Blogs from South Africa, Africa - page 682

We arrived in Capetown and got a ride to Long Street which is where most of the backpacker hostels are. We started to walk up the road to check out what was available when we met a young swedish girl who recognized our search and recommended Ashanti guesthouse and also took us there in her car. Ashanti was a little over our budget, so we walked back down to Long Street and got a room there. We stayed in Capetown for about 4 days and did a lot of touristy stuff of which neither I nor Kristen is usually that keen. It was fun though. We walked around the town, took a boat trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and most other black political prisoners were incarcerated during Aparteid, we walked around the Victoria and ... read more

The search for the Big 5 ended up being the discovery of so much more. To be updated...... read more

THE GROUP.... I was part of the Indian delegation sent by the Spices Board to look at opportunities to export spices to South Africa. The delegation was headed by KPG Menon (Director - Spices Board). The other members included Mammen Verghese (Malayalam Manorama), Mathew Jr.(Bolst Condiments) and a couple of other exporters (Lalah's & Rani Food Products) - I forget the names. This was a nice group which made the whole trip more enjoyable. JOHANNESBURG We arrived in Johannesburg from Mumbai on South African Airways. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of service with SAA - it was really good. We were met by representatives from the Indian Consulate. KPG Menon as Director of the Spices Board (which falls under the Ministry of Commerce) ranked equally with the Deputy Consul and therefore we were in ... read more

Flew CPT to JNB on Comair flight MN702, a 737-200. I was in seat 12E. We had a few hours to kill at JNB airport until our flight home after 9pm. This flight would make a stop in Ilha do Sal. I remember seeing that and thinking Sal??? Are we stopping in San Salvador??? The actual code is SID and our flight would go JNB-SID-JFK. The stop was made due to the elevation of JNB airport. The flight was routine and soon we were all waking up to land in Sal. There was a quick crew change and a few people boarded. We all joked about getting pulled off here due to no space. At sunrise on November 5, we were in JFK. We had cleared immigration quickly and they went off to LGA to get ... read more

The taxi was there as promised and we did get on the first Comair flight that morning. The two hour flight on a 737-200 was just fine and the service was impressive. This was before they became linked up with British Airways. I was in seat 4E. When we arrived in Cape Town, I felt much better about everything. I think it was the weather. It was sunny and hot! While the guys were getting our rental car, I went over to the Comair office to check return loads. A nice girl named Nikki helped me out and was asking questions about the USA. We exchanged addresses and I told her that if she ever visited the USA, I would be happy to show her around. Little did I know that a long lasting friendship would ... read more