Mauritius trip :D

DAY SIX

2010-03-18T01:51:00.001-07:00

Today is our last day at Mauritius before leaving at night for our long flight back to singapore. Anyway, we were brought to this botanic garden which is the largest in Mauritius. There were many types of plants in the garden.

this gate was build according to the french design

the world largest palm tree it takes about 60 years to bloom

gigantic lilly pads

guava fruits on the tree

bamboo tree

After that we were brought to a side of the hill where we could take pictures of buildings from a higher place.

Next, we went to one of our buddy's school from St marie college, Nathalie's, home. It was a public holiday called ugadi/ougadi which means a new year for the indians at mauritius. Which is why students do not need to go to school. We were shown around her house and this is how a typical mauritius house looks like.

dining room

living room

the room which connect us to the balcony

she has 3 dogs!

a breathtaking view from her balcony!

this is her princess room. a room of all girls's dream.
because it has a staircase up to where she can study.
really special :D

outside her room where she placed her slippers.

bathroom without toiletbowl.

a plate of goodies which she offered us. it contains banana chips etc.

a group photo taken at her house.

Afterwards before heading to the airport, we were brought to a public beach. It really amazes us when many people were having so much fun with their family. Tents were put up everywhere, and seeing kids having fun in the water made us felt really great. Although there were many people there, the water is surprisingly clean too! It was a big difference compared to Singapore.

a group of four playing mauritius mah jong. :)

the beach was filled with the warmness of the setting sun and happiness of the families there.

Soon, it was time to head to the airport and back to Singapore. Everyone left with a heavy heart and couldn't bear to part with Mauritius. It was definitely a enjoyable and awesome trip. We've all learnt to be much more disciplined and independent through this trip. We'll never ever forget this trip. Thank you teachers who guided us along the trip and brought us to a beautiful country like Mauritius!

Plane trip back to singapore.

WE LOVE MAURITIUS!
Shiyuan & Jiamin.

DAY FIVE

2010-03-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to visit saint marie's college. They were very enthusiastic about our coming and invited us into the hall to have the assembly with them. During the assembly, Julia and Rebecca went up on stage to give a short speech and Mr Chiang presented a plaque to the director of the school. After assembly, we were waiting for the allocation of classes. During that period of time, we introduced ourselves and managed to exchange our school song and our Singapore anthem. For the first lesson, we had Physical Education. The PE teacher told us to run 2 rounds around the field while dribbling a ball. This was followed by a series of stretching, which is very much the same like Singapore. After which, we were separated into pairs to join the groups to practice juggling of the soccer ball. It was really tough, however, the pupils demonstrated it and they were really good. After a while of practicing, we were split into girls and boys to play a match within our own gender. It was fun and enjoyable as they are very good at athletics. When PE ended, we went on a tour around the school looking at the various subjects and rooms. It was very simple compared to the classrooms in Singapore. We were then split up to attend different classes- Chemistry, IT and travel and tourism. We sat in class for 2 periods that lasts for one hour then we went for lunch. Traditional Mauritian food was served at lunch and it was a whole new experience of food. After lunch, the student council of the school prepared a treasure hunt game for us where other students also participated in. The game started with an obstacle course where the first group who wins is at an advantage. The game continued on with clues all over the school and we had to find them. The first group to find all the clues would be led to the Olympic Room, specially decorated by the students. The Olympic Room was very beautiful and very detailed. All groups were given prizes however, the first group that came in had the biggest prize. We then performed our songs that we had prepared for them and they enjoyed it as much as we did. It was time to say good bye at the end of the day. So we had exchanged emails and names so as to keep in touch. We ended off with a group photo with the student council of Saint Marie's college with their teachers and all of us from Queenstown Secondary School. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a supermarket and bought lots of food to bring home. This has been an amazing day for us as we learnt so much from the students. We hope to come back another day to share more about us.

Done by Julia Han and Rebecca Heng.

DAY FOUR

2010-03-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Bonjour!

Today, we visited quite a number of places. The first place we went was a crater. It's name is Trou Aux Cerfs. During the journey to this humongous crater, the guide also told us a lot about their country. Mauritius' 1st town to get electricity is called ' The Town of Light'. It can be 12-17 Degree Celsius. Mauritius' National Flower is the Trochecia. Their National Flag's colour is Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Red symbolizes liberty and flame tree, Blue symbolizes the Sky and the Sea, Yellow symbolizes the Light which is the Sun and the Green symbolizes SUGARCANE and also their plantation. Mentioning about sugarcane, the guide showed us their oldest sugarcane factory when we were on the way to the crater. The factory is named 'Fuel' and their sugarcane can be 1-3m tall. In Mauritius, there is only left with 2% of forest. Deforestation occurs as they convert them into the sugarcane plantation. Thus, their forest is now under the government's protection. Their sugarcane is refined into sugar and will be exported to the European. They import sugarcane from South Africa for beverage and sugar. They got over 400 varieties of bamboos. The big ones come from Java. Usually, they use it to make furniture and shoes.

The Comfort tree and the Eycalyptus can make essential oil. Their Indian culture is almost the same as the Indian in Singapore. Mauritius carries almost 52% of Indian. Mauritius was formed as there was a volcanic eruption long ago. They do not have high way and transport like SMRT, therefore comparing to Singapore, it's twice the time to travel from one place to another.

Here are the pictures...

These are the Mountains which we saw when the guide brought us to a place where we were able to have a full view of the country.

This is the crater. It is 85m deep and 200m wide. Under the lake, there is still activity going on. According to our guide, there is still lava 900m deep.

This is Shiva. An Indian God which Hindi believes that he destroys devils and saves the people. This statue is made of Iron and Bronze and the skirt is made of concrete.

This is their temple which we had visited. There is a sacred lake here. There is a statue that Shiva is in blue. The guide said that he was once poisoned. Below are some photos taken

of other God.

The above photo is showing a priest praying for a believer.

This is the sacred lake.

According to the guide, this is the tallest waterfall in Mauritius and it is 100m high.

As you can see, this is the plunge pool and there is a rainbow there. Enjoy the photo !

This is the 7 Coloured Earth. It's is named like this because it contained 7 brown colours. It can only be found in Mauritius.

This is the top view of the 7 Coloured Earth.

This is one of the humongous tortoises that we have found there.

Fortunately, we were able to see the male tortoise trying to mate. Unfortunately, the female rejected the male.

By Dianrong and Diantian. Thanks (:

DAY THREE

2010-03-13T06:25:00.001-08:00

Today is our third day at Mauritius. In the morning, we were brought to Port Louis which is the capital of Mauritius. We went to the wet market and it was pretty crowded and over there, we had our free time to walk around on our own. We learnt how to bargain with the store holders and they were generous to bring the prices down. Most of them were friendly, asking us where we came from.

After shopping, we headed to the place called Domaine les Pailles and went to a restaurant,Clos Saint Louis. We had fine dining and the food was really delicious.

our starter

our main course

our dessert

After eating, we were welcomed by a performing group of four. They welcomed us with the Sega Dance - a Mauritian dance. We were fascinated by the way the dancers swayed. After which, we were shown by the guide how sugar was obtained from the sugarcane. Firstly, they chopped down the sugarcane. Next, they used an ox to pull and grind the sugarcane to obtain the juice. After that, the guide further explained how the sugar was slowly hardened till a black tar-like substance was formed. We were allowed to taste it. It was very sweet. The substance will then be brought to the crystallization room and be cooled for 2-3 weeks. Finally, raw sugar will be formed.

the ox

the 5 vats

the guide letting us try the sugar

crystallization room

the pot of sugar undergoing crystallization.

We were brought to the Worldwide Masks Collection Museum. There was a collection of masks from Thailand, Japan, China and Korea.

Though it was a short day, it was definitely a fruitful experience as we learnt and experience things that we have never seen before. We love Mauritius!

by Shiyuan & Jiamin. :)

DAY ONE

2010-03-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

Mauritius is a small country and is one-third size of Singapore. Sugarcane plantation took up 45% of their agriculture. We took 7 hours flight to Dubai and at Dubai; we had to wait for 3 hours for another flight. We flew for 6 hours to Mauritius. Throughout the trip to Mauritius, I took numeral photos. Mauritius looks gorgeous from the sky and of course even more beautiful when you were on the land. We then took another 1 hour to travel to the hotel, Ambre. Some of us got motion sickness but recovered as soon as we reached the hotel. The hotel made us felt welcomed and home. We went to hunt for our rooms after a short briefing. We got so excited when we reached the door and opened it immediately. There were two people to one room. The room was nice and comfortable. After washing up, there was a dinner which really satisfied us and gave us energy to work again. However, some of us chose to eat instant noodles as we don’t dare to eat the food by the appearance of it. Without hesitation, we went back for reflection and bed in as fast as possible so as to get enough rest after dinner, looking forward for the next day to come.

Here are the pictures…

Everyone got so excited. This is the flight to Dubai.

These are some of the pictures of the Dubai’s airport.

Finally after 3 hours of waiting, we got onto the bus transport that brought us to the plane.

Here we GO!

THIS IS OUR LUNCH...

MAURITIUS (:

Finally we reaached Mauritius and this is our Guide.

This is their sugarcane plantation that holds 45% of their agriculture.

New discovery: They call this the Lion Mountain (828m tall)

WE REACHED THE AMBRE HOTEL AFTER AN HOUR RIDE! And we're tired.
BY DIANRONG AND DIANTIAN (: THANKS.

DAY TWO

2010-03-12T11:46:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAURITIUS! This is the day in 1968 that Mauritius gained independence from the British. This year, they turn 42 years old! We woke up this morning after the long flight to Mauritius. We had our breakfast at 7am and left to go on a hike at the Black River Canyon at the National Park. The hike is 3 hours long and here are some of the things we saw along the way.

This the the most magnificent art of nature that we found. It is a heart shaped waterfall seen from the top of the Black River Gorge. Some of us call it the bleeding heart, and some of us call it the pure heart because it has white water flowing out of it.

Wild orchid. This is to make perfumes.

Termite nest. As you can see, it is really big and scary.

Finally we reached the Black River! It's called Black River because all the rocks here are black volcanic rocks. There were people diving in it and swimming. The water was cooling and refreshing. It felt great after the tedious 3 hour walk plus the great difficulty to overcome all the obstacles.

From the hiking experience, we learnt how to be resilient, which is one of the school's core values. We also learnt excellence and friendship which are some of the values of YOG. We displayed resilience by overcoming all the obstacles like muddy soil, rocky paths and steep slopes. We excelled to the very end without giving up or complaining. At last we were rewarded by the cooling and awesome black river. We also showed friendship by helping one another throughout the whole journey, lending each other a helping hand.

This picture features the celebration for Mauritius Independence Day. We got there around 8pm (Mauritius time, 12midnight - Singapore time). The performance started at 5pm. It took us 1hr to get here by bus. We rushed here right after the traditional Mauritius dinner at the hotel. By the time we got here, the performance has already started. Hence, we were disappointed to have missed out the earlier performances.

We had to go back to the hotel as the fireworks were only going to be displayed at midnight and we could not stay for so long. Their celebration compared to Singapore is completely different. Unlike Singapore, they stand to celebrate without sitting for hours. Their performance dance was made up of traditional dances.

The picture is the birthday cake that the chefs in the hotel baked for this special day.

This picture is a sculpture of a dodo bird made out of bread. It was on the dining table at the hotel. This was also specially made to celebrate Mauritius Independance Day (Mauritius was the only known home for the dodo bird that is already extinct).

This picture is a sculpture made out of bread. This was meant for decoration purpose only. It's not to be eaten =)

With today's experience, we learnt a lot and it will remain in our hearts forever.

By Rebecca Heng and Julia Han.