We brought back the sunshine!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

So we're finally back after 28 hours of flying time....sigh... But as Eric said today: "I'd go back in a heartbeat".
Yup....the trip was very worth all that traveling! Most of my time in the plane was spent on looking at our pictures, listening to the upbeat sounds of the Soweto Gospel Choir that I've uploaded in my ipod (btw they are coming this Saturday, March 31st at the QE theatre and THEY ARE AWESOME!), and reading a classic S. African children's book called "Jock of the Bushveldt".

I had mixed feelings on our last day in Capetown. Part of me was sad because I was leaving, but part of me was calm and actually also excited because I've made a decision to go back again. When ? I don't know....but I'm definitely saving up! Why? there's lots of reasons why but it's too difficult to explain them in words. Maybe it's the natural wildnessof the place

or perhaps maybe it's the people there who can laugh so freely and so easily at the simplest jokes. The place is just so full of joy.


One just has to go there to see and feel what it's like.... and to create their own personal reasons or their own special connections with the country.





















Anyway, I'm babbling. As we took our final steps out of South Africa, we reflected back on our last 2 weeks' adventure and realized how blessed we are to have such loving parents who made this trip of a lifetime possible. Thanks mom and dad for everything!

Day 10 in South Africa

Up to how many spots can a cheetah have in its body? Find the answer at the bottom.
(Thanks to Christine, I've learned the art of getting people to read my very long blog. )

It was very cloudy again this morning. We were actually very fortunate because if it's cloudy here, nobody can go up to the Table Mountain because of the heavy fog. There's actually a legend about that fog but I'm not going to bore you with it in this blog but if you're interested, you can ask Eric or research about it yourself...hehe;) I took a picture of the view from our room this morning....

....compare it to the one shown in Day 8.

Peter took us to Stellenbosch where we went to one of the
more popular world-class vineyards called Neethlingshof for a wine-tasting tour.

This pictures of the trees is the picture that they put in every Neethlingshof bottle. It's the same picture below.

Here's where they ferment their wines in large oak barrels.

Here's Daryl pouring some wine samples for us.

We also had our lunch at the Vineyard. I was abit disappointed with the lunch because I was expecting something fancier than this! They served us Chinese food that was grosser than the grossest thing you'd find at Richmond Public Market! So it would've been a waste of money to order wine to pair this with!

We then toured the very old town of Stellenbosch. It's very Dutch.

This town is filled with university students as the university campuses are uniquely staggered all around the town.

This church below is the largest Dutch Reformed Church in Capetown.

The buildings had a strict bylaw...anything new has to be built to look like the old buildings because they want to preserve the town's antique look.

We passed by some zebras on our way back. They kinda look like half donkey and half horse. I'm glad we were able to see them 'cuz I would've felt deprived since I missed them at the safari!



We also made a special trip to the Cheetah Conservation Camp to pet a Cheetah. Because it wasn't part of our tour's package, we had to pay 70 Rand (approx US$10.00 or P5o0.00) each just to do that! Talk about getting cheated out to pet a cheetah for 5 minutes!

Cheetah's tend to sleep all day. Apparently, they don't like to run unless it's for survival. So these cheetahs are very spoiled since they don't have to work for their food.

This cub below is going to be shipped to the US to be a sponsor for the conservation of cheetahs. Although wild cheetahs can run 120 km per hour, they can only sprint a short distance and then they need to cool off. So when they catch their prey, they sometimes need to rest before devouring them and if other bigger animals such as the lions or hyenas are nearby, they lose their game. That is one of the main reasons for the cheetah's dwindling numbers, hence the importance of raising people's awareness to protect them.

Finally it was time for shopping again. We went to a big mall called Century Plaza. It was huge but the stores weren't really as impressive as the ones at the Waterfront. I could probably say that in terms of shopping, Century Plaza is to Lansdown as the Waterfront is to Pacific Centre. But nevertheless, Eric and I still carried home a few bags.

Finally we had dinner at an authentic Thai Restaurant. Their chefs were true Thais and so the food was HOT HOT HOT!




and thus ends our day. We're leaving tomorrow:( I'm really not looking forward to the 8 hour trip to Doha, and the 10 hour trip to Manila, and then the 11 hour trip to Vancouver!

and if you're still reading this blog, the answer to the question at the beginning is..............
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...up to 2000 spots:)

Day 9 in South Africa

Day 9 Cape Town March 21, 2007

Cape Town's absolutely gorgeous! I think I'm in love with the place! We went boat riding around Seal Island which also overlooks Chapman's peak.

There were lots of seals basking under the warm sun and posing for the camera:)

These are local musicians playing for us after we got off the boat.

Then we went down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. It felt like driving around the French Riviera...the beaches around the coast liine were just incredible!
This beach is still part of the Atlantic ocean. On the other side of Cape Point, it meets the Indian ocean, which has a much warmer temperature.

If any of you guys ever go to Cape Point, you'll find our names written on the lighthouse:)

We had to ride a Funicular to go up to the light house at the Cape Point so we could see where the two oceans met.

The animals that we saw at the Point were an added bonus. The baboons weren't as shy as the ones in the bush because people feed them.

They're actually considered big pests because they can be pretty aggressive.

Then we had a lobster lunch inside the South African Naval Base in a restaurant called the Roaring 40's. Then we went to Boulder's beach to look at the African penguins.

Local folks also call them city slickers because they do end up walking in the city. We were also able to witness a mean sea gull stealing a penguin egg and eating it up. It was so sad!

We actually had time to go back to the Waterfront in the afternoon where I was able to do some shopping. Hey I had a good reason today...I broke my sandals:)


Then we had dinner at Mr. Changs....another Chinese restaurant...

Day 8 in South Africa

Day 8- Cape Town March 20, 2007

We left the hotel at 9:30 en route to the airport for a 2-hour flight to Cape Town. We got to Cape Town around 12:30pm and met our new tour guide, Peter. He took us straight to the White Ranch Ostrich Farm where we were served ostrich meat for lunch.
I learned that ostrich meat is actually red meat. It tasted like a mixture of lamb and beef....I think I like it. We also had Ostrich scrambled eggs which tasted like normal chicken egg but with a much higher cholesterol level. One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.

After lunch, we were given a short introductory about ostriches. Did you know that an ostrich's eyeball is bigger than it’s brain? Each eyeball weighs approximately 60 grams while the brain is only 20 grams.
And did you know that ostriches literally eat and run? They actually swallow lots of pebbles into their tummy and they need to run in order for the pebbles to grind the food inside their stomach and thereby digesting it. Hhhhmmmm….interesting eh?

We were also able to feed the ostriches with corn. Man do they attack your hand!
The only way to tell the gender of an ostrich is through the color of their feathers. if it's black, then it's male. If it's brown, then it's female.

Their necks are also very flexible and they can twist it around easily. You can even put their food on their backs and they can just eat it from there.

Did you know that their eggs can hold up to 150kg without breaking? And to prove it, our guide challenged Eric to stand on the eggs.


Then the best part of the tour was when we were to sit on an ostrich.

Our next stop was to go to Table Mountain. But we stopped by or hotel first and to our amazement, our room had the view of Table Mountain. It is actually quite breath taking. We took a revolving gondola up to the mountain. The view up their was nothing we’ve ever seen before.
It was absolutely amazing!

It’s the best view we’ve ever seen and there’s nothing like it in B.C.

The view was so nice that we actually overstayed more than our allotted time. Afterwards, we headed to the Waterfront …which is equivalent to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. I shouldn’t say that actually….it’s much grander than that. This place is full of all kinds of shops and restaurants. I think I can retire here. And that’s pretty much our day:)