We woke up fairly early on Saturday (8/23) to get packed up once again, ready for the flight to Cape Town. Fortunately we were all feeling ok despite all the drinking games the night before.
Having got to the airport we lined up to check in. Once we got to the front of the line we handed our tickets across. Pretty quickly Priscilla and I had our boarding passes, but apparently there was a problem with Steph's booking. The check in guy told us that Steph's ticket had been cancelled and the flight was already over booked. This didn't sound good but fortunately after a few nervous minutes wait they managed to get her a seat.
We were sad to be leaving Zambia as we had a really fun time there, but we were also excited to be heading to South Africa.
We had to fly to Johannesburg first to catch a connecting flight to Cape Town. The flight was less than 2 hours but on arrival in Jo'burg it felt very different from Zambia and Tanzania. We had returned to the first world we were used to before with escalators, stores, and western toilets with soap and toilet paper at the airport terminals. Also it was a lot colder as it is the middle of winter here.
Our travel woes continued when we went to collect our bags as my bag was no where to be seen. I went to the lost luggage office and gave my details; they eventually discovered that my bag had been left in Livingstone. It was finally delivered the following evening minus all my chargers which I had packed in the unlocked outside pocket. It seems like the bag handlers in Africa are a bunch of thieves. Recall priscilla's headlamp and key chain was stolen...and now we can be certain bernice's chargers were also stolen.
Once we got to Cape Town we were picked up by a driver who funnily enough admitted to be a big Mariah Carey fan. We are staying at another backpackers place in Cape Town, another cheap deal at $14 a night per person.
Our first night in Cape Town was pretty relaxed. We had dinner just around the corner from the hostel at a Thai place called simply asian, which we learned in a chain in south africa. Priscilla and Steph had been missing Asian food, so they were very happy. The food was very good and we shared a bottle of wine - it was all pretty cheap which was good news for us. Wine seems to be really good value here, you can get a decent bottle of wine in a restaurant for less than 10 bucks. It was also nice to get service at a clean restaurant. We finally felt normal after weeks of roughing it, but still dressed like backpackers.
The next day (8/24) was also very relaxed. I had rather stupidly left both my glasses and contacts in my checked luggage which was still missing. As a result our sightseeing options were a bit limited. Instead the girls used the cold weather as a good excuse to get in some retail therapy buying jeans and sweaters. I managed to get myself a world cup 2010 T-shirt as a souvenir. We were actually surprised how quiet cape town was on a sunday, all the shops in the city center were closed with the exception of the waterfront where the girls were relieved to find some open stores. In the evening we had a great dinner at a local italian place and then watched Hancock at the cinema. I fell asleep during the movie so I guess I wouldn't give it too great a review!
Yesterday (8/25) we took a boat trip out to Robben Island which is where Nelson Mandela spent most of his jail sentence. The island is about a 30 minute boat ride from the waterfront and was extremely rough, so much so that there were people throwing up. Priscilla wasn't feeling great but fortunately we all made it across ok. We took a bus ride around the island, the most interesting thing being the quarry where they made Nelson Mandela and other prisoners labor 8 hours a day, 5 days a week to use limestone to build roads on the island, so really the labor was pointless and just punishment. All the prisoners that worked on the road ended up having damaged eyesight. But this was also the area where a lot of the men discussed political points of view.
Afterwards we toured the prison itself. Our guide was a former political prisoner on the island. We got to see Mandela's cell number 7, a 8 ft by 8 ft space where he spent 16 years.
On the trip back there was more puking, again fortunately none of us. I then managed to drop and lose my blackberry - it seems I am pretty determined to forget about work on this trip!
We had a late lunch at a Paulaner Brauhaus by the waterfront. Wienerschnitzel and fried potatoes washed down with beer. Whilst I am sure Erik will be jealous to read this as Paulaner is his favorite beer, he may be happier to learn that we found out there is another location in Shanghai which we can visit when he joins us in China.
After drowning my lost blackberry worries with a liter of beer I headed off in search of culture with Priscilla while Steph went off for a pampering pedicure. Unfortunately the culture search was short lived as we discovered the National Gallery was closed on Mondays.
For dinner we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy meal at a nice restaurant. We figured we deserved it after all the budget cooking in Zambia and since eating out is great value here. We chose a restaurant called Savoy Cabbage which is known for it's game among other things. Unfortunately they had sold out of Impala (no joke!) but the food was all delicious. Priscilla had fillet, steph had duck, and I had lamb...we also shared two bottles of red from pebble hill. Afterwards we had a quick drink back at the hostel bar before hitting the sack.
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