Thursday, October 12, 2006

South Africa, here i come...

October 2nd: After flying 14 hours on SQ, I almost kissed the ground of South Africa when i landed. Muahahaha. Inhaling the clean cool spring air, I thought to myself...
"Oh beautiful glorious South Africa, here I AM! No computer, no conference calls...just plenty of sun, glorious sights to soak in. Simple rest and relaxation :) "

We met Jensen from Thompson's Tours who sent us to our hotel. He was busy showing us the CCTV that was in almost every other building in the city and main roads. Security seems to be a problem in South Africa and for good measure, the authorities have put the entire city under close watch. Nothing like, big brother is watching....
Upon arriving at the hotel, we had a quick shower and were soon geared up for our half day city tour.



Mummy and I at St George's Hotel Lobby
During the short half day tour, we visited table mountain, the malay quarters, the Cape Town "Defunct" Castle (which, by the way, currently is home to the Cape Town military, and I do think they have a pretty easy life because they close their doors at 4pm!!)

Like any typical Singaporean, we did quite a bit of shopping on the first day and oh yes, simply ate like kings! I mean, seriously, the food was soooo good and reasonably priced too. Fantastic! You really should check out the Waterfront restaurants if you ever visit Cape Town. Everything there is to die for *drools*

Note: I didn't get a chance to try the Ostrich, Crocodile and Kudu steaks though. Couldn't muster the stomach to do it. :P So do let me know if it tastes good.

Oh yes, and about shopping, i really must talk about the pair of diamond earrings that I bought. My first pair of diamond earring! I bought them from a tiny store. The boss is called Uncle Dave, who has been in the diamond business for almost 40 years. He was quite a nice guy and after the "magic" that my mother persistently worked on him, he threw in a set of smaller diamond earrings to me as a present. Well, at that time, I simply didn't realize what a good price he had given me until I did some price comparison later. So I would say good price, good quality. Well, I certainly believe it is good quality because if it ain't, I just don't want to hear about it. :) If you are heading to Cape Town and need some recommendations, do drop me a note.

The remaining two days we toured the rest of Cape Town and its outskirts. I need to particularly mention visiting Cape Point which, contrary to popular belief, is really NOT the point where the atlantic ocean meets the Indian Ocean. (Hehe, guess you didn't know that right, I certainly did not either!)

We also had a nice ferry ride by Drumbeat Charter to a tiny island about 20 minutes away from the main island that was full with furry seals. We also had plenty for chances to see ostriches, baboons and penguins! All out in the wild.

Here is a picture of the Table Mountain which I nicked off the internet. I couldn't find a nice picture of the table moutain that I took without a close up of my face. P/s: I'm very self conscious after all the good food that I ate so....hehhe... Enjoy!

No comments: