Week 4: Johannesburg, South Africa

Tuesday October 23, 2012

We arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa on time at 8:20am. Customs was basically a joke because security waved us through after asking us minimal questions. Since Michelle is a South African citizen, she had to go through a different customs line then us causing us to split up. However, we waved her goodbye and told her that we would see her on the other side. Arriving in South Africa was an unusual experience since Michelle’s family was waiting with signs to welcome us to this foreign country. Seeing smiling faces waiting for us made us feel like celebrities. Michelle’s Grandma Sally took us to her house where we would be spending the next 7 days. Sally had prepared each bed with towels, a welcome note, and a chocolate. T.Y. and Kevin shared a room while the girls were spilt between the other two rooms; everyone had their own bed and was quite comfortable and happy with the accommodation situation. After the long flight we relaxed. Emily and Alex took a nap while the rest of us went swimming and laid out. Kevin pushed Kelly into the pool with her clothes on, and surprisingly she was a good sport about it. We didn’t lunch just had some snacks at the house and waited to eat an early dinner. That night we had an early braai with Michelle’s family, consisting of a local sausage called Boerewors.

 

Wednesday October 24, 2012

Today we woke up to amazing smell coming from the kitchen; we ate eggs and bacon for breakfast and sipped on tea and coffee. Jamie and Michelle proceeded to pack lunch for our picnic to see one of Johannesburg’s natural beauties called Emmarentia Dam and Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. The park is just 6 kilometers from the city center and is a popular place for the locals and visitors to recreate. Fortunately, for us we borrowed Michelle’s family’s car to drive around for the week. Once we had packed our picnic for the day we headed to the park to partake in its wonderful beauty. T.Y. volunteered to drive since he got an international license before we left America. However, he might have forgotten that in South Africa they drive on the other side of the rode, so Emily got a fright when all of a sudden we were going toward oncoming traffic. T.Y. eventually got us there in one piece. Taking a stroll around the park, we admired the flowers and magnificent trees. Alex was getting hungry, so we found a spot to eat our lunch next to the dam. After we finished eating, we rented to canoes to row and explore the dam. 120R per a person total: 840R 

 

For dinner we ate at a nice small restaurant called District Six Eatery. This is a local restaurant serves African food. Nobody knew what was on the menu, so we ordered family style. 

 

When the food came there was a range of food from curry to casseroles. We tried the aforementioned lamb curry, deliciously soft and served on the bone (a justifiable best-seller) as well as the bobotie and smoor snoek: a traditional mix of deboned snoek and potatoes served with tomato gravy. All the dishes were excellent and a special mention must go to the pineapple pickle, which was served alongside the mains and beat the pants off the standard mango variety. Dessert consisted of a huge slice of sweet milk tart, a Cape Malay version of a koeksister and a coconut pastry known as a "hertzoggie". Ending our meal with the famous dessert Milk Tart, a traditional dessert in South Africa was the best part of the meal. Our check came out to 1459R  for the whole dinner. 

 

 

After a long day of fun we headed back to Grandma Sally’s house. We drank tea and coffee and chatted until one by one we excused ourselves to go to bed.  

Thursday October 25, 2012

We woke up at 8am to get a head start on our day. We had toast for breakfast and got ready for the big day ahead of us. After everyone was ready, we went to Gold Reef City. Jamie handled buying the tickets for the group 160R per person and a total of 1120R. This ticket got us into the park and allowed to ride the rides unlimited number of times. Kevin was a little scared to ride the Anaconda, but we convinced him by letting him pick where we ate lunch.

 

He ended up picking Wimpy’s a restaurant joint that serves burgers. Everyone was happy with this choice because we had been craving burgers ever since we left America. We sat down and ate there the service was great until it came time for our check. Everyone was done eating and our plates had been cleared, but they didn’t bring the check. We were confused and getting kind of annoyed when Emily pointed out that all the other tables were asking for the check. When our server walked by, Emily asked for the check as well as if this is what we were supposed to do and the server said yes. 

 

After lunch, we continued to wander Gold Reef City and went on the rest of the rides. Kelly loved the Golden Loop and made us go on it 3 times before we finally told her that was enough. 

 

We stayed till dark in the park riding rides, and then we decided to hit the casino. Everyone got 200R to try the slots and poker tables. Michelle was not so good at gambling and lost her money. However Jamie won 500R from playing the slot machines. Drinking a few drinks at the bar, we waited for our table at the Ocean Basket a seafood restaurant. Again everyone wanted to try everything, so we ordered a couple platters to share. The Starboard Platter, Port Platter, and Da Full Deck were basically a mix of prawns, calms, muscles, calamari, and other seafood. Also, we tried the East Coast beer by Shongweni brewery. This is a lite beer with citrus lemon and light floral tones very tasty and greatly paired with the seafood. Our dinner tab came to a total of 1971R.

 

After dinner, we headed back to Sally’s

Friday October 26, 2012

After we ate our breakfast which consisted of porridge, we headed out to visit the Apartheid Museum. We got their safely in one piece thanks to T.Y., and Alex bought us our tickets which came to a total of 420R for everyone. At the museum we learned a lot about where South Africa came from and where they are going to. One of the aspects of South African history that really stuck out to Kelly was how similar America and South Africa both went through similar racism issues.  
 

We ate at Fish n’ chip co. for lunch which came to a total of 336R. Lunch satisfied our hunger, but the day was still young.

 
Getting back into the car, we traveled to the Faraday Muti Market. This market is filled with pretty much any herbs, animal skins, good luck charms and healing potions. Here one can come to consult a healer for their wisdom, and get advice on what concoction would best suit your condition. There are animal bones, skeletons, and some freshly killed waiting for someone to purchase them for healing.
 
 Kevin could not stand the smell of the market, so he made a quick loop. Then he waited for us back at the car while he sipped on ginger ale 7R.  Jamie wanted to buy some of the colorful powder, but Michelle told her that it probably was not a good idea because we didn’t know what kind of superstations came with it.

That night for dinner Grandma Sally had made shepherd’s pie for us, so we hurried home to partake in the delicious home cooked meal. After dinner we drank tea and coffee and ate lemon meringue pie.
 
Playing card games, we enjoyed one another’s company around the dinner table. Even though Alex is a little competitive and almost got into a fight with T.Y., we had fun.

Saturday October 27, 2012

On Saturday, we had a slow start to the morning ate a brunch at the house. Brunch consisted of really thin pancakes called crepes. We put different toppings on them such as cinnamon and sugar and nutella.

Then we packed up some beers and headed to the Coca-cola Park to watch the Lions rugby match.
 
This was a unique experience for us because are used to watching football. However rugby and football are very similar to one another except in rugby they don’t wear pads and the ball is a prolate spheroid with more rounded edges. We ate some meat pies from the conession stands for dinner.
 
The Lions played the Sharks and the lions won 38 to28.

To celebrate our victory, Emily wanted to go to a bar, so we decided on the Radium. This bar has a historic ambience that enticed to stay and listen to the live jazz music playing. We called it a night when Kelly wanted her 5^th round of beers.
 

Sunday October 28, 2012  

Waking up, we got ready and went to brunch at Nino’s Rosebank. Nino’s had a nice atmosphere leather chairs, polished brick, and green murals. Everyone was able to find something in the menu that suited their liking. Gathering the troops, we drove to the Cradle of Humankind to admire the limestone caves containing the fossilized remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids.
 
Jamie thought it was incredible to see the fossils of animals from that long ago, so she bought postcard to send to her mom back home.

For dinner, we went to @Monte Winebar and Restaurant. It had a nice Tuscan atmosphere and the interior designer paid great attention to detail because everything from the forks to the lighting went with the vibe of sophisticated but relaxed. We went through three bottles of wine and enjoyed our steaks. Our tab came out to 2483R.
 

Monday October 29, 2012

Today we had planned to go to the Bruma Lake Flea Market, so after breakfast we headed out. At the market we used our bargaining skills to all get our souvenirs to take home with us. Emily loved the bead work, so she bought a couple key chains to take back to her family.
 

While Alex liked the wooden salad spoons, so she got them for her Aunt.
 

After everyone got their trinkets, we headed to Azzurri Pizza for lunch. This pizza place was unlike any we had been to because they had a stone oven where they baked the pizza. It was absolutely delicious; we got 3 large pizzas to share. Total coming to 579R. T.Y. found out about the Grautrain, and made it a top priority to do after lunch.  We went for a spin around Johannesburg, but did not take the train all the way to Pretoria.

Later that evening, we ate dinner at the Curry Corner for dinner.  Kelly was upset because she is not a fan of spicy food, so the curry did not set well with her stomach. Total for dinner 1190R. However, we made it up to her by going to Lulu’s café for coffee and dessert. Total for coffee and dessert 432R.
 

Tuesday October 30, 2012

Having had a wonderful time in Johannesburg, we woke up bright and early to get to the airport early to catch our flight to Madagascar at 10am. We spent a total of 20,743R which converts to $2391.24USA.