Cape Town, South Africa

I decided that I should start blogging on my travels. Being Nonya, I thought I would have it titled in Baba language - Jalan Jalan Mana? Literally - Walk Walk Where? Translated - Where Have You Traveled?

It struck me that I have been to places in 6 of the 7 continents in my 50 years of roaming the earth. Antarctica remains elusive. The long flight time, cost and the fear of being sea sick are the main reasons.

There is nothing better than a funny or inspiring story. So I will keep my accounts to funny, inspiring incidents that happened while on my travels. This is not another travelogue to find out where to go, how to go and what to do. Sorry! Wrong blog.

I will start with the African continent. I have been to Cape Town, today's blog focus, Morocco (you can read about my trip to Morocco in the article Desert Dreams) and my next blog will be on climbing Kilimanjaro.

I went to Cape Town in South Africa for a conference in 2005. On the third day, I decided I would skip the conference and instead signed up for a tour to the Cape of Good Hope. The tours were planned for spouses of conference participants. So I tried to look like one. To my surprise, I found 5 other participants on the tour. We giggled like school girls playing hooky, and hastily removed our participants' name tags. We were then anonymous!

When I stood at Cape Point - the end point of the peninsular overlooking the Cape of Good Hope, my secondary school Geography lessons came alive. The wind blew hard and cold against me, but I refused to leave as I watched the turbulent waters of the Atlantic Ocean meet the waters of the Indian Ocean. It was awesome. I could not believe I was actually there looking at something that was on a map for years and years. Here it was - the infamous Cape of Good Hope that had claimed many sailors' lives. I looked at the waves and the surf as the waters clashed and mingled and I was glad to be on dry land, albeit the cold wind.

I was disappointed to later learn that Cape Point is NOT where the two oceans meet, but at Cape Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa. It is there that the two oceans meet, and the coast is locally called the Graveyard of Ships. Drats! I was standing and staring at the wrong cape!

The other interesting feature as a "must see" in Cape Town is the monolithic Table Mountain. This "flat" mountain rises 1086 m above the city and is a familiar landmark. I walked some of its trails and it was lovely especially on a warm sunny day, with an ice cream cone in your hand.

I was told it was safe to wonder out in the night in Cape Town. So I did. I met many Tourist Police on petrol at the popular tourist spots. I made my way to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Victoria Wharf was bustling with shops, galleries, banks, cinemas and restaurants. I had a whole grilled lobster and it was the sweetest I have ever tasted.

I don't remember much else of my time in Cape Town other than the lovely fellowship of principals from all over the world and the African children's performance at the Opening of the Conference. I felt that they were not perfect in their dance routine but one could sense their exuberance and pure joy of performing for us. Maybe we rehearse our kids too much, wanting perfection. And in the process, we killed the joy.

Nothing really funny or inspirational ... Would I go back to Cape Town? Yes, but not to attend a conference. I would go and sit at Cape Alguhas AND Cape Point and I would go watch the Southern Wright Whales ... and walk the trails of Table Mountain and just absorb the atmosphere that is Africa.