Shall finally post this after a one-year hiatus.
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Off we go for our first A380 ride!
Before all else, standard Dubai ritual: Shake Shack
Day 1
Finally, landed, met our driver, got our SIM; then off we go to the accomm. Nice weather and our driver speaks 6-7 different languages!
First look at this place
Maboneng is Sutu, and it means City of Light 
Nice hipster accom with a rustic double bedder
Booked tours and decided to Uber to Constitutional Hill before we head back for our evening Cycling tour (which sounds more exciting than it actually is)
Gandhi was first arrested in SA for not carrying passbook; subsequently for his movement against apartheid - never met Nelson Mandela (whose political career took off after Gandhi's death) also; some Indian tourists were sharing that Gandhi's assassin is regarded as hero in some part due to religious differences (Muslim vs Hindus - think Bangladesh and Pakistan; some diehard Hindus thought Gandhi was too lenient with the Muslims) and also due to the cast system (those in upper cast wanted to protect their privileges) 
All cages up
Solitary cell
And there, the hill. Bump into a gang of Singaporeans on our very first stop of the trip. Pretty much the last time as well...
44 Stanley next; hipster place.
Courtyard alfresco. First meal: Salvation Cafe, nice food and nice cake
Slacked and went for bike tour but after 15s of downslope strolling, we have our first stop for an hour; chilled with Felicity (Melbourne - nurse recently working in Saudi) and Dominique (Montreal working in NPO in the field of aiding aspiring entrepreneurship in sustainable development); all of us gave up after short dinner and asked for refund from the Cycling tour and we ended up playing a new card game at the hostel's hideout bar! At least the sunset was nice! PS: this is the only street with 24 hour security in this pet of town! Other places are way scarier especially at night...
Crazy rowdy night. Got back, did some workout, packed up, and we're done for the night
Day 2
Next morning was coffee at hostel cafe with Dom (and got to know that, apparently, Canadians don't get married and her Son is learning mandarin), she also says how well mannered we are and are prettier than the other Singaporeans she met; glad we salvaged her opinion of our people! It's been awhile but the kiss-on-cheek goodbye is still awkward for the Asian in us haha.
Motivational morning
Then breakfast at Canteen at Arts on Mains with Fel and her dorm mate Zac, from Latvia. Took awhile for food to come so we gotta rush back for our Soweto tour.
Made it and off we go!
Literally SOuth WEst TOwn
Soweto born-and-bred Jazz (from Orlando West - most vibrant town in Soweto - where the uprising students, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela all lived) was our guide and we had Boss as driver.
Jazz taught us that Sunnibonani/yeabo are the greetings in Sutu, and we made good use of this info for the rest of the trip. Jazz also shared that there’s a local saying, where when “Soweto sneeze, the whole country catches a flu” - everything starts from here
Largest township in SA. More interestingly, He told us that there are 13 languages in Soweto: 12th is sign language exclusively used for taxi hailing (point index finger down for local; up for city); and 13th is for miner, mixing every available languages that miners from different ethnic groups used. They do have a common nation anthem (and with other countries) in God bless Africa though. History time: there are 153 Acts on Apartheid; in 1948; the National Party won election against British and a Pencil test was held to determine which side mixed-race kids to go... arbitrary but sounds kinda familiar...
First stop: FNB Stadium - where the kick off and finals of SA World Cup was held. Incidentally, they also have the largest trauma wards in the world (10th largest hospital in the world) nearby... hmmm
Kiddos chilling outside Nelson Mandela’s house
The township itself. This is Kliptown: first town in Soweto upon forceful relocation. These slums reminds me of the favela in Brazil, only more vibrant
We left our mark here!
🤙🏿
Along the way we came across local protest against government where roads were blocked off halfway (stones were the only tools students had against guns).
We also met with taxi war fighting for passengers (FYI; the taxi industry is the only industry that's 100% owned by black people). Apparently, even in Soweto, people are divided by race; there's even a Chinese and Malay community here!
We then visited a Shebeen i.e. illegal place to drink (tho some are legally licensed now, the name stuck). That’s Jazz drinking a ...
Joburg beer. Kinda like Yabeer (Yacult+Beer)
Apartheid museum after was very informative; in fact, it was abit too much for an afternoon
I was White for a day
Headed back to Curiocity for Braai night! Nua while we waited...
Asked our host about his heritage and we were blown away: German, France, Holland, Indian, Black. And we even thought he's just black at the beginning! Shisha with the host and found out that he's an entrepreneur who's been working on many projects doing good with the society, working with the First Lady etc. And he's only 21! Another trivial: SA National anthem comprises of all 11 languages! And that concludes Braai dinner, which was really good but Ms Blur was sleepy halfway thru no thanks to the mojito she ordered...
Day 3
Uncle Mere's for breakfast (with the best Portuguese tart ever)
Then friendly security who took a nice couple shot for us. Really like this pictorial representation of Jo’burg and our experience here: colourful yet dangerous, free but caged in...
Boss is our driver for today again! Told us about his original name (means origin); talked about Jackie Chan's movie (Who Am I?) and also gave some tips on how to avoid getting mugged in cars.
Also told us we were lucky cos Mrs Plett just returned to the cave (tho we didn't see it - evidently from the photo above - anyways). More DYKs: Kwaito music is a mix of all 11 languages and traditional instrument; how fossils are formed is via Breccia rock, which is dirt deposit plus limestone over, with preservation, leading to fossil
This is us before we enter the Cradle of Humankind!
Drove thru Blomfontein (very artsy and fun architecture), Hillsborough (very vibrant, but dangerous, where many African migrants and drugs etc are not uncommon), and you know there’s one in every major cities in the world - Chinatown.
East gate shopping mall; did grocery and ice cream. Could easily mistake this place for any European Mall really.
Boss returned to send us back shortly. Met a Paraguay guy in our accomm who’s an economist as well, and, having came from the Kruger, showed me some photos of the Safari. Got me all excited!
Worked out and had our last meal here at Pata Pata (Super worthwhile steak and ribs!)
Rested early and got up early as well to Uber to airport, checked our luggage, and had the best Portuguese tart ever, then off we go to Cape Town!
Always thought it’s FlySafari but nope. It’s FlySafair 🤔
