CPT : Cape Town and around...

Hari last day utk berjalan2 kat Cape Town. Awal2 pagi dah tinggalkan guest house tu... cuaca still hujan... kalau ikut tourism advertisement... ada 6 benda utama yg wajib buat kalau datang ke cape town:

1. Table Mountain - dah buat..

2. V & A Waterfront

3. Kristenbosch Botanical Garden

4. Robben Island

5. Cape Point - dah sampai

6. Vineyards - not interested

so utk last day ni, at least kitaorg nak g ke item 2,3 dan 4. actually item 2 tu dah pergi on first nite, tp tengok waktu malam je.. tak best...

- V & A Waterfront

nama penuh nya Victoria & Albert waterfront.... sapa vic n albert tu.. dunno... its a marina, yg byk yatch berlabuh and shops for souvenirs.. and ada malls (ada 2) and restaurants facing the sea or ada yg tak facing the sea... kitaorg g sana for breakfast :-) dan plan nya jalan2 beli2 souvenir dan craft sebelum g ke Robben Island.(nampak tak table mountain dlm the 2nd and 3rd pic? isn't it majestic!!!)

- Robben Island

Pulau ni termasuk dlm list UNESCO world heritage. Kat sini lah Mandela dipenjara selama 27 tahun (agaknya lah... - malas nak buka wikipedia hahaha). kat sini pun ada small game reserves dan few things.

nak dtg ke sini kena ambik tour (Rand180/RM90) dr jetti dia kat V&A waterfront. aku g sana, tanya about the tour... tp utk hari tu, tour semua batal, sbb weather tak bagus, laut bergelora... sebenarnya dah 2 hari berturut2 tour tu dibatalkan... sbb weather tak bagus... so aku pun tak gi...

-Kirstenbocsh Botanical Garden

a huge botanical garden kat kaki table mountain... sapa2 minat pokok2 have to singgah... for me... skadar melengkapkan list... sapa minat, 2-3 jam pun blh spend kat sini.. aku, tak sampai sejam dah tak sabar nak keluar... nasib baik tersesat skejap2 kat dlm tu.. so lama lah jugak walk around.

but certainly, the botanical garden tu besar and banyak collections... katanya among the best in the world...

For lunch, aku decide utk try makanan melayu cape town... kuarters melayu kat sini kat dlm area Bo Kaap. very famous with their colorful rumah... (nanti aku update gambar2 makanan)

apparently, kalau sesapa nak singkap sejarah melayu cape town, ada museum kat sini, plus ada tour pun... but we didn't do any of that... had wonderful late lunch kat one of the restaurant yg berbackground kan table mountain... lovely... by then dah petang... check in hotel and enjoy sea breeze from the seafront...

CPT : Menjejak Tanjung Harapan...

Since pagi tu hujan... kitaorg keluar lewat skit... mainly due to nak kena tukar kereta sbb kereta sewa yg depa bagi mcm ada tyre balancing problem... and kitaorg decided utk pindah hotel... not because of hotel tu tak best, but we tot there could probably a better hotel with a better view...

so the plan for that day was menjejak cape of good hope or bahasa melayu nya tanjung harapan... dan cape point... said to be the place where lautan hindi and lautan atlantik bertemu... but bila kat point tu br aku tahu apparently that cape point is not the point... ada lagi satu point lain which is officially a point where the indian ocean and atlantic ocean met... hehehe..

it took approximately around 1 hour to get to that point... kitaorg terpaksa lalu jalan jauh sbb ada satu part which supposedly have one of the best view (Chapman's Peak) tak leh lalu. ada tanah runtuh... but aku cuba gak lalu the lower part of the Chapman's Peak... jalan pesisir pantai lautan atlantik. ombak kuat... i think it's good for surfer...

akhirnya kitaorg sampai gak ke cape point... it was raining at some parts of the journey, so aku berharap sangat bila kat cape point cuaca cerah... Alhamdulillah... bila tiba situ matahari cerah... nak naik ke rumah api, either blh naik furnicular or menapak... aku malas menapak, naik furnicular je... tak ingat berapa cost. ooh bukan je naik furnicular nak kena bayar, nak masuk area cape point ni pun kena bayar... but murah je aku rasa tak sampai pun RM100 for both tickets.

what's up there... nothing but spectacular view... the most south-western part of africa continent... just being there pun cukup... Alhamdulillah...

after approximate one hour, we planned utk turun semula... nak try g ke boulders beach which is lebih kurang satu jam dr cape point. sebelum tu, aku plan nak singgah ke cape of good hope (as picture sebelah ni) cape of good hope is Tanjung Harapan yg dijumpai oleh Vasco Da Gama... (cek kat wikipedia utk tahu sapa vasco da gama ni.. hehehe).

aku ingat cape point (light house tu) is the south western part of the african continent... my fact was wrong.. actually tanjung harapan yg lagi selatan... found the signboard bila sampai kat bawah tu...

setelah puas menghirup udara segar dr tanjung harapan... kitaorg segera bertolak ke pantai boulders near to Simon's City...

these what we found there...

Aku selalu ingat penguin kat tempat sejuk je.... it really surprised me bila tgk penguin kat padang rumput :-)

loads of penguin... on the way back awal nya plan nak singgah kat simon town and satu kedai ni yg jual gemstones, katanya harga borong, tp sbb hujan and kedai tu pun lagi 5 minit nak tutup, decided not to stop...

then kitaorg cari lah bilik utk tido that nite... although Cape Town was 30 mins away je... plan awalnya nak tido kat around Simon City to Muizenberg which is pesisir lautan hindi. cari punya cari hari pun gelap... end up kat one simple basic guest house... jadi lah.. :-)

CPT : Trip to Table Mountain...

Kitaorg sampai Cape Town dah tgh hari... after some rough calculation we decided to rent a car instead of ambik tour. but first thing kena buat adalah cari tempat tinggal... aku sangat sibuk during the weekdays masa office so tak sempat nak buat apa2 tempahan hotel/guest house/b&b. plus hotel kat joburg pun tak de internet... so gamble je... knowing that now is a low season, aku rasa surely aku akan dpt bilik...

yup, its a low season sekarang sbb dah nak winter... bila nak winter... makna nya ujan je lah tiap2 hari... but alhamdulillah, tghhari bila kitaorg sampai sana it was sunny and clear blue sky :-) secepat mungkin kitaorg settle je ngan bilik yg ada... then kitaorg terus beli lunch, kfc je... then terus g naik ke atas table mountain. as advice by many ppl, since sekarang ni hujan better naik je atas table mountain bila cuaca cantik... sbb bila cuaca tak elok e.g. windy or hujan or cloudy or misty etc, mmg cable car tu tutup.

ada 2 cara nak naik atas tu, either naik cable car (at Rand145 per pax approx RM70) or menapak 2 jam ke atas. weather tak bagus tak elok menapak, keadaan maybe slippery or berkabus tebal (read : macam lah larat nak panjat gunung tu!!!)... so off we went naik cable car...

yang lain nya cable car kat sini berbanding yg aku pernah naik, kita tak perlu berebut utk dpt tgk view, sbb lantai cable car ni rotate so kita dpt tgk view 360 degree :-) actually view dr base cable car tu pun dah giler cantik... byk dah gambar ambik... bila naik kat atas tu, lagi lah cantik... Subhanallah... enjoy some of the pictures...

view of the port and central of cape town from table mountain

the peninsular, i think terus sampai ke cape point (tanjung harapan)

see how flat is the table mountain...

its pretty cold up there... plus very windy...

kita org makan lunch kat situ (late lunch) and tunggu sampai the last car turun ke bawah jam 6pm. trying to catch the sunset..

nampak tak macam ombak putih kat tgh laut, tu actually awan...

although the same view again... but so breathtaking... ambik berulang2 :-)

its getting darker...

actually mmg banyak aku ambil gambar kat atas tu... almost every part of it... gambar2 kat sini do not really do justice to the table mountain... and at last we have to go... although belum sunset... you can still see the 'awan' or ombak coming from the sea

total awesome experience...

that night aku g jalan2 kat waterfront. apparently jumpa pareh (filipino guy) kat atas table mountain yg mcm minta aku hantar ke waterfront. so kitaorg g jalan2 dulu kat situ... later g makan kat one of malay restaurant kat penempatan org melayu... nice simple meal... and then balik tidor...

p/s - it was raining that night... and the next morning was berkabus satu cape town, i presume its the 'awan' yg dtg dr laut... anyone know what's actually that 'awan' is?

Off... JNB - CPT...

Aku ambik cuti 3 hari dr keje... aku ngan member aku g ke cape town for holiday...

• nak cari apa yg menarik di
  bandar yg berlatar belakang kan table mountain...

  nak ziarah rumpunan org
  melayu yg telah wujud di cape town beratus tahun lamanya...

  nak jejak tanjung harapan yg
  mula2 ditemui oleh Vasco da Gama berkurun dahulu...

took an early flight dr JNB ke CPT, naik kapal terbang bajet je... 1time airline... a good flight though and only 2 hours je... like other bajet airline, very basic, and food kena beli... but seat is allocated and blh bawak 20kg.... plus, booking pun blh ubah at minimal cost...

catch next entry on cape town....

JNB : Pretoria...

On Sunday, lepas breakfast terus g ke R0sebank Mall, g ke rooftop flea market... mmg african market kat sini je yg byk iklan kat mana2... perhaps byk lagi yg ada kat joburg ni, but when safety is one big issue here... yg kat mall lah preferred.
A very good place to search for souvenirs and gifts... hehehe... almost like the masaai market kat nairobi cuma the mixture of item sini lebih variety. kalau kat masaai market cuma brg africa sini, carpet dr turki pun ada... and antique from britain pun ada... plus the market pun luas gak...
sesekali ada gak street performance... ada org main music and of course dance... very lively... spend a couple of hours kat sini, pastu jalan2 kat dalam Mall.... R0sebank mall antara mall yg besar kat Joburg ni...

Pastu kitaorang drive approx 45mins - 1 hour to Pretoria. Pretoria ni umpama Putrajaya. Bandar pentadbiran - government office. Masa anti apartheid march dulu, depa plan berarak menuju ke pretoria menuntut pilihanraya (if i'm not mistaken lah). So Joburg tu mcm KL dan Pretoria macam Putrajaya.

Nothing much there except Union Buildings where the office of the president. i can say, sama mcm central joburg, pretoria ni lebih ramai org kulit hitam... in fact, kat street dia almost 80% - 90% org kulit hitam... btw, they are the majority in this country of course lah...
both of these places, joburg dan pretoria ni potray satu benda yg jarang kita nampak i.e. a developed country where so many org kulit hitam... ooh... washington pun sebenarnya gini... hehehe... kenkadang kita dibayangkan org kulit hitam ni mcm bahaya n menakutkan (mmg ada terasa mcm tak selamat) as if depa ni makan org atau minum darah (ni aku quote cakap boss aku, african kulit hitam)... they are just like any other normal human yg mahukan kemajuan... :-) tp yg heran among kulit hitam pun kata certain tempat tu tak selamat or seumpamanya... hmm...

Ok... pas pretoria, kitaorg g ke Sandton. It is said kat Sandton ni area selamat... saying that sbb kat sini ramai org kulit putih. banyak offices kat area ni... and the big sandton mall (yg sambung ngan mandela square tu) pun kat sini... wandering around... tgk2 barang.. as i said earlier mall sini mmg tutup awal.. by 6 semua dah tutup, tinggal cinema n restaurants je... anyway, tmpt ni mmg overall ramai org kulit putih... yes, u do feel safe... pelik but its true...

JNB : The weekend with Razi in Joburg...

Jumaat lepas, my best friend razi, dtg dr KL. Katanya dia ada byk cuti yg wajib dihabiskan sebelum ujung May… so dia kata since aku kat Joburg ni, dia pun nak dtg sini… (hehehehe… byk cuti je ke??? Duit pun sure byk nak dihabiskan.. hahaha) aku ok je…

So hari Jumaat pagi dia sampai n aku suruh dia berehat and settle kan jet lag sblm sabtu dan ahad g jalan :-) Aku dah siap dah plan for weekend trip, a little bit out of Joburg but still dalam daerah Gauteng. mostly nak g tempat2 ni mmg kena ambil package tour... or else sewa kereta je mcm aku buat. (for each places ni, aku rasa dlm R300-R700 - lebih kurang RM150 - RM350 -sorang kalau ikut pakej tour, aku tak sure ada ke tak pakej yg combine semua trip ni in one)

Maropeng & Sterkfontein Cave (Cradle of Humankind)
Location : about an hour drive from Joburg and Pretoria...
kat sini, depa jumpa tengkorak 'manusia' yg berjuta2 tahun dulu.. nama nya mrs ples (which recently kata maybe bukan perempuan, perhaps akan tukar jadi Mr Ples). and masih lagi jumpa baru excaving dan ada jumpa lagi rangka yg lengkap called 'Little Foot'. the main reason aku dtg sini sbb tempat ni in 1999 listed asUNESCO World Heritage site.first kitaorg g ke Sterkfontein Cave... kat dlm cave ni dia tunjuk mana tempat depa jumpa Mrs Ples and kawasan ada Little Foot tu... then dia tunjuk the structure dlm cave... which i think Gua Tempurung is so much better hehehe... cost masuk R90 each maropeng ngan gua ni (tp combine tiket ngan maropeng jadi R150). maropeng (entrance dia macam bentuk bukit tu) plak mcm museum science... citer pasal asal usul bumi dan kajian pasal manusia.. bla bla bla... :-) since aku dah g few other museums on the same topic, tak lah impress with their collections... anyway, for those minat sejarah2 ni... its a good place to go... for me.. been there done that.. hahaha...

i planned to go to Lesedi lepas maropeng tu... but tutup plak tghhari... so aku g terus ke lion park

Lion Park
Location : approx 30 mins from Maropeng

what's there... Lions... loads of it... ada african lions and families dan ada white lions and families. tp sebelum sampai area lion tu ada lah mini safari where u can see antelopes, zebras, giraffe and buffaloes... tpt lion separate dr binatang lain... depa ni makanan diberi so gemuk2 lah sbb tak perlu lari n kejar binatang.

ada satu lagi park/reserve around that area... rhino and lion park... aku tak g... sbb mcm safari reserve and masa tu noon. as per the game driver dulu cakap, masa tgh hari tak best masuk reserve, panas, binatang semua duduk dlm bush... so aku tak tahu best ke tak.

the best part kat lion park ni yg buat aku nak dtg sini, aku blh pegang the small lion cub ni... hehehe... so cute... dia siap gigit2 jari... and very active :-) lepas main2 ngan the cubs... as earlier plan, kitaorg gerak ke satu lagi tempat.... Lesedi.
Lesedi (Cultural Village)
Location : 20 mins from Lion Park, 30 mins from MaropengMacam Sarawak Cultural Village... better than Bomas kat Nairobi... kat sini depa letak kan 4 village... Zulu, Bashoto, Xhoa dan Pedi. Kalau nak dtg sini, plan utk sampai jam 11am atau 4pm. depa start dgn tour around the village then ada dance show pastu lunch (11am punya trip) or dinner. aku tak ambil dinner so join the tour and show.masa tour tu, guide tu ada lah guide tu citer apa depa buat masa lapang, some traditions, a little bit history dan belajar satu dua perkataan dr group2 tu... and of course the best part selalunya show depa lah...

sebelum abis show depa panggil lah audience datang menari sama... dan ada sesi bergambar...

habis show and the tour around 7pm... terus balik ke Joburg... a whole day visiting... its a good one though although tempat2 ni very touristic and meant for tourist... eh am a tourist sure lah g tempat2 gini.. hehehe...

JNB : Jalan-jalan in town...

Apart from g museum ngan soweto last weekend... aku g gak pusing2 town... and of course masuk mall... actually, org2 kata tak bagus masuk downtown (day or night) and drive around waktu malam... safety is really a big issue here... org blh hijack kereta... but alhamdulillah, aku belasah je dan masih selamat...

so where did i go... i went to Newtown kat downtown. on saturday ada flea market dekat2 area market theatre. Not that many pics taken, sbb it is advisable not to... sbb ada potensi org nak rompak or kacau...

dan aku g naik the tallest building in Africa (rasanya lah) Carlton Center... tmpt ni mmg tgh2 downtown... tp sbb dulu pernah ada riot dlm ni... dan kawasan ni tak selamat.. mmg tak maintain n kotor tempat ni... takde org bangsa lain but kulit hitam je kat sini... gerun gak masa naik tempat ni n jalan sorang2... (below gambar joburg town from 50th floor - highest point - of carlton tower)
anyway, joburg is not all bad... area sandton city is the upmarket area, business center etc... kat sini katanya selamat... ada 2 mall besar - Sandton City Mall dan Nelson Mandela Square... bersambung pun 2 mall ni... selain dr tu, ada rosebank mall kat rosebank... both very good... mcm standard mall kat bandar2 besar... but not as glamorous dgn branded outlets mcm kat pavillion, klcc dan villagio lah... but good enough for me :-)