Hop On/Hop Off

Cape Town, WOW! What a great city. Apparently it is one of the top ten most beautiful cities in the world. If I was the judge, I would certainly put it in the top ten. The city is modern in many respects but still retains the quaint charm of yesteryear. The downtown has many modern buildings, but is dotted throughout with older, well-kept and restored colonial-style buildings. Wide main streets are divided by a network of narrow streets offering neat little boutiques, dining venues and coffee shops. Every so often you come across neat clean open-air markets that offer everything that one may need or want. The vehicle traffic is light for a city the size of Cape Town. You have no trouble “J” walking even the busiest of streets. The traffic in the downtown core would be similar to Moose Jaw's downtown core during busy hours. There are plenty of so called “crime prevention officers” everywhere so if you have a problem, just give them a holler. They are sort of quasi-type cops only, with no real weapons or fancy uniforms (they wear traffic-type vests that a highway worker would wear in Canada).

You might be wondering how I got around today; well, I booked a 2-day "hop on/hop off" bus tour which took me throughout the downtown core and then to the Table Mountain cable lift, then along the west coast of the Cape back to Cape Town proper. The Cable Mountain lift consists of two huge round gondolas that hold up to 65 people suspended on cables which run from near the foot of the mountain to the peak with no intervening supports. I would have to say that it is a marvel of man's inventive mind. Each car has a huge water tank under the floor that is filled on windy days to act as a sort of ballast. On calmer days they use the water to supply the mountain top restaurants and other services. The drive along the coast was interesting as there were several theme shopping areas, dining venues and beaches. Very few people swimming as the water is a little chilly. The coast is developed with several Cape Town subdivisions filled in with expensive villas, condos and apartment blocks.

This evening I located an internet shop and skyped with Juanita and then Mavis. One hour of wireless high speed access for about $1.50 Canadian. I thought that to be pretty reasonable.

I am a little more rested now and believe I am over the hump re: my biological clock.

Tomorrow I move to a different hotel for one night where I join up with the rest of the tour group and then head off into the wilds of Africa for a 40-day overland camping trip to Nairobi, Kenya. Man, this is going to be totally awesome.

Tomorrow morning/afternoon I will continue with my 2-day "hop on/hop off" bus tour which will take me to a small rural township village outside of Cape Town where I can experience a bit of rural living. There is a small fee charged upon entering the village which is used to improve the lives of the inhabitants by erecting schools and improving other facilities within the community. Things that we would normally take for granted.

Bye for now.