How many people does it take to post a letter?

Four, if it’s going to Mauritius, it seems.

You see, I have no idea what ‘Mauritius’ is in Chinese, much less in Chinese characters.

None of my colleagues have ever heard of the place (despite a burgeoning Chinese community right at its heart, it would be a little unfair to expect them to) and the level of smart phone activity was at fever pitch as we desperately tried to find the right country and the right characters to write on the envelope.

As it was, we needn’t have panicked, the friendly, local and, as it happened, English-speaking post office worker was more than au fait with the small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  8 kuai.  Job done.

Of course, now mum’s moving back to Oman, I guess we’ll see if that’s any more difficult…