Strangely, I have been receiving quite a few mails/comments concerning this topic lately.

To tell you the truth, the postal / zip code thing still remains a mystery for me but you can easily fool the system by fooling around a bit while entering your address in eBay, Amazon, Paypal or any other web sites.

To prove you what I just said, here are screenshots of my account/shipping details from my different accounts :

Ebay :

PayPal :

Amazon :

And what about 742CU001

Many people (including some sites) advise people to use 742CU001. While you might sometimes be lucky on some web sites, it might not work on others. As far as I remember, I had to fool around the ebay/paypal registration process to be able to create my account. This 742 thing did not work there.

As you noticed in my screenshots above, I have used the following different zip codes :

• 230 with state set to <blank>
• <blank> zip code and state
• 00000 with State set to “default”
• 00230 as zip code and NA as state.

You might say that I am wrong but unfortunately things do not always work the same way in all web sites. Many have implemented different types of validation for the shipping address.

FYI, Mauritius has no states. This field is rather used in the United States. And technically, Mauritius has no zip codes too. The ones used are just to fool the system. and 230 is rather our international telephone prefix number. Hope that this post will help you while shopping online! Don’t forget to read The Ultimate Guide about eBay/Amazon purchases from Mauritius.

If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate. Post them here

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Hello lovely people!

A shot taken yesterday near Immigration Square, Port Louis.

If you have not understood the small joke, click on image to enlarge and read the text on the windshield as well as have a look at the tyre.

Enjoy weekend! I gonna have a blast, hopefully!

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The first edition of “Guess Where” game of 2012. You are the most welcomed for another round of fun and exciting discoveries of our island.

For those who are joining us for the first time, this monthly game aims at publishing some splendid but less-popular landscapes of the island and the fun part lies in the challenge to correctly identify them by leaving a comment on the game’s page. You can access the whole series of this monthly challenge on this page.

Without losing any time, let’s discover the 2 pictures for the month of January 2012 :

Picture 1 (Submitted by Ashraf P):

Picture 2 (Submitted by Nitisha R):

Many thanks to Ashraf and Nitisha for the 2 pictures

Now, let me remind you about the few rules we have in here :

• Do not post answers on Facebook/Twitter/Google+
• Answers whether good or wrong WILL NOT be published and will be viewable only when results will be proclaimed.
• If you have any other comments/questions, do post them in a separate comment (without any answers).

Answers and name of winners will be published on Saturday 21st January 2012.

Don’t forget to click on the Share or Like (or both!) buttons to allow your friends to participate!

Good luck to all of you!
:

Update (21 January 2012):

Hello!

As promised, I am back for the answers and name of the winners. Without losing any further moment ( I will be a bit quick today), the answers are :

• Picture 1 : Pomponette beach, in the south of the island
• Picture 2 : Monvert Nature Park, some 3km from Curepipe, along the 16eme mile road.

Now, let’s see who gave correct answers :

Picture 1(by Ashraf):

• Sandhya Ramful

Picture 2(by Nitisha) :

• yurit0s
• Sandhya Ramful
• Mayeven Veerasamy
• kheshinee

As you noticed, Sandhya Ramful  is our winner! Her name is henceforth on the wall of fame of yashvinblogs.com. Congrats to her as well as to all those who provided correct answers for picture 2.

Enjoy the long weekend!

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• Guess where? (Dec 2011)
• Guess where? (November 2011)
• Guess where? (July 2011)
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Try Googling “batte bis” or “bat bis” or “batter bis” or any other equivalent.

No relevant results. (not many)

Not anymore
Please allow some time for the Google dwarfs to come over here.

2 objectives behind this post ;

1. Fill in the gap in Google and other search engines (And hopefully get some additional visits)
2. Explain the definition of these words frequently used in the creole language.

I think that by writing these words above, I met the first target. So, let’s move on the second one.

Definition

Though it might differ lightly for different persons, I will try to convey the basic meaning to you. Phrases that might translate the “Batte bis” expression are :

• To take advantage of someone (either by using his belongings, grabbing opportunities presented for others)
• Use someone/something for his/her own ends
• Tirer profit de quelque chose/quelqu’un

Usage

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Let’s finish 2011 differently for once, instead of writing new year resolutions that we fail to achieve most of the time. What do you say?

As you read in the title, I will now request you to use only 3 words to describe the year which is nearly at its end. It can be 3 adjectives, a 3-word pharse. Anything. I won’t be punishing you if you use more than 3 words but just try to keep it ultra-short.

I will set the example. For me, 2011 was :

Fruitful, eventful and adventurous

With these last words, I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year and thank you for being part of the blog. See you in 2012!

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It felt so good to be partying with friends last night, isn’t it? Beers, Vodca, Tekilla, Whisky, Rum, Sambucca. Just name it. You tasted most of them, one after the another, without worrying about the consequences. The essential part was to have fun.

But now that the everything is over, you miraculously reached home safe and sound (How? That will remain a mystery), the worst part is yet to come : the after-effects of the party.

The Hangover! The heavy abuse of alcoholic drinks lead yourself to a pitiful state : nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, thirst among others. Vomiting becomes like hell and while going through it, you will always say the same thing : “I will not ever drink this much!”.

Gosh. Why damn did I drink so much? What was the need to ignore my limits? Why did I have a shot of everything available? Why did I start drinking with an empty stomach?

These are some of the questions that you will be asking yourselves.

Let me tell you that there is no miraculous remedy to hangovers. Plenty of water/juice, fresh air and some long hours of sleep should help you to get over it. Don’t forget to take a light meal including some fruits. I usually feel much better after consuming “la mousse noir” (Grass Jelly). The honey helps a lot.

The best cure for hangover is prevention. Stay away from alcohol, drink moderately and responsibly, eat well and do not drive when drunk.

Anyone wants to share their own ‘cure’ for hangovers?

And no, I am not drunk right now. Bon weekend!

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Just to make my C4P friends feel a bit jealous, it feels so good to be at home early

Instead of heading to Champs de Mars for some jogging today, I reached home, took the camera and started to walk around in the yard. Nothing much except that the yard is full of construction materials, so I clicked everything. “zis tout” as we say in creole.

If ever you got nothing to do, you can use your hands and fingers to entertain others. This picture or this one should help you. Or just keep them in your pockets.

lol. Anyone got better and hot blog topics to suggest? 

Join us on Google +!

btw, you can now join the blog on the Google+ page or just add me too.

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Let’s get into the weekend mood!

Friday. Probably the most awaited day of the week for all those who work and ironically, they start waiting as from the first day of the week itself.

Approximately 2 years after the first Friday Happy Hour post and a few months after the post on my special dishes on Friday, it is high time to post another interesting topic here.

Today, let’s see where Mauritians like to hang out at the end of a hard working (and tiring?) week.

Friday night do not always mean beers or night clubs. While some people prefer remaining at home, others might go to visit the new shopping mall for instance or watch a 3D film in a cinema or a dinner in a restaurant or just hang out with friends/colleagues in a pub or night club.

Where are you heading tonight (or during the weekend?)

If you recommend places suggested by other readers, please click on the “Like” button besides the comment

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Unexpectedly, I landed in Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius yesterday. Just as anyone else, Dhaneesha and myself were a bit curious to check out the new “nou baze” so highly advertised in the media. As you can guess, there were so many people like us out there.

The entrance of Bagatelle was jammed with vehicles awaiting their turn to go through the gate. I nearly aborted the visit when one of the security guys redirected the vehicles towards a second entrance. Once in there, finding a parking space was a challenge. You had to keep driving around in the huge parking, waiting for someone to drive away from his parking.

We finally entered the mall. My first impression about the oldie-style architecture  : bof. But one thing for sure. The mall was gigantic.

The first thing that I noticed :

A long queue of people. All waiting for their turn in front of the “Dewa” dholl pourri stand.

While making our way through the crowd, we came across lots of restaurants/fast foods with again long queues outside. It was a bit like the first days of Nandos in Trianon. It was then that I understood why people preferred to eat a pair of dholl pourris.

We visited a few stores but the only thing where I paused for some minutes was the Skate/Bike park. It was awesome to see those kids doing stunts.

During the stunts, they sometimes crashed on the ground with a loud banging noise. Ouch! You could nearly feel the pain! If ever you need the prices :

After a quick look to the various shops, we came back to our starting point. The queue in front of Dewa did not stop growing :

Some meters away, the ‘real-life’ statues, similar to those who posed during the 24/7 event in Port Louis, made their entrance, capturing the attention of the crowds and soon, people flooded the area to admire them :

I even visited the toilet, lol. Nice and modern one. The water tap (with sensors) and the hand drier were pretty much cool.

Pick n Pay was last in our to-visit list, just in case we needed to carry our purchases around with us. It was out of question for me to wait in another queue in front of the cashier. So, we got out as soon as we could make a way through the crowds in there.

Note : Apart from the crowds, there’s another thing that I disliked : The fact that some people parked their cars anywhere

So, we quickly made our way out to one of the entrances, guess what?

Yes, the queue in front of Dewa!

Damn tired, we finally ended our day enjoying 2 monster milkshakes in Milky Lane, Trianon. I was not pretty excited about the new shopping mall but that would definitely be a new hang out spot if you need to meet friends or do some shopping.

Have you been there? Anything special?

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Hello friends

Wonderful sunday, isn’t it?

As usual, I reached Mont Choisy at 6am for some jogging but however, I preferred not to go for a swim because the tide was exceptionally low. At some point of the beach, corals(or big rocks) could be spotted just few meters from the swimming zone.

I included a few random shots to share with you(Click to enlarge).

I even spotted some sort of small kind of fish or “anguille”. I thought it was one until a passing-by fisherman told me that they call it “LaBrasse”. The short clip :

I will most probably go to the beach again later today for some diving/swimming. And how’s your sunday going on?

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