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Written by Julee – and this should be no reflection on my competent English teachers at both Liggett and Michigan.

Once we decided to visit South Africa, we called everyone who knew who grew up, lived in or visited South Africa. Bohj was a huge help with the safaris, Mara gave us a list of her favorite places and foods and Ray said, “You’ll stay with my folks”.

Ray Thompson has sold my dad two boats, and over the years has survived my father’s “requests and suggestions” and actually become part of our family. Adored by my parents, I’m pretty sure if we were at my parents’ house at the same time, Ray would get my room and I’d be sent to the basement. Learning that we were going to Capetown, Ray (who Lou and I have never actually met), arranged for us to stay with his parents and later his brother’s family. Thrilled with the thought of having a home base in a strange city, Lou and I quickly emailed with his mom. After just a few emails, these poor people had committed to hosting us, complete strangers, for nearly a week.
Audrey and Benny La Rue met us at the gates, with a sign with our names on it. The first thing Audrey’s says is “My, you look like your mom”.

We shot out of the airport and straight to their house in Fish Hoek Bay, which is a gorgeous town on the ocean. Audrey and Benny live in a fantastic home tucked into the mountainside, and the view from all of their balconies is amazing.

As soon as we walked in the house, Lou’s jaw dropped at their incredible bar. Benny is a scotch fanatic and built a shrine to his collection of spirits. Benny actually had tears in his eyes remembering some of the 30 year olds he has tasted. “The nectar” only added to the instant bond we had with our hosts. We settled in for biltong (beef jerky)*, cheese, biscuits and salmon spread and chatted up a storm, starting to get to know each other. It was an incredibly warm welcome to Capetown.

We did notice the iron gates that surrounded Audrey and Benny’s home. It’s not that they lived in a bad area, quite the contrary. Crime is a real problem in South Africa and it affects everybody. We would learn more and more in the days to come about some of the social and economic problems that plague this beautiful place.

*Note – Biltong is what we Americans would call Beef Jerky. It is a South African delicacy and is served everywhere as a snack. It can be made from beef, ostrich, kudu, and springbok just to name a few.

Day 25 – 2/2/07 – Loads of Penguins, Two Oceans and Some Ostriches

For our first full day, Benny and Audrey gave us a whirlwind tour of Capetown! They were superb guides on our marathon of sight seeing. Here’s some of what we accomplished on the first day.

Scratch Patch
Precious stones are a hot commodity in South Africa, and they have stores called “Scratch Patches”. In addition to ready-made jewelry, you can “harvest” your own precious stones from big gardens or treasure chests. It’s the perfect place for a beading enthusiast.

Boulders
Boulders is a spectacular small beach, with sand, rock alcoves and 1000s of penguins. Since, Lou and I are both fascinated and amused by animals, so we seek out any type of animal encounter. This was an exceptional”city” experience since we were visiting the penguins in their truly natural habitat.

Cape of Good Hope
We then drove into The Cape of Good Hope nature reserve. We had a tasty lunch at a restaurant over looking the mountains, and then Lou and I headed up to the Light House. It was a 15-minute walk up a path and a few steep stairs. The view was spectacular with the waves crashing against the rocks. The Cape of Good Hope is famous because it is where two oceans meet; To the west is the cold and rough Atlantic, to east, the much warmer Indian Ocean.

Cape Point is also famous for it’s baboons. And they didn’t let us down. There were baboons hopping along the tops of cars, stealing sandwiches and raising havoc in the ladies restroom.

Ostrich Farm
Close to Capetown is a small Ostrich Farm, and these awkward birds are hilarious. Even more entertaining was our guide. In every way possible, he pointed out just how dumb the birds really are. He had us in stitches. As a side bar, ostrich farms are very lucrative because these birds are prolific egg layers, have a very short gestation period, provide meat that is lean and healthy, their feathers make great boas and their hides create the second toughest leather on earth.

Long Beach
We hit long beach around 6pm, just in time for the after-work rush to the waves. There were huge breakers, 100s of surfers and it seemed like an equal number of dogs. It was awesome; exactly what you’d picture in a surfing movie.

On the way back home Benny felt is was important for us to see what one of the “Townships” looked like. Under Apartheid, these cordoned off sections of town are where non-whites were forced to live. The Townships still exist today. A drive through the settlement was quite an eye opener. The houses were shanties constructed of corrugated metal and plywood. You simply could not believe that people, families, live there. Benny felt comfortable driving through one of the townships during daylight, and so we drove through the front section closest to the main road. We were in awe, sad and overwhelmed by the realities of this destitute side of South Africa. Back home around 8pm, Benny and Audrey grilled up some tenderloin with a black pepper sauce. It was a feast!

Day 26 – 2/3/07 – Capetown

The next morning Benny and Audrey drove us over to Sean (Audrey’s son) and Michelle’s. We were immediately struck by their hospitality and they took us in for the next two days. Sean and Michelle have two wonderful boys, Joshua (9) and Matthew (6). Wherever we went, it was a full carload.

Waterfront – Two Oceans Aquarium
The Waterfront is a tourist mecca of shops and street performers. (And for the boaters – it has the oldest working dry dock in the world.) We stopped for burgers and chips (fries), and then headed off to the Aquarium for a couple hours. The salt-water fish are so much more exotic than the fresh water fish. We thought we’d seen it all at the Singapore Aquarium, but Capetown had new fish, sharks, sea horses and giant lobsters to observe. Before our travels, Lou and I didn’t even know we liked aquariums!

While the kids were catching the puppet show at the aquarium, Sean, Lou and I headed over to Mitchell’s Microbrewery for an afternoon beer and a visit to the Red Shed. There, a number of local craftsman and local companies who sell their works at the waterfront. I bought a small painting on canvas.

Malay Quarter – Bo Kaap
Our friend Mara told me that as a child, she used to go to Bo Kaap to a small place that had the “best simosas”. Sean and Michelle hadn’t been to that area, so we took a scenic drive through this colorful Malay neighboorhood. We found the restaurant, Biesmiellah, and ate the simosas on the corner, just like Mara told me to.
Rhodes Memorial
After leaving the Waterfront, we drove to Rhodes Memorial built to honor Cecil Rhodes who became prime minister of the Cape in 1890. He was the consummate British Imperialist whose dream was to see a Cape-to-Cairo railway line so that the “sun would never set on the British Empire”. The memorial is up on the mountainside and has a great view of the Cape Flats and the Capetown University grounds. Michelle even pointed out her college dorm.

Cape Town Fish Market
For dinner, we went to the Cape Town Fish Market (which is a chain) for some excellent sushi.

We were stunned by how much there is to do in Capetown and we kept thanking Sean and Michelle for taking us to what we were certain were tourist places they’d been to a thousand times. But like any native, they rarely hit the tourist attractions in the city and appreciated the excuse to visit the sites. Therefore, the motto for the entire South African marathon became, “It takes a tourist!”
Day 27 – 2/4/07 – Betty’s Bay

The next morning, we drove about an hour to Betty’s Bay, a seaside holiday village. Betty’s Bay had another colony of jack-ass penguins which kept us entertained for a half hour. Once we got to Michelle’s parents’ holiday-now-permanent home, we went for a swim in the Indian Ocean (65-70 degrees). There was kelp everywhere. It adds a pungent aroma to the beach, but we quickly got used to it.

Back at the house, we ate the fresh crayfish (rock lobster) that Michelle’s parents had caught that morning. And those were just the appetizers, as they grilled up a huge Braai (BBQ) for us. After lamb ribs, lamb chops, sausage and boerewors (spicy sausage), we were stuffed. But of course, we made room for melktert (similar to a custard pie). We were thoroughly amazed how once again complete strangers welcomed us into their homes. It was a fantastic South African Sunday.

That night, Sean drove us back to Audrey and Benny’s. After some Scotch, we crashed out once again.

Day 28 – 2/5/07 – Beach, Breakfast and Wine Country

Audrey and Benny made sure we got to enjoy their beach. So we all popped out of bed at 7:30 to head down to Fish Hoek Beach for a morning stroll and seaside breakfast.

After a quick shower, it was off to wine country. It was a bout an hour’s drive to Stellenbosch, which is the oldest wine route in South Africa with more and 100 estates and farms. For Americans, it is very similar to Napa. We went to e of Audrey and Benny’s favorite estate called Hartenberg. After a wine tasting, we ate a delicious picnic lunch in the garden. What amazed us most were the prices of the wine. You could purchase excellent bottles for $10/US. Very good bottles were $US 6-8. Everything being relative, wine is not quite the same bargain to those who live on the Rand, but wine is not the extravagance that it is in the states. It’s very affordable.

We drove back to Fish Hoek that evening and had dinner at a Harbor Front restaurant. We all had delicious seafood dishes of either Kop or Cape Salmon (which is a white fish, not a pink fish like in the US). We returned home for an early night as we had to wake at 6am wake up.

Day 29 – 2/6/07 – Mountains, Prisons and Monkeys

In another act of selfless hospitality, Sean took the morning off work to hike with us. He came to get us at 6am for our ascent up Table Mountain. The plan was to hike up to the top in about 2 hours and then take the cable back down. However, the winds were blowing so forcefully and the clouds were so thick, the cable car wasn’t running. After 90 minutes and reaching what we think was 2/3 of the way up, we decided to turn back and head to the bottom. (In addition, I was getting blown off my footing. Every time a gust came, I had to really dig in a lower my center of gravity. I even had to give Lou the backpack because it was acting like a sail). We made it down safely and but I was bummed we didn’t get to “summit”. From what we hear, there’s an extraordinary view from above. It’s really one of the top attractions in Capetown and we didn’t get to the see the Dussies – which are giant hamster like animals that are closely related to the elephant. I know – I can’t picture it either! So climbing Table Mountain is just one of the plethora of reasons for returing to South Africa in the near future.
After the hike, we had a few hours to kill so Sean suggested we head to “World of Birds”. Apparently it’s one the largest bird parks in the world. It was all very impressive, and our favorite was the “Birds of Prey” exhibit. In this exhibit ,you walk inside the cages are face to face to with some serious predatory birds. Their enclosures are very large, but there are no fences between you and the animals. Most of them kept their distance on their perches, but others definitely flew around or had something to say. I have to admit it’s a little frightening to be so close to eagles, hawks, and vultures. The most captivating animals were were the owls. They watched us so intently with their huge eyes.

In addition to birds exhibits they also had an “interactive” squirrel monkey exhibit. There were literally hundreds of squirrel monkeys that would jump on you while you walk around. They are very clever little guys and they would reach into your pockets and steal whatever was in there. (In a previous visit to the park, one monkey popped into Benny’s pocket and stole and then destroyed his ID.) They jumped on my backpack and tried to undo the lock and one even tried to pull the ponytail holder out of my hair. Lou finally managed to get me (with my feet dragging) out the monkey cage.

On our list of things to do was “fish and chips”, so we headed back to the Waterfront for lunch. The fish and chips we had are a little different then we are used to. Rather than breading and frying small fillets, they bread and fry the entire fish (head excluded or I wouldn’t go near it).

An insert from Lou
Having traveled for almost 5 weeks now I was in serious need of a haircut. I found this really cool “old school” barbershop at the waterfront. The barber worked like “Edward Scissorhands”. Hair was flying all over the place as he quickly circled around and rapidly snapped the scissors in no distinguishable pattern. All I could here was steal grinding, and I was convinced I was going to come out of that chair with giant patches of hair missing. He finally finished and stepped away to what turned out to be a pretty decent haircut.
From the Waterfront we took a ferry out to Robben Island, the former political prison during the 1960 – 80s. Robben Island is just off the shore of Cape Town, and you must take a 30-minute ferry ride to get there. The Island was once a leper colony and then military base, but it’s most notorious the location where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for nearly 20 years.

Once our boat arrived at the harbor, they piled us into buses for a 30-minute island tour. There is a small village where the employees of Robben Island live. The village is mostly comprised of the former officers’ facilities.

Once were arrived at the prison, a former political prisoner greeted our group. For an hour, he took us through the mess hall, group cells, exercise field, described their daily meals, listed the rules and gave us general insight into the agony of being a prisoner. The tour culminates in a viewing of Mandela’s cell.

Throughout the tour, our guide revealed a little of his story. As a young man, he joined a guerrilla terrorist group focused on ending the apartheid regime. He received specialized training in East Germany. He returned to Africa via Angola and was smuggled through several countries back into South Africa. After several missions, he was picked up in J-burg. He served 20 years in the prison and was then released. I asked if it was difficult to come back as a tour guide. His response was that although there have been great strides for Black South Africans; there are still very limited employment opportunities. It was his only chance for a job. In addition, since there are very few political prisoners who survived or are still alive, he felt “Someone has to do it”.

Audrey and Benny picked us up the waterfront and took us home. Audrey had cooked up a delicious homemade baboutie, a Malay-South African classic. Baboutie can best be described as a spicy curried meatloaf. Benny pulled out some special wine and champagne, and we all enjoyed our last night in Cape Town.

All Kruger Park Photos click here

Day 21 – 1/29/07 – Johannesburg – Kruger Park – Tinga Private Game Reserve

Cathay Pacific 747 – Flight time 12 hours

We boarded our plane in Hong Kong around Midnight and 1 snack and 1 Ambien later; we were two hours outside of Jo-burg. So rather than being jetlagged, we actually got a full night’s rest. Lou was particularly excited about this flight, as it was the first time we got to sit in the upstairs section of the 747. Lou always imagined the upstairs being some sort of smoky nightclub lounge with a bar and piano act. He was sadly disappointed when we headed up the stairs and Michelle Pfeiffer was not slinked out over a piano. Turns our there was just extra rows of business class seats and the cockpit.

At J-burg’s airport, we transferred to Airlink, a small regional airline. As a first observation, we noticed that we were no longer on Asia’s “Exact Time.” It had much more of a “fluid” feel about it. Onboard, we thoroughly enjoyed the in-flight magazine, Skyways. It was fully of interesting articles, buzz clips, recipes, historic facts – it was so interesting that Lou took it! Later that afternoon, we were raving about the magazine on our first game drive. The South African woman we were with, turned around and said, “Really, you really like it? I’m the editor!” And by editor, she meant that she wrote the articles, took many of the photos and chose the fun facts that we found so educational. Mandi was absolutely delightful and we became fast friends. As it turned out, Mandi was reviewing the lodge for the magazine – more on her later.

It was about an hour’s drive from the airport through the countryside to the Kruger Park gate. Once inside the park, it was another 30 minutes to Tinga Lodge. On the way to the lodge, we saw impala, crocs, zebra, waterbucks and warthogs. To us, our transfer seemed like a game drive.

Once at the lodge, they took us to our spectacular bungalow. It is the most incredible accommodation we’ve ever experienced. It had a living room, private plunge pool, and the shower ROOM looked out into the bush and the Sabi River. They warned us right away to keep our porch door closed, since there is only a low electric fence separating us from whatever else is out there. The hostess who took us to our room said, “If the animals want to get in, they get in”.

Seemingly on cue, we weren’t in the room 5 minutes before a family of monkeys “hopped” the fence by swinging through the trees. Julee ran outside to see them and was chased back inside. They explored our porch, drank from the plunge pool, and peered into the shower through the window. It was quite the welcome to South Africa.

Just two hours later, we met for high tea at the main lodge and we were off on our first official game drive. In addition to our tracker, Johann, and our ranger/driver, Derek, we had Mandi in our 4×4. She was such a wealth of knowledge. Having seen most of the animals before, she knew their calls, their mating habits, the birds, the trees….it was awesome. It was like having three guides to ourselves.

Some background information on our location:
Kruger Park is giant national park occupying the northeastern corner of South Africa. It is approximately the same size as the state of Rhode Island. The park is open to public and has paved roads which are fairly easy to navigate, and there are several safety rules you must obey. When you are in the Kruger Park, you must remain inside an enclosed vehicle at all times and you must stay on the roads.

Kruger Parks also leases large plots of land called concessions to private lodges. When inside a private concession, you can drive an open vehicle, you can may take the vehicles off road and even leave the vehicle. We stayed at Tinga Private Game Reserve, which was one of these concessions. It has about 5000 hectares which only the guides and guests of Tinga are allowed to travel. In addition to all of their knowledge of the plant, animal and bird life, the rangers have the ability to navigate the jeeps along the seemingly invisible trails. Our game drives consisted of a combination of the rugged terrain of the concession and the paved public roads.

At Tinga, the safari vehicles were Land Rovers outfitted with three rows of seats. A nice feature of these jeeps was that they didn’t have sides, so it we had unobstructed views, but they were covered, so we were shielded from the direct sun. The seats were really comfortable (well padded – thank god). There were also blankets for the cold morning drives and ponchos if it rained.

(As I write this, some animal is shaking the crap out of a tree about 30 feet in front of me. Scared? Mmmm hmmm.) (Julee)

That first afternoon drive started about 4:30. We saw an amazing number of animals. This was one of our favorite sightings of a pride of lions, and all of the animals photos are posted on flickr. Just click on the link at the top of the page.

About 2 hours into the drive, we stopped on a rock plateau by the river for a “Sundowner”. They unpacked the trunk, and took out a table and tablecloth and set up a full bar of wine, mixed drinks, beer, macadamia nuts, dried mangos, biltong (beef jerky) and walnuts. Our preferred drink was whiskey (Scotch) on the rocks.Sundowners were a great break from sitting and a fun opportunity to talk with guides. Derek and Johann both spoke wonderful English, in addition to their native “mother tongues”. They were very personable and they would answer any question you posed.

Happy hour was about a half hour, and then we popped in the jeep for the last half of the game drive.. Towards the end of the evening it was completely black. Sitting in the front of the jeep, the tracker would sweep a spotlight across the roads and up in to the trees to try catch a reflection from any animal’s eyes. Once they spotted an animal, they turned off the light so that they would not give unfair advantage to either predator or prey.

We were thoroughly amazed but our guides’ ability to spot animals. For instance, that night, we were cruising at 40 kmph and they spotted a chameleon, CHAMLEON, on a tree, at night.

Our first dinner was in the Burna, an outdoor area with a huge campfire in the middle and white tablecloth service. On our first night, we all (12 people) dined together – all the guests, the general manager husband and wife team, and the rangers. There were 5 salads and South African BBQ – chicken, beef tenderloin, kudu sausage and braised impala. It was such an elegantly catered evening. The dress however was very casual. The dinner was right after the drive, and they gave you the option to go right to dinner or go back and change. So some guests were in the typical safari wear of clean white shirt and khaki pants and other guests were literally in their bathing suits and shorts.

(OK – now there is a big lizard on the roof above me).

Day 22 – 1/30/07 – Tinga – First full day

For the morning drives, you got a pleasant wake up call at 4:30 AM. At 5am there was coffee and snacks for about 15 minutes and then everyone leaves at 5:15 A.M. for the morning drive.

Each day had the exact same schedule. The only variance was where you had dinner. Everyone at the lodge followed the same schedule:

4:30 – Wake up Call
5:00 – Tea/Coffee
5:30 – 9:00 – Morning Game Drive
9:30 – Breakfast
10:30 – 1:30 – Sleep, Swim or Massage
1:30 – 3 course lunch
2:30 – 4:00 – Sleep or Swim
4:00 – High Tea
4:00 – 7:30pm – Afternoon Game Drive with Sundowner
8:00 – Dinner and Drinks
Repeat!

By the second day was had figured that being on Safari was a lot like being an animal in the bush. We got up, ate, looked at other animals, napped, ate, looked at animals, ate, slept.

Amongst the highlights of the day, we saw a herd of elephants crossing a river. Check out the hippos getting out of their way.

Another amazing part of the drives are your proximity to the animals. Since nearly all of the animals grew up in the parks, they are habituated to the jeeps. To them, we basically look like rocks, so long as everyone is seated. Once someone stands up or makes a sudden movement, all bets are off.
We made several friends at the lodge:
Dan and Anne – travel writers from Philly
A super cute Italian couple – the husband gave everyone Italian names and for the rest of our stay, Lou was “Gigi”.
Derek and Laura – a couple from Manchester, England on their honeymoon. We spent hours sharing stories and drinking with them and suffered some serious separation anxiety. We’ve been texting them every since.

Day 23 – 1/31/07 – Tinga – Second Full Day

In our conversations with the ranger and tracker, we learned about the true definition of the “The Big 5”. The Big 5 doesn’t refer to the largest animals or even the hardest to find but refers to the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt. In other words, if you shoot one of these animals you better have killed it or you are in trouble. The term “The Big 5” has since become a marketing term used by the game reserves to create an attraction that brings people in. The Big 5 are the elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo. The most elusive of the 5 are the lion and leopard. Game drives take skilled guides and a bit of luck. It is possible to go on safari, even several drives, and still not see all 5. Interestingly the extremely dangerous hippo is not one of the “Big 5” as it was not an animal that was hunted for sport.

Here’s more of what we today :

Since there were so few people guests at the lodge, they wanted to do something “special” and arranged for a private dinner for each couple. Ours was on our balcony. It turned out to be a comedic disaster. Rather than relaxing and enjoying a romantic evening, Julee was game driving on the porch – lizard, monkey, moth, beetle, and lizard! We ate pretty quickly, packed up the table and moved it inside and head up to the lodge to meet up with the Italian couple and Derek and Laura.

That night a huge storm rolled into Tinga very quickly. It was a massive downpour which we waited out up at the lodge with Derek and Laura. So instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour (which on Safari is about 10pm), we were up til midnight drinking whiskey.

Day 24 – 2/1/07 – Tinga – Morning drive/Afternoon departure

There was a little excitement this morning because there was a huge male elephant in the camp. The only thing they could do was watch him. He was just feeding in the bush at the far end of the camp. After an hour he was gone. But it was an amazing experience to stand in front of one of the rooms and smell and see a full-grown African Elephant.

Although we had still had so much ahead of us, we were sad to leave Tinga. Derek even got a little teary eyed as we left. Since we were such a gregarious group, we bonded with the staff and each other. I had a pit in my stomach that the second safari wouldn’t compare. (Foreshadowing!)

It was a fantastic first safari experience. We did get to see 4 out of the 5 “Big 5″. The only animal that eluded us was the leopard. But we were going on another safari 6 days later, and the rangers told us we had a better chance of seeing the leopards on that reserve.
After a few beers at the airport bar, Derek and Laura flew off to Mauritius and Lou and I flew to J-burg and connected to Capetown. There, we would meet our new South African family.

Hong Kong Photos..click here

Day 18 – 1/26/07 – Hong Kong

Hong Kong wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit. However, the only direct flight to South Africa we could get was through Hong Kong, so we decided to spend 2 days there and at least get a taste of it. We both agree now thought that we would have liked more time there. Julee keeps saying, “I am not done with Hong Kong”.

We arrived into Hong Kong around 9pm. At the airport, they tried to sell us the $70 charter to our hotel, but being the savvy travelers we are, we opted for the $2 public bus. It stopped only 3 times and dropped us a block from our hotel.

We stayed at the Langham Place Hotel. It was the most hi tech hotel we’ve experienced, as it had WiFi, IP phones, Plasma TV and even the room safe was equipped with a laptop charger. It was a great room, but the hotel itself was IN A MALL. We had to pass 3 Gaps and a Starbucks to get outside.

The first night we were hungry and went downstairs to explore the neighborhood. We were in Mong Kok which is definitely a very local part of town (and a bit of a red light district as well). It is such a local area, that the concierge couldn’t even recommend a restaurant in the area he thought we would like. We braved it anyway and went down to the street. Contrary to all of our other travels in Asia, there was almost no printed English on signs or menus. We were so tired and intimated by the bright lights, people and pig heads in the windows, that even gastronomically adventurous Lou voted to head back up to the hotel bar. We ended up ordering martini’s and hamburgers and there was an excellent jazz combo performing that night. I (Julee) had to send my hamburger back 3 times just to approximate “cooked” and they still served the beef pretty much raw. So we just the fries and listened to some great music.

Day 19 – 1/27/07 – Stanley Market

Not exactly sure of what to do, we headed down to the wharf for a short ferry (7 min) to Hong Kong Island. So after those 7 minues, we still weren’t sure what to do so we stood around holding our map trying to get some ideas. A college student came up and asked if we were trying to find a location. He gave us the suggestion to head to Stanley market and walked us ½ mile to the bus stop and made sure we got on the correct bus.

The bus ride to the other side of the island was incredible: 45-minutes of winding roads, cliffs on the left and drops to the right. And we’re in an enormous bus inches from the sheer cliff. The view was breathtaking. Ironically, one of the prettiest beaches is Repulse Bay. Don’t let the name fool ya – it’s gorgeous.

Although there are were some legitimate stores at Stanley market, most of it was crap mass-produced in China, which I guess technically makes them local crafts. Our guidebook actually had a shopping guide of the area, so we were able to hit a linen store to get some linen pants for Julee (who was dying in her jeans). For lunch we found a nice restaurant called The Boathouse, it was delicious.

That evening we met up with Julee’s friend, Christine Tse. They knew each other from Swing Dancing. Julee met her in NYC, but Christine now lives in HK and was our personal tour guide for the evening. We met up at “The Peak”, a mall on top of the mountain. The view of mainland Hong Kong was amazing but the wind that night was fierce. Picture, Picture….back inside.  Hong Kong has the most stunning skyline we have even seen.  Beats both New York and Chicago.

As a surprise, Christine is actually friends with our friend Mugsy who’s wedding Lou will be standing up at in a couple months. We were both pretty surprised as Mugsy is cool, but not, “known in Hong Kong” cool.

Christine took us around the “night life” part of Kowloon. It’s a square area of bars and clubs teeming with locals and expats. Since it’s a fairly confined area, you can drink in the streets. After sighing that we were too old for “boom boom bars”, Christine took us to a great martini bar closer to where she lives. Lou had a fabulous new martini – take note – pepper vodka and grilled pineapple.

Christine also said that they call the local dollar a “honkies”. So of course, we needed to giggle and repeat that 10 times.

Kowloon has a huge escalator that runs right through the city and up the mountain called the Travelator. This is how Christine commutes to work, so of course, we asked her to take us on it. She literally jumps on this moving sidewalk and “travelates” to work. We called it a night around Midnight and hopped on the underground back to the hotel.

Day 20 – 1/28/07 – Playin the Ponies

We read that Hong Kong-onians were wild about the ponies, so to get the local experience, we hopped on the train and headed for the track. It was awesome! They have a special deal for foreigners – show them your passport, pay $100 honkies, and you got access to the “Members only” area. This allowed for seating on the finish line and no-crowd betting. It took us awhile to get the hang of it, as there are about 75 different bets you can place. Our favorite was placing a bet that two horses would come in some version of 1,2,3. Lou actually won about $50 US. Julee won about $2.50. Julee had a very interesting strategy for betting; it was based completely on the name of the horse. For example in one race, Julee bet on “Happy Jockee” because it was spelled like her name with 2 e’s. The other horse she bet on was “Hello Pretty” because she liked the way it sounded when she said it out loud. Lou had a much more scientific approach based on wind speed, track humidity and helmet color.

We sat right in front of the finish line and there were a couple of photo finishes. We were also nearly in front of the winner’s circle as well. I think we were both amazed at how feisty the horses are. It takes a big effort to get them into the starting gate and the winner’s circle. The horse’s area always escorted by several handlers.

At 5pm we trained back into town and had dinner at a restaurant on the 50th floor of a hi rise overlooking Hong Kong Island. The view was stunning. The menu was distuging (to me). I (Julee) am not making this up – Shark’s Lips and Pigs Throat were entrees. Needless to say, that night I (Julee) ordered vegetarian.

We visited the local market in Monkok after dinner then we headed out to the airport around 9pm for our midnight flight. These were our last couple hours in an eastern country. Tomorrow morning we would wake up in South Africa.

All Singapore Photos click here

Day 15 – 1/23/07 – Arrival in Singapore – Night Safari
In a pleasant turn of events, our seats on the Bangkok-Singapore flight were upgraded to first class on 747. This is like the mother load of first class. Each seat is it’s own separate pod that flattens out into a bed. There are hundreds of on-demand television shows and movies to choose from all controlled from a Tivo-esque device in the armrest and the food and wine was delicious. I was afraid neither of us would be able to fly coach again.

Singapore is a very interesting place that we didn’t know much about before visiting. It is actually a small city-state that occupies an island on the southernmost tip of Malaysia. Its population is about 4.3 million. It was a British colony for a long time (1820s – 1960s), and while it was briefly occupied by Japan during WWII, it was site of the Japanese Surrender. Its government runs it more like socially conscious corporation than a bloated bureaucracy. It is economically very successful and is the fourth largest foreign exchange trading center in the world (London, New York, Tokyo). It has one of the highest standards of living in Asia. The majority of the population is Chinese with smaller populations of Malay and Indian.

We landed in Singapore around 5:30pm and checked in the The Fullerton Hotel. This hotel was very impressive, it used to be the old Singapore post office and they did an amazing job converting it into a luxurious hotel. Looking for something to do on our first night, we took everyone’s and every book’s advice and headed out to the famed “Night Safari” around 7:00pm.

We took our first Singaporean taxi and they are spotless. And cheap! We must have driven 40 minutes for the equivalent of $15. Our only complaint was the music. Seriously, 40 minutes of Jeffrey Osborn cover bands on the radio.

We were starving when we got there, so we had Bongo Burgers and chips (which they serve with Salsa and not ketchup). And of course, a Tiger beer. (In our ongoing rating of local beers – Japan’s Asahi is still our ranking favorite.)

As the name suggests the night safari specialized in nocturnal animals. The format was similar to the cheesy Jungle Safari ride at Disney World but this one had real animals in a (albeit manmade) natural habitats. Strategically placed lights simulate moonlight in each exhibit and gave just enough light to clearly view the animals – lions, hippos, rhinos giraffe. The lighting makes any of the boundaries (electric fences) disappear and some animal do roam freely. But they are all fed at night, so the trucks and guides can predict fairly easily where they’ll be.

At certain points you could jump off the tram and wander some trails that had different animal habits along the way. The highlight for me was the bat cave with giant free flying fruit bats. I was completely petrified as I tried to keep my cool as bats flew overhead. I booked through there pretty fast. I couldn’t get Julee near the place.

Note** Do not scare Julee when she is a couple inches from scary animals. I learned quickly, this is not funny.

Day 16 – 1/24/07 – Singapore – Hawker Centers and Big Malls

English (or Slinglish) is spoken by everyone. The city is impeccably clean. Taxis are cheap and air conditioned, although they can be rather difficult to get at times and the food is awesome. In fact, food seems to be a Singapore national obsession. “Street Meat” is king here and the city has dozens of “Hawker Centers”. These outdoor food courts serve delicious inexpensive food and are licensed and regulated by the government. In fact each stall contains a letter rating (A, B or C) awarded by the state designating its compliance. So naturally, our first stop was at a Hawker Center

We spent the day walking around the city and inevitably ended up in some shopping mall. It seems this entire is city is filled with shopping malls. For dinner we had some delicious Fish Soldiers (Fried Fish) at a bar on the waterfront. We then took a little river cruise in a bumboat (smelled like diesel the entire time).

We cruised through Chinatown and found a street vendor selling bamboo cakes. These were delicious sweetened sticky rice balls stuffed with taro. We decided the bamboo cakes were perfect and nothing we ate could top them – so we called it a night.

Day 17 – 1/25/07 – Singapore – Sentosa Island

The other activity in Singapore we heard about was a place called Sentosa Island. This little reclaimed island is just off the coast of Singapore and is a tourist destination for Singaporeans as well as foreign visitors. It is a cross between a massive beach resort and a theme park complete with imported sand and palm trees. Up to Singapore standards everything was impeccably clean, new and beautiful. If not for the darker waters and a distant view of freighters from Singapore’s busy ports, you would think you were in Hawaii. Sentosa Island itself was pleasant and given that Singapore doesn’t have much to do, you could do worse then give Sentosa a visit. That being said, Sentosa was to be the spot of one of the cooler experiences I have had in while.

We went to Sentosa via a glass bottom cable car that allowed for a great aerial view of downtown Singapore and it’s shipyards. Somehow I got sucked into buying a package of Sentosa activities. This included the cable car ride, a butterfly museum, a ride up the sky needle, Underwater World and a dolphin show.

Butterflies were cool, cable car was impressive, but it all changed at Underwater World.

The aquarium itself was beautiful. It had a stingray playground where you could touch and feed live stingrays, and the showcase was a large glass tube that you moved through and saw all the mammoth fish, sharks, and eels swimming around you. Then Lou saw the sign “Swim with the Sharks”, $60, 30 minutes of “wet time”.

I (Lou) signed up and we followed the dive master upstairs and backstage of the aquarium. They had lockers for divers and all the gear you needed. The guide helped me into a BC and tank and told him that all he really needed to follow him and watch for his signals. Also, he showed me how to hold the shark and told me he would demonstrate how to pet it. Julee asked if there was somewhere she could go to take pictures. He said to just go back to the tube and you will see us. “You mean we are going into the main aquarium?” I said very nervously. “Yes, just follow me” he said. “Is there anything dangerous in there?” I said a little freaked out. “No” he said. I looked again at Julee who was staring at me. “Get that camera ready I said”

We climbed into the tank and made our over to the tube. I was swimming around looking at all the fish when I noticed that all the people in the tube where looking at me. It was at that moment, that I learned what it feels like to be a fish in an aquarium. People would wave and I wave back and they would jump back in shock. At one point there were about 4 women in burkhas waving and laughing at me. It was hilarious!! I just keep looking at Julee in amazement thinking I can’t believe what’s going on here.

After ten minutes we crossed over the tube and the dive master pulled a bag of clams from his BC. He grabbed a handful and held it up. Out of nowhere a giant eagle ray came up and swam right to his hand. He handed me a handful of clams and I tried. The eagle ray came back; it was so gentle and friendly as it ate the clams out of my hands. You could pet it with your other hand while it was eating. It was the softest thing I have ever touched.

At that point I looked at Julee who had a look of terror in her face as she looked over my shoulder and pointed. This is a sight you don’t ever want to see, but swimming towards me were two sharks, my heart just stopped. They ended up just nestling down by feet while I continued to feed the ray. The dive master picked one up and placed in my arms. It was pretty cool, but I think I liked having all the people wave at me the most. We stayed under for a total of 30 minutes but I think it is an experience I will never forget.

Very little could top that experience, but we wanted to finish out the package of activities that we bought so we caught the tail end of the dolphin show, walked down the beach to the bar, drank a Singapore Sling (yuk), and watched the sun set. We took the sky tower up…and down, and then took a taxi back to our hotel. What started as a “3 hour tour” turned into a crazy 8 hours of theme park fun.

That night we went to dinner at a restaurant called Mezza 9 at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. Lou ordered “Chili Crab” and one plate had enough for three people. It was a fantastic 4-star dinner. Stuffed, we strolled Orchard Street (equivalent to Michigan Avenue) after dinner, just to ease the discomfort of being so full.
To finish ourselves off, we headed back to the Fullerton to the Post Bar. It’s the place to get a drink in Singapore, and thankfully, it was in our lobby. Our friend Greg would call it “the perfect bar” – huge range of top shelf liquors, talented bar tenders, ambient lighting, and house music playing softly in the background so you could still have a conversation. The only fault was they made the bartenders where zebra printed vests. Glass of scotch and we were done.

Bye-Bye, Lah Singapore!

All Cambodia Photos here

Day 12 – 1/20/07 – Travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Travel: Siem Reap Airlines (Scary puddle jumper) ATR-72 Twin prop 55 minutes

Siem Reap Airlines has two planes. Both looked like converted bombers. However, the service is still better than US standards. Even though the flight was only 55 minutes, they still served you a boxed lunch. Hilariously, you’re only beverage choice was beer. It turns out “Sexy Crazy Sexy Woman Beer” is not good.

The new Cambodian airport (opened in late 2006) is charming but the customs process itself can be a little intimidating. Before you do anything, you must pay $20 US upon arrival. Customs seemed to be run by the military and was very serious and official. There were no smiles when your papers and passport are sent down a 12-person assembly line and spit out with a Cambodian Tourist Visa on the other end.
We visited only one part of Cambodia, Siem Reap, which translates to “Victory” (Reap) “over Thailand” (Siem). The town was named as sort of a victory trophy after it was last conquered from neighboring Thailand.
The first thing to notice about Siem Reap is the booming tourist industry, which focuses around the temples. The big hotels are brand new and magnificent. It resembles a vintage Vegas strip. According to our guide, Siem Reap anticipates the doubling of tourism over the next 3 years to 2 million visitors per year.

The drive to our hotel was about 20 minutes down a two lane road, with no stop signs, no traffic lights and seemingly no rules. Once we arrived at the Le Meridian Angkor, it was too gorgeous to leave. We actually needed a break from the open market/night market atmosphere, so we decided to just enjoy the magnificent hotel. Luckily, we flew in on a night they have an enormous BBQ buffet, with both Cambodian and international dishes, and cultural show right in the courtyard.

The waiters were so attentive; it’s service that you rarely experience at US hotel. They had huge smiles and wanted to practice their English. It’s amazing how “Michael Jordan” and “American Football” are great conversation openers for them. They also like to talk about the number of US states (surprisingly 51 came up more than once), education and sports.

Cultural note: Having attended two cultural shows before we left, it seems that most of the dancers are under 20. Kids who wear lavish costumes and perform in incredible heat. The women (girls) are especially captivating and seemingly all double-jointed. They tell incredible stories with their hands which are often bent backwards.
Day 13 – 1/21/07 – Angkor Wat, Cambodia – Tomb Raider Temple

We headed out about 8:30 in the morning. The first thing you have to do is purchase a single day or three day pass to the temples ($20/$40). You have to produce your ticket at several checkpoints throughout the day. Although courteous, the Cambodians are strict when it comes to permissions.

In the morning we went to Angkor Thom. This was an ancient capital city. The name is derived from from Angkor (city) and Thom (big).

All the temples we visited were constructed from the 9th to 13th centuries and were tributes to both Hinduism and Buddhism. The temple walls are all decorated with reliefs – carvings of the stories of the spiritual deities, war victories/losses and even daily life. There is hardly an uncarved wall in any of the temples.

In stark contrast to the colors of Thailand, the Angkor temples are a grayish stone color. It’s amongst these temples where Angelina Jolie filmed “Tomb Raider”. And although we could have cared less where she stood, shopped, ate, or dropped in for a cocktail – the guides certainly had all that info.

Most of the temples have a “climb at your own risk” sign and that’s constitutes your only limitations. We were able to crawl over ruins, walk through galleries, explore nooks, sit in window wells, and climb to the highest levels of the temples (originally reserved for the king, his family and his teacher). It was truly a guilty pleasure. Pleasure because you could go ANYWHERE you could manage. Guilty because you know you are contributing to the escalating erosion.

From our guide, we heard that the government (or tourism regulators) will be limiting access to the ruins. Tourism is exploding in Seam Reap and it’s going to be checked. So go now!
For lunch, our guide took us to what we now call a “tourist factory”. It’s a modern restaurant that servces 100s of tourists at a time. It’s all local fare, but you can get beer, wine, water and of course, coke and coke lite.

We took a short break in the afternoon to avoid the hottest part of the day and then went to Angkor Wat (the most famous temple) around 4pm. Although words can’t describe it very well – Massive and Ornate and Spiritually Engineered are a start.

Althought not the biggest, Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples because it’s the best preserved the best representation of the architecture for that period. And it is massive!!

Our only struggles in Cambodia was the intense heat and the massive crowds. Sometimes it was difficult to take a picture without someone pushing or being pushed into your view.
For dinner, our package included another “tourist factory”. Serving 1000 people at a time, there was a massive buffet and another cultural show. We actually met a really nice couple from California and chatted with them until they kicked us out.

Travel note: Whenever you travel to developing countries, insist on a local tour guide. Guiding is an honest and sustaining way of life for many of the educated local people. You’ll then have a guarantee that at least some part of your spending, even if it’s only your tip, is going back into the county you’re visiting. Please try to avoid tours that bring their own guides. For instance, Korean companies are bringing large groups of tourists into Cambodia. Their groups are staying at Korean run hotels, eating at Korean restaurants and using Korean guides. Little or no funding is being put back into the local economy. There are some incredible travel companies with locally responsible policies. The fist one I know of is G.A.P. Tours (who we are using in Peru), and I am going to make a point of seeking out more of them.

*Note – Cambodian men are generally very small and Julee was worshiped as a magical red headed giant.

Day 14 – 1/22/07 – Pool time and Travel to Bangkok

I (Julee) spent the morning at the pool. It was one of the most peaceful, serene, and well-architected pools I’ve been to. It is blazing hot in Cambodia and the pool water was perfect. Every chair had an umbrella and big bottles of Evian were $3 US. Like the waiters, the pool staff wants to be sure you have EVERYTHING you need and will ask you extra questions just to practice their English.

My advice to anyone traveling to Cambodia is to plan one extra day to just lie around. Crawling around the temples in the heat is exhausting and the hotels (although most not locally owned) are amazing. We wish we had another day. Spa services (like mani, pedi, facials) are “affordable” when you compare them to other hotel spas in the world. It would have been the perfect place to indulge. We did however indulge in their laundry service – We spent about $45 but got it all done.

Around noon, we headed back to Cambodian airport, had some Cambodian Dairy Queen and flew back to Bangkok on Siem Reap airlines.

Back in Bangkok, the tailor brought Lou’s suit over to the hotel for a final fitting. Then, We headed out to “Cabbages and Condoms” for dinner. This restaurant was opened by a political activist who believes that birth control should be as accessible as cabbages and started a restaurant, and now spa, boutique and more, which features locally grown produce and local artisans. The profits are funneled into social programs around Thailand. The food was Ok but worth the adventure, the cause and it’s become an institution in Bangkok.  There was even a manequin with condom bikin on.
We finished the night with the BEST Thai massage of the trip. The place, recommended by our guide, was clean and professional. At one point, I was upside and the masseuse was kneading my back with her knees. She was the strongest 4’5” woman I’ve ever encountered.

Sa-Wa-Dee-Kah Thailand!