Sunset in Port Louis - ポートルイスの夕日

Picture taken from the balcony of my office.

会社のベランダから

Fr. Andre are you there?

We have a family friend in the Philippines who has a friend in Mauritius. Apparently he gave me a  letter and gift to bring it to him when I reach this island. But then he forgot to add the complete address of the church that he is staying and the cell number written was no longer in use. The gift has been sitting in the dining table for months now. It has been a while and I thought, I mihgt have chance by going to one of the churches here and ask for him 

So I went to this church which was closest from Flic en Flac. The time was around 1pm and there was no one in the Church except for some teen agers practicing their band.

The church was nice and small. Probably 100 people can fit in it. It has been a while since I got into a church. I rather like the atmosphere of the church when there are less people. As I looked around, the masses seems to be in French as the announcement boards are in French or proabably Creol. 

So there it was, I was not able to ask any person who would probably know the existance of Fr. Andre. May be I will go earlier next time.

Whoa! - おぉ！

道を歩いてる間にピョンっとこいつが現れ！おぉ！っとびっくり！

カメラカメラ！と思い撮れました。

なかなかいい形をした生き物です。ただ走る姿がマヌケでおもしろかった。

And so I found Pork in Mauritius! - モーリシャスで豚を見つけました。

For almost 4 months pork has not shown up in this island. Knowing that there are alot of vergitarian and non pork eater in this island, I was assuming that I will not see a decent pork until I leave this island. Well they do have pork but mostly in form of bacon. Never thought that I would last of this long. For being a Filipino and Japanese and a regular pork eater, it is considered as not having soy sauce on their meals. Never thought that pork has been this connected with me but then today I finally was able to find a decent pork.  

So while I was on my way back from Port Louis market, different kind of pork dishes was popping on my mind. Since I needed to know the real taste of the pork here in Mauritius I decided to make something with less ingredient so that I will not spoil the taste. So I decided to have it in Lechn Kawali (A Filipino style deep fried pork) style. 

I added a sauce which is made of shredded radish, vinegar and soy sauce. The green garnish is made from the leafs of the radish, mixed with soy sauce and sesame seed oil.

The pork was soooo good that I was about to cry for joy when I had my first bite. It never tasted better! Bon apatite!!

この島に着陸してから4ヶ月近く豚との巡りがなかった。モーリシャスではイスラム宗教、ベジタリアンが多い為豚との縁がこのたびないのだろうなーと思いつつ、食べられる日はこの国から脱出した頃だろうと遠い未来をふっと思ったことがあった。まったく豚がないとはいえスーパーでは珍品で売ってるのはベーコン系になってるものだけ。ベーコンの豚カツなんて想像したくない。。。フィリピン人と日本人にとって豚がおかずから現れなくなるのは醤油が消えると同じぐらいだ。物の価値感がわかるのはそのものが無くなってからって本当なんだね。こんなに豚との深い愛情があったとはびっくりしまた。

けどそんなある日、豚と会いました。

ポートルイスマーケットから帰る途中に豚をどんな料理にするかを考えていて、久々の豚なので味を楽しみたいなーと思いフィリピン料理のレチョン・カワリ（油でカリカリに揚げる）に使用と決断。

普段これに使うソースが無い為、ちょっと和風テイストを入れて見ようと思いました。そこで出来上がったのがおろし醤油にちょっとお酢を加えたソースでした。見える野菜は大根の葉っぱを醤油とごま油であえたものです。

で晩飯にはまだ早い1730にもかかわらず豚を食べてみました。

う・ま・い。。。ご飯がめちゃくちゃ進みます。やばい。。

うれしすぎて涙が出そう。。。

というわけでボナペティ!

Mauritian sparrow - ちょっとかわったモーリシャスのスズメ

うん、このスズメに何か変わっていることにきずきました。

なんと頭がはげておる！毛がないのではなさそうですが頭が固そうです。

一生懸命パンを食いちぎってる様子。

まさしくこれは俺の餌だ！って構えてるスズメ。

Nice sunset after a long bus ride - 長いバス乗りから美しい夕焼け

ちょっと暗くして撮った写真です。

Tried taking the sunset by darkening.

犬タンも夕日を見るなんてびっくり。何を考えてるんだろう？

Even the dog looks at the beautiful sunset. I wonder what the dog thinks considering that they are color blind...

Pocky! - ポッキーだ!

キュールピップのバス停のお菓子屋さんで思わず目に入ったのがポッキーだ！っと慌てて買ってみました。セールだったので一箱１０ルピー（30円日本ではありえない値段…）。箱のちょっと右下に書いてある「The Super Snack」がちょっと笑えます。日本の箱にはなんて書いてあったっけ？

箱に書いてある文字は何語かわからないがポッキー自体は見た目同じであった。けど。。。。

味がぜんぜん違う。。。チョコレートが口の中で溶けません。

ポッキーとして食べていたら悲しくなりました。

極細ポッキーたべたいなーー。。。

Yellow Flower - 黄花

不思議な形をしたつぼみですが咲くととても綺麗な黄色い花でした。

Baie du Cap べ・デュ・カップ

I went on a journey this Saturday to check out the beaches on the southern part of the island.  So my I started from Flic en Flac and took a bus going towards Tamarin. Excited about to see some public beaches like in Flic en Flac.

Running about 15 mins, I probably figured that I was in Tamarin already but there was no signs that represented that I was in Tamarin. So I continued with the bus ride until it's final destination. 

A nice beach I see!

And this is where I got my self. Baie du Cap.

There was piratically no one in the beach except for some fishers and boats. It seemed that I was the only non-local goofy guy taking pictures on the beach which I thought wouldn't be a good idea on staying any longer around. 

Before reaching here there was several beach resorts, golf courses and hotels which I expect to have a exceptionally beautiful view. But of course the price will also be gorgeous.

So I took the next bus which I didn't even know where it was heading. Well it was obviously going south and may be by chance I can find some nice public beach. As I checked my only Mauritius Map from a guide book I bought in Japan, there seem to be junction ahead which I thought there will be a nice view from the top. Since I didn't know how to pronounce "Riviere des Anguilles" I wrote it down on a piece of paper and told the bus conductor to stop me there.

So after riding for about an hour and a half with sugarcane views, I reached a small town where there was no beach that I can see... 

Then again I took the next bus and surprisingly it was going towards Curepipe! So I took the bus and instead of going back the road I came from.

So this is how the journey I had. Basically it was a long 6 hours bus trip I had. Which turned out to be quite fun because I get to know that there was almost nothing to do around the southern part and some quite time to think.

The Blue line is the route of the bus and it was almost 1/4 of the entire island in 6 hours of bus ride!

大きな地図で見る - Check out on a bigger Map

Photos on the way home - 帰り道の写真

Just took some Photos from the cab I take. 

You can see some interesting bling blings which hangs on the rear mirror. 

帰り道の車から撮った写真。

リアーミラーにぶら下がってるお守りは結構ユニークでした。

Flowers of Mauritius

Walking home to Flic en Flac - フリッカン・フラックへの帰り道

この道路が唯一フリッカン・フラックにたどり着く一本道です。

道路を挟むサトウキビ畑、上から見るフリッカン・フラックの海と壮大にに見える眺めにいつも憧れこの道を一度歩いてみたかったので歩いてみました。

This is the only road that connects to Flic en Flac.

I've always wanted to walk this road that is sandwiched with everlasting sugarcane fields, a over looking view of the beach of Flic en Flac with a wide view of the sky.

So I decided to give a try and walk!

30分ぐらいで家にたどり着くと思ったら1時間以上かかって、結構長い道のりでした。。。

I thought I would have gone home in 30 mins but it took me more than a hour. It was quite a long walk than I expected...

Trou aux Cerfs crater Curepipe - トゥル・オ・セルフ キュールピップ

先週の土日にどこもいけなく今週末はキュールピップのトゥル・オ・セルフ・クレーター（火口跡）を見に行きました。町のバス停から約15分ぐらいの軽い坂道を歩きます。

頂上はクレーターのふちには散歩道になってありランニングしている人もいればベンチでピクニックしてる家族連れや眺めを楽しんでるカップルを見かけます。

クレーターから360度見える眺めはかなり最高！残念ながらちょっと曇り気味だったので青い空は見れませんでした。上にある写真は私が住んでいるフリッカン・フラック（西方面）さしています。

Went to Curepipe to check out the "Trou aux Cerfs crater" since last week I was not able to go out from Flic en Flac. The place was about 15 mins walk on a slight slope from the City bus stop.

The 360 view from the top was amazingly beautiful. Too bad the weather was not as perfect as I thought. 

Surrounding the crater is a walk path were people are jogging and walking. On places you see benches where alot of couples and family are gathered.

The picture above directs Flic en Flac. 

上から見た火口。

周りはびっしり植物が生えています。

Top view of the crater.

散歩道の辺りにある石のベンチ。

Concrete benches along the walk path.

かなりきれいな道なのでジョギングのやり甲斐があります。しかも上がり下りがあるので楽しそうです。

This looks like a nice road to jog especially with the ups and downs.

犬さんも楽しそうでした。

Even the dog looked happy!

というわけで久々に山からの眺めを久しぶりに見ました。