Mauritius/Dubai 9D8N Prologue

Prologue:

This is another "non-intended" trip.  Mauritius is never in my list.  This little African island is in the middle of Indian Ocean.  It's a dot on the map however it's about 3X bigger than Singapore.

So why are we going there?  Cos my darling precious elder son is there for internship for 5 months de, heeheehee...  Must go visit him right?

It is very expensive to get there, cost more than (or as much as) an Europe trip, thus not a popular destination for Singaporeans but ang mos, especially the French absolutely this love sunny island vacation here.  Flight route from Singapore had to transit at Dubai, no plane flies across Indian Ocean although ideally that may save more than 5hrs of travelling time from Singapore.

To make the expensive air tix worth it, I decided to have a few days' fun in Dubai before heading back to Singapore.  Afterall the air tix cost were already paid for, cost the same even if we fly back straight home, so might as well.  All we needed was to forked out another few hundred bucks for the accommodation and everything in Dubai is still quite affordable de.  Had wanted to stay longer but May is going to be as hot as 40 degrees, so I guess a few days we should be well cooked lolxx...

I thought I am very clever to plan out the previous Turkiye trip, but Mauritius is another level.  I am totally clueless and have to start with a blank paper.  There's not much information online, my son's descriptions were vague, by the time he gotten familiar, we were already there.  Most reviews are given by European tourists, what they enjoy are very very different from asian travellers.  Eg. give them a sea view, they will be in heaven, give them a plate of normal fried rice it will be 5 star michelin to them.   So... I don't have much confidence with my itinerary, not knowing how wrong and bad things can go....

But anyway, the most important thing is to visit my son and replenish whatever he needed to stay alive lolxx...

Dengue fever was quite bad in Mauritius, apparently repellents were expensive over there, so I tugged them over.

I bought a big load of souvenirs for his new friends and colleagues.

So here we go!!!

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Destination: Mauritius and Dubai

Duration: 9D8N

Dates: 17 - 22 May (6 days in Mauritius), 22 -25 May (4 days in Dubai)

Mode: Free & Easy with a few local tours from KLOOK and Get Your Guide in Mauritius

Travel Buddies: Hubby and baby sister (but she won't join us in Dubai)

Time Difference: both Mauritius and Dubai are 4hrs behind us, eg. they 1pm, Singapore 5pm

Weather: Mauritius about 25 degrees, Dubai about 36 degrees

Currency: no problem with UAE dirham but Mauritian rupee only a few money changer in Singapore has it, so we had some US dollars then change at Dubai airport.

Flights: Emirates, about S$1400/pax

Accommodations: 

Mauritius - Blue Pearl Resort (3pax 3 nights S$698.53), LUX Le Morne (2pax 2 nights with half board S$1,312)

Dubai - Premier Inn Dubai (2pax 1 night S$43.56), Burj Al Nujoom Residences (2pax 2 nights S$286.56)

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16/05/2024

Since it was a mid night flight, we wanted an upgrade but biz class was full, couldn't believe it.

Redeemed freebies from Shilla Duty Free T3.  Kinda felt bad by disturbing the sales.

Changi Airport was beautiful, little details calms anxious travellers down.

We went to the food court but it was a bit crowded.  Then found I Love TaiMei at a quiet corner.

Had Taiwanese braised pork rice, bubble tea and super yummy tofu fries.

Even had time to use my lap top and lepak till boarding time.

Walked pass robot bar tender on the way to the boarding gate.

Thanks for reading this short post, the rest should be up shortly.

15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 14

07/01/2024

We had porridge for brunch, simple home cook but supper yummy.

Make the best out of the last day in Abu Dhabi, on the way to Sea World.

SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.

Entrance fee was a slit throat of AED375.

The place was huge, super duper clean, every spot and corner was good photo taking.

Fake landscape but it was very nice.

This was the penguin section, it's very crowded and freaking cold!

This was way better than Singapore Bird Paradise.  Penguins were very close to us, less than a metre, could almost grab one and bring home lolxx... 

They were walking and swimming around, very lively.

How to deal with the cuteness.  If only I could get one in my hands and squeeze.

If I am alone, I think I can stay here on and on.

They called it Chick Room, it's a hatch house ba...

People always say it's all man made what so great?  I would say it's represents human intelligence (and economical strength) that's why it's great.

Waaaa... this area right, my photos totally didn't do it the least bit of justice.

It's 180 degrees super large LED screen.

3 entrances giving visitors a hard time to chose.

Futurist interior design.

Hello manatee.

Walrus, HUGE.

Dolphins.  Some ungrateful people, after having a good time looking at the dolphins, would say they should be freed.  If they are freed, you see shit and not them.

 I liked the way I look when I travel.

ps. boobs not so big in reality.

Sun was acceptable everywhere except Singapore lolxx...

Saw a sloth, didn't know it's capable of hanging itself upside down.

Flamingos!

This place was wow despite of not having much sea creatures.

We spend about 4hrs in SeaWorld before leaving to Mina Fish Market.

Saw these on the way, so pretty, but had no idea what were these white sand of cone hills for.

This was Abu Dhabi.

Mina Fish Market.

Incredible fresh fish market, so dry and clean.

Big groupa fish.

Huge prawns.

My sis bought a seabass, some big prawns and a sotong, handed to this restaurant to cook for us.

There was a row of restaurants, this was one of them.  You either buy your own seafood from the market pay for the "cooking fee", or the restaurant would provide if you weren't into doing shopping yourself.

Some brinjal with sauce, as fierce as it looked, it wasn't spicy at all.

Salad with fried wonton (was it?) skin and balsamic sauce, so nice.

Watermelon juice and avocado juice behind.

Grilled big prawns.

Grilled seabass, very tender with exotic spices.

Calamari rings, they did got the texture right!  Not tough or undercook!

That's our last dinner in Abu Dhabi.

Later I found out why was the fish market so clean.  They had a enclosed cleaning station.

All the scaling, cleaning and washing were done here.

After dinner was beautiful red sunset on our way back to pick up our luggage.

Saw flying of drones from far.

This was the coast along Al Reem.

One pic with her car.

Abu Dhabi airport, beautiful arcitecture.

I didn't want to leave, so I cried my way through the immigration.

Walked pass duty free, didn't need anything, just recovered from crying.

It's a real police car but looked like cartoon.

I hated this seat.  They stored my handbag away in an overhead above somebody else's seat.  So the passenger had to leave her seat if I were to get my bag, which I didn't.

I didn't have my inhaler, didn't have my earphones, the entertainment screen was in a weird angle, people walking to the toilet standing right in front me, I couldn't scratch my pit, I hate the seat.  Was very tempted to just ditch old man and request to get to biz class, urrggg....

Once was enough, never again.

There was a surprise in the economy cabin.  Got amenities kit!!!

It opened up to be a shopping bag, sleeping eye mask, lotion, wet wipe and ear plugs.

Supper was good.

Pastry, dessert and drinks were given before landing.

We landed in Singapore safely the next morning and that ended our New Year/winter vacation.

During that time, my son's internship in Mauritius was still pending.  Once it was confirmed, we kinda waited him to settle before starting to plan our visit.

When you are reading this, I am cleaning the house, clearing the fridge (again) packing up for the trip in less than 2 weeks time.  Thank you for reading and the first Mauritius post will be up around end May.