The streets of Chinatown in Mauritius are similar to the Chinatown neighborhoods in various cities throughout the world.  One will find many shops along the roads, all side by side, and selling the exact same products.  New items next to used ones, plastic children’s toys, paintings, books and spare mechanical parts are all for sale under one roof.  This is the same scenario in Chicago’s Chinatown in the United States.  The streets are always a-bustle, save for the middle of the hot afternoons when it is so still the only movement is made by the stray cats wondering the streets looking for bits of food along the alleyways.

There are always a lot of hardware shops, same is true in the downtown location of Los Angeles, California’s Chinatown,  with wrenches and screws sharing the same shelves as woks and teapots.  There must be a rhyme and a reason to the organization, but that is something that is illusive and hard to figure out.  Many of the older Chinese residents of the neighborhood in Mauritius have never really ventured out of the area, and often times their accents retain the strength of those having just learned to speak the language.  Close to the district in Mauritius, luxury hotel accommodations are plentiful, and offer one the flavor of the various neighborhoods at one’s doorstep.  In any city, one of the most distinguishable differences between Chinatown and the other neighborhoods is the food.

Be it the smaller shops located in the market places, with unfamiliar meats hanging from the rafters, to the restaurants that offer up the proper experience of a Dim Sum meal, the options are endless.  One is well aware of that fact the moment they turn a corner and embark on a stroll down the sidewalk, as the aroma of the spices and the meats and the vegetables combine to create the scent of China itself.  And should be lucky enough to visit during the Chinese New Year, or any other Chinese celebration, one will be amazed and awe struck at the sights, the sounds and again, the flavors of the feasts.

The island of Mauritius is a combination of many different cultures that have been immigrating to the island for hundreds of years. This is a whole culture composed of those of varied religious, lingual, and racial backgrounds. All of these cultures today, live on the island in peace and in harmony. The festivals that occur throughout the year, draw many people to island, many of them staying in one of the luxury hotels. Mauritius festivals of note are the Idul Fitr Festival, the Cavadee, the Diwali and the Christmas celebration,  each of these representing the different religions that are currently being practiced on the island.

Other evidence of this diversity is found in the many different temples, mosques and churches that dot the island. Sega dance music as its origins on the island, this is the form of music that was created and enhanced over the years by the slaves that were brought to the island on the various trading ships and expeditions. The music quite often times accompanies the Sega dancers, in a dance form that combines pulsating body rhythms with and undertone of political reference and is used to propagate messages that lead to social change and awareness. The Le Morne region of Mauritius was originally used as a shelter for the slaves who had run away from their owners.

During the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the slaves came to the region and hid out in the protection of the mountain ranges are on the Southwest side of the island and they are rugged and isolated, and made up of dense forests and almost impassable cliffs. Camps were formed within this cover and the tradition of story telling along with the history of that time period has made this region a symbol of the fight for freedom. This is as far reaching as the many different homelands of the slaves that were brought to the island over the years, far reaching as Madagascar, Southeast Asia, India, and the mainland of Africa. Mauritius became and important stop during the years of the slave trade, many of the traders taking refuge from their travels towards other parts of the world. Many of these slaves escaped their captor’s ships and found their rescue in the mountains of Le Morne.