Christmas 2012 recap in May 2013? Well, better late than never... Seychelles is one of those exotic destinations that I had seen pictures of and have always been intrigued by so it's been on "the list" for awhile. Christmas 2012, we finally crossed it off the list...Seychelles is located in the Indian Ocean off the east coat of Africa. The people speak French and French Creole.
Our hotel was on the opposite side of the island from the main city, Mahe, and the international airport. The quickest way there was up the mountain on steep narrow roads that twist and turn as we ascended through the forest and back down again. The hotel is set on a picturesque beach with frangipani trees dropping fragrant flowers and a small coral reef just begging to be explored. It was beautiful - just like the pictures I had seen. There are no other properties on the beach, so it was nice and really quiet.
After the expensive lunch on our first day (ouch!) we decided to head to the capital, Mahe. The taxi was a fixed US$40 each way.. Ouch again! So we decided to make a day of it. After arriving we walked along the esplanade and did some window shopping but there was really nothing for tourists. We head down to Victoria Market to see what that had to offer. There were countless fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and spices...and lots of locals doing some last minute Christmas shopping!
The concierge at the hotel said there were only 4 tourist restaurants in the entire city, so we were glad we managed to actually find one of them! The restaurant was on the 2nd floor over looking the esplanade. Melissa went with the mixed seafood bbq, I went more local with the octopus curry and saffron rice.
Every morning we would take a long walk down the secluded beach. After breakfast we wanted to go back to the city as the next day was the December 25th and we would have to stay at the resort all day since everything else would be closed. This time I enquired at the front desk (who had better English than the bellhop I had spoken to earlier in the week) about taking the public bus to the city.
Once the bus arrived we were shocked as it was 40 CENTS per person. We were the only tourists thus received some "looks." As the bus wound up the mountain picking up more and more passengers it quickly became very crowded and very hot. I was seated so close to the person next to me they literally sweat on me. Needless to say I was really ready to get off that bus. Since we were taking the bus to the last stop, we didn't worry about getting off until we arrived at the bus station. The bus station was across the street from Victoria Market so we headed back to the market to get some curry and saffron spice to take home with us. As it was the day before Christmas, the streets were even more crowded with shoppers and there was (really!) loud music blaring from the storefronts to lure in potential customers.
As we were walking around we came across a stature of one Seychelles most unique exports a coco de mer. What does it look like... google it? Walking along the esplanade we found some stalls with souvenirs such as shells and one even had a coco de mer. We picked it up as we had never seen one in person. The owner offered it to us for US$200 and showing us a ticket. We asked what the ticket was for and he explained that customs would confiscate the nut it if we didn't have the certificate for it. For US$200, we passed on both the nut and the ticket!
The water was bathtub warm and and you could see your feet when you were chin deep.
Melissa was sad not to have a Christmas tree this year, but on the 24th, the hotel staff gave us a little tree for our coffee table. As there are frangipani trees all over the place, we picked up some of the fallen flowers and used them to "decorate" our tree. The day after Christmas, we headed to Dubai for a stopover on our way back to Hong Kong. |
| Oh (Seychelles) Christmas Tree! |
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