Honeymoon was simply amazing!
Was so excited that I had very little sleep the day we were suppose to depart for Mauritius. Which was good actually, as 8 hours on the plane, sleep would make time past faster. We took a cab to the airport at 7 in the morning. Still sleepy and groggy, went to Air Mauritius check in counter and had a lovely surprise! We were awarded 2 FOC passes to the Golden Lounge! Yipppppeeeeeeeee!!!!
All because I had the balls to raise my complains all the way to the CEO of Air Mauritius! (long story, they messed up my booking the week before my trip, I was pissed, shot emails every direction possible, even to consumer association <- Kiasu queen!) Well, outcome was superb eh… 
Golden lounge was nice. Real nice. Original plan was to have a quick breakfast at Burger King, well, this was way better. Had some nasi lemak, toast, eggs, bacon.. etc
Most of all, had champagne at 8am! YUM!! Way better than milk or juice for breakfast! Hahahaha
Waited another half an hour or so, boarded the plane. Had good seats, couple seats, so naturally, mr long legs by the aisle, and curious shortie by the window. I needed a window view was I wanted to capture my first glimpse of Mauritius.
9 Hours is rather hard to past. But we had a pit stop at Spore, so we hop down and wander around the Changi Airport, and enjoyed the free wi-fi& computer there. J
On the plane, watched 2 movies, read few pages of my book, chit chat with Sayang, people watched, bugged the crew for drinks, snacks, just to annoy them, day dream.. everything but sleep! Brain was racing too fast to catch some sleep. Sigh….
Food was alright! Had Assam Fish & lady fingers with rice, and Sayang had Chinese noodles with chicken and vege. We had snacks too – mini pretzels which were yummy. And some bread and cheese as well. Drank loads of whisky and vodka, was wary of not going overboard, don’t want my 1st day of honeymoon to be in bed with a nasty hangover!
Finally… we are arriving!!!! My 1st view of my home for the next 7 days!
We landed, checked out the duty free store, grab a Famous Grouse (whisky not Grey Grouse the vodka). Hunted for our luggage and headed out. Was greeted by our tour agent Mauri-Tour, guided us to a car and off we heard to Morne. The trip took about an hour or so.
Along the way, I got excited about almost every thing new i see, and cant stop clicking. Got this amazing picture…. very National Geographic. 
Upon arriving, I was sure this was just the hotel for us. It was cozy, modern, warm and right at the end of the road, very secluded. Lobby was stylish, staffs greeted us warmly, served hot towels to freshen us up, and fruit punch.
Checked in to our rooms, was glad everything looking so lovely, just perfect. But then we realized that the bathroom was leaking, tv wasn’t working and air cond wasn’t too cold, we demanded to be changed to another room. Thankfully, they were very accommodation, had a much better room with way better view! J
We wasted no time unpacking, rushed straight to check out the beach. As soon as we sat down, looked at the view.. wow… simply amazing. Here I was thinking that the beaches in malaysia are really nice too, so I wont be spending much time by the beach, boy was I so wrong. The combination of mountain view with the open sea and clear blue skies, simply breathtaking. We sat there, quiet, feasting our eyes, treating our lungs to fresh sea breeze.
We had to leave the beach for dinner… we had too… wanted to stay on but it was getting dark, and we were hungry!!!
Dinner was alright. Rice, curry dishes, vege, potatoes, pumpkin mush, salad selection, bread, bbq lamb, some cakes and fruits! Basic buffet, but good enough for hungry folks like us. It tasted YUMMY! All of them. However, sadly, all nights the buffet was about the same, just an alternate choice of steak or lamb. Not that I am complaining, but towards the last day, wished there was a wider selection!
We slept early that night, dead tired, with not much sleep the night before, long plane ride, was beat. Had a good night rest, and all ready for a long day of a journey to the east! J
Woke up really early the next morning, had a good breakfast at the hotel and headed out to explore the nearby towns, the beautiful island of Ile Aux Cerf and a scenic route via the east coast. We went towards Black River, headed to Tamarin, went into Quatre Bornes, then Curepipe, then all the way to Flacq, where we took a jetty to the island. Along the way, we saw many interesting sights. Most of all, we saw many churches! Every twenty minutes driving we will driving we see a church! Very nice churches too! J
And Excitedly, tried some local food as well, whatever we see as we passed by those little towns.
Ile Aux Cerf, was phenomenal. From far, we are able to see the white sandy beach and clear blue water. We practically ran into the island, grab a spot and undress. Plopped down on the beach mats and started to take in our surrounding. There were a lil bit too many people for our liking. But good for people watching. Especially those topless ones..
Hung out there for about 4 hours, read my book, few rounds of dipping in the water, catch a short nap and got hungry. So we ordered food from the only hotel there, carbonara, cost us freaking 12Euro! But well, we have no other choice. Apart from that freakishly expensive food (for us), everything else was good. J
Felt a bit sad to leave the island, but looking forward to exploring the east coast as well. We took a long drive through a scenic route via the east coast, heading back to Morne. Passed by many little towns a long the way, got lost a little, so stopped a few times to seek directions from the locals. Despite us speaking no French and them speaking little English, we manage to communicate well. Mauritians are extremely friendly and helpful people. After driving for about 2 hours, we finally got back to the hotel, tired and satisfied. Took a long shower, short nap and headed down for dinner. Dinner was steak with those usual dishes. Good and filling, we sat by the pool sea with our whisky and coke, stare at the stars and chit chat away. Went to bed contented and looking forward to a full day by the beach tomorrow.
Woke up slightly later, had a good breakfast and the hotel and walk to the beach at Indian Resort.
We grab a good spot, slather on lotion and relaxed.
Had a whole day in the sun, snorkeling, relaxing by the beach, sleeping.. etc
During my stay at the beach, I pondered upon many issues. Well, you know, there is pretty much nothing to do after many dips in the ocean, watching people passing by, checking out hunks with packs or without, chicks with bikinis, and there are only very few topless babes, so the rest of my time, if im not reading, im staring at the ocean day dreaming and just let my mind wander off. One of the frequent issues I kept coming back to is, how can I live like this forever? Typical tourist mentality im sure. Was having a discussion with hubby as well, and thought, well, we can work for a resort like this, nice place, clean, shouldn’t be too hard work, and on our off days we could just hang at the beach. Standard of living in Mauritius is something like Malaysia, food and necessities aren’t all that expensive, not bad eh… we should write in and try to apply for jobs. Dang…. If only Berjaya still owns that resort there, maybe would have a better chance, but our Datuk Vincent recently sold it off… L Other stuff that I’ve thought about were pretty silly, thought about adopting a Mauritian kid! Hahahahahhaa…. Oh well.. life.. and its silly thoughts.. J
After half a day at the beach, we got hungry and its time to head off to town and find some food for out tummies. We put on some decent clothes (somehow walking around town in bikinis are frown upon, despite the number of tourist flocking this island) and we drove to the nearest town, Casa Noyale and Black River. Saw a little hut stopped, and discover they sold fried noodles! Just like the kind from our mamak stalls here! Wooohoooooooooooo…. Something apart from baguette and Indian rice is good! So we tried a portion, was not too bad. Tasted very different from ours, but still good. ! J
On the way back to the hotel, we passed by a public beach. Was attracted by the HUGE amount of crowd there, mostly locals. We made an impromptu decision to make a quick pit stop and check out the local scene. As it was a public holiday, locals took this opportunity to take a short break. We were amazed they actually go by busses and it seemed like the go as a whole big family or even a while village! They brought camping necessities, tent, chairs, etc. They seem to really know how to have fun, they came with musical instruments, bongo & guitar, brought their home cook food, kids were having loads of fun, I do wish one of them would invite us to join them! Hehehehe..
We bought some food there as well, baguette again, and local ice cream! Their ice cream sure tasted weird to me, with coconut toppings! Hehehe.. but it was good, especially on that very hot day.
We went back to the beach, happy and contented with what we have bought for lunch. Slowly started devouring our food, drank beers and people watched. There were many giving a go at the water sports, very entertaining to watch. After that huge lunch, took a short nap, read a book, got really tan, and head back to the room for a nice hot shower and nap before dinner.
Dinner was good as usual, had lamb again. YuMmy.
After dinner, we ordered a bottle of wine and chill by the pool side with some lounge music from the local band. It was surprisingly good!
Had a good night rest, all geared up to do some dolphin chasing and swimming with them the next day.
Started the day really early, no time for breakfast at the hotel, so we had some biscuits with cheese and noodles in cup, and headed off early to Black River, where the boat is departing. We were on time, boarded the boat at 8am and wwwwweeeeeeeeeeee….. off we go.
Our skipper was really nice. He explained in detail the whole process, what we are expecting the whole day and how it works. Apparently we do not know where the dolphins would make an appearance, they have a pretty good idea, but still unsure. How it works is this. Few boats from companies as well will try their luck in a certain area. They will coordinate amongst themselves via handphone should any boat discover the dolphins locations. They did cautioned us that sometimes, if luck is not on our side, we may not see any dolphins at all, and would have to come back another day for free. Thankfully, it was just about a short 15 mins wait, they’ve got a call that a school of dolphin was spotted just after Flic en Flac area, and we raced there immediately.
Before any of you nature protectors jump the gun, these skippers do take into considerations of preserving the natural habitat of these dolphins. We had a briefing on do’s and don’t and lengthy explanations on many issues. For example, we are restricted from touching the dolphins or feeding them. And we have to understand that the boat will only go within few metres of the dolphins for about 10 mins…. and we will back off and make way for other boats to go near. This is so that the dolphins do not get stressed out with so many boats around. I think they are pretty amazing, gave us city folks an opportunity to get upclose and personal with the dolphins and yet trying their very best to preserve the natural habitat.
After an hour plus of very surreal time at the open waters with those dolphins, we came near to Black River shore and had about half hour of snorkeling fun. Corals there was beautiful, and there were some nice fishes to see. Even manage to capture a lucky shot of a rainbow!!!
We then headed to Bennicier Island. It’s a small, quiet and unpopulated island.
Very little beach front, but good enough for a nice BBQ lunch by the ocean. Our skippers wasted no time and went to get a fire started for BBQ-ing our lunch.
They serve us a nice rum cocktail and some snacks to keep us occupied while waiting. They took about an hour to cook, we pass time chit chatting among us and just chilling by the beach.
The other 2 couples with us are from Belgium and France personally. It was interested communicating with people from very different countries. Although the French couple spoke very little English, but it was good enough to keep a healthy 3 way conversation going. We spoke about everything, holiday destinations, Mauritius, their respective countries, cultures, work.. etc. We even had a little idea sharing session on Dan Brown’s ideology. I was reading Dan Burstein’s Secrets of Angel’s & Demons, so that’s how it started. We even got excited and had a good laugh when a crab wonder into our pit.
We had a good lunch, BBQ seafood on skewers, chick in sweet sauce, and fish, and some salad and banana flambé for desert. Was very satisfying having good food by the beach with perfect view, fresh food, good company and free flow of wine and rum cocktails. YUM!
During lunch, a group of people came by to us, asking us to purchase some t-shirts. Initially we thought they were trying to sell those to us as souvenirs and was a bit reluctant, and then later they explained that the money will go to a petition fund to stop hoteliers from building hotels at this unexplored island. We were shocked to find out that there are only very few undeveloped beaches left around the Indian Ocean. Any little plot of land available are either developed or undergoing development. And currently, Bennicier Island’s lovers are trying to protect their little paradise. Oh well, how much truth in that is for them to know, we bought a T shirt anyway, for a good cause and as a souvenir. Cost us about RM40 only anyway, so not too pricey. J
Back on shore, we headed down south to Chamarel, to visit the 7 colored earth. The journey up the hill was quite stressful. Small road, with quite heavy traffic actually. But it was manageable. We reached a scenic stop 1st, was able to see a nice view of Le Morne area, mountain view, with very nice sea view too. All the way up, is a waterfall.
We stopped and took some pictures there, and continued our drive to the colored earth. As we reached, there was an entrance fee of 100 rupee, we thought it was expensive, as we are just there to see some coloured earth, but oh well, since we are there, might as well get it done. For my hubby, the coloured earth was nothing special.
Through our naked eye, it was not even very colourfull. Mostly just look really brown and red. But then when we downloaded the picture into our laptop, it was actually quite amazing, we can see few tones of colours. For mother nature to product something like this, I think its pretty special. Those going to Mauritius, would still stand firm and say, its worth viewing. J
Went back to our hotel dead tired. I slept all the way in the car. Had a quick shower, napped and went down for dinner. Dinner was the usual, with steak. Yummy!
We then walked over to Indian Resort for the Sega Dance performance. Waited quite a bit for it, as we were early, we observed the crowd, was a huge variety of people from many different countries, mostly from India, France, European countries mostly, but very very very few Asians. We were probably the only Chinese couple. The only Asians are Indians.
Sega dance was something we enjoyed.
3 lovely gals and a guy performed, it was very upbeat, lotsa ala belly dancing movements, flipping of big flowery skirt and musical instruments jiving together, it was amazing! The performance lasted about half an hour.
We slept really really well that night, dead beat after a long long day.
Next day, was a road trip and sigh seeing packed day. We had breakfast and took a long drive to Port Louis. From Morne, took us about an hour. Port Louis was a little quite. We then realized that it’s a Sunday! Most shops were closed. But good thing is, traffic was easy, no need to brave through traffic jams!!
Churches were packed with people! They do have very very nice churches everywhere!
We headed to the local market, was very colorful, buzzing with locals. We did not really stop and walk around as there nothing in particular that we would like to buy, just driving through slowly while trying to get some pictures from the car. We explored the town a little, went to China town, another small market there.
Most shops were closed, we were a bit disappointed, was looking forward to try some Chinese food here. So we decided to walk down to the China Town market and see if we can buy some local Chinese food there. We were in luck!!!!! We spotted a very familiar sight.
CHAR SIEW!!!!!!! BBQ-ed pork with sweet sauce! Hehehe… we bought some of it for tea time at the beach later. It was pretty pricey, twice the price in KL, but we really wanted to try, so what the heck. RM25 for this.
We then drove to Caudan Waterfront, and walked around the area a bit.
It was still early, and most shops opens at about 11am, so it was still pretty deserted. Walked around on our own, took some pictures, saw the Casino, went in for a peek and a quick illegal picture,
and even went over to the shopping centre to purchase some souvenirs. Things are relatively expensive in this area (for us at least) but we manage to bargain for some keychains at a good price, 4 for 200 rupees and some little boat for 100 rupee each, and I got myself a hat for 200 rupee. Happy with our buy, we headed to pamplemouses for the trademark lotus pond.
We got a bit lost on the way, stopped and asked the friendly locals a little and finally arrived at the garden. Entrance fee was 100 rupee and the area was HUGE!!! We walked and walked and walked (silly me, wore heels that day!) and it was a very hot day. We finally found the all famous lotus pond, and took many pictures there.
There are other stuff to see along the way, but nothing as special as this lotus pond. After about an hour plus in the garden, we bought some lunch (baguette and stuffing’s again) at the stall nearby and headed up north to Grand Baie. On the way, we spotted a little stall BBQ-ing chicken, looked good, and we were still hungry.
Bought some roast chicken with what else, baguette again, and continued our journey.
Grand Baie reminded us very much of Pattaya, Thailand. It gave a very touristy vibe and beach life.
We see people walking everywhere, mostly tourist and lot of restaurants and boutique. We drove all the way up north to Pereybere, scenery was beautiful. Pereybere was a little fishing town, still buzzing with some locals, but not as populated by tourist and amazingly, lotsa huge posh bungalows. These must be houses of the rich and famous, and celebrities from all over who visits Mauritius occasionally, it gotta be their holiday homes!!! We headed to La Plantation Resort, sister company of our hotel as well, under the Apavou Group. We wanted to check out the beach up north, wondering which beach is better, so we gate crashed into La Plantation. I used the oldest trick in the book, claimed we are staying there are barge into the hotel. Thankfully we brought our hotel towels along, being from the same group, they were exactly the same towel! La Plantation was just as nice as Indian resort, but a bit too crowded for my liking. At least our Le Mornea hotel is very new and still low occupancy. We headed to their private beach, laze out a bit, and took few dips in the ocean. I still preferred our beach down south, although a little bit more wind and sea sports, our beach was cleaner, sand was very fine and way bigger. Guess its personal preference. J
After about an hour on the beach, we decided to head back and spend more time at our own beach instead. Suprisingly, the ride back was shorter than we expected, took us only about an hour 15 mins to reach back to morne, guess we were driving pretty fast, after having more confidence in driving through the tiny one laned road in Mauritius. J
We spend the whole evening by the beach again, had the usual dinner and headed to Indian resort for some wine and checked out the band there. Our verdict, the band in Le Mornea hotel is way better than Indian Resort! J
The 2nd last day, sadness crept in a little. Its almost time to leave. We had breakfast in our hotel, and headed to Casella bird park. It shocked us how expensive it is. Entrance fee was about 300rs that is just normal entrance.
For each activity, we are required to pay separately. And it was really expensive, to walk with the lions it was 5000 rupee if im not mistaken, and that was what I was there for! L And to make matters worst, it rained suddenly! 10 mins after we paid our entrance fee! We took shelter by a pond, watched the ducks, were there about half an hour. Feeling it was such a waste of time waiting there, we ran in the rain and went back to the counter, thinking that we can get a rain check refund or some back the next day. But the staffs rudely told us there was no refund and no coming back the next day. It did upset me a little, as most places in malaysia, and Thailand had rain check policy. They are not making any lost by allowing us to come back the next day right? Finally negotiated for us to come back later in the evening, as we really do not want to sit all day in the bird park waiting for the rain to stop! We took a short drive to Quartre Bornes, went into Orchard shopping centre to take shelter and get some lunch. Had Indian mixed rice and baguette with fried chicken. Was really good.
Drank some vodka lime coolers, felt a lot better. The rain did dampen my spirits a bit, but oh well, am just thankful out of so many days in Mauritius, this is the 1st day it rained.
We then went back to Casella, thankfully the rain stopped, but was a little bit gloomy. We went in again, this time finally able to see some nice birds and take some pictures.
Overall, it was quite disappointing for us. There is practically nothing much. And we didn’t want to watch more money for the lions, headed back to Morne looking forward to some quality time by the beach again.
Passed by some smaller towns, took pics whenever I see any interesting sights. One of them is this. Funky hairdo for little girls in school!
Along the way, we saw this little cave converted into a small chapel.
It was small and really sweet. Made a U turn, headed there to take some pictures. We assumed it was built by some of the sugar cane estate workers, touched my heart how a simple cave can be turned into such a sweet chapel, a spiritual getaway for those hard workers. J
Spent more time at the beach, had the usual dinner and wine at Indian Resort. Did not sleep really well that night, very sad that it was my last night in Mauritius.
Next morning, our aim was to chill chill chill and chill by the beach all day. Absorb as much of the sun, beach, breeze and holiday air as we can. We had a hearty breakfast and headed to the beach.
Tried more snorkeling, a few rounds of kayaking and lazing around at the beach.
Took some pictures of the very clear water, will definitely will be missing this.
Beaches anywhere is Malaysia is no where as clear and clean as this, and im feeling sadder by the minute. Lunch time, we drove down town again (for the last time L ) to get some lunch. We had some simple rice and dishes and my hubby had noodles in beef stew. Was very yummy, but probably the most expensive lunch I’ve had here. My rice, mutton and a vege dish cost about RM25! (250 ruppee). Usual price in Malaysia is about RM5 max. But it was tasty, and my last lunch in Mauritius.
We head back to the beach again, some very last minute walks on the sand, drank a can of beer by the shore, and said our goodbyes to the lovely view, the mountain, fine sandy beach and the last moment of my honeymoon. We packed and started our drive, headed to the airport. At the airport, while waiting, we chatted with a nice couple from South Africa, learned a lot about their culture, and later chatted with a local Chinese Mauritian guy, gain perspective from the local dude, and felt it was a perfect end to our honeymoon.
As the sun set, we boarded our plane, and back to home sweet home.
I’m always going to miss Mauritius, I hope I will make it back there again someday!
I hate being poor! Hate having to slave at work and do crap for little money thats going into the vacation fun. Work Sucks! Argh… somehow i cant stop crapping about work here.. what the f is wrong… FINE! Im stopping… BYE
