Cycling

First decent ride out on the bike this afternoon. Very pleased with the bike. A 2nd hand hybrid that cost R2000 ( US$ 270 ). The brake controls for front and back wheels are on opposite sides than I am used to so must be careful I don't apply the front brake hard by mistake and go flying over the handle-bars. Hydrids are rare here, everyone seems to either have a full racing model or a mountain bike and nearly everyone has all the fancy riding kit...me just my $4 orange shirt!!. Still need to get a pump and spare tube so I don't get "stuck up a creek without a paddle" somewhere too far to walk home.

Swimming

My first swim yesterday at the outdoor pool at Sea Point, just 10 minutes walk along the foreshore. Great setting but water quality could be suspect. Many sea gulls live in the area, and if the snow flake affect on the cobblestones is any indication, they fly over often. As well there is a lot of debris on the bottom. This may be the result of gale force winds we had last weekend. Sand even reached the stairway to my place, almost enough to have my own personal beach outside my front door. Water is still cold!! Will attempt to brave it a couple of time a week.

Pets

Some time in the future, we will look back at the practice of owning cats and dogs as unhygienic and anti-social.

Bridge

I haven't been very successful so far in getting a game, or more accurately, in finding a partner. The Western Cape Bridge Centre is sited on the border between Sea Point and Green Point, about 30 mins walk from here, but it appears as if each session is run by separate bridge clubs. Have picked out 3 sessions that suit ie Mon & Thurs morning and Sat afternoon and have made contact with a lady who said she can find me a partner when I return from Namibia at the end of November. So hope this all works out then

Follow On

General

Fixed line telephone and satellite TV connected yesterday. Now await an ADSL internet connection through the fixed telephone line

Taxis

As a follow up to yesterday's post, some taxis carry a driver's assistant who yells the destination out an open window and assists collecting money. If there is space in the taxi, the driver will toot at any potential client standing on the nearby footpath. An interesting story I came across yesterday. While walking down to the supermarket, I passed a taxi parked on the footpath outside a petrol station surrounded by a number of well dressed black men, all in sombre suits. On returning, I noticed an open coffin on the footpath adjacent to the taxi and then spotted 2 of the men manhandling a suited body into the front passenger seat. My thoughts...omg, they use them as a hearst as well... and I overheard one mention they could put the coffin on the roof....then I noticed a movie/TV camera and realised it was all a stunt.

Lions Head Mountain

Spent the afternoon rediscovering the paths and shortcuts up to the summit of Lions Head Mountain which is situated between home and Table Mountain. Photos on facebook.

Residence Permit

My strange immigration status passed a minor test today. I was reminded the SA National Parks issue a Wildcard which for a one off payment, allows the holder unlimited entry into all parks at no further entry cost. Bearing in mind that the cost to enter Kruger for a foreigner is R160 ( US$22 ) per day, and I plan on spending 12 days there in March, I had to get one as the cost for the card is R960 for a foreigner or R235 for a local. However, I discovered foreigners with residence permits exceeding 6 months qualify for the local rate so I rushed in and got one this afternoon before anyone cottons on that my visa status is a bit dodgey. The girl processing my application did seem puzzled why someone from Australia would come to live in SA when so many South Africans have gone the other way.

Lets' get started

September

The month of September was a busy one, getting up-to-date after a month in Indonesia, purchasing a new laptop and then planning a departure from Cairns and a move to Cape Town. My car went the day before I departed for Indonesia ( leaving me with my trusty bike ). The buyer, responding to my newspaper advert turned out to be someone I knew, the guy who runs the local swimming pool. It's for his girl friend who also works at the pool and I am sure she ( the car ) has gone to a good home. Large items of furniture were advertised in the local newspaper with a backstop of using a used furniture dealer. The remaining detritus either went in a garage sale over my last weekend in Cairns with the remnants going to the Salvation Army charity shop. Then a major "clean" of the apartment to leave the place in better shape than I found it. So possessions down to the necessary 24 Kg for the Virgin Blue flight to Brisbane where a painting and some other items were be put into storage with friends leaving the exact 20 Kg limit permitted on the next flights.

As well, I stumbled on rocks around the beach front ( old age is my excuse ) and cut a shin. Not wanting to front up at A&E on a Saturday afternoon I left it for the doctor Monday who informed me it should have been stitched but it was too late for that so I needed to go on my bike everyday for over a week to the surgery to have slime and other gunk removed and dressing changed. Added were the inoculation updates for yellow fever and hepatitis and dentist check overs.

In all a month like having a full time job!!

Computer

I needed to purchase a new computer that I could take with me and within 30 days of leaving Australia so I could claim back the GST on departure. A laptop purchased direct from Dell turned into a nightmare. Not exactly ordered online but with assistance from a telephone rep in Malaysia ( so I could obtain maximum discount ) who turned out to be careless with her paperwork. Delivery was late by a week due to delivery address errors and then on start up....no operating system installed! Ouch! Several phone calls over hours and hours with Dell Philippines got most up and running. I was not happy with the resulting sound quality, so when in Brisbane I contacted them again to see if this could be improved. Not a good move! Even though technicians took over my machine from the Philippines, I was left with a computer that would not restart and had to go through the whole installation process again, just a few hours prior to leaving Australia. Overall a dismal performance from Dell and leaves me panning them every chance I get. Certainly not the same excellent system I experienced when I bought my first Dell, a desktop 3 years ago and subsequent service fixing small faults over the years.

Moving

In March I discovered a "bargain" airfare from Australia to Europe with Air Asia that was approximately ½ those normally available. I immediately booked a one way not really knowing what my plans were and thinking the fare was a one-off introductory offer as the airline had only recently started operations into Australia and into the UK. They have existed for a while as a low cost airline in the Asian region.. I have since learned that these types of fares are on going and if you work the system, you can get even lower prices. Anyway, I booked a one way from the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane to Stansted, London through Kuala Lumpur with a 6 day side trip into Bangkok for October. Weatherwise, the worst time of the year in Cairns is during the summer when high humidity kicks in.

After successfully completing the Everest Camp trek earlier in the year, I am now determined to try the Kilimanjaro summit, which I think is the highest point on any continent you can summit without mountaineering skills and equipment, so a 6 month spell in Africa beckoned. As I had lived in Cape Town for 3 years last century, Cape Town was the place. Expedia offered the best return flights out of London to Jo'burg with Etihad airlines ( based in UAE ) via Abu Dhabi ( about US$600 return ). And hence the visit to many airports over a 2 day period getting from Bangkok to Cape Town. Jet lag doesn't become a problem when the body becomes so confused on time zones and after sleeping uncomfortably over this period sitting up in an airline seat.

So the travels begin rather tentatively when my driver was not at Brisbane airport to collect me. Phone call : " John, are you picking me up at the airport" ; reply : " I have you down as arriving tomorrow".

Four days in Brisbane with long time friends John & Pat and dinners with Kelly, who I worked with in South Africa and I last saw in 1999 when I retired. He is now settled with wife, baby son and good job in Brisbane and still doesn't look any older after a decade or so. Then a meal out with Anni & Hugh who I traveled with in Eastern Europe in 2007.

Thailand

I have been to Thailand a couple of times before but as I now have my PADI diving certification thought I would give this a try in one of the many diving spots in the country. I knew conditions would not be ideal as in October the monsoon changes from one coast to the other or something like that. I chose Koh Tao where they apparently certify more divers than anywhere else in the world! So I planned to spend one night in Bangkok, near the train station in a hotel booked through AsiaRooms.com. I have used them in Japan and they again delivered with good value for money. On going down to book a train ticket to get to Chumphon, the jumping off spot to get to Koh Tao island, I discovered that the trains for the current day had all been canceled on the southern line due to a derailment the night before. A bit of de ja vue here as travel in Indonesia last month had also been disrupted due to a train derailment. Anyway I booked a ticket for the next morning. About half way to Chumphon ( a 8 hour journey ) we came across the derailment and it was not pretty. Most of carriages were pretty beat up and it was apparent there would be injuries. On reaching Chumphon, a newspaper report revealed that 12 of 14 carriages had derailed, 8 people killed and over 80 injured. The southern line is mostly a single track with short laybys for trains traveling in opposite directions to pass. Apparently the train driver had dozed off when his train was diverted into one of these laybys and it couldn't take the bend when traveling at full speed. As fate would have it, I couldn't get on the day train on my return journey ( it was full ) so needed to take the same scheduled night train back to Bangkok 3 days later. I did figure out that after an incident of this type, this would probably be the safest form a transport for a few months or so.

Koh Tao

A 2 hour fast cat journey out to Koh Tao to discover an island almost totally dependent on tourism, sparkling clear water, coconut trees, white sandy beaches backed by forested hills. The infrastructure is primitive with heavy sediment loading in the water and the roads outside of the 2 main linked towns very rough. I booked afternoon dives and got discounted bungalow accommodation in the package. The 2 dives I did were not good as the visibility was very poor. I also did a small trek around the coast and discovered a very pretty resort beach on the southern coast ( pictures on face book ).

Bangkok

Then back to Chumphon and the night train back to Bangkok. And against past habits, 1st class sleeper! The 2nd class sleepers are not in lockable cabins so a no brainer really. On getting on the train at about 9 pm, I really upset my cabin mate, a middle-aged fat German by waking him up ( at 9 pm ??) but alas you can't be friends with everyone. Turned out his 2 female traveling companions were in the next cabin and were equally obese! And our train driver was taking no chances as we arrived in Bangkok about 3 hours late. Then a whole day in the city, a quick trip up river by regular ferry and then visits to the top two sites ( again )...the temple housing the most important icon in Thailand, the emerald Buddha with the attached former royal palace and then the nearby temple housing the giant reclining Buddha. Then wanders around the streets viewing the numerous street markets including Patpong the red light district.

Like most of the developing world, Bangkok works on two levels, the undeveloped part where people are relatively poor and scrabble to make a living and the bit that appears 1st world. The cheapest form of public transport is the buses and these are invariably overcrowded and the streets are often gridlocked in the city. Like in all of Asia, motorbikes are a common form of family transport and you often see Mum & Dad and a couple of kids on the one bike. Beside this is an under ground train line, fairly new, that is clean and not crowded and the Skyrail system that efficiently transports you above all the hubble in the streets below. As well, feeder toll expressways connect the city with outlying areas such as the 2 year old modern international airport. My journey to the airport early Sunday morning on a fairly empty expressway was with a Michael Schumacher wannabe. We touched 140 kph on the way.

Airports!

Then onto a series of short stopovers in Kuala Lumpur, London Stansted, London Heathrow by bus ( and to the wrong terminal! ), Abu Dhabi ( and a shower ) , Johannesburg and eventually Cape Town. Tourists are normally given a 90 day visitors entry but for reasons that remain a mystery I have a temporary residence permit valid until 1 Jan 2011. Must have something to do with arriving at 4 am to an almost empty immigration entry post. Who knows what will happen when I leave and re-enter the country next month!! My flight with a local budget airline from JHB to CPT had been canceled so I was transferred onto one of the parent company's ( British Airways who are one of the 2 full service airlines in SA ) flights with a beer, coffee and sandwiches included...not bad for a A$60 flight.

Cape Town

I left after working here for 3 years at the beginning of 1999 and have discovered not much has changed. Some changes are a huge new stadium being built in Green Point for the soccer world cup next year and street parking is a bit more organised. There used to be "unofficial" helpers and minders which you were sort of obligated to pay but now there are "official" parking wardens who collect a set fee from everyone. I have also noticed there are many more black people driving fancy cars....both BMW and Mercedes have factories in South Africa so there are lots of these two types of cars here....so there has been some progresses in putting past wrongs right. Otherwise, same same. The settings of sea and mountain are still spectacular. I spent 3 nights in a Guest House, hired a car for a week and then found more permanent accommodation in Bantry Bay, which is just the next suburb ( and slightly more upmarket ) than Sea Point where I mostly lived previously, in a two bedroom 2nd level apartment in a quiet street just 3 buildings up from the sea. Supermarket and swimming pool are just 10 minutes walk away. Have purchased a bike. Have been using 3G to connect to internet but find it extremely expensive and not nearly as fast as advertised so have had a telephone line connected today and hope to go onto ADSL broadband shortly. It is also expensive but not as much as 3G. Have organised a maid to start a one day a week cleaning service starting tomorrow. Cost about US$20 per day.

There are 2 types of public transport...regular buses which are not very frequent and "taxis". There are regular taxis but those I will be using are really very full mini buses which ply the main streets frequently with no set timetables or stops. In my student days there were competitions on how many people you could get in a Mini. It's a bit like that with these taxis. If they are starting a run, they only leave when full and I mean full...to the brim. You pay after the journey begins. Everyone passes the required cash through a series of hands of other passengers until it reaches the driver and any change, if required, comes back the same way. Seems quite a civilised system in an uncivilised setting. I suspect that this is a common form of transport throughout Africa and at this stage is an interesting exercise. When I was here before I had a company car ( a BMW to boot ) so never experienced these little adventures though they were highly recommended by friends who visited.