We’ve been to Mauritius in July 2010 for 2 days and stayed in the 4* La Plantation Resort and Spa in Balaclava (north-west of the island). The hotel is nicely located at a beautiful beach in a calm bay where we could do water sports, relax and enjoy a beautiful sunset. We went for a walk at the beach, mild 25 degrees, sunny and a soft rain shower. The Maritime Hotel is located next to the La Plantation Resort and a small path leads to ruins of a castle with a waterwheel and a small waterfall behind, worth a visit, its just 10 minutes walk. Next morning we took a Pedallo to paddle around in the bay and enjoy the view of the palm trees at shore (30 mins rent are included in room fare).

The beautiful lobby of the La Plantation Resort and the tropical welcome drinks with cold towels were a  great start. The room was little far away, but modern and spacious with a big balcony. Unfortunately the service here does not deserve a 4 star rating. The pillow cover was dirty, the trays were not cleared when placing outside after in-room dining and the waiters in the restaurant were not attentive. The food was all-inclusive and not bad, but not really good either (tasted like made in a big canteen). We had to call house-keeping three times until they finally brought the iron to get Nayan’s uniform prepared for the return flight. Anyway considering that I only had to pay 47 EUR for a one-night all inclusive stay, it was still good value for money.

So nothing could spoil my mood as I just enjoyed fleeing from Dubai’s summer heat and to spend some leisure time with my husband. It was a 1.5 hours drive from and to the airport, so I could see a bit of the island, the vegetation and sugar cane plantations as well as a mix of colonial and modern architecture. It’s a beautiful island and worth a visit. As it takes 6 hours flying time from Dubai and about 11:30 hours direct flight from Germany, one should schedule more than 2 days to explore this tropical island and it’s vivid history.

Sustainability in technology and economy is becoming increasingly important for German companies. The Wieland Werke AG is a specialist in copper and copper alloys based in Ulm, Germany. For the second time since 2008 they have given this award to the University of Applied Sciences Ulm for theses that enhance sustainable development in ecology, economy and/or the society. In my thesis I was dealing with the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) network of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Masdar City has been planned as a carbon-neutral, car-free science city. It’s energy demand will be met entirely by renewable sources. Public transport will be based on a PRT network with electrically powered and automated-guided vehicles taking passengers non-stop to their chosen destination. My simulation study analysed various demand models and optimized energy and fleet management to satisfy predefined service levels.

I had only a short notice of 48 hours that the ceremony will take place in Germany and I quickly took one day leave and booked my flight ticket from Dubai to Frankfurt and found a small nice hotel apartment in Ulm next to my university. The ceremony itself was rather quiet as it was during the final exam week of this semester. Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Altstetter, who is the head of the central service department for plants, technology and logistics bestowed the award on behalf of Wieland AG. The cheque of 10,000 AED (2000 EUR)  is the highest cash prize to be awarded for student research at the University of Applied Sciences Ulm. My supervising professor Steffen Wettengl also received a cheque in recognition of his performance and to foster further scientific activities at his institute.

I really enjoyed to meet my professors and the president as well as the head of the graduate school as I was a very active student/employee and used to discuss and share my ideas with them. There were also many business men and alumni present and Mr. Marcus Fehling from Siemens gave a presentation about the future of the smart grid and e-cars which was very interesting for me as it was closely related to my thesis. In the evening we all had dinner together and I could catch up on the latest news and developments at my university.

In July the weather is wonderful sunny and warm and I enjoyed the lush green in the parks. In the evenings I met with my friends, enjoyed nice cool German beer outside the bars next to Danube river. We had a barbecue at my friend’s place and watched the soccer worldcup (Germany vs. Urugay). I had three relaxing days back in Ulm and the chance to visit my dad as well for lunch before taking my flight back from Munich to Dubai.

1. Move-in date was 1 week after signing the contract and I was promised that the last finishing touches and repairs are done within 2 days… for the first two weeks we had to use our guest toilet until they finally fixed the toilet in the en-suite bathroom. We had no water in the kitchen, no shower head in the bath tub, power plugs were not working in the living room and several other small fixes (damaged walls and scratched doors).
2. The leaking kitchen sink and unfinished bathroom I fixed myself with some silicone after all. And also for curtain installation I rather rented a drilling machine for 24 hours than calling a technician and waiting for days.
3. One month after we moved in, the telecommunication services were up and running. It took only 85 minutes queuing up at the DU office to apply for landline, internet and TV. The application took 30 minutes, though we just ticked which internet speed and TV channels we want. Maybe they also the a Manager to improve their business processes?
   Three days later the installation guy came, it took whole day but finally we were connected. He told us our current router from Siemens wouldn’t work for wireless and we should buy a linksys one. Well I guess he has no lue about networks, but I managed to configure our wireless LAN via WAN input, as our internet is not a dial-up but wide-area-network connection.
   The German TV channels (ARD, ZDF, RTL2 & DW-TV) as well as the Russion channels were missing, but after a mail to customer service that was fixed as well. We still have no TV connection in bedroom, need to apply for additional sockets and a 2nd decoder or buy a splitter and pull a cable, well… or just leave it as is.

Then I visited my colleagues from Masdar Institute and asked how their studies and projects are progressing. We also met our friend Aminu from Dubai. It was the last day of the summit and we went to the closing ceremony. Speeches were given by Prince Albert from Monaco and the President of Iceland, but nothing much exciting.But at least I’ve seen the PRT vehicle and spoke to my friends, so worth the visit in Abu Dhabi.

828 meters as revealed today and its got a new name as well suddenly… instead of “Burj Dubai” it’s now called “Burj Khalifa” … so we now know what the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi wanted in return for the billions of dollars he was lending Dubai recently when it was about to file bankrupcy. Smart deal. Anyway…  the building is looking beautiful glittering white in the daylight and turning red during sunset. On special occasions like National Day they switch on the sparkling lights on the facade of the building, so the tower twinkles among the stars…

Though the hotels in Dubai are not really doing well, but their prices are still quiet high. I think with round about 50 guests, my wedding reception is far too small compared to Indian and Arabic weddings with several hundred of guests. One hotel even asked for a minimum spend of 45,000 Dhs. (=9,000 EUR)! A good friend of mine works in a hotel and offered me a really competetive price for a wedding party on their roof top terrace. I know I can have a beach wedding in Sri Lanka as well, but this is our special day and I don’t want to be stingy, I just want it to be really special and enjoyable!

As usual I just needed a little bit of luck. Nayan was abroad at my birthday, so I decided to join some friends in Ras al Kheimah for a desert barbecue. There I met a lovely girl, who is a Sales Coordinator for The Cove Rotana, a newly opened beach resort with that very special touch of nubian style bungalows along a man-made cove with stunning beach.

Nayan and me visited her one day and she took us around everywhere showing us several rooms and villas from inside as well as their Spa. She invited us for lunch to try their delicious buffet and enjoy the view and fresh air. Of course a wedding here is not the cheapest option, but compared to what other hotels offered for that price, we get a much better deal here. They’ve set up a special BBQ menu and added some German delicacies and a huge variety of salads and desserts. They will put the buffet next to the beach, with the dining tables and dancefloor right into the sand. So we can dance without the uncomfortable wedding shoes.

The most important thing though is that our familys and my best friends from Germany, Sri Lanka and Dubai are attending our wedding. We really look forward to a great beach party with great people making this one of the happiest days of our life. The lucky couple gets a complimentary villa and massage, too, so now we only need to negotiate the rates for friends and family.