Okay! I've finally consolidated the trip pictures and details into one looong picture-intensive post! Please read the last part I updated it with Day4 onwards! Beatiful sunsets, horses, and pictures of food! hahaha :D

Anyway with the completion of the mauritius post, I'm finally ready to leave this blog for good. I'm moving to livejournal due to some reasons. But I'm gonna leave this blog open cos it contains 3years of memories - my o level year, and my JC years! And there's my cheesy nickname that stuck with me for almost ten years now! :)

Now I'm moving on to the next phase in life; university... The past few months of interviews and uni options have been almost surreal. I would say SearchAsia has really been a God-given opportunity to learn and work; all the interviewing and people-reading was really good practice for the scholarship interviews. I went through two rounds for the SMU Lee Kong Chian scholarship (LKCSP), finally securing the scholarship only to find out I can't do Law+Biz, only Biz+SocSci/Acc. Then I went through two rounds at SMU law, for entry to faculty and for scholarship for faculty of law. They didn't give me LKCSP for Law+Biz, giving me a 1-yr LexisNexis scholarship instead. Which I ended up rejecting also because NUS offered me Law+Biz, despite my horrible horrible interview with Prof Bagman! Haha they decided to offer me a place in NUS afterall! I didn't even have high hopes of getting into NUS law.. Whatsmore a double-degree offer! God has really blessed me beyond what I deserve/expected.. Its even surreal because of the $72k worth of scholarships I let go to read law at NUS. But I don't feel regret or anxiety at all, maybe because of our sure and steady, unchanging God who reassures me with His peace :)

I'm also really thankful because when I trusted in God, He has indeed made my paths straight. When I first got my results, law was just an obscure option. Now after 2 months plus of journeying, of praying and affirmation from people around me, I'm humbled by the ways God has reached out to me to tell me the plans He has for His child, "plans to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future." He didn't speak in an audible voice or send a prophet to tell me where to go, but put in a little effort to observe and I see God's hand working in my life and directing me to the right places. And I'm truly thankful for that, that our patient God hasn't given up on a mean, horrible sinner like me!

I came to a place of humble adoration and reverent awe. I've done nothing to deserve this. I've been the meanest person to so many people and disobeyed Him so many times on the A level journey. But I guess we don't earn our blessings, God gives them freely to those who ask. And a broken and contrite heart He never despises. He's blessed me with favour in the eyes of Man, the wisdom to give shrewd answers, and the intelligence and logic to answer Bagman's tough questions. He's given me peace in times of anxiety (before interviews and the like), and hope in times of distress (down times with the boy and deciding between uni options). He's blessed me with great friends who pray for me and with me, and who give me sound, godly advice, who supported me thru this whole time(abby, glad, bel, wl, jolyn, ginny, jinwei&serene, even ppl like my bro and VALERIEPHANG, ah so many more!) His Word and its precepts has been a steady lamp held out in the darkness, a guide that has never once failed me. And I mean Never. And I could go on and on praising God, because this is what I'm created for!

I think my life is really a story of God's grace and I want to tell the whole world that it's His grace that has brought me here so far! I believed with that little seed of faith and mountains were moved, emotionally, spiritually, "professionally"... To have God reign and be in control is the best rest for the weariest soul. Thank You Father :)

with uncle derek!! :) :)



arrived at la pirogue hotel at mauritian time 3am, which is SG 7am. mauritius is 4hrs behind SG time. this trip, uncle tommy arranged for us to stay at the Sun Resorts chain of hotels - first La Pirogue, then Le Touessrok. you can google touessrok - their website is rather classy.. good comms management. hahaha. well as i was saying. it was 3am, and there was no one at the hotel reception! so we became receptionists/frontdesk staff..





mum and uncle andre and uncle derek arguing over rupees.. hahaha..





we proceeded to our small little room, kinda like a hut! and started unpacking our gifts to everybody.. gifts like bakkwa, sugee cookies, mrs fields.. and there were ink cartridges too! hmm..





hahaha the mess that our room was in while we were unpacking!

anyways, it was about 5am-ish by the time we finished unpacking, so val and i decided to head to the beach to try catch the sunrise. unfortunately we were on the west side of the island, so we couldn't watch the sunrise..

the mountain that has been there since i was young! viewed from sugar beach/la pirogue..



we then made friends with a group of uncles who call themselves the "sunday friends" or sth! hahaha. they were there for some morning exercise! and i joined them for awhile hahaha. one's a superintendent for schools or sth! hahaha.




we then left them and started walking





we did some jump shots! but i shall leave valerie to upload those. anyway, it started to get brighter so we decided to head back to the hotel room. the sun's rays filtering thru the leaves made everything feel so.. rustic and romantic.




after mom woke up we had a wonderful breakfast! all sorts of bread, eggs in any style you want it (omelette, hardboiled, halfboiled, poached, scrambled well done or scrambled halfdone, sunnysideup...), cereals, fruits, yoghurts, the whole savoury works like bacon, sausages, even venison and stirfry chicken, aubergine fritters with mauritian green chili (omg this is my favourite its.. out of the world! ok maybe out of singapore only). we met the waiters/waitresses that we saw like 5-6 years back.. they've been working there for like, 20years i think! thats cos Sun Resorts has a good incentive scheme i think. and when times are bad, they don't retrench their staff. hence the staff loyalty. anyway, the birds attacked us like free and poor valerie was rather distraught. haha.

after breakfasting, we went tanning! woots! no pics tho. but anyway, for lunch, we met uncle derek, auntie celine, and terence! we went over to Sands Resort (along the same coastline), cos uncle derek partly owns that hotel i think.

had darn good seafood platter :) lobster, tiger prawns, fish, calamari steak... all fresh and succulent!

didn't have time to take the platter - it was served in a very grand manner on a real, imposing platter. haha.

we also had sauces to go with it.. olive oil vinaigrette, passionfruit butter sauce, garlic butter sauce. val like the passion one while i liked the garlic one. the passionfruit was abit too sweet for me to match my seafood..


we then had their famed coconut souffle! the souffle was fresh out of the oven and nestled within a real coconut shell, and perched atop a pineapple slice. there were coconut bits inside, and with chocolate sauce drizzled over it. amazing texture - soft and fluffy like a souffle should be, but with a little oomph to it because of the springy, dried coconut bits. i don't think i can ever get this in singapore either..


we took an after-lunch picture! we were dining alfresco, by the seaside! there were like.. "fruits" of the tree dropping at us from time to time, and uncle derek was making a joke out of the possible scenario that one of the fruits will drop into my mom's cleavage. HAHA.




the view of the same mountain from the morning picture, except we were nearer to it along the coastline this time.


we then left Sands and headed to the Taj hotel where the Lampotang family were staying. some pictures of their room..




its a honeymoon haven i tell you. super romantic place made just for couples. the bathroom was a rather open concept. and you open this door that leads you to an outdoor bathing area. i've seen a similar concept in bintan, but this one is classier and cleaner.

so after that, we headed back to our own hotel to freshen up. after some time of nua-ing we decided to go catch the sunset (since we were on the west side of the island).










after sunset we had dinner with uncle tommy's family at shooters (i think there's another franchise here in holland V too?). the food was normal, quite nice, i think i ate mexican. my mom ate a salad LOL. i bet uncle tommy was like (wth) in his head. always silent as usual. the kids were bouncing off the roof. SO HYPERACTIVE! anyway i was soooo tired so i didn't talk much. the red wine didn't help either.. haha.

so there ends the first day of my trip to mauritius..

Day 2

we had another wonderful breakfast! couldn't miss my aubergine fritters with the mauritian green chilli... (by the way, the head chef of la pirogue came over to SG for Food Hotel Asia and brought two 500ml bottles of the chilli over for my mom! OMG!!!!!!!! *heart shapes start popping out above denise's head*) haha after the hearty breakfast, mummy stayed in the room and bathed and all whilst val and i headed to the beach for our 2nd tanning session!

it was soooo freaking HOT.. we were seriously toasted and half-dead! but the brown glow was worth it :)

i hereby take this opportunity to apologise to valerie because i'm not a very fun zi-pai partner. HAHA.

after the toasting we had a dip in the pool, went back to the room, and took pics with my very clean mum! haha look at her "hurhur omg" face!




had lunch at Paul et Virginie restaurant with uncle tommy's family. uncle tommy displays unstinting favouritism for his daughter! seriously. you should see how he goes all affectionate and soft with his daughter chloe but all stern and fierce with bradley and jasper.

after lunch, mom headed off to John's house party whilst val and i decided to stay in La Pirogue for some more nua-ing and talking on the hammock. :)




at about 5-ish we went back, natalie was around, cos she came back with mom from John's house party. there was complimentary food from the head chef! think it was like a "hello!" to mom or sth. it was simple but fantastic.. think cos i was hungry.

DAY 3

it was our last day at La Pirogue! i don't remember what we did.. but we nua-ed a lot. hahaha.

we left at 3+ and headed for Le Touessrok, which was on the eastern side of Mauritius! so basically we travelled from the WEST to the EAST... i think it was a 1.5hrs ride. zzz.



Le Touessrok, from the exterior. i should be on their social PR network.







they're a member of the leading hotels of the world!



we walked in and the interior was like, woah. palace. didn't take a proper picture though. we sat down and they gave us towels immediately + a lemongrass welcome drink! haha.





we stayed in the junior suite!! :D







with glass sliding doors that led straight out to the beach...





after admiring our junior suite and the beach thats right at our doorstep, we proceeded to have dinner!





thats uncle patrick sin! the purchasing guy. haha.



middle eastern food! hummus, etc...



italian! cannoli, tomatoes, chicken..



the strawberry creme brulee rocks! also, the mango panna cotta! i had a lot of other fantastic desserts.. souffle, choc mousse, cakes, icecream (passion sorbet), etc.. i can just have the desserts for dinner!!

the pictures really don't do the food justice.. couldn't take proper photos because it was a fine dining place, and therefore they had extremely dim lighting to complement the fine dining experience. lol. flash was embarrassing, cos it looked as though i've never seen good food in my life, so i restricted photo-taking to a few times only haha. it was an international buffet spread, and the head chef (a turk) was super cute and friendly, he gave both valerie and i lollipops! haha. there was cream of broccoli soup which made me think of JOLYN! haha i loveee tht soup.

went back to the hotel room after that super filling dinner, and took photos of my mom's products!



mother of pearl boxes!



mother of pearl soap dishes!



vases!


wine opener!

Day 4
We spent the day doing quad biking in a mountainous region about 30mins drive away from Touessrok! Jean Michel korkor was kind enough to take one day leave to bring us around :) so nice right! its super hard for him to take leave lah! haha.

on the road to the reserve..

tried to take a picture but forgot to zoom out! haha..

successful attempt by val!

the form they made us sign..

magnificent view of the entrance into the mountains, from the shelter we were at!

we had some time before the quad biking started, so we visited the horses. wanted to do horse-riding but the horses were not ready. =( they're so beautiful! their jaws are powerful, they have rippling muscles, and glossy coats.. majestic yet possessing an air of elegance.. definitely my favourite animal! (not because of you valeriephang haha!)






then it was time for quad-biking! :)














my battery died halfway through the trip, oops. =p well after that we went back for lunch! mauritian cuisine buffet style.. didn't take photos, too tired i think. but the dessert was truly made for valerie! haha.

after lunch we headed to port louis/caudan waterfront for shopping! bought quite some stuff.. matching rusty slippers with valerie! :) then headed over to uncle derek's house at curepipe for a shower! curepipe is actually a plateau in the island of mauritius, formed by outpourings of lava from a fissure (geog students listen up! haha). as it is elevated, temperatures here are slightly lower than the rest of the island.. it was a cool breezy night! owing to the temperatures, curepipe is also one of the more favoured/more expensive residential areas in mauritius..

the view of the houses on the curepipe plateau from their balcony!

we had a chinese dinner with jeanmichel, his brother's family, and uncle derek's family. i realised we didn't take pictures with the two cute girls, crystal and alison!! arghh. they were really sweet and valerie and i were gossiping about the two sisters liking terence. HEHEHE.

Day 5
we spent the whole day slacking in the room, and on the beach outside our doorstep, reading cecilia ahern! beautiful pristine sand and saccharine blue waters..





behold the blue service flags! just stick them in the sand and the beach attendants will come over to assist you.



at about 3+pm, the beach attendants came by to distribute free ice-cream to us. haha. oh i miss the good life there..



After that we headed to Ile Aux Cerfs to check the place out. We needed to take a boat there...
our "captain"! haha.
it was just two of us on the boat there!


i like this picture becos i can see valerie's arm sticking out in the reflection on her sunglasses!! haha
i like the sun's rays!
our crabby friend at the jetty..



we had room service and a short late dinner at the buffet place again! where we indulged in desserts.. yum yum. until now (1 month plus later), i still cant forget the taste of that yummy souffle in the special cup printed with an X.. sigh. i. want. souffle. NOW!

after dinner valerie kindly prepared a bubble bath..
we changed into our oversized bathrobes..
and soaked for abit in the tiny tub! haha. due to our severely burnt skin, we cldn't take the hot water for awhile. haha.

Day 6
We decided to head to Ilot Mangenie to check out the private beaches there where you can sunbathe topless.. haha. whoever coined the term "sunbathe" anyway? sheesh. haha.



this is the guy who escorted us to a private corner of the beach! his name was Key Fargo. HAHA. we also met Robinson Crusoe i think, or Peter Pan? hahaha. apparently they wanted to make Ilot Mangenie like really a "getaway island". fantasy world. well.. it was really serene and special, a beach singaporeans can only fantasize about. i guess they achieved their objective. haha.


after checking out at about 3ish, we headed back to the west side of the island where we originally were (la pirogue was in the west!). This time we stayed at the Hilton!


yummy green-coloured mint+coconut+pineapple drink. SUPER good.. we drank it twice. haha.
our bed!
our sink was filled with water and flower petals upon arrival. haha.
i think this pic is nice! val it shd b ur display pic!
our toiletries were from crabtree and evelyn. wow power. haha. touessrok's was molton brown which had overly manly/exotic smells. C&E is the bomb. haha.
my mum locked herself out lol!

we proceeded to watch the beautiful sunset! :)










after that, we showered, changed, and met uncle derek's family & uncle patrice, one of the bigger shareholders of hilton in mauritius. we had some drinks at the bar before going downstairs to a french restaurant for dinner.
valerie's tequila sunrise
my mojito
the official hilton welcome drink, haha

appetiser: if i remember correctly, pan-seared tuna on a bed of palmheart. the palmheart was expensive! i felt guilty cos i didn't know how to appreciate it. sigh. the tuna was much fresher compared to the tuna we have here in Singapore; the fishiness of it was the right fishy tuna smell, not the left-out-too-long-gone-stale smell, nor the mercurial smell. the seasoning around the tuna was very strong, abit overpowering even (very salty, sour, abit of pepper), but somehow it didn't cover the taste of the tuna! which i found intriguing. somehow the chef achieved the balance!

entree: fish in a light saffron cream sauce. i was stunned by the portion of the entree. i was like, "omg how am i gonna eat my main course after this?!" but i guess the sauce was light on purpose so you don't feel too full after it. the fish was really FRESH! and i mopped up the sauce cos it was just awesome. really awesome.

main course: duck confit. didn't really suit my asian palate, the duck was really salty and had very strong seasoning/herbs! but thats how french is supposed to be i think. the meat was really tender though. coupled with good cutlery, eating it was a breeze!


then it was dessert! lava cake with ginger ice-cream. the cake beat menotti's soffiato. so you can try guessing how good it is! haha. but again, the flavour of the ginger ice-cream was too strong for my palate, would have preferred something lighter. though it did go well with the chocolate cake!

after dessert, the adults started talking about business, hotel, china, and all. i enjoyed listening to them but had some nasty thoughts which i shall not reveal. haha. it was a good learning experience i guess, listening to the wealthy discussing about amassing more wealth. and then talk about how wealth is not everything, but it's important. haha. witnessed business etiquette in reality, how the host is the one who will start the conversation rolling. haha.

anyways, after that satisfying dinner, we went back to the hotel room to sleep! oh i think we did a mask that night lol =)

Day 7
after breakfast, uncle derek's drived picked us up and we headed to port louis. the driver farted during the ride zomg SO SMELLY AND FUNNY hahaha! we LAUGHED and guffawed non-stop for like, 3minutes! because the 3 of us ladies at the back didn't dare to say anything when we smelled it, cos we thought uncle derek farted, and we didn't wanna embarrass our host. the next thing we knew, uncle derek was like "what's that smell?!" and then we knew it must have been the driver. HHAHA. so much for uncomfortable silence!! when the tension broke we just couldn't stop laughing. hahaha. anyway we met natalie and went shopping again at caudan waterfront!

the carpark where natalie parked.. cool eh! stone building!
ordering at my fave chinese take-out place in mauritius!! been eating from here whenever i went there.. since 10? hahaha..
fish curry!
stir-fried beef!
octopus!
upside-down rice - the star of the afternoon!! unique to mauritian chinese food i think. haven't found any in singapore. haha.
the owner's baby with uncle derek! the owners are from indonesia :)
valerie with natalie!
me & natalie!

jean michel korkor then brought us to grand baie to walk around and hang out. those quaint boutique shops.. really haven't changed! we went to a supermarket where we bought lotsa biscuits and chocolates.. and there was the PS i love you series of chocolates! how cool is that! haha..

we had dinner at this seafood place along grand baie.. no pictures cos was too lazy! and we finally reunited with sean, uncle andre's son! haha he showed us funny videos on his ipod. AKHMED THE TERRORIST lol lol. ARGH we forgot to take a picture with him! :(

then we ended our last night in mauritius with clubbing at les enfants terribles! (terrible children!) damn cool name can? haha but not really wild, singapore's clubs are wilder.

uncle andre was seriously inebriated. i think he had like 8 glasses of whiskey (really!) at our dinner place and then drank half a bottle of johnny walker at the club. plus other odd drinks i think. scary!
we look almost alike here! haha
valeriephang!
a rare picture of aunty celine caught unglam!
uncle derek grooving to the music lol.
my mom and jeanmichel.

Day 8
we woke up reaaaallly late on our last day, too tired! thankfully mom asked waiters to deliver breakfast to our room. we ate at like almost 12! bummed around, checked out and headed over to uncle derek's place to chill and have takeout dinner before our flight. played nintendo wii, bowling and this horrible shooting game LOL!! remember val? ahhaha. there was this part where we kept getting killed! irritating. haha. and then jeanmichel arrived with pizza and pasta, we ate dinner, and left for the airport! end of our trip :(

i would say it was really a week of indulgent pleasure.. its quite the ideal holiday you know! hahaha. thank God for such a wonderful time! :) hope everyone had fun going thru it.. haha. cheers! :)