After a night of drinking at Nada we got off to a slower start the next morning. This was also due to the fact that all our tents were crowded into a 10x10 area and one girl in the group was snoring like a banshee. It got so bad Adam and Dani, the Australian couple on the trip, dragged their tent away in the middle of the night. We eventually got on the road heading for Kasane and the Chobe River. The drive was uneventful, just the normal pee breaks for the Australian girls and Ben, the British/Aussie (more about him later). When we got to Kisana our first stop was in town to buy groceries and alcohol. The town is right on the Chobe River and more importantly right next to the ferry crossing into Zambia. For these reasons it is a huge stop for tourist and overland trucks and an even bigger stop for Africans. Now when I call this place a town you have to think in terms of African towns. The town consisted of 1 road and 1 shopping center and I think everyone within 100 miles was there. The super market was overloaded with people, lines 15 people deep and bare shelves. Our guide Garland said he had never seen anything like it in his 9 years of guiding.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Chobe River
Since I am now writing this 3 months after the trip, the level of detail will probably drop. But hopefully I can still remember enough to pull you along on the trip with me.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Botswana..not just for diamonds
We got up at 4:45 in the morning to a chilly morning with no sunlight. After a quick breakfast of cereal and yogurt we were back in the van headed for the border. We hadn't gone very far when we stopped for a pee break. A pretty common theme on the trip was stopping every 1-2 hours for pee breaks and drinks. We probably could have done without that many stops but I wasn't in control and the 3 Aussies girls seem to pee a lot. One even had a ShePee, a funnel type device to let her pee standing up and quite gross. We hit the border around 9 am, our first land border crossing of the trip so far. Everything went smoothly as we filled out a form, handed over our passports got stamps and walked to the other side. Back in the van and across the Limpopo river and we were in Botswana, for another pee break and money exchange.
Our destination for the day was Nada, Botswana with a planned stop on the way at a shopping center for dinner and maybe some shopping and internet. Now the roads in Botswana are terrible. I would say it had lots of potholes but in reality it looked a road that had been hit with bombs and had craters all over it. On top of that they had free ranging goats, donkeys and cows that wandered onto the road. All this really tested the nerves of our driver and pushed our average speed way down. We pulled over at one point on the side of the road to eat lunch. To draw a picture, there was nothing to the left of us on the road, nothing to the right. The occasional car would pass but we were pretty much in the middle of the bush. As we sat there eating lunch a cart being pulled by 3 donkeys came out of the bush and started heading down the road carrying 3 people. Africa was starting to be a little more National Geographic.
We made one other stop before arriving at Nata. It was to a small community of mud huts with a elementary school located there. As we pulled up the kids started to come out of the wood work. Garland went over to talk to the teacher and ask if it was ok for us to talk to the kids. She agreed so he waved us over. The first kid that caught my eye was a little boy, maybe 8 standing by himself, sporting a John Cena t-shirt. For those that don't know he is a wrestler in the WWE. I asked the kid if I could take his picture, to show Aaron when I got back and he said ok. After taking the picture I went to show him the picture and he seemed amazed. More kids started gathering around so I started showing them videos on the camera of elephants and other stuff from Kruger. I had some apprehension about treating these kids like a spectacle but once I saw them enjoying seeing their own picture and the videos I didn't feel as bad. I even took video of them and then showed it and about 10 of them crowded around to see. One little boy, maybe 6, let out a huge belly laugh when he saw himself on the video. It was very fun to see the kids get such a kick out of it. After 20-30 minutes we loaded back into the van headed for the camp site, hoping to get there before nighfall so we could avoid dodging animals in the dark.
We pulled into the site just before dark and setup the tents. Garland turned over cooking duties to the 3 aussie girls in the group, or rather they took it from him. We even shared our leftovers with the security guards at the camp site, which was pretty funny. Garland offered to sell one of girls to the guard for 20 cows, 10 goats and 5 chickens. The guard replied that she was only worth 10 cows, which I thought was still overvalued. This was also the first place we had stopped with a bar and since we didnt need to leave until 8 the next day we were in no rush to go to bed early. Justin and I had spent the first few days hiding in the back of the bus and keeping to ourselves, grumbling about how bad the trip was going, but by this time we had given up any expectation of a good time and with the alcohol we started to come out of our shells a bit more. We hung out until 10 or so with a few other people from the trip, swapping travel stories and commiserating about the trip. But it made for a good time and I would call this the turning point of the first Africa trip. From here on out things went much better as the group started to mesh more, the driver Gordon relaxed and we just did not have as far to drive each day.
Our destination for the day was Nada, Botswana with a planned stop on the way at a shopping center for dinner and maybe some shopping and internet. Now the roads in Botswana are terrible. I would say it had lots of potholes but in reality it looked a road that had been hit with bombs and had craters all over it. On top of that they had free ranging goats, donkeys and cows that wandered onto the road. All this really tested the nerves of our driver and pushed our average speed way down. We pulled over at one point on the side of the road to eat lunch. To draw a picture, there was nothing to the left of us on the road, nothing to the right. The occasional car would pass but we were pretty much in the middle of the bush. As we sat there eating lunch a cart being pulled by 3 donkeys came out of the bush and started heading down the road carrying 3 people. Africa was starting to be a little more National Geographic.
We made one other stop before arriving at Nata. It was to a small community of mud huts with a elementary school located there. As we pulled up the kids started to come out of the wood work. Garland went over to talk to the teacher and ask if it was ok for us to talk to the kids. She agreed so he waved us over. The first kid that caught my eye was a little boy, maybe 8 standing by himself, sporting a John Cena t-shirt. For those that don't know he is a wrestler in the WWE. I asked the kid if I could take his picture, to show Aaron when I got back and he said ok. After taking the picture I went to show him the picture and he seemed amazed. More kids started gathering around so I started showing them videos on the camera of elephants and other stuff from Kruger. I had some apprehension about treating these kids like a spectacle but once I saw them enjoying seeing their own picture and the videos I didn't feel as bad. I even took video of them and then showed it and about 10 of them crowded around to see. One little boy, maybe 6, let out a huge belly laugh when he saw himself on the video. It was very fun to see the kids get such a kick out of it. After 20-30 minutes we loaded back into the van headed for the camp site, hoping to get there before nighfall so we could avoid dodging animals in the dark.
We pulled into the site just before dark and setup the tents. Garland turned over cooking duties to the 3 aussie girls in the group, or rather they took it from him. We even shared our leftovers with the security guards at the camp site, which was pretty funny. Garland offered to sell one of girls to the guard for 20 cows, 10 goats and 5 chickens. The guard replied that she was only worth 10 cows, which I thought was still overvalued. This was also the first place we had stopped with a bar and since we didnt need to leave until 8 the next day we were in no rush to go to bed early. Justin and I had spent the first few days hiding in the back of the bus and keeping to ourselves, grumbling about how bad the trip was going, but by this time we had given up any expectation of a good time and with the alcohol we started to come out of our shells a bit more. We hung out until 10 or so with a few other people from the trip, swapping travel stories and commiserating about the trip. But it made for a good time and I would call this the turning point of the first Africa trip. From here on out things went much better as the group started to mesh more, the driver Gordon relaxed and we just did not have as far to drive each day.
Happy Days and Flat Tires
Our last day in Joburg was boring. We had nothing left to do and with cabs costing almost $100 to go anywhere we were content to stay in our area until that night. We had to cab over to meet the tour group later that night so we knew we were already going to be spending a ton of money. So most of that day was enjoying the last night in civilization before heading out to camp with 12 strangers. That night we got a car from the Hyatt to take us over to the meeting point. It happened to be a Mercedes so we knew we were going to labeled the rich, snobby Americans when we showed up in for a camping trip. But the driver didnt seem to know where he was going and we got lost in Joburg at night, not the best thing to do, especially when in a Mercedes and looking for a place that is nearby a tent slum on the outskirts of town. After 45 minutes our driver noticed a dark sign that we had passed, backed up the car and found the place. Luckily we pulled in late and no one saw us get out of the car.
The meeting was taking place in the bar part of a deck tent lodge. We walked in and met the guide, Garland, and paid our local payment. With the driver waiting we did no want to stay to long and Garland didn't want to make any big speeches until everyone was there, so he decided to do it the next day. We met a few of the people on the trip, mainly the single travelers before heading back to the car and the comfort of the Hyatt. Before leaving we had made plans with Garland to get picked up at a hostel that was closer to us than the deck tent lodge because he already had to pick 1 other person up there, so that would save us 100 bucks. Before getting out of the car we arranged with the driver to take us over there at 6 in the morning to catch the bus with the tour group (as we came to find out later this single action got us labeled as the asshole Americans by 5 Aussies because they thought we had asked to be picked up across town rather than meet the rest of the group).
We were up at 5:30 the next morning, the first of many early mornings, to pack up, shower in a real shower for the last time and check out. At 6 we met the Mercedes again and had the same worries that people would see us show up in that car and get the wrong idea about us immediately. But luckily when we got to the hostel our group was not there yet. There was another tour group packing up though, loading into there huge overland truck, a hybrid bus and tractor trailer with personal lockers for people, tons of room and sitting about 7 feet off the ground. The group seemed to have a few attractive girls on it and as we watched them drive away we let our hopes get up that we might have some also. Justin also made the comment that he hoped we would not be on a big truck like that because he felt like it was cheating being that far from the people. Much to his regret he got his wish when minivan loaded to the gils with people and bags pulled up and Garland jumped out. We had to climb over people and bags to get to the our seats in the back of the van, directly on top of the wheel well. At 7 in the morning, in a cramped van this trip was not off to a good start.
The plan for the first day was to head out to Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. Things went bad quickly when we got a flat tire half way there. We pulled over to the side of the road, changed the tire and were back on the road after 30 minutes. We made a quick stop in a small town so our guide could buy food for dinner. He gave the 14 of us R400 and told us to go find lunch for ourselves. Now I am not sure who thought giving 14 strangers a limited budget and forcing them all to eat together was a good but it didnt go well and Justin was ready to rip someones head off by the time we found a place. I will take a quick minute to introduce the group - Imogen, Alyssa, Linette were 3 Aussies together, Adam and Daniella were an Aussie couple, Carla and Graham were a Kiwi couple, Ben was alone, from the UK but lived in Aussie, James from the UK alone, Lisbeth from Denmark, Victoria from Australia, and Vera from Finland. Garland and Gordon, the driver, rounded out our group. After lunch we loaded back into the van and headed out for the Canyon.
Things had been going slow all day. The roads are a little rough and our minivan was not equipped for this type of driving. We found out later that Gordon and the van were actually rentals, not normally doing this type of driving or trip. Gordon was actually a driver for Soweto tours, day trips around Joburg, had never camped before and didnt have much experience towing a trailer. If you can't tell this all does not add up for a perfect trip. We didn't pull into Blyde River Canyong until around 3 in the afternoon and because we were running so late we had 20 minutes there, barely enough time to grab a picture. Also going to the canyong had caused us to be 2 hours away from Kruger still, our destination for the night. On the way we got our second flat tire. The first was on the trailer and this one on the van, so we luckily had a spare tire. It took us longer to change since the van was loaded with gear and the spare was under the van. But we got it changed eventually and continued down the road. As we headed down the hills Gordon thought the breaks felt weak so he pulled over to give them a chance to cool down, delaying us again. By this time we were losing sunlight and setting up in a national park in the dark was going to be a disaster. So to Garlands credit he arranged for us to stay at a 3 star lodge just on the outskirts of Kruger, getting us close enough to get in early the next day. The lodge was great, served us a huge dinner and had really nice rooms. But it still didn't make up for the fact that we lost half a day of animal spotting in Kruger and also missed out on optional activities like a night walk and a sunset game drive. We also had to travel for 11 hours this day and were only 4 hours from Joburg.
The next day Garland wanted to leave early, so we had to get up at 5 again to shower and load the van. Seeing big game like leopards and lions is easier in the early morning when it is still cooler out. So most of this day consisted of driving through Kruger spotting cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, crocs, hyenas and all sorts of gazelle. The only complaints with this day was that we stuck to the main roads in the park and the driver went to fast to easily spot animals. We never took the side loops that go more into the bush and get you off the main road and away from the other traffic. And Gordon seemed more intent on driving to the next destination than slowing down to spot animals. By the end of the day we had seen just 3 of the big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhino being the big 5). We pulled into the camp in the park close to dusk and set up shop. It was our first camping night so we didnt quite know what to expect. Garland was good though because he handled all the cooking, grilling up some steaks and sausage plus potatoes and corn. We just had to do dishes which was fine with me. Being up since 5 am everyone was pretty much out by 8:30, knowing we had to get up at 4:45 again to make breakfast and pack up.
The next morning it was cold as hell and packing up was a pain. We got on the road around 6:15 with the plan being to head through Kruger some more on the way to Polokwane, where there was a private animal reserver with some white rhinos. The trip out of Kruger was the same as the one in, Gordon going to fast and us being in to much of a general rush to stop and look for animals. Half way to Polokwane we stopped off at a shopping mall, not exactly the outdoor experience we were hoping for. At the time I thought it was just a bad place to stop chosen by Garland but looking back I think it the only type of place to stop in South Africa that would actually have something. We pulled into the camp site in Polokwane around 2 and made lunch. Gordon went off to find new tires for the van and also get his spares fixed. He ended up taking longer than expected so we didnt get into the rhino park until 4:30 or so. We drove around the park for a while, Garland driving this time and going at a much more reasonable pace, but we still did not spot any rhinos. We set up shop on a small hill in the reserve to watch the sun go down before heading back to camp for the night. That night it got colder than ever and 4:45 in the morning the next day felt rough. But we had a long way to go and wanted to cross the border into Botswana before 9 to avoid the rush.
The meeting was taking place in the bar part of a deck tent lodge. We walked in and met the guide, Garland, and paid our local payment. With the driver waiting we did no want to stay to long and Garland didn't want to make any big speeches until everyone was there, so he decided to do it the next day. We met a few of the people on the trip, mainly the single travelers before heading back to the car and the comfort of the Hyatt. Before leaving we had made plans with Garland to get picked up at a hostel that was closer to us than the deck tent lodge because he already had to pick 1 other person up there, so that would save us 100 bucks. Before getting out of the car we arranged with the driver to take us over there at 6 in the morning to catch the bus with the tour group (as we came to find out later this single action got us labeled as the asshole Americans by 5 Aussies because they thought we had asked to be picked up across town rather than meet the rest of the group).
We were up at 5:30 the next morning, the first of many early mornings, to pack up, shower in a real shower for the last time and check out. At 6 we met the Mercedes again and had the same worries that people would see us show up in that car and get the wrong idea about us immediately. But luckily when we got to the hostel our group was not there yet. There was another tour group packing up though, loading into there huge overland truck, a hybrid bus and tractor trailer with personal lockers for people, tons of room and sitting about 7 feet off the ground. The group seemed to have a few attractive girls on it and as we watched them drive away we let our hopes get up that we might have some also. Justin also made the comment that he hoped we would not be on a big truck like that because he felt like it was cheating being that far from the people. Much to his regret he got his wish when minivan loaded to the gils with people and bags pulled up and Garland jumped out. We had to climb over people and bags to get to the our seats in the back of the van, directly on top of the wheel well. At 7 in the morning, in a cramped van this trip was not off to a good start.
The plan for the first day was to head out to Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. Things went bad quickly when we got a flat tire half way there. We pulled over to the side of the road, changed the tire and were back on the road after 30 minutes. We made a quick stop in a small town so our guide could buy food for dinner. He gave the 14 of us R400 and told us to go find lunch for ourselves. Now I am not sure who thought giving 14 strangers a limited budget and forcing them all to eat together was a good but it didnt go well and Justin was ready to rip someones head off by the time we found a place. I will take a quick minute to introduce the group - Imogen, Alyssa, Linette were 3 Aussies together, Adam and Daniella were an Aussie couple, Carla and Graham were a Kiwi couple, Ben was alone, from the UK but lived in Aussie, James from the UK alone, Lisbeth from Denmark, Victoria from Australia, and Vera from Finland. Garland and Gordon, the driver, rounded out our group. After lunch we loaded back into the van and headed out for the Canyon.
Things had been going slow all day. The roads are a little rough and our minivan was not equipped for this type of driving. We found out later that Gordon and the van were actually rentals, not normally doing this type of driving or trip. Gordon was actually a driver for Soweto tours, day trips around Joburg, had never camped before and didnt have much experience towing a trailer. If you can't tell this all does not add up for a perfect trip. We didn't pull into Blyde River Canyong until around 3 in the afternoon and because we were running so late we had 20 minutes there, barely enough time to grab a picture. Also going to the canyong had caused us to be 2 hours away from Kruger still, our destination for the night. On the way we got our second flat tire. The first was on the trailer and this one on the van, so we luckily had a spare tire. It took us longer to change since the van was loaded with gear and the spare was under the van. But we got it changed eventually and continued down the road. As we headed down the hills Gordon thought the breaks felt weak so he pulled over to give them a chance to cool down, delaying us again. By this time we were losing sunlight and setting up in a national park in the dark was going to be a disaster. So to Garlands credit he arranged for us to stay at a 3 star lodge just on the outskirts of Kruger, getting us close enough to get in early the next day. The lodge was great, served us a huge dinner and had really nice rooms. But it still didn't make up for the fact that we lost half a day of animal spotting in Kruger and also missed out on optional activities like a night walk and a sunset game drive. We also had to travel for 11 hours this day and were only 4 hours from Joburg.
The next day Garland wanted to leave early, so we had to get up at 5 again to shower and load the van. Seeing big game like leopards and lions is easier in the early morning when it is still cooler out. So most of this day consisted of driving through Kruger spotting cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, crocs, hyenas and all sorts of gazelle. The only complaints with this day was that we stuck to the main roads in the park and the driver went to fast to easily spot animals. We never took the side loops that go more into the bush and get you off the main road and away from the other traffic. And Gordon seemed more intent on driving to the next destination than slowing down to spot animals. By the end of the day we had seen just 3 of the big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhino being the big 5). We pulled into the camp in the park close to dusk and set up shop. It was our first camping night so we didnt quite know what to expect. Garland was good though because he handled all the cooking, grilling up some steaks and sausage plus potatoes and corn. We just had to do dishes which was fine with me. Being up since 5 am everyone was pretty much out by 8:30, knowing we had to get up at 4:45 again to make breakfast and pack up.
The next morning it was cold as hell and packing up was a pain. We got on the road around 6:15 with the plan being to head through Kruger some more on the way to Polokwane, where there was a private animal reserver with some white rhinos. The trip out of Kruger was the same as the one in, Gordon going to fast and us being in to much of a general rush to stop and look for animals. Half way to Polokwane we stopped off at a shopping mall, not exactly the outdoor experience we were hoping for. At the time I thought it was just a bad place to stop chosen by Garland but looking back I think it the only type of place to stop in South Africa that would actually have something. We pulled into the camp site in Polokwane around 2 and made lunch. Gordon went off to find new tires for the van and also get his spares fixed. He ended up taking longer than expected so we didnt get into the rhino park until 4:30 or so. We drove around the park for a while, Garland driving this time and going at a much more reasonable pace, but we still did not spot any rhinos. We set up shop on a small hill in the reserve to watch the sun go down before heading back to camp for the night. That night it got colder than ever and 4:45 in the morning the next day felt rough. But we had a long way to go and wanted to cross the border into Botswana before 9 to avoid the rush.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Africa is cold
After bumming around Singapore for a day we headed to the airport to wait for out flight. When we landed in Singapore we were pretty amazed at how awesome it was but we barely even knew. As we sat in the airport I picked up a brochure about the airport that listed out all the stores and services available - and they have everything. They have 500 free internet terminals as well as free wifi, they have stores open 24 hours a day for those leaving late like us and the best part - they have free entertainment corners with tv's, xbox's, ps3's and even a movie theatre. Yes the airport has a free movie theatre built into it that is open 24 hours. So safe to say we were not at a loss for things to do before the flight at 2am. The only unsettling parts were the groups of military guys that seemed to roam around with machine guns, hand guns and machetes, their fingers in the constant ready to shoot the machine gun if need be. A little unnerving but this is Singapore, the same country that banned chewing gum for a while.
The flight to Joburg was uneventful. Leaving so late at night we were pretty tired but I was determined to watch the rest of Kung Fu Panda. After finishing that I was still a little awake so I watched Son of Rambow, a British movie about two kids fascinated with Rambo and make a movie about it. Not the best film I have even seen. The rest of the flight was me trying to fall asleep while sitting up, something I have never been good at. We arrived in South Africa around 7 am local time (11 hour flight) and got our bags and headed through customs. When we came out we looked around for our airport pick up, noticing one guy from the Hyatt that was not holding our names. We asked him if there was another Hyatt driver so he called the hotel, they told us they had no record of it and it would take an hour for a driver to reach us. That didnt fly so we found a taxi and he took us to hotel for about 40 bucks. Africa is not cheap.
Once at the hotel they told us our room was not ready quite yet. So we bummed around, checked email at the business center, had some breakfast and were let in the room around 10. I immediately fell asleep. Justin woke me up around 12 so we could get food. The hotel is located in the Rosebank area of town, what I am told is the nice part of town. Outside the hotel are a few shopping malls, restaurants, movie theatre and bowling alley. Seems like a good place to be. The only weird part is that everything in the mall closes at sun down and the area is kind of a ghost town. It is almost like vampires come out at night or something cause everyone just disappears. So the first night here we pretty much did the same, heading back to the room so we could figure out what to do with our Livingstone Hotel and what to do with our time in Johannesburg. After watching some bad television I fell asleep.
The next day our big goal was to get a ride out to the Carnivore and if all else failed get a ride out to the travel agent we found for Livingstone. After a brief stop at the STA office at the mall, who we tried to get to book us a room, we reluctantly decided to go with what we had. The problem was that the Carnivore and the travel agent were on the other side of town from the hotel, which meant we needed a taxi to take us, wait for us and bring us back. We found a cab that would do it all for R700 ($100) but the hotel said that taxis are not safe and that they would arrange one for us that was trustworthy. So after getting their car, we were off. The first stop was the travel agency. We were a little skeptical when the directions said get off on the dirt road and follow it down but when it turned out to be a heavily fenced building (as almost every house/building in Joburg are) we felt safer. It was also run by almost all Africaans and had familiar tour agency trucks parked out front. For some reason they thought we were tour guides so the entire office came in to meet us and ask us if we were tour guides. Once they found out we were not they left us alone. But we got the hotel in Livingston squared away and that was the last lodging in Africa to take care of. Next it was off to the Carnivore.
Now the Carnivore is a restaurant that serves game meat, meaning stuff like antelope, zebra, crocodile and the rare big animals. They also have a weird way of serving the food. It all cooks on spits over a big fire in the middle of the room. As you sit there they bring the huge chunk of meat to your table and serve you a piece if you want some. Over all it was close to 15 types of meat, from the ones mentioned above to pork, ostrich, eland, crocodile and a few more I can not remember. Most of it was good, but the zebra was amazing. It was like the best steak I have ever had yet more tender. I think I might starting eating horse when we get home. It was only R350 total ($40) which is a pretty good deal. We also got a cheap bottle of wine and sat there getting drunk and chowing down on zebra until we felt we were going to pop. Our driver Abee was waiting for us outside and took us back to the Hyatt. The next day we really had nothing planned other than heading out to meet our tour group before we departed.
The flight to Joburg was uneventful. Leaving so late at night we were pretty tired but I was determined to watch the rest of Kung Fu Panda. After finishing that I was still a little awake so I watched Son of Rambow, a British movie about two kids fascinated with Rambo and make a movie about it. Not the best film I have even seen. The rest of the flight was me trying to fall asleep while sitting up, something I have never been good at. We arrived in South Africa around 7 am local time (11 hour flight) and got our bags and headed through customs. When we came out we looked around for our airport pick up, noticing one guy from the Hyatt that was not holding our names. We asked him if there was another Hyatt driver so he called the hotel, they told us they had no record of it and it would take an hour for a driver to reach us. That didnt fly so we found a taxi and he took us to hotel for about 40 bucks. Africa is not cheap.
Once at the hotel they told us our room was not ready quite yet. So we bummed around, checked email at the business center, had some breakfast and were let in the room around 10. I immediately fell asleep. Justin woke me up around 12 so we could get food. The hotel is located in the Rosebank area of town, what I am told is the nice part of town. Outside the hotel are a few shopping malls, restaurants, movie theatre and bowling alley. Seems like a good place to be. The only weird part is that everything in the mall closes at sun down and the area is kind of a ghost town. It is almost like vampires come out at night or something cause everyone just disappears. So the first night here we pretty much did the same, heading back to the room so we could figure out what to do with our Livingstone Hotel and what to do with our time in Johannesburg. After watching some bad television I fell asleep.
The next day our big goal was to get a ride out to the Carnivore and if all else failed get a ride out to the travel agent we found for Livingstone. After a brief stop at the STA office at the mall, who we tried to get to book us a room, we reluctantly decided to go with what we had. The problem was that the Carnivore and the travel agent were on the other side of town from the hotel, which meant we needed a taxi to take us, wait for us and bring us back. We found a cab that would do it all for R700 ($100) but the hotel said that taxis are not safe and that they would arrange one for us that was trustworthy. So after getting their car, we were off. The first stop was the travel agency. We were a little skeptical when the directions said get off on the dirt road and follow it down but when it turned out to be a heavily fenced building (as almost every house/building in Joburg are) we felt safer. It was also run by almost all Africaans and had familiar tour agency trucks parked out front. For some reason they thought we were tour guides so the entire office came in to meet us and ask us if we were tour guides. Once they found out we were not they left us alone. But we got the hotel in Livingston squared away and that was the last lodging in Africa to take care of. Next it was off to the Carnivore.
Now the Carnivore is a restaurant that serves game meat, meaning stuff like antelope, zebra, crocodile and the rare big animals. They also have a weird way of serving the food. It all cooks on spits over a big fire in the middle of the room. As you sit there they bring the huge chunk of meat to your table and serve you a piece if you want some. Over all it was close to 15 types of meat, from the ones mentioned above to pork, ostrich, eland, crocodile and a few more I can not remember. Most of it was good, but the zebra was amazing. It was like the best steak I have ever had yet more tender. I think I might starting eating horse when we get home. It was only R350 total ($40) which is a pretty good deal. We also got a cheap bottle of wine and sat there getting drunk and chowing down on zebra until we felt we were going to pop. Our driver Abee was waiting for us outside and took us back to the Hyatt. The next day we really had nothing planned other than heading out to meet our tour group before we departed.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Goodbye Asia, Hello Africa
Well the time in Asia has come to an end. As I type this we are in an internet cafe in Singapore waiting for our flight to Africa at 2am. It is an odd feeling leaving Asia. We had a lot of fun and saw quite a bit of stuff. But on the same hand I feel like we just got here and just scratched the surface. We've been to plenty of places I would love to go again, plenty I could do without and there are still plenty of others we have not even touched. I guess another trip to this part of the world will have to happen at some point.
There are a lot of things I will miss about Asia but here are just a few
There are a lot of things I will miss about Asia but here are just a few
- Asian chics - of course, they are skinny, petite, well dressed in major cities and they seem to like white guys. The only thing I have gotten sick with so far is Yellow Fever and not the bad kind.
- Cheap living - Other than Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore traveling in this part of the world is relatively inexpensive. And compared to Africa and Europe my money went a little further here.
- Civilization - Most of the cities here are packed with people. This is good and bad. Good because you don't feel totally alone but bad for the shear size and noise. This one is a mixed bag but I think on cold nights in my tent in Africa I might want to hear honking horns rather than roaring animals.
- Safety - I have never felt unsafe in Asia. Even walking through sketchy looking parts of town at night I felt ok. This may be stupid on my part but we never had problems. This is not to say Africa won't be safe also. But it's reputation is not one of safe and secure. I am hoping all the rumors are wrong.
Getting to Africa will be weird. It has always felt like the turning point in the trip. In Asia we were always counting up, counting how long we had been away from home. But once we get to Africa I feel like we are counting down until the trip is over and it's back to normal life. I am hoping that feeling fades when we are busy doing stuff (or maybe I will be counting down the days until no more camping). We'll have to see on that one. The only thing I know is that everything is about to change and the past 2 months of getting used to traveling will really be put to the test.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
I hate pictures
Ok so after 4 hours of sorting and uploading I managed to get 75% of our pictures up. This covers pictures from Bangkok, Koh Samui, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Saigon and Cambodia. What is not up yet are the pictures from the SRL, including good shots of the sunset in Halong Bay and the Angkor Wat temple. But after 4 hours I can not sit here with the little kids screaming as they play video games. So enjoy what is up, which is close to 200 pictures and 20 or so videos. The rest will come up tomorrow as we kill time waiting for our flight to South Africa.
Friday, August 1, 2008
America...I mean Singapore, fuck yeah
After the rocking night out (go read the last post if you have not) Angkor Wat day was off to a rough start. We had originally planned to get up early, maybe rent bikes and ride around town then meet the tuk tuk driver at 1pm for the tour. Best laid plans... I sort of got up at 1pm wanting to kill myself. It was the type of hang over that makes you swear off alcohol... at least until the next time. I told Justin there was no way I could make it at 1pm, he bitched about it (f him he made himself puke instead of taking the hangover like a man) before heading downstairs to tell the tuk tuk. We pushed back the start until 2:30. I barely managed to get downstairs to eat some lunch hoping the food would help me get over the hang over some. It did not. I spent the rest of the time on my back in the room hoping I wouldn't shit myself or puke on myself at some point in the day.
At 2:30 we loaded up for the tour. Downstairs I told the tuk tuk driver I was sorry but last night was a little rough. He got a good laugh out of it. The first stop of the day was Angkor Wat and just as we pulled up it started to rain. Not quite the rains of Saigon but enough to make me want to cover my backpack with the DSLR camera in it. But where oh where would I find something? Never fear because just as we stopped at the Wat 5 kids surrounded us in the tuk tuk, literally throwing ponchos at us and telling us to buy from them. I thought the rain may taper off eventually but when it started to get heavier I relented and had one of the girls get us blue and yellow ponchos. I am not sure if we looked smaller sitting in the tuk tuk or whether the girl just didn't care (betting on the latter) but the ponchos she gave us must have been kid size. The sleeves barely came down to my elbow. But they covered me enough and covered the backpack also so we made our way through the rain to the Wat.
Now I don't know how many of you have seen pictures of Angkor Wat or even heard of it but it is awesome. It is surrounded by a huge moat with a stone bridge leading in. The main temple area, which was the center of Buddhism at one point in history, has been rebuilt with the original stones and some reinforcement where needed. The outside walls of the temple have carvings, 100s of feet long that show famous stories from the Buddhist faith, like Vishu fighting demons or the demons and good guys pulling the serpent to churn the milky water (don't ask cause I don't know). The inside is just as awesome with a huge spire, the 100 Buddha statues (not that many left really) and just old looking architecture. It is also located in the middle of the jungle, not much development nearby other than the cafe and restaurant for tourist. We were even treated to a local monkey who decided to come into the ruins and walk around, not paying any attention to the people there. Overall it is a great temple, should be one of the wonders of the world and I recommend people go see it at some point.
After Angkor Wat we drove into what I guess was either a city at one point or just a huge temple area. We drove through the original stone gate, wide enough for 1 car or tuk tuk to go through at a time and each side of the road having the angels and demons pulling the serpent again. Inside the walls were multiple temples spread around different areas. One was the temple with the faces on it that are quite famous. It was pretty neat and I got some good pictures of it with the SRL in between rain. We stopped at another that was way back in the jungle and had trees growing out of it. With the rain coming down again the place was a little flooded which made it look even cooler. Unfortunately our time here was cut short as the temples were closing at 5:30. So we loaded back into the tuk tuk and headed into town for dinner.
Now for most of the day I had been going back and forth between feeling like death and feeling ok. During dinner I started to feel like death again so we got the bill, walked down the street to grab out laundry (we had it done by some internet cafe for $5) then tuk tuk home. The rest of the night was spent at the hotel watching Fashion TV (we'd been living by this channel in Vietnam since it showed hot white girls) and using the internet. The next day we packed up early for our flight back to Saigon for a 1 night stopover before Singapore. Siem Reap airport surprised us again when it had a Dairy Queen, which was good, and a $25 departure tax, which was bad. Another quick flight on a prop plane and we were back in Saigon and not to happy about it. Siem Reap had been a nice, quiet, relaxing time. Except for the night of bad decisions and day of regrets.
It is pretty amazing how far we have come since the 2 scared kids that got dropped off in Beijing. This time we didn't even bother having the hotel pick us up opting to use a taxi instead which is much cheaper. We checked back into the same hotel, said hi to the same guy that works the desk (I don't think he ever leaves the building) and walked the 6 flights of stairs to our room. Last time we had been one floor down but still had to walk up and down 5 flights of stairs anytime we wanted to do something. Maybe this is why Saigon didn't gel with me to much. Either that or the blatant anti-American attitude (they even have an Anti-American National Holiday, March 15th I think) which is very funny given a lot of stuff is priced in USD and they accept USD for payment.
After a quick meal we headed back to the room as my stomach was still a little rough. But after a little while it managed to calm down and we headed back to our favorite bar to play some pool and (gasp!) have a beer. I told you I never learn. We played a few games of pool, reflected on the fact that our time in Asia was coming to an end, talked to Yuki a little bit and then headed home. The next morning we were up and out the door around 12:30 for our flight to Singapore. Now we had heard good things about Singapore Airlines from Andy and Lucy (Brits from Koh Samui) so we were expecting it to be nice. And it delivered. All the seats have tvs in the headrest and on demand tv and movies. Unfortunately it was a short flight but I did manage to watch 75% of Kung Fu Panda. I plan to catch the rest when we fly to South Africa in a few days.
Landing in Singapore was like arriving in heaven. Everything was in English, I saw familiar food everywhere, familiar shops and western style clothes. And the best part of all - no motorbikes! Those bastard things make so much noise honking all the time and it was really starting to get to me in Vietnam. We used the metro to get to our hotel, something we have not used since Hong Kong and then found a nice white guy from America to show us to our hotel. On the way he gave us some insight into the area, like where the movie theatre was so we could see Batman and where the 4 floors of whores were so we could get prostitutes... The hotel was another upgrade from the original booking, costing us a little bit more. But it is beyond worth it. We are on the 15th floor overlooking the city, with comfortable beds and the best shower I have ever felt. This isn't to say the other places we stayed sucked, but just like a Motel 6 in the US will do a Hyatt always feels better.
After showering (the first time I have really felt clean in a while) we headed out to get food and tickets to Batman. We walked down the street marveling at all the stores - Orange Julius, Burger King (with English speaking staff!), Borders, Apple Store, a huge movie theatre and a mall all within 2 blocks of us. I almost started crying. Any trip exhaustion I was feeling was immediately wiped away and I started to wish we had more time in this mecca. After getting tickets to Batman we went to Burger King for dinner (i love fast food). For the first time in a while I could get a large fountain soda with ice and not worry about getting sick since the PM of Singapore says the country will pay your medical bills if you get sick from the water.
Now none of this is to take away from the other countries. We had fun in almost every place we went, some times a little to much fun, but this was our first real taste of home in 2 months. Japan is western but with a distinct twist and Hong Kong is western but with a underlying Chinese feel to it. But Singapore is all western all the time. It really feels like an Asian America from the shops and buildings to just the diversity of people. It really is the perfect spot for us to recharge our batteries before spending 2 months camping around Africa. And that is what we intend to do. No site seeing, no racing around trying to do stuff. We are just going to stay in our little area, spend way to much time on the computers, get Europe all planned out and finally upload the past month of pictures and video. So get ready for that cause it is going to be a shitload.
At 2:30 we loaded up for the tour. Downstairs I told the tuk tuk driver I was sorry but last night was a little rough. He got a good laugh out of it. The first stop of the day was Angkor Wat and just as we pulled up it started to rain. Not quite the rains of Saigon but enough to make me want to cover my backpack with the DSLR camera in it. But where oh where would I find something? Never fear because just as we stopped at the Wat 5 kids surrounded us in the tuk tuk, literally throwing ponchos at us and telling us to buy from them. I thought the rain may taper off eventually but when it started to get heavier I relented and had one of the girls get us blue and yellow ponchos. I am not sure if we looked smaller sitting in the tuk tuk or whether the girl just didn't care (betting on the latter) but the ponchos she gave us must have been kid size. The sleeves barely came down to my elbow. But they covered me enough and covered the backpack also so we made our way through the rain to the Wat.
Now I don't know how many of you have seen pictures of Angkor Wat or even heard of it but it is awesome. It is surrounded by a huge moat with a stone bridge leading in. The main temple area, which was the center of Buddhism at one point in history, has been rebuilt with the original stones and some reinforcement where needed. The outside walls of the temple have carvings, 100s of feet long that show famous stories from the Buddhist faith, like Vishu fighting demons or the demons and good guys pulling the serpent to churn the milky water (don't ask cause I don't know). The inside is just as awesome with a huge spire, the 100 Buddha statues (not that many left really) and just old looking architecture. It is also located in the middle of the jungle, not much development nearby other than the cafe and restaurant for tourist. We were even treated to a local monkey who decided to come into the ruins and walk around, not paying any attention to the people there. Overall it is a great temple, should be one of the wonders of the world and I recommend people go see it at some point.
After Angkor Wat we drove into what I guess was either a city at one point or just a huge temple area. We drove through the original stone gate, wide enough for 1 car or tuk tuk to go through at a time and each side of the road having the angels and demons pulling the serpent again. Inside the walls were multiple temples spread around different areas. One was the temple with the faces on it that are quite famous. It was pretty neat and I got some good pictures of it with the SRL in between rain. We stopped at another that was way back in the jungle and had trees growing out of it. With the rain coming down again the place was a little flooded which made it look even cooler. Unfortunately our time here was cut short as the temples were closing at 5:30. So we loaded back into the tuk tuk and headed into town for dinner.
Now for most of the day I had been going back and forth between feeling like death and feeling ok. During dinner I started to feel like death again so we got the bill, walked down the street to grab out laundry (we had it done by some internet cafe for $5) then tuk tuk home. The rest of the night was spent at the hotel watching Fashion TV (we'd been living by this channel in Vietnam since it showed hot white girls) and using the internet. The next day we packed up early for our flight back to Saigon for a 1 night stopover before Singapore. Siem Reap airport surprised us again when it had a Dairy Queen, which was good, and a $25 departure tax, which was bad. Another quick flight on a prop plane and we were back in Saigon and not to happy about it. Siem Reap had been a nice, quiet, relaxing time. Except for the night of bad decisions and day of regrets.
It is pretty amazing how far we have come since the 2 scared kids that got dropped off in Beijing. This time we didn't even bother having the hotel pick us up opting to use a taxi instead which is much cheaper. We checked back into the same hotel, said hi to the same guy that works the desk (I don't think he ever leaves the building) and walked the 6 flights of stairs to our room. Last time we had been one floor down but still had to walk up and down 5 flights of stairs anytime we wanted to do something. Maybe this is why Saigon didn't gel with me to much. Either that or the blatant anti-American attitude (they even have an Anti-American National Holiday, March 15th I think) which is very funny given a lot of stuff is priced in USD and they accept USD for payment.
After a quick meal we headed back to the room as my stomach was still a little rough. But after a little while it managed to calm down and we headed back to our favorite bar to play some pool and (gasp!) have a beer. I told you I never learn. We played a few games of pool, reflected on the fact that our time in Asia was coming to an end, talked to Yuki a little bit and then headed home. The next morning we were up and out the door around 12:30 for our flight to Singapore. Now we had heard good things about Singapore Airlines from Andy and Lucy (Brits from Koh Samui) so we were expecting it to be nice. And it delivered. All the seats have tvs in the headrest and on demand tv and movies. Unfortunately it was a short flight but I did manage to watch 75% of Kung Fu Panda. I plan to catch the rest when we fly to South Africa in a few days.
Landing in Singapore was like arriving in heaven. Everything was in English, I saw familiar food everywhere, familiar shops and western style clothes. And the best part of all - no motorbikes! Those bastard things make so much noise honking all the time and it was really starting to get to me in Vietnam. We used the metro to get to our hotel, something we have not used since Hong Kong and then found a nice white guy from America to show us to our hotel. On the way he gave us some insight into the area, like where the movie theatre was so we could see Batman and where the 4 floors of whores were so we could get prostitutes... The hotel was another upgrade from the original booking, costing us a little bit more. But it is beyond worth it. We are on the 15th floor overlooking the city, with comfortable beds and the best shower I have ever felt. This isn't to say the other places we stayed sucked, but just like a Motel 6 in the US will do a Hyatt always feels better.
After showering (the first time I have really felt clean in a while) we headed out to get food and tickets to Batman. We walked down the street marveling at all the stores - Orange Julius, Burger King (with English speaking staff!), Borders, Apple Store, a huge movie theatre and a mall all within 2 blocks of us. I almost started crying. Any trip exhaustion I was feeling was immediately wiped away and I started to wish we had more time in this mecca. After getting tickets to Batman we went to Burger King for dinner (i love fast food). For the first time in a while I could get a large fountain soda with ice and not worry about getting sick since the PM of Singapore says the country will pay your medical bills if you get sick from the water.
Now none of this is to take away from the other countries. We had fun in almost every place we went, some times a little to much fun, but this was our first real taste of home in 2 months. Japan is western but with a distinct twist and Hong Kong is western but with a underlying Chinese feel to it. But Singapore is all western all the time. It really feels like an Asian America from the shops and buildings to just the diversity of people. It really is the perfect spot for us to recharge our batteries before spending 2 months camping around Africa. And that is what we intend to do. No site seeing, no racing around trying to do stuff. We are just going to stay in our little area, spend way to much time on the computers, get Europe all planned out and finally upload the past month of pictures and video. So get ready for that cause it is going to be a shitload.
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