Cape Town (Part 4) Otw to Cape Point

Intro: I apologize for not publishing the pictures properly last times. I have fixed the files now. Enjoy!

Driving to Cape Town gave us a lot of photo opportunities.

You could see the beautiful sea and hills all the way the peninsula.

We face the the roads are curving and smooth. A traffic in some roads because of road constructions. Well, I'd loved to share some pictures with you. Thanks to Solih for his beautiful photos using his new Nikon D40 :)

- Sea view all the way the peninsula -

- Villages -

- snap shot of a brick house at Kalk Bay -

- Trees and more trees along the way -

- Rest for 15' at Hout Bay -

- You may feel like going to Lake Toba huh ^^ -

- Road to Cape Town -

Cape Town (Part 3) - Table Mountain (again ^^;) -

Day 2

Hmm... day 2, we've got a very bright morning. Solih suggested we went to Table Mountain one more time because of this nice weather. And...it is no doubt, no regret... even we have to pay ZAR 145 again... it's worthed! We'll since the story will be similar.. I'll just put the pictures now. :)

next >> Cape Point

Cape Town (Part 3) - Kirstenbosch -

After spend a whole morning at Table Mountain, then we went to the city to find proper lunch and mosque. We plan to Bo-Kaap area because based on information, it is a Moslem's territory that has some mosques around and hopefully we can get halal food near by. But after round and round at Bo-Kaap area, all mosque were closed and locked. So, we decided to go for lunch first and continue to other place.

We found Nandoz Restaurant in the city center. The menu they served were similar with Muchacos in Joburg. And the most important thing is all the food is Halal :). I ordered 1/2 chicken with chips and extra hot peri-peri, means "pedaassss!". I also ordered a cup of hot chocolate. After finishing our lunch we try one more time to Bo-Kaap area, but still we can't find an open mosque :(. We asked a passing by boy in the neighborhood where can we find an open mosque to pray. He said the mosque only open at praying times. Since it was wasting time if we wait until ashar time, then we decided to go to next destination and will do sholat dzuhur along with ashar by jama'.

Next destination is Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. As I said earlier that the weather was not so good for taking a picture. It's cloudy, the sun sometimes show its face but the cloud more often block the shines...

Well, it does not take too long to reach Kirstenbosch. When Solih in the toilet, I met with a gentlemen, and chit chat a little. Then when he asked where am I came from, and I said Indonesia. He said, Masya Allah... I was surprised and asked if he is a moslem. He said,"Yes, I am a moslem." I said salaam and he did too. Allah gave us a way. Then I asked him whether we can pray in that place. He looking around and find us a room, I believe it usually used for presentation but that's okay. At least we can pray there. Allahu Akbar, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

We bought a ticket to enter Kirstenbosch for ZAR 32 a person. Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is not too big. We can walk and I think spend 2 hours there to enjoy the garden. A lot of unique plants and flowers found. It is similar like Kebun Raya Bogor in Indonesia, I guess :). Then after satisfied enjoying the rest afternoon there, we went back to Hostel for rest. An exhausted day but we really enjoying our journey. We will continue to Day 2 for more exciting journey at Cape town. Cheers!

Cape Town (Part 2) - Waterfront & Table Mountain

Day 1

After stay overnight in Vivant Student Hostel, we woke up early in the morning to start our journey. We took short breakfast, indomie!!! :) Using Tomtom GPS as our personal guide, we went confidently to our first destination, V&A Waterfront. It's about 7 km from our hostel. So within less than 30 minutes, we arrived at that place. 1st thing to do is looking for Parking spot. We were very

lucky, the parking garage is available in front of the Aquarium.

V&A Waterfront is a harbour and has a lot of shops that attrract almost

all tourist that visit Cape Town. Refer to the booklet that we got from our friend, Vinit, V&A Waterfront has over 400 outlets, fromsimple barrows and world class boutiques to informal trading areas where many local craftspeople sell their wares. Not many people around bcoz it was around 08.00 am. We took the

moment as an opportunity to took some pictures. The weather was quite friendly, a lil bit cloudy but the sun still shines.

-morning at V&A Waterfront-

A lot of boats and ships in the harbour which I thought a very good view to start a day. I wonder how the people here co

uld make such a beautiful harbour? and off course becomes one of the most fave tourist destination in cape town. We took several shots and try to walk to higher land, to see the beach.

The

buildings architecture were very attractive. You may see it along the street to the beach.

- at roundabout City/Sea Point -

After a while we decided to go to Table Mountain. It is our "must visit" destination in Cape Town from beginning. Even the cloud still hanging and seems does not want to move from its peak, we did not want to waste time. We pass thru all curves road in the city and the view is almost like if you want to go to Puncak, Bogor or if you go to Brastagi, Medan.

Tall trees, with view of cape town city center below. And finally we arrived at Touble Mountain. The view below made me remember view of Bandung from Dago or Lembang. The different is you can see the harbour and the beach from current position. "Subhanallah..." I said over and over to see such a great view. It's quite bright that morning, and we felt that we shhould go up now. Based on weather forecast, it will be raining today. That's why we went early in the morning to have enough time in Table Mountain.

We pay ZAR 145 for one ticket return of Cable Car...

Enough talking, I was so speechless... Picture will tell you a thousand words of my story...

Allah the all mighty... I thank you for such opportunity to see your awesome creation... Subhanallah... subhanallah... !

- view to the top of cable car way-

- welcome to Table Mountain -

- moist, foggy, cold and zero visibility -

- Solih & Me at Table Mountain Cafe -

- Walk way, taking the Kilspringer route -

to be continued...

Cape Town (Part 1) - Departure

The journey

We (Me and Solih) went to OR Tambo airport on Saturday evening. Dino and Dita were so kind driven us to the airport... (Thanks yaa). Before we went there, we stop by at Bruma market coz Dita need to bought some vegetables and rice. It may called a china town area here, bcoz mostly people who come and live in this area are chinese. Anyway, our flight scheduled on 19.00 and we did self check in using the check in machine which was very helpful coz no que to do it.

We got the boarding pass printed and went to D5 gate as written on it. But somehow, it was not correct, as Solih noticed in the tv screen. It was moved to D1 gate. Luckily it was not too far from original gate.

The flight took 2 hours and we arrived at Cape Town International Airport on around 21.10. It was rain but the Mango's pilot was really cool. He landed the plane very smoothly.... two tumbs up! As planned before, we then went to Tempest Car rental on the left wing of the Domestic Arrival Gate to take our car as we booked earlier. There are a lot of rental cars here. So, don't worry you run out a car. After signing some forms we got our car. It's KIA Picanto - manual transmission.

Lesson learn for rental the car here, don't tell if there will be additional driver, coz it will cost you more money. Ensure that the car is in good condition. Recognize all scretches or damages properly. Check all lamps, brake, all features work properly. You need to check thoroughly so it won't give you any trouble when you return the car back.

Okay, enough with the car things. I did driving bcoz the car is manual as Solih used to drive matic. We use Tomtom GPS as our guide. And you know what... I was realised that it help us a lot. I can't imagine if we not bring Tomtom with us. So, another tips for you is... bring your own GPS. But in case you forget not bring your GPS, car rental can give you GPS for more additional cost off course.

We arrived at Vivant Student Hostel around 22.00. It was saturday night, so the streets around the neighbourhood was quite crowdy. We saw a lot of security officer and police cars did patrol activity frequently. No parking lot, so we need to park our car on the street. Fortunately, we found a good spot near the security pos... ^^.

The wind was chilly and the hostel's office was closed. Darn!!! I did early booked and tell the owner that we will come late in the evening to the hostel. But the office was closed... I tried to call the hostel owner's cell phone and ended in voice mailbox. Luckily, we asked the security officer how to contact the owner. He said there is a phone number to call in case of emergency as sticked on the office window... and we did not notice that hehehe... Finally, I can reach the owner's cell phone by dialing the emergency number. Neil is the name of the owner or perhaps not the owner, but the officer that responsible for our room booking.

The hostel is more like "kost-kost an" in Jakarta. We booked this hostel bcoz it's cheap and not too far from the city center. The building is old fashion. The floor made of woods and it make some noise when you etp on it. The room is on 2nd floor above the office. It's not too bad actually. We stay in the same room in an english guy named Tom. He was already been here. There also 4 more guest from French that stay in the hostel. And we went to bed after some chit chat.

Well, I wrote too much already..

next time I'll tell you how we start our journey in cape town :)

Cape Town...here we come...!!!

Good morning...

Today I'm so exciting bcoz this evening, me and Solih will fly to Cape Town, the Mother City.

I have heard a lot of good things about Cape Town. Though the weather is a lil bit chill, but that's okay... as long as we bring our jacket and keep our body warm, then I believe that ev'thing will be fine.

Yesterday, we booked a cheap flight thru www.travelstart.com and found a very good fares for us. It's only cost us ZAR 2442 (return ticket) using MANGO (www.flymango.com). Credit Card becomes more important here and help us a lot on doing booking things online. We also booked hostels in 41 Trill Road, Observatory, called Vivant Student Hostel thru www.hostelworld.com.

It's about 22 km from Cape Town International Airport and it will take 20 minutes driving. It also located about 7 km from Cape Town city center. Since it is a peak season because of long weekend, almost all cheap hostels for backpackers are fully booked. Luckily we still can get it for a very reasonable price. ZAR 80 a night/person in 6 mixed dorm.

Why dorm? We don't bother too much to look for private room bcoz we're not bringing a lot of things. So, as long as it clean, warm and cozy for rest...then it's acceptable. For a backpackers, staying in mixed dormitory becomes an option for cheap travelling. Please noted that we're going to Cape Town for sight seeing and won't spend too much time in bed... hehehe.

We also booked for a car rent thru Mango website. We will use KIA Picanto 1.1 as our vehicle for travelling in Cape Town. It's a rental car, so don't hope too much features inside ^^; It will costs us ZAR 199 a day/200 km. As long as it can take us to our destination safely, then it's also acceptable.

One thing for sure, we have prepared and will enjoying our visit to Cape Town as best as we can.

So, you may wait for my next report after I'm back to Joburg. Well... cheers!!!

It's been a week

So far so good. At least that is how I felt after almost a week in Joburg.
The weather still freezing for me, especially in the morning and in the evening.
But that's okay, at least I have no serious problem with the weather here.

First day in the office quite interesting, Theko took me around and I was introduced to everybody in the office. Though I can't remember all of their names, but I'm sure it was a good start to be known here. I am assigned in AFROX project. It's a revamp project that belongs to SASOL. The project it self has been running for several months and I am just continuing what have been started by other. Looking thru the P&ID, it's not a big project... really! It's only 5 P&IDs and the instrumentation is not so many.

Some problems already occurs even before I came here. Delay on schedule becomes one of the priority that we need to resolve. But I am optimistic that we can handle this. I've been in the project that even worst than this. I believe by keeping our positive energy and support each other, we can make it complete properly.

Well, even sometimes I put my finger crossing looking on how the people execute the project here, I believe by the time later, we will be such a good team.

We will see...
I hope everything will be better each and everyday.

Bye for now... or people here said... CHEERS... :)

Here I go again

Well, today is my first day in Republic of South Africa (RSA).
After more than 2 hours flight from Jakarta to Singapore and continued with another 11 hours to Johannesburg, finally I made my first step in RSA. The temperature was about 11 degC at the outside. It's quite chill for me who came from tropical climate. Frankly, I feel so excited to see the town but the car was not available yet until tomorrow, so I need to wait for a day to see my neighborhood around.

We (Me and Solih) were picked by Mr. Thabiso (the driver) at the OR Tambo airport. Somehow we were caught by random check twice. How come ??? I did not really knew why they did that. The second custom clearance location was not to far from the first, and we believe that the second officer knew that. But anyway, since we did not have anything to be worried, then everything was checked and we allowed to proceed to exit way. On the way to exit, some dogs were sniffing our luggages for more security checking. We believe they did these because they were preparing for Confederation Cup security exercise.

Solih made some currencies changed at the airport money changer and I bought a Vodacom SIM card for 199 rand. Solih said it was much too expensive, but I thought communication is more important that its price, so be it.

On the way to the Fountain Hill Guest House, I could see that Joburg (That's how people here called Johannesburg) is a quite developed city. The highways were wide and smooth. I could saw some traffic jams in several routes but that's still okay compared to what you could see in jakarta daily. It tooks about 25 minutes to reach the guest house.

It has electric fence and tall gate for security purpose. We met with Natalia, the owner, and introduced each other. Chit chat a little and she took us to our rooms. Solih got Room no.2 and me at no. 3. My room was cold. The heater was not turned on yet. It's quite cozy since it well furnished with everything I need except no stove in the room, only microwave and water heater. Refrigerator also available.

Since we can't go outside today, we decide to eat instant noodles that we brought from home. Well, I can survive today and believe that tomorrow will be a very exciting day for me since I will meet a lot of new faces in the office and start working. Well, it's getting late in here, I need to go to bed early tonight. I'll continue with another story later on. Good night then.