Relaxation at Koh Samui

Thai temple

I have been to Thailand a couple of times before, and I must say it has become quite a favourite country of mine. Most of it because of the variety of options it offers. Culture, shopping, beaches, water activities, nature, relaxation, luxury.. You could be looking for any of these ways to have a vacation, and you can find it all in Thailand!

Relaxation

On this vacation, we wanted to relax, and so decided to spend a couple of days on the island of Koh Samui. And as always, we were not disappointed! We were in Koh Samui for about 4 days and had an amazing time. To be frank, we did not do much, and our plans for diving also got spoilt because of communication issues, but still it felt that we had an activity filled vacation as well as relaxed completely.

Koh Samui is quite a small island, almost roundish in shape and about 20-25 kms across. The popular tourist areas of the island are all around the coast, while the interiors apparently has mountains and forests. The terrain throughout, even next to the islands is hilly with dense green forests everywhere. The whole feel of the island is very tropical, dense green vegetation all around, plus lots of mosquitos (and loud toad noises) at night.

Chaweng

The popular beaches on the island are Chaweng and Lamai, both located near each other, on the east coast of the island. Both these areas are pretty commercialised along the main streets, which run parallel to the beaches. Other than these, there are beaches all along the coast which are slowly getting populated, but for now don't have as much of shops and noise there yet. Also, even though partially commercialised, the overall atmosphere on the island is still pretty relaxed which makes it very easy to unwind.

Lamai at night

Both the Lamai and Chaweng beaches are quite similar - long stretches of white sand, with restaurants on the beach and multiple water activities available. Other than that, the parallel streets offer many shops to browse through, and massage shops to get different treatments everyday. Honestly, as I said we did not do much, just walked around, ate, got massages daily, swam and ate some more!

Chaweng

On a Sunday, we also walked into the local Thai market near Lamai beach. It was a street full of vendors selling all kinds of foods - meats, crepes, insects etc.. The interesting thing though was how cheap it all was! All the restaurants which seemed very cheap compared to London rates, now seemed like a rip-off! Also made me realise how much our sense of prices has changed while staying in London.

Koh Nangyuan snorkelling

One of the days, we took a day trip to two islands, Koh Nangyuan and Koh Tao, for a snorkelling trip, and had a great time. The first thing we were impressed with was how their process worked very efficiently. People going on different trips are picked up from multiple locations, by different vans. All assemble at one location, and after check-in sorted into different ferries based on the colour of the ribbon on the hand. Each tour runs efficiently with lunch, food, equipment well taken care of. When you come back, again based on the drop off locations, everyone is assigned a van and dropped back to the correct location. Many small things were so very well co-ordinated throughout the trip, it was very impressive!!

Koh Nangyuan

Koh Nangyuan was a pretty island, small but self-contained. It had good beaches with sun-beds, corals for snorkelling just off the beach, a small trek up to the viewpoint, a restaurant on the island and lots of sun - all making for a fun-filled day! Both these islands are more famous for diving though, but that's for another time:).

One thing I really liked were the spirit houses (or little temples as they look like) that you could see outside all Thai homes and businesses. They are very small and colourful temples that are built outside every building. They look so cute and beautiful, caught my eye everywhere.

Thai spirit houses

There are a couple of other things to do on the island (which we did not), you can go to see the Thai boxing matches, or visit the touristy places like the Big Buddha temple or go diving to the island of Koh Tao and Koh Nangyuan. I would also suggest if you want to travel around the island, hiring a scooter is a very good option. Its comfortable, easy to park and good fun especially given the weather is so great. The mornings and evenings are pleasant with a cool breeze blowing most of the times. The afternoon does get sunny and hot and humid, but then thats what the sea is for:).

Renaissance

We stayed at the Renaissance hotel, between Lamai beach and Chaweng, which was a nice resort away from the noises of the main areas, and had a tropical hilly feel to it. Everyday, we would take their shuttle to one of the other two beaches and chill away the day. Other than that, we did not do much else. Food was tasty and spicy! People were helpful, though their English wasn't as good. Bargaining is key while shopping. Other than that, just sit back, relax and enjoy:)

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 2)

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 1)

The trip continues...




Drive to Beaune (Burgundy region) 

The next day was mostly spent driving to Beaune, a city in the Burgundy region. We started out late from St Emilion and then decided to stop somewhere midway for lunch. This time we drove through the smaller non-toll roads of France, and realised it was just not worth it as the speed limits were too low!

We stopped for lunch at a random town in the middle of the drive, called Angouleme. We had decided to have an Indian lunch but since the Indian restaurant was closed (as were the 10-15 other restaurants nearby, all closed for lunch at 2pm itself!), we ending up eating some non-descript stuff. The town again had a beautiful cathedral which we could not spend time at again (why do you never ever have enough time on vacations to explore all you want? There is always less time than you need irrespective of how long your vacation is!)

Anyways, the drive was mostly uneventful but the scenery improved when we neared Burgundy; we drove next to a canal, though beautiful little villages. Sadly it had become dark by then! And Beaune was a welcome surprise, it looked like a cute little town, well lighted up at night. We went to the city center which looked charming at night, to the only restaurant which was open at 9pm at night for dinner! It was called the [ ] and the waiter took a lot of effort to get us something vegetarian to eat! Was a welcome surprise, given how less we has been able to eat the last few days! Also apparently, Beaune has a lot of Michelin rated restaurants too, quite a surprise given how small the town felt!

Beaune

In the morning, we walked around a bit, to the cathedral, the old hospital building, wine museums, the village square etc. Frankly, Beaune had seemed a lot prettier and alluring at night than during the day! The area around Burgundy is also known for its wine, and visits to wineyards, we however did not get time to do any sightseeing.

Drive to Munich

The next day we drove from Beaune to Munich and this was an amazing drive; for two reasons. One we drove through the Blackforest region; the winding roads through green hills, all around covered with trees provided a very relaxing and energizing view. We drove through some small towns, some countryside and it felt all magical everywhere. The houses looked like what we see in Hindi movies, cute little wooden houses with flowers growing on the terrace. It felt so surreal, I can't find words to describe it.

And the second reason was that we got to drive on the Autobahn (finally!). Driving without speed limits has a different feel to it. Not that you drive much faster than you normally would but it still gives you the feeling of complete freedom which is tough to describe. We did drive upto 160 kmph a couple of times, but it was a humbling feeling, when even at that speed, cars would go swooshing by!! I finally saw what I had heard earlier, that drivers in Germany can drive fast and drive well at those speeds too, just because they get regular practice. And how frustrated they would be feeling, when people driving at 160 kmph think they are fast enough to drive on the left most lane!

On the way to Munich, we had planned to stop for dinner in the town of Ulum but then we got hungry and found the nearest Indian restaurant in a small ski town called Singen. We had dinner at the Sher-e-Punjab, and even though the food was average, it felt nice to have hot chai and speak in Hindi in the middle of Germany:).

Munich - Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest during day

We reached Munich late at night and got a glimpse of what Munich looks like during Oktoberfest, late at night. There were people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls walking and crowding the whole of the central area, and you could see so many people walking around aimlessly as they don't realise where they are and why:). The place looked so different than what I had seen it otherwise, all crowded and disorganised. And I also understood then, why people of Munich don't like the time around Oktoberfest: There are just too many drunk tourists everywhere!

Anyways, the next day we went to the Oktoberfest where a couple of colleagues of mine had already booked a table at a tent. I wore the dirndl to feel a part of the fest. Once at the fest grounds, the whole festival felt much smaller and much more organised than what I had expected it to be. There were rides and foodstalls everywhere, and everyone, especially the tourists were all dressed up. And then there were the big tents on both sides and people waiting in queues to get in.

Armbrutschutzenzelt tent

As I mentioned, we already had tent bookings, so we just sauntered in to our tent, sat down and started eating and drinking! I heard that you need to queue up from 7:30 itself to be able to get in the tents. We were in the tent called Armbrustschützenzelt for about 6 hours from 11-5pm. I was quite surprised to see how well organised the whole thing was!

Oktoberfest at night

There was a stage in the middle where musicians in German costumes were playing music, and all around people were eating, drinking and having fun! They had a huge food menu too, and I got to eat some pasta, so I was happy. The whole feel felt like a fun mela and we were so tired at the end of it, that we couldn't even stay late. We did however come back to the fest to sit in one of the rides at night.

After the ride, we just walked around to the Marienplatz area, which felt a lot less crowded than the area around the fest. Its the main touristy area of Munich, with a wide pedestrian shopping street, the city hall and the church.

Trekking around Munich

Alps near Munich

The next day, I would call it one of the high points of the trip, and I guess that is what makes me realise that in terms of vacations, I am not a beach person neither a wine country person but a mountain and forests and nature person! We decided to do a small trek around the Munich area, searched for the closest place we could find for a short trek and then left for the Hirschberg mountain. First the one-hour drive from Munich was so picturesque in itself; mountains, wooden houses, cows with cowbells, lakes.We drove around the Tegernsee lake, and it was so stunning there, I almost wanted to ditch the trek and just sit by the lake. A place like this feels so magical in itself!

Sea of clouds below

We started our trek from the Scharling village. The village was appealing in itself and we could see people paragliding in the sky there. The trek up Hirschberg mountain was 5 hour long (3 hours up and 2 hours down). When we started the trek, the weather was completely cloudy. For the first hour of the trek, we were walking in the clouds, and then we came above the clouds. And the whole view changed! Once at a height, you could see a whole sea of clouds all around, with only the peaks of closeby mountains peeking up!

The view around

The trek was pretty all throughout, walking through lush green forests. And a lot of scenes on the way felt straight out of a Yash Johar movie, very pleasing and magical, especially with the clouds playing with the trees... It was not a very strenuous trek, though it did get steep at times. At the top of the mountain, you are met with a solitary inn, called the Hirschberg inn. It was tough to get anything to eat there, since we did not know enough German. But after such a long trek, even bread with butter felt tasty:).

Alps!

By this time, we were on a high given the trek we did, and we had almost forgotten the visit to the French countryside. Given how much I had heard about it, the French countryside failed to impress me. Maybe its the French Riviera, or the Brittany area which is worthwhile, but Bordeaux (except St Emillion) was definitely not one of those. And of course I have now decided that the Alps, whether in Germany or Switzerland or Austria are definitely my favorite haunt in Europe!

Anyways, with the trek we finished our weeklong vacation. We ended up being late while coming down and then had to drive fast (and without limits) on the Autobahn. The efficiency of Munich airport saved us though. From the time we reached the car rental parking, to the time we were in the airlines lounge was not even 15 minutes! So a positive end to a fun vacation!

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 1)

We recently did a long over-due driving trip through Europe, starting in Paris, through the wine country of Bordeaux and Burgundy and ending with Oktoberfest and trekking in Germany. There were parts of this trip that I have wanted to do for long - like drive through Europe, visit the French countryside, attend Oktoberfest and drive through the Alps as well as on the Autobahn. It was fun to do some of the things I have dreamt of for so long; though I would say that only some and not all of them met my high expectations!

Bridge on the Seine

It was a week long trip and we drove about 2500 kms across Europe. I have divided this article based on the different places we visited. We started in Paris, drove to Bordeaux where we stayed for a couple of days in the village of St Emilion, then drove to Beaune in Burgundy, ending with attending the Oktoberfest and trekking up a mountain around the Munich area.

Paris

Bridge on the Seine

We have both been to Paris before, but still I thought it would be nice to spend some time there. To be frank, Paris did not feel as grand this time as it had the earlier times I had been in the city. Maybe because everything that had to be seen had been seen already. Still, we were there for a day and spent most of our time, just walking though the main touristy areas.

Eiffel Tower

We walked from Arc de Triomphe towards Eiffel Tower along the roads of Paris. We tried climbing up the Eiffel Tower but then realised you can't walk up all the way to the top, so ditched the idea as not worth it. After that, we walked next to the Seine, through the Concorde and the Louvre gardens, and ended up shopping in Rue de Rivoli. The weather was amazing when we were there, bright and sunny even though it was September. But as I said, it all felt too old and boring, not mesmerising anymore.

Arc de Triomphe

We stayed near the Arc de Triomphe, in hotel Armoni. The hotel was quite a disappointment, even though it is rated very high on tripadvisor. I would say the comments for Armoni are rigged, as the hotel though not bad wasn't great either. Its location was ok but the rooms are so small, it cannot be rated so high. One good thing about the hotel though was that we found a very good Indian/Pakistani restaurant called New Sanna, very near the hotel. It was one of the best tasting Indian food I have ever eaten in Europe. If you ever land up in the restaurant, I would recommend trying the Sanna kofta, its definitely worth it.

Drive to Bordeaux

The drive to Bordeaux was our first experience driving in France. The drive was mostly on the highway, so we did not get to see much of the countryside:(. The speed limit wasn't much either, so we felt that we were driving too slow. We passed through the region of Loire Valley, which is famous for many of its castles, we did not stop there though but would be a great stop if you have time to spare.

On the way, we saw an amazing sight, something I have never seen before; the clouds' edge. It was completely cloudy when we were in Paris but somewhere on the way to Bordeaux, we could see the sun shining over the edge of the clouds! It was a picturesque view, of dark clouds till a point and then clear blue sky, with the sun shining bright! And then onwards for the next few days, we had bright, sunny and warm days.

One thing we did find unexpected though was the amount of tolls on the roads: for a 5-6 hour journey, we paid more than EUR 50! It was quite a big surprise for us, especially because the roads were not really something to write home about!

St Emilion at night

The approach to our next place of stay was interesting. We reached Bordeaux at night, and were driving through country roads with villages and wineyards all around. There were a couple of well lighted chateaus in between which looked worth a visit sometime. And then we saw a well-lighted spread out castle and wondered, how cool would it be to stay here. And lo and behold, that was our destination, the old village of St Emilion. We entered at night, wondering how we can take a car within this fort like village, but we could and on top of that, we found parking next to our hotel too!

Bordeaux - St Emilion

St Emilion

We stayed in this village for the next 3 days, and they were idyllic days. St Emilion is one of the few scenic villages in the Bordeaux region, the rest being very modern and usual. It is a historical place, dating back even earlier thanthe second century and also a declared World Heritage site. Its a very small village with only about 2,000 people staying there. From afar, it looks like a fort, and within it has tiny narrow streets. Staying there almost felt like we were in a different era altogether.

St Emilion at night

The village is very pretty, all made of yellow stone, along small hills, so that you get a great view of the rest of the place from any other point. There are a couple of places to see within St Emilion itself, the church, the kings tower, the clock tower, underground churches and so on... For its size, it has a lot to see!  The village is well equipped with all facilities too, multiple restaurants, a square to eat in the open, shops, wineries etc.. And all around are wineyards and chateaus till wherever you can see.

Underground church

Wine wine everywhere....

We visited two chateaus and wineyards while we were in Bordeaux. One of them was Pape Clement in the Pessac region. Its an old wineyard (apparently the first in the region), was once owned by a Pope and now by Bernard Magrez who owns many other wineyards in the region. The other was the Mouton Rothschild chateau, in Pauillac village in Medoc area, which is owned by a Britisher, the Baroness Rothschild. We took tours at both the wineyards and they were both such a different, yet similar experience....

Pape Clement

Pape Clement felt like a smaller, cosier and more traditional wineyard. We were taken around the grape plantations, the room where the wooden vats are kept and then the underground cellar where the wine is allowed to ferment in barrels.  After the grapes are picked, they are fermented for over 6 months first in the vats and then in the cellars in the barrels over a period of 12-18 months when the wine finally gets made. Most of the wine from the Bordeaux region is red and that's why the grapes are all the black ones. (I ate some of them too while taking the tour, they were really tasty!).

The tour through Mouton Rothschild felt grander, more modern and commercial than Pape Clement. They had proper tours organised at regular times, and the whole tour felt very impersonal and long. The tour included many different things; a movie showing how great the wineyard and its owners were; a tour through the grape plantations; a trip through the vats and underground cellar; a guided tour of the Rothschild museum; and finishing with a history of all the labels that have been used on their wine bottles.

Underground cellar

Mouton was the first wineyard which started a trend of putting paintings made by famous artists on their wine bottles, a different painting every year. There is a complete one hour tour taking you through the history of these labels. What was interesting that one of the painting had been made by Prince Charles (I did not know he was a painter too!).

Savignon Blanc

The process of wine making felt quite involved and technical, and of course, the way the guides talked about it, it was clear that they love talking about their wines. The guide explained the wine making process in detail plus a lot of gyaan about how even minor changes in the process affects the taste of wine. Most of it did not make sense to me, but of course made me realise how much the French love their wine:). And one thing I missed seeing was what they always show in movies; how wine is made by crushing grapes with your feet. Wish I could have seen and experienced that, but alas that's not a process they use anymore:(.

Wine wine everywhere...

Going in these tours made me realise how complicated wine making and preparing is. The whole hoo-hulla about wine and wine tasting feels a little bit artificial to me but then what can I say, its a big business! I also realised that when people talk about wine becoming better with age, this aging is not done at the wineyards itself. It is after the wine is bottled, that it can be kept for many years to age.

Also, while visiting the wineyards, we drove through some of the other villages but they seemed too modern! The area around the villages was pretty though, with wineyards laden with grapes till wherever you can see. But in terms of villages, we were always happy to come back to St Emilion, which felt like a different world altogether.

Wineyards...

Dune du Pilait

Other than the wineyards, we visited Dune du Pilait one of the evenings which are a couple of huge sand dunes next to the sea on one side and the forests on the other. The dunes developed artificially somehow and now seem to be growing and eating up the forests. But I don't think anyone minds it, it gives the feeling of being a sandy beach which is always welcome:). Such dunes were something new to me though. something I haven't seen before!

La Victoire at Bordeaux

We also visited the town of Bordeaux one evening. Even though we did not explore the town much, there are a couple of cathedrals and other such buildings to visit. The walk next to the river is pretty too. We had dinner at a place near La Victoire and it felt like a nice happening place to spend an evening.

In terms of food, it was a bit tough to get good vegetarian food most of the time. In St Emilion, there were lots of good options. We went to Girondines, which had tasty fare. And of course, New Sanna in Paris.  Plus in case you are a Mc lover, there are McDonalds nearby if you really crave those:). But on the whole, it wasn't as easy to get good vegetarian food as we would have liked, one because most of the dishes would be non-vegetarian and second because it was tough to convey your requirements without knowing French. So we ended up eating crepes and salads most of the time:(.

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 2)

Steel and glass in Frankfurt

I recently had to go to Frankfurt for two days on work and I think that much time was enough for me to explore the city:). Frankfurt is the commercial capital of Germany and therefore its name crops up all the time but somehow I had never been there previously. Actually, thats not true, the first place I had been to outside India was Frankfurt itself (I had to change plans in Frankfurt) but I don't think that counts:). So when I finally got to go there, I was happy that I could tick off the place (even though there wasn't much history or culture to explore there!).

Opera building: remnant of the past

Frankfurt, as most of the cities in Germany was completely destroyed by bombings during the war. Therefore, even though its an old European city, it has none of the typical European city feel about it. All the buildings are relatively new and modern. Apparently, its a great place to stay since its well planned, open and comfortable but it is still a very modern, steel and glass place and not somewhere I would like to stay in.

City center

I visited Frankfurt in June and as a starter, the weather was perfect. It was 25 degrees while London was 15! Also, as I landed at the airport, I saw that all the cab drivers were South Asian - Indian or Pakistani. It reminded me so much of New York! The cab driver was pretty chatty and mentioned that there are lot of South Asians settled around Frankfurt, which I found very surprising. He also went on about how it was better to stay in Frankfurt than London, which I did not agree with as much:).

Inside the cathedral

In Frankfurt, I stayed in the central area and had an hour to explore the city (town?). I just walked down the Zeil street which is the main shopping street of Frankfurt. There were malls and shops on both sides and a couple of cafes to time looking at the passersby. It was nice looking street, and surprisingly very busy for a weekday morning.

Last supper at the cathedral

While walking around, I walked into a cathedral nearby which was made of red stone. The interior was cold and felt mystic. As usual I am fascinated by churches and love to take pictures of their sculptures and paintings. And here is one version of the last supper which I found in the cathedral.

City center

On the other end of the Zeil street was the Frankfurt city center, a small square with some traditional old buildings. There were a couple of outside eating places there but very few vegetarian options. I still braved eating there and honestly was disappointed with the food. Moreover, I am convinced even more that the germans don't really believe in serving with a smile:).

Frankfurt view

As part of the official conference, we also took a short "heritage" tour of the business district. As part of the walk, we went up one of the office towers to get a view of the city. Frankfurt looks beautiful, not too big and with many open green spaces all around. And of course the obvious river flowing through the city. We also saw one of the very few old buildings which survived the war, the opera building. It was beautiful, but felt too out of place in the city!

Panoramic view of Frankfurt

There are a couple of museums in town also if you are keen. I wasn't very interested though. This was all there was to see in Frankfurt though, a small business city, efficient and made of glass but lacking the architecture and narrow cobbled streets of other European towns. It might be a nice city to live in but definitely not a city for tourists!

Tourism in Johannesburg

Soweto

The second weekend I spent in Joburg, I was a lot more comfortable traveling around and so visited a couple of touristy places nearby. The first was the township of Soweto. It stands for SOuth WEst TOwnship and is one of the remnants of the Apartheid era. Soweto is spread over 100+ km square and houses more than 2 million people.This is a huge township by any standards, and was created for the African people to stay in. It started out as a place where the gold and diamond miners used to stay close to the mines but then it was forcibly converted into a African area only. Its location was also strategic, away from the city of Joburg, behind a hill so that it wasn't visible from the city!

A visit to Soweto is recommended if you want to get an idea about what Apartheid was about and what it meant for the local people. The basic aim of Apartheid was to segregate society based on colour but it led to much more than that; very congested and low quality living conditions for the local Africans.

Soweto

Today, its visited by tourists and over the years has changed a lot; still there is a long way to go to get it to par with the other areas of the town. As you drive there, you can see all levels of housing. From the barely there shacks to better constructed houses of people who could afford loans. Nowadays, there is government housing provided to the people based on how much they can afford: simple one-bedroom houses to slightly bigger ones. The new immigrants to South Africa stay in the shacks and as they go up in status, get bigger and better houses to stay.

Mandela House

We drove around the general Soweto area and stopped at three places on the way.  One was Mandela House where Nelson Mandela stayed before he was jailed for 27 years.

Pieterson Museum

The second was the Pieterson museum where Hector Pieterson, a 12 year old was shot dead by the police along with 600 other students who were peacefully demonstrating against introduction of Afrikaans as the means of teaching in schools in Soweto. It is said that it was this incident which brought world attention to Apartheid which had been going on quietly in the country for many years. It was this brutal act by the South African government which made governments across the world take notice, protest and put sanctions on South Africa.

And the the third place we stopped at was where the freedom declaration was made. Reading about what was included in the declaration makes you wonder how such basic rights also needed to be fought for!

Freedom declaration

Other than that, Soweto felt like a bustling area with lot of people; small and big businesses springing up everywhere. People from all over Africa come here to make a living. Some while away their time, while some try to make ends meet and go up in life. My guide related closely to Apartheid times and gave me a lot of his personal views.  He had been a part of the fight against Apartheid and reminisced of those times. He thought his people have moved on from those times and want to go up in life.  He realised education is most important for them now and and hence his community now wants to focus on that. He also felt that even though they were badly treated earlier, even now the whites did not consider them as part of the same country. He had also been part of the uprising and was proud of where his people had reached. But still thought there was a long way to go.

Another thing I realised when there was that in the different rungs of society, the Indians in South Africa had fared a lot better. Even though they were also segregated, they still got education and were able to get decent jobs. That is one of the reason, they did not protest as much against Apartheid, and that is why even today, they are doing better than the local Africans.

After the trip to Soweto, I spent a couple of hours at the Apartheid Museum. I had heard a lot about the Museum, but honestly was not impressed. Its a huge museum There is a lot of information in the Museum, it is just not presented in a great manner to create maximum impact. There is a lot of text written everywhere, but not as many exhibits to take the message forward.

Apartheid times

I liked the photo exhibition they had on what life was under the Apartheid Rule which I liked. And of course the entrance, where there is a separate entrance for you depending on the colour you belong to. It kind of gives you a sense of how it might have felt during those times, everything in life separated on colour and of course, quality of those things too!

I also got a chance to look at diamonds and tanzanites which are a speciality of South Africa and Tanzania respectively. The diamonds were the same as they usually are, but the tanzanites were something else. They are blue coloured rare stones found only in a mine near Kilimanjaro, and once exhausted, the stone itself will finish. I checked a couple of those in the Sandton City mall and other wholesalers there, and was impressed. An interesting buy, especially if its going to be extinct soon!

The next day, I visited a historical site, the Cradle of Humankind about an hour away from Joburg. Its the site where fossils of the oldest humanoid have been found. We did a tour of the Sterkfontein Caves, and the guide took us through the archeologists finds over the century and seemed proud of the fact than humanity had originated out of Africa. The cave he took us through was a usual one, with stalactites and stalagmites and some fossil remains still inside. However, what I found interesting was the underground lake that we saw inside the cave, apparently its depth is unknown and after 40 meters, divers had stopped searching for its end. I for one have never before seen an underground lake, so found that most interesting in the tour.

After the caves, I visited the Lion Park nearby. Its almost like a zoo with a couple of animals like cheetah, lions, meerkats, hyaenas, leopards and black leopards kept in cages. It also has a game drive where you can see white lions, plus activities like walk with the cheetah and feed the giraffes. So I would say a pretty commercialised zoo. However what drew me to the park was that they have lion cubs there with whom you can play and get photographed with!

I stood in a queue for half an hour to do just that. We got two minutes in an enclosed area where there were three cubs to play with. They were soooo cute and even more lazy, so not at all enthusiastically posing for photos. And surprisingly, their coat is not as soft as it appears to be. I feel for the cubs though, how irritated would anyone be if all day, people come and play with you. But I still loved it:).

That was mostly what touristic stuff there is to do in Johannesburg. Wasn't something out of this world, but was good anyways for a nice hectic weekend. The high for me was playing with the cubs and shopping for tanzanites though:) rather than the historical stuff.

Stay in Johannesburg, South Africa: Experiences and thoughts

I spent a month in Johannesburg recently and even though it was not a very touristic stay, I still felt like putting my thoughts on paper about this experience: about the city, the people and the country. I saw and felt so much during the stay, absolutely fell in love with the country...

I was initially very excited about being in a different country and a different continent but before I had reached Joburg, my excitement had died down after everyone who I talked to, told me how unsafe the city was! It had scared me a lot. My first impression of the city turned out very different though, it seemed like a very open and green 'normal' western city. Quite well spaced out with lots of greenery everywhere, wide well planned roads, decent traffic and huge palacious houses. Maybe it was just because of the areas I was driving in and I would soon see a different side to the city.. But I did wonder what was so unsafe about it?

To be frank, after staying there for a month, I have improved my view about the city. If people say its unsafe, then maybe it is. But if you just stay careful, you should be fine. All you need to do is avoid walking alone at night on the streets in the 'not-so-good' parts of town, locking your cars when you are driving and you should be fine.

Anyways, I spent two weekends in the city. The first was quite average though, because I still thought it was unsafe to go out anywhere! I spent the first weekend in and around Sandton, the hep-cool-rich-safe(-white) suburb of Joburg. It felt like I was caged up and not being able to get out at all, not able to walk around in the open either. It was a very weird feeling, but thankfully it went away when I realised you CAN go around in Joburg, just need to be more careful and know your way around.

Nelson Mandela square

During the first weekend, I walked around Sandton City, supposedly the biggest mall in South Africa. It is huge and you can walk for hours within. But since I am not a fan of malls, that did not excite me much. I also spent some time at Nelson Mandela square which was just an open European type square with multiple eating options. We tried Ghiraldi's there which offered good Italian and steak at the same place. There is also a nice Indian restaurant called Taj which I would recommend. And elsewhere in Sandton, the Grill House is a must-go too, for tasty non-vegetarian food. Actually, I must say, South Africa had amazing food. Everywhere I ate, it was very well made food. And it was so cheap. Even the fries everywhere were worth licking your fingers for!

Sandton

Otherwise in Sandton, there is not much to do. Just a couple of malls, huge car showrooms, eating options, hotels, spas and thats about it I think. There is a park there too, called the Sky Park. I think thats the only option for walking around in the open:). They have security cameras installed everywhere in the park, for safety when people come and exercise there!

Other than Sandton, I visited Melrose Arch, again a supposedly European-feel place with open spaces to walk and eat. We tried JBs and Moyo. Both had very tasty food. Moyo has a very African feel to it, with local music and a local decor. There is also a person there who does face painting for all who visit, just in case you want to try:).

I also visited the CBD a couple of times, the 'Central Business District'. It is supposed to be the worst area of Joburg, the central area where all whites used to stay but after the dismantling of Apartheid, all local Africans moved in and that was the start of its downfall. When you drive around this area, you can see what it would have been earlier, a good looking place with beautiful buildings but now its all in disarray. And its supposedly unsafe here now, you can see guards standing on building corners all day for safety. Most of the companies have moved away from this area now, mostly to Sandton but some still remain.

Other than these couple of areas, I did not see much of Joburg otherwise. There is a 'Neighbourgoods' market on the weekends which is supposedly good. Its an open area where young people hang out partying all day, eating good food and listening to music. Other than that, the city tour is also supposedly good. For those of you looking for Hindi movies, the Killarney mall plays Hindi movies. It was a relief though I did not get a chance to see it!

The rest of my impressions of the city are mostly from driving from Sandton to work and back. I used to take the highway which cuts right in the middle of the city, North to South. Driving on this highway, for a long time I did not realise it was right through the middle of the city! It was so open and green on both sides, with a hilly landscape, it felt like being in suburbs! What beautiful views there were from the highway. And it was much later on that I figured out, that I was driving THROUGH Joburg city!! The traffic was great, people drive by the rules and the roads are good. I loved driving there...

The names of the areas we drove by were very English - Hyde Park, Kensington etc. Even the houses in the 'good' parts of Joburg looked huge and English. They were built in similar style: huge bungalows (with even huger fences:)). It was evident that the people who had money in SA, had lots of it.

The people of Joburg (and South Africa) were very very friendly. It felt very different and nice, everyone eager to help and felt so much more genuine than the Western World. But I must say, I found it one of the most inefficient places I have visited. All processes take so long, people just dont work fast and efficiently. At the hotel, in restaurants, cafeterias.. everywhere people just take their own sweet time to do anything. Maybe it is a good thing to take time, but I had a tough time getting used to it! We would be at dinner with 5-6 waiters, 3-4 guests and still it would take them 30 minutes to take an order. I just could not get over this one thing at all!

Also you can see people of all types everywhere, whites, Africans and Indians. The city and the country did sometime feel like two worlds though and apparently it is. I will write about it more in the next article on my Apartheid day - visit to Soweto and Apartheid museum. But you could still see poverty and economic differences everywhere. Another thing I noticed was that the African middle class is trying to rise and improve their state but you can also see, there is so much farther to go. Now, it is more of the economic divide rather than race divide which affects the country. But given its history, both these divides are quite inseparable still, and the divide will remain for some time to come.

I visited a couple of touristy places, like Lion Park, Cradle of Humankind etc about which I will write later. But the impression I left with when I left was that lifestyle in Joburg (and South Africa) seemed very good: live in a huge house, drive on low traffic roads and enjoy a good weather throughout the year. Summers are about 20-30 degrees and winters are 10-20 degrees, with sun all through the year. People in Joburg complain about the cold but I think they are just pampered:). Their winters are like London summers! Loved my stay there and would love to return for more...