Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 9

25 mai 2014 : Après avoir fait la grasse matinée, nous quittons Benidoleig à 12h15 pour Pego où nous laissons notre voiture dans le garage de notre ami Salvador. Il nous emmène à Gandia à 13h00 où nous prenons le train pour Valencia à 13h55. De là, nous prenons le métro pour l'aéroport que nous atteignons à 15h45. Nous prenons un peu de cash et nous cherchons un bureau de change pour avoir des dollars, car ils ne prennent théoriquement pas les euros dans cette région de l'Afrique. Il n'y en a pas, un comble pour un aéroport international. Nous décollons à 19h05, à l'heure, avec Air Europa et nous arrivons à Roissy 2F à 9h00 comme prévu. Nous nous rendons au terminal 2E, juste en face, Nous avons 2 heures de correspondance, et nous en ... read more

I was supposed to be flying from Manchester to Charles De Gaulle in Paris, then on to Johannesburg. From there I should leave my flight and get on another, to Victoria Falls! Best laid plans and all that eh? Manchester to Paris - easy! Arrived in Paris and saw there were 2 boarding gates for the flight to Johannesburg so I was a bit confused; all was clear when we were boarding; it was the HUGE A380 2 floored plane that looked too big to move, let alone fly! I sat on the ground floor; was pretty nifty really and quite an experience. However, on arriving at Johannesburg we were almost landed when the pilot aborted the landing; it was not nice! As we shot back up at speed the co-pilot said the pilot would explain ... read more

Southern Sun Garden Court Tambo Hotel, Friday, March 28th We were up early to have breakfast at 7:00 in order to be ready to get on the bus for an 8:30 departure. Our first stop was at the Apartheid Museum that opened in 2001. As you entered, your ticket randomly assigned you as a White or a Colored person. You then entered the museum in those separately marked entrances and wandered through reading narratives about conditions you faced as a white person, or as a colored person, if you were, Colored. I understand the point they were trying to make, but I felt I wasn’t getting the other ½ of the story, no matter which side I was assigned. It is a difficult museum to navigate, especially for people with limited mobility. You never were sure ... read more

After a busy week of on-calls, GSWs (gun shot wounds), emergency theatre lists and needle stick scares we were well ready for a weekend break. First stop, Centurion for Australia vs SA T20. Let's hope the South Africans give the Aussies a good battering!! Sneaking in through a back entrance of the Supersport car park we were soon placed pitch side, beer (and vuvuzela!) in hands and ready for some lighting-paced cricket action. But not before a cheeky appearance on KFC Kids For Cricket Radio!! Surrounded by Afrikaners friends we quickly got sucked into the atmosphere. 6...4...6!!!! The South African openers were putting on a real show! Unfortunately the rest of the team didn't follow suit and on a slow, boggy outfield the Proteas slumped to a measly 135-9. With half time looming the trauma trio ... read more

Had an extremely interesting conversation with some local girls I made friends with a few nights ago. We spent the evening discussing a form of medicine which I thought was no longer practiced on Earth - how wrong of me! According to google and it's reliable Wikipedia, witchcraft is the use of magical faculties and has been around since the earliest human cultures. Witchcraft is taken very seriously here. I was told that an educated, western doctor will step aside in the corridor of a hospital if a witch-doctor was to pass. According to locals here, if you truly want to harm someone or bring bad luck to someone, you must approach a witchdoctor and request a spell or potion to do so. Stemming from the devil and his power, witches are wives of Satan and ... read more