TravelStream™ news feed for member slynooly on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/slynooly en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:32:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220540880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220540880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220540880/tpod.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:32:36 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

WOOOW!! now I am flying back to my home country by night and I arrive at Dubai early in the morning: 5:40 am to be acurate. As usual, it is incredibly hot here, although for the people here this is still kind of cold. They must be joking, no way this is cold and I wear also this stupid sweater (a remaining from Cape Town where the weather is awfully rainy and windy)! anyway, I quickly go out of the airport and take a bus to do a city tour as when I arrived for my flight to Cape Town two months ago. But it was not as nice as I expected although I had a seat at the front of the bus, the places reserved for the ladies...so I quickly ask a taxi driver for a city tour. For 200 dirhams that is approximately 30 euros, a bargain for a three-hour long journey in this booming city! I especially appreciated the nice beach, called the open beach where you could have a very clear view of Burj Dubai, that legendary 6-stars hotel, a classy place to stay where you can save all your life long for just one night without breakfast included!!!! I therefore saw mainly Jumeirah the most luxurious neighborhood of the city, but also Marina, which is a bit further and obviously the Palm Island its wide array of flats and villas at 1 millions AED (Arab Emirates Dirhams) each. The advantage of having a villa there is that you will necessarily have a bit of the sea behind or in front of your house! I felt just very compassionate for the workers (from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and so on) who had to work by more than 40 degrees day and night while being paid peanuts. At least, if you compare it to a French payroll for the same working conditions for instance. No wonder, that a tower of 500 meters is built in 1 year time and that there are constantly other ones which are popping up. I also went to various shopping center (just to look...) and in one of them you can even do skiing if you feel like doing it! So, i was very pleased with that visit of Dubai by day, the first time I came it was only by night and I did not see much, neither did you I guess!! enjoy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220538420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220538420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1220538420/tpod.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:46:25 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Town, South Africa

The alst days in the Cape were quite strange to me. Leaving those beautiful beaches, mountaines, nice restaurants and market places and so on. Also leaving my workplace, my colleagues and my boss. They will miss me but I wil definitely miss them too.
Meanwhile, I am also looking forward to see my family and friends back in France. And the last week was so windy and rainy that it was like the country's weather in itself wanted to exepl me from the country as soon as possible. So, while I am packaging all of my stuff in the always too few luggage at my disposal, Lulu, one of my colleague also decided to take me for an ultimate outing to the township of Khayelitsha, not as a tourist but really as a guest. This visit was actually aimed at meeting entrepreneurs that took the Micro-MBA course several years ago and implemented it successfully. So after a crazy train journey until Bellville, we took the taxi (you know, with all the people squeezed together into it, like in a sardin box), we eventually met her friend who was now running a fish'n'chips restaurant where she employs almost her entire family. It is amazing to see how people are creative, especially in designing those shags of fortune. I have to say, some of they really contain ingenious installations. We even had the opportunity to taste the speciality of the house: Vetkoeks (fat cookies, but more like plain doughnuts) and Fish. The first were just amazingly tasty and the latter exquisite! I admire what that woman achieved and she was very simple and humble at the same time. Townships are not simply areas of desperate misery and poverty, they nurture true talents, potential and goodness that are unfortunately not always exploited or recognized. In that sense they have a special kind of wealth that may not necessarily be found even in the huge over-protected villas that pop up on the other side of the city, just in front of the sea. In that respect, I am very thankful to Lulu for having showed this to me (Cheers).
Leaving my roommates was also difficult, especially Christina whith whom I shared my room and a lot of other things as well from the towels to the weird philosophical ideas (ouch). As I have to get rid of my Rands anyway because they are to weak to get any substantial amount of euros or dollars for them, I decided to be generous and pour them into the Scalabrini Centre, where they take care of the refugees coming from surrounding countries, especially Zimbabwe. I do not want to go, I can not wait to go. I do not know what I want
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1219129020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1219129020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1219129020/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:15:51 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Town, South Africa

I did not have much time to organize any outing this week-end as regards to the fact that I am leaving soon back to France and that I have to write my internship report before te end of my stay.
So, I spent almost the entire saturday before my laptop though the weather was beautiful. Well, the good side is that I have already written a great part of my report and am therefore reassured about that. Still, Sunday wasn't to be a mere replication of my deadly Saturday and I decided to fetch a cab direction the furthest and niccest beach I have been so far in the Cape. I went to Cliffton Beach, a very nice (but posh) neighborhood located in a sandwich position between the "Twelve Apostles" (the name of the mountain chain which lays behind the neighborhood and which consists exactly of 12 peaks!) and the Atlantic Ocean. Definitely a perfect setting for both mountain aficionados and beach lovers.
While being busy to finish my "Surprised by Joy" book of C.S.Lewis, in the white sand, I also managed to get burnt by the sun on my feet!!
Further, the movie "Married Life" with Pierce Brosnan is definitely worth if you like romantical intricacies in the setting of the 50s.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218354420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218354420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218354420/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:28:55 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Victoria Town, Zimbabwe

So, here we are after this long and exhausting journey. I arrived at the town at around 11 pm and was the last to go out. The drivers were gentle enough to drive me until the taxi rank and call Rumbi, while waiting until she came. Rumbi and her husband were just wonderful people. I did enjoy my stay at their home a lot, and Michelle, Rumbi's sister was very friendly, we had a great time with her boyfriend, Thabo at the Victoria Falls. He would actually like to become a guide and therefore practised on me. Should you ever go to the falls, I would strongly recommand you to ask for his services!! He even has got a Facebook account if you are interested. Victoria Town is a very small town actually, like its airport which is at 20 km away. You can see the town in one hour or even less if you walk fast, like me... sould you be rather fond of air-conditioners, icy cocktails, aquamassage, luxurious lodges and funny activities you should definitely stay at one of the various lodges and hotels there. They offer plenty of activities and facilities to people who want to have a great time at the Falls: from Bungee-Jumping, to Raflting, kayakng, helicopter tours or safaris to candlelight dinners, crazy poker or gambling nights, there are a lot of activities and funny things to do, if you have the money of course. As a poor and unconventional student, I rather walked around with Michelle and Thabo beginning with the Victoria Falls, the Zambian border (Livingstone village and so on), the Livingstone statue (David Livingstone is THE man who discovered those falls "first" according to the Britons, disregarding the previous tribes who lived there for thousands of years before he came...). We also visited the Rainforest and its rich and tropical biodiversity. Some baboons (sort of Apes) crossed our way, I am so happy to see them finally because at Cape Point there weren't any except on the many warning signs!! I saw also a wind pork but he was too busy shovelling ground to find a nice meal and hence I could not take any good picture of him, poor piggy you will never become a celebrity!! The view of the falls is astonishing, it virtually takes your breath away, and not only because you have to keep your breath as long as possible while going through the huge spray of the falls!! I had wet trousers and curly hair for quite a while there!! The river starts in Congo and goes through many African countries before coming to the Vic Falls and eventually get lost in the sea in Mozambique. Local people named it the "Smoke that Thunders" in reference to the huge spray formed by the fall of the water all over the Cobalt cataracts. Ancient tribes gave several names to the trees surrounding this area but nor Thabo, nor Michelle could give me the meaning of those names, so I concluded that the language is a very old one, which has evolved since then. Botswana is not far from the place at all, is it a around 70 km. And if you go on you arrive at the 4-countries border where Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet!
The bridge leading to the Zambian border is a great spot to do bungee-jumping. It is approx.110 meters high. Cape Town claims to have the highest in the world with its 216 meters, I read this in a touristic brochure so I am waiting for any comments or rectifications concerning this statement. After the shower, we went to the Kingdom, a huge hotel and mall complex personally opened by President Mugabe himself. This is where you can gamble, drink, eat and shop more as reasonable but beware of the prices they are in USD and here everything is very expensive in comprison with the rest of the country! There are even mini-Vic Falls at the entrance of the hotel lobby and the whole architecture of the building is of traditional Ndebele-Shona cultures inspiration. What I most liked was the huts and especially the roofs of the huts, it is so typically African! then we went to several markets. Actually the prices there where not so high for high-quality and hand-made, local products!! I bought a couple of things there for my family for almost nothing in USD, maybe it is also because for me as a European the USD currency is low anyway. But the money I saved I had to give it away in a Wimpy Restaurant where the prices of the food were ridiculously high: I had to pay 100 rands for a single burger and tap water!!!!! that is 10 euros. Then for the chips another 70 Rands so that is 17 euros in total which would be more than 20 USD!!!! shame, shame (as they say it here al the time). But anyway, I could taste local food as well at Rumbi's house. I ate Sazza, which is the Zimbabwean variant of the South-African (Pap). They just take the Maize Meal and add boiling water to it instead of sour milk or the various other things that South-Africans add to it, and NO SALT PLEASE!
It appeared very strange to them as I asked for salt, for my Western taste it really was very flaw although I loved the texture. They told me they even could not eat it with a bit of salt at all: different cultures, different tastes I guess. This is all a matter of habit and conditioning.
There was a blackout Sudnay night and we had dinner at candlelights, what could be more romantic. I had also to read with a candle etc, the following morning I woke up with the "cocorico" (that is the French version at least..) of the Local Casanova (the neighbour's cock). Meanwhile during my whole trip I finished "Meet the Rainbow Nation" a book of Hanneke du Preez over multiculturalism in South Africa. I strongly recommand it to anyone who is interested in that country. It is a marvelous, straight-to-the-point book and I learned a lot over black culture. It gave me even a better insight in my own culture. As I am confronted every day to the things that she decribes in her book like the visible "lazyness of black employees", the fact they walk close to you, speak loudly etc etc, I really can really now have a better understanding of all those things and be better prepared to cope with them and not be too ethno-centered as I may have been in the beginning just like anybody else who does not understand the whole concept of the African "Ubuntu (community)-culture" at first sight. I will not begin to write a whole chapter of this here I can just recommand you to read that only book if you ever plan to discover South Africa in a deeper way than just by watching the Bafana Bafana soccer team play.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218178440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218178440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1218178440/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:44:26 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Harare, Zimbabwe

I was a billionaire, I was even a trillionaire for four days in Zimbabwe!! To travel in southern Africa the three main low-cost companies are: 1time, Kulula.com and Mango (I only experienced the to first...). No, Zimbabwe is not a "No Man's Land" ruled by chaos and anarchy, despite of all that the media tend to say. It is rather the opposite, you are far safer there than in Cape Town or even worse: Jo'Burg!! people there are very friendly, hospitable, hard-worker and honest. You can walk around in the middle of the night, nobody may rob or attack you. The only thing is that politics remains a constant issue as the government led by Mugabe is still struggling (quite reluctantly) to form a coalition with the oppostition. The financial situation is even worse as inflation creates recketing prices and even with Rands, life is very expensive. This is partly due to the economical struggle that the country is facing since 2002, when most of the "whites" (and their capitals) were kicked out of the country. Not so bad for the people actually beacuse now they are free, but the situation is going to evolve very positively. The country is quite well-developed, roads are good (I know it because I rode the entire way from Harare to Vic Falls by car and bus!!), there are excellent schools (that is something Mugabe did very well here!!), hospitals, universities and infrastrucures, although sometimes there are blackouts or no water out from the tap...but again, I am strongly convinced the situation is going to change. People have a good standard of living and basically the government is poor but the people are rich. Harare, which means "the city that never sleeps" is actually rather quiet. You can't do a lot because there is not much to do. The shops are almost empty (you can witness it with me below...) and consequently the malls, shopping avenues and touristic resorts are rather desert. I should also add that I came on a national holiday, so many people also left to go on holiday. Anyway, it was still very nice to see, especially the Reserve Bank (I really had to struggle to take pictures of most of the buildings you see there, because if you walk around with a camera, people may think you are a spy and call the police or whatever). Basically, in Zim, as they call it, everything is quite informal and the black market rules, especially if you want to change your dollars, rands or whatever. Transport is a critical issue, people just stand for hours along roads and do hitch-hiking or squeeze themselves in overcrowded buses without even having a seat somtimes. They may just stand for hours to go from one city to another. Fortunately I had many contacts with local people and could therefore live the typical lifestyle of people at grass roots level, hence really geting to know the culture and have in-depth conversations over major issues and more futile ones like why isn't there any bread in Zimbabwe etc, with them. Unfortunately, this was all done in English as I do not speak any Shona or Ndebele, the two main tribe languages, out of more than 40...so I still cound not go to the heart of the people. Being white does not help because people tend to see the TOURIST in you, which I am really not at all! But people are very frank and direct, moreover I would never have expected such an hospitality and whole-hearted friendliness. I stayed by friends of my colleague Kumbi. They offered me food and shelter and Hau! do not dare to offer them any money or any compensation they will look at you with big, wide eyes as if you were a ghost.
As I had problems to go to Vic Falls with the plane, which was apparently "over-booked", they did all they could to get me there anyway. You would hardly find such a commitment and helpfulness by Western people in general. The mission was definitely; get the little Myriam to the Falls by any means!! Eventually, we found a couple who was going to shop to Botswana (where you can actually find food..) and they went through Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, which is at approx. 300 km from the Falls. They offered to share the ride with as many people as their car could contain. So we were three people in total on the backseat and paid then for the petrol. This is a very common practice in countries where both transport and fuel are extremely scarce and you often see huge trucks, cars or whatever fully loaded with lots of people seating in all sorts of acrobatic positions for hours to reach their final destination. In Bulawayo, the trick was to find in this organized mess (people shouting all sorts of destinations, mamas carrying kilos and kilos of good on their head, children selling vegetables through the windows of the buses, babies staring at you from the back of their mothers, tyres and desert gas stations decorating artistically this whole organized mess. I eventually found a combi (little bus) at the "Entumbane bus terminals" which went straight to the Falls. The principle is that there should be as many people in it as it could possibly contain and even more if possible. This took us more than 6 hours included the tyre problem, the fuel supply and the several stops for people to go in or go out. Even when it as dark people would tell the driver to stop precisely here at this tree, because it is HERE that they may go to their hut which was further in the forest, and nowhere else! to me all the trees, bushes and sand formed an endlessly, unchanging landscape so I was quite amazed by the sense of orientation of those people. Anyway, it took me the entire saturday to travel from Harare to Victoria Town, the small town next to the Victoria Falls, pfiouuu, that was an unforgettable experience!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217832060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217832060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217832060/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:23:50 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa

Sniiiif! everybody has decided to go away on the same date!! well, one of my colleague is at home because she collapsed and was badly injured another one left for Zimbabwe (i am going to join her this Friday!!) and so only the boss and me are at the company and usually I am all alone in my office. Moreover, many people from the building where I live in left because their own internships, studies or whatever ended. So, one of my roommate went back to her natal missouri, USA and I am now also all alone in my room at home. Not to mention that it rains continuously!!The sun has definitely decided to part away for the week and come back for the week-end. Usually, whatever the weather the sun always shone in our office, where you could find joy and happiness in abundance (pics are better testimonials..). Anyway, things are getting better, I have a new flat mate since saturday and I think one of my colleague is coming back this week pfiouu!). So, actually I went to the Stellenbosch Wine Festival. It was also gorgeous to discover this small university town which is so completely different from Cape Town. A best description would be the white city, all the houses are in white and you also have this famous street (I do not remember its name but I do have a picture of it) where the trees have red linen around their trunks. It is a typical old city with its Cape Dutch style of architecture and how amazing it was for me to hear so much Afrikaans almost everywhere. Indeed, I guess that when you go out of the big cities like CPT or Jo'Burg you find yourself in more truely Afrikaaners environment, where the Boers outnumber the rest. How beautiful it was to stroll about the wineyards and the many wineries of the city. This is mostly why Stellenbosch is so famous, it is an important part of the Wine Route in the Western Cape. The ticket of R120 is really worth as you can then have free wine tastings of more than 500 producers!!! not to mention that free food of all sort -honey, pesto, salads, olive oil, chocolates, chips, cheese even organic products, etc etc- does accompagny the whole thing! the setting is pretty cool and of course a lot of people were there. I tasted a "Vetkoek" (Fatty sandwich actually!) which is basically a completely fried doughnut-like sandwich with meat in it! Gosh that was fulling! anyway, the good life as it should be with ood food, good wines and amazing entertainment like a fashion show (of course where you sit and can for free again different sorts of wines, meats, cheese and vegetables), demo kitchens where a chef gives a sort of cuisine course and again free samples of food and wine do accompany the whole lecture. People queued for more than 45 minutes to get in! Anyway, it is really worth going there if you have the opportunity. You will have a great time with your friends sipping drinks under a bohemian-like tent, playing chess, or listening to vibrant African music under a traditional African hut and so much more! As reagrds to the fact that Stellenbosch is a huge student town, there where loads of students who came there. I also took a look at the university and it really has nothing to envy to the European or American ones, here the only problem may be cultural as you are in your rights to ask that the course be delivered in your own language and as there are 11 official languages here it may become quite an administrative brain-teaser to sort all things out! i went there with the train: Metrorail, Metro for the 2nd and Metro Plus for the 1st class, although you may take the first for a second class if you are used to higher comfort standards, the journey was very safe -contrarily to what most of the people may tell you here, especially if they are white!- you just have to be careful not to miss your stop as they stops are not announced on the microphone. Anyway, on my way back home it was interesting to meet a family who has lived here for quite a while and share their impressions on everything from the Apartheid regime to the making of the famous "Pap" a national culinary institution here!! Sunday was even sunnier and this was perfect to just walk around. I went on the top of my building where you have a pool, it was filled with water but it was ice cold actually, so...I actually went to the Planetarium for a lecture over whether the stars do really influence our lives with scientifc evidence and the answer is: NO, sorry to break all your dreams and lust for mysticism like that but it is the truth, sorry, sorry!! The V&A Waterfront is also always a nice place to go as there are open air concerts and entertainment for all there!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217229900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217229900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1217229900/tpod.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:22:09 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Point, South Africa

It was a cloudy sky, sometimes it rained but the rainbows were just wonderful. So, on Saturday I actually went to visit the South African Museum and the Planetarium. These are really worth visiting, especially if you do like dinosaurs and fossiles. Should you happen to be keen on shark, whales, ancient African cultures or geological shifts, you will just love it that's for sure! In the Planetarium they offer lectures over diverse astronomical themes. So, there was a lecture about "reading the sky" (Cape Town sky of course!) where you just lay back on a very comfortable seat, a bit like on the beach and there is a guy -with k a special sense of humour, a kind of scientific one- who teaches you about Orion arm, how to recognize Scorpio, Libra, and all the other constellations. Be careful, it is so relaxing and dark that you may fall asleep and loose the several bank notes or coins that lay in your pocket because you are actually lying horizontally. Anyway, I followed two lectures of that kind and will definitely come back in august for tha lecture over the "truth about astrological interpretations of the stars" with scientific evidences!! that sounds quite interesting, I never really believed in astrological signs and stuff anyway! Sunday, was just a wonderful day where I went to Cape Point by car. Going from Cape Point you should take the M65 and just have a cool drive along the coastline through all the little towns like Muizenberg, Fish Hoek, Simon's Town, Buffelsbaai and Scarborough, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, Hout Bay, Llandudno on your way back to the Cape. To reach the Cape Point you have actually to enter in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, for which you pay R55. This is where you will be able to see the so-called very dangerous Baboons (we didn't see any), Seals and Pinguins. The drive is very nice there, the roads are particularly nice to drive and the view is just awesome. After moving between the cliffs, the rocks, the bushes and the sand you finally arrive at THE CAPE POINT. Two options now: the Funicular way for those you mind walking or walking on a range of endless steps and sharp trails for the hiking lovers!! not to mention we took the hard way, not to mention the amazing view we had once we where at the first lighthouse of the Cape Point. I do not want to be boring or to destroy any legend but you DO NOT SEE THE SOUTH POLE, which is located at some 8300 km from Cape Point... and YOU CERTAINLY DO NOT SEE BOTH OCEANS MERGING!! the only line we saw was the foam of ocean. There are always large debates and discussions that take place on the Cape Point pit among people from around the world about that, but I can tell you it is just collective imagination. The only thing you can see is the reflection f the clods in the see which can make the see change its colour. That is, from blue to grey on one side where clouds are looming and still blue on the other side where the sky remains blue! But of course, I may be wrong and the best way to see the truth in the legend is to come around and see it with your own eyes. If you go a bit further to the west, you arrive on th Cape of Good Hope after the Dias Beach. The cape which was first discovered by the Arabic people who actually were the first sailors to discover the area, even before the Portuguese, the Dutch and eventually the British. The Arabs are actually the ones who named it "Cape of Good Hope" and it was then introduced in every language: "Cap de Bonne Espérance" in French and so on.
So, Cape Point refers actually to the area but to be accurate there are two pits with a lighthouse on it each and you also see the wreckage of an old ship which sank into the sea some 300 years ago. The whole context is very romantic there, I just wished I could shar it with my boyfriend. Actually, it gave me some ideas. So, darling I have got a present for you on one of the pictures especially for you (désolée pour les traces de pas, j'ai du pas mal marcher pour écrire tout ca!!!) lol. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy the awesome pictures from that site. The advantage you got is that you won't be wet from the rain or slapped by a twirly wind and surrounded by a strong fish and algues smell.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216624560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216624560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216624560/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:31:33 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Town, South Africa

Yeaaah! the sun shines again here and what a wonderful week-end it was!!
After a enduring work week being busy with fundraisings and translation stuff it is eventually time to breathe a little but and get a tan!! so on Staurday I went to the biggest township of South Africa, Khayelitsha for a celebration organised by the high school students of the area. Some of the interns who work there do also live in the same building as mine. So, we went there by car (I assure you it is safer than walking!!) but did not walk into the township. Being white and alone, moreover carrying a camera would be complete suicide! so, the few pictures you will see from the township were actually taken from the car. The celebration was very wel-organized and there was a lot to see, hear, taste etc etc: singing, dancing, poetry, slam, hip hop, theater plays etc etc and I have to tell I was really amazed by the talent of some of those kids! Some have marvellous voices, others give you stomach pains because you laugh s much and there were pictures to buy for almost nothing. I bought 2 of them and decided to give a bit more than the ridiculous R10 for them! this aims to support the local cultural and artistic life of the area. For that noble purpose I do not mind giving a lot away! Sunday was church day again and I brought a Zimbabwean friend of mine. As expected he enjoyed really much the service. Actually since I am here I know more from Zimbabwe and its Shona language than from South Africa, héhéhé! So, actually in Zimbabwe you should pay 50 million dollars for bread, the inflation rate is incredibly high I even saw a bank note of 10 millions Zim Dollars!! But on the other hand, it is a very safe country where you can walk the whole night without fearing anything! So after a pause at the Lava-Lounge, where a friend of mine works we visited a huge market near the future stadium that will welcome the 2010 Soccer World Cup and which desperately remains in a complete mess. Many people here fear that it will never be ready for 2010! I was also in the suburb area of Woodtsock where the real people of the real South Africa live: still, you will not find as much wealth in the most luxurious neighborhoods of Cape Town as there is those small, over-crowded houses...
Well, it always depends what is YOUR own definition of wealth and poevrty but since I am here, my definition of those concepts completely changed!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216017960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216017960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1216017960/tpod.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:19:07 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Town, South Africa

Gunjari ("How are you" in Xhosa)!
Wooooow what a wonderful weather back over the tablecloth of Cape Town!!!! So what do you do usually when there is such a perfect blue sky??? Well, going to the beach of course!! So, on Sunday a colleague of my internship place invited me to go to her church and meet the rest of her family. What a vibrant experience, I have never assisted to such an active service. People standing up, singing, praising theLord, speaking in tougues etc. Really it was a fabolous experience, far from our half-empty cold churches struggling to attract more people. That is a cultural difference maybe...to go there of course we took a taxi, not the regular one, the REAL ones, small and noisy where half a dozen people are squeezed together. Really I enjoyed it! Service at 11.15 am until 2 pm and I met the rest of Kumbi's family. They are all Zimbabwean and I have to tell that such warm and friendly people are the best way to attract people to their home country, whatever the current political problems that may occur there with Mugabe. And you can learn a lot from them! so after a nutrirtous luch of Lay' crisps, juice and biscuits we began our walk from Sea Point to Beach Street, until the V&A Waterfront. We even saw a whale ery nearby the beach who was probably reaching for more sun like anybody else. The view on Table Mountain, Lion's Head and the Devil's Peak was just wonderful from that perspective. The sunset is even more impressive, I had never seen one on the sea actually. Do not forget that I come from a small region in the north-est of France where there is no sea at all, except a little river called the Rhine, so nothing to do with it! So, I let you enjoy the pictures from the waves, the sea, the ships, the ice-cream man, the pet-poo cleaner etc etc. To be honest, the Waterfront (as most of the people call it) is really my favourite place in the Cape, because it is nice and there are a lot of things to do, to see and to share with your friends there! an IMax cinema, a large mall, a traditional craft market where you can get typical African material, bars, Belgian restaurants, pubs, and so much more! OK, now I feel like having a big bowl of Morvite (a Sorghum porridge). I am really crazy on that stuff although it is not that much special. It just remembers me a lot of what I used to eat in France: semoule (kid of wheat porridge). It is so very nutritious and you can have it as a dink or as a poridge, with or without milk and blablabla (to be more South African...). Anyway, I will have to taste the Mealie Meal (local kind of flour), the Pap and other local meals!! So "Morro"!! (good bye in the Zimbabwean language, though I am not sure about the ortograph..).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1215850020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1215850020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/slynooly/1/1215850020/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:16:42 -0400 Adventures in Cape Town and beyond

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Cape Town, South Africa

Yeeees I achieved it!!! I eventually finished the course with the other learners who will train people at grassroot level to know how to start up a business. This must be very exciting to them, I am even considering that this could be implemented in poor areas in France or even in Europe!! Although I am not to train people (my internship mission remains to translate learning material from English to French and improve the marketing and communication strategy of the organisation), at the end I even felt very capable of doing something like that because the course was so motivating and effective. Nobody failed and each of us learned a lot during those 5 days. I also included to this entry the pictures of my visit of the very famous "Two Oceans Aquarium" of last sunday. I enjoyed it very much, especially the sharks over your head (brrrrr). It just makes you chill. It is definitely something that you should not miss if you go to the Cape, it is so wonderful and the fish species there are very rare ones!
Enjoy!!!
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