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So day three of my tour and it has to be said the last 36 hours have been pretty awesome...
Yesterday morning I made my way to table mountain. I was advised by the hostel owner to get a taxi to the bottom of the mountain, agree a fee up front and pay no more than 40 rand. Well, just outside the hostel I was negotiations with several local taxi drivers and was close to agreeing the desired the 40 rand fee when a South African lady intervened and advised me not get a cab we these guys - didn't say why but I got the impression I should heed her advice and I ditched my new found friends. The lady pointed me in the direction of a taxi with a Visa advert on the top of it (apparently the advert on the top meant it was pukka :-S)... anyway to cut a long story short my luxury taxi ended up costing me 50 rand...
So back onto the mountain. The trek up was very hard work but achievable. The main problem was the sun, which was only about 20 degrees but 90% of the journey is completely exposed and I was dripping buckets...
The views from the top are majestic. Overlooking Cape Town and looking out over two oceans - the Indian and the Atlantic with Robben Island in view too, it was pretty spectacular. The area at the top is absolutely enormous. It was almost completely flat and took me a good couple of hours to walk round and for my efforts I was rewarded with a sighting of what I will call a giant guinea pig and something resembling an antelope without horns... Anyway after I'd had a spot of lunch at the top I made my way down which was pretty uneventful except the views of the sun going down over Cape Town which was nice.
So at the bottom I went in search of a taxi. This is not a hard task in South Africa - "westerners" are a magnet for people offering taxis... one such person offered me a taxi back to my hostel for just 20 rand (bargain I thought) and after few polite enquiries as to his credentials he pointed me in the direction of his "taxi". Now I have learnt that in SA the term "taxi" is used quitely loosely. What this chap actually had was a clapped out old mini bus. Whilst I waited politely by the taxi he desperately tried to drum up more business... anyway I started to grow impatient of this process and made a few enquiries of some taxi drivers (actual taxis this time) of the cost to go back into town now... this was much to me current drivers terror who was happy to take me now if I was in a rush but obviously such express service would come at a cost - he wanted 50 rand, we struck a deal for 40 rand and everyone was happy. Anyway as we were climbing into the vehicle my driver signalled to a group of maybe 7-8 local "youths" who also jumped in. I got the distinct impression I was paying for these guys to get home but what the hell I was hungry and in a weak negotiating position. We went on our merry way it went off seamlessly, the only slightly irritating thing was everytime we drove past anyone remotely western looking my driver would slow down, bib them and enquiry as to whether they too would like to jump in... no one else seemed interested in the little piece of heaven I had found for myself. Anyway as promised he took me back to the hostel without a hitch. The hostel manager advised me that while such transport was perfectly safe I shouldn't be paying more than 7 rand to pretty much anywhere in the city. Oh well.
I got back to the hostel (it's coming up to about 6pm now) and thought I'd slip into bar for ONE quick beer...
Well those of you who know me will know all too well that I very rarely possess the ability to leave after one beer and needless to say this was the case yesterday too. So there I was chatting to a bunch of strangers and sipping on beers costing me the equivalent about 85 pence and having a great time. At some point (I'd guess a couple of hours in) the manager promoted me to DJ for the night and there I was behind the counter doing a set on the computer like I was one of the family. Of course I was a complete crowd pleaser and was giving everyone exactly what they want - it went down a storm!! Two things have come out this. One I now have the nickname "DJ" and two, I'm playing another set on Thursday night... not sure how long I'll be able to fool them by playing The Killers/Kings of Leon and asking whoever happen to be at the bar "What is your favourite band?" but I'm just going to roll with it...
Anyway, the night didn't end there. I was recruited on a late night jaunt to a couple of bars on Long Street with a Canadian bloke ("the Australian") and a German girl, Frederica. Needless to say we had a great time and I busting some serious moves on the dancefloor...
So to this morning... I was just getting out of the shower when the manager knocked on my door calling out "Are you alright DJ?" ... of course I was, I'm an East London boy... anyway apparently there was a couple of West Ham fans downstairs in the bar (another lot - the global reach of West Ham never ceases to amaze) wanting to know where I was (I'll add that I met these people in the bar the night before they hadn't just heard I was in town)... well I stuck the West Ham shirt on and went on down... to cut a long story short tomorrow I think we are hiring a car to drive around the Cape Peninsula...
This morning I have made a very important discovery. There is a vegetarian cafe/restaurant maybe 100 yards from my hostel... needless to say I've found a new home...
So, what for the rest of today? Who knows quite frankly...? I'm about to head back to the hostel to try and find out what other things I promised to do with people today, at the moment it is a mystery although a trip to Robben Island does ring a bell...
That's all folks!!
John
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