Cape Town 31 December 2011 – 9 January 2012 Pt. 2

5 Jan took a half-day trip to see the township near Cap Town city called Langa. Very hard to imagine that 3 families (11 ppl) can live in a size of one HDB common room. There are only 3 single beds in the room for 11ppl. The so called kitchen is also inside the room. I saw one of the beds has got TV on it … poverty …

Langa Township, Cape Town, South Africa

Langa Township, Cape Town, South Africa

After lunch took half-day Wineland tour. Had wine tasting of 2 white wines and 1 red wine at Zevenwacht. Also had wine tasting of 2 white wines and 3 red wines at Saxenburg. I was drunk already … Then we toured around Stellenbosch University.

Zevenwacht, Stellenbosch Wine Route, South Africa

6 Jan picked up at 6:30am. There were 5 of us … 1 lady from England, 1 man from LA and a couple from Brazil. Passed through Robertson, Ashton, Route 62, Montagu, Ronnies Sex Shop, Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn. 12:30 reached Cango Cave. There are two options here either doing standard one which is 900m walk or adventurous one which is 1500m. We went for adventurous one. Very interesting and quite challenging. We entered at 13:30. We had to squad, crawl, climb in a very low and narrow path. Heard there was someone who actually stuck for 11hrs in that cave. Left the cave at 15:30 then stopped at ostrich farm for a while. Drove back to Oudtshoorn toward Garden Route. Passed through George the smallest city in South Africa, Wilderness Beach and finally arrived at the place we were gonna stay for a night in Sedgefield at a hostel very close to the Myoli Beach. Sunset was at 19:30.

Cango Cave, South Africa

Cango Cave, South Africa

Cango Cave, South Africa

Myoli Beach, Sedgefield, South Africa

7 Jan left hostel at 7:30. Passing through Knysna toward Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve. Had 2 hours game drive to see some animals then moved on to monkeyland for lunch then visited elephant sanctuary and crossing from western cape to eastern cape.

Lion and Lioness in Plettenburg Bay Game Reserve, South Africa

Finally it’s time for my very first bungy jump ever at Bloukrans world’s highest bungy jump bridge at 216m. Was I scared? Indeed I was! From the DVD I bought it was obvious how noob I was when jumping hehe … great great great experience for me though! I had to walk to the middle of the bridge through the small platform and it was quite scary too! I was with 4pm group and the forth person to jump.

Bloukrans World's Highest Bungybridge

That's me! Don't Play Play! Bungy Jumping from World's Highest Bungybridge

After the jump headed straight to the TUBE ‘n AXE Backpackers Lodge in Tsitsikamma at 6pm. Nice lodge with camping area, hammock, pool table and foosball table. At night it’s all about drink drink and drink.

8 Jan 7:30 went to Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure to do ziplining about 20mins from the lodge. Went through 8 lines and it was quite fun. Drove back to Cape Town and on the way we stopped at a place called The Heads to have a great view of the beach from the top. Arrived back to Cape Town at 17:30. Had dinner of 12 King Prawns at my favourite restaurant Ocean Basket.

Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Ziplining, South Africa

King Praws, Ocean Basket, South Africa

Cape Town 31 December 2011 – 9 January 2012 Pt. 1

Arrived at 9:30pm took shuttle bus (53 Rands) to the city center then took taxi to The Backpacker hostel. Washed up and went to Long Street to join the crowd for the count down.

New Year's Eve, Long Street, Cape Town, South Africa

1st Jan was very quiet and I chose to stay in the hostel doing nothing … sleeping … In the evening too hungry went out to have sushi then went to walk around the city center.

2nd Jan joined a day tour to Cape Point. Picked up at 8am to start the tour. First stop was Hout Bay. Paid 65 Rands to have 40mins boat trip to see Cape Fur Seals.

Cape Fur Seals, Hout Bay, South Africa

Next stop was Cape of Good Hope the south-western point of Africa. After 10mins drive we arrived at Cape Point. We had to walk up for 25mins to reach the lighthouse to have a great view of the peninsula.

Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Cape Point Lighthouse, South Africa

Moved on the the last point of interest which was a place called Boulders to see African Penguins.

African Penguins, Boulders Beach, South Africa

3rd Jan took sightseeing bus cost me 410 Rands that included Table Mountain Cableway round trip ticket and also entrance ticket to Two Oceans Aquarium at Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. My first stop was Table Mountain! Queued for 30mins at the entrance. At the top not so good. Very cloudy and couldn’t see anything. After 30mins the cloud seemed to move away and that’s the chance to see Cape Town from the top. Walked walked at the top for almost 3hrs. Came down and continued by taking sightseeing bus to the next stop Camps Bay. Had a nice mussels as lunch at one of the restaurants there.

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Camps Bay, South Africa

Next stop was Waterfront to see see look look the fish at Two Oceans Aquarium then walked ard the area. From Waterfront took the bus again to go back hostel rest …

4th Jan picked up at 8:20am headed toward Gansbaai for Shark Cage Diving. It took about 2hrs 30mins to reach Gansbaai from Cape Town. Arrived took lunch then after short briefing we boarded the boat. After 20mins we arrived at where we would do the dive. Wore wetsuit, booties and mask then good to dive. Since there were 36 of us, we had to take turn and each time the cage can only take 6ppl. Unfortunately it was no longer sharks season but we still managed to see around 5 great white sharks. The water was very very choppy causing a lot of people to get seasick. I was one of them and I vomited 4 times … causing the entire trip not so pleasant. At least I got to see the sharks twice when it was my turn to dive in the cage.

Kruger National Park 28 – 31 December 2011

Left Johannesburg at 9am for Kruger National Park. Arrived at Tremisana Game Lodge in Balule Nature Reserve at 4pm. Had a rest for a while then went for the very first game drive I ever had at 5pm. I saw quite a lot of common animals like zebra, impala, warthog, eagle and some others.

For me, the objective of the game drive is to see The Big 5. They are lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo.
The first big 5 I saw was buffalo.

While watching zebras we heard a lions’s roar. From the roar the driver was able to tell the name of the lion and the name is “The Big Boy”. We were so eager to see the lion and the driver was very cooperative to help tracking the lion. Unfortunately the roar was coming from an area where we were not allowed to enter so what we could do was to wait for the lion to come nearer. After waiting for 30mins still no luck the driver called another driver from another tour company who has access to that area. Once he arrived he drove in trying to locate the lion and after he found it he came back to fetch us and our truck followed his to enter that area. It was worth the wait! We saw the lion lying in the bush. That’s the second Big 5. We were about 10m away from the lion. For some reasons the lion started moving toward the original place we were waiting. We kept following the lion and it didn’t seem to be afraid of us. Then the lion stopped stopped again showing a pose of ‘this is my territory’. This time our truck was so close to the lion about 4m away. The lion then moved again we followed again until 7pm then I returned to the lodge as happy man.

"The Big Boy" Lion, Balule Nature Reserve, South Africa

Had dinner at 8pm showered then slept.

Next day woke up at 4:30 to do a bush walk. 1 hour drive to the bush walk area then walked in the bush for 2hrs trying to track more lions but failed then another 1hr drive back to the lodge.

Bird found in Balule Nature Reserve, South Africa

At 3pm we moved to Marc’s Camp that is closer to the Kruger. I slept in the tree house and the bed was surrounded by the net to avoid the insects. Too many kinds of insects hanging in the net including spider. My toilet is outside the tree house so must walk a bit to have nature’s call. There was beetle in the basin and grasshopper in the toilet bowl. At night there monkeys jumping on the roof if the tree house. Interesting!

Marc's Camp Tree House, South Africa

Early in the morning headed toward Kruger National Park. It was about an hour from the camp. The next Big 5 I saw was elephant followed by rhino and finally leopard. Leopard was indeed the toughest to find. During morning drive we only saw the carcass of the impala hanging at the branch of the tree. We expected the leopard to come back for it. So in the afternoon we returned to the same spot and there it was. Instead of standing in the same tree as the carcass, it was actually standing at the branch of the other tree next to the tree where the carcass was. Unfortunately it was too far away so I couldn’t take a pic of it. Someone from Belgium lent me her binocular to have a better look of the leopard. From the angle we saw, we couldn’t really see the head since the leopard hiding his head behind the tree.

Zebra, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Elephant, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Giraffe, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Rhino, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Buffalo, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Leopard, Kruger National Park, South Africa (where is it???)

We left Kruger at 6pm and reached the camp around 7:30pm. Had dinner chatted with people around and slept.

Next morning headed back to Johannesburg and on the way back we stopped in Blyde Canyon for 20mins.

Blyde Canyon, South Africa

Blyde Canyon, South Africa

Reached the airport at 5pm and flew to Cape Town at 7:30pm.

Johannesburg 27 – 28 Dec 2011

Arrived in Johannesburg at 11am picked up by hostel owner then rest in Bob’s Bunk House 10 mins away from the airport. The hostel owners very warm and friendly. They made my planning easier. Too tired to go anywhere so decided to rest in the hostel whole day. Went out a while for lunch and bought some snacks for dinner.

Next day went to visit Soweto one very historical town in South Africa. On the way we passed through a very quiet Johannesburg city because it was Christmas day. In Soweto, we got a chance to see the poverty in South Africa. We also entered one of the houses. It’s super small house about 6msq that accommodates 3 people. No aircon no fan … just wondering how they can live there for 20 years already.

Next went to see Apartheid Museum that tells the life of Nelson Mandela. Also saw the stadium used to host the opening and closing ceremony for world cup 2010.

Moving on to see Hector Pieterson Museum and Nelson Mandela’s house.

Back to hostel around 5pm then went KFC to da bao dinner.

Dubai 24 – 25 December 2011

Departed from Changi Airport at 2am and arrived in Dubai at 5:30am. From Dubai airport took Metro to Union station then started walking toward Pacific Hotel (2-star hotel). It was around 20mins walk from Union Metro to the hotel. Checked in then slept for 2 hours. Around 10am walked out to find sightseeing bus stop (called the big bus). Walked here walked there asked here asked there after 30 mins finally found it. Paid 300 Dirham (abt 105 SGD) for 2 days pass …. Expensive lah! But the bus indeed took me to see all the famous landmarks in Dubai like Burj Al Arab (known as the only 7-star hotel), Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world), Mall of Emirates, Dubai Mall and some places I never heard of. I didn’t stop over at any of the places because I have to join other tour at 3pm.

Burj Al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Waited for an hour in the hotel and finally got picked up by Yahoo Tour to have a little adventure in the desert abt 45mins drive from Dubai. Had car bashing ride, watched sunset, belly dance and also dinner at the camp in the middle of the dessert. Met a lot of people from China, Malaysians and also Singaporean couple.

Returned to Dubai at 9pm then took Metro to Mall of Emirates station then took taxi to take to Burj Al Arab again to take some night shots.

Burj Al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Burj Al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Next day, took the sightseeing bus again but this time I stopped at some places like Atlantis in the Palm Jumeirah, Mall of Emirates (to see indoor ski resort) and Dubai Mall. In Dubai Mall there is a big aquarium. Here is also the best place to see the tallest building Burj Khalifa. Guess what … the tickets for At The Top Burj Khalifa was fully booked. Luckily I already made a reservation before I flew to Dubai and it cost me 105 Dirham (ard 35 SGD). Chose 5pm ticket because the sunset is normally at 5:30pm. Took very fast lift to 124th floor and couldn’t really see entire Dubai because the sky was not so clear. Managed to see the sunset, day view and night view. Took the lift down at 7pm then watched Dubai Fountain.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai Fountain at Dubai Mall

Dubai Fountain at Dubai Mall, United Arab Emirates

Still got time to kill then decided to see see look look WAFI Mall. Very interesting mall coz it has Ancient Egyptian design. The timing when I arrived was good too. It was the time for sound and light show with Christmas theme. Walked walked around the mall for a while then returned to hotel at 11pm to collect my bag. Took metro to the airport checked in then slept until 3am. My flight to Johannesburg was 4:40am.