually well organized… just slow… and quirky.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any bus selfies, but I’ll leave with you this one amazing bus that had a mural of a mermaid riding a dolphin painted onto the back.  AMAZEBALLS.

To see more photos of the buses of Mauritius and Rodrigues, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100304222816861.1073741890.3000370&type=1&l=53768e7542

Rodrigues

Roughly 560 kilometres east of Mauritius – toward the middle of the Indian Ocean – lies a little island called Rodrigues.  At 108 square kilometres, the island only makes up about 5% of the total area of Mauritius.  It has about 42,000 people and gained autonomous status in 2002.  While the histories of Mauritius and Rodrigues are somewhat aligned, there are quite a few differences.  Rodrigues was named after a Portuguese explorer who charted the islands, while the Dutch renamed Mauritius when they arrived.  Several Dutchmen landed on the island but it was the French to first properly settle it and populated it with slaves imported from Africa.  The British took control of the island around the same time as they took control of Mauritius.  The island didn’t have a history of indentured labourers coming from India, so the population is predominantly Creole (a mix of African and French descent) and Catholic rather than Indian and Hindu.  Like Mauritius, the main language is a French Creole language called Rodriguan Creole (which is very similar to Mauritian Creole).  Everyone also speaks French, and English turned out to be a struggle in a few places on the island.  Unlike Mauritius, the Rodriguan people overwhelmingly voted against independence from Britain back in the 1950’s, but decolonization was the flavour of the moment and Britain attached Rodrigues to Mauritius when it granted Mauritius independence.

The pace of life in Rodrigues is incredibly slow.  There is no hustle.  There is no bustle.  And nobody is ever in a rush.  This was best evidenced by the public bus system on the island, to which I will devote a separate post.  Many people say that Rodrigues is like what Mauritius was like 25 years ago.  Obviously, I can’t vouch for that, but Rodrigues is a great place to just chill out and relax, and that is exactly what I did.

A few highlights of my time in Rodrigues:

Cargo ship:

I decided to take the national cargo ship (MS Mauritius Trochetia) from Mauritius to Rodrigues.  It was the same price as flying but it took about 38 hours and included two nights of accommodation and five meals, so I figured it would be good value and an interesting new way to travel.  There were maybe fifty or sixty other passengers on the ship and all of them were locals.  I was the only tourist.  And the only person who didn’t speak French.  Despite that, I had a few good chats with a few locals who did their best to converse in their limited English.  To save time, I opted to fly back.

Villa Mon Tresor:

From the cargo ship, I checked into my traditional Mauritian/Rodriguan chambres d’hotes (guesthouse).  This guesthouse – named Villa Mon Tresor (VMT for short) – was the highlight of my time in Rodrigues.  The typical chambres d’hotes on the islands generally include breakfast and dinner, and at VMT, the meals were prepared by the proprietor of the guesthouse, a lovely lady named Marie Louise.  Not only was Marie Louise the hostess with the mostess, she could cook like nobody else.  Every meal was a big spread and every component was absolutely delicious.  Breakfast was served just for the guests (there were two older French ladies there for my first two nights, but I was the lone guest for the next two), dinners were served with Marie Louise and her charming husband seated at the table with us.  It was such a delight being in their company, and I would go back to Rodrigues one day just to stay at VMT again.

Francois Leguat Reserve:

Named after a French explore and naturalist who was the first to write about Rodrigues, the Francois Leguat Giant Tortoise & Cave Reserve is the island’s biggest attraction.  In fact, it is one of the island’s only attractions (there’s really not all that much on the tiny island), but it’s a quality one and it makes up for the island’s lack of other major tourist sights.  The star attraction of the Francois Leguat Reserve: giant tortoises!  Just like on Mauritius, the indigenous giant tortoise was led to extinction by man so these have been imported from the Seychelles.  The reserve also has a breeding program for the much smaller (and apparently hornier) Radiata tortoise from Madagascar.  In addition, there are some Rodrigues fruit bats (the only native mammal on the island), several caves (including the quite large Grande Caverne), and the only museum on the island (which does an excellent job of walking visitors through the island’s history, geography, flora and fauna, and more).  I even learned that the Pope visited Rodrigues in 1989 and it was (and still sort of is) a big fucking deal.

Beaches:

What the island lacks in major tourist attractions, it makes up for in beaches.  Little beaches dot the coast of the island, and as Rodrigues is entirely surrounded by a massive lagoon, all of the beaches have calm, pristine water.  Though the weather played up a bit on my first two days, I was able to get some amazing beach and swim time on my third day.  I first went to the super gorgeous St Francois beach, but after finding the ground to be a bit rocky, I walked around the corner of the island to the beach at Pointe Coton.  It was a great move on my part, because the sand was soft, the water was calm, the beach was empty (like all beaches on Rodrigues), and I got some excellent swim time.  Where else in the world can you have your own beach without paying an exorbitant price?!?

Hiking:

Hiking is the other main activity on Rodrigues.  I did two big hikes during my stay.  The first was the coastal walk from Graviers to St Francois.  Reminiscent of the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk in Sydney, the walk takes you along one long stretch of the island’s coast, passing empty beach after empty beach along the way.  For my second hike, I started at Mourouk Beach and worked my way up a trail that took me to the top of the ridge that runs down the centre of the island.  It was quite steep in some parts, but the views from the top were very rewarding!  Also at the top…

Chez Jeanette and Jardin des 5 Sens:

I finished my hike with a massive lunch at a lovely restaurant called Chez Jeanette, which was super recommended by my hostess and about every guidebook written about Rodrigues.  The traditional Creole cuisine was to die for!  Just next door, a small botanical garden called the Jardin des 5 Sens (Garden of 5 Senses) took me on a guided tour of endemic plants as well as through different plants that would trigger each of my five senses (see, hear, taste, smell, and touch).

Ile aux Cocos:

My last major activity was a day trip to Ile aux Cocos (Coconuts Island).  The tiny island sits offshore but still within Rodrigues’ massive lagoon.  It is a breeding site for four species of seabird – the only such island to have that claim in all of the Indian Ocean.  Though the weather played up a bit, I did get to see some of the native birds and go for two swims (including one in the rain).

My time in Rodrigues was just absolutely amazing.  I’d like to get back there one day to hike around more of the island and swim at more of the beaches (and, of course, stay at VMT again!)  I will make a point to get back one day, but I still have much more to see before that.  I do have one more blog to post about Mauritius and Rodrigues – a blog devoted to their ridiculously funny bus system.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in Rodrigues, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100303218095331.1073741889.3000370&type=1&l=228d811abc

Mauritius: More Things I Did

As I mentioned, I did a LOT of things on Mauritius.  Like, I saw the whole island.  ALL OF IT.  Thanks to the guide book recommending that I hire a rental car for my stay, I was able to really get around and maximize my time.

Here are a few more highlights of my time in Mauritius:

Gardens:

I visited two botanical gardens while in Mauritius.  The botanical gardens in the central city of Curepipe were pretty shitty, but the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens in the northern part of the island were the complete opposite.  Lonely Planet claims that these are one of the top botanical gardens in the world.  I still think Singapore’s and Sydney’s are better, but these were pretty fabulous.  I signed on for one of the guided tours (of course, it was me and about ten French people – I’m sure the guide was thrilled to have to translate it all into English for just one person) and now I’m dead set on doing guided tours at all botanical gardens I visit in the future.  While all the plants were labelled with their names, the tour told me more about the plants – including where they came from, how they made it to Mauritius, what they are used for, and more.  I took so many pictures and so many notes and I’m just wondering what I’ve missed at other botanical gardens that I’ve visited in the past.

Shopping and eating:

I did look for a few souvenirs and try a few local delights while on the island.  Central Market in Port Louis has a ground floor full of produce and an upper floor full of souvenir stands.  I bought a cushion cover with a dodo on it.  Of course.  I was expecting the Mahebourg Monday Market to be similar, and while it had a similar produce section, it was light on the souvenirs.  Instead, there was a good selection of vendors selling cheap eats like faratas and dholl puri.  I do love me a $1 lunch!  Back in the more urban part of the island, I spent some time at the Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius.  The biggest mall on the island was tiny by American or Australian standards, but it had a few treats, such as the famous Vonacorona Ice Cream (Mauritius’ popular equivalent to Gelato Messina – but obviously not Gelato Messina) and the Flying Dodo Brewing Company (the first and only microbrewery on the island).

Architecture:

I visited three colonial and/or creole mansions while on the island.  At Chateau Labourdonnais, I toured the gorgeous plantation house then strolled through their on-site botanical garden.  They also produce rum (everywhere on the island produces rum) and grow a wide range of tropical fruits.  I got to have a juice and jelly tasting after my tour!  The creole mansion called Eureka has a great little restaurant in it, adult-sized swing set, and some great hiking trails behind it which led down to a gorge with some beautiful waterfalls.  Finally, the estate house at St Aubin was set on a larger property with a small zoo, rum distillery (of course), and vanilla production!  I got to learn about how they make vanilla there on the island.  Similarly…

Making things:

I had the chance to learn how all sorts of things are made on the island.  And by things, I mean consumables:  food and drink (and/or ingredients for food and drink!)  Aside from the various rum distilleries and the vanilla plantation at St Aubin, I also visited a few other production sites and these proved to be my favourite activities on the island, I think mainly because it’s a very different tourism experience than is offered by most places… and maybe because it’s delicious too!

L’Aventure du Sucre is set in an old sugar factory.  The museum goes through the history of sugar, the complete history of Mauritius (which is great because the National History Museum was closed during my stay), and the history of sugar in Mauritius (as the island’s chief export, sugar played a major role in shaping the island).  It also, of course, had a big section on the process of making sugar, followed by a sugar tasting of twelve types of sugar made on the island.  Can you think of anywhere else you can have a sugar tasting?!?  The on-site restaurant also had a great dessert menu (as it should) and I opted for a sweet and gooey chocolate gateau.

The Bois Cheri Tea Plantation is actually a plantation AND a factory AND a museum AND a restaurant.  The tea is grown on site and a tour takes you through the factory and explains the step-by-step process of tea making.  After that, there is a small museum which outlines the history of tea.  Did you know that Americans invented the tea bag?  Take that, Brits!  After that, I had a lovely tea tasting where I got to sample all twelve of their teas (though I only made it through seven before nature started calling…)  The on-site restaurant served up tea-inspired dishes (such as a starter bread with a delicious tea chutney) as well as dishes featuring the vanilla grown at the nearby St Aubin.  I had chicken with vanilla sauce.  For dessert:  the most orgasmic tea sorbet you can only imagine in your wildest dreams.

At La Route du Sel, I toured a sea salt factory.  I had no idea how sea salt was made, and to be honest, I never really cared, but it was super interesting to go through the process.  Seawater is pumped into a series of terraces.  The water slowly flows down and evaporates leaving a bunch of salt crystals to be collected from the lower terraces.  Most of the work is still done by hand which is a common theme on Mauritius.

Finally, my favourite one was the Rault Biscuit Factory.  Fifth generation family-owned, the factory produces a variety of biscuits made from the cassava root (which means they are all gluten-free).  The tour of the tiny factory went through every step of the process and I got to see all of the workers busy making biscuits (all by hand, of course).  The old lady who owns the place is the only person with the knowledge of the exact proportions to use when mixing up the flour for each flavour and she does all the mixing herself each morning despite her age (she looked like she was probably around 70, but she was there on the floor the whole time, full of energy and running the business like a champion).  Unfortunately, the biscuits are only sold on Mauritius, but fortunately, I got to do a biscuit tasting of all the flavours (weeeee!) and buy some to take with me on my travels.  They came in handy as an alternative breakfast on some early morning starts in India the following week.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I REALLY liked Mauritius!  It was such a fabulous place to holiday and I think maybe I’ll get back there again one day – not because I missed anything, but because it was just such a pleasant, easy place to holiday.  There is one more place I visited that is technically part of Mauritius:  the semi-autonomous island of Rodrigues.  I’ll get that blog posted soon.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see the third (and final) set of photos of my time in Mauritius, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100300032823641.1073741888.3000370&type=1&l=de30610480

Mauritius: Some Things I Did

I did a LOT in Mauritius.  Like, a LOT a LOT!

A few highlights of my time in Mauritius:

Beaches:

Obviously.  I went to a lot of beaches.  Some were just for the views of the islands offshore.  Some were just to stare at the ridiculously turquoise, aquamarine, and every other gorgeous shade of green and blue water.  Some were for sunset.  But I only went for a swim at one beach on the Mauritian mainland:  Blue Bay.  And it was stellar!  Gorgeous sand, gorgeous water, and gorgeous views out into the bay.  The reason I only swam at one beach on Mauritius is because…

Island trips:

… I took a few day trips to other islands!  Island day trips are a common activity for visitors to Mauritius, and quite a few small islands surround the Mauritian mainland.  Most tours include snorkelling and a BBQ lunch of chicken, fish, garlic bread, salads, and all you can drink rum, beer, and soft drinks (but they really want you to drink the rum, especially if you’re on a boat with a bunch of Chinese tourists: “You have to drink this! The Chinese don’t drink!”).  My first trip was a catamaran cruise to Îlot Gabriel (Gabriel Island) in the north of Mauritius where I sat on a luxurious white sand beach, swam in the shallow water, and relished in the fact that I was there.  My trip to Île aux Benetiers (Benetiers Island) in the west of Mauritius was a bit of a bust in that it was gray and rainy for most of the time we were on the island.  All wasn’t lost, however, as we stopped to swim in the open ocean on the way there and on the way back (“Are you going to swim? You have to swim! The Chinese don’t swim!”).  Oh, and did I mention there were dolphins?  Motherfucking dolphins!  And I got to swim with those motherfuckers!  And it was awesome!  My third island trip was actually two islands off the east coast:  the uber gorgeous Île aux Cerfs (Deer Island) and Îlot Mangenie (Mangenie Island).  The weather was the best for this one which was perfect because Île aux Cerfs has tons of gorgeous white sand secluded beaches to discover.  I walked around the island to a secluded spot and got my swim on in perfect peace.  Later on, our boat visited a coastal waterfall with monkeys and bats, and then stopped at Mangenie Island for a BBQ lunch.

My final trip – to Île aux Aigrettes (Egrets Island) in the southern part of Mauritius – was a bit different.  Île aux Aigrettes is a nature reserve where the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation is trying to recreate what Mauritius looked like before humans arrived.  The foundation has planted native plant species and introduced native animals, particularly various endangered bird species such as the pink pigeon, olive white-eye, and Mauritian fody, and Telfair’s skink.  The Aldabra tortoise from the Seychelles – a cousin of the now extinct Mauritian tortoise – has also been introduced to get the eco-system as close as possible to how it used to be.  The saddest part were all of the bronze statues dotting the island which represent all of the species that have gone extinct since man arrived.  Aside from the dodo, these include the Mauritian tortoise, giant skink, Mauritian owl, red rail, Mauritius blue pigeon, and so many more.

Outdoors:

Hiking is popular in Mauritius and the island boasts some great hiking trails.  I spent a day in Black River Gorges National Park (which should just be called The National Park because it’s the only one in the country) which contains amazing viewpoints and the only tract of native vegetation that wasn’t totally destroyed by human activities.  Vallee de Ferney is a nature reserve that grows and reintroduces native plant species in an attempt to restore the land to what it once was.  The reserve has a small population of the super endangered Mauritius kestrel – a raptor which only had 4 birds left in the mid-1970’s.  There are about 400 now but they are still super vulnerable.  The reserve also boasts a great hiking trail with native plant species labelled along the way.  Trou aux Cerfs (which I guess translates to “deer hole”) is the rim of a dormant volcano located in Curepipe – Mauritius’ second biggest city.  The rim has been turned into a nice park with a 1km jogging trail around it.  Trees and a lake fill the crater.

Museums and monuments:

Mauritius has quite a few museums and monuments.  The most important for me was the Natural History Museum in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius.  It was there that I got to see the exhibit on the dodo, one of my 103 Things.  Did you know it was a pigeon?  Ick!  Port Louis had quite a few other museums, including UNESCO-listed Aapravasi Ghat (the landing place for most of the indentured labourers from India), the Blue Penny Museum (which contains early maps of Mauritius, some super rare stamps, and a famous statue of and exhibition on Paul et Virginie – Mauritius’ most famous piece of literature), the Mauritius Postal Museum (which is super interesting if you love mail, and super quick if you don’t), the Photography Museum (privately owned and operated by an older couple who have amassed an astounding collection of cameras and old pictures of Mauritius, it includes the lens which took the very first picture in the Southern Hemisphere, right here in Mauritius), Fort Adelaide (an old British fortress up on a hill which is only good for the views), and the SSR Memorial Centre for Culture (the old home of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam which features the story of Maurtius’ first Prime Minister and leader of its independence movement).

On the opposite side of the island from Port Louis is the town of Vieux Grand Port.  Here I visited the Vieux Grand Port Historical Site and the Frederik Hendrik Museum.  The historical site contains the ruins of the first French fort on the island.  Underneath that lies the first Dutch fort, and they have excavated one small section to unearth the oldest structure on the island.  The museum contains an exhibition on the Dutch history of Mauritius, which seems to be mostly forgotten everywhere else.  A few kilometres south of the historical site and museum stands a marker on the spot of the first Dutch landing on the island.

Randomly, on the south coast of the island, I received yet another history lesson in the form of a monument to Matthew Flinders.  For the non-Aussies reading this, Flinders was the first man to sail all the way around Australia and determine that it was actually its own continent rather than attached to any other land mass.  He was even the first to propose the name “Australia”!  He landed on Mauritius on the way back from Australia to England as his ship needed some repairs.  As France was at war with England, the French captured him and imprisoned him on Mauritius for six years.

Hindu sites:

As roughly one half of the island is Hindu, I of course had to visit some religious sites.  A small temple by the name of Sagar Shiv Mandir is painted completely white and sits on a little bit of land sticking out into the sea.  It was quite scenic and must have a super high property value!  The big ticket religious site, however, was Ganga Talao.  Ganga Talao is a religious site at Grand Bassin – a deep lake filling a volcanic crater in the south of the island.  The lake is a holy site for Hindus and legend has it that Shiva accidentally spilled some water from the Ganges here on Mauritius.  His wife, Parvati, to him to leave the water there because the island, though uninhabited at the time, would one day host people from India to pray there.  A hike up to the crater’s rim provided a fantastic view of the lake, the temples that surround the lake, and the two massive statues of Shiva and Parvati, exact replicas of statues in India.  The statue of Shiva stands at 108 feet tall.  The statue of Parvati is still under construction.

It all sounds like a pretty full schedule, doesn’t it?  And I’m only halfway through telling you all about what I did on Mauritius.  I’ll need to type up one more blog to finish it up.  But first, let me take a dodo selfie.

To see the second set of photos of my time in Mauritius, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100299763687991.1073741887.3000370&type=1&l=324c629a55