so far... in south africa

FRIDAY : Jo-burg

landed here on friday morn, surprisingly rested, as i used a bunch of miles in order to fly first class for te 12 hour flight. just relaxed, saw rafique's apt and neighborhood. since we were planning to head out that night, raffy, varooj and their cousin mike - who is living here in jo-burg working as a model - decided to invite some people over to pre-party. not too many folks showed, but many many drinks were had. the party was good -- funny how you travel all the way to the other end of the world to hear the same music. :) we arrived home at 5am - and were off to the airport to head to cape town at 5:30. because as mike says "THAT'S HOW WE ROLL!"

SATURDAY : Cape Town

arrived in cape town at around 9am. headed to Raffy's friend Tsepo's place (actually it's his uncle's place but whatever). a fabulous 3 bedroom where we'd all crash for the weekend. after a brief sit down we headed out to see the sights. photos taken on my N95 : here. more to come from my other camera soon. after touring the fishing village / antique area and getting a great seafood lunch, we went back home for a nap. after a lie down we went back out for a drink at a lounge over-looking the water at sunset. gorgeous. then to a posh hotel -- and finally out for the night. 6 bars/ lounges/ clubs... from all black -- to almost all white (except for us) -- to all "colored" or mixed people. quite a night.

SUNDAY : Cape Town

we woke up quite late, but decided to push through and head to wine country. after doing a tasting, we headed for a wonderful lunch at nice Victorian-style hotel. food aplenty -- they had a full room just for dessert. fantastic. malva pudding is my new find. recipe here. it was raining at this point, so the boys just kicked back had some scotch and cigars attempting to wait out the downpour. no dice. a few hours later we ran to the car to head to airport back to jo-burg. needless to say w all passed out on the flight.

MONDAY/ TUESDAY : Jo-burg

Mon -- i slept all day. mike and i only left to go get a bite to eat and hit up the ATM. varooj headed home, so now it's just the 3 amigos.

Tues -- jet-lag sprouts its ugly head/ compounded on my 14 hours of sleep on Monday. :) . i was up from 3am - 8am. :( but back to sleep until 2pm. gotta love vacation! i headed the mall -- featuring gucci, prada, nike shops.. the works! not what i expected, but the highlight was Nelson Mandela Square adjacent to the mall. pic leads off this entry. raffy and i enjoyed a nice indian dinner after my nearly 3 hour journey through the mall and adjoining sights.

more adventures to come...

***In case you missed the link earlier -- all photos taken to date are here