THE HONEYMOON, PHASE 2: SEYCHELLES

Hey everyone, 

The much awaited grand finale to the journey from the announcement of my great news to the weddings, and now the phase 2 of my honeymoon is here. And yes, I had a BLAST!!! let me beginning by thanking you for following me on this journey, even though the posts took a long time in coming sometimes. I'll just get down to the gist of it. Remember in my last post I complained of the cold in Kenya and was praying for a better one in Seychelles? Well, God answered my prayers. We arrived and it was to a semi-sunny day (few drizzles that stopped in a few minutes. The drizzles actually felt like a heavy wind). It was still 80 degrees F. in went the jeans, long skirts and jackets and out came the shorts and tank tops. Did I forget to say bikinis? The honeymoon was definitely in full swing and Sexy was back!!! During the day and at night. LOL.

Seychelles, pronounced "say shells" or "see/sea shells" (I'd love to know exactly how they came by that name) is a beautiful group of islands divided into 8 provinces. I was told it had up to 115 islands but only 60% of those were inhabited. The capital Victoria is in Mahe. Mahe Island is about 27 kilometers in total. They said you could drive around it in 2 hours (that's its perimeter, not entering the town). They have a population of about 95000 and they national language is either English or French, but they have a local language "Seselwa".

DAY 1

Okay, okay, enough about history. To go to Seychelles, you have to be 2 things, brave, (to be able to face the tiny, extremely curvy roads up and down the mountain paths in moving from one point to another,) and rich (for it is a very expensive country). We stayed at the Eden holiday villas for the first 3 days. Since we booked fro our accommodation online, we didn't want any surprises. Thank goodness it was a lovely place with beautiful views. They welcomed us with drinks. It was a 10 minute walk to the waterfall and 30 minute walk to the main beach.

The photo above shows a tiny island opposite the hotel. We were told we could go there anytime we liked. So we went to check in out only to realize that there was no land connecting the two islands. When I inquired as to how we were supposed to get there, we found out that all we had to do was buy "water shoes" and walk across the ocean. I swallowed my saliva, thanked him very much and decided to take the long walk to the main beach. "It's very shallow" he said, "just go during the low tide". LOL.

After we settled in, we decided to go for a walk. We saw the bus-stop. Never seen anything like that in my life! After the walk, we had dinner and went straight to bed.

This is the Bus-stop

DAY 2
We woke up the next day very late. Way pass the time for church. When we inquired, we learnt the mass was held in French. My hubby then decided to check out what the TV had in stock for him. He was hit by only one local TV channel, the SBC (Seychelles broadcasting corporation). They spoke mostly French, except when the movies came on. (By movies, I mean ancient movies and soaps like 'Young and the restless' or 'Santa barbara'). I understood very very little, he didn't get it at all. We decided to go out instead. We went to the waterfall, then to the beach.

We weren't properly dressed for the occasion so we couldn't get into the water. We just hung around, ate our hot-dogs, took some pictures and headed back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, the next thing I saw was my dear young man watching the TV with such an intensity like he understood a word. A silly thought came to mind though and I asked him if he thought the language or channel would change if he looked long enough.

We saw many crabs, running into the holes on the road side. I began to wonder why their were so much if they were eaten. I confirmed that they weren't when I didn't see and crab dish on their menu. Later I found out that the road side crabs were "bad" crabs, that the good ones were deep in the sea and since it wasn't crab hunting season, they couldn't put it on the menu.

DAY 3:

We started the day by looking for new accommodation, for even though the Eden holiday villas was cool, we wanted to move closer to town. It just was too quiet for us, with almost nothing to do. Plus remember I told you my hubby has a restless streak, we ended up booking for 2 different hotels. We decided to go to the beach again since we had nothing else to do. I picked some corals, didn't see any shells. I began to marvel as to how there were no shells in Seychelles. (I got my answer later. The native pick them early in the morning and make them into souvenirs).

Different ages of coconut (young to old)

We drank a coconut, ate an extremely old one whose water was dried up and it tasted like a kind of sponge cake. We made a few new friends among the locals who invited us over for dinner. (This just goes to tell you how very hospitable the Seychellois are). Everyone you meet on the road or shops are smiling at you and saying "hi". At the end of that day, It was time to pack again. Moving on to the next phase of our adventure.

DAY 4:

Moving time. Annoying check-out rules!!! We had to check out at 10 a.m. Who does that?! In Nigeria, you check out at 12 noon. Anyway, we moved closer to town. The hotel we booked for was appalling!! ( Name withheld, the next day we were out of there with much speed). We went sight-seeing to Eden Island, breath-taking, and did a little shopping.

Lunch had to come in at some point, so we were taken to this restaurant. We were actually adviced to place an order for only one person first to see if it would be enough for us. When they presented us with this mini buffet, I understood the reason behind the request. There were currency notes from many countries around the wall pinned to one wall, I even saw the Nigerian naira. (And here I was thinking Nigerians probably haven't heard of this place). Mtscheeewwww (this is the Nigerian way of spelling *hiss* LOL).

Currencies

Mini buffet

Indian temple

Shopping

Out on the town

Eden Island

We went to the top of a mountain from where we could see a majority of the city below. The airport and seaport,  as well as some other islands could be seen. There was even a key (graphic representation) of what could be seen. On the drive back, while chatting up with the cab driver, we learnt of the regulation of alcohol. Alcohol can't be sold at certain hours of the day. We also realised how much money we've wasted on airtime, because they had a different call card for international calls and for local calls. So if you happen to find yourself in Seychelles, buy the 25 rupee card for local calls for without it you can't make any calls, then get the 99 rupees one for your international calls. 

Giant Tortoise

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We went to check out some other hotels that the driver told us about since we hated the current one so much. This new location was in Beau Vallon. When you hear them pronounce it, it sounds like buffalo". There was a long beach opposite they hotel, (you could get hotels from cheap to expensive in a straight line). Many restaurants, shops and boating/snorkeling shops. Infact it was the ultimate holiday get away. Almost anything you could need was to be found there. After we checked it out, we decided to move here and cancelled our reservations with the other hotels. That night, we wasted no time packing since we didn't really unpack in the first place.

DAY 5:

Again, we were welcomed with drinks. We went out for lunch, walked on the beach and slept most part of the day. At night, there was a little get-together where everyone is invited. people show up to play music from their cars, sing and dance. Others come to sell their wares, from food to souvenirs. I'm almost sure you are wondering what kind of fruit or nut I have in the photo below, well wonder no more. It is a double coconut called Coco de mer exclusively to Seychelles. (Actually, it's to Praslin, One of the islands of Seychelles). It is shaped like the lower part of a woman. It actually has 2 distinct trees for the male and female species. The male fruits are shaped like a man's phallus, seriously. Photos below.

Peeled Coco de mer

Unpeeled Coco de mer

Chatting

This bird is not afraid to perch by me

with the rasta man

Sunset in Seychelles

DAY 6:

We visited the popular neighboring islands - Praslin (pronounced Pralin) and La digue via fast ferry ride. Mehn! that was one hell of a ride. When asked closed or open-air? we chose open-air, little did we know what we were in for. Trust Naija babe like me with posing. Sharp, sharp, I climbed up and sat down. Next thing. They started the regular safety rules you hear when an Aeroplane is about to take off. That didn't make me relax. I don't think I did even after I saw the life jackets. We started moving and it was initially slow. When it took off in full speed, I thought we were going to capsize. To make matters worse, when we hit  the waves, it came as high as the top of the ferry. Many people ran below for cover, I was too dizzy and too nauseated to leave my seat. Dear hubby had too bear it out with me. That was the longest 1 hour of my life! (anyway that I can remember right now). At the end of the 1 hour, we were soaked to the skin and cold.

Before Take-off

After landing

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When we were about to embark for the second 15 minutes lap to La digue, no one told us to go below deck. We met a fellow Nigerian. He thought we were Kenyans or South Africans. (arrghhh!!!.... not again! everyone seems to think we are Kenyans. LOL...) La digue is so small, we had to hire bicycles to get around. Since it was either that or a cattle drawn cart, we decided to go for bikes. It was so much fun, a form of exercise, and I hadn't ridden one in ages.We went to the national park that hosted the "anse source d'argent" (pronounced "an sue da jean") beach. It is said to be the most beautiful beach in the world.

2nd lap

Fellow Nigerian

Bicycle riding

ANSE SOURCE D'ARGENT BEACH

On the way to the beach, we saw more giant Tortoise. Did you know that they live to be over 90 years old? We also saw a vanilla plantation. Never seen the vanilla plant before. Photos are shown below. You also see I wasn't exaggerating about the male Coco de mer. We rode around the town a bit, more shopping then headed back to the jetty to catch our ferry back to Praslin.

Vanilla plantation

Male species of Coco de mer

Female species of Coco de mer

While in Praslin, we visited the Vallee de mai. It is believed to be the garden of Eden. It is were the Coco de mer plants grow. The Coco de mer, according to legend is believed to be the forbidden fruit. It also boasts the black Parrot said to be in only 2 countries of the world. We had lunch, walked on the beach for long hours, I finally saw shells in Seychelles. By evening, we were so tired, we just too a taxi back to the ferry and headed to Mahe. We got home home and did our final packing for this journey. Tomorrow, we'll be going home. Then I remembered how cold it was in Kenya and wasn't looking forward to that at all.

House of the Calypha

On our way to the airport, we saw the house of the Calypha on a mountain. They said it was a 7 storey building for his 7 wives

Bonny & Clyde bebe!

Excited much

Bye bye Seychelles, Hello Naija! Feels soooo good to be back home, even with all the kpalava. I can sincerely tell you, truly there is no place like home.

Finally! I can ping!!!

I hope you had fun reading all my updates on this wonderful Journey. I also hope you continue to be a avid reader of my blog. (Even when I get boring).

Cheers guys....