2nd Honeymoon in South Africa

Postcard for you from South Africa! Rar!

Photo from Album: South Africa

In exchange for Joe being in China for 5 months, I got a 2nd honeymoon! Joking :). We spent 12 days touring around Kruger Park, Garden Route, and Cape Town. We decided to spoil ourselves and stayed at some pretty amazing places along the way. For Safari in Kruger Park, we stayed Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge. Even though we had early mornings, the pace of those days were quite a relaxing start to our holiday. The days looked something like this: 530am start for safari, 930am breakfast, (nap-time), 1pm lunch, spa, (nap-time), then 430pm start for safari, and 8pm dinner. And yes, we definitely utilized those nap-time slots very well. For those who are looking for great safari, luxury level lodging, spa, and food, Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge comes highly recommended.

We then flew down to George on the Garden Route, where we would attempt to drive (on the opposite side of the road) to Knysna. It's much easier than London because of the wide highways, but it was a bit surprising to see the locals like to use the highways to walk to work or simply for some daily jogging. Driving down the N2 we had our first exposure to townships, underdeveloped urban residential areas reserved for non-whites during the Apartheid. Think self-built shacks in bright colors and tin roofs. Large open spaces by the highway were used as football fields for the children living in the townships. See "Tsotsi" (2005), the South African Oscar winning movie for a good visual.

While in Knysna, we made Pezula Resort Hotel and Spa our base camp for exploring the rest of the Garden Route. My first experience golfing was on a championship course among baboons (see album for photos). The perks of staying at Pezula included Leading Spa of the World amenities and access to Noeztie Castle on the beach. When in Knysna definitely help yourself to the locally produced oysters (soooo tasty) at Cruise Cafe. The cafe is the same departure point for the ferry to Featherbed Nature Reserve, where we did a 4 hour tour/hike to see the Knysna Heads. About an hour from Knysna, we headed to Stormsriver Village in Tsitsikamma National Park for a Canopy Tour in the trees. Tsitsikamma National Park is also the location of the highest bungie jump in the world (216m) at Bloukrans River Bridge. Joe was super keen on observing some jumpers to possibly convince us to do it, but they were closing up before we finally got the guts to ask how much they charge. We did to watch this guy jump (see video, note gasp made by Sandy).

In Capetown, we stayed at the Welgelegen Guest House, a very convenient location to restaurants on Kloof St. and a short drive away from the Table Mountain Cableway. We booked through Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which is a great site if you are looking to book boutique hotels in popular cities. Joe's favorite thing (of course) was that Virgin Active was within running distance of the guest house. My favorite things were the restaurants and shops. Try Melissa's chocolate chip cookies, the Banana Chai smoothie at Buzz, the breakfast + coconut bread at Manna Epicure, or the chocolate frio (made with Lindt chocolate) at Vida e Caffe (multiple locations). -- all located on Kloof St. If you are into funky jewelery, make a pit stop at Philippa Green's studio at 51 Wale St. for laser cut of hand stitched patterns on resin bracelets. At the waterfront, book a table with a view of Table Mountain at Onewaterfront inside Grace Hotel. Joe and I dined there next to Drew Bledsoe and his wife.

Yes, we did other things aside from eat :). Go paragliding off of Signal Hill or Lion's Head, and book ahead for a tour at Robben Island where ex-inmates share their emotional stories about being a political prisoner along side Nelson Mandela. Robben Island is also home to South African penguins. No need to drive all the way down to Boulder's Beach to see those cute little guys. At sunset, drive up to Signal Hill, hike up Lion's Head, or take a scenic drive on Chapman's Peak Road to take some magnificent photos. For some beach time, head to Camp's Bay or any of the Clifton Beaches. Take a lunch break at Codfather in Camps Bay where you point at your fish instead of ordering from a menu. We ordered way to much, so I ended up feeding my left overs to the seagulls at Clifton Beach (they went wild!).

On our last day, we took a day trip to Stellenbosch in the wine country. Lunch at Tokara allowed us to have springbok just one more time. Don't leave SA without trying that if you eat meat! Yum! After lunch, drive into the center of time and have dessert at Lecca il Gelato, #13 on Church St. or Kerk St. in Afrikaans. The Italian owned joint makes gelato fresh on-site and is even better than some gelato we've had in Italy.

Marrakech, Morocco

Salaam aleikum from Marrakech!

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(Please let me know what photos you like!)

Joe and I spent Easter break in what I have dubbed a 'rough and raw version of Disneyland'. Marrakech is a mad-mad place that thrives on chaos and tourists. The city center is pure sensory overload when you first arrive -- musicians banging away, people selling goods/services, masses of people everywhere spilling off the side walks. We had read about how the locals would try to make a dime off of you by giving you directions, so Joe was understandably very harsh to anyone that approached us to ask of if we needed help. But we did need a little help in the end! We arrived in Marrakech airport to discover that there was a taxi strike and whoever was picking up the phone at our riad (small B&B) did not speak English. So we ended up taking a random bus to the city center where we were left to manuever through unsigned streets, following somewhat vague directions printed off Trip Advisor -- oh and Joe was hungry! And when Joe is hungry, he gets grumpy :).

We happened to find a very nice local boy who showed us the way at suprizingly no cost. Joe said 'no' to him 3 times before we decided just to follow him. We felt a bit bad being such defensive foreigners. But after 5 days of being in Marrakech, your skin gets a bit thick. Little boys will have no qualms about following you until you are cornered in the doorway of your riad, and holding out their hands expecting some kind of payment. No small talk, nothing to sell, just waiting and expecting you to give them some money. Ugg, by the end I really just wanted to slap them to wake the hell up. It makes me sad to see people so dependent on charity.

One of the first things we fell in love with in Morrocco was the mint tea and savory pan-fried pancakes (very similar to Chinese green onion pancake without the onions and sides are folded in so it's a square instead of a circle). The food choice is rather limited, but other things they do well is fresh squeezed orange juice and bread. It seemed like you could get fresh baked bread anywhere, including places that would be similar to our local mini marts/liquer stores. It's not really necessary to go to fancy restaurants often, because what you get there is the same as what you would get in the neighbors kitchen - except maybe the ingredients would be a bit higher quality and the meat would not have a chance of being cooked too well.

We checked out Dar Moha and Maison Arabe, the first known for it's culinary innovation and the other for being a posh restaurant/riad. Both served tanjines, pastilles, and bread :). I would recommend going to 1 nice restaurant while in Marrakech and spend the rest of the time eating in Jemaa El Fna (city square) and more moderately priced restaurants. People did warn us not to use utencils when eating at Jemaa El Fna, and don't eat the salad (found out after we came back), because the tap water they used to wash the veggies is no good or the water they used to wash utencils could be used many times over. I didn't get sick (maybe thanks to Purell), but Joe's tummy did feel a bit weak when we got back. But it might have been the airplane food. Don't rely on food from Royal Air Maroc!

Our riad was rather small, but we were right around the corner from a new 5 star riad with the spa. Joe and I tried the traditional hammam. Only I had a slight idea what it entailed, and I had only told Joe that someone did said they felt 'man handled' after the experience -- hehe. I definitely would recommend trying it at least once. It's basically a full-on and very very very thoroughly body scrub. My lady used just the right pressure, but Joe had little red marks on him after! Haha. But if you can imagine running around all day in the hot sun, in smoke, dust, exhaust - it feels quite nice to do that, get a massage, and take a nap in the peace and quiet.

Definitely do take day trips out of Marrakech before it runs you down faster than New York City ever could. :) We took a comfortable 3 hour bus ride (Supratours) to Essaouira. Definitely go to visit the fish stands by the harbor - multiple times if you can! Joe and I had a 'snack' and ordered an entire fresh grilled sea bass and calamari. Yum! Been living in London so long, I have forgotten what 'not frozen' tastes like :).

Marrakech was maybe not the relaxing holiday we both needed, but it is definitely a very interesting city. It was the first time Joe and I read almost every page of the guide book because we were genuinely interested in the people and the customs of a liberal Muslim country. Do get the Time Out Guide for Marrakech (includes Essaouira & the High Atlas). It's amazingly reliable and gives a lot of insight into daily life and what to expect during your visit. Next time Joe and I come back we'll probably spend minimal time in Marrakech and more time visiting the Sahara and the Atlas mountains.

One thing I would warn you about is be prepared to have people treat you like a Japanese tourists if you are Asian American. People are never satisfied when they as you are from and you answer -- America. And don't be shocked (as I was) when you approach customs at the airport, hand them your American passport, and in exchange recieve a look that says ''this passport can't be real, I don't understand why you look Asian but don't have a Chinese or Japanese passport". The lady actually waved down her supervisor to check me out because to her - I was an anomoly.