Day 2 in South Africa

Day 2! Sun City. March 14, 2007

Woke up at 7:30 am and went for a run around the Lost City Golf course beside our hotel....and YES DWIGHT , I WAS DEFINITELY THINKING ABOUT YOU ...and how I can kick your butt again this coming Sun Run! lol!

We then had another big breakfast that included duck eggs, peking duck, and champagne. They even had an oyster bar for breakfast but we decided to stay on the safe side since we still have the whole day ahead of us.


At 10 am, we had a safari/horseback-riding adventure.
Eric was given a fine stud with an African name that was hard to pronounce, while I was given a mere pony named "Rambo".

We rode inside a game reserve park and saw some interesting animals such as the impalas, buffalos, antelopes, and kudos. They were not very easy to catch on camera since they ran once they saw Eric….hehe☺ Except for one brave female kudo who looked like it was high.

After another buffet lunch, we had a private drumming lesson with the locals inside a huge gazebo.




We were given a brief history about the African drums and it’s purpose. After the lessons, we jived with the locals as they sang and danced to their own tribal music. Mom had a blast dancing with them.....what a sight. The music sounded so beautiful and it felt so relaxing. We were so into the rhythm and Eric even took of his shirt so he could really feel that he was one with the motherland.

Check out the girl with a blue headband "feeling" Eric. hahahaha! I think she's never seen such brightness.

We then headed for a dip in the grand pool of our hotel....







Finally, our day ended with a show called “Let There Be Rock”, which was a musical journey of rock and roll from the 50’s to the present.

Day 1 in South Africa

Day 1! Johannesburg/Pretoria/ Sun City March 13, 2007
We’re finally here! We arrived Jo’berg (short for Johannesburg) at 5am. A representative from Thomas Gateway Travels came to pick us up. I forgot his name but this is what he looked like:



He introduced us to our driver/tour guide, Rudolf, who drove a 12-seater Mercedes bus.

So we started the tour right away. Since we arrived too early, Rudolf decided to drive us around Jo’berg first.

Since after the fall of the Apartheid, the peace and order of downtown Jo’berg has deteriorated and a lot of the businesses have moved out of the city. You can even see empty commercial buildings with very modern designs just sitting there wasting away. Unfortunately we couldn’t make a stop to take pictures because we had a schedule to follow.

We then drove around the area where Mr. Nelson Mandela resided. Below is a picture of his mansion.

It seems like Mandela commands the value of his neighbour’s propery. The closer your house is to Mandela, the higher the value of your house.

Rudolf then took us to the Voortrekker Monument, where we saw sculptures of the lives of the early Dutch pioneers. The word “Voortrekker” is African for early pioneers.

View of Pretoria from the top of the Voortrekker monument

Then we went to the center of Pretoria where we visited the Church Square which consisted of important buildings such as the City Hall, the Post Office, the Mint, First National Bank, and parking lot that used to be a very nice theatre.


We also visited the Union Buildings which is also the site of the inauguration of President Mbeki and Nelson Mandela.

We had a Chinese lunch at the Lai Jing Restaurant in Pretoria. It was surprisingly delicious too! After lunch, we headed out to Sun City. It was a quiet 2 hour trip because everyone was so full from lunch that was also full of MSG.


This is kinda what our view looked like enroute to Sun City.



But once we got to the Sun City, everyone was wide awake. The place itself is magnificent! Our hotel, the Palace of the Lost City, is truly AMAZING and definitely a work of art. No hotels in Vegas can rival it’s details…..that’s for sure!





We had dinner at the Palm Terrace at the Cabanas Hotel…also inside Sun City. We thought we could still go to the casino after dinner but we were all too tired. I couldn’t even post this blog on time because my eyes just refused to remain open!