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:)