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Alex in Motion

A journal of curiousity & travel
February 12, 2016

Mauritius

I quickly realized that Mauritius is mostly an island for romantic couples, vacationing families and single women looking for local Mauritius men. In addition, the ratio of men to women is probably close to 4.27:1, but that’s just a number I completely made up just now.

Nevertheless, and despite the crappy, cloudy, rainy and humid weather, I made the most of my time here. The first day was an excursion to the east side of the island, and a boat tour to a nearby island and some waterfalls. It was quite relaxing, with lovely sand, and eat lobster on the beach. I also saw a live starfish for the first time (outside of the bedroom, lol).

Scuba diving was the next event, and I ended up partnering with a retired detective from the UK, whom I met on the plane from Johannesburg. Lemme tell you, he had some really cool stories to share, especially about a huge international drug bust. An octopus was the highlight of the dive, but I was unable to capture him properly on film.

Restaurants were significantly more expensive than in South Africa, so I took the opportunity to cook most meals at home. Eating fresh fruits and veggies made me feel balanced again, even though I had no idea how to properly cook beans (yes, I didn’t soak them first, so shoot me).

To keep the healthy attitude going strong, I significantly reduced my alcohol intake and started running again. It’s been 3 months since my last run, and I really missed it. Jogging next to beach, dodging the crazy drivers, sweating like I just stepped out of a shower and then cooling off in the Indian Ocean was more than therapeutic.

One oddity I noticed is there are cemeteries right next to the ocean. My apartment was 100 meters from the beach, with a cemetery in between. Guess the dead want a view, but I cannot help but imagine that eventually real estate demands could change the island’s outlook.

Unfortunately the rain was so bad I had to cancel a scenic hike up a mountain, and swimming with the dolphins was cancelled too. A shame really, I was really looking forward to the fishies (yes, I know they are not a fishy, but I call everything a fishy. I even caught myself saying, “Here fishy, fishy” to the great white sharks in South Africa.)

Mauritius is a place I would consider returning to, but only with a significant other, and if the weather was more agreeable.

BTW, today I agreed to volunteer at a dairy and adventure ranch in Sri Lanka in a month. I’ll stay 2 weeks with a family, helping 5 hours a day, improving their website and doing general handyman activities in return for room/board and meals. Pretty cool, eh?

February 9, 2016

Taking a moment

Before leaving Montreal, my friend Stephanie told me, “Alex, don’t live your vacation through a camera lens”. Sage advice.

I’ve actually been keeping that principle in mind for most of the trip. Upon arriving at an interesting place, I try to absorb the scene first, then snap a few pictures, and then return to simple enjoyment. And I’ve actually done this even more deeply throughout my life in what I call, “taking a moment”.

To take a moment, I stop whatever I’m doing and focus on using all five senses to capture everything possible. It aligns myself to the now, and forces me to be present.

  • What can I see: paying attention to big things and little things, to people and the way they dress and their mannerisms, to the movement of the leaves blowing in the wind, the spectacular waterfall, whatever the moment deserves
  • What I can hear: the wind rustling through the leaves, the birds marking their territory by chirping, the loud car honking in traffic, the waves lapping against the coral sands, the villagers hammering nails into a new fence, the crunch of the snow on my winter boots
  • What I can feel: the warm wind blowing the hairs on my arm, the sun warming my bearded face, the sand squishing between my toes, the tender goodbye hug from a friend
  • What I can smell: the salt of the ocean, the wandering smoke from a campfire, the roadside flowers in bloom, the homemade cooking of an African village
  • What I can taste: the homemade cooking of an African village (it was so good, it deserves being mentioned twice), the sweetness of a fresh mango, the chill of my strawberry daiquiri

Capturing as much as possible with these senses allows me to live in the moment, and to savour it for a few seconds. It doesn’t take long, and it allows you to appreciate the little things. It removes worry, fear and doubt, makes you momentarily forget about the past or the future, and allows you to just be.

I’ve become so involved in this little ritual that when I see people doing the exact opposite, it annoys me slightly. For example, while at a tourists destination in Mauritius, a group of Chinese people swarmed in. They took turns taking pictures of themselves with different combinations of people, with smiles and peace fingers, and at different angles. After snapping several dozen pictures, they left suddenly, and never even looked around.

It’s such as shame they traveled all this way and didn’t see anything.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.
– Eckhart Tolle

February 6, 2016

Johannesburg

Quite a few people warned me to stay away from Johannesburg, or Joburg or Jozi as the locals called it. They claimed it was a very unsafe city, with robberies and car hijackings occurring frequently. To prove this point, a couple from Singapore who had traveled for the last 16 months, admitted nothing bad ever happened, aside from being robbed in Joburg.

However, I didn’t want to be hindered by fear, so I ventured to this interesting city for a total 6 days (which sandwiched the trip to Kruger). Obviously I kept my wits about me, never walked downtown alone, and used Uber extensively.

Joburg is the largest city in the world that isn’t next to a body of water. It grew to this enormous city because of the nearby gold mines in 1886. Everyone wanted a piece of the action, and importing labour was cheap and effective. This resulted in a huge mix of white, black and coloured people. Note: A loose definition of coloured is anyone who is not white or black, but obviously most are a mix of the two.

The racially mixed people in Joburg really make the city feel alive, and they are some of the most friendly and welcoming people I’ve ever met. For example, after just 3 minutes in a local pub, The Living Room, I had already started 5 conversations. On a Sunday, I went to a local stand-up comedy show, which was highly entertaining even if I couldn’t understand all the local lingo and nuances.

South Africans mix the Afrikaans language with English, which results in cute sayings and sometimes shortened words. Some notable examples:

  • Air con = air conditioning
  • Brekkie = breakfast
  • Braai = BBQ
  • Lekker = good
  • Robot = traffic light
  • Hozit = how is it?
  • Just now = at some point in the future
  • Yabo = yes

For the touristy stuff, I visited

  1. The Apartheid Museum, to better understand why it happened, exactly what happened,  and how it ended. Also learned quite a bit about Nelson Mandela.
  2. The Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site, to see and learn about a 3.3 million year old human fossil, and the importance of Africa in our origins.
  3. The hop-on/hop-off city bus, to get a quick overview of the city. Mind you, I only hopped-off twice, once for the museum, and another to get a coffee.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time there. I met quite a few interesting locals and tourists, but also enjoyed exploring the city on my own. I heard the hostels in Soweto (the largest township around Joburg) are fabulous. Perhaps on my next visit.

Joburg wraps up a total of 7 weeks in South Africa. It is now one of my favourite countries in the world. As long as you’re street-smart, you’ll be fine, and will thoroughly enjoy this magnificent country.

 

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