My Mom and godmother – Auntie Verna traveled the necessary 15-16 hours by plane to visit me here in South Africa. Although I’m sure that they weren’t sure what to expect I believe that they were quite surprised that things were so advanced here. The roads are almost in perfect condition, the streets are clean, the cars are fancy, the shopping malls modern, and there are beautiful houses – despite the fact that they are all hidden behind very thick and solid walls. It is modern but a divide still exists – remnants of apartheid, dire poverty which is very well hidden away and sheer luxury which is also somewhat hidden away – only a sliver of middle class is sandwiched between the two worlds.

We all agreed that it is these walls that although a few black people now live behind that both physically and symbolically continue to keep people separate.

It was very nice to have them here and we all had a good time. The agenda started on Sunday with church in Soweto, a visit to the Nelson Mandela house, lunch at a well known restaurant in Soweto called Nambita’s. We spend a large part of the day with Sahle, her Mom, her sister, and her best friend who were visiting SA at the same time. After getting lost in the “mean streets” of Soweto for almost an hour I made it back to Joburg in time for a visit to Cliff and Refiloe’s house and dinner at one of the major malls – Sandton. Whew! And that was only day 1.

During the next 2 days, we visited the apartheid museum, went to dinner at a beautiful African-themed restaurant called Moyo’s and saw a great dance show called Umoja that almost got canceled due to a blackout.

That Wednesday we all traveled to Cape Town and stayed in the center of town in an area called Green Market square near Long street. I am convinced that Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The town center is built around a range of mountains so every where you look the landscape is absolutely beautiful.While there, we spent a lot of time with Sahle and her family and went to Robben Island (place where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison)…

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – one of the most beautiful places in the world…

the famous Constantia vineyards for some wine tasting…

Hout Bay….

Cape Point…

But can you imagine that there is more racism there against black people than in Joburg and that there are thousands of shacks that you from the highway when driving from the airport to town? These shacks are frail structures with tin roofs some of which are patched with large black garbage bags and build very close to each other. In the winter people burn coal to keep warm and risk wiping out hundreds of “homes” with fire. What a tragedy in the midst of all that natural beauty. People think that Cape Town is safer than Joburg, but I don’t believe that is true. There certainly is a lot more to do in terms of restaurants, bars, beaches, and other sites as it caters more to people who have a tons of money as well as foreigners. South Africans continue to perpetuate what they want about crime given the history of apartheid and the fact that more black people live in Joburg, but in the end you must be as careful as you would be in NYC while in both cities.

So while in Cape Town the airline carrier that we flew down with called Nationwide Airlines, was shut down due to some issue about an engine falling out of one of their planes. I was not surprised given some issues that Sahle had with the airline in the past, but rather irritated because we had to buy entirely new return tickets on another airline.

Oh well. I think that my patience has increased significantly since being away on the account that I learned to live without television or radio, dealt with the occasional blackout, couldn’t go where I wanted to whenever I wanted to because of the limited public transport system and the fact that the stores close very early (6pm), and only had access to the internet up until 11pm at night which was about 5pm US-time. But we made it back to Joburg (hoping and praying that I will get reimbursed by Nationwide for the original ticket), and spent the remaining says shopping at the Rosebank fleamarket, and visiting a friend in Pretoria.

I’m so happy that they were able to visit me and come and see this very interesting, dynamic, and multi-dimensional country. So please if you ever get the chance to visit SA, please do, and be sure to visit Joburg, Sun City, Cape Town, Durban, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the Safari in Botswana, and the beaches of Mozambique. It will be an experience that you will never forget.

Lesotho is an independent state wholly enclosed by South Africa… The official languages are English and Sotho, and it is known as the “Roof of Southern Africa” because it offers visitors the experience of a purely black African state and a fascinating mountain world.

This weekend, I traveled to Lesotho with friends Cliff and Refiloe to visit Refiloe’s parents. Lesotho is located about 4 hours drive away from Johannesburg and it situated on a particularly high altitude. The car sped down a two-lane highway and was largely unaccompanied or quickly overtook the other cars and trucks on the road. Once again just like the journey to Durban, I saw lots of cattle, brown, black, black and white just standing around and eating grass… As the landscape became more interesting and mountainous, I figured that we were getting close to Lesotho.

Although Lesotho is a country within a country, there is an official boarder where we had to get out of the car and get our passports stamped once in South Africa and then 50 feet away once again in Lesotho.

Although it is the same land, it is indeed a different country with its’ own king and queen and prime minister.

Everywhere you look, there are mountain formations, mountain ridges, and more mountains. It’s beautiful. Some of the mountains even look like natural pyramids. At this time of year the land is a very bright green and there are many shepard boys tending to flocks of cattle and sheep. They start this seemingly lonesome job as early as the age of 8 and wear gumb or rubber boots, wool blankets, and straw or wool hats. Cliff once said that you know that you’re in Lesotho when everywhere you look people are walking around in blankets (this is what they use as coats and to keep warm at night). Due to the high altitude, it actually gets very cold in the winter and snows. This temperature was a bit cooler than it was in Jo’burg.

The night is pitch black and has a very still quality about it. It fools you into thinking that it is much later than it really is. The crickets chirp, and the sky hovers sometimes showing stars, sometimes not. After doing a bit of bbqing on saturday up on arrival, we only ate a little bit and all actually went to bed at 9:30pm because we were so tired. It may seem early but it made so much sense. The country moves slowly and so did we.

Hello everyone! I know that I haven’t written for some time, but I felt very guilty writing my blog when I had a significant amount of school work to tend to. But here is the update. After I came back from Durban, I’ve been in Jo’burg and hadn’t gone anywhere, but I can fill you in on some things that happened before and after that I haven’t mentioned yet.

Well, first of all the Rugby World cup was going on when I first got here. Rugby is huge here, but I didn’t actually go see a game until the very final game, where South Africa was playing against England. Sahle and I were both invited to watch the game at this German club called Edelweiss by a classmate of mine named Cameron. He’s a really nice guy and came and picked us up, took us to his house were we met his wife and his best friend. We all filed into a taxi and went to the bar which was in this area called Bridgewater. There used to be a man-made lake there, but they filled it in because it started to smell. Really Jo’burg is land-locked so there are no substantial bodies of water anywhere. The place was totally insane and got even more insane when South Africa actually won. It was kind of like the superbowl, but the thing is that it only takes place every 4 years. As you see by the pictures, I tried to fit in a bit by putting together a green and yellow outfit.

1) The crowd patiently waits, 2)Cameron, his best friend and his wife, 3) Me, Sahle, and Shelley, 4) One of the waiter and Neil, celebrating the win by dancing on the table- that was a true celebration!, 5) Me and Cameron standing on the table after the win.

Second, Mary J. Blidge came to town and the concert was great! If you don’t know you now know that I absolutely love Mary and have every single one of her albums – this was my first time seeing her in concert and she sounded even better live than on the albums. I was a bit sick, but you would have never known! (below are pics of Mary, Me, Sahle, and Sahle’s friends Mandisa and Lulama who actually got us the tix)

Third, it was one of the exchange student’s (Hide from Japan) birthdays and we went to an amusement park called Gold Reef City. I was at the tail-end of a food fast and look so hungry!

Third, on November 14^th, the full-time class had an end of the year party at a restaurant in a nice area of town called Park Hurst. Everyone was glad to be done with their core courses and most of the students came with their significant others. It was a nice event….

Photos: 1) One of the three dinner tables, 2) Me, Debra (Ed’s girlfriend), Sahle and Lucretia, 3) Katy in the red skirt put the whole event together, 4) Here is Ed and his girlfriend Debra, who Sahle and I decided that he should seriously consider marrying!, 5) Me and Toby, 6) Simon and Luma doin’ their so-called GQ poses, 7) Mitch and myself, Sahle and Mitchell doin’ throwin up signs with a NY attitude, 9) Me, Cameron, and his wife. I know that we look like giants, but the person who took the photo was sitting down and Camerons is something like 6’4”, 10) Me, Sahle, and Sana (my roommate), 11) Sana, with 2 of the other exchange students, Anna and Simon

Here is Toby – he’s total Christian and doesn’t drink, so he wouldn’t even touch the wine bottle to pass it to me. Sahle was like “but Toby Jesus drank wine…” Oh well. It’s only a soft drink called Appletizer in his glass.

Sahle and I drove to Durban last weekend primarily along one straight highway called the N3. It is a little over 5 hours away from Johannesburg and the scenes transform from flat green and brown plains with a tree or two visible every now and then, as well as groups of cattle, sheep and horses grazing to a more lush, forested, and mountainous with lots to look at and admire. There certainly was a lot of cattle and they really seem to do nothing but stand around and eat grass, but oddly enough they are interesting to watch. (I now understand what Alexander McCall Smith was talking about in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Book Series). We got excited when we saw a group actually running somewhere.

Durban is a coastal city that is very hilly with nice beaches along the Indian Ocean. According to my guidebook Durban is the 3^rd largest city in South Africa, of importance as an industrial center and above all as a port. Thanks to its subtropical climate, its long beaches, the warm water of the Indian Ocean and excellent infrastructure it attracts more than 2 million vacationers every year. The population is 800,000 of which more than half are Asians, mostly Indians, and about 200,000 are white. Under the apartheid regime most of the black population was forced to live in the townships surrounding the city.

We stayed at a B&B in a very hilly and lovely neighborhood called Musgrave. Of course you couldn’t really see any of the houses because of all the high walls and security gates, but the top halves of the houses and the trees made the area very nice. ADT Security signs were everywhere, and I concluded that they are probably the ones who are publishing the grim crime statistics. We went jogging on the road and I nearly died from running up all those hills. You can see a long distance from the tops of them, but the real issue is getting to the top.

I had to keep reminding myself that I’m in Africa – cause sometimes it didn’t look or feel like it. There are so many places that remind me of other cities. Sometimes I feel like I’m in California, sometimes Antigua, sometimes New Jersey, and sometimes it feels like Florida or New England. The long-term effects of colonialism and globalization are really amazing. Whether it’s the architecture of a certain building or house, or the design of neighborhood, restaurant or shop or even the way that someone says something – it’s easy to understand that the world is a rather small place after all. But then I would see something like a woman carrying a baby on her back, a bag in each hand and a package on her head all at the same time and then quickly be reminded of where I am.

The first night went to the local restaurant/ night life strip and had Indian food at this place called A Taste of Indian. I had the bunny chow as recommended by a classmate of mine and it was delicious!

Durban is in the province of Kwazulu/Natal that has the highest concentration of Asians but consists of mostly Zulus. The infrastructure in the Zulu villages is particularly poor.

We went to a Zulu village in an area called A Thousand Hills and saw how the Zulu’s lived and learned a bit more about their culture. From what I saw, I really think that there are a thousand hills in ‘A Thousand Hills’ – the view is absolutely “stunning” (people use this word a lot here) and provided a natural backdrop to the village. The huts are built very well, made of wood and straw, in a way that lets smoke out from cooking and everything but keeps rain from coming in. Men are allowed to have more than one wife if they can afford itnand are the protectors and women do all the housework (raise kids, make food, and Zulu beer). We also saw some dancing and presentations by some people who were looking very tired. Their energy levels were pretty sub-optimal, but they got through the routine. I can only imagine how many times they had done the same thing over and over. Afterwards, Sahle even got a marriage proposal from 1 of the guys who offered to pay 11 cows dowery for her. We both decided that they would have to come with at least 12 or 15 cows and maybe pay off her MBA debt before we would even consider it! Turns out that each cow can cost between 5,000 and 8,000 Rands which is approximately $700- $1,100 which is a lot for someone from the village – so I’m sure that it was quite flattering.

After we left the village, we quickly went to a beach called Umhlanga which is in a very expensive part of town and then went to a township called Umlazi to a place where you buy meat from a butcher-like shop and the grill it in the back yourself. And of course, me the vegetarian was the only one eating a seafood plate from a place called Ocean’s Basket while everyone else chowed down on hunks of meat. (but I have to admit that the seafood was very good). That is town-ship living and it was cool. They don’t do that sort of thing in the main cities.

We ended the trip with a quick visit to a big market called Victoria market and the Botanical Gardens.

P.S. Hi everyone – I’m missing you guys! Just wanted to let you know that I’m coming back to the states in a little more than a month on December 9th! : )

As for school, I have indeed been attending classes. Believe me – it’s true. But if you would like to know about school, here it goes. I was actually quite disappointed about the selection of classes, but instead of complaining about being mis-informed by the international department here, I am trying to learn about and experience South Africa as much as I can. The full-time class starts their program in either January or April and takes a full load of core classes until November – which is not ideal for me because I took most of my core courses before I came here. So, I took one class with full-timers that was intensive and ended after 4 weeks (marketing management), am taking 2 electives with the executive MBA’s (Issues in leadership & Business Storytelling), and am taking 2 courses with the part-time class (Industrial Relations & Business Simulation). I must admit that the classes are not extremely interesting or exciting (except for the business simulation portion of the Marketing Management class where we built models and competed with the rest of the class), but I do find that a large part of being here is understanding the socio-economic issues of the country and getting some international experience.

I am now fully aware of how the historical context has influenced the fabric of the nation. Too many people are struggling and are years away from the rapid growth of a healthy middle class. No matter where I am, the topic of race relations is like a fog that never goes away. We all know that there is a horizon but it is too blurry to see exactly what it is and what it will become. On top of that, there is not enough balance or jobs for everyone. I will write a proper opinion essay on the situation and what each country (the US and SA) can learn from each other soon. South Africa will have get past many issues (Racism, Aids, Poverty, the under-development of certain areas, etc.) in order to continue to move forward and the US is already on top, but with all of the competition, will it be able to stay there?

But I don’t want you to think that the situation is completely dreary and hopeless. Many people are working very hard and becoming successful. This is a country full of very resilient folk.

Nonetheless, most of my classes are over and I am wrapping up some pending individual assignments. It’s kind of cool to be exposed to a different environment where almost every interaction is a learning experience. I am additionally working with the African Venture Capital Association (AVCA) in order to learn more about the Venture Capital industry both here in Africa and in the U.S. So I’m only kinda sort of on an extended vacation. : )

I certainly will not starve here and continue to have great food.

When I go to the supermarket I try new things that I don’t eat at home like, apricot jam, blackberry jam, guyere cheese, pomegranate juice, cloudy apple juice, mango and orange juice, cherry juice, cheddar rice cakes, muesli, sweet chili, loads of Rooibos tea, spinach, butternut squash, and Hake fish filets (the fish selection in the market is not so great). And by the way people take these shopping carts everywhere, including inside proper restaurants at the mall.

As for restaurants, out of the dozens of places that I’ve tried, I only had one bad experience at a Greek Restaurant. So if you ever come here don’t eat Greek food in an area called Melville.

Beef is still the theme of the day. At the one restaurant across the street, (Mike’s), I believe that it cost more to have 6 prawns than a huge steak. Strange, but true.

Here are some other things that I’ve had the pleasure of trying. 1) Calamari heads with peri-peri sauce and rice (a bit too greasy for me but still interesting).

2) A huge plate of prawns, calamari, chips, Hake fish, greens and butternut swash at a place in the mall called Jimmy’s Killer Prawns (Yummy! and I was able to make 2 meals out of one for only $13).

3) Black eye peas stew with Joloff rice and fried plaintain from a West African restaurant (lots of carbs, but delicious). 4) The most delicious pad thai and some more beef.

5) A great bread starter with 4 types of bread and sauces, curry fish stew and couscous and a great shrimp dish that I will try the next time that I go to this popular African-themed chain called Moyo’s. We also got our faces painted there as well (Sahle, my roommate Sana, and me)

6) Lastly the first and only black sushi chef that I’ve ever seen -and look how fast he’s movin!

And the good news is that Sahle has been dragging me to the gym almost every day and sometimes twice a day. So Henry, I shouldn’t come back with a “traditional build” contrary to your expectations.

One of the women in my Issues in Leadership Class invited a few of us to church in Soweto last Sunday. She is a small women with the body of a dancer who is always very fashionably dressed with great braided hairstyles and lots of energy. She’s a PhD math professor at the University of Wits that heads the department. During a brief discussion in class she describes herself as a “township girl” and stood up to a lot of nonsense that some of the men in the class were saying.

We met at 8:30 in the morning and took one of the highways to Soweto stands for South Western Townships and is the most populous black urban residential area in South Africa. Since Johannesburg is very hilly you can see thousands of houses that over 1 million black people call home from various vantage points.

I expected a typical brick and mortar structure, but as we turned into a dusty make-shift parking lot, a huge blue and white striped circus tent was on the horizon. As we approached the entrance, the sound of a chorus of a cappella music filled the air. It was joyful and it was in perfect harmony and in perfect key – and everyone in the church was singing, not just the choir. Many of the women were in traditional dress depending on their tribe. There were long Xhosa dresses and skirts identifiable by the solid rings circling the bottom, a bare-chested man in animal skins up front (Zulu), a woman in a colorful beaded Venda necklace, batik printed dresses from west Africa, head wraps and body, headdresses, and the pastor and his wife were up front in West African garb. There was so much to observe. They sang. They rejoiced. They danced. Little old ladies got up and danced in a line up and down the aisles. During one song, one of these women made the sound of a train and led the women back and forth up the aisle in a line dance. They were having a great time, and even though we didn’t understand a word that they were singing we found ourselves getting caught up as well. Two and a half hours went by very quickly.

We liked it so much that we went back this past Sunday. It was once again a great experience but we had the pleasure of being driven there by the pastor of the church (who was nearby that morning and agreed to pick us up) and of hearing the Soweto Gospel Choir (which was amazing!)

Photos: 1-4) The tent that has housed the church for over 5 years – they are self-funding as the banks do not give money to churches, A view of the Soweto Gospel Choir, 5)the Professor (Kgethi) and her son, 6) Me outside of the Hector Pieterson Museum that we went to after church. (the museum is all about the Student uprising in 1976 where the government killed many young students), 7) the group of exchange students, the prof and her son.

3 guys absolutely would not leave me alone. The first one was completely drunk and showed me a picture of his wife in his cell phone, but still insisted on getting to know me better. The second was from Ghana and bought me a drink but insisted that I was lying about not having a cell phone here (I was lying), and the third guy was the second guys younger brother who decided to give it a try after he brother had failed. I accepted his number and convinced him that I was just visiting and didn’t have a cell phone. I think that his number is still balled in the pocket of the purse that I was carrying that day.

Since women take it upon themselves to share men here – I suffice it to say that I don’t expect to meet my husband here.

Photos: 1&2) Thembe and her friends, Sahle and I, 3) Guy #2 and me trying to be nice, 4) 2 random people who were having fun with my camera. I think the guy is well known, 5) Sahle, Kareem and I.

Some time ago a friend of mine told me that her Granny felt that Cape Town was the most beautiful place in the world. If Jo’burg is night, Cape Town is a technicolor sunny day. There is so much to admire about the city – it buzzes with eclectic restaurants, hotels, and shops and has a natural beauty. There are mountains, beaches, valleys, vineyards, lakes, and beautiful flowers and foliage. You can find the famous Table Mountain and Robben Island where Mandela was held captive for 18 of the 27 years that he was imprisoned…

So we arrived on Friday night on one of the local airlines called Nationwide. It was pitch black and damp outside. Soon thereafter we decided to go to Avis to rent a car for the weekend. An automatic car at that – which happens to be somewhat of an anomaly unless you are driving a luxury car like a Mercedes or BMW. I suppose that the affluent can only be bothered with shifting gears if they are driving their Lamborghini’s or Porshes. Anyhow, after 25 minutes they found 1 automatic car on a lot of 50-60 cars and we soon were off driving on the left side of the road. This was the second time coming to Cape Town for both of us, so we planned more of a leisurely weekend.

That night we met up with my friends Cliff and Refiloe and one of Refiloe’s co-workers and went to a particularly posh restaurant called the Showroom. Cliff mentioned that there would be ‘eye-candy’ for all of us to enjoy but would not elaborate. We arrived at a buzzing restaurant with a clean, white modern décor and small tables surrounded with trendy clear plastic chairs. The waiter impressed me right away when he asked if there were any vegetarians at the table : ) He gave me some personal recommendations and then took our orders. And what was the eyecandy? A showroom of luxury cars that could be viewed through a large glass window from the restaurant. We were so close yet sooo far away! So, several bottles of wine were ordered, vegetable bobotie, roasted duck with peking sauce as well as ecelectic deserts such as lemon suffle with a dark chocolate sauce on the side and a dash of cayenne pepper, and a $3,000,000 Rand red Lamborghini (just kidding, but note that this was actually on the dinner menu).

The next day Sahle, Cliff and I went on a wine tasting tour in a nearby areas called Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Simonsberg. It was a nice leisurely drive and we managed to make it to 5 vineyards where we have a taste of up to 15 different wines in total. I am learning to detect different scents and flavors. Some remind you of the woods, some are very floral and others are fruity or quite savory. Some slide down your throat while others coat your tongue and change flavor if you suck in a bit of air. Very curious. All in all, my preference for white wine and champagne was confirmed. In fact, Cliff gave us both nicknames, Sahle is ‘Sweet-tooth’ and I am ‘Bubbly’. We’re still contemplating a name for him, although it will be along the lines of the Energizer Bunny because he has so much damn energy.

That evening, we met up with some of Cliff and Refiloe’s friends for a few drinks and had dinner at a place called Le Perla – a bit of an old-school Italian restaurant in every way  except for the fact that all the waiters were Indian and over the age of 60. After dinner we had milkshakes and mojitos at this new trendy hotel called the Extreme. It was weird drinking an Oreo milkshake at midnight.

On Sunday morning, we made our way to another wine estate for breakfast with Cliff & Refiloe’s friends and their small son. I mention this breakfast, because it was there at the beautiful Jonkershuis bar & eatery that I had the best French toast in the world!

We went to the outdoor market afterwards which is a maze of vendors pedaling goods mainly from every other Africa country except from South Africa. Strange but true – it is difficult to get indigenous crafts from South Africa at the markets. There were masks, batik prints, painting, wooden carvings, jewelry, clothing, everything distinctly African, but after a while it became clear that the vendors had all sourced from the same suppliers and we began to see the same goods pop up over and over. After that we went to the beach, where the water is ridiculously cold and hung for a bit. Then of course went to another restaurant until it was time to go back to Jo’burg….

But there are some curious things that happen behind the scenes. There are threads of racism woven into the fabric of the society there. It is acceptable to have black Africans and coloured people work as waiters and helpers, but the general expectation is that they return to the townships come night-fall and stay there until morning. As for the crime, It apparently is there, but as a friend of mine said “the ocean makes people forget about.” When went to wine tasting and several restaurants, we usually where we were the only black people in 360 degree sight – except for the waiters. The people there are very relaxed and carefree and many are dripping with money. The fast cars drive slow and people seem quite happy.

Beef is very popular and abundant. Some of the exchange students have taken it upon themselves to eat a steak a day because they’re so delicious and so cheap! In order of popularity: there’s all cuts of steak that you can imagine, sausages, biltong (like beef jerky), lamb shanks and chops, beef stews, hamburgers, chicken, shrimp, ostrich, pork and fish. As for sides, there are vegetables (carrots, broccoli, asparagus, peas, etc.), chips (French fries), salads, potatoes, couscous, and rice. And of course, there are great deserts, and lots of alcohol. Wine, beer, and liquor flows very freely here! I could easily and effortlessly drink every day. (but I don’t Mom). : )

People say that there is no real South African food (seems like the country continues to struggle with identity even when it comes to cuisine). But there are a few things that I can mention such as: Rooibos tea (Bush Tea), Malva pudding (sweet pudding served hot with custard or ice cream), Peri-Peri sauce (small chili pepper used like ketchup or hot sauce), Bobotie (spiced minced meat bake with egg-based topping – I actually had the vegetarian version of this in Cape Town) and Pap (boiled maize – looks like mashed potatoes). I’m sure that there are a few other dishes I haven’t been exposed to as yet.

When I tell people that I don’t eat meat, they get very concerned and almost appalled. Their expressions read: ‘what’s wrong with you?’, especially men. I think they have images of me as their wife serving them heaping dishes on steamed vegetables. Then I tell them that I eat fish and can cook up a steak they become quite relieved.

At restaurants, my choices as a vegetarian are limited. But I have enjoyed things like curry fish and couscous served out of clay dishes, vegetable lasagna, prawns with peri peri sauce, lots of chips (French fries) with tomato sauce (not called ketchup) or sweet chili sauce, crab and crawfish ravioli, panini with creamed spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes, soya bugers and great breakfasts (which includes the best French toast I ever had in my life!). Some good news is that a classmate of mine just opened a Vegetarian restaurant that I plan to check out very soon.

Here are some photos: 1) a row of 3 people each chowing down steaks 3 o’clock in the afternoon, 2) Malva pudding with ice cream, 3) the best french toast in the world, 4) a big bagel dish (tasted nothing like bagel though), 5) a typical breakfast, 6) mojitos and cookie milkshakes (from this new trendy hotel in Cape Town where 3/4ths of the drink menu is weird milkshakes), 7) me at a wine estate tasting wine in Cape Town called Simonsig)