One of the reasons why I extended my trip a little longer past 4 weeks was because I wanted to get the chance to travel around in South Africa and still have enough time to get as much out of my Trauma elective. I am very happy I did this because it gave me the chance to spend 3 days in Swaziland and 4 days in Cape Town. When I first arrived to Johannesburg (alone) I wasn't quite sure how and with who I was going to be arranging these trips. Luckily, there are many students out here from all over the world with the same goals, expectations and plans. So this does make it easier as we all quickly become close friends, stick together and build friendships. In my case, I have made great friends while in Joburg. Only concern I am sure most of you have had while reading my blogs is that they are mostly girls. Most of the students coming out here are girls, so it made it hard for me to choose between staying home or knowing that I have a loving, trusting and supportive fiancee that would not delve too deep into this. This all works because of the communication we have together and love for each other. Even though Evie is in Montreal, she has met and became friends with Li and Niki :) They are the two that I have been spending most of my time with in SA. Li is my housemate and Niki was in Trauma with me. Anyways, all this to say is that we all wanted to go to Cape Town - and this is what we did!!
We chose to fly to Cape Town, however we did consider taking the 26 hour scenic train ride through the mountains or we could have driven for 13 hours straight. Usually flights are very cheap to Cape Town, somewhere between 100-200$. We found cheap tickets however we had to fly out of Lanseria airport (30 mins from Joburg) in order to get them cheaper. We flew with Mango air - airplane was orange! (My favorite color :)) Flight was at 7am, so Niki picked us up at 5am on Sat morning (after being out the night before at the Casino - wow that place was crazy, very Vegas style!!) So as you can imagine, we all slept on the plane. Arriving in Cape Town was very refreshing. This place does not compare to Joburg. First of all, it is much safer (or it feels much safer) and it's soooo beautiful!! Cape Town was first discovered by the Dutch when they were traveling the see looking for India. It became the place to be and the Cape area was a common place for all travellers to stop in the harbor and visit the cities natural beauty! I can just imagine the face of those who first discovered it! We rented our car from Avis ;) and we were on our way. We booked to stay at a very nice Hostel (Atlantic Point) which was near the waterfront area and close proximity to Long St. (kind of like St-Catherine's street in Montreal). Once we arrived there, we checked in our bags, locked up our passports and went walking towards the Waterfront area. This reminded me a lot of Old Port Montreal. It was a very touristy area with shops, restaurants, lots of people, the water, ships, yachts, etc... We had breakfast at this really cute bakery and went through Lonely Planet to figure out our itinerary for the next 4 days. One thing you always worry about when you travel with other people is if we will all want to do the same things (especially if I am traveling with 2 girls!) In a matter of minutes, we packed in our 4 days solid and went to book all the things we wanted to do. We walked over to the tourist information area and booked a wine tour in the Stellenbosch vineyards, Inverdoorn Safari day trip and Robben Island prison (where Nelson Mandela was held for many years). The rest was things that we didn't have to book. We were all very excited - we tried to pack in as much as we could. Shark diving was on my list, but the water conditions weren't favorable for that, next time! Once that was all done, we got into the car and headed our way towards Cape of Good Hope, this is the Southern most point of South Africa, right at the tip of Cape Town. This is about 1 hour and half drive, so we bought some snacks and headed towards there. About halfway there, we stopped to visit the Penguins! I had no clue that penguins existed without snow. Maybe this is me being ignorant, but either they were in Batman movie or north pole! lol You learn something new all the time. The penguins are by the water/rocks and you park your car by the side of the road and watch them. I got few pics and a cool video which I posted on facebook. While we were there, I heard greek voices! I ran over and started talking to them in Greek. They were impressed that someone from Montreal spoke such good greek. One of the guys who works as a mechanical engineer in Joburg was touring with his family who was in town to visit, his wife also happened to be an anesthetist. Small world! Time was an issue, the sun was slowly setting and we wanted to make it to the point before that happened. We were driving along the coast, such beautiful scenery, mountains, water, it was absolutely amazing. We finally arrived to the national park you need to drive through to get to the point - PARK HAD JUST CLOSED 15 minutes ago :( We were so upset and just turned around to drive back. Oh well, after thinking of it, we should have bribed the guards, maybe that would have worked!! We got back to the hostel, took a nap and then went for dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hostel because it was Mojito night. I also met Canadians!! Haven't met any for the longest time in SA. From outside Toronto and one was from West Island, Montreal! They were students on exchange. We had a few drinks and then everyone from the hostel decided to go to a bar. We tagged along and ended up in such a funny place. I mean the place was busy, lots of people, young crowd. But the music was horrible, so old school. The DJs were in their 60's with mullets - very weird! We didn't last long here and got advice to go to this other club which was on the 31st floor overlooking the city! Much better change. I really liked this place, we had some drinks and I became friends with the DJ and hung out in the DJ booth for most of the time. Bar closed at 4am. We got home pretty late and passed out. Next morning we wake up at around 1pm - mostly hung over and to realize that we were being picked up in 20 minutes for the wine tour we booked! As much as we wanted to do this, we were dreading it!! Van picked us up and picked up another 4 people (much older than us) - but we made the best of it. Li and Niki were trying really hard not to puke because they get very car sick. So they were quiet along the way, while one of the passengers, in his 80's from NewCastle was trying to tell us his medical history after he found out we were doctors. Interesting drive!! Also, there were 2 ladies from London and once we started talking they said they worked in Clinical Communication in Medicine. I then mentioned the Dr. Crues' couple (husband and wife who teach us physiscianship at McGill) and they knew them! They were good friends and work together. They were recently visiting at McGill and saying how much they love our faculty of medicine! Such a small world!!
Oh geezzz...time is running out. I have to pack my bags and get ready to leave. So I will try and speed this up and complement it all with pictures!
The wine tour was great, beautiful wineries in the mountains, lots of history and obviously great wine! It was really tough to drink after a night out drinking, but I definitely drank all the tastings and did not spit any of it out! We arrived home in late afternoon, went for dinner and then back to hostel and passed out till the next morning. The weather the next day wasn't so great. Our plan to Robben Island was cancelled because the sea conditions weren't great to travel to the island. So instead we went for breakfast on Long St., walked around and then visited the district 6 museum. District 6 was an area in Cape Town that was demolished during the time of the apartheid to make it a white only area and get all the blacks and coloured people out of there. Such a sad story. The museum was basically depicting what it was like during those times and you can also get guided tours from residents of district 6 who lived through those times. After the museum, we drove to Table Mountain. This is one of the new 7 nature wonders of the world. It really is!! I posted a picture already from the top of the mountain, it was incredible. We wanted to hike up there (1.5 hours) but the weather was too cold and we didn't have much time, so we took the most steepest cable car ride up there! The top of the mountain is at 3000ft above sea level. It's also called table mountain because the top is flat and is 3km by 3km of trails, flowers, animals, etc... Everyone should go here!! Funny story, while we were entering the cable car, some guy asked us to bring up a sweater and look for Richard because he will be cold up at the top. He showed us a picture of him and said he's with his daughter. We found this so strange and silly! We brought the sweater up, but couldn't find Richard. So Niki just carried it the whole way and said we would drop it off at info desk at bottom. Once we got to the bottom, a van drove passed us and started honking! It was Richard...they were leaving but saw us holding his red sweater! Oh well, guess he was cold up there, but he got his sweater back! We then went for dinner at a nice fancy french cuisine restaurant by the water and ended our night with a movie. Yup, we went to the movies. We were so tired and had to wake up at 5am the next morning for our safari. We enjoyed the die hard movie with bruce willis. Good movie and lots of action, as usual!!
Next morning, we were picked up at 630am, driven to 3 hours to Inverdoorn game reserve and went on a 2.5 hour safari! It was so cool! Very cold but awesome. We got to see buffalo, cheetahs, lions, giraffes, springbocks, wildebeest, rhinos, hippos, elephants... and we were so close to them!! Check out the pics for more :) After the safari was over, we had lunch at the reserve and were driven straight to the airport to fly back to Joburg!
This was a great trip! 4 days is not enough but we were able to get a good taste of Cape Town. Would definitely come back with Evie one day! I had a great time with Niki and Li and we all got along so well. Glad we all went together. It was funny though, we were all happy to be back in Joburg.
Now I am rushing on my last day to pack, do some errands, meet up with everyone at the Orlando Towers in Soweto for lunch and then will be on my way to the airport. I will begin my 30 some odd hours of traveling with a 7 hour stop in London again. I will definitely make the most out of this again and meet up with some friends while I am there!!
Joburg has been great. I really got everything I wanted out of this trip. Friends, experience, touring, trauma, etc... My blogging is not over yet - will update you all on my trip back!
Didn't have time to load pics - will load them when I have more time, maybe at the airport!!
See you all soon!!
Phil
We chose to fly to Cape Town, however we did consider taking the 26 hour scenic train ride through the mountains or we could have driven for 13 hours straight. Usually flights are very cheap to Cape Town, somewhere between 100-200$. We found cheap tickets however we had to fly out of Lanseria airport (30 mins from Joburg) in order to get them cheaper. We flew with Mango air - airplane was orange! (My favorite color :)) Flight was at 7am, so Niki picked us up at 5am on Sat morning (after being out the night before at the Casino - wow that place was crazy, very Vegas style!!) So as you can imagine, we all slept on the plane. Arriving in Cape Town was very refreshing. This place does not compare to Joburg. First of all, it is much safer (or it feels much safer) and it's soooo beautiful!! Cape Town was first discovered by the Dutch when they were traveling the see looking for India. It became the place to be and the Cape area was a common place for all travellers to stop in the harbor and visit the cities natural beauty! I can just imagine the face of those who first discovered it! We rented our car from Avis ;) and we were on our way. We booked to stay at a very nice Hostel (Atlantic Point) which was near the waterfront area and close proximity to Long St. (kind of like St-Catherine's street in Montreal). Once we arrived there, we checked in our bags, locked up our passports and went walking towards the Waterfront area. This reminded me a lot of Old Port Montreal. It was a very touristy area with shops, restaurants, lots of people, the water, ships, yachts, etc... We had breakfast at this really cute bakery and went through Lonely Planet to figure out our itinerary for the next 4 days. One thing you always worry about when you travel with other people is if we will all want to do the same things (especially if I am traveling with 2 girls!) In a matter of minutes, we packed in our 4 days solid and went to book all the things we wanted to do. We walked over to the tourist information area and booked a wine tour in the Stellenbosch vineyards, Inverdoorn Safari day trip and Robben Island prison (where Nelson Mandela was held for many years). The rest was things that we didn't have to book. We were all very excited - we tried to pack in as much as we could. Shark diving was on my list, but the water conditions weren't favorable for that, next time! Once that was all done, we got into the car and headed our way towards Cape of Good Hope, this is the Southern most point of South Africa, right at the tip of Cape Town. This is about 1 hour and half drive, so we bought some snacks and headed towards there. About halfway there, we stopped to visit the Penguins! I had no clue that penguins existed without snow. Maybe this is me being ignorant, but either they were in Batman movie or north pole! lol You learn something new all the time. The penguins are by the water/rocks and you park your car by the side of the road and watch them. I got few pics and a cool video which I posted on facebook. While we were there, I heard greek voices! I ran over and started talking to them in Greek. They were impressed that someone from Montreal spoke such good greek. One of the guys who works as a mechanical engineer in Joburg was touring with his family who was in town to visit, his wife also happened to be an anesthetist. Small world! Time was an issue, the sun was slowly setting and we wanted to make it to the point before that happened. We were driving along the coast, such beautiful scenery, mountains, water, it was absolutely amazing. We finally arrived to the national park you need to drive through to get to the point - PARK HAD JUST CLOSED 15 minutes ago :( We were so upset and just turned around to drive back. Oh well, after thinking of it, we should have bribed the guards, maybe that would have worked!! We got back to the hostel, took a nap and then went for dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hostel because it was Mojito night. I also met Canadians!! Haven't met any for the longest time in SA. From outside Toronto and one was from West Island, Montreal! They were students on exchange. We had a few drinks and then everyone from the hostel decided to go to a bar. We tagged along and ended up in such a funny place. I mean the place was busy, lots of people, young crowd. But the music was horrible, so old school. The DJs were in their 60's with mullets - very weird! We didn't last long here and got advice to go to this other club which was on the 31st floor overlooking the city! Much better change. I really liked this place, we had some drinks and I became friends with the DJ and hung out in the DJ booth for most of the time. Bar closed at 4am. We got home pretty late and passed out. Next morning we wake up at around 1pm - mostly hung over and to realize that we were being picked up in 20 minutes for the wine tour we booked! As much as we wanted to do this, we were dreading it!! Van picked us up and picked up another 4 people (much older than us) - but we made the best of it. Li and Niki were trying really hard not to puke because they get very car sick. So they were quiet along the way, while one of the passengers, in his 80's from NewCastle was trying to tell us his medical history after he found out we were doctors. Interesting drive!! Also, there were 2 ladies from London and once we started talking they said they worked in Clinical Communication in Medicine. I then mentioned the Dr. Crues' couple (husband and wife who teach us physiscianship at McGill) and they knew them! They were good friends and work together. They were recently visiting at McGill and saying how much they love our faculty of medicine! Such a small world!!
Oh geezzz...time is running out. I have to pack my bags and get ready to leave. So I will try and speed this up and complement it all with pictures!
The wine tour was great, beautiful wineries in the mountains, lots of history and obviously great wine! It was really tough to drink after a night out drinking, but I definitely drank all the tastings and did not spit any of it out! We arrived home in late afternoon, went for dinner and then back to hostel and passed out till the next morning. The weather the next day wasn't so great. Our plan to Robben Island was cancelled because the sea conditions weren't great to travel to the island. So instead we went for breakfast on Long St., walked around and then visited the district 6 museum. District 6 was an area in Cape Town that was demolished during the time of the apartheid to make it a white only area and get all the blacks and coloured people out of there. Such a sad story. The museum was basically depicting what it was like during those times and you can also get guided tours from residents of district 6 who lived through those times. After the museum, we drove to Table Mountain. This is one of the new 7 nature wonders of the world. It really is!! I posted a picture already from the top of the mountain, it was incredible. We wanted to hike up there (1.5 hours) but the weather was too cold and we didn't have much time, so we took the most steepest cable car ride up there! The top of the mountain is at 3000ft above sea level. It's also called table mountain because the top is flat and is 3km by 3km of trails, flowers, animals, etc... Everyone should go here!! Funny story, while we were entering the cable car, some guy asked us to bring up a sweater and look for Richard because he will be cold up at the top. He showed us a picture of him and said he's with his daughter. We found this so strange and silly! We brought the sweater up, but couldn't find Richard. So Niki just carried it the whole way and said we would drop it off at info desk at bottom. Once we got to the bottom, a van drove passed us and started honking! It was Richard...they were leaving but saw us holding his red sweater! Oh well, guess he was cold up there, but he got his sweater back! We then went for dinner at a nice fancy french cuisine restaurant by the water and ended our night with a movie. Yup, we went to the movies. We were so tired and had to wake up at 5am the next morning for our safari. We enjoyed the die hard movie with bruce willis. Good movie and lots of action, as usual!!
Next morning, we were picked up at 630am, driven to 3 hours to Inverdoorn game reserve and went on a 2.5 hour safari! It was so cool! Very cold but awesome. We got to see buffalo, cheetahs, lions, giraffes, springbocks, wildebeest, rhinos, hippos, elephants... and we were so close to them!! Check out the pics for more :) After the safari was over, we had lunch at the reserve and were driven straight to the airport to fly back to Joburg!
This was a great trip! 4 days is not enough but we were able to get a good taste of Cape Town. Would definitely come back with Evie one day! I had a great time with Niki and Li and we all got along so well. Glad we all went together. It was funny though, we were all happy to be back in Joburg.
Now I am rushing on my last day to pack, do some errands, meet up with everyone at the Orlando Towers in Soweto for lunch and then will be on my way to the airport. I will begin my 30 some odd hours of traveling with a 7 hour stop in London again. I will definitely make the most out of this again and meet up with some friends while I am there!!
Joburg has been great. I really got everything I wanted out of this trip. Friends, experience, touring, trauma, etc... My blogging is not over yet - will update you all on my trip back!
Didn't have time to load pics - will load them when I have more time, maybe at the airport!!
See you all soon!!
Phil
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