Serenity

Cape of Good Hope National Park.

Check out the size of the tree!!

Of Bo-Kapp and Kirstenbosch

05th July 2010

We decided to take it slow today..(yes dieya..kitorang dah pancit..hehehe..) So started the day by walking to Bo Kapp and took pictures of the iconic colourful houses. Some of the Cape Town postcard took its background here..

I told Ija, "best kan kalo rumah kite camni, nak bagi direction kat orang, rumah aku yang biru cair..in between rumah kaler pink and kaler hijau, takla sesat orang nanti.."

Wanted to enter the Museum, but I guess we were too early. Then we head to Waterfront Area, to do some souvenir shopping ;) The giant red thing is actually made up of coca-cola carton, when we first got there, it was only at the waist level. After almost 1 week, they almost finished the head, that is how much coke was consumed during the world cup in Cape Town. Oh ya..we had breakfast at Love Revenge Cappuccino again ;) Outside the shopping complex, a football focus show was going on. There were quiz session and I didn't bother to participate because the questions were tough!!

We also went in the FIFA shop one last time (never failed to enter each time we went to Waterfront!!). The merchandise prices are above the roof!! I actually wanted to buy a Spain sweater (yang tulis España ye..bukan tulis Spain) but they were out of stock.

There is a craft museum next to the shopping centre and we bought most stuffs there. Price is much better than on the street, and they accepted cards as well.

We liked the Hop On Hop Off bus tour, so much, that we decided to go on it again!! We packed some lunch and board the bus at Waterfront, this time we planned to stop at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Although it is winter season, we can still see various species of indigenous flora that was planted there. During summer they actually have concerts in the garden.

I could spend all day here, enjoying the cool breeze and lovely sorrounding, just take the stresses away ;) We board the bus at close to 4pm and that is the last one. Its almost dark when we get to the last stop, in the city area. We walked back and have dinner at the house.

I snapped this picture when the bus passed by 12 Apostles going to Sea Point. Isn't it amazing?

Table Mountain & 2nd game day : Germany vs Argentina!!

03rd July 2010

We started the day by taking taxi from the house to the cable car going up to the Table Mountain. It was only about 20 mins from the house.It cost us R30 for both of us. We can also walk up to the peak - 2 hrs walk in the cold weather, no thank you ;). Luckily the weather was good and the cable car can be operated. So we took the cable car up. One trip can fit 60 persons.

The view from top is simply magnificent. There is a cafe and gift shop on top of the peak. The cafe is so cozy,both me and Ija decided to have coffee there while hanging out, looking at people. After a while we browse through the rest of the peak. There are few points to see different parts of Cape Town from up above. We could also see the Signal Hill where we went during our second day here.

Anybody up for this?

We got down around 12pm to make way to the stadium. There were a lot of taxis and van waiting take passangers. A van driver approached us and offer R60 for both of us to go to the Waterfront. We think its a reasonable because from house to Waterfront also cost us another R35. So we agreed. The van kinda dodgy, they waited until its full then only they made a move. Going downhill suddenly the van died. It was at an intersection, people were honking, finally the driver managed to start the van and when we got to the city centre, it died again...We were placed to his friend's van and squashed to sit in between the existing passangers until Waterfront. The taxi pass by Green Point, and I saw the Fan Walk.

Fan Walk is a route from city center (Fan Fest) where are the concerts were ongoing dedicated for the fan to walk to the stadium. So I decided to drop at the fan walk and join the rest of the people walking.

We spotted one stall selling halal food and decided to get our lunch there. I bought the Boerewors roll. It tasted so good, I was so sorry I did not bought two.

From the stadium, Ija make way to waterfront while I enter the stadium alone, yup, she did not have the tickets. I think its a bit pushing it to drag her who was not a hardcore fan like me to begin with to both games (ye la..satu game dah berapa hundred USD, I am lucky enough that she agrees to come with me to Cape Town)

From here, the story gets kinda interesting. After the first game, I sort of know the layout of the stadium, and from my ticket, I am getting a third tier seat!! So I figured probably I go down, take pictures during the players warming up, and later go up right before the kick off. So I asked the FIFA volunteer to enter the first tier area, I was rejected, I was told to take pictures from my seat :(

I was not ready to give up, I stayed at the walkway to first tier and when nobody saw me, I jumped the seat and voila, I'm in ;) So there I was, sneaking in and tried to blend in the Argentina's supporters. Having a baby blue sweater sort of working for me ;) I met one Ghanaian lady, she was there by herself too. I told here where my seat at, she just suggested that I stay, in case any seats were not taken..hehehe...So I did, during the warm up session and total first half, I could not really concentrate for fear that the actual seat owner comes and claim the seat!!! Come half time, one American guy came up to me and said..

" You are sitting at my seat, I want my seat back."

Me of course having no objection whatsoever, walk away and go to my third tier seat, no problem.. I got these pictures already..hehehe.....

This is after I got to my OWN place..hehehe...what a view, eh?

I guess by now the whole world know how they game went ;) After the game, I walked to waterfront to meet Ija and we walked back home. When we got home, the Spain vs Paraguay game was about to kick off.
So we decided to hang out in front of the TV with the rest of the backpackers and watch the game together. Seems like the whole house is rooting for Spain, yeay!! After the triple penalties that can cause heart attack, Spain finally made their way to semis and will be up against German!!

Day Trip : Worth It!!

1st July 2010

When we consulted the house admin on how to get to certain places, we found out that we could not go to this one particular place, Cape Point, which I really really really wanted to go. Reason being is that there is no public transport going there and both of us do not have international driving license to hire a car. So she suggested we follow on a day tour. I found out about that in the net but at first I thought it was not worth it. But seeing the difficulties that we faced, I am willing to take the tour.

So we paid R545 for a day tour. The driver pick us up at the house around 0830H and later went on to pick up the rest of the pack. We have with us 2 French ladies, one American guy, 2 Indian guy, 2 more American (a guy with his father..sweet kan? but he's married, - yup, I checked the finger, boleh? hehehe...) 2 German guy, a Korean kid (he's still in uni) and a Columbian lady.

Our tour guide, Alex, is very good, he was willing to answer all kind of question. From him we found out that the train rail to Simons Town are out of order, that is why we could only got to Fish Hoek the other day (even people at the station didn't think to tell us that..)

So off we go to our first destination, Hout Bay with options to go to seal island. Both me and Ija went there already via Blue route yesterday, but we did not go to the seal island. So this time, we did. The boat is big but the waves are more nasty, turbulent waves to get to the island. There were few moments that I thought I would have thrown up. The island is not actually an island. Its just a big rock where most of the seals rested.

We bumped into a group of Indonesian that is being sponsored by Coca Cola to watch the World Cup (they won contest maybe..)

Next to Simons Town to visit the penguins, yay!! But we passed by this cliff with magnificent view and stopped to take some pictures,

Nak amik mcm aida, tapi salah shot..;)

We also passed by this part of the Cape Peninsular, they actually drilled onto the hill to make road. It look pretty scary though..

We finally hit Simons Town, we passed by the stone factory that was once used during Amazin Race Asia (the challenge where they have to find 3 marked stone out of thousands other stones) but we did not stopped there. Simons Town is popular of its Boulder's Beach, that is the place where they keep the African Penguin. The birds on its own will destroy their own food by stamping on it, so the center actually put a fence to new plants and opened parts by parts once the plants are ready to be eaten. (Yes, they ate plants apart from fishes..I just knew it too..) Entrance fee is R35 but included in the tour already.

Last but not least is what I have been waiting for, Cape Point!! We got there around 1330H, just about lunch time. At it is included in the package. We did asked for vege menu, as we are not sure what kind of meat that they have. We combined with another van (same co. tour) and the other driver bought us chicken salami, it was nicely wrapped. I told Ija just take it, sebab orang dah belikan, so just being polite, we took the chicken and later left it at the house pantry.

Entrance fee to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve was R70 but it was paid for (in the package). We were driven to the cable car station going up to the light house. There is also staircase for those who opt to do a 'healthier' way. Me and Ija climbed up with majority of the people. The view from the light house was magnificent!!

Next we cycled from the Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope. It was around half and hour cycle downhill. On the way we bumped into ostrich and baboon. We were told not to stop as babboon can get really nasty. We took more pictures here, more here.

We got home exhausted, like any other day and crash to a really good nite sleep ;)

Birthday & Beautiful World of Cape Town

30th June 2010

It’s my birthday!! I bought Ija a breakfast meal. There is this place in V&A Waterfront, called Love Revenge Cappucino, we had muffins each and I had tea, while Ija chose coffee. The muffin was very big, we could not finish at one go. It tasted healthy too..(not too sweet etc). I forgot to take the pictures. Ija didn’t even remember my birthday, guess she was still excited about the trip and forgot the whole thing ;p

Already bought the ticket to Robben Island yesterday and we went to Waterfront to catch the ferry. But due to bad weather the trip was cancelled and we have to differ to some other day. Since we are already at the waterfront, we decided to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus. For R120 a day, we can choose either Blue or Red route. Since the Red route covers most of the town area, which we can cover by walking, we decided to take the Blue Route. There are 20 stops altogether, but we only managed to stop at few places.

We passed by The Cape Town University, scenic route of Cecil Rhodes memorial, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Birds Park and few others. The tour is accompanied by audio narration in 17 languages explaining the histories and how certain places got their names. It was very informative and definitely relaxing. We sat on the second deck enjoying the view and chill breeze.

First place that we stop, Hout Bay, it’s a fishing area, with jetty offering services to go to Seal Island. The funny thing is, in the early days, Hout Bays merchant used to issue passport as marketing gimmick to attract people coming to this area. It was until one point, the passport holder tried to enter a European country using that passport and got away with it. Each passengers were given one and in there lies discount coupon to few shops in Hout Bay. We did not really shopped for anything.

We got onto the bus to and later decide on the bus on where to stop next. The bus route pass by few scenic beaches and breathtaking views. We also passed by the famous Twelve Apostle and approach the most expensive area in Cape Town, Sea Point. We decided to hop off there and see how the Upper East side of Cape Town feels like. Conclusion, too many tourist, doesn’t feel like Cape Town at all. But the beaches were incredible, waves were quite high and apparently the area is a surfers area. We also stumbled upon people doing paragliding.

After hanging around for a while, we hop on the bus again (blue bus come once in 45 minutes) and stopped at the city centre. From thereon we did some browsing for souvenirs in the city to be brought home before walking back.

The weather is cold as it is winter now in South Africa. On day time the highest it can get is 19 degC. At night it can go as low as 11 degC. I only took a shower on the evening, as I could not stand the coldness. The bathroom is outside the room, its on the alley going to the living room and its open air (the alley) . So you can imagine, after a bath while walking back to the room, some 2-3 minutes walk is done at 10 degC. (For Malaysian standard, memang tak tahan...). So for my morning pick up, till we get out and get decent breakfast, I need some hot drinks. There is pantry available but was a bit hesitant to cook food there, as I didn't know what was cook in the pots and pans before. (Nak samak..adus...duduk kejap je pon..)

But using the kettle is not a problem, so we stopped by a local convinient store and bought some local tea for my morning pick up ;)

p/s: till today I have not had post birthday cake yet. celebration with family will take place end of month when I go back SP ;)

V-I-B-G-Y-O-R

Last weekend I was in Pahang attending my ex-roomate's wedding. I encountered 3 rainbows along the way. First one was on the way from Seremban to KL. The next one is somewhere approaching Karak area. It was later followed by very heavy rain. Once I entered Bentong going towards Temerloh there was lots and lots of beautiful clouds.

It was mesmerising as I could not recalled when was the last time I've seen such beautiful group of clouds. It was picturesque!!! I had camera with me but it was way deep in my handbag. Since I am driving alone, I didn't bother to pullover and took out the camera.

Upon entering Maran, again there is this string of rainbow and this time I just couldn't resist. I slowed down (although I should've pulled over) and took out camera and with one hand on the wheel, another was trying to capture the shots..so here goes...