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Published: June 28th 2008
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DAY 95 - CAPE TOWN Dad seems to have taken to the habit of taking a morning stroll while he waits for me to awake from my slumber. Once I was up we headed down to the V & A waterfront where we booked our tickets for Robben Island the next day then did a little shopping. We walked towards the city centre, getting pasta on the way and visited the Cathedral as well as the biggest African craft store ever. Thousands of beaded necklaces hanging from the walls! We headed back to the hostel since I wasn't feeling so well and indeed I think I picked something up from the water during the shark dive and I really wasn't up for anything at all for the remainder of the day. I met some French speakers and was pleased to discover I could actually understand quite a lot when they conversed although I still refuse to speak the language myself!
DAY 96 - CAPETOWN I felt better in the morning - well enough to walk to the harbour and get the boat to Robben Island - the former home to political prisoners including Nelson Mandela for 18 years. The 45
minute boat trip was ok - better than my last time on the water! We got on a bus when we arrived and I thought it might just be just another boring tour round but in fact they only use former inmates or guards as guides and so our man was very informative and provided a unique insight into life on the island. He managed to weave the nationalities of almost everyone on the bus into the story. We saw Nelson Mandela's cell and I was very glad to learn about this side of South Africa from a first hand source. We watched the rugby once back on the mainland before heading back. I was still feeling a little energyless so worked on the task on updating this blog before watching a film and then the football (as always)!
DAY 97 - CAPETOWN We got picked up at 8.15am to go on a township tour. We made sure to go with a company which understands that we do not wish to pry as tourists but rather just observe how things are and meet people as they are. We went into a church and witnessed some very enthusiastic gospel singing
and preaching before heading out onto the streets to walk about. A little girl grabbed my hand and held it the entire way round - I think she wanted to be adopted! We were shown the richer side of the community as well as those living in wooden shacks put up since the end of apartheid. We got dropped off back at the waterfront and had some Thai food - first time in a while for that. I then headed back to the hostel to do some more blogging before we were picked up by Hilary - my mum's 2nd cousin although my Dad hadn't seen her for 20 years! Their house was like to mansion to us after the time we'd spent in hostels. We met the family too - the kids were great and put me to shame helping to prepare the meal. We watched Mr & Mrs Smith on their projector screen before turning in to our rather luxurious beds.
DAY 98 - CAPETOWN - LONDON Hilary drove us around the area, through the winelands to eventually come to the foot of table mountain from where we took the spinning cable car to the top. We
thought for a while we'd be stuck with the pea-soup fog which greeted us but after a short walk we came back to the edge to discover the clouds were clearing and so were treated to a great view of the sea and part of the city below. It was a great way to end my days of travelling. I was tempted by abseiling but my severe lack of money didn't encourage me! Once we'd eaten and returned back down we returned to Hilary's to sort out our bags and watch Wimbledon a little before heading to the airport. All went smoothly as I got on a plane for the 7th and last time. A crazy Danish girl was sitting next to me - apparently she was returning to host a music festival and she was certainly entertaining.
DAY 99 - LONDON - HOME I don't think I got much sleep (as per normal) so was feeling lousy for the remainder of the day. We navigated our way to the bus station once we were off the plane and had my last bus journey - see the stats below to see quite how long I spent on the roads
on this trip! I was greeting in Exeter by my Auntie and Tristan although I had to wait and shop for a bit before actually going home. A strange thing is that Hannah - as in the one who was living in Singapore - was back and turned up to say hello. Trying to get revenge for that surprise!
Well now I'm home and I've had the time of my life on this trip. It's too recent right now to evaluate how it's affected me - certainly I'm more independant and feel like I could walk up and talk to almost anyone now. It's also let me see so many different cultures and perspectives. Just talking to fellow travellers about life, the universe and everything opened my eyes and hopefully made my a better, more tolerant person. I've ticked off several life ambitions but have made some more at the same time. I'm sure I'll look back on this in years to come and see how it's changed my life.
Thanks for reading this blog. It was always good to hear from people. I'm signing off until next time... and yes there will be a next
time- I think I've got the bug!
Travel Statistics!
Hours on buses: 175 (over a week)
Hours on trains: 68
Hours on planes: 55
No. beds slept in: Approx. 60
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Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.033s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb