Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 27

As all seven of us had lived in South Korea, this was a game we had been looking forward to. Argentina is in outstanding form and the coach, Maradonna, is almost as fun to watch as the team. Meanwhile, the South Koreans don't have anywhere near the skill and depth of the Argentineans, but make up for that in fitness and speed. It was bound to be a great game. Mark, the sole American in the group, drove us all down to a local station, from whence we were to get the train to the game. We consisted of two Canadians, an Australian, a Welsh, a Filipina, and a Dane. Having all developed a love-hate relationship with Korea, we really wanted Korea to win... or get trounced. Only a draw would be unsatisfying., On arrival at ... read more

Hello, Well its been about a week since my last post. We have been back in Johannesburg for a few days now. I am at a public terminal now so no pix for now but I will post them later to this blog. So we spent about a week outside of Mokolodi Nature reserve at a backpackers campground. We had a hut for a few nights and a tent for the others. I loved that in the evening the servants bring a plastic waterbottle filled with hot water for us to put at the end of our beds. It warms your feet during the cold nights which are just above freezing by the way. I didnt think it would be so cold here. We are bundled up anyhow. After a few rest days at the camp ... read more

Tuesday 15th June Breakfast at DKW is like a League of Nations convention. There are the Boys from Brazil, Argentineans, English and Germans. Everything is very civilised and we all wish each other good luck, through gritted teeth. A dose of culture today. We took a drive into Pretoria and visited the Voortrekker Monument which is the biggest Monument in Africa. This monument was designed to commemorate the Vortrekkers , who were a large group of the forefathers of the Afrikaner people who demonstrated their discontent with the British authorities in the Cape by leaving the colony permanently. They travelled deep into the interior of Southern Africa between 1834 -54. This was known as The Great Trek. O.K history lesson over. Later in the day we went to a Fan Fest and watched the match between ... read more

Just before I left Bangkok, I checked the weather in South Africa. It had occurred to me momentarily that this was in the southern hemisphere and that some countries down there experienced winter. Sure enough, it's winter. So I managed to pack my only jacket, all three pairs of socks, and bought a pair of pants. Done. Three hours to Hong kong, 12 hour layover for banking, eating and drinking, twelve hour flight to Johannesburg and I'm there at 6:20am. It was only after arriving at the airport that I realized that this is going to be a city gone mad. After passing through immigration I got my first hint. A guy was walking around blowing a vuvuzela -- the plastic metre-long trumpet things that have made this the world's noisiest World Cup. These things are ... read more

Woke up still disappointed from the result of last night and also wondering if Nick and Raphael got back to Jo'Burg ok. We still can't believe that goal. It was like watching something in slow motion.It seems as if all Capello's gambles aren't paying off.Still, enough of that. Gotta think positive. Today we went to the SA Lion Park. This place should be about 26 minutes from where we are staying, but true to form we got lost and it ended up taking us nearly an hour. Due to our lack of navigation skills we missed the 11.30 tour we had been booked on but fortunately we were rescheduled for the 1.30 trip.In the mean time we took the opportunity to go in the lion cub enclosure and also feed the giraffes and ostrich's. Back ... read more