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Everything changes as you wish

5 DAY TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA

DAY1 – CAPETOWN

Hwa Young, Eun Sun, Kwon Soo, Chul Gwang and I boarded on a plane flying to Cape Town in South Africa. Eun sun already looked quite happy with her new bag and sunglasses. It took a long, long time to Cape Town. We had to stop over in Singapore.

After 21 hours journey, we arrived in Cape Town. The first thing I could see was Table Mountain which is the most famous landmark in the city. As its name says, it looked like a huge table. Someone told me that there’s nothing else than the mountain in the city, but the shape of the mountain was really worth seeing. I wanted to stand on the table but we didn’t have enough time to do that so I just took some photos of it on a shuttle bus going to the hostel we booked.

We went to the Cape of Good Hope, where is the southernmost point of the African Continent. It was famous for its geographical characteristics but there wasn’t really special thing to see. The lighthouse surrounded by seagulls on the cliff looked lonely. It must be appreciated by many sailors in the past but it is just a tourist attraction now. It was a good place to take a photo anyway.

Even though we didn’t do many things, we got tired. Eun Sun got back to the hostel. It should be because of the long flight. It wasn’t that uncomfortable but too long. Rest of us also decided to take a break, having dinner near Waterfront. The big shopping mall was very crowded with tourists like us. Street performers tried to attract tourists’ attention to make money but hardly anyone saw them. We walked in to the shopping mall. As we didn’t have any energy to go shopping, we just went to a hamburger restaurant and ate some burgers with bear. I got easily drunk because of tiredness.  After dinner we went back to the hostel and check the next schedule. The next stop is Johannesburg, the city of gold.

DAY2 – JOHANNESBURG(GOLD REEF CITY)

We got up early in the morning to take the plane to Johannesburg. As nobody wasn't willing to prepare quickly, I had to urge everybody to get dressed and eat breakfast. After we ate something for breakfast, we headed to the Cape Town airport. It took only 2 hours to Johannesburg but we couldn't sleep on the plane because the plane kept shaking all the way. Yeah I know I can't hope comfort flight for only 25 dollars.

The place we were going to visit that day was Gold Reef City theme park. As we were supposed to spend most of our budget on buying tickets for the park, we bought some cheap sandwiches and drinks at local supermarket. We expected to save some money because before we went there, there was someone's review that the entrance fee for Gold Reef city goes down as temperature falls. We felt rather cold that day, so we were full of hope on our way to the park, but unfortunately we just found out that the discount option was temporary promotion, ended in 2009. So we had to pay full price.

After we walked around for a few minutes, we found safari train which led us to the gold mine. We took the train, and while we were on the train we could see the scenery of the old city. The buildings on the park are designed to mimic the 1880s. We could imagine how the life would have been.

  Park staff on the train wearing period costumes told us the story about the city. The gold mine was found in 1886 and the amount of gold mined from this mine is total 1.4 million tons that is valued approximately 4,500 trillion won, Jesus.

After we took off the train, the mine was just in front of us. There was a lift going down for 200m. It used to go down over 3km but it doesn't go any further than 200m these days.  It was very dark down there so I felt a bit of fear. Staff wearing miner costume described how miners had worked. I was rather disappointed as there was nothing but stones.  After we got back to the ground we felt hungry, decided to have a lunch.

As one of park staff recommended us ride the giant wheel, we headed to the wheel. While we were going there we came across some dancers performing Mice Dance.  Staff said the dance expressed miner’s hope for finding gold. I couldn't understand which part of the dance was related to mining, but it was funny anyway. After the show we finally arrived at the giant wheel. As the carriage we rode went up, skyline of Johannesburg showed up. I can't say it was beautiful but it made me imagine how the city had been developed from the gold rush era.

Because we felt like to eat something spicy and moreover, we didn't want to take a risk of trying any unknown, mysterious food that day, so everybody agreed to go to Nando's. After the delicious dinner, we all went back to the hostel happily.

DAY3 – JOHANNESBURG(SUN CITY)

I got up early. When I opened eyes, I wanted to sleep more as I was still a bit tired. But Eun Sun didn’t let me be. She was full energy even early in the morning and she was busy waking all of us up. I saw her smile putting much sun block on her face. We bought some food for lunch like we did the day before. Money matters!

We went to Sun City after breakfast. Sun City is famous for its huge water park. There were other places as well like golf courses and casino but its main dish is definitely the water park called ‘The Valley of the Waves’. When we arrived, Eun sun looked so excited, she just didn’t stop looking around.

I was kind of daunted at first. There were many guys who were tall and fit. I regretted that I should have done some workout before went there. I forgot it soon as soon as I saw girls in fantastic swimming wear. They all looked like fashion models I've seen in magazines. Kwon Soo and Hwa Young told me that they would set off for adventure, and then they soon disappeared.. the girls..  

During lunch time I could see many people, like us, hiding their food in their bags. Food price in there was unreasonable, of course. I thought that if the park had offered reasonable price, customers would have purchased their food because it is a kind of hassle to hide food. As a result they make lower income and people are busy hiding food.

Even though the park was made by man, it was very well designed. There were palm trees and sand all around the park so I felt like as if I was in a real sea side, even better that that. This must be the power of gold. Caribbean Bay in Korea is also nice but Sun City was really amazing.

After much fun, we went out as sky was getting darker. All of us we were totally exhausted when we got on a bus going back to the hostel.   

DAY4 – JOHANNESBURG(SHOPPING)

We were supposed to go shopping that day, which I didn't fancy. Eun Sun insisted she must go shopping even if it was just window shopping. The big statue of Nelson Mandela standing on the centre of the square said us that there was the biggest shopping mall, Nelson Mandela square.

The place was really crowded, full of people taking photos of the statue, and it made nervous. I don't know why but I feel uncomfortable when I was in a crowded square. I tried to stay calm as I didn't to be a burden for others, everyone else looked quite exited. It was full of tourists like us, people from other countries. I could hardly find someone looked like a local. There must be a huge gab between this place and the street where vast majority live. Price tags didn't seem to be affordable for them. Could I say the smile of a kid who looks definitely poor in a photo for promoting tourism is a really happy, innocent smile? I stopped thinking of those things as I was there for fun! Except handmade souvenirs, most of goods in shopping mall were something could also be seen in Korea as well.

We ate some meat at a restaurant in the shopping mall. The price of meat was rather cheap, so we could eat pork ribs with not much money. We ordered some wine as well but I didn't drink it because my face easily turns red. I didn't really want to be shown as a drunken tourist at all.

After we looked around the shopping mall we visited a local market named 'Bruma Market'. There were people selling souvenirs as well but those were a bit tacky. We saw some tourists negotiating price with a seller but others mostly just passed by like us. There were thousands of necklaces, braces and things like that but they looked all the same for me, I couldn't find a reason to buy it. My friends looked they thought the same thing. So we didn't spend much time there.

 

We went to Hooters which is a bar where girls wearing sexy costumes were serving. I hadn't heard of it until Hwa Young told me, anyway it was quite impressive, but Eun Sun looked somewhat uncomfortable of course. There weren't any handsome guy for her unfortunately. Hwa Young told me that there used to be a Hooters airline as well before, sadly it doesn't exist anymore. Surrounded by flowers, I was so excited that I drank several bottles of bear. I can't remember what the next was properly.

DAY5 – KRUGER PARK

I had to wake up 5 in the morning, but nobody could wake up on time as we all drunk except Kwon Soo. He didn't drink alcohol because he has a problem with his liver. Because we woke up late we couldn't eat anything. We got in the car we hired and fell asleep again, Thank Kwon Soo. We recovered around 7 o'clock and then I suggested eating something as I felt pain in my stomach. I was shameful that I lost control of myself last night.

 We were heading north-east, to the Kruger Park, it's a kind of long journey. We considered some other transportation like bus and train but we concluded to hire a car which is SUV was the best way. According to the information we had searched before we came to South Africa, public transportations are unsafe and uncomfortable. Fortunately we could find Hertz who offers car hiring service at a reasonable price, in Johannesburg. Driving down the road, we found a restaurant so we stopped there to eat something. We expected something light like salad or soup because we need to relieve the hangover but it was a steakhouse actually! We hesitated for a second but we eventually got in there because we didn't have enough time. Taste was good and price was also cheap luckily so we could start our journey again energetically.

There are 5 animals called big 5 which are lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant. As Kwon Soo strongly wanted to see rhinos, we moved to 'rhino area' but we couldn’t see any of them for a while. After lunch we eventually find a rhino gazing. It was just amazing to see a wild animal in my life. We drove around to find other animals for hours and found elephants, leopards and some other animals which I don’t know. It was so peaceful.

  On the way back to the airport, Hwa Young drove the car as Kwon Soo was so tired due to a long day driving. It is known that driving at night is very dangerous in South Africa. Knowing some stories about people killed on the road even during daytime, Hwa Young kept checking wing mirrors and rear mirror while he was driving. I was totally exhausted when we arrived at the airport. Normally I can't sleep sitting on a chair but at the moment I felt I could sleep even on a street. Hwa Young looked as if he already fell asleep. Animals I saw and sceneries I passed by appeared and started to get mixed together as soon as I closed my eyes.

DAY2 - JOHANNESBURG(GOLD REEF CITY)

Flying to Johannesburg

  We got up early in the morning to take the plane to Johannesburg. As nobody wasn't willing to prepare quickly, I had to urge everybody to get dressed and eat breakfast. After we ate something, we headed to the Cape Town airport.  It took only 2 hours to Johannesburg but we couldn't sleep on the plane because the plane kept shaking all the way. Yeah I know I can't hope comfort flight for only 25 dollars.
  The place we were going to visit that day was Gold Reef City theme park. As we were supposed to spend most of our budget on buying tickets for the park, we bought some cheep sandwiches and drinks at supermarket.

Gold Reef City theme park

  We expected to save some money because before we went there, we read someone's review that the enterance fee goes down as temperature falls. We felt rather cold that day, so we were full of hope on our way to the park, but unfortunately we just found out that the discount option was temporay promotion, only in 2009. So we had to pay full price.

Safari train

  After we walked around for a few minutes, we found a safari train which led us to the gold mine. We took the train, and while we were on the train we could see the scenery of the old city. The buildings on the park are designed to mimic the 1880s. We could imagine how the life was.
  Park staff on the train wearing period costumes told us the story about the city. The gold mine was found in 1886 and the amount of gold mined from this mine is total 1.4 million tons that is valued approximately 4,500 trillion won.

The Old Mine

  After we took off the train, the mine was just in front of us. There was a lift going down for 200m. It used to go down over 3km but it didn't go any further than 200m these days.
It was very dark down there so I felt a bit of fear. Staff wearing miner costume described how miners had worked. I was rather disappointed as there was nothing but stones. After we got back to the ground we felt hungry, decided to have a lunch.


Giant Wheel & Mine Dance

  As one of park staff recommended us ride the giant wheel, we headed to the wheel. While we were going there we came across some dancers performing Mice Dance. Staff said the dance expressed a hope for finding gold. I couldn't understand which part of the dance was related to mining, but it was funny anyway.
  After the show we finally arrived at the giant wheel. As the carriage we rode went up, skyline of Johannesburg showed up. I can't say it was beautiful but it made me imagine how the city had been developed from the gold rush era.

Dinner

  Because we felt like to eat something sipcy and moreover we didn't want to take a risk of trying any unkown, mysterious food that day, so everybody agreed to go to Nando's. After the delicious dinner, we all went back to the hostel happily.