On the road in Mauritius

This set of photographs relate to some sights I saw while I was out and about in Mauritius.

Houses:

 

Sometimes I really thought that the islanders were colour blind. That pink colour should only be on Barbie girls!, not on a house!

 

This was an abandoned house. Starting to fall down. Turns out this is an old police building.

 

Can you see the yellow police tape? Now its a parking lot, reserved for the police.

Farms:

 

What a great view, long rolling fields with young sugarcane plants slowly merging into the sea. Here is another view when I look back. I wouldn't mind being a farmer in this area, eh?

 

Here’s another farm with a lovely mountain backdrop.

 

 

A farmer preparing the field on the left. There were quite a lot of farms which were small but many were big, using mechanised tooling to till. The one on the right is obviously been tilled by a tractor. The use of sprinkler systems was good. Obviously in an island which is water stressed, they have to be careful with water. This kind of irrigation was quite commonly observed in the larger farms. In one, I even saw a motorised sprinkler system.

 

Other Buildings

Believe it or not, but this is supposed to be a government office. Bit ramshackle if you ask me :)

And if you think that its all bucolic and what not, then this wireless transmission tower would disabuse you.

Other roadside sights

 

A roadside stall selling few vegetables under a mango tree. Lovely colour of the leaves, very bright and vibrant.

And here’s a lovely strong old banyan tree. Very beautiful.

The bus stands are also very colourful. Very nice. They stand out in the flat landscape for miles out. Pretty nice.

An advertisement for a golf course. Hmmmm, lol. Pretty good looking poster but slightly ruined by the rather dirty ditch and the manky wall in front.

Churches and Temples:

 

I came across an extraordinary number of churches in Mauritius. This one was quite old, dating back about 200 years. See the solid stone construction.

And as I mentioned above, the choice of colours is extraordinary. Check out the colours of the gravestones. Pretty lively lot they would be, eh?  

This was a graveyard cum grotto. Nice colour scheme.

The eye-catching colour combination syndrome does not just afflict the Christians, its the Hindu’s also who get it :), rather cute temple, eh?

And I might be wrong, but this was a Muslim graveyard. Lovely peaceful place.

Shops:

 

Cane furniture shop

 

Indians have been in the island almost as long as the colonial masters. But looking at the name, Tulsidas Style made me smile. Tulsidas is considered to be one of the master authors of Hindu epics, his most famous being Ramcharitmanas. But to consider him to be a stylistic guru is a bit of a stretch :)

 

But here’s a typical Indian shop. Bata is the Marks and Spenser of footwear in India. Standard shoes, good build, favourite of the middle classes. But strangely enough, Bata is originally Czech but there you go. Reminds one of Mother Teresa, the other famous Eastern European import to India.

 

Ok, this was new to me…

Chung Fat. Miss as well. I would have avoided it.

 

The construction of this house/flat looked quite unique to me, but had definite colonial overtones.

A bit strange if you ask me, but this is supposed to be a fancy upscale shop. See what I meant about the colours. And I had no idea what the damn statues were supposed to signify.

Office Buildings:

  

We were taken to the IT centre. Pretty impressive building, eh? nice.



 

In one of the offices, this full sized mannequin was propped up in the corner. And it had a visitor badge on it. And was holding a paper ladies bag. Which said, “I am Sonia, the customer”. Very weird, if you ask me. 

The sea shore

Sorry about the blurred picture. This is a sea salt factory.

Kids on a boat having fun. Presumably the sea side kids would be part fish themselves.

This series of pictures was taken in an islet.

A tired boat pulled up over the high tide mark, listing slightly, waiting for its owner I guess.

 
Looks like this boat was forgotten by its owner. Looked very sad indeed. That’s not going anywhere without some serious digging.

 
Lots of sea moss.

And the diesel pump for the boats.

The full resolution slideshow is here.