We've arrived in a pristine, lush, little country. And everywhere we look are pristine shopping malls.
The taxi drove us bright and early (we landed at 6:30 am or about half past midnight on our body clocks) to downtown Singapore from the Changi airport. Surrounding the freeway were floral bushes and palm trees everywhere. I scanned the horizon for a sign of litter. There was none.
We are staying in the Shangri-La hotel with my mom and Dave. It is a step up from the backpacking accommodations we're used to. In order to look the part, we are wearing our cleanest dirty clothes and sandals, and pretending we are "smart casual".
We spent a good chunk of yesterday at the Funan IT Mall window shopping and researching for good electronics bargains.
From Africa to Asia heading East. This Saturday brings closure. :)
Saturday 2-October: Cape Town, South Africa
First, big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby brother, Phil, who is now 21 years old today. We spent the day playing catch-up on Africa in general. The morning we dragged ourselves to the craft markets and haggled with the merchants over kitchen goods, handicrafts, and art of dubious quality. After our regular two hour stint of lets-get-the-freaking-photos-posted at the Internet Cafe, we meandered down Long Street for a goodbye dinner at Mama Africa. Dinner was excellent. Alec rounded out his tasting of antelopes large and small with impala (having already tried Springbok, Kudu, and Oryx). We closed out the evening with fine hot cocoa at the Mojito Cafe. Plan to leave for Singapore on Monday morning... and we're ready for Asia!
Saturday 25-September: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Travelling is rough on days like today. RAIN RAIN RAIN. We started the day by trying to leave our Bomvu Paradise in Coffee Bay bright and early only to be parked in by 3 other vehicles. Followed by solid rain for 9 hours in the car... Roads in which livestock and children freely wander... Running sheep and lazy cows. Now that we've arrived here, it looks like a quiet night in eating mutton potjie (pronounced "poy-kee"). On the road again in the morning heading back to Cape Town.
Sunday 18-September: Sani Pass, South Africa
Fantastic day hike into the mountains of the Drakensberg (Dragon Mountains)! We were guided by a local man who is a fourth generation farmer in the area. His love of the "bushmen" and the ecology of the area was truly contagious. We walked to 3 different cave painting sites from about a thousand years ago. We also appreciated the wildflowers in bloom and enjoyed seeing some baboons at play. The hike concluded with winds so strong that we thought we'd get blown off the mountainside... but no. We slept in a rondeval (our own mud hut with thatched roof) at the Sani Lodge and indulged in chocolate cake that evening.
Saturday 11-September: Etosha Park, Namibia
Our second and last day in the Etosha National Park was fantastic! We awoke before sunrise for our first of two game drives. Sunrise was a nice one. Birds, giraffes, lions, zebras along our route to the lunch spot. After eating lunch, we walked to the nearby water hole and saw literally SIXTY (60) ELEPHANTS with babies splashing and drinking. It was amazing and hard to leave. We slept in tents to the roar of lions to exhausted to see if they were nearby.
Saturday 4-September: Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Our first day in Namibia - we crossed the Orange River border checkpoint on foot with no hats or glasses. The highlight of the day was a visit to the Fish River Canyon. Fish River Canyon is supposedly the second largest canyon in the world. We can't agree on the first though. Alec actually decided to run approximately 10k through the desert on a dirt road to get there, but I rode in the truck. We watched the sunset and ate snacks at the canyon's edge. We slept on the "lawn" (real patch of grass where no tents are permitted) under the stars... with a tent pitched a few meters away just in case.
Saturday 28-August: Western Cape, South Africa
Alec and I took a day tour of the Cape Peninsula and it was everything that you'd hope it to be. Except we didn't see any baboons. The nice folks at Baz Bus planned a great day for us and all we had to do was show up. Because it is winter and low season, there were only 3 other tourists in our bus (capacity of about 20) sharing the 18 bicycles in tow. The day included obligatory craft shop, visit to awesome penguins on Boulder's Beach preserve, downhill biking through Cape Point Nature Preserve, picnic lunch that I didn't have to make, and hiking around the rocky at the most southwestern point of Africa, Cape of Good Hope followed by one more obligatory craft shop.
We ended the day by cooking a spagetti dinner in the hostel with flimsy, bendy cookery and cutlery -- and it was great! We ended up at the Mojito Cafe for some hot chocolates before watching Austin Powers 3 back with the group. Alec and I have deemed it's safer to stay in after sunset so our hearty beer-drinking is on hiatus for the time.
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