First day home
Arrived on a 7 am-er flight this morning...
The first thing we did? LAKSA at Katong.
We were killing ourselves thinking about food back home in the last few days of the honeymoon.
Eugene even slid up and whined in my ear - chui yeok cheok (mince pork porridge) ... tar mee pok, hiam jeow chuay one night... yep, we were homesick for the food.
In fact, G threw up (!) after an extremely cheesy dinner at the winelands... That's how pathetic it became.
A quick summary of the past week.
We spent a four days in Cape Town, wandering around - okay, more specifically, driving around - fulfilling our shopping needs and doing the extremely touristy thing like visiting the aquarium (actually damned nice, whetted appetite for diving BUT gene did not bring his diver ID card... sigh), Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 17 years in prison (he spent 26 years imprisoned in all), Table mountain, catching cute penguins.
Then, that's where our Internet connection ended (to G's horror) because we drove an hour to somewhere called Franscheok. It's a beautiful mountain-y picturesque town right out of Provence or Margaret River in Australia with old mansions, barns and plenty of wineries. South Africa is growing a reputation as a wine exporter - there are some damned good ones. This is evinced by the fact that we bought 18 bottles, and actually paid tax on them, and lugged them home. But there are some major misses as well.
It's very French, it was established centuries ago by French farmers escaping persecution because they were protestants, so the food is very French based. That said, I had some of the best food ever there - despite G getting very sick of the creamy sauces.
Africa is a real contradiction, you know. One day in the bush, another day in a Victorian city and next, mountains and vineyards. Strange.
But in response to some comments about the brevity of stories on the blog; shall attempt to tell you fuller picture of the trip.
Specifically, Karen, yes, Giraffes can reach *that* low... Joking joking. (private joke)
Warning: Long blog ahead.
Plus it gets confusing because G's been posting up his own pictures.
I'm gonna do a retrospective thing; and post several blogs about the trip which went like this
1) Fly to Jo'Burg on 16th Nov, spend three days in Zambia
2) Land transfers to Kasane in Botswana, fly to the Linyanti Wildlife preserve to arrive at the first of our three safari camps: namely Savuti, Tubu Tree and Little Vumbura
3) Fly from last camp to Maun, take Air Botswana flight to Cape Town on Nov 24
4) Spend 4 nights in Capetown
5) Spend 4 nights in Franscheok.
Okay. First up. Zambia. A little town called Livingston, after the explorer, about two plus hours flight from Jo'Burg.
Victoria Falls - Mosi-oa-Tuya- or The Smoke That Thunders as it is known by the locals, is the tallest waterfall in the world. It can be viewed either on the Zambian side or Zimbabwean side. Unfortunately, it's been a long dry winter, in other words there was little water on the Zambian side of the falls. They were still going and roaring in full majesty on the Zimbabwe side, but with the political troubles (Read: Robert Mugabe's farm relocation policies), the country has become a bit dodgy - so we stayed on the Zambian side on this 3-star place called the Zambezi Sun.
It's meant to be an African place, but with the adobe walls, it looks more like something out of a Mexican Pueblo. We weren't inspired enough to take photos of the place... but here's what the interior looks like - G's sick in bed.
You can *just* spot the mop of hair...
The local Zambian beer is called Mosi - think its after the name of the falls. I say think, because I didn't bother confirming this... it was too hot for words.
All I did was drink vast quantities of beverages and sleep. We did manage to go look at the falls though, both from the air and on foot.
By Air - on a helicopter flight:
The 'copter
Our first spotting of elephants from the air!!!!!
The Vic Falls (!) According to one brochure, when David Livingstone saw the falls for the first time in 1855, he wrote: "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.''
On foot: (The Zambezi Sun is 5 to 10 mins away from the Falls a pied)
Looking towards Zimbabwe - where there was still water.
We have more photos where these come from... so still plenty to show and tell...
But I have to post this one:
We were at the adjoining Royal Livingstone - a five star estabishment going for US$450 +++ per night - heh, obviously waaaaaaaaaaaay too poor to afford it.
It's like something caught in a time warp - the butlers have full morning suits and tails, while the waiters have waistcoats. Blew US$50 there alone on drinks and a light lunch. Things don't come cheap there man.
Also have pixes of the place.... but check it out: This is damned surreal..... Zebras munching on the lawn. Its a national park... so no one bothers them.
This was less than 15 feet away, and I thought that was close.... obviously, I didn't know nuthin' yet then.... because next up was Safari-ing in Botswana...
To be continued in the next post.... still jet lagged lah
The first thing we did? LAKSA at Katong.
We were killing ourselves thinking about food back home in the last few days of the honeymoon.
Eugene even slid up and whined in my ear - chui yeok cheok (mince pork porridge) ... tar mee pok, hiam jeow chuay one night... yep, we were homesick for the food.
In fact, G threw up (!) after an extremely cheesy dinner at the winelands... That's how pathetic it became.
A quick summary of the past week.
We spent a four days in Cape Town, wandering around - okay, more specifically, driving around - fulfilling our shopping needs and doing the extremely touristy thing like visiting the aquarium (actually damned nice, whetted appetite for diving BUT gene did not bring his diver ID card... sigh), Robben Island, where Mr Mandela spent 17 years in prison (he spent 26 years imprisoned in all), Table mountain, catching cute penguins.
Then, that's where our Internet connection ended (to G's horror) because we drove an hour to somewhere called Franscheok. It's a beautiful mountain-y picturesque town right out of Provence or Margaret River in Australia with old mansions, barns and plenty of wineries. South Africa is growing a reputation as a wine exporter - there are some damned good ones. This is evinced by the fact that we bought 18 bottles, and actually paid tax on them, and lugged them home. But there are some major misses as well.
It's very French, it was established centuries ago by French farmers escaping persecution because they were protestants, so the food is very French based. That said, I had some of the best food ever there - despite G getting very sick of the creamy sauces.
Africa is a real contradiction, you know. One day in the bush, another day in a Victorian city and next, mountains and vineyards. Strange.
But in response to some comments about the brevity of stories on the blog; shall attempt to tell you fuller picture of the trip.
Specifically, Karen, yes, Giraffes can reach *that* low... Joking joking. (private joke)
Warning: Long blog ahead.
Plus it gets confusing because G's been posting up his own pictures.
I'm gonna do a retrospective thing; and post several blogs about the trip which went like this
1) Fly to Jo'Burg on 16th Nov, spend three days in Zambia
2) Land transfers to Kasane in Botswana, fly to the Linyanti Wildlife preserve to arrive at the first of our three safari camps: namely Savuti, Tubu Tree and Little Vumbura
3) Fly from last camp to Maun, take Air Botswana flight to Cape Town on Nov 24
4) Spend 4 nights in Capetown
5) Spend 4 nights in Franscheok.
Okay. First up. Zambia. A little town called Livingston, after the explorer, about two plus hours flight from Jo'Burg.
Victoria Falls - Mosi-oa-Tuya- or The Smoke That Thunders as it is known by the locals, is the tallest waterfall in the world. It can be viewed either on the Zambian side or Zimbabwean side. Unfortunately, it's been a long dry winter, in other words there was little water on the Zambian side of the falls. They were still going and roaring in full majesty on the Zimbabwe side, but with the political troubles (Read: Robert Mugabe's farm relocation policies), the country has become a bit dodgy - so we stayed on the Zambian side on this 3-star place called the Zambezi Sun.
It's meant to be an African place, but with the adobe walls, it looks more like something out of a Mexican Pueblo. We weren't inspired enough to take photos of the place... but here's what the interior looks like - G's sick in bed.
You can *just* spot the mop of hair...
The local Zambian beer is called Mosi - think its after the name of the falls. I say think, because I didn't bother confirming this... it was too hot for words.
All I did was drink vast quantities of beverages and sleep. We did manage to go look at the falls though, both from the air and on foot.
By Air - on a helicopter flight:
The 'copter
Our first spotting of elephants from the air!!!!!
The Vic Falls (!) According to one brochure, when David Livingstone saw the falls for the first time in 1855, he wrote: "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.''
On foot: (The Zambezi Sun is 5 to 10 mins away from the Falls a pied)
Looking towards Zimbabwe - where there was still water.
We have more photos where these come from... so still plenty to show and tell...
But I have to post this one:
We were at the adjoining Royal Livingstone - a five star estabishment going for US$450 +++ per night - heh, obviously waaaaaaaaaaaay too poor to afford it.
It's like something caught in a time warp - the butlers have full morning suits and tails, while the waiters have waistcoats. Blew US$50 there alone on drinks and a light lunch. Things don't come cheap there man.
Also have pixes of the place.... but check it out: This is damned surreal..... Zebras munching on the lawn. Its a national park... so no one bothers them.
This was less than 15 feet away, and I thought that was close.... obviously, I didn't know nuthin' yet then.... because next up was Safari-ing in Botswana...
To be continued in the next post.... still jet lagged lah
