Pretty good plane trip (after a nightmare transfer at Mumbai airport, where we were given a hour to go through immigration, and another 50 rounds of security along with the 69,000 other people travelling including the air stewards who jumped the queue) Luckily one nice lady let me in front of her group to get through quicker - may have been the "I am going to kill someone" look on my face that clinched it!! Plane ok, sat next to a man who smelt nice! Watched The Artist, very good film and had a long sleep.

On arriving at the airport came straight through, no hassle, no security, no faffing or fannying about, was lovely! Taxi driver picked me up and drove me through the car park and straight back into the 21st century, I'm talking tarmac roads, traffic lights, zebra crossings that people take notice of, supermarkets........I could go on and on......

Hotel was more of a travel lodge than a proper hotel, but did the job, (obviously after residing in old palaces, one now has certain expectations) had a lovely hot shower and washed my clothes (another quite horrifying sight at the colour of the water!)

Soon after arriving, a couple came to check in who were also on the trek, Barry and Sue, seem really nice. We agreed to go on the Soweta tour together in the absence of the rest of the group. The tour was great, Soweto (South Western town ship) houses 3 million people, with a mix of some of the richest and also the poorest residents in South Africa, all within a couple of miles distance of each other (sound familiar???). We started at the posh bit and then Jamma, our guide, took us to some of the poorer areas. The people seem friendly, all greeted us and were happy to show us around. The atmosphere here is very different to India, everywhere you go there is music, the houses and streets are clean, some have cookers and fridges etc and ALL have satellite TV!!! Interesting that people who can afford to live elsewhere choose to live in the poorer areas to save money. I imagine they wouldn't if it were more like some of the areas we visited in Delhi, Agra or Jaipur! So many famous sites are in Soweta, Vilakazi street where Nelson Mandela lived and Desmond Tutu still does, the site where Hector Pieterson was shot during the 1976 student uprisings (he is the boy being carried to get help in the famous photo) and the Apartheid museum detailing South African history, another humbling experience to see how people were treated and how lucky we are to have never experienced it.

In the evening we went to a local restaurant for dinner, just like Milton Keynes on a Fri night (lots of newish bars/clubs all in same area), we sat opposite the Slug and Lettuce, with a pint, eating a pannini and chips!! Dare I say, I didn't miss curried vegetables or egg........