Seychelles 2018 Day 11 & 12 – Home Sweet Home

Transit day back to Singapore started at 230am. Dazed from the lack of sleep, I was up brushing my teeth while and mommy woke thereafter. The activities that went past were just about packing and preparations. I have brought everything up into the car and the last and hardest was K. Mommy carried him and tried to minimize disturbance to his sleep and managed to have him continue sleeping in the car while I drove 30mins plus to the airport. Roads were quiet most of the time at this hour and by the time we arrived, it was already 430am.

Called the rental company staff and heard a sleepy voice over the phone, knew that he didn’t wake up to meet me at the airport, mentioned just to leave the car. So I left the car at the airport carpark with the key in the glove compartment and sent a picture of both the key and the car location to him via WhatsApp before loading up all the luggage. Then I carried K to the checkin while mommy pushed the luggage.

K was asleep until he woke up at the check in counter. Nouvobanq was amazingly open at this unearthly hour and I took the chance to change back 1450rupees to 80 Euros. Then we checked in at the business counter as I had successfully upgraded our seats via bidding for 175USD per person, and received the business class tickets, the continuing economy tickets to Singapore (which bid was unsuccessful) and invitation to use the lounge.

Queue even in the wee morning.
Nouvabanq forex opened too.

We went through the checks and immigration which invited some questions over our leaving dates as it seemed like we were supposed to leave on the 15th reflected on the stamp. After this, we proceeded to the second floor where the lounge was and took one of the cushion benches to rest and have some breakfast. Luckily our 530am flight was delayed and thus we had some time to enjoy the lounge. The rest of the shops weren’t opened anyway so we maximized the lounge usage. K even fell asleep on the couch.

All the shops still closed.
Lounge invitations.
Sri Lankan lounge.
Lots of seating spaces.
Buffet spread.
Food from the lounge.

620am and the boarding started. The lounge staff went to inform the passengers about boarding and I carried K trying not to wake him but upon reaching the plane, he woke up. Getting into the business class section was easy since there were lots of space for people and bags. Mommy and K sat on one aisle while I sat alone at the other side. Though I felt that the luxurious part of the seats weren’t there when we first flew at the start of the trip, it was still a lot better than squeezing in economy.

Business tickets!

There was a welcome drink and warm towels for us. The headsets looked sturdier with noise isolation features but we couldn’t watch anything since the screens were all within the armrests. Once we took off, we could use the tablet-like interface.

At business class.
Sturdier headsets.

I took out my camera to capture the view of Seychelles from the skies, managed to catch a circular rainbow as the plane got further away from the beautiful island, at the same time when the morning sun was rising up from the horizon. The end of a holiday.

Circular rainbow leaving Seychelles.

What followed was more food in the form of a breakfast, and I finished the omelette and whatever there were served to me. Mommy was full from the earlier breakfast and fed K his omelette that he got from the economy planned child meal (there weren’t any child meals in business class). I was typing away on my phone of the events in the last two days while charging it plugging in to the screen and watching Bladerunner 2049. Mommy fell uncomfortable due to the bumpiness of the plane from turbulence and asked me to swap places so that I could get K to sleep. K went to sleep after a while and I continued my typing and show.

Kids meal.
Adult ones.
Earl grey with milk.

Time flew past and a short while after the show ended, which I found quite confusing about the plot, partly because I wasn’t fully focused on watching it, the pilot announced our arrival and the landing would be taking place soon. I prepared K’s seat, blocking all the bright lights with pillow so that K remained asleep and managed pretty well as he remained sleeping right till we were about to exit the plane.

Long coast of Sri Lanka.

Carried him to as far as the transit office and he woke up. I checked at the transit counter if we could change the reservations from the Catamaran Beach hotel to the Serenediva hotel inside the airport and he informed that it was not possible and we had to pay separately to the hotel if we chose not to accept the free accommodation as per the time we first flew in. Mommy wanted more rest time and so we chose to go to the newer hotel on the 2nd floor.

We checked with the reception and it was USD120 for a 12hr block. I paid with credit card and it was then I realized that I have left 2 important things in the luggage. One was my own Singapore SIM card, which meant I remain uncontactable by mobile until Singapore and the other was Sri Lankan currency and SGD!

Serenediva hotel.
Hotel room.
Seating area and dresser.
Toilet.

We were given a room with a double and a single bed and in a much better room than what we had in Catamaran Beach hotel. Used the free WiFi and tried to look for pasta as K wanted to have pasta. Coffee Bean had pasta so we proceeded to it for K’s lunch.

fLunch at Coffee Bean.We had initially thought of getting out of the airport for food after K’s meal. Checking with the visa personnel, he said we could just go through immigrations because we were Singaporean. Powerful Singapore passport! But the more we find out what to expect outside the more we decided against going. My plan was to go see the Dutch fort, Dutch canal and probably walked around that area in Negombo where there were also some church and market. But the costs one way by taxi was in the region of 2800LKR which was about 25SGD and thus the whole trip could be already 50SGD. From the TripAdvisor tips, those places didn’t looked like it’s worth the trip so we gave up.

Ended up shopping at the airport instead while mommy bought some coconut oil since it was commonly produced in Sri Lanka, I was confused by the 4 brands of tea stores, not sure where to buy from.

We returned to the room and while K entertained himself with the toys that we brought along, the parents had some time on the mobile phones. Gave K his packets of milk and after some storybooks, he got into the single bed with me and I coerced him to sleep. He developed the strange reasoning of not liking the pillows and insisted on sleeping on me. So for a good 1hr, I was immobilized and also took some time to catch some rest.

I got a chance to find out a place we could get some Sri Lankan crabs and at the same time near to the airport. TripAdvisor number 1 was Mermaid food court and on Google map, it looked pretty close.

Managed to convince mommy to head out for dinner and once everyone was up, we left the room to first finish our purchases at the duty free, with mommy getting her spa stuff and me topping up the food to bring back, like Cashew nuts and Zesta tea bags. Left all the purchases in the room before we went through immigrations, which was smooth with no questions asked.

Zesta tea boutique.

Once out, mommy went to exchange SGD50 for about 5800LKR at one of the many exchanges that all had the same rates. We then proceeded to walk to the main road after checking with one of the airline staff who was also leaving the airport, on where to get a Tuk Tuk ride. At the entrance the touters approached us and upon showing them the Google map and naming a street near it, we were quoted 700rupees, in which I asked for 300rupees. We ended at 500rupees to get to our destination.

Tuk tuk.

It was an amusing ride for K as he sat together with us on the Tuk Tuk and we arrived shortly at Mermaid restaurant after 10mins, with me guiding the rider using my Google map.

Mermaid seafood restaurant.

We arrived at a modernly designed restaurant by the lagoon and was shown the location on the lagoon for the seats. Although it wasn’t really bright enough under the twinkling stars, it was sort of better according to the owner as there was more windy and had less mosquitoes. Crossing a tiny bridge, we made ourselves comfortable on the bench and long table.

Inside Mermaid restaurant.
Mermaid statue.

The food came after some 30mins of BBQ on the grill, two crabs and 4 prawns, a prawn fried rice and chicken macaroni. There was juice and vanilla milk shake too. We enjoyed the food thoroughly and though I liked the grilled taste of the crab, mommy thought than the Singapore version where crab with sauce tasted better since BBQ made the meat dry. The other food was tasty too as K liked both the fried rice and macaroni. All these only for 3750rupees. The owner even helped get us a Tuk Tuk back for 400rupees.

Macaroni.
Fried rice.
Juice.
Vanilla milkshake.
Sri Lankan crabs!
Neighbouring restaurant.

It was the same route back on a street with still some traffic even at almost 10pm. We arrived at a gate meant for Tuk Tuk drop off and after bidding farewell, it was back to a rather crowded and busy airport. We went through security checks twice quickly since we only had 2 bags and immigrations had a short line too. Returned to the room and quickly took a bath before taking a really short nap. Somewhere at 1215, a call came into the room to wake us up, asking us to check out.

Day 12

Got up and did whatever final packing before carrying the napping K in my arms. We returned the room card and proceeded to the basement gate R1 to go through the final security, which involved taking out the shoes. This was so troublesome that my movement woke K up. After that, a short wait at the gate, we had to take a bus to the plane. Got up the plane which ended up as a pretty full flight.

The flight back was just tiring as the lack of sleep hit us. After watching his same favorite show of Little Pony and teletubbies and eating some meal, K couldn’t get to sleep quickly. Both mommy and me was already nodding off after our chicken briyani and it was not until a long while of tossing and turning did he managed to doze off. We landed with no drama after but again I had to carry the napping K off the plane which woke him up. It wasn’t really a good flight timing looking back.

Sunrise enroute to Singapore.

This CNY trip was planned to take full advantage of the very long weekend that we had and at the same time, visit a non-Chinese and not cold country. It was also to fulfill one of our bucket list country to visit. The visit met my expectations to say the least, really one of the destinations with nothing much to do except to chill and enjoy the beaches. I probably missed out the lot on water activities such as snorkeling and visits to the islands but I guessed it would be more enjoyable for K to have less seasickness on the boat rides and less mosquito bites. However, in terms of beauty, Fiji seemed to take our breath away more probably because of its exclusivity as a really small resort island but close behind was the Beau Vallon beach that we visited and loved on the last day.

Seychelles 2018 Day 10 – Beau Vallon beach

Our last day in Seychelles started at 8 when K woke up for milk and didn’t want to return to bed. We decided to go to Beau Vallon for breakfast and some beach fun. 5mins drive and we arrived at a carpark opposite Coral Strand Resort. Then it was a short walk to the car free path to the beach. Only realized a much closer carpark that was close to La Plage restaurant upon walking on the street.

Morning view from the villa.
End of the road for the cars.
Carpark.
Walking street along Beau Vallon beach.
Carpark opposite La Plage restaurant.

There was supposed to be a bazaar but since it was still early there weren’t much stalls up and running. We walked past a few restaurants that were still closed until a La Plage restaurant that had brunch available and a beach side sitting area. Ordered an egg benedict, fruit platter, a bowl of honey pops and yogurt and iced macchiato, all for a restaurant price of 512rupees. The food quality wasn’t the best, the cereals had bugs and were not crispy.

La Plage restaurant.
Fruits platter.
Cereals.
Egg benedict.
Iced Macchiato.
Book containing the invoice.
What we see from the table.
Beau Vallon beach pano.

After our breakfast that took awhile, almost 30mins of waiting, we proceeded to the Beau Vallon beach. The beach was long and had a lot of people but still there was plenty of space to run about. We liked the low water height even until a distance from the beach, the level was only waist high. At the same time, there were waves coming in that K thoroughly enjoyed crashing into them. Not much fishes we could see but as expected from a human dominated beach. There were enough shades, the sand was soft and slightly moist, good for sandcastles. Close proximity to food. We thought this was one of the best beach in Seychelles!

Panorama view of the Beau Vallon beach.
Para-sailng.
Nice day at the beach.

When K had enough of sand play and water, we went to the nearby burger stalls to takeaway a burger and chips for 50rupees and another to buy fried noodles for 50rupees too. Then we went to some stalls selling souvenirs to see if there were anything interesting before we went back to our car. The town was just starting to wake up but we need to go as there seemed to be a storm coming.

Packed noodles for lunch.
Burger takeaway.

On the way back, K fell asleep but awoke when we tried to bring him to the bed. After drinking milk, he wouldn’t return to sleep so we had lunch first. Then when we were done with all this and went to bed, he wouldn’t sleep. It was kinda hot as the aircon didn’t seemed to work so well since the place was too huge to cool down. After struggling for an hour or so, we decided to just go Eden island for a visit. On the way there, I filled the gas to full with 300rupees so that there was no need to top up before our red eye flight on early Monday morning.

Chicken and chips and fried noodles.
Chicken burger

Driving the car to Eden island too half an hour but K fell asleep soon after. I parked the car in Eden Plaza carpark and went down myself to check out the place. However as it was Sunday, nothing except the SPAR supermarket, a yogurt store and a minimart was opened. I explored the surroundings and took photos of the yachts parked at the water front and returned to the car. We were unable to get packet milks as these weren’t available at the supermarkets.

View from the drive to Eden Island.
Eden Plaza.
Lots of yacht parked at the waterfront.
Waterfront living next to the yacht.
Eden Island panorama.

Mommy decided we should visit the most northern point and so we drove along the east coast. There was STC hypermarket that we passed but it was closed as well by 430pm so we just continued on our joyride. Along the way, we saw a couple of nice beaches and people were all just enjoying them, spending time on the beach and water, family and all. I guessed this was what Seychelles was all about.

Scenery on the drive up north.

While we crossed the northern tip, K woke up and was feeling good. We went back to the apartment and spent some time utilizing the hammock overlooking the sea, welcoming the setting sun while role playing pirate ship. It was just fun time, precious moments before returning to harsh reality of rat race Singapore.

After taking a bath and peeling myself away from the beautiful sunset right presented on the veranda of the apartment, we drove back to closer carpark near La Plage restaurant and got off to look for dinner. Didn’t know if there was any restaurant but ended up buying street food, first ordering banana chips (50rupees per packet) to bring back home to Singapore and then BBQ fish for dinner, with rice and noodle and chicken on a stick for (200rupees). Mommy went back to La Plage restaurant to takeaway a scoop of vanilla icecream as promised to K and we then returned to the apartment.

Sunset view from our villa.
Twilight at Beau Vallon beach.
Walking street at night.
Fried banana snack stall.
Grilled fish.
Choices of fish to choose from.
Other supplements from the store.
Ice-cream in a plastic cup takeaway.
Unwrapping the fish.

Fed K his dinner after his icecream treat in the car and we had our fish which was really fresh and delicious and really worth it.

The night was spent packing the luggage and a day back for our transit in Colombo and more moments of pirate ship on the hammock before we called it a night. It would be a very tiring return beginning with a 530am flight to Colombo, and then a 1am flight on Tuesday morning to Singapore. K couldn’t get to sleep and I thought it must have been the heat. The overhead fan didn’t provide any comfort and was mostly useless against the mosquito net. Brought the standing fan over and finally the fidgeting stopped and we drifted to dreamland.

Seychelles 2018 Day 9 – Mahe and The Magic Circus of Samoa

Mommy woke up early to prepare the meals while I made some milk for K before returning to bed. The next thing I knew it was 8 and everything was put on hyper mode.

We had a plane to catch at 955am to Mahe and I rushed to pack the luggage and got K prepared and dressed. Then I loaded the luggage into the car first before mommy and K followed behind. Returned the beach towels and the umbrella and as the lady tried her best to settle the final invoice, she wasn’t sure if there was anything extra to charge. There was supposedly some extras but technically we didn’t ask for an extra bed and therefore shouldn’t have any charges. Finally after struggling with the invoice for 10mins, mommy signed off a receipt and we left.

Then it was a 20mins drive to the airport in Praslin. Supposed to return a full tank for the car, in the end we skipped pumping gas all together and arrived at the carpark of the small airport at around 915am. The staff for the Capricorn car rental was there waiting and upon checking the car conditions and the fuel tank, charged me 200rupees before we bade each other farewell.

Check in was done upon entering the front of the airport and we were given our tickets before we proceeded to the left for the gate 1min walk away. At that time, we were the only people at the gate waiting and there were 2 shops opened, one was a jewellery store and another selling souvenirs. Our plane hadn’t arrive and we spent the waiting time window shopping and having our bread for breakfast.

Check in counters.
Departure gate.
Waiting area at the gate.

Soon the propeller plane arrived and we walked through the gate with another 5 people to board the tiny plane. This was a first propeller plane ride for K. The take off was smooth and swift as the runway didn’t have the length to allow a long takeoff. The 20mins journey was smooth, and mommy felt this Air Seychelles flight option was even better than the Cat Cocos ferry ride, for almost the same price. Once we arrived in Mahe airport, we had to make a dash to the building as the skies drizzled.

Propeller planes only.
Inside the domestic flight.
Praslin small airport
Leaving Praslin.
Arriving Mahe.

Immediately past the doorway was the luggage reclaim area. There was no physical belt and people were expected to pick up direct from the staff at the door. We were surprised to find many unclaimed luggage, not sure if the people realized the location of luggage reclaim.

Luggage reclaim spot.

Called Absolute Cars rental staff and again he was late and would need another 15mins. So we took a break ourselves ordering some drinks from the cafeteria there while the rain continued to pour outside. Met up with the staff who then waited for us to complete having our drinks before driving to the pickup location to handover the car. Since the paperwork was completed on the first leg of our tour, it was just a quick check on the condition and the fuel and we took over the car.

Route to domestic airport.
Tortoise statue with wings.
Eating place at the airport.

We first drove to the town center of Mahe, Victoria. There was a carpark next to Sir Selwyn market and by the time we arrived after going through a busy town jammed with cars, we couldn’t get a carpark after waiting for a bit. Asking the attendants there didn’t help as they asked me to park by the road if there were any available. So we drove around town and somehow we ended up at Francis Rachel street where we found a parking lot which was pretty empty.

Saw a clown on stilts.
Much bigger alternative carpark.

We walked past Nouvobanq and wanted to exchange more Seychelles Rupees but they were closed by the time we arrived as it was a Saturday. We proceeded to go around town, taking photo of the Seychelles Big Ben. Then we walked to Sir Selwyn market to take a walk and mommy bought some vegetables. There were some shops on the 2nd level selling clothes and stuff but we didn’t get anything else.

Victoria Clock tower, aka Big Ben of Seychelles.
Sir Sewlyn Market.
Inside the market.
Stalls selling vegetables.
Big fishes for sale.
Above the colourful umbrellas.

We walked around and found a toyshop called Toybox and bought a wooden horn for K and a shaker for a niece back home. After we exited, the shop closed for the day too. A quick walk to the Hindu temple for a photo shot before we returning to the carpark. On the way, we entered a Taste of Italy cafe to buy pizza and pasta for takeaways and exchange money at Money Stretcher for 1euro to 16.8rupees. By the time we got onto the car, the road had less traffic and we were on our way to Marquise Villas. The weekends really turn the main town into a ghost town.

Toybox selling French brand toys.
Hindu temple, Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar
Chinese architecture in the background.
Street in Victoria.
Taste of Italy.
Inside Taste of Italy.
Italian cuisine choices.
Money Stretcher for forex.
Church in Victoria.
Statue in some compound in Victoria.

30mins drive to our accommodation for the last 2days of Seychelles and I slowed down upon arrival at the location showed on google maps. The apartment staff came to the car and guided us into the private carpark and shielded us from the rain to the doorstep of the apartment with umbrellas. While they did an introduction of the apartment, another staff helped bring down all the other barang barang.

The apartment was just next to the sea, sitting atop some boulders where the waves crashed against just below. There was a nice veranda with a hammock and a bed and some sitting area. A compact but complete kitchen, dining area and living room with cable tv and a modern designed toilet. There was aircon near a king size bed. The apartment staff was very friendly and gave us a local phone to contact them if we needed help.

Dining area and living room.
Bedroom.
Verandah.
Open air compound attached to the villa.
Toilet with shower.
Mirror and sink.
Kitchen.

We settled down for our packet lunch and then it was nap time for K. K was already feeling tired and going to sleep took only a while. The staff told us that the beach just opposite the Vimal shopping center was a good location for snorkeling and so I left for it, borrowing the snorkeling gears of goggles and flippers found in the apartment.

There were some locals fishing and selling big fishes by the road. I left my slippers on the rock and proceeded into the water with waves coming straight at the beach. I took a gulp of sea water after a while in the water as I was really rusty in snorkeling but later get the hang of it, trying to take some photos with my waterproofed camera. There weren’t a lot to see and my camera was behaving weirdly so I didn’t stay too long.

Little beach near the villa.
School of tiny fishes.
Sea urchins.
More fishes.
Occasionally bigger fish, and my chin.

Upon return to the apartment, found mommy preparing meals while K was still napping. Took a bath and sunned the wet clothes at the lines at the veranda before joining K in bed for a rest.

Around 6plus, K woke up and I got him dressed quickly as we were going to the Samoa circus. As the sun have set, the streets became dark illuminated only by sparsely distributed street lamps and many cars on the road in both directions.

We arrived at the circus at 7plus for the 7pm show and parked along the main road as the inner carpark seemed full. Purchased the cheapest tickets for 225rupees per adult and 125rupees for kid. There were better seats available but we didn’t go for that.

Samoa circus.
Pricing.
Circus tickets.

We bought some food at the counters just after the entrance and ordered 2 hot dog buns for 80rupees. Presented the tickets to the staff on the inside and were showed some empty seats. We were lucky to get the front seats of our category. Fed K in the often dimmed lighting after we downed the hot dogs and watch the show at the same time. Also bought K a wand that he was so amused with, for 25rupees. There was an intermission at the 1hr mark where we could get out of our uncomfortable benches ( the most expensive seats came with back rests) to walk about before returning for the remaining hour. It was a new experience for K who hadn’t seen a circus show before, one that had clowns, acrobatics, aerialists, magicians and death defying motorcycles in a ball cage.

Snack stores.
Acrobats.
Balancing act.
Human fountain.
Another balancing stunt.
Human caterpillar?
Clown on a rope.
Aerialists.
Motorcycle sphere.

The show ended at around 930pm where there was a chance for audience to take photos with the circus crew for 100rupees but we gave that a miss. It was then a 30mins drive back, similar to the drive there difference only with less cars.

We returned back to the apartment and started the night routine of cleaning up and preparing for bed. It was after 11pm that we slept.

Seychelles 2018 Day 3 – Anse Intendance, Anse Royale town and Maria’s rock cafe

We all woke up at around 7ish and K immediately got out of bed and went to the kitchen counter, asking for the packet milk. As he had seen it yesterday and I told him that I would allow him to have it in the morning, that was then his first task once he woke up. Funny.

Morning tasks involved the preparations of lunch for mommy and getting K prepped for the day for me. K just ate his breakfast of bread and cookies and watch TV while I had to clean up the crumbs after him while he walked around.

We had some milo that mommy bought from the supermarket the day earlier and I tried to make coffee which I thought was filtered but wasn’t. Used the filter from the machine to filter it manually.

View from the balcony

We cancelled our initial plan of going to Moyenne island as mommy felt that it was a little tiring for a day trip to end at 4pm, concerned that K, having woke up at 7am, lacked the sleep. Anyhow, we would also be seeing the giant tortoise in Curieuse Island. Instead we would be visiting one of the beautiful beach called Anse Intendance some 30mins away by car.

Packed and then we were on our way. Taking the coastal road, the roads became narrower as we drove. No wonder there weren’t many big cars around. Soon we saw the signage for Banyan Tree resorts. I passed it thinking that there was another turn as the google map didn’t reflect that. Had to make a Uturn afterwards which was not easy as I had to find space. Back to the road that led to Banyan tree, we reached to the end and found Banyan tree entrance and a dirt road. Wasn’t sure if the dirt road was meant for driving and asked a person standing nearby. He informed that we just that to drive through the dirt road and the parking for the beach was a 2mins away. So we went through a real bumpy one before arriving at an open space and parked our car there.

Public carpark for Interdance Beach.
Path to beach
A short walk

It was slightly drizzling but the weather managed to hold up as we made our way to the beach. Right after some warning signages informing about dangerous waves during the Sept period, and another talking about sea turtles laying their eggs on this beach ( its one of the beaches that sea turtles come lay their eggs from Oct), we came up to a powdery sand beach with turquoise water and medium size waves crashing onto the beach. We walked towards Banyan tree and chose a shaded area to sit down. There wasn’t any tables and chairs and shelters for public use, the loungers were for the resorts guests. There weren’t any cleaning facilities either. We were frankly under prepared as it was our first beach visit.

Interdance beach that was mostly empty early in the day.

Anyhow we still continued to let K enjoy himself. Took out the sand scoop where he dumped sand all over after he had sunscreen applied on him unwillingly. Managed to show him a tiny crab crawling on the ground. Brought him to the waters where the wave crashed in and he had such crazy fun, screaming as the waters flushed our legs in all directions. Needless to say, K was mostly all wet and sandy and myself too, only a little less.

Tiny crab on the beach

After spending about an hour there, the sun became quite unbearable and so we returned back to the shade and changed K out into a new set of clothes. Then we trudged through the sand back to our cars, during this time the beach was getting busier. It was amazing how these people could prefer such a time to go under the sun.

These public beaches were really left untouched, so much so that there weren’t even restrooms and wash down facilities (at least I couldn’t find it) like that you would expect in East Coast Park. The car suffered a sandstorm as a consequence but heck, if there weren’t sand in the car, we hadn’t been to Seychelles!

We drove towards Anse Royale town and K was visibly exhausted from the play, relatively quiet during the trip there. Town was really small and most of the shops closed. Didn’t even realized that we had arrived and passed through it 2 times! Then we saw a certain Kreol Kafe and thought we would stopped there for lunch. It was indeed good choice, the location was beautiful, beach set up with a beautiful view of Anse Royale beach. While we waited for our Hawaiian pizza to be baked, I took a stroll to the beach to get some pictures and feel the nice gentle waters.

Anse Royale as we passed in the car.
Kafe Kreol
Inside the cafe

 

Loungers near Kafe Kreol
Dining area on the beach
Pano of beachfront at Kafe Kreol.
Anse Royale in the background.
Clear waters

Since it was going to take some time, mommy suggested that I drive to the Anse Royale beach itself to get some photos – we passed through it just before arriving at the cafe was enchanted by its scenery! I drove and parked at the public carpark next to it, (luckily to slot in on arrival as it was a pretty popular beach with cars packing the parking lot) and got off to walk on powdery but packed sand and to the waters. It was warm and nice and the huge boulders and island made the place looked like a paradise! Couldn’t help but took a selfie and even video down the scenery.

At the roadside carpark at Anse Royale
Anse Royale beach
Anse Royale beach

Returned to the restaurant and K was finishing his meal. The water splashed on the tabletop of his child’s seat and an empty glass told a story of him being clumsy during lunch, usual of a kid. Pizza was just arriving and it was huge. So both mommy and me shared the pizza without ordering more food. We ended with one scoop of vanilla ice cream to cool of the sweltering heat and K took most of it, almost wanting to drink up the melted cream too. This ended up with a bill of 345rupees that included a 1liter mineral water.

Bread starter
Hawaiian pizza fresh from the oven.

I drove to the petrol station just opposite the cafe and pumped 5liter gas, expecting to bring the level back to a quarter. For whatever reason, after paying 100rupees, the level didn’t move at all (the attendant would be doing the dirty work as you drive the car and pay directly to him. He didn’t bother returning the change, it was about 18rupees per liter). I went to pick up mommy and K from the supermarket close by and drove in for another round, this time I specified by amount paid (200rupees) and the level shot to half tank! I over top up by a quarter tank.

We drove back to the villa and took some time to wash down all the sand, from the clothes to the toys and the body. The sun was shining brightly and it would be a sin not to sun our wet clothes. There was a clothes hanger outside the apartment and I hung everything that I washed there. Then we prepared for the afternoon nap, both mommy and K were  exhausted and felt asleep shortly and I took a short nap and woke up to jot down the happenings the 2 days that past.

Sunset at our balcony.

Mommy woke up to prepare dinner for K and a while later, K also woke up. After a bit of TV while we prepared to go out for dinner, we drove towards Maria’s rock cafe, 15mins away. Enroute, we stopped at a store to get water (to last us till the next morning, mommy need to cook. Though Seychelles tap water could be boiled, we always took the more conservative approach for K’s meal). There was a outside party going on across the road with many cars parked along side the road and many people gathered with some music playing in the background.

A tiny store still open where we bought water.
Just opposite was a local party ongoing.

We drove on and the streets became darker, contributed by the setting sun and the lack of street lamps. The restaurant was at a really ulu location and in a narrow street after passing Kempinski Resort. There was once at a location where I had to park very close to the edge so that the other cars could pass the one car width road. Nonetheless, we managed to get there and parked in front of the restaurant, that had a pirate theme to it.

Maria’s Rock cafeteria
Elevated restaurant, the only lighted place.

Ordered a meal of prawns and fish fillet and passion fruit juice and Fanta orange. The food was to be self cooked on a hot hot plate. Greasing the plate with their 2 formulae of butter with some unknown ingredients, the fish fillet and the fresh prawns were then put onto the plate, sizzling and releasing steam up into the air with the smell of BBQ seafood. Adding sauce to the one plate of rice and veggies salad (since we only ordered one meal), the dinner was pretty delicious! The prawns were fresh and the fish tasted tender and nice. The rice was tasting good with the sauce, a little bit like tobasco without the spiciness. As the portions weren’t enough for 2 of us, we ordered another one this time with fish only.

Menu
Juice and Fanta
Before cooking
End product
Fish, onions and carrots

While K entertained himself at the pirate ship that came with a skeleton steering wheel and a nice hammock to watch the stars in the clear night sky, we cleared the 2nd portion of the meal and I ordered a Creole Cappuccino, cappuccino with the addition of spice, to end the dinner. A meal that costed 707rupees.

Pirate ship next to the restaurant
Skull steering wheel
Scrapping spice over the cuppa.
Kreol Cappucino

The drive back was mostly done in the dark illuminated once in a while by the sparsely installed street lamps. As it was late (by Seychelles standards) there weren’t many cars around. There were however quite a number of people walking along the road. I had to drive slowly and a few times I had to brake because I wasn’t sure what I saw on the road. As a result, K vomitted in the car once we arrived back at the apartment. Quickly got K out and immediately cleaned up quickly hopefully that the stench will not remain.

The night was spent bathing in the tub, cleaning up the dishes and packing in preparations for our transfer to La Digue the next day. We slept at about 11pm, seemed like we had already adjusted to Seychelles timing.

Seychelles 2018 Day 2 – Arrival into Mahe

The iPhone alarm woke me up at 430am and I quickly got up to brush my teeth and awoken up mommy while at it. Changed K out of his PJs which was slightly wet due to pee leakage from his diapers and K also woke up. He was quick to adjust especially when I told him that we were taking another flight where he could watch the Little Pony again and became cooperative.

At 445am there was a morning call in the form of hard knocking on the door. We had to answer the door to acknowledge before going back to the packing. Then 5am again. We left the room at 505 and checked out, while we heard some conversation between the staff and our neighbors as they hadn’t check out yet.

Waiting at first floor were some other guests too. We guessed it right, the transfer was not only for us but for a few guests. While some like us did not really need the 3hrs, the others did. We boarded the 20 seater bus and it drove to another hotel a few distance down and picked up a couple before zooming through the quiet streets of Negombo. K was already tired and was lying across my lap resting before we arrived at the departure terminal of the airport.

Mini bus.

We went through the bag checks and walked through immigration. Proceeded to the 2nd level where the shopping area was and had our breakfast at Coffee Bean, the total costs was 4000rupees. That took out half the amount that we changed the previous day but it was fine. There were also charging ports available and I had to plug in my dying phone. We all shared croissant, quiche and cheesecake and then took a walk around before waiting at the seats facing the runway where the planes were parked.

Breakfast at Coffee Bean.
Big baby care room in the airport.

Before we knew it, it was time to board and after using the toilets, we quickly go through the gates for yet another round of scanning before entering a waiting area where buses brought the passengers to the planes on the runway for boarding. After we settled down, K started his video while we all rested and waited for the takeoff.

It was a smooth flight and similarly as the flight in the previous day, K got his breakfast earlier. This time around, the food was ok for both the spicy local and the international. K also took a 1.5hrs nap after his breakfast while I was napping for a bit and then got up to watching some episodes of Big Bang Theory (the movies were limited and I wasn’t interested in the rest). There were short episodes of turbulence that accompanied the journey but no drama too.

Child’s meal.
Adult meal

Soon we were descending into regions of calm waters and the plane landed nicely into the airport of Seychelles, on time at about 1030am! The temperature was also hot, hotter than Singapore comparatively at this time. As expected, it was a small airport and we had to walk on the tarmac to get into the immigrations. Got our passport stamped and proceeded to the luggage belt, hopping that the luggage had arrived safely, and it did.

Brought the luggage through customs and out into the arrival. Was hoping to see my name on the cardboard as mentioned in the email instructions from Absolute Cars rental but didn’t see any. So we figured that we settle some of our stuff first by going to the forex to exchange some rupees while mommy lined up at Airtel to get data plan. Barclays was the only one opened and I exchanged 100 Euros with them for 1:1.64. Nouvobanq next door could do slightly better but was closed for a short while. We got our data plan of 1.5gB for 30days at 25euros. We actually wanted to get a 2gB for 7 days at 11 Euros and 2 of them which would actually be cheaper by 3euros but the counter staff said that it would be activated immediately so it did not make sense to get that. I wasn’t in the mood to argue and just let it be.

Arrival in paradise.
Seychelles Airport.
Forex at Seychelles.

Called the number on the email and was informed that there was a traffic accident in town and thus the car was late. One of the staff actually found us and brought us to the Skychef shop to wait. I brought some drinks from the store and soon after, our car arrived!

I moved the luggage into the Grand i10 which was smaller than my expectations (was initially offered the smaller i10 and I asked for a bigger one). Managed to squeeze one luggage at the trunk and one at the front seat. Returned the baby seat which was too small for K and signed off the contract as the staff was rather relaxed on the checks. Then with the GPS for the Sir Selwyn Clarke Market punched in, we were on our way.

Enroute we saw SPAR supermarket on Eden island and made a stop there instead of going to the market. The 1st hour was free in Eden Plaza and we proceeded to SPAR supermarket that we awfully familiar with while our time in Europe. The only difference was that we had to put our bags in lockers provided before entering. We got the chicken, the veggies, the eggs, the milk and the water. Even bought some biscuits for breakfast the next day. Just outside the supermarket was an exchange and I was surprised to see they would take in SGD but for a price of 10:1 SGD. Changing Euros was actually better and thus we changed another 200euros.

Eden Plaza.
Spar International.
Bag storage tag.
Inside Spar.
Eden plaza parking.

Punched in Sailfish Villas and we drove some 30mins to the location. As the road went up and down the hill, with many bends, K felt a little unwell and burped out. Luckily he didn’t vomited though we had plastic bags already on standby. The route we took brought us to a viewpoint that had a panoramic viewpoint of the Eden island. After stopping for a bit of photos, we continued on downhill. Once we saw the beautiful turquoise waters of the Anse A la mouche, we turned into the small road as indicated by the signs and parked at one of the sheltered carpark. A man helped informed the lady in charge and she drove her car and guided us to the correct villa. It was just a minute drive away.

We were then shown a 2 bedroom huge villa that had a great view of the bay, 2 bedrooms and one came with a huge tub, a good kitchen and big living room with TV. There was a laundry room outside and the whole placed was protected by security and motion sensors! Of course there was WiFi.

Viewpoint Panorama
Welcome tea and snack.
Master bed
Real Hibiscus flower.
View from the bedroom
Huge tub
Sink
2nd room
2nd bathroom
Living room
Kitchen
Common toilet
Balcony

After we paid the remainder of 107euros for K who wasn’t part of the Agoda booking, we called Teddy glass bottom boats to make a reservation for trip to Moyenne island the next day before heading out to Anchor cafe for lunch. It was a short drive before we arrived at the cafe with its own private parking lot.

Ordered fish of the day and some chicken curry, a vanilla milk shake and fruit juice. K had some fun climbing up the huge anchor. The food was nice but quite expensive 693rupees in total. And it was really warm since there was neither aircon nor natural draft. After some last few climbs at the anchor, we returned to the villa to take an afternoon nap at around 4ish, trying to adjust to the new time zone.

Huge Anchor at Anchor cafe
Hanging propellers
Our drinks.
Fish of the day
Chicken Curry
Inside Anchor Cafe

The next thing I knew, I was awoken by mommy who had woken up earlier to prepare dinner. It was already 630pm and the sun was almost setting. Took a picture of the setting sun but it was a little cloudy.

Sunset seen from the balcony.

The rest of the evening was spent in front of the TV and having dinner that mommy cooked. Seychelles was a country at nice and slow pace, allowing ample family time as there weren’t much to do in the evening. That was how we spent the evening, in front of the TV with a bottle of Seybrew and at the tub, nice end to a tiring day as the body adjusts to the 4hrs time difference.