Mauritius - Island Paradise Part 3

Before I start the next entry nih...the third part of the series in Mauritius (over tau sampai three parts dah), more interesting pics to share.

I don't know what's supposed to be so interesting about toilet signs, tapi seronok lak tengok tertulis dalam bahasa lain (jakun sangat aku nih kot).

Still I think worth a post kan? Ok ler kalao ada sesiapa yang nak feeling take up foreign language as an option mah!

Besides.... I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I seriously find these signs amazingly cute.

Go figure. I know it looks like I'm hard pressed to find stuff to share on Mauritius, but that's not true. Just think this is worth sharing.

Oh yes, of the many interesting bits of piccies I want to share, ada satu ni.

One thing I forgot to share is, amidst all the many stuff we all bought, most of which consisted of designer wear and stuff with Mauritius splattered all over it (stupids tourists), I think one of my friends ni (tanak sebut nama due to sensitivity of item) yang bought the most erm...unique thing.

Cannabis incense pine cones!

Aiyo...aromatheraphy leh stone nih.

I don't know what he plans to do with it, but I doubt you can roll 'em up or anything, tapi a real stoner would definitely appreciate the room when you walk into it if it was laced with this to spruce up the odour of whatever room you work this in.

Ok...now back to where I left off. Saturday morning they had a telematch.

Up to this day, aku ada routine yang korang tau. Hit the beach by 5am or 6am, and then tan job, a splash or two.

Tapi this time, aku skip breakfast and tidur mati.

Jaga pun da late noon, malas nak join apa games pun.

Not that I could because meka pun da abih.

Sempat je tengok meka fooling around on the beach. Strolled around as Mawi mingled about ngan peminat dia, and since this was our first real day on the beach (for most of them, but obviously by then aku da beach bum), everyone took a shot of Mawi with the sea as the backdrop.

You know what they say, about when in Rome kan? So took ler a snappy snappy of me and baldy along the beautiful shorelines of Maurities.

Pity my photographer yang amik pic ni fail sebab it could have been taken kat Morib pun tak nampak difference with the beautiful white sands and the deep blue sea hardly apparent.

Takper lah....

But like they say...if you want something done...

Whatever it is, I still kind of like this shot sebab Mawi takyah diposekan ker haper ker...this was just a real candid tengah gila layan the beach kind of shot.

Amik ko...sampai kat pantai pun pakai socks si Mawi nih.

Aiyo...tup aurat ker.

Saja jer wanted to share that too.

Anyways...lounged around, before crew Astro semua nak continue shooting tuk Mawi.

The programme for the day was free and easy.

The shooting continued ngan diselit shooting tuk music video Mawi yang baru.

I know some of you nak details of the Langit Biru punya music video, so here it it.

It's shot entirely in Mauritius with some of the most stunning scenery. The rest depending on the editing, I don't know ler how it'll look.

One of the first locations was smack in the centre of the sea.

A few of us ngan camera crew took a glass bottom boat. Kat kapal kecik tuh, lantai dia ada cam lantai kaca where we could see everything.

And since the water is so clear, when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!

All the terumbu....you know the karangs and the corals (isn't that the same thing) along with the beautiful sea life (quite akin to Sipadan someone shared, but like I'd know).

Here you have a pic of the glass bottom boat.

Oops! That's not quite what I had in mind. Tu abang Ishak the cameraman punya bottom sebab dia sibuk amik pic of the sealife sampai tertonggeng 1001 posisi. Amik ko jadik bahan photography as everyone seated my side of the boat starting snapping pics of his butt while laughing away. Keji...it's amazing how mean vacations make you kan...

Si Mawi ni aku ingat seasick, tapi rupanya terlalu asyik layan the swimming critters and the plant life (not to mention the amazing numbers of gamat) yang we saw on the ocean floor.

Marliah however ting tong sebab mabuk laut, but she didn't like throw up or anything.

We stopped here and there for shots of Mawi for the video clip pose tengah laut gituh.

In another spot, there was this schools of fish here and there, which interestingly enough kalao ko hulur roti dekat air, they actually jump ala deadly pirahnas about to snap at your fingers.

Cool!

And these fish were smart too ok...mana ada food chucked into the water, there they were. Aku pun join in on the feeding act ler, throwing bits of bread.

Amazing is the only word I have for the sight.

Sat back awhile as everyone was feeding the fish and enjoyed the distant shoreline.

I think we must have gone one or two kilometres away from the coast, and the sky and the distant outline of the hills and all were just breathtaking.

Got up again and admired again the sea life dalam air and how you could see into the nooks and crannies of the corals and all to see weird stuff peeking out and swimming about.

Ni some of the pics....

The first pic aku amik from the bottom of the erm..glass bottom boat. Second ni just from the side of the boat. Look carefully and you can actually see the fishes! The third tuh the shoreline (there were actually some topless folk but I'm not putting THOSE pics here) and last but not least the beautiful skyline.

And for those yang nak tengok how Mawi's shots for the video from the boat tuh, these are all I can show you sebab aku tak amik banyak angle.

Nama pun naik bot, takut je aku terpelanting masuk air sebab it was just nicely packed with all of us, I didn't want to throw the boat off balance (aku nih bukan petite sangat - uwaa....feeling speaking French katanya...petite)

Not the best shots, tapi janji exclusive ok! And more to come too...and last shot saja je nak simpan tuk kenangan...yerlah...perpun I was there gituh.

After we finsihed with the boat ride, they spent the next hour or two getting more shots off a jetty situated at the beach.

We spent the time in the sun, then got on the pedal boat (rather lame lah...very the Eighties tapi fun lak) before back to the showers and preparations for dinner.

Same routine, except malam tu officially being our last night, the dinner was at the beach, with the traditional sega dance performed in front of bonfire and all.

And to make it all the more fun...we all had our last midnight swim!

And guess what? Mawi joined in too akhirnya.

Kesian dia sebenarnya...dia nak berenang pun suspen ada lak yang amik gambar dan sebenarnya. And no...you will not see pics of him swimming here. Keji tau ingat aku nak posting gambar camtuh kat sini.

So we said our last goodnight in Mauritius (even though our plane was supposed to leave late the next night).

On this night...I stared up at the stars harder so I remember how they looked in Mauritius.

Not too different. Maybe it's just the eyes that sees them...

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Mauritius - Island Paradise Part 2

Supaya tidak membuang masa, let's get on with the second part of my posting on Mauritius punya holiday aku.

Pening sakan sebenarnya nak tulis bebanyak, tapi sebab selain daripada nak sharing is caring ngan semua, I've always maintained my blog is my diary, public though it may be, and that it records every momentous occasion of my life, so terpaksa gak walaupon berejam nak abihkan nak edit dan resize dan align pics yang bebanyak...lum agik teks nak merapu tak abih-abih.

Anyway, the next morning, on Thursday morning, aku tekejut dari tidur suddenly. Turns out, it was only 4am in the morning. That means I had less than six hours tidur. Kalau ikut waktu Mesia pun, it's too damn early to be up as it would have been only 8am (yes, you all know what time I always wake up,kan?)

Turns out, at bloody 4am, an unGodly hour to me...it was already the crack of dawn. Aiyo....by 4.30am, the sun was up, and by 5am da memang siang.

Got up, watched two hours of repetitions over BBC and CNN and hit the beach and then breakfast. Turns out EVERYONE da bangun time tuh and decided to stroll by the beach...so I wasn't the only weirdo.

I think the people keja kat the coffee house of the resort mesti pikir orang Mesia ni psycho bangun awal-awal pagi, kul 7 bukak tuk breakfast kami semua kecoh-kecoh da hit the buffet line.

After breakfast was done, gi rehat kat bilik jap, and by nine-ish we were on the move.Celah celah tuh, kak Aina dari Astro along ngan crew yang termasuk Lydia sibuk ler shooting for Mawi special yang akan ditayangkan kat Astro Ria. Yang picture on the left tuh is Lydia yang sibuk amik shot meka dari belakang. Yang cameraman baju biru tuh abang Ishak. Hah...central characters ni...remember the names.

We then headed into this town which seemed ages away. Macam pasar pagi ler. There kami tukar duit US dollars kami ke Mauritian Rupee (kat sini takleh convert direct so kami da tukar Ringgit ke Dollars dari KLIA)

RM1 lebih kurang 8.6 Rupees, so not much difference ler duit meka. Nak kata murah pun nothing much ler bebarang meka. In fact sebab aku banyak travel, I think the market didn't offer much as most of the stuff seemed to be of Indian origin...thus not very cheap in comparison kalao dapat from the originating country.

Sesak nak mampos! Bau takyah cakap ler...BO heaven ler kan...so sabar jer.

Didn't take much shots there as bijik mata very the roaming everywhere out of excitement.
Ni fotos ler for the sake of a laugh or two. Ni tengok...market ni sibuk sangat sampai patung display pon patah kaki kena pijak dan langgar.

No ballet lessons for you anytime soon then luv...

Just to give you an idea of the market yang banyak jual textile related items like clothing and such, ni one of the stalls (on the right) yang jual langsir...cantik cantik fabric dia. Tapi perlu ke aku nak beli?

Rushed to meet everyone at the bus, and all I bought was two bottles of Coke, one being Diet Coke for my Coke bottle collection yang wajib mempunyai botol daripada wherever I've travelled.

Sampai balik pas berejam travelling (more time was spent to get from one point to another than in the actual place!)

Petang petang, semua decided to go strolling by the beach, but Mawi had other plans. Member botak da beli layang-layang nak main kat pantai katanya.

So we all hit our rooms, showered sebab melekit (yes cuaca memang hot and humid), before changing into more proper beach attire and then... it was suntan lotion and the beach!

Nak tengok apa cerita Mawi ngan layang-layang dia?

From top to bottom, left to right ek jalan cita. Start Mawi tayang layang-layang dia beli masa baru sampai balik hotel. When I hit the beach, tengok-tengok, layang-layang dia nak terbangkan da patah! Mawi salahkan angin kuat! (iyolah tuh!) Tapi Wan dari Maestro da pun flying dia punya own kite. So abang Wan bagi can ler repairkan Mawi punya layang-layang sambil dia mintak Mawi pegangkan dia punya yang flying tuh. Mawi jeling sentap aku amik pic nak wat storyline tuk blog dan jeling maut. Sat tuh ler layang-layang abang Wan yang dia terbangkan menjunam masuk air laut. Gelak sakan aku...tension botak tarik kuar layang-layang basah tuh sambil aku amik pic dia sentap in the background.

Yes, whatever it is, I can now proudly claim that I am the first person to literally tell Mawi to go fly a kite (matilah translation jadik lain lak).

We didn't do much sebab later that night lak ada pre-listening of single baru Mawi (korang mesti da layan kat ERA kan?) And then it was an early night. Dinner...and then back to our rooms. At least most of us ler.

The more adventurous of us went late night swimming. Sambil sipping on a cappucino, aku berendam with the gang in the pool yang sebelah ngadap resort punya lounge situated at the edge of the pool, while the other faced the open sea as we basked under the night sky.

Stared into sky and searched for Orion sebab da pesan ngan yang tersayang saat rindu, stare at the sky and look for the belt of Orion as we'll be staring at the same three stars to remind us kami berselimutkan langit malam yang sama and that we're not too far apart walaupon rindu gila babas.

Dapat SMS kata dia nak tidur dan tak tengok langit.

So aku sambung feeling diving...kowser.

The next day was a whole lot more fun. Again, the routine, 4.30am in the morning following by a little early morning beach stroll and tanning before breakfast.

It was another long ride before we got to the top of a hill overlooking the town of Curepipe.

Now comes a slight geography lesson. Since Mauritius is an island of volcanic origin, which explains the interesting elevations of mountain ranges, waterfalls and cliffs of course we were on the way to see a volcano!

A dormant volcano ler...that means it ain't blowing its top anytime soon.

The crater of the dormant volcano called the Trou aux Cerfs was a little (but bloody tiring) walk from this fantastic view of Curepipe which is, if I'm not mistaken, the third most populated township in Mauritius.

From the crater, you can have a 360-degree view of the town of Curepipe and the coastal plains
Interesting fact : the name 'Curepipe' originated from the fact that once the trains arrived from Port Louis to the highlands for trade, the messieurs would clean their pipes, thus 'cure pipe' in French.

See...who says my blog can't be educational. Thank goodness for touristy brochures, kan?!!!

Sampai kat puncak, kami pun apa lagik...bergambar sakan ler cause this was the first sightseeing we've really done in Mauritius.

Ignore the differing shades of green sebab that was just the bloody effect the scorching sunlight had on my Nokia camera. Sempat ler bergambar kenangan ngan kak Aina.

Selain amik pic toilet dia yang erm...keji lah pada pendapat aku. Walaupun rasa nak go to the little boys' room, tak sanggup aku walaopon Marliah wat opening ceremony gituh nak ease herself there.

But I took a shot anyway of it cause seriously...how many pictures can you take of a damn hole in the ground. Now if we had seen some hot, molten lava....you're talking awesome photographic memories ler kan?

Merasalah kalau if there was there wouldn't be blog updates in the first place.

Wanted to take some shots of these rival ice cream vans yang charge about RM5 for a drumstick siap ngan wafer and Kit Kat sebab meka ni berlawan tuk customer je. Yang sakit jiwa, ada yang beli siap leh tawar menagar harga ice cream.

Sentap aku bila dapat tau ada yang dapat the same thing for half the price. Ok...that settles it....the bargain hunter in me has been set free.

Keji tau ice cream pun leh tawar harga!!!
Stopped for lunch yang feeling Italian tapi yucky nak mampos with pumpkin openers (or something). Kak Aini and Co again dapat ler Mawi nyanyi with some tourists in the shot. Hid my face under the napkin as bursting out in song in a restaurant where people don't know who you are is not my cup of tea.

By the we had made a few stops at the typically tourist trap designated areas as the practise by every bloody tourist guide in every stinking country. Which of course means no shopping as most items mahal nak mampos, plus look closely at the tag, it probably reads 'Made In Taiwan' sebab cheap trinkets passing of as souvenirs ler.

Keji...

Teruskan usaha gigih meka untuk merakamkan shooting meka tuk the program of Mawi shopping. Ni masa masuk kedai Billabong yang patutnya kat Mauritius murah sebab manufactured locally, tapi mahal dari Malaysia sebab memang destinasi pelancong.

Boring!!!!
Pusing punya pusing, we stopped at two other outlets. Semua shopping sakan because time ni ler banyak barang branded from Burberry to CKs to D&Gs and Armanis and Versace abundant. Murah gak some of the items while others not any cheaper than in Kuala Lumpur.

Plus...some of the items were hardly original, so kena pepandai ler usha mana yang local meaning none ori (as they say in Petaling Street, genuine imitation - keji!!), yang mana under license dan yang mana original punya.

Semua yang tahan nak shopping, unleased their Mauritian Rupees ler akibat memang tahan geram nak shopping.

Still....BORING!!!

The more interesting part of the sightseeing which ended the day was again passing Casa Noyale village, through all the fields of sugarcane and pineapple (their two biggest agriculture features) to Chamarel.

We all groaned in horror sebab kena jalan kaki agik to the top of this hill where from afar we could see the 100 metre high Chamarel falls.

It was breathtaking ler, though I was inclined to bitch too when someone made a comment about what's so bloody interesting about someone leaving a giant tap on.

True...tapi since we had come this far, we took it all in jer lah.

The Chamarel Falls. Also known to ungratefully bored tourists like us as nature's biggest plumbing leak. Then made more interesting by yours truly posing for a shot for the album, and then lagik satu with Mawi to make things more interesting.

From there, we were taken to the Chamarel Seven Coloured Earths.

We were told ler, and quote 'the undulating lands are a kaleidescope of colours, ranging from green, purple, blue, red, yellow, ochre and brown, which geologists believe to be the result of weathering of volcanic rocks'.

We were also told how oddly enough, the soils are not washed away despite torrential rains and cyclones where a plausible explanation to this natural phenomenon reveals that the soils may be rich in volcanic ash.

Whoopie.

We were also told how samples of the seven coloured earths in test tubes are sold almost everywhere over the island. Erm...ok...how...interesting.

When I reached there, I decided to spend time calling everyone back home as I didn't bother myself with counting if the earth did indeed have seven colours.

Aiyak...baby aku demam...pass kat Mawi tuk nak tenangkan dia, lagik dia terkejut demam.

Merasalah....

Found the earth not the most interesting thing to photograph, so again got Mawi to masuk shot to make things more interesting.

Yes, you can tell by the shots we were absolutely thrilled by the wonder of nature. Puh-lease la...cam tanah merah kat area Puchong je (read : ungrateful and uneducated tourist) But seriously...I don't think it's all that great to make an hour long trip just to see tanah merah lah.

Balik hotel, usual routine, dinner and then supposed early night in, but actually followed by midnight swim, a night cap, and then followed by sleep interrupted by the early morning sun.

Routinely too, was the morning at the beach, and the breakfast at the buffet line, while enduring stares of the staff who were still probably weirded out by us who kep bangun awal je.
Friday siang kami kuar, took off to Port Louis.

The guys semua gi semayang Jumaat kat masjid ni in the heart of Port Louis sementara the womenfolk, those yang tak semayang as well as moi gi shopping.

Hah...disini ler my real purchases began.

Banyak sangat kedai aku kuar masuk sampai nak patah kaki.
The guys met us only after semayang Jumaat for lunch at an Indian restaurant called Namaste near the Caudan Waterfront.

Sana banyak area sebab dia encompassing the Port Louis Bazaar, the Mauritian Chinatown and the old Port Louis theatre.

The capital has also three museums which are: the Mauritius Natural History Museum, the Blue Penny Museum and the Mauritius Stamp Museum but I think it's obvious why they weren't on my list of must see places kan?

Interesting fact : Port Louis is the busiest city of the country. It faces heavy traffic congestion as there is only one motorway which leads in and out of the city. Which pretty much decribes the road network in the country lah actually.

Ok here are some pics around Port Louis. Malas nak cita pepanjang...

They're all from the Port Louis vicinity and the waterfront area... so enjoy

Ok dalam bebanyak pics aku amik tuh, ada pic Mawi stop pose kat gerai buah. You can't really see it here cause I wanted to show that litter can next to him sebab the next thing aku mintak Lydia pose sebelah sana.

Why?

Because after I took the picture, I told her I'd post it in my blog and caption it, NOT ALL LITTER MAKES IT IN THE TRASH.

Aiyo...matilah aku.

Janji ko vogue, Lyds....dan ko ada featured dalam blog aku ni. Susah tau! Pose sorang-sorang ni dalam blog aku. Ko hengat ko star nak masuk senang-senang kalao bukan? (keji...dahler kutuk orang...pastu nak reasoning to justify pun nak keji lagik)

Anyway, interesting picture of the day nominee is this Muslim restaurant in town yang kami singgah beli barang makan sebab kak Aina, Lydia dan Marliah kebulur.

Since tau makanan sana halal, so without the was was ler meka tapau some stuff to munch.

What's so cute about this place? Dia ala ala mamak punya kedai jer. Standard fare...but what I like is...you know kan kedai mamak suka recycle makanan kan?

Like sometimes it tastes like it's been there for days and dead cold. Hah...notice the number of microwaves kat belakang tuh? One thing for sure, makanan dalam kedai ni recycle camna pun takkan sejuk ok!

Yang penting masa dalam kedai ni, ada minah ni, Mauritian tegur aku. Tanya aku ni orang Mesia ke.

When I said yes, dia pun interview mana nak cuti. Katanya nak ke Cameron Highlands. Erm...ok jer.

Another interesting picture I took for the day was this one on the left.
What's so interesting about the damn mineral water?

Sebab dalam setiap tempat kami makan, I mean of course the hotel and also the bigger restaurants, jangan feeling mintak sky juice ok.
Hanya ada mineral water, meaning ko bayar lebih. No other options, They don't serve the complimentary air sejuk, so in other words, they make more money. Keji kan feeling nak paksa orang pay for overpriced tap water gituh.

So all of us bak stok mineral water sendiri.

Keji memang la keji nak wat camtuh...but hey...we're tourists. We're supposed to act that way kan?

Just in case you guys wanted to know, this shot was taken in Namaste masa lunch on Friday. Pastuh we spent a little more time walking the waterfront shopping before calling it a day.

The rest of the routine korang tau kan?

Yeap...dinner after the long journey back, and then tidur, tapi for us another round of midnight swimming.

Only malam tuh, on Friday night, Mawi termenung panjang sebab masa makan malam (since Mauritius four hours behind Malaysia) kami da dapat berita Kian tak layak dalam kategori Balada ke Anugerah Juara Lagu.

And he spent the whole night just termenung even though kami semua paksa dai berenang.
He ambled off to sleep later, and sebab rosak sikit mood malam tuh, we did too.

Is this posting going to be the longest entry EVER?

Time to call it quits. Until the next entry...

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Maurities - Island Paradise Part 1

Ok so I know I've been scum promising to update tapi nan ado.

However with good reason, sebab balik ke dahler feeling viral feever (dapat lagik ler MC dua ari) and then sibuk lak ngan menolong ngan preparation tuk persembahan Nikki dan Zahid untuk this Friday's performance of Caramu untuk semifinal Muzik Muzik Pop Rock.

Apapun, it's been a hectic but fun week walaupun the physical limitations of my body make everything such a drag.

Apapun, I'll try and catch up on posting-posting terhutang ok...sebab skang kurang masa dan peluang masa nak online...biasalah, orang disayang jarang ada spend time online, so aku lak takkan mintak dia dok sebelah tengok jer kan.

Nak update pun berejam jadiknya ngan nak letak pics and all..

This entry has been backdated to Tuesday, sebab the others will be listed as Wednesday, Thursday entries nak muatkan segalanya to break them up in for easier reading (and so tak seksa aku yang sakit jari menaip sebab banyak sangat nak update).

So let's recap. Tapi please be warned yeah...sapa yang line slow tuh, mesti ada pics yang tak muncul sebab loading mesti take forever punya, so pepandai ler korang kalao nak tengok all the pics.

The day we left tuh, aku memang tak cukup tido. And it turns out, I wasn't the only one yang takut oversleep because of the early flight. You see, we all had to be there by 7am, so nak gerak ke KLIA and all, amik masa, so lagik baik berjaga jer ler. Budget leh tidur on the plane sebab flight pun amik masa dalam 7 ke 8 jam.

Surprise surprise...I was among the first nak sampai. Tunggu sejam lagik ler sebelum sorang sorang muncul. And then, tengok tengok time tuh, that I realised it was some 50 people going along cause they bought the tour package ke Mauritius. Tapi bukan semua peminat...malah ada yang tak kenal Mawi pun ada. Meka apparently bought the package sebab affordable gila.

Beberapa orang dari keluarga Maestro, Astro and empat orang from media, dua dijemput oleh Hotlink, and two more on personal invitation dari Meastro (tima kasih Maestro and Mawi jemput aku join bercuti)

Semangat abih terkenankan nak seminggu cuti to what everyone has been telling me is heaven on earth...so walaopon ngantuk dan kebulur, sempat kecoh ler kat airport.

Tengok lagik ada geng sebab Marliah dari Kosmo! pun ada join trip ke Mauritius nih. Besh nih...leh wat jahat banyak nih....

Tapi my mood yang very the uppity, just plummeted ngan travel agent bangang yang bodoh nak mampos! Because of their numerous stupids delays, tak sempat nak breakfast betul-betul.

Angin ler aku. Dahler aku masa check in minta exit seat so got more leg room, dia leh malas.

Amik ko muka evil aku da kuar.

Dahler found out we had to stop and get off in Singapore on transit. Bazir agik another freaking hour. Aiyo...cam tak cukup ler travel time kita ni. Even with Mauritius time behind by four hours, by the time sampai pon da lewat petang. Cipert!

Sempat amazing race ke Burger King ngan Marliah dan melantak sambil tunggu luar gate for last call baru nak boarding. Aku onflight risau nak dok sebelah sapa (aku banyak sikit benda yang irritate aku nih) so I was glad when Marina dari Maestro dok sebelah aku. Pala sama punya geng nak travel ni no hal punya lah.

Belakang aku, terdudukler pasangan baru (pasangan pengantin seasoned da...takder ler baru sangat pon, si Nasser PA Mawi dan bini dia... Wawa ek nama?)

Nearby tuh ada geng kecoh lain, tapi seeing aku nak tidur sebab nak catch up on beauty sleep, tak larat layan. So from take-off aku da KO sampai dia serve juice, and then out, sampai dia serve lunch.

And then out again sampai da touchdown. Keji kan....

One thing that I did get up for was to laugh at the running of Air Mauritius. Aiyo...keji gak ler.

Aku rasa kalau trolley makanan dia siap caj, da memang standard Air Asia. Tapi dia punya cabin crew baik gak ler service, so tanak ler keji.

But dig this, you know like kekadang meka in-flight safety precautions tuh meka run video presentation, and not the cabin crew yang demonstrate? Well, on Air Mauritius, dia pun pasang ler safety video tuh.

The laughable part was this is the first time dalam aku bebanyak kali travel aku tengok where the PA system thingamajig yang contol all the in-flight AV ni located.

Turns out it was situated in the luggage compartment above one of the passengers' seats.
Over tau....

Keji tahap cipan. Perlu ke? Aiyo...cam mini compo jer benda alah tuh. Anyways, the comic relief wasn't quite enough nak betulkan my mood.

Sebab barely an hour of flight time, da sampai Singapore. No thanks to the so efficient Singaporeans and their manual system of registering on transit passengers, it took us a good 20 minutes nak get through everything.

It took almost ten minutes to haul ass to and another ten from the smoking room. Which meant by that time, da sampai pon time nak board the flight back again. What???!!! Yes forget about everything automated, tengok ler pic tuh...that's how bloody irritating it was to line up nak tunggu ler meka lepaskan sorang sorang. Dahler the whole bloody plane had to get off sebab transit kat Changi pun ada sorang dua je yang naik from there. Perlu ke? Aiyo....susahkan idop orang je.

Anyways, if there's anything I can say for the now done up Changi Airport (sejak aku last jejak some time now), is that they definitely have the best smoking lounge in the world among all the airports

I've been in. Aiyo...luxurious ok. Masuk pun, fresh je, takderler cam KLIA, masuk je selangkah da tercekik asap rokok enough to ensure four generations terus mati lung cancer.

Yes....sometimes the Singaporeans do get it right. Bloody hell, the smoking lounge siap ada sun deck outdoors lagik. Perghhh!!!

Back on the plane, it was back to snooze land again. KO lagik sekali...koma even! Mengantuk la asik bangun tidur...bangun tidur. Thankfully for the rest of the flight ok sikit, no disturbances, so had a few good winks.

Until aku terjaga tiba tiba sebab felt something. Aiyak...si Mawi lak prowling the aisles ngan camera dia nak snappy snappy dan video orang, sekali ngan crew Astro yang shooting this special (four part I think) programme for Mawi di Mauritius...korang usha kang kat Astro jer lah ek.

Anyways, sempat capai selimut, pocongkan diri, and continued with my sleep.

At this rate...memang eye bags are ineviable lah, Mampos camni..

But wasn't disturbed for the remainder of the flight until nak touchdown when aku terjaga sendiri and got my first glimpse of Mauritius.

Heaven on earth?I don't know...maybe it was just the grimy airplane windows of Air Mauritius, tapi the beautiful scenes were not very clear.. Take into account, evidence as proven in the picture on the left.

But of course ler that wasn't the best choice nak judge Mauritius by, because the country indeed is one of the most richest I've even been in. Rich as in the sense of the beauty and splendour of it's majestic natural beauties. Seriously kan...even the skies are more gorgeous here. They somehow peak your senses.

The skies look bluer...the grass and plants all seem greener... even the moment from the first sight of Mauritius, even the cloud formations pun seolah lebih cantik. I don't know...maybe it's because I've forgotten how the day sky is supposed to look sebab kita ni jenis spesis tidur siang idop time malam je ke...or the bloody KL skyline has been either so polluted or raining cats and dogs sampai da tak ingat what a clear blue sky looks like.

Whatever it is...this was Mauritius.The picture on the right taken with my Nokia doesn't even begin to do the gorgeousness of Mauritius any justice. Seriously....terdiam kejap menikmati keindahan alam.

Kejap je...the rest of the TWO HOUR journey nak ke hotel by bus from the airport sambung bebel kesentapan agik.

No wonder ler it took so long. Mauritius doesn't exactly have the most advanced road system in the country. All the roads are so narrow here, sampai bila ada oncoming traffic, tahan nafas sat suspen the two vehicles from opposite directions will brush past each other.

Scary ride....scarier accents when layan tour guide kita. Yes, to put it simply, the locals are best described as Indians stuck in the African continent, and speaking French. Seriously....

Dari jejak airport layan brush up my pathetic total knowledge of French (since I didn't know a word of the local language, Creole), which amounts to all of four sentences. English is supposed to be the main language, but by usage, I dare say it's the third most used language.

Oh lupa....the first thing at the airport I caught my eye was the Maaysian cars on the road. Banyak gak throughout our stay I noticed ada Wira dan Kelisa.

In fact the first car I spotted in the airport parking lot while smoking my first cancer stick after almost 10 hours was this car for rent.

Bangga ler orang gila nih keta dia kat Mauritius sewa almost RM150 a day....small pleasures and blessings eh.Anyways to cap off the whole day's worth of travel, the first day was over when we checked into the Indian Resort, an absolutely gorgeous place.

It was huge...with several blocks of apartments, which I have to say may not be as lavish as I would have thought from the outside, but were still not too bad all in all.

The first big horrible thing I found was every bloody channel was in freaking French. Matilah... tengok cartoons pun da dubbing katanya. Now I know how a foreigher feels when they tune into RTM 1 here. The only thing yang leh layan in English, was CNN and BBC, which reported the same bloody things in half hour intervals. So throughout the next few days, the only news items were the spy poisining case, the Pope's visit...Durian (the storm, not the fruit) etc. Boring!!!

So that pretty much cuts out any hope of watching semifinals Balada (keji berangan leh dapat TV3 via satellite tau!)

Semua da letih time tuh, and we hardly had time to explore much until dinner time as everyove was busy showering and getting off half a day's dirt off themselves from three countries yang di bawa dari KL ke Singapore, and now to Mauritius. Dinner an hour later and an early night in pretty much ended the first day of Mauritius for us.

But not before I took a sneak peek of what the nearby beach had to offer. Bukak pintu bilik and a stone's throw away from my patio, is this absolutely gorgeous stretch of beach

Ah....now this is heaven on earth. Can't wait for tomorrow morning...berangan nak feeling sunbathing nak tan kan diri (one of the prized assets to be sporting after an island holiday)I'll leave you guys with the end of the report of the first day in Mauritius with this little trivia you may not even bother with, but had fun with to occupy ourselves in the stinking two hour bus trip to the hotel from the airport.

We counted only a total of FIVE traffic lights in that distance of about almost two hours. Now isn't that just riveting!

I'll be posting part two and three of Mauritius and also persiapan semifinal Muzik Muzik untuk Caramu by tonight ok. Paling lewat, everything will be fully updated by tomorrow siang sebab nak clear kan stock of entries.

So check back and enjoy reading, guys.

Nak rush ke Plaza Alam Sentral for full dress rehearsal sebelum habiskan updating semua malam ni. Aiyo...peningnya...

By the way, if you guys ask me (with upset stomach for the past few days sejak balik Mauritius) how the food there was, all I can say is....uhm...ok.

Let's put it this way. Malam pertama punya dinner, aku ngan Mawi sibuk nak amik makanan, when we realised something.

"Eh...botak...ko perasan tak? Kita susah susah gi KLIA dua jam awal, abihkan lebih 8 jam dalam flight, ngan sejam singgah Singapore, pastuh amik agik bas dua jam mai hotel...dekat tiga belas jam, makan malam kita cam kedai mamak lak kat Taman Desa."

Needless to say that was worth a laugh.

Erm...need to rush off now...

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Bonjour!

Bonjour! Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un qui parle anglais? Excusez mon français.

Yes...I'm back.

To answer a few quick questions... aku tak posting entry dari sana sebab Internet connection mahal nak mampos dari hotel sana. Plus we didn't really have the time, with the schedule jam packed ngan sightseeing, shooping and lots of midnight swimming sessions. Yes, Mawi pun join - but no pictures of that, guys...sorry.

When will I be updating? Later this evening ler hopefully. Aku dah ler jet lag ni. Am down with fever lak sebab change in weather (sana panas nak mampos because we were there smack in the middle of a scorching summer - pelik...) So I have two days MC on Tuesday and Wednesday, in that time which I guarantee aku akan upload all 95 pictures selected to complement my entry for the days we were there.

And that includes exclusive pics of the shooting of Mawi punya music video kat sana. The first you'll see anywhere. Memang cantik...

And then pada sapa yang nak tengok how the trip to Mauritius was, nanti aku bagitau how you guys can catch it on TV.

Gastric skang ni...kena melahap, then makan obat, then rehat sebab jet lag.

Not to mention skin pedih siot sebab sunbathing overdose sana. Tak itam pon, merah cam lobster sesikit je.

Shopping? Aiyo...let's just say meriah light light ler. Came home with a few Burberrys, Armanis....etc.

Thank you to the weirdos yang sibuk call aku masa aku kat sana bazirkan kredit aku nak roaming layan call bangang.

Apa agik ek? Tu je for now kot. Kena abihkan story sikit, and then in 10 minutes nak gerak balik jumpa ayang bucuk aku. Seminggu tak jumpa rindu abih nih...arghhh!!!

Nak lunch ngan dia dulu and rehat kat rumah...be sharing with you guys later how Mauritius was.

Cheers!!!

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