Nouvobanq Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Seychelles 2018 Day 11 & 12 – Home Sweet Home

Posted on February 19, 2018March 18, 2018 by ziyi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 9 – Mahe and The Magic Circus of Samoa

Posted on February 17, 2018March 17, 2018 by ziyi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hindu temple, Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar

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.

Open air compound attached to the villa.

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.

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.

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.

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 2 – Arrival into Mahe

Posted on February 10, 2018March 4, 2018 by ziyi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.