Cultural Infusion at Art Galleries, V&A Waterfront, Close Encounter with Muggers, and Long Street Balcony

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Checked out of Ashanti this morning at 8am and went straight to Long Street Backpackers.. got the dorm room.. and woooh.. the room's on the 3rd storey.. and we have our own balcony overlooking long street! and the dorm has a private bathroom as well... 90rand/person/night.. nice place.. and Clinton (who owns the place i think) is really nice and friendly... you just got to love the atmosphere at great backpackers' hostels..

Went out for breakfast at some nice cafe.. then basically walked the town.. Ryan, who's the artistic type, brought me to this nice art gallery owned by Michael Stevenson.. he worked at a gallery in New York that mainly deals with African and Indian art.. so he has been going around the various galleries yesterday when i was up in the Table Mountains..

After my cultural infusion at the gallery, we went out to the waterfront.. nice chic place.. with malls and restaurants and pubs etc.. a bit like Navy Pier in Chicago or Pier 17 (or was it Pier 1?) in New York.. new buildings and malls with victorian-looking architecture.. companies offering cruises.. performing street artistes.. etc.. and this is Africa! we walked down one of the piers to get as close to the Atlantic Ocean as possible.. there's a breakwater there.. and you see big waves crashing upon the breakwater, while seagulls hover above catching the wind.. ooh, the wind.. it's really strong today.. yesterday was really warm and sunny, and I'm glad i went out to the mountains.. the weather this morning was cloudy.. pensive.. and after our breakfast, the weather turned cold and windy really quickly, and we had to head back to our rooms to get more clothes on.. so glad we're staying in LSB (Long Street Backpackers!, not the other LSBs that some of my buddies back home are so knowledgeable of... =) being close to town and all that.. The entire day was really just cloudy.. gloomy.. windy.. cold.. as winters usually are.. but i like this kind of weather.. puts me in a thinking mood.. i remember reading my philosophy texts our in the porch whenever this kind of weather hit back when i was in the states..

On our way back from the waterfront.. we nearly had another encounter with street muggers.. we were approached by 2 guys around the corner of a main street near the CBD area (at around 330pm!).. but today being saturday, that street was pretty empty.. the 2 guys started coming close to us and talking some things like wanting a cigarette or light or something like that.. i didn't really pay attention to what they were saying, as I sensed something wasn't really right.. they managed to get Ryan into a wall while i was able to walk away a bit further.. i called out to Ryan, "hey, i think it's over there!" and pointed to the direction where we were walking from, and Ryan turned back and we half-ran down the road to a main intersection/roundabout.. the 2 guys followed suit.. and we were lucky there was a security guard nearby that stopped them... there wasn't much aggression from the 2.. but there most probably would be if we hadn't turned around or if the security guard wasn't there at the right time..

We basically took a cab wherever we go after that.. haha... went to have a look at the Castle of Good Hope.. just the outside.. cos the inside costs money.. and then took a cab back to the hostel, got a couple of beers from the bar.. and enjoyed the balcony while we down our beers to wind down for the day.. after the beer, we crossed the street and came into this nice internet cafe.. 25 rand/hour.. (1usd=6.8rand)..

We have our car booked for tomorrow.. 179rand/day.. 200km limit, which is enough to get us round the peninsular.. so we're gonna spend the day tomorrow to tour the peninsular.. get into Cape Point.. chill out in Simon's Town.. and see the Twelve Apostles.. and some penguins along the way.. there are certain points where you can look out to the ocean and see whales.. but i think whale season is in November or so.. we'll see.. we may get really really lucky =) oh.. at the waterfront today.. we saw a seal swimming underneath the hull of one of the fishing ships berthed there.. pretty cool..

just checked in online for my flight on Monday.. i was late =( no "aisle-seat by the emergency row exit" for me =( so i just got a window seat.. will touch down in Singapore in the wee hours on the 26th.. my bro is suggesting we do all the citizenship thing that day.. he's gonna take that day off to accompany me to renounce my indo citizenship and maybe swear in as singaporean.. so touched =) thanks bro! but i really need to get a haircut first and take some photos.. haha.. my hair was pretty long.. and i had to cut my own hair when i arrived in cape town.. big nice city.. must look nicer a little bit.. the fact that the women in cape town are actually quite attractive did not really contribute to me wanting to look good.. really..

ok.. internet time's almost up.. going back to my balcony and watch Long Street go by..

So looking forward to get back to Singapore.. yet can't really bear to leave Africa..

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