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.
