Days in Joe'burg

Day 1
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Arrived in Joe'burg, 6970 kms from Mumbai, covered in around 9 hours. The flight was peaceful, a bit delayed due to 180 km/h headwinds near Joe'burg (and change of runway last minute in Mumbai).

Joe'burg airport is like any other big city airport, but the baggage comes much slower than Mumbai :)

Rusty and Shelly were patiently waiting at airport (they told me this was one of the first twosome time they had got in quite some time, they had dropped Shaurya, their 2 year old boy to school :)

Their house is in a very nice, quiet complex, the sign when you enter is an amazingly funny one "Beware of Children" :)

We went to pick Shaurya from school, he is an absolute darling

I crashed after Rusty went to work (but not before he gave me 50 travel booklets to read of which I have read only 7 :) No bookings done yet, but will get it done tomorrow

After waking up (and home cooked food by Shelly which was awesome), we took Shaurya to play in the park. And I realized, having seen many friends' kids, that children everywhere are the same. They throw their tantrums when they need something, they all love their respective cartoons, they all think moms are for functional needs (and when they need to be loved), but dads are the cool ones :)

Once Rusty came back, we chilled out at their backyard garden, some amazing South African wine (Rusty learnt how to open a bubbly :)

The weather was awesome, early 20s temperature, mild breeze. And it started raining which brought temperature down even further.

We sat there, drinking, reminiscing (best part was watching Shaurya hugging Rusty and Shaurya comforting Rusty telling him "Mera beta" :) As I said, he is an absolute darling and has become my friend :)

I can see why Rusty likes Joe'burg despite what we hear about this city wrt crime etc. They have friends here, its a secure environment. At the end of the day, that's what matters... Friends

PS: The pics of Shelly in the red t-shirt are clicked by Shaurya on my camera :) Point and shoot it is...

Day 2
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Today was a lazy day, but got bookings done for Cape Town and Stellenbosch (which is part of the Wine Route, I am looking forward to the Wine Tours there, have booked a tour there)

We went shopping in the late afternoon and I put my camera to test from the car moving at 80-120 kmph. Joe'burg is beautiful, I would let the pictures speak for themselves. Its a big city, but very very quiet, just the way I like a city to be.

After shopping was an early dinner, having some Cider (nice cool drink) and then watching the Arsenal-Wolves match. Right now the Barca match is on, so I am writing this and then going to watch the match.

Joe'burg has been much better than I had thought (I had expected the hustle bustle of big city, but found a green surrounding, cool weather and Rusty/Shelly just take good care of me :)

More to follow, once Monday begins, then I will be on my own

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