Hey friends so for those that don't know yet I am home and around. But I still need to work and finish up my blog and get the last bits of stories up. By the end of January I should be doing really well for getting the last of the stories up online. Even more exciting would be hanging out with me and getting live versions. Some of these stories are already posted, but more are to come! Get excited and start being keen to hear more stories.
Cheers!
Andrew
Friday, January 14, 2011
Back Packing Part 2
Hey Friends so I am seemingly very poor at posting when I say that I am going to post on the internet, But anyways I will keep on posting blog posts throughout the tail end of December when I get back into SA but I will be writing them While I am on the Road. Currently I am in Bulawayo, but more on that in a later blog post.
Anyways so from Jeffery’s Bay I booked a ticket on the Baz Bus (the ‘Backpacker’s’ Bus). My honest opinion about the Baz Bus is that it is very expensive, but rather efficient. It is basically the 5 Star option for Backpacking transportation. And you pay the rate on it as well. I choose to use it for one hop because it was going to make my transportation really easy to do to get from Jeffery’s Bay to Cape Town (about 13hrs trip...). Anyways it was a really enjoyable relaxing leap across the country side. I was able to read, stretch out and have a wonderful relaxing trip going across the southern coast. I met alot of backpackers along the way (who hopped off and on at various points along the route one of the reasons why the Baz bus Can be an effective means of travel in SA for a backpacker.). I arrived in Cape Town (after 12 hours in that luxurious bus with some sight seeing along the way, like the world’s highest Bungee jump where we watched someone jump off) around 9pm. I got into the hostel dumped my stuff off in my dorm room (nice and quiet for the first night! As I was alone), grabbed a pint of a micro brewed beer, and got oriented to where things are in Cape Town.
My First day in Cape Town I went to Table Mountain. I walked all the way from my hostel early in the morning to get to the cable car, and then decided when I got there that I would rather take the cable car than hike up the mountain. On my way up to the cable car I was passed by two women jogging in the same direction as myself. The Cable Car is just amazing the floor spins 360 degrees around so that you can see the city and the mountains and everything. I got to the top and wandered around and over to the highest point of the mountain (which was much more quiet than the area around the Cable Cars). As I was walking in that direction I met the same two women who were jogging and they had jogged straight up the mountain along the same path that I had considered going up. Their time was just over an hour (It would take about 2.5 hours to hike it). I was rather impressed. If you wonder why this is a big thing just check out the photos on Flickr of Table mountain that I took.
The rest of that day I got into one of my really bad habits. Impulse book buying. This is particularly bad when I buy books that I figure I can’t get at home that are rather nice looking and also new. I ended up with 4 books that day. Later on that week I got another 2 (they were books of Poetry so nice and small), and then Sunday I picked up two books used from an Anglican Book Shop. 8 books in total. (which I am more than willing to lend out to people. In January you can ask about what books I have and I can lend books in your direction.).
Anyways My next couple days in Cape town were pretty chill low activity days. One day I spent doing museums, which I had a lower fee to pay to go in because I am a South African Student (R5 vs R15 for non students). So I hit up the South African Museum (a Natural history museum I was hoping for History but @ R5 I don’t mind that sort of mistake), The National Gallery (a wonderful Art Museum, it had a display of Town Ship Art work, and an Amazing Photography Exhibit), The Museum of Slavery (which had an interesting exhibit on Nelson Mandela, Political Cartoons by Zapiro as well as showing the history of slavery in the Cape). An exhibit in the Cathedral of St. George (about the protests that happened around 1989), and a museum about district 6 (A zone that was highly interracial until the Apartheid Government decided to make it into a white only district, and evicted and demolished the entire neighbourhood out into townships separating familes (If you had a parent that was Black, and a parent that was Coloured (Inter-Racial, Coloured is what they say in S.A., the Children would end up in a Coloured township with the coloured parent, but the black parent would be in a black township) which was extremely powerful).
The Next day In cape Town we picnicked in the Bar in the hostel, and I helped out a fellow Canadian who needed cash and had misplaced her passport, so she deposited money to my account and we took out the money from my account for her. We got to hangout which was really cool and she took me to some of her favourite local spots in Cape Town.
My Sunday in Cape Town I spent the day by going to church at the Cathedral and hanging out in the park. It was really intriguing. The Church was very HIGH church vibes (with alot of incense, and ceremonial sorts of stuff). But it was really cool to see how they integrated the languages of Cape Town into the service (Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English) by having one reading in each, singing, praying through all three. It was just amazing! After service there was a reception for the crew of the SA Algulhas ( a team heading to Antarctica that was blessed during the service) where I met one of the crew members, heard more stories about when he was at Varsity and remembered when a group of protesters got trapped near the cathedral and retreated into the cathedral for safety, and the Dean of the Cathedral at the time stood up and condemned the police officers (1977ish) and was thrown in Jail for that night with the rest of the protesters. It reassured me that the cathedral and that church had been committed (and still is committed) to justice. Also I happened to get a free Lunch! (Who ever said there is no such thing really didn’t know how to find free food!).
Monday I flew back to Durban and then taxied up to PMB. Where I posted up that last blog post.
Next up you will find out about the Road Trip with John and other amazing friends from NCF. Great times, and great stories to share!
Peace and Blessings!
Andrew
Anyways so from Jeffery’s Bay I booked a ticket on the Baz Bus (the ‘Backpacker’s’ Bus). My honest opinion about the Baz Bus is that it is very expensive, but rather efficient. It is basically the 5 Star option for Backpacking transportation. And you pay the rate on it as well. I choose to use it for one hop because it was going to make my transportation really easy to do to get from Jeffery’s Bay to Cape Town (about 13hrs trip...). Anyways it was a really enjoyable relaxing leap across the country side. I was able to read, stretch out and have a wonderful relaxing trip going across the southern coast. I met alot of backpackers along the way (who hopped off and on at various points along the route one of the reasons why the Baz bus Can be an effective means of travel in SA for a backpacker.). I arrived in Cape Town (after 12 hours in that luxurious bus with some sight seeing along the way, like the world’s highest Bungee jump where we watched someone jump off) around 9pm. I got into the hostel dumped my stuff off in my dorm room (nice and quiet for the first night! As I was alone), grabbed a pint of a micro brewed beer, and got oriented to where things are in Cape Town.
My First day in Cape Town I went to Table Mountain. I walked all the way from my hostel early in the morning to get to the cable car, and then decided when I got there that I would rather take the cable car than hike up the mountain. On my way up to the cable car I was passed by two women jogging in the same direction as myself. The Cable Car is just amazing the floor spins 360 degrees around so that you can see the city and the mountains and everything. I got to the top and wandered around and over to the highest point of the mountain (which was much more quiet than the area around the Cable Cars). As I was walking in that direction I met the same two women who were jogging and they had jogged straight up the mountain along the same path that I had considered going up. Their time was just over an hour (It would take about 2.5 hours to hike it). I was rather impressed. If you wonder why this is a big thing just check out the photos on Flickr of Table mountain that I took.
The rest of that day I got into one of my really bad habits. Impulse book buying. This is particularly bad when I buy books that I figure I can’t get at home that are rather nice looking and also new. I ended up with 4 books that day. Later on that week I got another 2 (they were books of Poetry so nice and small), and then Sunday I picked up two books used from an Anglican Book Shop. 8 books in total. (which I am more than willing to lend out to people. In January you can ask about what books I have and I can lend books in your direction.).
Anyways My next couple days in Cape town were pretty chill low activity days. One day I spent doing museums, which I had a lower fee to pay to go in because I am a South African Student (R5 vs R15 for non students). So I hit up the South African Museum (a Natural history museum I was hoping for History but @ R5 I don’t mind that sort of mistake), The National Gallery (a wonderful Art Museum, it had a display of Town Ship Art work, and an Amazing Photography Exhibit), The Museum of Slavery (which had an interesting exhibit on Nelson Mandela, Political Cartoons by Zapiro as well as showing the history of slavery in the Cape). An exhibit in the Cathedral of St. George (about the protests that happened around 1989), and a museum about district 6 (A zone that was highly interracial until the Apartheid Government decided to make it into a white only district, and evicted and demolished the entire neighbourhood out into townships separating familes (If you had a parent that was Black, and a parent that was Coloured (Inter-Racial, Coloured is what they say in S.A., the Children would end up in a Coloured township with the coloured parent, but the black parent would be in a black township) which was extremely powerful).
The Next day In cape Town we picnicked in the Bar in the hostel, and I helped out a fellow Canadian who needed cash and had misplaced her passport, so she deposited money to my account and we took out the money from my account for her. We got to hangout which was really cool and she took me to some of her favourite local spots in Cape Town.
My Sunday in Cape Town I spent the day by going to church at the Cathedral and hanging out in the park. It was really intriguing. The Church was very HIGH church vibes (with alot of incense, and ceremonial sorts of stuff). But it was really cool to see how they integrated the languages of Cape Town into the service (Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English) by having one reading in each, singing, praying through all three. It was just amazing! After service there was a reception for the crew of the SA Algulhas ( a team heading to Antarctica that was blessed during the service) where I met one of the crew members, heard more stories about when he was at Varsity and remembered when a group of protesters got trapped near the cathedral and retreated into the cathedral for safety, and the Dean of the Cathedral at the time stood up and condemned the police officers (1977ish) and was thrown in Jail for that night with the rest of the protesters. It reassured me that the cathedral and that church had been committed (and still is committed) to justice. Also I happened to get a free Lunch! (Who ever said there is no such thing really didn’t know how to find free food!).
Monday I flew back to Durban and then taxied up to PMB. Where I posted up that last blog post.
Next up you will find out about the Road Trip with John and other amazing friends from NCF. Great times, and great stories to share!
Peace and Blessings!
Andrew
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