Life list # 29. Visit a foreign country
In Sep, 2010 I had struck off another item from my life list but couldn’t write about it as I wasn’t documenting my list here, on the blog. Here’s to catching up!
I flew out of India in Sep 2010 and visited a foreign land, which happened to be Mauritius. It is a small island country next to Madagascar, to the East of Africa. I stayed there for a week and had a good fill of indulging in typical touristy activities. Water sports, without a doubt, were the highlight of the trip. Fabulous beaches, pleasant weather and 4-star hotel accommodation only made the experience more memorable.
Mauritius is a chilled out place, where you won’t really find too much to do. Sure, the country has its share of casinos and nature parks and botanical gardens… But the excellent weather scores the highest. I met several European travellers on my trip, so I’m assuming Mauritius is popular with them.
Here are a few pictures from my first trip abroad:
The superb, calm, beautiful Jalsa beach in Mauritius
Chilling in my room in Jalsa beach hotel in Mauritius.
The picture above is of my hotel room, which opened out to a garden and the path to the beach.
The one below is of a clump of soil in seven different colours, caused due to volcanic activity. It’s a fenced area and a pretty quirky handiwork of nature.
In the last picture, I am at the Casela Bird Sanctuary, where I had the pleasure of meeting this 60-year tortoise, who looked to me just like the ones in Mario!
This is where the soil is of seven different colours - vestiges of erstwhile volcanic activity on the island.
With a tortoise in the Casela bird sanctuary
Life list #14. Taste 100 new fruits
I’ve tasted quite a good number of fruits available in Indian markets. But, I’ve read names of many more fruits, that I don’t even know what they look it; let alone taste them.
So I’ve decided to taste at least 100 new ones, as a part of my bucket list programme, and I will be documenting the progress in this post.
Raspberry!
Raspberries
We begin with my trip to Germany in May 2011, where I had my heart’s fill of raspberries. Now I’ve had raspberries before, but in jams and jellies, so that doesn’t really count. Here, I tasted fresh raspberries, and ate them alone, unadulterated. And with Crème Bruûlée. And slathered over a cake.
Elderberry!
Passion Fruit Daiquiri with a sprig of elderberry and basil leaves
Elderberries are tiny berries and are a bartender’s favourite as they add a good flavour to most cocktails. I tasted my first elderberry in a Passion Fruit Daiquiri, again, on the trip to Germany.
Elderberries and basil leaves on my Passion Fruit Daiquiri
Mandarin on my creamy cake
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Mandarin!
A sweeter version of the orange, I tasted slices of mandarin on a piece of cake in Germany.
And that takes the count to 3 so far. 97 more to go!
Life list # 17. Fly Business Class
One more item ticked off the bucket list!
You know that flying Business Class is a distant dream, when one of the items on your wish list had been ‘Fly to somewhere on an aeroplane’ and ‘Visit a foreign country.’ So imagine the surprise when I got an upgrade from Economy to Business class on my flight from Mumbai, India to Frankfurt, Germany!
Business Class
I was extremely excited to enjoy the comforts of supreme luxury for the next eight hours of my life. And it turned out to be exactly like that. Spacious seats that fell backward up to 180 degrees, a few rounds of gourmet food served in branded glass crockery and well, I won’t even mention the open bar. Special space to stow your footwear, a section to put away your reading glasses for the night and a plug-point to access Internet were some more of the comforts. Oh, did I say that we did not have to wait in a queue to check in?
There were no babies bawling through the night and no kids running about in the aisles. Just a small bunch of business people in smart suits, who slept peacefully through the night.
That, in brief, is Business Class for you.
Nice And New 