Port Louis in a day

Our last few days in Mauritius we headed to the capital and largest city on the island, Port Louis. There is not that much to see in Port Louis, so we saw it ALL! After finding a parking spot we checked out the local farmers market. Mauritius is blessed with good soil and great weather so the local market had a good variety of fruits and vegetables which is good thing considering a majority of the population is Hindu -  vegetarian.

After walking around the market, we headed to Aapravasi Ghat which is a World Heritage site. It was the British immigration depot for Indian indentured laborers. Over 500,000 passed through here before transiting to plantations throughout the British Empire.

 Aapravasi Ghat

On the walk to the waterfront we passed the post office. Just as many French flags as Mauritian ones!?

The waterfront shops and restaurants in the background

The Le Caudan waterfront had an interesting collection of colonial style buildings with palm trees and flowers everywhere. We found a nice Indian restaurant which overlooked one of the courtyards and people watched over lunch. 

The umbrellas were colorful way to get some shade

Port Louis Stamp Museum

Mauritian stamps are world famous as they were the first British colonial government to issue one in 1847. In 2011 one of these stamps sold for $1.7 million USD. That should get you first class to the moon...

 Le Caudan Waterfront was an interesting mix of shops and restaurants.

We did a little window shopping and came across a store that has handmade wooden ships. We had seen a bunch of these shops while driving around so we went in for a closer look. Upon closer inspection the detail on these ships is absolutely amazing! Needless to say I felt like a bull in a china shop with my camera backpack on.

The dodo is an instinct flightless bird from Mauritius

Cathedral Square Port Louis

Citadel Fort Adelaide is perched upon a hill in the center of the city giving amazing views of the city, too bad there was not too much to see.

Round About Mauritius

FLY Emirates!

We recently went back to Africa, this time to Mauritius and Reunion. Both of these islands are off the coast of east Africa but neither are what you would think of when you think of Africa. The Portuguese, Dutch, French, and lastly the British all spent time in Mauritius, but the British had the biggest impact. They brought thousands of Indians to work in the sugar cane fields. Now, Mauritians of Indian origin make up almost 70% of the population.

We rented a car with navigation which made getting to the resort a breeze, except for all of the round abouts...just follow the car in front of me is my theory.

After getting all checked in and settled, we just enjoyed the weather which was sunny with a cool breeze - perfect way to end our first day in Mauritius.

Enjoying our first Mauritian sunset - the one thing we did every day

Our first day exploring, we decided to head to some of the attractions on the north side of the island, first stop the Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens. Melissa programed the navigation for the "easiest" route which must have made the assumption we wanted to drive through neighborhoods, a few minutes later we found ourselves at a Mauritian dead end in the middle of a sugar cane field. I could see the road in the distance, a few minutes of off roading in the sugar cane field, and we were back on the road.

  Mauritian dead end

We decided to eat before we got started in the gardens as we read it could take a few hours to visit the gardens. Luckily, there was a bistro across the street calling our name. I opted for the octopus curry which wasn't as good as Melissa's mussels in cream sauce... want to share? The cuisine in Mauritius was mostly Indian inspired with some French inspiration thrown in with local ingredients. YUM!

The gardens were pretty big, so this looked like a comfortable place to have a short rest. 

Ladies you don't have lips, so no chapstick for you!

They had some deer that are found in the forest, but were originally from the Indonesian island of Java. Melissa digging in her bag for some chapstick got their full attention.

They also have large tortoises which are originally from Seychelles. They don't look that big but once you get up close you see that they are actually HUGE! Surprisingly they can move quite fast when they are motivated, at least faster than what I had expected.

 Finally, the botanical garden's famous giant Victoria amazonica water lilies.

They also had some buildings with colonial architecture and the token French flag... the British were there last and for longer, where is their flag?

Our last stop was Grand Baie. The hotel recommended Grand Baie for some local shopping so we finished out our day there. We read there was a crafts market which could not have been harder to find but after getting directions from a few different people we finally found it! As soon as I set my eyes on it my hopes were quickly dashed as there was a large lucky Buddha statue in the front. Most of the items for sale there seemed to be imported from China.. we just came from there...umm NO merci!

Back to Shanghai!

We went to Shanghai last year but the trip was a bust as we were under the weather in more ways than one. This time we were ready to take Shanghai by storm (ha!) and the weather could not have been any better. It was also less humid than Hong Kong so that was a nice bonus!

Our first stop was the Yu Garden area with its beautiful water gardens and traditional buildings.

After walking through the gardens, we stopped at one of the soup dumpling stands. I love dumplings, but have never eaten one through a straw! We were a bit confused what to do after you suck all the juice out. Do you eat the dumpling? Mental note for next time... don't remove the straw as you will have a complete mess on your hands literally and it is nearly impossible to stick it in again.

After the dumpling we were still hungry and at that point,  a Turkish ice cream stand got my attention. Turkish ice cream is beaten with long clubs which is why I guess it is so creamy and thick, making it easily recognizable. 

We took the long way back to the hotel along the Huangpu river, Shanghai's famous waterfront. The river splits the city with the older part of the city, Puxi with the Bund and more historic architecture and the newer, Pudong which is home to the iconic skyline, including the famous Oriental Pearl TV tower.

The view across the river is only half the beauty you will enjoy from the riverside promenade. On the Puxi side there are over two dozen colonial buildings which date back to the early 1900s and give the Bund a classic European feel. I love new modern buildings, but have an real appreciation for older buildings and the Bund is an excellent example of a conservation district at its best.

One of Shanghai's signature dishes is Xiao Long Bao, which is a mini soup dumpling with pork. When we sat down they gave us written instructions on how to properly eat these tasty  soup dumplings, I responded that is not enough ginger!... and to the waiters surprise, I ate all of it! We also ordered the shrimp and pork dumplings which were also pretty good.

On our second day, we wandered the treelined streets of the French Concession. Our taxi dropped us off in Xintiandi which is a pedestrian friendly area with traditional stone gate houses on narrow alleys.

I woke up early a few mornings to take some sunrise photos of the Bund. It was the only time I could take a decent photo of the bull which is normally being mobbed by tourists. Before sunrise the promenade began to fill with old ladies doing their morning tai chi and old men flying kites.

For our last dinner we found a restaurant that specializes in the Beijing specialty, Peking duck.  Like most Peking duck restaurants, they bring the duck to your table and carve it in front of you. We watched as he meticulously made every cut and layered the meet in a nice little pile. This was the BEST Peking duck we have ever had.

Before our flight we walked around a bit and I was on a mission to have Shanghai style noodles which I had on our previous trip. We stumbled across a few parks and admired Shanghais skyline, a mix of the old with the new.

We ended up just going back to the same restaurant I had the Shanghai noodles at on our last trip to Shanghai. Oh well... it was still worth it. With some food in our stomachs, we were ready to head to the airport to face the unavoidable Chinese flight delays!