Ou est la plage? (Where's the beach?)

Well I finally made it to the other side of the planet, after a 13.5 hour flight to Taipei, a 4 hour flight to Singapore, a full day in Singapore and a 7 hour flight to Mauritius. I was glad to get out of Singapore, although I did make it to Raffles for an original Singapore Sling. It was tasty, but for US$12 I could only afford one. I also got to ride the subway, which really impressed me. I'm into public transit, and Singapore gets an A- for theirs (they'd get an A if it went all the way to the airport, but that's still under construction).

So anyway after yet another comfortable flight with unbearably uncomfortable movies (The Skulls, some crappy Bollywood stuff, X-Men) I made it to Mauritius. I do have to say that the flight attendants on Air Mauritius are maybe the sexiest that I've ever seen, with nods to Icelandair and Korean Air as well. They were also kind enough to flirt with me for the whole flight.

After flying business class I proceeded to look for the cheapest hotel on the island. I even wanted to take the bus to Grand Baie, which is where Joslyn at the Air Mauritius office in New Jersey told me is 'where the action is.' Unfortunately taking a bus across the island would have taken 3 hours and I would have had to change at least twice. There's actually a town next to GB called Pereybere that's just as popular for accomodation, and that's where I went (reluctantly by taxi).

After looking at a few less-than-attractive apartments I decided to check out the recommended Casa Florida. I felt kind of stupid coming all the way here to stay at a place named Casa Florida, but I was tired and it was much better than the other places that I had seen, and only $20/night which is cheap here. It had a little garden and a pool and they were even having a BBQ the night I arrived. Unfortunately the only guests staying there were old French people. It was like some really pathetic ghetto Club Med. My room was decent (just as good and/or better than many places in which I stayed in Thailand and India), but it only had a fan and no A/C. I normally don't need A/C when I travel, but it's summer here and it's REALLY FUCKING HUMID! I also had a gecko living in my closet. I've learned to tolerate little critters to an extent since I'm really a guest in their home, and besides, Geckos eat bugs. It's easy when you give them a name, so I named him Gary.

That night I went out and met some other tourists staying at a hotel with A/C. It was about $32/night, which is more than what I wanted to spend but figured that for 5 nights it would be worth it. I did the math and it comes out to 50 cents/hour for A/C while I'm here, so I moved to Hotel Cote d'Azur. That's more than worth it, and at least it has a French name.

The beaches here have actually been disappointing. They're pretty small without a lot of sand, and on the weekend they were over-run with screaming Mauritiun kids and fat old French people in Speedos. The island is still beautiful, so I have no complaints. I spent my first day chilling on the beach and then went out to be disappointed by Grand Baie's supposedly swinging nightlife. Nothing was going on at all. I find the French fascination with that place somewhat akin to their unexplainable fascination with Jerry Lewis.

I've spent the past 2 days in the capital city of Port Louis. It's pretty decent by African standards, but not a place that I want to spend more than 2 days. I was able to get all of my photos done without any problems or hassles. It's also a really good reflection of the island's complex history and demographics. Most of the population is of Indian descent, but there are also French, Brits, Malagasy (Madagascar) and Chinese.

When I went to the US Embassy to take my photos there (I need to photography embassies, hotels, taxis, etc. for those of you who are joining me late) I was given a detailed description of every US embassy in eastern and southern African country from Bill, the deputy Ambassador who's originally from Santa Barbara. I didn't ask him to, but he just wouldn't stop talking. I don't think that he has to do much besides chill out, since I've only met 2 other Americans (from La Jolla) since I've been here. So if any of you have some money to toss around for campaign contributions, may I highly suggest asking for a post at the US Embassy in Mauritius.

My adventures came yesterday as I decided to rent a scooter to get down to Port Louis and back. Everything was fine until I got to town and got a taste of downtown traffic. The countryside and the 'highway' were easy, but driving in the city was mad. Then my scooter broke down on the way home in the middle of nowhere. Some French asshole was kind enough to pull over to offer some help, but then realized that he was in over his head and made up some excuse about being in a hurry to go somewhere and left me stranded. He also gave me bogus directions to a mechanic that didn't exist. Je deteste les francais quelquefois (sauf Fabienne). Luckily I met a few really nice Mauritiuns who helped me out, including a nice girl named Amy who I'm going out with tonight.

To my surprise the scooter rental people were totally understanding and gave me my 5000 rupee (about $200) deposit back without any problems. I was expecting the worse, but they didn't even charge me the rental fee since I had to take a taxi back home.

Since I leave early Friday morning I really only have 2 days left to enjoy the island. Tomorrow is a Tamil (southeastern Indian) holiday where devotees pierce their cheeks with spears and do some other crazy shit. I'll write more about it when I see it. I hope to get either a day of diving in as well, or a trip to one of the smaller islands off the coast with real sandy beaches (see photo).

It just stopped raining so I need to head back outside to finish my photos. Keep the emails coming and I'll do my best to update this site every few days.