Days One and Two – Johannesburg, Soweto and Boksburg
Saturday - I arrived at roughly 7am in Jo’burg to 0 degrees
Celsius. Tired, with jet lag and with sexy cankles. Got my first stamp in my
new passport and picked up and taken to my hotel. Along the way my hotel
manager convinced me to do the Apertheid and Soweto tour instead of the Jo’burg
tour. In all honesty I think she was trying to save herself money as she had
another girl booked that day for that tour. I went with it and glad I did.
I got an hour to shower and relax before heading off. Best
way to overcome jet lag is to stay awake all day if you can so this was a good
way to do that.
First stop Apertheid Museum. Very eye opening… They had a
temporary exhibit on Mandela there. Here are a few pics.
Next stop Soweto. Short for South West Township. This is
where Nelson Mandela resided before he went to prison for 27 years and then for
11 days after he left prison. His house has been turned into a museum. This was
my favourite museum of the day.
Hopping back into the car we headed to Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector Pieterson was among the first children to be shot and killed at a rally on June 1, 1976. This was an awakening for the people.
At the end of the day we passed Soccer City where the FIFA World Cup was held only a couple of years ago. Its HUGE.
You can bunji jump off the walkway up in the middle there on this power station... crazy...
These are 'kit' homes. For sale.
Original piece of furniture in Mandela's house
These boys asked me to take a picture of them... so I did... :)
Soweto markets
Soccer City
Jo'Burg
Sunday - After a long
sleep, I woke and had brekky and pondered what to do on my free day. Eventually
I decided to go for a walk. I walked to the closest mall which was about a 15
min walk. Not a lot was open and I really wanted to buy a zoom lens and a lens
shade for my new camera. So I asked how to get to a bigger mall and was instructed
to stand on the side of the road and put my hand out spreading my fingers like
I was showing the number 5 and that would hail me a taxi that would only cost 6
Rand (about 70cents) to get to East Rand Mall. Sceptical about this I decided
to walk and see just how far the mall was as I was told it was on that same
road… I got sick of walking after 10 mins. LOL. I asked again at a local petrol
station if they could call me a taxi. Instead the petrol attendant asked one of
his customers who kindly offered me a lift. (Mum if you are reading this, don’t
worry, I did a risk assessment first and decided the risk was low.) The man
Patrick and his wife Precious gave me a lift to the mall which was a good 5kms
so I’m glad I didn’t walk. I spent the day walking around the mall and making
sure I had all the necessary things I needed for the two weeks ahead. I got my
lens and saved a good $200. J
I went to a flea market and got a few souvenirs and there was entertainment
there (which was really bad singers) and I found the culture much like
Australia really but still very interesting. I decided to spend the afternoon
walking home and I’m so glad I did. On the way I stumbled across a Pet Market.
But this was no ordinary pet store. It had a Bird Park attached to it which was
free to enter… so enter I did.
It took me a good hour and a half to casually walk home and
along the way I discovered that you can buy just about anything at a set of
lights or on the side of the road. From sunglasses to furniture to even puppies
(which made me quite sad).
It was a great day and being in Africa is gradually becoming
real…
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