Cape Town lives up to her postcard pictures reputation

Having been to Johannesburg & Cape Town, I've to say that South Africa is really scenic with nice clouds, sparse and clean. According to my tour guide, we can experience 2 seasons during winter- cold or rain in the mornings & nights, warmth & sun in the afternoons.

1. Interestingly, my tour guide was proud to repeat that S.Africa has the highest number of rape & Aids cases in the world. They even have a big centre to house the diseased people.
2. Table Mountain is known for its flat top, and its obvious from the bottom or from far but when up there, its like any other mountain.
3. Whale watching on Gordan's Bay is one of the sightseeing things to do but it's really not all that amazing.
4. Of cos, we wouldn't miss Cape of Good Hope, the most SW point of the African continent.
   The frustrating thing about visiting that point was, the tour guides said to meet them at the top of the mountain in half an hour, or they can drive us up. Looking at the height of the hill, the young, active and act-smart majority of us decided to do the climb. To our horror, when we reached up the hill twenty mins later, we realised that the top they were refering to is on the next mountain. The lighthouse (our meeting point) was just an inch high from where we were, and we could not even see a trekking path or anyone at all! That was how far away we were. That feeling sucks, and there was no way we can turn back since the cars have left.
   The 1 hour route was full of bumps, holes, non-stop swearing, very very scenic views and a call from a colleague making a ridiculous request of asking us to fucking run up.
   To prove my point of how tedious the climb was: despite it being winter, we all removed our coats & when we reached the top, we were actually perspiring. I swear never to trek or hike again, especially not when I was in boots.
   
   
   
   
   
5. With seafood, some good red meat and wine, S.Africa is well-known for its wine and dine culture. Unfortunately for me, I don't take wine and seafood, and we didn't have a single steak meal so it was pure torturous for me.
6. Fyi, Fish&Co originated from S.Africa. It's called Ocean Basket there and is brought in by my ex-colleagues. Everything is the same, including the after mint sweets. Every restaurant in S.Africa serves mint sweets after meals, and that is the only country you can buy those sweets.

I might go back to S.Africa with my brother in summer for a Garden route tour where we'll do the apparently highest bungee jump and see what I saw in Johannesburg (safari) & Cape Town (scenic views).

My roster sucks again but for my coming third Paris, I'll bring the lucky brother there to visit the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral and shop til my pockets burn at Champs-Elysées.

The nervous Farena is gonna be wedded on the 9th (I'm excited to meet the poly friends whom I havent't seen in ages) so we had a hen party last night but to our disappointment, she only wanted a typical clubbing night without any of the scandalous things we had planned. Lots of cam-whoring and we made a saddening discovery- we're old. Gone were the days where we could remain on the dancefloor the entire night.

It's day 2 of my leave and it sucks that I've no where to go. It sucks further that the boyfriend is away for competition during my entire leave period!

London: I adore the GPS inventor

Although I had too much (good) 15bucks-a-plate duck and char siew rice, was almost pickpocketed by some unskilled man (I actually felt his hand in my bag) and literally flew in the aircraft for the first time (scary shit), my last trip was the first time I was excited to go London on work.

5 of us (4 drivers)- Road trip to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor
Vehicle- Rented Toyota GPS Prius

First stop, Stonehenge. The historyless stones that were barriered are really out-of-nowhere on a vast piece of land. They were not interesting so the fun remains in the how-the-hell-does-this-GPS-works and driving-at-150kmh-but-every-car-is-still-taking-over-us drive.



Anyone knows the speed limit in London?

Our second stop was Bath. Like Heidelberg & Rudeshiem in Germany, Bath is small beautiful old town, ideal for retirement. There was this really odd river with amazingly strong water current running over ‘steps’, with no obvious use or meaning or history behind it.

Anyone knows the purpose of this?

By the time we got to our final stop, Windsor, the castle was closed. So we didn’t manage to see the Queen and her family, and her famous Doll’s house. Anyone knows if the Queen actually lives there? Does she shuttle between Windsor and Buckingham Palace?

Anyway I think the 2 of the drivers who drove (not me) were pretty lousy at following instructions.
• We missed almost all the turns and exits, and Ms GPS has to lead us to the long countryside way with beautiful old houses.
• We confused Ms GPS by going round the roundabout and went to the opposite direction of her command.

But, she was smart and patient.
• Her commands went from ‘turn left on the third exit of the roundabout’ once to twice; at the exit, she had to say ‘turn left now’; and she will tell us to 'continue on the current road' whenever she senses that we were a bit unsure.
• Every time we go the wrong way, she would pause, sometimes the GPS hangs but all will be well again after some reorientation.

I’ve another London coming up on 5th Sept and I was all eager to give it away for a Copenhagen, Amsterdam or Zurich. Unfortunately, my impulsive shopping needs me to go back to London to settle some issues my new expensive bag has stirred up.

An update: My holiday plan to NYC is cancelled cos the flight(s) are all suddenly fully booked with a long waiting list. So is Barcelona, and Manchester and Athens. SQ making a hell lot of money! Looks like I might have to stay in Singapore.

Next up: scenic Cape town!