Saturday, December 23, 2006

Capetown Holiday - Day 1

A week before I finally leave South Africa for good, Paui and I booked 4 solid days for a rendezvous in the scenic city of Capetown.

Usually, what you see in postcards and guidebooks isn't exactly what you get when you actually arrive at the place. But in the case of Capetown, my gosh! the city is friggin beautiful dyud. With the beautiful bay fronting the city and the Table Mountain and Signal Hill shrouding the city from the back, the result is a city which looks like vacation haven (and is actually) for many. I wonder why Siemens just didn't put their main office there. I would have volunteered to actually stay in this crime-infested country.

Paui and I (with the help of guidebooks like the Rough Guide to South Africa and a very detailed Capetown map which Paui bought from CNA) put up a rather compreshensive itinerary. Rather, I made the itinerary and Paui gave the final approval after checking the maps if the plans I made were rather possible and we were not rushing from one place to another for 30 minutes in the span of a hundred kilometers.

Our first day, we woke up at 4 am, readied our bags and drove to the airport. We parked at the parking area near the airport which cost us around 80 rand per day. :( Paui was actually a bit bummed about it, but what can we do? We had to park at the safest parking area possible.

We then met up with Thai friends at the airport and we all had breakfast together at Wimpy's. But as we booked separate flights, we had to leave earlier to catch ours. I am ashamed to say that I got into a bit of bad mood because I thought we were going to be late and showed a tad bit shade of jealousy (at something I really don't want to just explain here now). Jealousy isn't attractive (on me anyway) so I quickly dropped that and made up with him (this took place in about 2 minutes. What can I say, I am so easy to placate and he is getting very good at soothing my ruffled tempers).

Two hours of smooth flying later, we arrived at the Capetown airport to overcast skies. Obviously, just minutes before we landed, it was raining in Capetown. Puddles of water were still visible on broken sections of the pavement. Unwilling to let our spirits be dampened by the weather, I muttered a quick prayer to God for sunny days while we were here. I was not willing to let 5000 rand go to waste just because of a bit of rain! (and strong winds :P)

We encountered our first problem at the car rental. Due to budget contstraints, we took one of the cheapest cars -- a red Chico. It was a bit small and looked ready to fall apart at the slightest provocation, but it was fine. The real problem happened when we were driving out of the airport. Because the car in the middle of humming along smoothly to the traffic, just slowed down --- and stopped. Paui started the car again and we drove on for about 1 minute, then it stopped again! In the middle of the intersection! In a country where bad driving was almost a norm! My normally placid and patient baby was not sputtering with reined in anger and frustration. We made it back to the car rental office after stopping four friggin times! Then we changed our car and upgraded ourselves to a blue Toyota Corolla which was a more dependable car at any rate.

First stop, we checked in at our hotel. Since it was still morning (we had over estimated the distances and time when planning our itinerary. We didn't expect Capetown to be small and accessible) and we can only officialy get into our rooms at 2pm, we decided to go to the V&A Waterfront first.

Ganda. It was like Clark Quay in Singapore but only better and not artificial looking. It was an actual harbor on one end and on the other end was the big V&A mall with restaurants serving sea food on the side. The skies were still overcast and we were debating whether to go on and climb Signal Hill and Table Mountain which would be a waste since if its cloudy and foggy, we wouldnt see a thing from up there anyway. Not to mention the treacherous drive. So we killed time by walking around the waterfront area (and Paui posed with some African dancers). Then we saw this ad for whale watching. Guaranteed daw you get up close and personal with whales. But it was a hefty 400 rand (3200 in our Philippine pesos) kaya pinag isipan pa namin. Then we saw a cheaper one (40 rand) for a tour of the harbor. So we went on that one. Not bad for a ride which cost 40 rand only.

The tour in the beginning was very boring actually. The guide just made snide and witty comments (altnerating) about the places around the harbor, about himself and his partner. We saw lots of seals resting on the pier too. But just as we were going back, wham! Things began to get exciting when Paui spotted a whale! Yes ladies and gents, a real live whale in the harbo and just meters from our boat. We saw it spouting water and slapping its tail. It was very exciting and frightening. The guide only had us stop for five minutes before we were off to shore and he had to warn people that there was whale in the harbor (Whale in the Harbour soon became the shout to sell their harbor tour thingies).

Then Paui drove us (me) up to Signal Hill after lunch time when the sun miraculously shone again! God is really good!!! The route was extremely scenic. Ganda ng placement ng backdrop ng mountains tapos the ocean across and the city just below us. When God made the earth siguro, he had some favorites which he granted with all nature has to offer and one of them is Capetown. And in fairness, the roads were well maintained. Even the park up Signal Hill was very clean. And NO ENTRANCE FEE! After taking a few poses (ang nagpakapal muks so someone can take a pic of both of us), we drove down the mountain and up another one...the one with a cable car.

Ayaw aminin ni Paui ngayon, pero that time he was hesitant in taking the cable car because he was afraid I would scream and shout and basically be a nuisance on the way ( i have a fear of heights--> remember the cable car at Genting?). But anyway, the cable car here was a two minute steep climb to the part of the mountain overlooking the city. And it could fit up to 20 people and it rotates. Astig talaga ! (choz ko, nakuha ko na ata vocab ng bf ko). So we took the cable car. During the ride up, a really irritating Japanese tourist (a whole horde of them was in the car with us and they were so noisy) just elbowed me and a little kid out of the way so he can get his stupid frigging picture. Wala man lng excuse me or at least a Japanese equivalent for that. And he was sweaty pa and all. Argh.

When we arrived at the top, it was still foggy. Feeling ko nasa set ako ng isang horror movie and a hand will just materialize out of the fog and grab me and want to eat me alive...hahaha. Or nasa set ako ng Okay Ka Fairy ko and nasa Engkantada kami. hehe. Eventually, the fog gave way and we got beautiful views of the city below. So picture picture and lakad lakad uli. hehe. They even had their own 12 Apostles stone structure here (favorite ni Paui dahil dami ata nya pose dun). Some people were kind enough to offer (offer ha...we didn't even have to ask) to take our picture. I guess they thought we were a cute Asian couple out on our honeymoon. hahah. cute as in maliit ha. hindi cute dahil cute. hahaha.

So nag coffee muna kami sa taas (it wasn't starbucks, but it would have to do..what can I say, coffee addicts kaming dalawa eh) and then back to lakad lakad and picture picture uli. I will post the pics once I upload it sa net. Paui just put them all in a CD kasi. Then that night, we officially were checked in, freshened up and went back to the Watefront to enjoy the sunset. That night we were feeling shala, so we ate at the Greek Fisherman restaurant which was just right beside the water. So we had a good view of the harbor while eating our food. We ate outside so we felt chilly. But it was a romantic spot. And medyo pricey ang restaurant pero ok lng. Libre naman ako ni Paui. hehe. thanks baby!

We downloaded our pics, reviewed our itinerary for tomorrow (gawd, organized pa kami ha. hahahah) then went to sleep thinking of the surprises tomorrow would bring.

Oo nga pala, God, thanks for the great weather that day. It was just perfect! :)

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