The Beautiful Island of Mauritius

I am getting ready to reduce my pix so that they will fit here, but This is what a wrote about in Mauritius while we were there (I put my blogs on Word first):

Okay, I think the heat was getting to me in my last blog…Since then I have been able to upload and explain many pictures of Dubai. I have also been to one of the greatest places on Earth for a vacation. The place is called Mauritius and I will be adding more pictures!!!! Mauritius is an island off the east coast of Madagascar which is off the east coast of Africa. Of course as I write this I can’t find my little info booklet that I got at the airport, but I will try to remember as much as I can. It is small only about 1860KM area that was formed from volcanoes which have not erupted since people have begun coming to this Island. It was first founded by the Portuguese who later abandoned it, and then the Dutch who tried to settle here. The Dutch abandoned the Island but left the sugar cane, pigs, and many rats. Then the French came and tried to settle. They spent some time here then somehow the English came. They settled here until Maritius became independent in 1992. When slavery was abolished all the slaves decided not to work for their owners (go fig, huh?). When this happened Indians came to the island. The book I was reading said that they came about 10,000/week for many months. Now about 70% of their population now is from Indian decent. The official language is English but everyone speaks French, and the “native” language is Creole (I’m still trying to figure how that happened!!)(Oh! The slave languages plus the French. I get it!!) and the money used is called Mauritian Rupees. About 1000 rupees are equal to about $35.
I think it was the Dutch who killed off the Dodos. Mauritius is known as the island that was the home to the now extinct Dodo bird. They were killed off right before the 17th century when their home area which was filled with the ebony trees (what they use to make the black keys on a piano) was destroyed. They were also killed off for food at about 8 or 9 at a time. They also would eat tons of the other birds on the island. Here’s a rough quote from one of the books I I read about the island… “we would walk right up the doves so you could kill about 150 in one day and many more if you could hold onto them all”. A crocodile reserve has an area that is reserved for the extinct animals of the region. There was a huge skink (like a smooth skinned lizard), a long necked tortoise from Rodrigues Island, and a variety of birds from Mauritius, Rodrigues, and Reunion Islands I think thethree of them are called the Marcarene Islands) that are now also extinct. The long necked tortoise was hunted for food and also to make oil. It would take about 500 tortoises to make one barrel of oil. Can you imagine? The giant tortoises that they had at the reserve are slowly being reintroduced into Mauritius. They are originally from Seychelles Island since they were hunted to extinction on Mauritius.
Okay, let’s see what else… Mauritius is almost completely surrounded by a coral reef and I think it might be one of the longest unbroken coral reefs in the world. The temperature now is around mid 80’s to low 70’s and this is their winter. The summer can go up to around 90, but there is always a breeze from the ocean. Summer is their rainy season and there can be a threat of cyclones. There are banana trees and coconut trees everywhere as well as huge fields of sugar cane. Ziyad’s first reaction was, “look, a corn field!!!”, and it does remind you of that. As you can see from the pictures it is breathtaking. We have begun to contemplate how we would be able to live here and still earn money in some way. But, no Mom!!! I don’t think that will be happening….maybe when we retire??? All I can say is WOW!!! If anyone ever gets a chance to come here take it cuz it really is one of the most beautiful places I have seen on Earth. (Pictures soon!!)

Time out!

We took the family out to Jumeirah Beach hotel and spent the night there. It was cheaper than paying per person to use the facilities for the day. These are pictures from there. The hotel pools were cooled. We had a great view of the Burj Al Arab hotel. This is the only 7 star hotel. There is a gate so we can't go inside unless we are invited. We did see a helicopter land on the helipad.

Even those on Weight Watchers can visit me!!!

The kids' school.

We took a trip to the children's museum. It was really nice!

These are pix of the beach taken from a hotel restaurant. If you click on the first on you can see a boat of some sort. This machine is taking sand from the bottom of the ocean and depositing it on land. This is making the "constellation" or "universe" part of the coast line.

Okay, tallest, biggest, longest...c,mon!!! A shovel?? Enough already!!!

This is Wafi mall (yes, another mall!!!). I tis shapes like a pyramid and has many Egyptian heirogliphics and pictures decorated on the outside and inside of the mall.

This is Ski Dubai inside the Mall of the Emirates.

more pix!!

I thought this was cool...In the garage near the mall is a sign that tells you how many more spaces are available in that line of parked cars. They also have some garages that have red/green lights above the parking spaces so that you can see if there is an empty one from far.

The first pic is of a dance show going on in the Mall of the Emirates. The next two pics are of a traditional dance done with canes or rifles (at the same mall). The next pic is of the entrance to the "Dragon Mall" It is the longest mall in the world. It is one mile in length and is shaped like a dragon. Inside is has a variety of little shops that sell everything from plants to toys to furniture. Everything there is mostly imported from China.

This is a pic of what they are doing to the coastline. There are two palms, the world, and the constellations. At the end of palm Jumierah is the Atlantis hotel. This hotle has numerous aquariums inside. One they are trying to get a whale (I think Beluga) for one of the exhibits.

At the mall they have a small area that talks about the history of Ibn Battuta. (means brother of Battuta). He was a very famous traveler that went all around the arabian penensula and into Turkey. These are some pic of the musical instruments, spices and boats used during that period. (The musical instruments are used today and the spices were used for trading.)

This is a pic of the Kempinski hotel. It is attached to the mall with the ski slope inside.
This is a pic of the electrical wires. There are a few places where there are many of them because they are still trying to figure out how they are building and where they will put them when everything is finished.

This is a pic of the tallest building in the world. Attached to it will be another huge mall I think it will be the biggest in the world (Okay, we get it...you like big things!!!). The mall will open in November 2008 and the building is scheduled for around End of year 2009.

Yay more pictures of Dubai

These are pictures of downtown Dubai. basically it is a road with huge buildings on both sides. Reminds me of the Las Vegas strip with New York skyscrapers. Notice all the construction that is still going on!!