Film: Horrible Bosses

After the two amazing films I watched recently, it may seem a little odd to tone down the class in the same week. Horrible Bosses is exactly that; cheap gags and a throwaway plot bringing us a couple of hours of good quality timepass.

But it was funny and enjoyable so it did its job well enough I suppose. To be honest I can't quite remember much of the film now, but if you're looking for something light then you can't do worse than this.

New Music

Bol OST - Bol

Of course we have Hona Tha Pyar and Kaho Aaj Bol Do from Atif Aslam & Hadiqa Kiani, and why these two don't just keep making music together I don't know. Dil Janiya by Hadiqa Kiani is good fun apart from the rap. And the filler on the OST gave me a chance to fill in my Atif gap with Chhod Gaye.

Bindrakhia Boliyan - DJ Harvey ft Nirmal Sidhu

This track is mainly interesting because of the medley-vibe it has. As a tribute it's not too bad.

Fitteh Moo - PBN

More girl on guy action as PBN does the battle of the sexes thing. I'm struggling to understand all of it, but the bits I pick up are hilarious.

Hale Dil - Murder 2

Of course.

Khaabon Ke Parinday - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Airy and... well, pretty I guess. A perfect fit for the film it was taken from.

Senorita - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Every time I hear this song I think of the film. And every time I think of the film I remember how amazing it was. I love how it's the vocals of the actors in the song itself.

I'm Into You - Jennifer Lopez feat. Lil Wayne

Far superior to her last track in my opinion, although even then I don't have much hope for her album.

Rolling In The Deep - Adele

It's the lazy Sunday mornings listening to Capital Breakfast that reminds me of all the decent English music I tend to miss out on. Like this.

Film: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

There's no such thing as a perfect film. But sometimes you watch a movie that is so right, so flawless that you can't imagine how it could be any better. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is such a film.

It really was brilliant on a multitude of levels. The plot was engaging, the script hilarious (I lauged out loud many, many times) and flowing, the acting and characters believable and the music perfectly apt and original. And although it delivered on all these fronts it still manages to be pure Bollywood. So yes, this isn't one of those "different" films; we still have the item numbers and dancing and melodrama and fun. The balance is struck so precisely it's amazing.

For certain one of the best Bollywood films for a decade - it's for certain in my top five ever. I might even consider it for film of the year, and I still smile each time I think of it. It's seriously that good; so much so that a mere recommendation seems an injustice.

Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

And (once again) it all ends here. After ten years and eight flicks, the film adaptation of Harry Potter comes to an end.

And what an end it is. Part two of the seventh chapter was so good that I've even forgotten all the duff episodes of the past - if it was all for this then it can all be forgiven. Yes, the acting is just as shoddy as it's always been (and to be honest we wouldn't have it any other way) but everything else seems to have been so lovingly crafted that I couldn't help but enjoy the two hours or so it ran for.

Considering my disappointment with the final book, I'm actually quite surprised at exactly how much I dug this film. The story was certainly the same, with the two parts managing to cover most of what happens, and yes I suppose was slightly underwhelmed by the finale too. But the level of poignancy and emotion evoked hit levels of fan-service, and it was this value that the film added which made it so special.

But I'm gushing now, so I'll stop. It's not often that a finale justifies the rest of its series but TDH:P2 does so and then some. Hugely recommended for fans.

Book: The Iliad, Homer

The Iliad has become the first book that I've had to bail on part way through. I didn't even get that far, which I guess makes sense seeing as if I had I probably would have stuck to it. But whatever the detail, I am a little sad that it's come to this.

It's my own fault really. I wasn't really well informed on what The Iliad and its background was - caught up in the fervour of the Hollywood rendition as well as my own personal interest in Greek mythology made me throw caution to the wind and just buy (that's right, buy) a copy. Not only that, but I bought The Odyssey too (which seems destined to remain in pristine condition), both of which were translated by George Chapman.

There are many reasons I've struggled so badly with this book. The first is that it's a poem. As someone who is more literal than poetic, I really don't like poetry. I think it's forced, obtuse and one of the most inefficient ways to communicate anything.

The other reason is that since it was originally written in Greek, I had to pick a translation and as such there are many versions of the same. I may have, perhaps, picked the least friendly of these and the poetry format aside I simply couldn't understand the language used by Chapman. It was almost like a foreign language to me. After two books (or chapters) I had no idea of what was going on - I could have been reading a book in French and I'd probably understand more. What's really frustrating is how during my brief hunt for review before buying the two books many said how easy it was to read. But hey, perhaps I'm just not smart enough.

So yes, as I get older and realise how little time I have to spend on this stuff, I've had little option but to ditch The Iliad as well as The (unread) Odyssey. But that's not to say my interest in Homer has waned; no, if anything I now know to go for perhaps a modern prose translation of the two classics. Watch this space I guess, but in the meantime unless you're some sort of Literature degree student, I would steer well clear of Chapman's The Iliad.

Book: A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking

I first read this book way back in 2002 - I was travelling alone back from Pakistan and picked it up at Karachi airport. I don't usually buy books, but since I was fresh out of university I was still a maths and physics head; Hawking was as much a role model and hero for me as any Hollywood (or Bollywood) actor was for my peers. A decade later and I'm slightly less geeky, so after a friend asked to borrow my copy I took it as an opportunity to re-read it and see if I took to the book as much as I did before.

As it says on the tin, A Brief History of Time is a small book. That's not to say it doesn't cover its subject matter in appropriate depth - any more detail would require much more of a technical background from the readership it was aimed at - and it's a credit to Hawking that he manages to convey some pretty difficult ideas to his audience. Or does he? Perhaps it's because I'm older and more cynical, or perhaps I've just lost my ability to think, but some of it didn't make complete sense.

Of course the book hasn't changed; only I have, and I don't remember having these difficulties during my first read - perhaps I just had more time and inclination to think about them? Still, you don't need to comprehend the book too much to enjoy it - I still enjoyed reading about the scope of the universe and time and the like even after taking what Hawking says for granted (something easily done if you're not a physicist).

The book is quite contemporary for one written such a long time ago - it was first published in 1988 which makes it an astonishing 23 years old (and quite amusingly older than the friend I'm planning on giving it to). But as well as covering the well established concepts like Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, it does also eventually touch on more exotic stuff like String Theory. Whether this was added to my "later" edition I'm not sure, and it's possible that later editions still have more up to date discussion.

But still, for the layman (which, alas, after reading this book I have finally accepted that I am), A Brief History of Time is a great introduction to a field of science that can sometimes be as scary as it is fascinating, so provided you already hold an interest in the topic I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book.

Video of the Day

Ah Dawson. How you changed the lives of everyone who watched you:

Asshole For Hire from James Van Der Beek

And yes, I do blame my five years of total Dawson viewing for ruining any chance of having a relationship... Although perhaps not in the way he suggests above. It turns out using Dawson as a role model doesn't do anything for your chances of grabbing a Potter either.

Nicked from Zany's blog.

Shak's Choice: Melody Hossaini

Now that it's all over and we know who's won, we're left with the real competition: yes, that's right, who made it as Shak's Choice for this season. And although I didn't realise it at the start of the show this year has actually been quite the prettiest for a while, and as such I've actually had to struggle a bit - I've even had to confer with my peers tonight over text message it's been that difficult.

So for the first time ever I'll have to include some notable mentions. In no particular order we have Felicity, Susan (who was my pick to win), Helen and Zoe. You all should be proud of getting this far, but unfortunately: you're fired.

But ultimately this years pick was the obvious choice; I even said so myself at the start of the season. That's right, this year's Shak's Apprentice Choice is the delightful Melody Hossaini:


But let's get one thing straight here. Unlike most other Apprentice fans I didn't actually immediately think Melody the prettiest in the house. In fact I would say that, lookswise, she kind of grew on me over time. But what I did like about her straight away was the way she presented herself - dainty and vulnerable and yet with some real power and intelligence, and while she was annoying everyone else with her style of talking I was loving it. And yes, the whole posh thing helped loads too. But it's not all about how attractive a candidate is; no, Melody did well in the process too. In fact I think she's been the most successful and impressive Choice yet.

So there you have it: the real winner of this year's Apprentice. I'm quite confident that this will come to some consolation to her as she continues on her path to world domination.

New Music

This Ain't a Love Song - Bon Jovi

I have no idea why this wasn't already on my play list, but a random listen in Mauritius made me realise that was the case. It's crazy that it's not on the greatest hits.

Teri Dewani - Kailash Kher

Quite possibly the song that defines Kailash Kher, this is accessible sufi at its best.

Louder - DJ Fresh ft. Sian Evans

Yes, I've loved this since hearing it on that advert... although I must admit the full version isn't as great.

The Standard Chartered Great City Race 2011

There isn't much to report for this year's 5k race. I haven't run (at all) since this exact same event last year, so I was a little concerned at how it would go. Unlike other times when I had stopped running for a while, when I did still feel fit and knew I'd be able to get around, today I really had no real understanding of my fitness level before the start.

The race itself had technical issues. Firstly, it was the reverse course which in although in theory shouldn't make a difference was a little disconcerting as I apparently lost the distance cues I had built up over the past three races I had taken part in. Secondly, as I entered the race quite late in the queue I got caught up in a lot of traffic during the start - I would say it cost me at least 20-30 seconds. And finally apart from my lack of recent race experience I wasn't feeling too great and my sinuses were clogged up. Yes, aw.

My official time is 26:40 which surprisingly is bang on what I hit last year, perhaps proving that I don't need to do any exercise any more. Maybe. That said it was quite a difficult race and I did feel some muscle pain - which is quite pathetic considering the distance - and I expect to feel sore tomorrow, something that hasn't happened since I ran the marathon. On the other hand my respiration seemed to be okay, so I think I can still claim to be relatively fit.

Nevertheless I certainly miss being able to do this kind of stuff backwards in my sleep, and will take this as a clear indication that things are moving on.

Indexed

Although I found this insightful at first, today's Indexed has got me struggling a little now:



The thing is I don't know if I'm an extrovert or introvert. I tend to do relatively okay in crowds and with new people, yet I am almost certainly anti-social (I constantly tell my friends how I plan to dump them after I marry) and prefer to stay indoors than out.

Apparently ambivert is used to describe those who express both, but I suspect that implies balance rather than mutuality. Although who said they were mutually exclusive anyway?

What might be easier to figure out is how lonely I am. Everyone say "aww".

Indexed

Finally! The reason I can't stand having lie ins:

Madagascar, Day Eleven: Hellos and Goodbyes

It's a testament to how much of a great time we had here a week ago how glad we were to be able to spend a bonus day in Mauritius. Of course anything would have been better than Madagascar, particularly the last couple of days, but we were more than happy to be back anyway.

That said there really isn't much to report today aside from the extreme welcome and love of our Mauritian hosts. We even managed to catch that meal at Nando's that we missed out on during out main stay. The rest of the day was filled with family fun as we sipped on coconut water and did some local shopping.

So spending a day here was surreal but in a good way; as if we were being given it for free. I was caught smiling to myself more than once, each time as I considered the events of the past few days. Having to spend a day here definitely made up for the 48 hours before we arrived.

Saying goodbye was equally surreal, yet the repetition and familiarity reassured me that I would be meeting these guys again, be that in Mauritius or elsewhere. I can't wait.

Madagascar, Day Ten: Now I Know How Jack and Kate Felt

I'm not even supposed to be writing a post today.

On the bright side, everything in terms of accommodation, transfers and food has been arranged. But other than waiting for mealtimes there is nothing else for us to do except hang around in the hotel waiting to be taken to the airport. We did venture out for a bit (looking for socks of all things) but otherwise we are totally in limbo. At least we have wifi.

The afternoon was spent in the airport, where we discovered that our flight was to leave at 6. That didn't leave much time for use to catch our connection from Mauritius, but it was still possible.

Of course such thoughts turned out to be wholly optimistic as we were delayed once again by one hour. At this point we were desperate to leave Tana - anywhere would have done and plans to fly to South Africa, France, Kenya and even Reunion Island were all tabled.

Despite knowing we would miss our flight to London tonight, we were all pretty ecstatic once we eventually took off. A night in Mauritius now seemed like a reward for all we had been through and we didn't even mind having to spend yet another day on our journey home; anything to get off Madagascar.

Madagascar, Day Nine: This Wasn't The Plan

Deciding to make the most of our last day in Tana, Madagascar, and indeed our holiday, we decided to grab an early start to pack, grab breakfast and shop. That last one was a bit of a bust as we realised the local markets were for the locals.

Our flight back to Mauritius was in the early afternoon so we headed to the airport for late morning. On the way we realised that one of our bags had gone missing. We have no idea how such a thing could have happened in a moving car but my fully flowing paranoia was vindicated anyway. Even though I still had my bag, I was especially shaken seeing how I had stupidly left my passport in there. A close one then.

The terrible events of the day didn't end there as we found out that our 1:50pm flight to Mauritius had been delayed to 6:30pm. That wouldn't have been a big deal - I've spent longer in airports - except that we had a flight home to catch from Mauritius at 6:40pm. Even the later flight at 10pm seemed tight.

It was 8pm with us still at the departure gate that we finally accepted that we would have to spend another night in Mauritius. Although a major hassle (we would only be able to return to the UK on Monday morning) I was a little excited to once again see all the people I had met a week or so ago, but that excitement soon wore off as our flight got more and more delayed. At the point I had been in the airport for nine hours straight.

It was a short while later that the news we were all dreading arrived. The flight had been cancelled, we were to grab our bags and then wait for a bus to take us back to Tana where a hotel and food would be waiting for us.

Now if this was last year, when I had no office job to return to, this would have all been taken in relatively good spirits and may have even been a little bit of fun. But the fact was that we were to spend another night in Tana - a place we had gladly said goodbye to already. Add to that how I was looking forward to spending another night in Mauritius and the logistics of our connecting flight and the whole thing was a little distressing. Destiny wanted us to spend another night in Madagascar.

We've been told that the flight tomorrow is at 5:30pm, which will mean we miss all the Sunday flights out of Mauritius too. Even the renewed promise of a night in Mauritius doesn't console me of the fact I'll be arriving home on Tuesday.

I'm beginning to really hate Madagascar.

Madagascar, Day Eight: Backtracking

It's Friday, and so again today was mostly about joining in with Jummah prayers. Since I had already done the groundwork earlier in the week this was less of a hassle than we were expecting it to be a month ago.



Since we didn't know the local timetable we erred on the side of caution and got there early, taking the opportunity to talk to some of the locals. The mosque (again, map here) soon became full though, and the congregation became pretty serene and engaged once the khutba (sermon) started. After the proceedings and prayer we spoke to some more local Muslims including the imam (who didn't really speak much English).



The rest of the day was pretty routine - lunch at La Petite and then the catching of our flight back to Tana. A local friend my travel companions made during our previous time here took us for dinner and then to our hotel in the town, where we were going to sleep for the last time before starting our journey home.

The cross continent backtrack had begun.

Madagascar, Day Seven: Having a... "Whale" of a Time

So it turns out that whale watching is not as exciting as it sounds. Don't get me wrong: seeing one you realise how massive and amazing they are, but after the tenth whale it's all pretty much the same.



I guess people really go to witness a breach (when a whale overshoots the surface and leaves the water) or two and the distant one that I caught was quite spectacular. Still I did manage to fall asleep during our tour; quite an impressive feat considering how choppy the sea was.



After lunch we took a walk around the circumference of Ile Aux Nauts.



The 6.2km took around two hours and was mostly comprised of gorgeous beaches but we did also check out the lighthouse and spend some time in the village.



I even got the cliched shot of black shoeless village kids playing football.



After catching an amazing sunset we retreated back to La Petite for dinner - the discussion over food was regarding how little people around here need to be happy, something I definitely already had an opinion on. Oh and the after dinner game was dice, something I've promised myself to teach to as many people as I can.



Compared to the rest of the holiday, it doesn't seem that we got much done today, and yet I feel the time spent was well utilised. I guess I've become used to the pace of island life and how things like walks and talks can be just as fulfilling as a movie or party. We're grabbing an early end to day, in preparation for our last day tomorrow. Although I'm quite sad about having to leave, a part of me feels its time to head home.

XKCD

I never assumed I was alone or unique in my distaste for Facebook, so I share the joy of Randall in his comic below:



Of course the really sad fact is that Google+ will be just as lame as Facebook is. The problem is in the attitude, not the technology.

Madagascar, Day Six: Diving, Pirates and Massages

I had some really strange dreams last night. For some reason my room got flooded - perhaps it was high tide or something - and my bed became a boat. I have no idea why I had such vivid images while sleeping but on discussing it with others it's apparently a common thing under the circumstance, something about living on a beach. In a hut.



After an excellent breakfast I went off for a dive. This was my first non-training dive after diving school in Mauritius and also turned out to be my deepest yet at a smidge over 20m. Apart from the usual wildlife I got to see an octopus, but the main highlight was hearing whale song under water. It was amazingly subtle yet exactly how you would imagine it - on asking my dive guide the whales were a few km away.



I was dropped off in the main town of Ile Sainte-Marie, Ambodifotatra. While waiting for my travel companions to meet me there I bumped into some other recently made friends and decided to grab some lunch with them. I had the Barracuda fish with vanilla sauce which was as amazing as it sounds, not least because of the beach view while eating it.



I spent another half hour or so exploring the small town - my main objective was finding the main mosque (map here) to find out details for Jummah, and I also managed to speak to a few local muslims about the facilities.

On the way back to La Petite we stopped off briefly at a pirate cemetery.



It was a little bit of an adventure getting there but pretty cool once we found it - think Goonies-lite.



On exiting we were caught in another downpour, something that was becoming par for the course on this trip, but we shrugged it off as we headed to the Princess Bora.

The reason we stopped off at this boutique hotel was to check out the on site spa we had been told about, and in particular the four hand massage they offered. My excitement was justified and it was pretty amazing; although the locals weren't able to exert as much pressure as I would have liked the novelty of having four hands was well worth the experience. The two masseurs were technically impressive too, perfectly weighted and synchronously timed as if they were one person. And it was super cheap to boot.



Getting home was fun as we dealt with walking down the muddy track in total darkness to catch our pirogue for a night time crossing. An awesome crayfish dinner was waiting for us there (with the soup starter also requiring an explicit mention), and after a well deserved shower we ended up playing boardgames and winding each up for the rest of the night.



All of a sudden we're not staying here long enough.

Madagascar, Day Five: Ile Sainte-Marie

Even though we had more than half our time in Madagascar remaining, due to the inflexibility of internal flights here we were forced to fly to our final destination anyway. I was a bit unsure about having to spend so much time in Ile Sainte-Marie, but these doubts disappeared as soon as we arrived there.

Ile Sainte-Marie is a comparatively small island off the eastern coast of Madagascar, an alternative getaway to the possible more popular Nosy Be. The idea is to get there and experience a little bit of island flavour, you know literally disconnecting you and all.



But arriving at the airport wasn't the end of our journey today. We were actually heading to an even smaller sub island off the south of Ile Sainte-Marie, Ile Aux Nattes. The experience started straight away as we shipped over to the island in a pirogue, a kind of single-piece canoe. The approach was pretty amazing, with the sense of remoteness, idyllicy and peace was quite overwhelming.



Our home for the next three nights is at La Petite Traversee, a beach lodge comprising of around five bungalows and a bar/restaurant. The place is pretty unreal; awesome views, sandy floors, no electricity and the like and hosted by the wonderful and weird Okie. Yes, it did rain quite heavily this afternoon, but that just added to the whole thing. We still got to explore the rest of the island at least.



The biggest shock on our mini exploration was to find the local mosque (map here). Just to give some perspective here, Ile Aux Nattes has a population of around 1300 of which a tiny minority are Muslim. The mosque itself could probably hold no more than 25 people, and in fact my friend and I were the Asr congregation.



The rest of the evening was spent hanging out in La Petite Traversee, eating, drinking and being merry - the bar had become the centre point for some wandering travellers also from the UK and we ended up playing cards (Arsehole) for a bit before ending the night watching Dr Hook videos on a projector our host pulled out of nowhere.



It was ace best.

Madagascar, Day Four: Antananarivo

Despite our research back in the UK suggested that there wasn't really much to do in Tana we made the decision to arrive here a night early, choosing to take the opportunity to slow down the pace of the trip.



After a lazy start we headed out to shop for gifts and souvenirs. After a few false starts we found an excellent market with just what we wanted - you know arts and crafts and all that. Our bartering skills (or lack thereof) were put to the test and I feel that I did well if not amazingly. To be honest the thing we overspent on was our time rather than money; we wanted to do more than just shop that day.



Skipping lunch to save time, we headed to Ambohimanga, an old palace where we spent an hour or so being guided around.



It was surprisingly better than I thought it would be, and turned out to be quite the quick win, if only for the views:





Heading back to the hotel, I decided to take up the offer to dine with the jamatees I met at the mosque yesterday. As I sat there communally eating, I was taken back to my own jamaat days; I really enjoyed the hour or so long demonstration of Ummah power, and the prawn pilau didn't hurt either.



My trip to the mosque meant that I had to walk to and from my hotel after dark, something many sources had advised against. My deliberately left empty pockets didn't console me much, but overall I suspect my unease was more in my head than based on reality.

Overall I think my time in Tana was a success.

Madagascar, Day Three: The Indiri

It turned out that sleeping under nets in a lodge in the middle of a jungle with no electricity wasn't that bad and the good rest I managed to get meant that even 5am wasn't too early to get up for. It was actually quite nice to have breakfast by candlelight.



Most of the morning and early afternoon was spent on the various trails Andasibe was offering. After a slow start and a lot of trekking, we finally managed to see some animals: Indiri (lemurs), Babakoto and Diadamed Sifaka were all spotted and photographed.



But if I'm quite honest I enjoyed the actual trekking itself too. We also went to see a waterfall and pool, but I declined the offer to take a dip in it.



We also spotted a chameleon after a bit of effort. Here is it if you wanted to play too:



On the way back to the lodge we spotted something we were least expecting to - a random mosque in the village we had spent some time in yesterday (map here).



Just seeing it got us excited, and we explored a little to see if we could find anyone to talk to. Unfortunately we had already missed the congregational prayer, but we did find some kids loitering around who pointed us in the direction of an alleged halal restaurant. After offering our own prayers, we headed there only to find that the amusingly literally named "Halal Restaurant" was closed.



Since we had gotten quite a lot done today, we decided to adjust our itinerary and head back to Tana a night early, a collective sigh of relief confirming the consensus for the change of plan. After checking into our new hotel, the relatively luxurious Hotel Tana, we were taken to the local mosque for the night prayer. After talking to a jammat who were visiting from India we got the name of a local halal restaurant where we headed for dinner; yet another example of the Ummah style of networking in full effect.

But once again we had run out of things to do for the day. We headed back to our hotel for yet another early night.

Madagascar, Day Two: Andasibe

Despite the cold night and the hard bed, I managed to sleep through the night okay. This was a good thing, since the morning was all about getting to our first real destination: the national park, Andasibe.



After a three hour drive we arrived at our lodge where we checked in, planning to stay there for two nights. Since we still had a large chunk of the day left, we ventured out hoping to make a start on the national park itself. This plan was put to bed quickly as we were advised that it was a little too late to catch any real chance of seeing animals.



At a loss for things to do, we decided to check out the village nearby. This didn't take up as much time as we would have liked it to, and after lunch we headed back to the lodge and were back by 4pm feeling slightly dejected, homesick and, for me at least, suddenly missing of Mauritius. The time we had before dinner was filled with those old school ways of passing time; word games, DS and just chatting. Unfortunately none of us had any playing cards. Dinner was a saving grace, and consisted of amongst other things an excellent pea soup.



We grabbed an early night and tucked ourselves in under our mosquito nets.

Madagascar, Day One: Change Is Good?

The biggest problem I have with two-phase trips like this one is how difficult the change can be. In fact I quickly added myself to the list of people who recently asked "why are you going to Madagascar?" as I got of the airplane this morning. I was especially depressed (and expect to be for a few more days) due to how much of an amazing time we had in Mauritius the previous week. It had even been suggested that we do Madagascar before the wedding in order to use the latter as a climbdown, but that plan didn't quite work out.

But it was only the first day and I'm sure things will change after a couple of days. Although being asked for a "gift" at immigration didn't help improve matters. And to top it off, my mouthwash had leaked in my suitcase. On the other hand our hotel was pretty decent in a rustic way. It was time to ignore my misgivings and embrace the place Iw as going to spend the next week in.

Orewar, Mauritius

Okay, I'll be honest with you all: Mauritius has never really been on my travel list. I certainly knew about it - as well as having a few friends from there my local mosque of twenty years (of which five I spent in their madarassa) was run by Mauritians, so it wasn't like I was totally ignorant of the place.

A part of me did think that a visit was inevitable at some point, I just needed a good reason to go and so when a friend invited us to their wedding celebrations back home I was the first non-family member to book their flight. That's right: I was once again flying across the world to attend a wedding. What can I say? I'm lucky to have international friends, and will always jump at the chance to use them as an excuse to have a holiday; and since I actually love attending weddings anyway, attending one during a holiday just makes them all the more awesome.

So yes. As my time in Mauritius draws to an end it's pretty clear to me how much of an awesome time I had during my stay here. For sure it was less to do with the island and more to do with the wedding and people, but that's just a reflection of how much time I had to do be a tourist rather than the lack of things to do here; judging by the little we did manage to do as well as the feedback from others who have visited there was plenty of touristy stuff that we missed out on.



Quite amazingly an apartment, car and even mobile phones had all been pre-arranged by the hosts of the wedding, and these all gave us a level of autonomy which ensured that we would enjoy our time here even more. Along with the fancy technology in our phones, we were able to do our own thing on our own timetables, whether that meant taking drives on the islands or hanging out with the family much later into the night than we really should have. In effect we had pretty much gone native.

Overall though Mauritius has definitely made my list of best-holidays-ever, and is up there with Australia and South Africa (funnily enough both of which involved weddings too) and the other places I'll always remember - but even more than that it's one of the very rare places that I wouldn't mind going back to either.

Mauritian Munch

Awful post titles aside, I had very few complaints about the food in Mauritius. To be fair a lot of our meals were catered due to the wedding functions taking up most of our meal times, and although all the various events had very nice food (including some old school biryani, the type I would find in my own home, at the wedding reception), I suspect it wasn't really a genuine reflection of Mauritian food.

When we did eat out, we seemed to be drawn to Chinese restaurants. This could have been uneventful except for the fact that Mauritian Chinese food seems to have been sourced from a different region of China to that what I'm used to back in the UK; it was different enough to note anyway. Otherwise we had a bit of seafood too which was, perhaps unsurprisingly, excellent.

But really for me it was all about the street food, the main example of which was the sublime dhal puri. I'm still amazed at how something so simple, so cheap, could bring so much joy and happiness to us, who sometimes weren't even that hungry. I'm not even sure what it is - something vegetarian - but I don't care. I still smile to myself when I think of the stuff. The only down side was how the stuff kept running out.



But even the stuff I did know about was amazing: the post-volcano samosas, the pre-diving roti (filled with anything from vegetables to squid), the Chinese Guava (which was nothing like Guava) and raspberries... We even spent a session before Jummah today in what I can only describe as a street food court sampling chilli cakes, falouda and other things I can't quite remember the names of. I'd never claim to be a foodie, but even I loved the constant attack on our taste buds.

Oh and the best cakes I had this week were made and brought to the events by a family member. I'm not quite sure who it was, but I have vowed to track them down.

And now I'm hungry.

Defining Mauritius

Although we used to make fun of our madarassa teacher for coming from such a small island, Mauritius isn't that small really - a quick Google pegs it at around 2000 sq km, with London weighing in at 1500 or so. In contrast that other island I talk about at times, The Isle of Man, is a tiny 500 sq km. Compared to that place Mauritius doesn't have the small island mentality I expected it to, but this could be to do with the fact that it's an independent state rather than one of many in a federation (for example). It's as much it's own land and country as anywhere else I've been to this year.



Nevertheless I struggle to define the character of place. It's certainly Africa in terms of geography and climate, but then the Indian influence is very obvious too - unlike other parts of the continent like South Africa and, I presume, Kenya, this is clearly and primarily brown land and has been for a while. This is confirmed both by the visible signs - the shops, the food (which as usual will get its own post) and of course, the appearance of the people - but also by the prevailing culture of the land.



Bollywood and Zee can be found in most places, people dress and act as Indians and general attitudes seem to be rooted in that of the subcontinent too. Homes are largely communal, and family structure appear more traditional than modern. That's not to say the place is backwards - far from it; high value is placed on things like education and professionalism, but they just don't seem to throw out their cultural identities in the process. Mauritians are definitely more brown than their counterparts are in the UK or South Africa, and yet they also manage to reconcile this with living in a modern and western dominated world.



Even if we accept that Mauritius is more Indian than African, there is still lots left to confuse a visitor. The main language spoken seems to be Mauritian Creole, something that is even more confusing (but just as pleasant) to listen to as the French it was based on. Luckily for us, English was spoken by everyone too, although I did have to dust off my Urdu for some of the older people I met.

Me being me, I have to comment quickly about the talent here. In short all levels are well represented everywhere you go, although I will say there are more hotties than otherwise. But more interesting than the actual numbers is is how effortless it all appears for them; for whatever reason this isn't a place where people need to wear lots of make-up or designer gear. My theory is that you don't need to try looking good if you're happy and content, and if that's the case, well then there seems to be a lot of happy and content girls in Mauritius.



Even though I still don't know what makes a developing country a developing country, in terms of literacy and apparent poverty Mauritius appears to hold high enough standards to be seen as a comfortable place to live in. The quality of things like electricity and communications are all decent enough, although some places do seem to struggle a bit with water; but I guess that that's more of a geographical issue than a political or economic one.

Roads, streets and buildings are relatively well developed, and I certainly feel safe walking around, although to be fair we do have our own car and aren't really using any public transport. Similarly I don't feel at all out of place walking around as a stranger - in fact some of our party are often assumed to be native! All in all it's very homely, and reminds me a lot of my trips back to Karachi.

The vast majority of the 1.2 million people who live in Mauritius are Hindu, but apparently Muslims make up around 15-20% (depending on who you ask), which is large enough for Islam to permeate society. So we have halal food almost everywhere (and if not, knowledge of the requirement itself is known) and adhan ringing in public during prayer times.



Mosques are plentiful, although only because it seems that even Mauritius isn't immune from sectarian splits in its Islamic community. Still, the impressive central Jummah Mosque was filled with people of all backgrounds. I forget the exact age of the mosque (there is an older on in Mauritius apparently), but it was one of those typically Indian influenced ones, you know with an airy courtyard and open air whudu khana leading into the smaller, yet just as grand main prayer area at the front. Viewing it's imposing and obvious style from the outside it becomes clear how much a place Muslims have here.

It's claimed that the people here live in peace and harmony, but whether that is because the Muslims don't assert themselves I don't know. What is clear is that it's a nice and comfortable place for a Muslim to live, as is. There is also a Chinese influence on the island, although in my specific experience that was only restricted to a couple of restaurants we went to.

So yes, I guess my only real observation of Mauritius is that of the striking mish-mash of different cultures and backgrounds both from within (the Indian) and outside (the western vibe). But unlike in other places which have the same initial components, it's mostly the good things which have been emphasised in the everyday running of the island as a result.

I would say that most people I meet seem happy and content so in terms of well-being Mauritius is quite a wealthy place. I will qualify this post by saying I've not been here for that long and so may have only been sufficiently exposed to both the geographically and socially affluent side of Mauritius. But still based on what I did see I rank Mauritius as one of the nicest places I've visited in which to live, and well up there with Singapore and Canada.

Île aux Cerfs

Now with the wedding and diving were out of the way, we finally found ourselves in a position to do some sightseeing. A much recommended option was to visit Île aux Cerfs (Deer Island in french), so we got up at the insane hour of 6am and drove the hour or so across the width of the island where we met up with some other overseas wedding guests. There were ten of us all in all, making for a party big enough to justify a private trip to the island.



I've been gagging for a boat trip since coming to Mauritius, and although this was transport rather than sailing (in that there was no opportunity to dive off the boat) I enjoyed the brief ride to the island. The island itself was very nice, with both the sand and sea providing the goods, and there was plenty of other activities too including paragliding and banana boats, albeit at rip off prices. I chose to spend the morning in a hammock, recovering from both the early start today as well as the events of the week so far. The temperature was comfortable although I did seek cover from the sun in the shade of the trees. All I needed was my book (or DS) and it would have been perfect.



Lunch was provided as part of the trip; fully halal, we had chicken, sausages and fish all cooked in the open air BBQ. It was actually quite romantic the manner in which we lunched on the beach, and it was by far my favourite part of the day. After a dessert of BBQ'd caramelised bananas, we spent a little more time on the beach while waiting for our boat back to the mainland. Our last stop was up to a waterfall, just beyond the place where we got on the boat this morning. This was more of a bonus than a must see sight, and although it was nice enough we didn't spend that much time there.



Heading back to our point of departure, I suddenly realised that the island trip today marked the beginning of the end of our time in Mauritius, particularly as we bid farewell to our co-guests. We had dinner plans with other friends tonight, and of course the whole day tomorrow to do stuff, but despite that it almost felt like we were unwinding our trip as a whole as we made our way back to the eastern side of Mauritius.

Meet the Ramtoolas

One of the constants I've come to expect from a wedding-holiday is the deep exposure to the family of the bride or groom. This is unsurprising really; Indian weddings involve many events, many of which take place in a home with open doors; add to that the sheer joy and happiness and it's inevitable that you'll bond with people as they welcome you with open arms.

Being the imposing and tactless chap I am, I tend to lap this stuff up. It doesn't take long before I've exploited the situation and made myself comfortably at home, or at least free, familiar and friendly with my hosts. I'm yet to establish whether this makes me a rude guest or not, but until I'm actually chucked out of a place (something that may have happened a couple of times) I'll say the latter. Regardless of the detail, I was especially looking forward to Mauritius this year because of this factor, particularly after the touristy slog that was South America. Yes, that's right; I've become a people-holiday junkie.

So on that note I'm having a lovely time here, and it's obvious to me why. Since we're only staying here a week, the wedding and related functions have taken up most of the schedule - in fact as a visitor it's all a little intense really. It helps that our hosts and co-guests are all amazing (even though the majority of them seem to be accountants) and seem to have enough time to hang out with us outside of the nuptials too. That they all live on the same private road is also awesome since it essentially means easy access to what seems like a party everyday.

And what parties there were. There were two dinners, two mehndis, a nikkah and reception, and I'm struggling to decide which I enjoyed the most. I think this was pretty much as "big Indian wedding" as I was ever going to be involved in (it was very different to what I would be involved in back in Karachi or when I visited Bangladesh), and between all the events we had some awesome food, live music, dhandia, cocktails, giant prawns, excellent conversation, mad jokes, emotional moments, stargazing, speeches and lots and lots of fun and dossing. And to top it off, everyone looked so good too. Seriously, these were some collectively hot people.

But it's really the inherent happiness-by-default that's infectious here. People seem so simply content that it's easy to become the same in their company and forget about all those little issues (back in the UK) that would otherwise bring your mood down. Furthermore the undeserved attention, generosity and care shown to us all just added to feeling of euphoria. But despite how equally nice everyone was to us, they were all also unique enough to be taken as individuals, be they adult, kids, native or from abroad. So we had the funny ones, the caring ones, the super smart ones and the interesting ones. It was like being in a pick 'n' mix of awesome people and there was always something new about someone new to find out.

Anyway I'm probably embarrassing myself and them by this point. If it's not already clear by now, I think I have a little crush on the extended family I've met here. I wonder if they're looking to adopt? To be honest I'm not looking forward to the crashing withdrawal symptoms when we finally have to leave here.

Scuba Diving

I always considered scuba diving to be a largely inaccessible pastime that required lots of time and money to become involved in. Of course the academic side of me was very interested in going on any course that resulted in a qualification, but aside from knowing people who went to Egypt to dive I was quite ignorant of the whole field.

It was at the airport on the way here that I realised it could actually be more accessible than I thought. A fellow traveller had already done the theory part of his qualification back in the UK and so was looking forward to completing his licence by partaking in some open water dives in Mauritius. This got both my heart racing and brain ticking as I tried to figure out if it was something I could do during my week on the island. The people I was with seemed to think it would be perfectly possible, and combined with how I didn't expect to partake in much tourism here, I made it the thing I just had to do.

We were staying in Flic en Flac, a beach area on the western part of the island. Since it was a little bit of a tourist attraction it wasn't too difficult to find a diving school; we decided to go with Ti Cabo, a smallish and independent place that offered the PADI Open Water Diver course. After explaining our schedule we were told that we would indeed be able to qualify in time. And so my holiday project had begun: I would be diving during the day and wedding partying during the night. Bliss.

The course had two main components: there was the theory, which involved boring things like "reading" and "taking exams" which I really didn't want to... oh, who am I kidding? I enjoyed learning the theory almost as much as the diving, although due to the hectic schedule there was a lot of late night studying. Still, I did get 94% in my exam (of 50 questions) which I managed to make a big deal. Well in my head anyway.

But of course the real fun was in the diving itself. This was again split into two parts - the confined dives (usually in a swimming pool, but in our case in a lagoon), and the open water dives proper. I don't think it's unfair to say that I took to it all quite quickly; for me it was a simple case of listening (or rather watching since you can't talk underwater) to my instructor carefully, and focussing on what he was telling me to do - which was quite simply to breath through your mouth and not panic.

That last bit seems to be the biggest obstacle in learning how to dive, that is overcoming your instinct telling you that you really shouldn't be in that much water at that much depth. Once you've beaten this, it becomes much easier to control your airway. And once you're able to do that, the rest of the learning part is child's play - even being able to take your mask off and on and clearing it, all underwater.

But that's not to say diving as a whole is easy; like everything else this is definitely a discipline that requires practise and experience - hence the recommendation to record all dives in a cute little log book. For my part, I still find tuning my buoyancy quite difficult, and I still have to tread a little to stay at a certain depth. On the other hand it was fun playing with my buoyancy purely with my breathing - in a zen kind of way.

According to PADI there are two reasons someone dives - firstly for the fish and other undersea wildlife and secondly for the feeling of freedom and control you get submerged in water. After gaining my qualification I've decided that I'm mainly in the latter category and it's the self-discipline, freedom and control aspects of diving that I'm really enjoying. That said some of the fish are pretty, I suppose.

Diving is definitely something I hope to enjoy more in the future - "can I dive there?" will now be a staple question I ask when considering a trip - and it's certainly something I recommend everyone giving a try should the chance arise.