Yesterday, I slept early; by about 10 PM. Put the alarm for 6:00 AM. A good 8 hour of sleep after a pretty long time
I forgot to mention about the weather in Mauritius. Being in the southern hemisphere, it is winter over here. The temperature is as low as 12C. But pretty nice overall. The locals say that each day you could have 3 variants – cold, sunny and rainy. So you need to be ready for all three every day
Anyway, it was pretty cold in the morning. As one of my personal objectives for the trip was to train for the full marathon, I need to start early. So with 2 t-shirts on, I started on my way for a walk – jog. Ran for about 3.5 km. By the time I returned back, I was feeling pretty warm.
Just across a turning near the house is a church. It was very beautiful. Not sure to which sect it belongs to (but looked catholic). Everything inside was written in French also. So no idea when there would be an English mass
The day in office was full of introductions. Met up with the various teams over there. It is a small office of about 35 people. The staff was very nice and friendly. Got my cell connection and internet connection etc. Put in a request for a few more things for home. The TV in the house was a 20” TV. I wanted a bigger one. So have put a request for the same, with a DVD player and cable connectivity. Will take a few more days for that. So no TV during the weekend
Manu from office took us for lunch at an Indian place. Pretty good food. In the evening, we decided to explore one of the nigh spots here. All the night spots in Mauritius is around the beaches. The closest one is Flic en Flac. So after office and 10 min of rest, we went off to Flic en Flac. Rajesh and Abhijit (who has been transferred to Mauritius) were with me. The place was decent. Nothing great. We had dinner and 2 rounds of drinks before returning back. Today I was feeling sleepy by 10PM. Reached back by 12 and had a good sleep.
Good night
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
July 29, 2010: Off to Mauritius: Day 1
Got a call at 7 in the morning saying that the flight has been delayed. Instead of 11:00 AM, it would not depart at 12:30. Not a good start!
The next was the confusion at the business class lounge. By the way, I was travelling in business class after a very long time. Even though it was neither Emirates nor Singapore Airlines, it was still business class . The seats have become almost fully stretchable, but still not enough for my height
Back to the confusion at the business class lounge. I checked with the receptionist at 11:45 if the flight was on time. She told me that I would be informed when they call for the flight. When they did not call till 12:15 I was worried. I thought of checking it out myself and then I hear my name being called off in the PA system. This is the first time this has happened. What an embarrassing situation
The flight was pretty ok. Saw 2 movies – Valentines Day and Ajab prem ki gazab kahani. Not sure why they make such movies. Ranbir Kapoor’s dance was good in the hindi movie. Otherwise, I think both the movies was just to kill the time. Anyway, as usual I could not sleep on the plane. I had a flight steward on his return journey sitting next to me. We had a good talk with him on Air Mauritius, Mauritius as a country and other stuff. He is a 5th generation Indian from Mauritius.
The landing was great. Just had a glimpse of beaches of Mauritius. Took some photos from my iPhone. But since my office laptop does not have iTunes, don’t think I will be upload the same in near future.
Reached Mauritius at about 3:15. Took more than 30 minutes to clear the immigration. There was an issue with regards to my period of stay, return ticket etc. Finally after showing the return ticket on my computer, the officer stamped a visa for 60 days. I would have to apply for an extension if I were staying continuously for 60 days hear. Hope to make a trip out of Mauritius before that . Then had to wait another 30 minutes or so to get my luggage. Looks like Air Mauritius gives special treatment to business class passengers only in the air and not on the ground. Something for them to look into.
Sunil, the driver was waiting for me at the airport. The trip from airport to the furnished apartment was good. The roads were good and the weather was also nice. Wendy from the SCB office, along with the agent for the house was at the apartment. They showed me the place. A small 2 bedroom apartment. The kitchen, dining and the drawing was all together. Pretty small house, but then I did not need a very big one also. Wendy showed me around the place. Said the house was new and I was the first person to stay there. So if I had any problems, I should raise it and she would get it rectified through the land lady.
Also met my new neighbor – an Indian family from Mumbai. Kenneth was working for an investment company. My other neighbor and colleague, Rajesh was still not back from office. Sunil told me that there is a grocery shop just 5 minutes down the road. So I thought, I will take a stroll and come back. Also made calls to Singapore, Kottayam and Trivandrum to inform every one that I had reached safely. Elsa & Anna do not seem to be missing me at all
Now the interesting part starts. I went for my stroll. All the shops were closed. It was just 5:30 and all the shops were closed. Man, what a life. Luckily the supermarket was open. Bought some basic groceries and came back home. Did I tell you that Mauritius is not cheap? I hope I do not end up spending more then my per diem . Anyway came back, made some scrambled egg and had it with bread
Now the time was just 8:00 PM. I was thinking of what to do next, when the idea of visiting my new neighbor came up. So went to Kenneth’s house. He has a 3.5 year old son who is going to a school nearby. We started having small chats and quickly found out some common friends between us. By this time, Rajesh also returned back from office. Went up with Rajesh to his house. We spoke for some more time about Standard Chartered Bank, the office here and the life in general. Finally at 9:00 decided to call it a day and came back to my house.
To end the day, I thought of starting this diary on my days in Mauritius. Hope to have fun and do some fruitful things in the next 3 months that I am here. Have a personal agenda on practicing for the marathon and reducing my weight in the next 3 months. All the best to myself on both the fronts!!!
Signing off
The next was the confusion at the business class lounge. By the way, I was travelling in business class after a very long time. Even though it was neither Emirates nor Singapore Airlines, it was still business class . The seats have become almost fully stretchable, but still not enough for my height
Back to the confusion at the business class lounge. I checked with the receptionist at 11:45 if the flight was on time. She told me that I would be informed when they call for the flight. When they did not call till 12:15 I was worried. I thought of checking it out myself and then I hear my name being called off in the PA system. This is the first time this has happened. What an embarrassing situation
The flight was pretty ok. Saw 2 movies – Valentines Day and Ajab prem ki gazab kahani. Not sure why they make such movies. Ranbir Kapoor’s dance was good in the hindi movie. Otherwise, I think both the movies was just to kill the time. Anyway, as usual I could not sleep on the plane. I had a flight steward on his return journey sitting next to me. We had a good talk with him on Air Mauritius, Mauritius as a country and other stuff. He is a 5th generation Indian from Mauritius.
The landing was great. Just had a glimpse of beaches of Mauritius. Took some photos from my iPhone. But since my office laptop does not have iTunes, don’t think I will be upload the same in near future.
Reached Mauritius at about 3:15. Took more than 30 minutes to clear the immigration. There was an issue with regards to my period of stay, return ticket etc. Finally after showing the return ticket on my computer, the officer stamped a visa for 60 days. I would have to apply for an extension if I were staying continuously for 60 days hear. Hope to make a trip out of Mauritius before that . Then had to wait another 30 minutes or so to get my luggage. Looks like Air Mauritius gives special treatment to business class passengers only in the air and not on the ground. Something for them to look into.
Sunil, the driver was waiting for me at the airport. The trip from airport to the furnished apartment was good. The roads were good and the weather was also nice. Wendy from the SCB office, along with the agent for the house was at the apartment. They showed me the place. A small 2 bedroom apartment. The kitchen, dining and the drawing was all together. Pretty small house, but then I did not need a very big one also. Wendy showed me around the place. Said the house was new and I was the first person to stay there. So if I had any problems, I should raise it and she would get it rectified through the land lady.
Also met my new neighbor – an Indian family from Mumbai. Kenneth was working for an investment company. My other neighbor and colleague, Rajesh was still not back from office. Sunil told me that there is a grocery shop just 5 minutes down the road. So I thought, I will take a stroll and come back. Also made calls to Singapore, Kottayam and Trivandrum to inform every one that I had reached safely. Elsa & Anna do not seem to be missing me at all
Now the interesting part starts. I went for my stroll. All the shops were closed. It was just 5:30 and all the shops were closed. Man, what a life. Luckily the supermarket was open. Bought some basic groceries and came back home. Did I tell you that Mauritius is not cheap? I hope I do not end up spending more then my per diem . Anyway came back, made some scrambled egg and had it with bread
Now the time was just 8:00 PM. I was thinking of what to do next, when the idea of visiting my new neighbor came up. So went to Kenneth’s house. He has a 3.5 year old son who is going to a school nearby. We started having small chats and quickly found out some common friends between us. By this time, Rajesh also returned back from office. Went up with Rajesh to his house. We spoke for some more time about Standard Chartered Bank, the office here and the life in general. Finally at 9:00 decided to call it a day and came back to my house.
To end the day, I thought of starting this diary on my days in Mauritius. Hope to have fun and do some fruitful things in the next 3 months that I am here. Have a personal agenda on practicing for the marathon and reducing my weight in the next 3 months. All the best to myself on both the fronts!!!
Signing off
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