Tag: mauritius

Categories
Diary From the Attic

Letter to Cynthia: A Very Boring Sunday

Here I am, on a Saturday night, feeling extremely bored and restless and I don’t know what to do.  The house is so different without you around.  Even when you were reading Reader’s Digest, I feel peace and don’t mind falling asleep on the couch or bed.  Now, I run out of things to do.  Really bored.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Mauritius.  For me, I am certain that this must be one of the best weeks this year (so far).  A holiday is always good as we have our undivided attention to our partner.  Hope that will keep the fire going.

After dropping you off the airport, I returned to the office.  My housemate Chun Keat was still at work.  I sent the driver off and waited for an hour for him.  Meanwhile, my friends were at the Banana Café waiting for my arrival.  It was supposed to be some sort of farewell drink for me.  During the drink, Meng Kiong pulled me aside and shared with me the reason my rolling off.  He explained to me that the decision was made purely based on cost (and not my performance etc.)  Somehow, last Friday, Denis really pissed Meng Kiong off and he was thinking of rolling Denis off (this time is due to performance).  He really wishes me to stay but just that it is too expensive to keep me in the project.  To me, if the project really wants me to stay and if Jon Allaway wants me to stay, it shows something positive in my career.  In fact, I am a bit worried returning to Singapore because the partners are trying to hold the fort for a few months (as Chun Keat was talking in the car) and if no project comes along, people will get fired.  Those who sit at the bench will be the first one.  Hence, suddenly there is an element of uncertainty here on my roll off date.

Chun Keat is still ICQ’ing his half half girlfriend.  Although Rabin has called me out for dinner but tonight, I am just not quite up to a big group gathering.  Probably have some decent food somewhere once he is done.

On second thought, this island is so boring and why would I want to stay any longer.

Categories
From the Attic Memorable Events

Letter to Cynthia: Quite an Interesting Weekend

How was your weekend?  Mine was kind of interesting.  You shall see.   Well, my weekend started on Friday night.  For the past one week, I have had a car shared with those who stayed in the new hotel.  Believe me, I don’t quite like driving in Mauritius.  The traffic was so chaotic.  Cars, motorcycles, cyclist, and pedestrians can just come out from anywhere.  Besides, the roads are very bumpy.  In short, driving here can be quite tiring.

Anyway, back to Friday.  I have to pass the car key back to the owner and I can only collect my weekend car (2 managers per car during weekend) at the hotel.  Wee Leoung has returned to Malaysia for good.  Hence, only left myself, Chun Keat (the new KL analyst, 27 years old guy) and Denis from Philippine (34 years old guy).  We kind of click really well.  Rabin, an Indian from Malaysia (28 years old guy) wanted to join us to have dinner at Port Louis (the capital halfway between the client place, Curepipe, and where the rest are staying, Grande Baie).  Absolutely no problem.  To paint you a better picture, Rabin is a social animal.  He has a certain charm and definitely he had plenty of girlfriends before.  Besides, he is real rich (driving 2 cars back in KL and his dad takes helicopter to work).  Denis and Rabin click really well.

Anyway, we had a dinner somewhere and went over another place to have beer.  Well, the purpose is that having drinks at the bar is expensive (relatively, but still cheaper than in Singapore) and we have discovered a real cheap place to have beer.  Some more, you can sit by the port and have some decent quiet and dark place to drink and chat.  The idea was that each of us would buy one round of beer.  Ideally, we would have four rounds of beer before heading to Grande Baie.  As expected, Chun Keat was the one who stopped at the 3 rd round.  Actually my tolerant level has gone up somewhat.  Usually after 2 cans of beer, I am kind of pass out.  The topics we have covered were not surprisingly – sex.  In fact, it was Rabin and Denis who have contributed the most.  They were the real bad guy trying to talk Chun Keat into getting laid on Friday night.  I kind of played along but knowing that Chun Keat has a girlfriend back home (he told us that she was only a half-half girlfriend), I told him not to listen to them when they had their bathroom break.  Why half-half, well, I think he has committed 100% when the girl only commits 50%.

We were supposed to check out a new place called “Star Dance” at 10pm meeting up those guys and ladies in Grande Baie.  At 10pm, we were still at Port Louis.  All of us (except Rabin who lives up North) had a shower and off we went.  Rabin drove because I trust him.  3 cans of beer means nothing to him.  By the time we reached Grande Baie, it was about 11pm.  The plan was we shall have another round of drink (he got whisky) at his place and he needed to take a shower too.

Oh, while we were in Port Louis, Catherine (our project EA as well as Meng Kiong, my supervisor’s wife) called me telling me that Tina (Michel Borst’s wife) preferred to go to Banana cafe.  That was fine with me.  By the time we arrived at Grande Baie (2 hrs late), I couldn’t find anyone in Banana cafe.  Coincidentally, while I was on my way back to the car (I got down while others remained in the car), Meng Kiong drove past me.  Catherine told me that she called it a night.  However, the rest of the gang was coming over to Banana cafe as the crowd there was too ‘local’.  Fine with us.  Soon, Tina, Michel Borst, and Sharon (the Malaysia analyst) has arrived and Tina bought us the first round of Tequila.

After midnight, we entered into the disco.  The dance floor was pretty empty and we started the dance together.  Michel then bought me another beer.  Though I could drink a few more glasses.  I stopped there.  Only use that bottle of beer that Michel bought in quenching my thirst throughout the night.

The music was kind of techno in the beginning.  I am fine with Techno.  In fact, I begin to like techno.  Soon, Barbara (the Filipino), Geoffrey (the American) and Helen (the Australian) all arrived.  The party got a lot hotter.  The music also changed into quite pop (like having “It’s My Life”).  All the gang were so amazed that I danced all the way till 3am non-stop.  Even when they all rested and I danced all alone.  They thought that was weird.  To me, it is just the music and my move and nothing else.  Doesn’t matter whether they are there or not.

Plan A was to let Chun Keat to drive the three of us home.  I thought he had more drink than he could handle so I didn’t think it would be a good idea.  Plan B was to let Denis drive but by the time he got to the back seat, he fell asleep.  Rabin doesn’t live with us in the hotel and hence, I have to drive.  Surprisingly, I could drive OK.  I mean really OK.  The conclusion is that the alcohol kind of pass my system after 3 hrs of exercise and I am hyper active.

Took everyone back home safe and woke up at 11.30am the next day.

As you can see, Saturday was half gone the moment I woke up.  The plan was that three of us tour around Mauritius during the day time but Denis was having a hangover (that makes me think twice about his tolerance level).  So Chun Keat and I ended up shopping around Port Louis while Denis has his good rest.  Come to think of it, Saturday is the only time I can really shop around in Port Louis as the shops close after 6pm during week day and only open on Saturday.  What a country!  I tried to buy something special for you but the things here are not that special.  Don’t think you are really into sea shells.  And besides, the price is really steep.  In the end, I bought a frig magnet instead.  Hope you like it.

At 4pm, as planned, 3 of us left the hotel and headed towards Grande Baie.  The plan was to go to the supermarket and to buy some beers and wines for the house warming party.  Others cooked.  The party was at 5pm but I suggested we going to a beach nearby to watch the sunset.  Hence, 3 of us went to a beach, watched the sunset with a can of beer each.  That’s life.

The house that Kelvin (Singapore manager) and John (Singapore consultant) rented is really out of the way.  But it is real big.  I mean gigantic in my standard.  (Talk to myself: don’t get jealous, don’t get jealous).

In the party, everyone turned up.  Ron (Singapore consultant) brought along his wife and son and guess what, the host of the party put on America Pie (VCD).  The video is about sex and so on and we have a kid under the same roof!  Gosh!

After the party was ended, we returned to the hotel with one additional passenger, Sharon.  She has decided to move to our hotel.  Oh no!

Sunday is the Lord’s day of course.  9.30am, me and Denis left the hotel (oh, by the way, we had sparkling wine to go along with our breakfast) and reached the church just before 10am.  Barbara (just moved to Grande Baie) came with Jon Antony (Singapore senior manager) late.  In fact, I brought along my guitar thinking that we may practice some hymns at the end of the Mass.  Christine (Australian woman) forgot to bring along the book so we were ‘glad’ and left the church at about 11pm.

Barbara, Denis and myself wanted to have our lunch then but the restaurant was not opened yet.  You see, three of us always have lunch together after Mass.  It is a Catholic kind of thing.  So we visited some shops that opened in the morning to kill some time.

When we finished our lunch, Denis wanted to go home and work.  So I traveled all the way back to the hotel to drop him off (that was when you called me) and Chun Keat changed his mind and decided to follow me for an adventure.

We then drove to the North East side of Mauritius.  The weekend kind of fine until here.  You shall see why.  Get prepared.  Bear in mind that I am safe and sound now in the hotel room.

After going through all the not so interesting villages, we have reached the east coast and decided to go for coastal drive.  At the first beach we have reached, we got off the car.  In fact, I didn’t feel safe at that beach but Chun Keat really needed to pee.  There wasn’t any toilet so he decided to walk to somewhere secluded.

We got off the car and I managed to take some photos near the beach.  I swear I saw two guys followed him into the small road and I wasn’t brave enough to enter the wood with him.  And at the same kind, there was an Indian cutting into my path while I was making my way to the car.  He spoke with me in English but I acted mute.  I didn’t reply and pointed here and there.  He was confused and I took the chance to step to the car and opened the door.  He did not try to get in but he was touching my car here and there.  While I was inside the car, I saw Chun Keat came out of the wood stared at my direction and disappeared to the bushes again.  I gathered he had not peed yet.

In the end, the guy told me that he wanted money.  So I pulled out some coins, opened my car window just enough to pass the coins over.  I tried to wait for a while but there was a group of local cyclists coming to my direction.  The last thing I wanted to have a group of 10 people stop my car in this neighborhood.   So I made a decision to drive off so as not to get myself stuck.  They tried to follow but gave up after a few corners.  I timed myself and made a u-turn.  Just in time to see Chun Keat emerged from the bushes.  I horned and he came running at the car.  I picked him up, made a u-turn (dead end in front) and drove off at record speed.

And that was our little adventure.  In the end, we got home safe.  Once again, thanks God.

Well, we did manage to see some beaches but I think I can classify the beaches in Mauritius in two types.  The one with big waves and the one without.

Okay, at least I now kind of know where are the not so safe area.

Categories
Diary From the Attic

Letter to Cynthia: Things That I Miss

Over this few weeks in Mauritius, I feel as though I have learnt a fair number of good lessons.  On top of that is Things-I-Shall-Not-Be-Taken-For-Granted.  For instance, living in a place where you have good public transport is not an always.  Being able to do some shopping after work is not an always.  Mass with choir is not an always.  Petrol stations that open after nine in the evening is not an always.  Water supply at client site is not an always (imagine everybody never wash their hands after going to the toilets).  A movie theater showing multiple films in English is not an always.

Is it all that bad in Mauritius?  As a tourist, you may actually enjoy Mauritius … with a high cost.  Personally, I find the sugar cane fields pretty interesting (now that I move to the new hotel, I don’t get to see the sugar cane field anymore).  Although I always complain that the weather in Curepipe, where I work, is terrible (always rains as Curepipe is on the highland), I do get to see a rainbow from time to time.  Although I don’t get to see the beach anymore, I do enjoy seeing the lines of tankers along the port.  Mauritius does have enough beaches to keep you interested.  What I really want to find out is that whether people do get to swim in these beautiful beaches.

The hotel is indeed a very nice place to stay.  Kind of remind me of my days in Paris.  Maybe I am a man who likes to live in luxury, dress in luxury, and dine in luxury.  Will I want to stay in a beach house?  I don’t know.  Definitely I will have a kitchen where I can cook, a refrigerator where I can keep my stuffs, a washing machine to handle my laundry, and plenty of space for me to move around.  Do you think you can help me to decide?

Gosh … can’t wait to be back.

Categories
Diary From the Attic

Letter to Cynthia: First week in Mauritius

Driving in Mauritius could be quite tiring.  Chaos everywhere – cars park by the side of the road forcing you to go over to the opposite lane, cyclists or motorcyclists doing just too slow on the road, group of human beings walking along the road, dogs suddenly dashing across the road, small kitten (must be a baby one) crawling across the road when I first left the hotel and probably the same kitten crawled back to where it came from when I returned, chicken crossing the road when I left the hotel and probably another chicken crossing the road when I was back, drunk motorcyclist fell off his bike only to get himself overran by another motorcyclist with a passenger and our van driver nearly ran over these three poor fellows lying on the ground in the dark, people doing weird things on the road with absolutely zero courtesy and anticipation is definitely not any of these Mauritian drivers’ department.  You can tell by the amount of shattered glass inside the roundabout.

Gods know why we have chosen to station in the north when the client site is somewhere near the south.  Every day we spend 70 minutes going to work and another 50 minutes back.  And because taxi is so unaffordable – imagine I paid about S$28 for a 20 minutes drive – we have to wait for one another to get into the vans or cars.  You don’t even have the flexibility to go home early or on time.  At times, I am glad that I do not have a car during weekdays; I have more excuse to get into the 6.30pm van.  As you can see, I am forced to work 9 hours a day, whether I like it or not.  Not to forget to mention that the journey is so bumpy and it virtually zaps your energy away.

The hotel is very isolated from any nearby civilization.  The only thing you can do is to stare at the beach full of corals that guarantee to bleed your feet should you wish to walk along the beach barefooted.  The best thing about staying here is that during weekend, if you manage to be in around 5.30pm, you will be able to observe the most magnificent sunset as the resort is by the coastline facing west.  Besides the obvious benefit of staying in a hotel, which is having someone cleanup your place once a day plus changing your towels at night, I can think of none.  There is a gym I have not get to use it yet and you could have a good run around the resort that I am going to do it one of these days.

I take it as you will be interested in whom my colleagues are, let me introduce them to you one by one.  I was actually on the same flight with 2 girls from KL transiting in Singapore.  I did not know until I touched down.  Chin Yee is a newly promoted manager and we were in the same eProcess training back in 2 years ago.  She was so surprised that I got married and I was so surprised that she got married too.  She married an Accenturian while I married an ex-Acian.

David Black from the US office joined the project the same time as me.  He is a Catholic coming from the Eastern Church.  David’s age could as well be qualified as my dad.  Barbara, from the Manila office, also is a Catholic.  She is someone in her late thirties whom looks like someone in her early thirties.  Worked in the firm for 14 years so you could roughly work out her age.  I have to admit that Barbara has a very friendly attitude.  Anyway, three of us attained the English mass at 10am and it is interesting to exchange beliefs and opinions with David talking about Eastern and Western churches.  David is doing IT security while Barbara is in the PMO doing marketing.

Helen is originally from Australia and is now based in Thailand.  Just joined the firm for a year or so and have been working with the government doing some very interesting stuffs that required her to travel to places that I have never ever heard of (somewhere in central Asia).  She got her university degree in the year of 1972 – the same year I was born.  In this project, she is responsible in the organization piece of work working with John Antony whom is at the organization PMO level.

John is a Singaporean Indian married to a Chinese with two kids.  Though I have heard a few unpleasant things about John, at a personal level, he is a respectable individual (whatever it means).  He was the one who took me out for a trip last Sunday with her family and the family of our van driver.  John is a Catholic too and he was the one who took me to this Catholic Church in Grande Baie.

Of course we have Meng Kiong whom I have worked with in the OCBC day.  He is a manager from KL with a very serious look and feel during work.  His wife, Catherine, follows him and works as a project EA.  Catherine loves to eat and that explains her size.  Someone whom I can talk to and who knows, maybe having a good relationship with the project EA may get myself better treated along the way.

And Michel Borst whom I am sure you know and need no further introduction except that he is the program director and his wife Tina has moved to Mauritius because of his job.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Cin Dee who always sticks around with Kelvin, a Singapore manager, and Jon Song, a Singapore consultant because they have managed to monopolize a car just for their own use.  Rumors say that she is going out with Jon.  The guy does not seem to deny while Cin Dee herself of course deny.  Due to shyness I guess.  This trio was branded as the “Radisson Gang” partly because they seldom come out of their circle and mangle with the rest.

Another gang is perhaps what I call the “Van Gang”.  We have Gary, a new promote (Consultant) from Singapore who has a rather unique taste in music, Rabin, an Indian Consultant from KL who has a rather arrogant attitude.  Reminds me of our good friend Sreepathy.  Actually Rabin is quite a nice guy.  I would say that girl may find him attractive and he does have a very good body as he exercises often.  Rabin is working under David Black doing IT security.  Sharon kind of fit into this gang as she really has nowhere else to go.

Another group of people stay in Sunset Boulevard.  A very nice place in Grande Baie with shops all around.  Ron Lim, a Singapore consultant who has brought his family into Mauritius.  That guy may as well be my age but he is married with a 3 years old boy.  Amazing.   Bee Leng, a Singapore strategy consultant, has a very approachable attitude and a fun person to be with.  Jamie, a Singapore analyst (I presume), lived together with Bee Leng and she really have this very cold look.  Sometimes really don’t know what she is thinking of.  Anyway, the story I owed you is that in a couple of days’ time, it is Jamie’s birthday.  Therefore, people wish to celebrate her birthday today at her place.  The van gang decided to visit her at about 9pm.  At first I wanted to go but the diner with David and Helen lasted too long and hence I have decided against me.  Sharon just called me to tell me that the birthday party ended a lot earlier than they thought and no one was able to SMS me in advance as they did not bring along their mobile phone.  Trivial.

And we have Jack whom I have met in Bangkok office.  He could be a new consultant and is working in the application architecture team.  Jack will be rolling of end July and he is so happy about it.  Good for him.  People always tease Jack and Bee Leng as they are always together.  Well, I do see an age gap between them (with the girl who is the older one) but I guess it does not quite matter in this new world.  Yung Jin is from the Singapore office, a consultant who I have worked with back in OCBC.  The guy who has invited us to his wedding party that if we were to attain, we would have had the chance to see the Singapore PM.  He just got married, a case like me, like Chin Yee.  Yung Jin and Jack stayed together just next to Jamie and Bee Leng.  It occurs to me that they spent a lot of time cooking together at night.

Mei Lin is someone I have worked with in the OCBC days doing the organization piece.  In this project, she, as the manager, heads the CRM team having Jamie, Ron, Jon and Sharon working under her.  Another Malaysian from the KL office.  By the way, Kelvin is the one who heads the CT (credit transformation) team having Gary, Cin Dee and Yung Jin as his team members.

Well, that are all the people I know of.  Though we have some others short term personnel but let’s not confuse ourselves now.  I am sure there will be more stories coming from the characters that I have described.  Hopefully, you will be able to relate to later on.

The Baby Face album is a lot better than the TLC album.  However, both are good albums.

Baby, I miss you a lot and really want to go home.  As I have difficulties in maintaining my eyes opened, I better finish up fast before I collapse with my two wonder pillows.  Let us pray that I will be with you very soon.  Can’t put up with this place no more and seriously speaking, if you are to come and visit, I am sure you will feel bored when I go to work.