Mediocre Me: Cape Town 28/6/17

Day 4

Johannesburg exceeded expectations with its friendliness but the place generally still gave a hostile vibe. With that first impression, Cape Town impressed with its safe and developed facade; almost indistinguishable with Australia or New Zealand.

Arrived and got picked up by yet another friendly private driver; checked in to our homely hostel but found out that it's a bad day to do anything at all (cloudy Sunday) except for the market at Hout Bay so after some contemplation, off we went!

This cutie welcomed us at our accomm!

Our Uber drove past the Twelve Apostle but it’s pretty much covered by the dark clouds (also, this is a photo of our return trip actually haha)

Before finally reaching the Hout’s Bay market!

Super super crowded but the ambience was good! Notice the number of white peeps way outnumber the blacks (and asians of course haha)

Food was good too, so much so that we pass on the supposedly very good fish and chips outside the market

Windy and chilly weather against such a backdrop really brings back memories of NZ... haha

Headed to greenmarket square but the sky cleared so we took the opportunity to go table mountain instead!

No regrets

Amazing view

Enchanting sunset

Many nice shots were taken

But this is still my favourite shot of them all :*

I got guilty for the food indulgence and qy decided to order uber eats so we stayed in for the night...

Day 5

Breakfast in accom then it’s Victoria & Albert Habour the next morning before we head off to another Robben Island!

Table in a frame

And off we go!

That’s us and our older selves behind haha

Saw some seals lazing and chilling around the harbour but the real star of the day (perhaps the most pleasant surprise of this trip) was this whole big school of dolphins that chased our wake and frolicked along our ferry as we were on the way to Robben Island!!! Spent so much effort trying to find them in NZ and here they are, randomly appearing out of nowhere. Truly blessed to finally catch sight of these playful spirit animals of mine.

And then we reached, and was welcomed by this big banner. Freedom cannot be manacled.

This was the cell where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during his time here!

We then had a bus tour: found out that this island was once a navy base (military barrack for political prisoners after they split with convict prison); back in 1800s it was used to house leoprasy patients; and finally on 1991, the last prisoner was released.

We also met Christo Brunt - Mandela's prison guard - while at our rest point. That’s him boating about his time with Mandela and promoting his new book about it...

Saw some penguins (who were clumsily walking towards the water), deers, and springboks. There was also a huge gun for WWII that was completed 2 years after the war concluded. The guide also shares a local tradition here: if you missed someone's funeral, you leave a stone at where they pass - and that’s why we see stones laid up at the main square. Fun fact: Malaysians and Indonesians were also imprisoned here!

V&A Food Market next!

Had some exortic food for lunch in the form of ostrich laffa (tunisian) and some Mexican food plus a yogurt smoothie.

One last look at the harbourfront before we leave!

Bo Kaap - or "birth of cape" - was next! It’s the birth of cape simply because it’s on the top of the hill. Haha

First mosque here! Very “Moroccan” style

And here’s the iconic colourful houses that made this place so unique (and touristy)

Retro vibes

Just us being the tourist we are

History time! The Portuguese first reached here in 1488, 150 years before the Dutch in 1652. Then the VOC imported slaves from Indonesia and Malaysia in 1654. 100 years later seven thousand out of the total twelve thousand population were slaves. 1795 British took interest, and for 8 years, colonised it before returning to Dutch. France captured Holland (during the Napoleon war), and that includes all the colonies, i.e. Cape Town as well. British then took it back from France for Holland again then bought it from the Dutch for 30-million in 1805. In 1832, slavery ended. But news only reached Cape Town two years later. Free to go, the slaves, who are second or third generations were, however, too poor to leave. So, they settled, and mostly in District 6. Bokaap, on the other hand, was settled by mostly the Muslim.

And some side historical trivials (bonus of walking tours): the Indonesian prince (Tuan Guru) who built the mosque, was charged with treason for helping the British try to overthrown the Dutch government and dumped to Robben island; he was eventually released when British took back control. He memorised the Quran, wrote a copy based on memory, and was revered as the Father of Islam from South Africa.

The country saw multinational slaves from Mauritius and Madagascar, and also from British colonies when they took power. There were also Indians, most of whom went to Durban, forming the largest Indian population outside of India today.

The houses here in Bo Kaap are colourful "cos the doctor painted his house red to be recognisable along the white rows of houses" and the others tried to come up with their own colours for their own trade. That’s one theory, but not the most accurate one. In fact, in 1994, the houses were painted as a tribute to the rainbow nation and also to celebrate the vibrant community. That’s the message, but the true reason: tourism. Gentrification is happening here in Bo Kaap (used to be 100% Muslim, now 90%): rich people are buying it up because the houses here are cheap relatively and has the potential for future wealth generation... Someday, this community might be gone.

And one last fun fact: 2 January every year sees the biggest party in this part of town; more than New Year Day itself! (For reasons I’ve missed out on recording but vaguely remember it being a holiday for the workers who work through New Year’s Day)

Ended our tour and had some Kurdish coffee while we wait for the next tour. Not much photos for this, probably busy capturing the what was shared (and also cos we walked through crowded streets with pickpockets)

People used to be taxed according to the number of windows they have in their house - the Window Tax. And that’s the origin for the saying: daylight robbery.

When Dutch first came, it was the nomadic Bushmen that were around, and they still exist in today’s society! Or so they claim to be Bushman...

In any case, we walked past the Company's Garden, which has a peculiar oldest resident - a saffron pear tree. Until 1960s, District 6 was the most cosmopolitan area in South Africa - that until Apartheid came about. Many slaves had names starting with "Van de ..." after their country of origin, or the month when they were bought. And some weird and funky names were also devised as a joke to mock whoever calls out their name.

Next was Castle of Good Hope, oldest building in Cape Town. Was meant to be a defense post with the fort but when British came, the Dutch was taken down 40km away, so the fort wasn't in use. Greatest threat faced t the fort: lions.

Also walked past Big Ben's little Sister, and the City Hall constructed by the British. And the most important fun fact for this city: Marijuana has been legalised.

Spoke to the American couple staying in Italy and they suggest we go Mossel Bay instead of Gansbaai for shark cage diving (which another Singaporean-turn-Australian couple was gonna do as well) cos of the orca sighting chasing the great whites away - but we’ll cover these in the next post!

Dinner at Biesmiellah after was great too but we were full after a main course and had to take away our dessert...

This photo does the taste no justice but I also think it’s slightly overrated.

Day 6

Start of road trippin’!

Collected car and off we go!

Botanic Garden was our first stop. Good weather and good vibe!

Pretty tree top walks too!

And after a stressful first drive to our first stop, we’re alive! Haha

Muizenberg was next for colourful beach house at St James

Kalk’s Bay for lunch at Kalky’s! Got hooked on their fish ‘n chips heh

Well hello there, Jackass!

Mini highlight of the day with the African Jackass penguins at Boulder's beach. Also met with a very angry dassie along the way. Lol

Today’s Flavour: Smiles

Some ice cream to go with the cool weather before we head out to the main item on our bucket list for the day.

Cape Point!

Not too far from everything else, isn’t it.

And hello there, Antarctica! (Hidden somewhere behind the clouds down the curvature of the globe)

Made our first inroad into the wilderness with our car: welcome to Africa! Haha.

Cape Point isn’t the Southern-most point of continental Africa, that’s somewhere else that we’ll visit along the Garden Route; this is the Southwestern-most Point.

World famous and landmark on almost every map: Cape of Good Hope

And up we go

Way back to Cape Town was an adventure with TomTom taking us to shantytown kinda place. But the real deal came at Chapman's Peak Drive - rewarding us with the most awesome sunset ever!