Cape Town (Day 2, 10th Nov)

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I am writing with some time lag, thanks to travel and limited access to net.

There is a song by "Crowded House", "Always Take the Weather With You". Well, I did bring the weather with me, but just the wrong kind. After the first day being half decent (sunny), 10th (and its 12th today and the weather hasnt improved) saw temperature dropping to 13-14 degrees with wind speed consistently around 50 kpmh.

That meant, Table Mountain was out of question, the cable car is shut and hiking is not allowed.

So I went to Hout Bay, a small fishing village in Cape Town. This place is so independent that they actually issue a passport for the "Republic of Hout Bay" 😊 Seeing Hout Bay, I can see why they describe Cape Town as "achingly beautiful". Perhaps thats the only phrase that describes this place. I will let the pics describe it, but one thing that is absolutely out of this world for any seafood lover at Hout's Bay is Mariners Wharf. Its a seafood joint, but also has a curio shop, a fish market. A guy called Stanley Dorman, a 4th generation Hout Bay resident, started this place, he was inspired by seafood at San Francisco and travelled the world after that, researching the restaurant concept before starting this place.

Its made on concept of sailors hangout joint (Manish, you must visit this place if your travels bring to this part), food is brilliant (and cheap) and the view is just awesome.

Post hanging out at Hout's Bay and having breakfast in the idyllic setting for couple of hours (the sight of cloud's caressing the top of the mountain almost gives a sense of spirituality, I also tried to think about the future, but the place and the song (quiet aptly "Que Sera Sera" was playing) didnt allow me to 😊

Post Hout Bay, went to Camp's Bay. The drive took me through 12 Aposotles. The interesting story is a) Table Mountain is not flat as its pictures make to look it, the back of Table Mountain has these high peaks called 12 Aposotles, b) no one knows why its called 12 Aposotles, actually there are 17 😊 But its a beautiful, scenic drive.

Camp's Bay is an idyllic beach setting, one of the two beaches in Cape Town (the other being Clifton Beach) where you get to see Bikini babes. But at 13 degrees temperature, that sight was out of the question 😊 Just hung out there for sometime (real estate there is one of the most expensive in Capetown, some bunglows go about $6M 😞

Got back to Waterfront from Camp's Bay (I had taken a day city tour bus, strongly recommend to anyone not driving in Cape Town) and went to the Two Ocean's Aquarium. Its one of the largest aquariums in the world. It was an amazing display of aquatic life, just one interesting fact. Phytoplanktons, the tiny little things contribute to 60% of the world's Oxygen and are also the source of food (Krill) for Blue Whales (who eat nothing else). Such is the quirk of nature that such a tiny thing contibutes to so much of our living system.

Saw some school children doing hungama outside the aquarium, they were having a good time.

After that was a tired soul, got back to the hotel and crashed. Was one of the best days here, despite the weather.

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Comments

[Karishma]

gorgeous pcitures!