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2nd-4th July, Cape Town, 22 with a :-)!
So the morning after karioke feeling a little worse for wear we woke up, shook off the hangover and headed out. Headed out to Robben Island! We decided to do the trip on my birthday! We walked down to the waterfront where our boat was due to depart. Canadian Chris had told us that the journey was pretty choppy so we were ready for a interesting trip to the island. We were joined on the boat by Duncan and Nina who had coincidently booked the trip for the same day. The boat ride turned out to be fine and we transfered straight from the boat to a bus with a tour guide on who pointed out some sights and gave us the run down of Robben Islands historical significance not only in terms of Apartheid but also World War two. The tour guide in fact was very good and had plenty of anecdotes about numerous different countries. He was the main guide on the island and had shown the likes on Hilary Clinton, Obama and Mandela himself around the place! I was used as the point of reference everytime he talked about England (he referred to me as the Cambridge graduate - I wish!). We got the piss ripped out of us by the guide and by the passengers for our failing football team among other things (Infact everywhere we went in SA when we wore our shirts we were greeted with a sly smile or chuckle from the Algeria game onwards!)! There was a group of Argentians on the bus some of which didnt speak English. They had definately been out and one guy fell asleep! When the tour guide asked where they were from they replied "Argentina - home of the world champion!" - hah! The tour of the prison was crowded meaning it wasn't as good as it could have been. Our guide was at one time imprisoned on Robben Island - he used to belong to the armed unit of the ANC (serious s***!) and 5 of them got caught arriving back in South Africa after fleeing 2 were shiot dead the other 3 were arrested and imprisoned! We saw Mandela's cell and the grounds before heading back to the mainland.
Once we arrived back at the waterfront, we decided to go for a birthday lunch! We had already planned to go to a nice place and completely overindulge. We chose a place called Balthazar an upmarket seafood place with an impressive sounding menu. We had three courses just because, we definately didn't live the backpacker lifestyle that day! We all had the catch of the day which I believe was called a king clip. It was the starters that stole the show though with Scott and Silvers calamari being the best I've ever tasted, and my prawn and avacado looked so good on the plate in a constructed masterpiece it almost seemed like a shame to eat it...almost! The bill amused us it came to 1160 ZAR or in English pounds around 120! Whilst eating we watched the impressive dutch knock out the Brazilians much to all the Argentinians amusement.
From the restaurant we met up with the karioke crew in Long Street and after bouncing round a few bars we ended up at a place called the Rhino Room - a trance bar!?!? On arriving at the Rhino Room we were initially denied entry - apparently Scott, Joseph a German guy, and I looked 16 according to the doorman! We hadn't used ID the whole trip and on my birthday I got ID'd - fancy not bringing out your ID on your birthday - school boy error or what! I explained it was my birthday and that we were travelling and Joseph showed him his ID and eventually we were let in! Werwatched the Ghana versus Uruguay match with the whole bar cheering on the Black Stars (I was secretly cheering Diego Forlan)! The game was epic and during the match James, Tim, Scott, Chris and I began to do shots as the deal wheel they had mounted on the wall at the bar had a special on tequilla for the duration of the game before moving on to fish bowls. Curious about the fish bowls I approached two 18 year old South African girls named Emily and Dale (full name Dale Anne Jade Annandale - I s*** you not!) at the bar that were sharing one and asked to try! Scott appeared after a while and played wingman - usually he wouldnt but it was my birthday! After a while we all got split up. I ended up leaving the bar with Emily whilst the rest of the crew were scattered over different bars and backpackers. Silver ended up chatting to the Norweigen ambassador for SA's daughter. Scott walked home on his own and got propositioned by a prostitute who offered him to pay 110 ZAR about 12 quid to have adult relations in her wrong hole (thats the politest way I could word it Nan!). He very smartly declined and found his way back safetly! An enjoyable birthday!
The 3rd of July was a quite day for us but not for Cape Town, the Argentians were in town to play ze Germans! Son before the game the much fancied Argentineans were making a lot of racket and afterwards the jubilant Germans gave them the same treatment as they walked it 4-0! The bars were all packed we had to walk for the best part of an hour to find a bar with a seat to watch the game! It was worth it as the game was superb and at this point I thought ze Germans would walk away from SA with another star above their badge! One funny moment was had whilst the three of us were discussing a book written by the notorious video vixen Karen Stevens affectionately known as "superhead". In the book she has an index of rap artists she had slept with and their errrrm dimensions and habits etc. Now Im sure Steffan probabaly won't read this but if you do - what ya gana do! We were joking about if Steffan (our Geordie German friend who we met at Uni and played in goal for our football side) was in the book. Upon pondering what his response would be if he was listed unkindly in the book one of our favourite quotes of the trip was born "What the fook she spelt Incredible wrong...S-H-I-T!" (In true Crafty and Bristol accent).
July 4th was supposed to be a big day, especially as our American friend Tim was up for a big celebration. Unfortunately we had for one night the most immense snorer I'd ever heard - and my Uncle Andy is up there! We got no sleep at all. When I say we I mean Scott and I - Silver could sleep through a nuclear holocaust! So we missed the days activities, mainly due to us having to switch to the partner hostel of our previous place! However in the evening we met up with everyone on Long Street at a place called Bob's Bar - a rustic (a little too rustic) bar with draught beer and ambigious looking bar staff! We wished the yanks among us happy July 4th before drinking and discussing the football and various travel stories. James (from Arizona and later one of our roadtrip companions!) informed us of an unfortunate event that day. He went to withdraw money and he received more than he asked for which caused the security guard to confiscate the money and that was the beginning of an ardous 4 hour procedural nightmare that day and it only became resolved 3 days into our road trip. Apparently it was the prostitutes fault - they purposefully feed envelopes containing coins into the ATM in order to break the roller so that when they make small withdrawals they actualyl receive more money than they asked for (just like James!). We encountered a few transvestites on our walk to Bob's Bar with myself receiving the most attention. One gentlelady walked past and requested me to suck her toes - I didn't! Further up the road anotherone asked me for my vital statistics - creepy stuff!
During the night Scott had a lengthy chat with a Nigerian drug dealer/prostitute transaction helper (best job tittle ever?) who told him the ins and outs of his business over some street food which was famous in Cape Town - apparently! I had some later that night with juju and it wasn't great. Later in the night I met Emily and Dale from the Rhino Room. This time we agreed ashe looked a little younger than the last time - maybe because she was with more friends who were younger. They all turned up in leather jackets which was quite funny apparently they hadn't planned it! Soon after they arrived Emily's friends left and we spent the majority of that night together roaming round Long Street. I met back up with everyobne late and soon after we left. We bumped into a girl who we had met a few hours previously when she attempted to get a hat back for her friend which Juju had stolen! Although stubborn Juju soon gave in when her attempts became more...vigorous! Apparently her boyfriend had slept with a stripper behind her back so she wasn't happy (even though she was with german Joseph in the bar!). She went on to explain that she was pissed off with her job as she works as a waitress in a strip club and everyone always mistook her for being a stripper (hmmm not convinced she was a waitress).
This night drew Cape Town to a close. lots of fun bumping into people we had previously met and meeting new guys. We had decided to rent a car and drive from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth where we would fly to Johannesburg where we would watch the final. The roadtrip crew consisted of canadian Chris, Arizona James, Juju, Scott and Myself. In another car was karioke king Duncan who we bumped into again in Jeffrey's Bay and Tyler. The car we rented was a Renault Sandero and in the adventure that followed it served us well!
DC Scott Silver x
- comments
Martin (Dan's Dad) I can see why you enjoyed Cape Town so much! Another interesting read Dan. You have been busy today. D x
Di (Dan's Mum) Another great read. Life back at home will be so dull after the life you have been living these last few weeks! x mum
Paul (scotts Dad) Great read about your cape town experiences, looking forward to the garden route blog, have fun and keep safe
Andy (Dan's Uncle and Snorer) Capetown sounds a very rowdy and colourful place. I would get onto Bangkok if I were you where it is a lot quieter. I don't understand the bit about the "wrong hole", please clarify!