Cape Town

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sorry, this is the first time I'm on the internet long enough to enter a blog, so I'll have to back track a bit.
Nov 25, flew from Buffalo airport--took the Megabus from Toronto--we were at the border crossing for 1.5 hrs! lucky my flight was much later.
Nov 26, my cheap ticket included a 10 hour wait at Frankfurt so I went into town. the metro from the airport to downtown train station was only 3 stops! the transportation system is mind-blowingly organized, efficient and convenient (but super expensive). wondered around downtown Frankfurt & came completely by accident to the Frankfurt Market (food stalls on pedestrian streets) around Neue Krame. walked back along the Main river. that was really nice. wanted to explore more but got too cold. went back to the airport. Frankfurt airport has these lounge chairs great for taking naps. they were right next to the "departures" board so I just had to open my eyes to see if it was time to go yet. what luxury!
Nov 27, got to Johannesburg & couchsurfed with a wonderful host who drove me to Lions Park 20 min from his house. I met a local & her friend from Finland who let me go in their van for the safari. we drove around & saw a giraffe, zebras, a cheetah, lions, etc. really up close, like, they were a few feet from the van. the girl from finland had her window open as she was taking pictures. (the cheetah was behind a fence, thank god) then we went to another area where you can pet baby lions. I squatted down to pet them & one jumped on me from behind. the lion keeper took him off me but then he did it again seconds later! I had to remain standing after that. I think he was just playing but the keeper was afraid that he'll bite me (but don't they do that when they play?) They were so tiny and cute from 2 weeks old to 3 months old. the meerkat is a lot smaller than I thought, the size of a squirrel. the jackal is a lot smaller than I thought, the size of a fox. the hyena is a lot bigger than I thought, size of a german shepherd. the van lady said she'll send me photos of the baby lions.
Nov 28, left for Cape Town on the Shosholoza Meyl train. both the Johannesburg and Cape Town train stations are very scary places. the train was suppose to take 26 hrs but took 31 instead as it kept breaking down along the way. everybody says, "yes, welcome to South Africa, it's like a 3rd world country". I got to meet locals and see a lot of South Africa from the train--a country with so many problems but endlessly interesting. the main problem being "there's no planning". nobody knows how to plan, or has not the foresight to plan, or tries to plan but cannot. in general, there's no planning.
Nov 29, I'm currently staying in West Beach, Cape Town with my friend Alex and his partner Milda and their 2 kids Audri & Hesse. we are 10 min walk from the beach which has a full view of Cape Town and Table Mountain. I can't wait to go for a hike but will have to wait & plan to go with others because tourists are a target and South Africa is the rape capital of the world so someone like me cannot go to Table Mountain alone. 😞 somehow the beauty of a place doesn't seem beautiful at all when the people are so scary!

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