4. We craved for a car with doors

Outside the bazaar, there were some vegetable stalls like TSUKIJI-JOGAI market. A supermarket near the parking lot was quiet and had less variety of goods in stock in contrast to the lively bazaar.

There was a lunch takeout shop across the street that people were usually waiting in a line but today it put up a notice saying �gClosed�h. I looked inside through the glass door and, finding some workers were busy with cooking, wondered why they closed the shop today. One of them beckoned us inside and sold us chicken stew and stir fried vegetable & beef at 45 rupees.The door was locked again while we were in and they had to unlock it to let us out. We saw other customers who wanted to enter right after us were refused. They were probably preparing a large order and were too busy to do usual business but they gave us special treatment as we obviously look like aliens.

When we came back to the parking lot it started to pour. The doorless car was not designed for tropical drenching rain with strong wind. We put up our umbrellas in the car again but rain poured inside of the car and we had to wipe the seats down many times with a towel otherwise we got soaked to the skin on the seats. It was a real blunder that we didn�ft reserve a sedan.

We went to eat the take out lunch in the botanical garden again as the rain became a drizzle. This time the Kiosk was open. We bought a CD of the Seychelles flying foxes�f voice.

It lessened to a drizzle again at about one o�fclock in the afternoon and we decided to drive around the island. We started from Victoria which was located at the north end of the east coast. We drove down to the airport where we saw propeller planes which linked with other islands. Among them we saw a DHC-6 which we were familiar with from Minami-Daitojima. (These days the DHC-8 which is a size larger connects Minami-Daitojima and the main island.) We saw tidal flats along the coast several times where we could view the Turnstones, Grey Plovers, Grey Herons, Whimbrels and Mongolian Plovers. Some coastlines were covered with mangrove trees.

The rain was getting heavier, coming straight in the doorless car so we stopped the car to put up our umbrellas in the car again.

Some twenty minutes after we started to drive again southward. Near the southernmost point we saw a Striated Heron standing still in the shallow sea which was not familiar surroundings for the bird. We saw many Crested Terns flying.
We headed north again along the west coast of the island. The wind was strong and the sea was rough this side. The areas near big hotels were busy with staff and tourists while other areas were quiet with scattered small villages.

We walked a wooden causeway which was in the fantastic mangrove trees at Grande Anse. At the start of the wooden causeway, there was a large tropical almond tree whose fruit was favorite food for flying foxes in Okinawa. The fruit dropped under the tree seemed to be bitten off but we were not sure. Usually pellets are dropped under the trees after flying foxes have visited but we couldn�ft find any. Anyway it rained hard several times a day so it might have been washed away.

Further north in the hilly countryside was a national park that we wanted to visit but we came to a dead end, so we went back to Victoria. On the way there were the ruins of a monastery and a school. Large trees that were standing at regular intervals must have been planted when the buildings were in use. There was an observation platform from which we almost certainly would have seen beautiful coastline if it had been fine weather but that day the view was blurred with rain. Around here was a tea plantation. Tea is one of the Seychelles�f special products.

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