The 99 flake - Mauritius style

Ice cream vans don't exist in France, so when I first heard that familiar irritating jingle in Mauritius, I was immediately transported back to England. We never went to the ice cream van at home because we lived on a main road, so the music used to taunt us from a few streets away. We had our fair share of Mr Whippy, Feasts and Twisters on holiday though, and I was excited to see what retro ice lollies might be on sale in Mauritius.

Big surprise. The vans may look like the ones of my childhood from the outside with their catchy slogans and brightly coloured stickers advertising all kinds of goodies, but on the inside it's a different story. When I pointed to the ice lolly I liked the look of, Merv laughed at me. It turns out that they don't actually sell any of those, it's just to make the vans more attractive. You basically just have to choose between a cone or a cup, and whether you want all the extras. These extras vary between vans, but include wafers, shredded coconut (which is usually red for some reason!) strands of bright green jelly like stuff, rice crispies, hazlenuts, and chocolate sauce. You can have a cup with all the extras for around 35 rupees, or 70p, so it's pretty cheap.

The one thing I still don't understand though, is how they manage to play music that travels so far. Last weekend, we were 800m up a mountain, enjoying the peace and quiet and the sounds of birds and wind in the trees, when lo and behold, we heard a tinny, ice cream van rendition of Jingle Bells. Not only unseasonal, but annoyingly loud. It was only when we had finished our hike and driven about 2km away from the mountain, that we came across the van, which was STILL playing the same Christmassy tune. I'm not sure how the vendors stay sane, I know I wouldn't.