Road Trip Day 3

Day 3 - Wednesday the 9th of February - Driving, Driving, Driving - Total Kilometres: 450

Bayan and I decided to begin this day in Mossel Bay with exercise once again, however this time it was an act of spiritual exercise rather than that of our bodies. We set our alarms to bring us out of sleep just before sunrise so that we could have dawn prayers on the beach and as my alarm sounded I wondered to myself why we couldn't just pray on the beach at 9am instead of at 5:45am. Still I lazily pulled myself out of bed, dragged myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face and finally awoken with prayer book in hand I was ready for some spiritual nourishment while watching the sun rise across the ocean. 

As you may remember Bayan and I were spending the night in a train which had been transformed into a hostel and so we went to the head of the carriage to open the door when alas! The door was locked. They had told us that the doors would be locked from 10pm but we assumed that they would be unlocked by now. No worry, I decided I would just open one of the carriage windows and call out to the security guard to open the door as we were advised to do in such a situation. So as silently as possible without wanting to wake the other guests I pulled the window down and stuck my head out and... he was no where in sight. Never fear, Bayan and I would succeed in finding a way around this. We went back to our room and put forward the option that we could see both the beach and the sky from our room so it would still be the same if we just prayed from our beds. A valid option, another great option would have been for me to just go back to sleep as I was on about 4 hours sleep a night and I was the sole driver so sleep was sounding like a stupendous option for me but our resolve to pray was too great and Bayan was set on dawn prayers ON the beach not looking at the beach and so I jumped out of our window. 

Jumping out of a window seems like nothing major and in most cases it isn't but in our case we were jumping out of the window of a train which was some 3metres off the ground and there isn't much to hold on to. So I jumped out of the window as silently as possible and I laughed as silently as possible while watching Bayan try to achieve the same feat. As she dangled her legs out and started sliding down it suddenly dawned on me that our cabin door was locked from the inside meaning we wouldn't be able to get back in so Bayan had to pull herself back inside to unlock our door and then try to get out again. Success! We were free and we went and found a spot on the sand to pray. 

Bayan trying to get out of the window

Dawn Prayers

Waiting for the sun to rise in Mossel Bay

When we were finished with our spiritual breakfast we went for a walk along the beach and then back to our room to try and sleep some more. As we were wanting to get to Cape Town by this afternoon and we still needed a place to stay when we got there we decided not to dawdle any more and by 10.30am we were on our way out of Mossel Bay and on the road again. This strip of road from Mossel Bay to Cape Town is the most boring, there are almost no nice stops along the way and it is just a big stretch of highway so not all that much happened. At the same time tonnes of stuff happened. It's really strange how in all that nothingness so much was going on. When I look back on this day we barely took any photos, we hardly stopped anywhere, we spent almost the whole day on the road.. drove 450kms and I have almost no stories to tell from this day and yet to me lots of stuff happened. Funny how nothing can be so eventful.

So we drove to Cape Town, the drive was made all the more tedious by the road works going on. This highway (the N2) has only 2 lanes and so when there are road works one lane is closed and cars have to sit and wait while oncoming traffic uses the remaining open lane. This offered me a few opportunities to get out of the car and stretch but it also extended our time on the road by about an hour. As we were driving we would look out for towns or attractions that might interest us to either visit on this day or stop at on the way home. When we reached Swellendam I was desperate for an opportunity to get out of the car so we turned in to see what we could find. We followed a sign to a berry picking farm but when we got there we realised that berry picking season is over so instead we just tried all the jam (blackberry was my favourite) and bought some blueberry ice cream and then asked the girl working there what else Swellendam had to offer. "The Fairy Garden" she says. "The what?" I reply, "the fairy garden" she repeats. Confused, a little weirded out, in my own head trying to decide whether she means the boat type ferry or the mythical creature type fairy and deciding to myself she must mean the boat type because she appears to be in her 20's and couldn't possibly believe or expect us to believe that there are fairies and if there are that I would be interested in seeing them so I ask her again.."you mean like fairies like this?" I say this while flapping my arms like wings. "Yes, fairies" she responds with a bewildering confidence, not even a grin or a slight hint of a smile has come across her face to suggest to us that this woman is pulling our leg. "And what exactly do you do in this garden?".. "you walk around and see fairies everywhere".

So we go, to the fairy garden which turns out to be exactly what she described.. a garden with fairies in it. Hundreds of figurines and statues of fairies. What this girl failed to mention to us was that there were also wizards and dragons and Harry Potter himself in this garden. As it was free we went inside and took the garden walk. This garden is the initiative of a lady who has created a garden in her home and transformed her whole house for the sake of allowing people to come in a be inspired by the positive and uplifting spirit of the garden. Fairies, in her eyes, are little guardians who are always there to guide and protect us and help us see the best in everything. It is a very beautiful idea and I'm sure I would have had a much more profound appreciation for this garden if I was 7 but for the most part I was not impressed with a grown woman advising us to come here. 

So we left the fairy garden and Swellendam for that matter with the understanding that there is so little to do in this town that people would send you to a fairy garden when you ask for advice on what Swellendam has to offer. 

Me with a dwarf in the fairy garden

and this guy was there too

Bayan and Harry Potter even though Bayan claims this statue was a girl

 Next was the last long stretch of highway before finally arriving in CAPE TOWN!!!! It was 6pm when we touched down and after googling 'cape town backpackers' we checked in at Cape Town Backpackers which turned out to be a great backpackers and only R80 a night thanks to their February special. 

After getting settled we tried to snooze for a bit and then got ready to go out for dinner. I have been trying to convince Bayan to try Asian food as they have great options for vegetarians and they use tofu which amazingly for a vegetarian of 4months she has never tried, and so we went to eat at a place called 'Simply Asian'. Bayan proved her natural skills at using chopsticks and enjoyed the tofu in her food. Then we walked to Long St (the main strip in Cape Town) and found a place to have desert. This place also offered karaoke so of course we had a turn. Bayan wasn't familiar with many of the songs on their list and Beyonce being her favourite artist of all time she picked DeJuvu. I asked her about the part where it says Beyonce featuring Jay Z and she just said that he only comes in a little at the end. So we're singing away when suddenly there's an entire section of the song with Jay Z rapping, so I did what rappers to best, I just repeated "What what what, whatta whata what" again and again until his part was over accompanying my rap solo with gangster rapper hand movements. 

Later when we went downstairs on our way out one of the bar attenders asked if it was us who sang the Beyonce song and then told us we sounded great.. kudos to Bayan and I and our amazing Karaoke skills.

We took our time walking back to our place and on the way a hobo who makes his own flowers out of beads asked if we would buy one so I bought one for Bayan. Then when another begger asked us for money I told him how he should try and actually work for it like the flower making guy.

As most nights go it ended with sleep and so went our arrival in Cape Town.

Arrival in Cape Town!!

Bayan using chopsticks for the first time

nom nom nom nom

Road Trip Day 2

Day 2 - Tuesday the 8th of February - Being Spontaneous - Total Kilometres: 130

The primary purpose of most road trips is to have fun which usually manifests itself by the participants eating a lot of junk with increased regularity and moving around much less as so much of their time is spent sitting in the car but Bayan and I aren't your regular road trippers and so of course on the second day of our adventure we set our alarms for 6am to go for an early morning run.

One thing which I failed to mention in the list of things that we packed with us for this trip is a little device called The Wheel. It is a wheel with two handles on either side which you use to work out your abs. We brought The Wheel with us on our road trip because we are not normal and yes if you want to know we used it... everyday!

So we had done the wheel the night before and now we were awake bright and early to go for a run. I did say we set our alarms for 6am but we woke up closer to 6.20am as we kept hitting that snooze button, whoever invented that should have gotten a medal, and after we both tried to convince each other that we should go for this run rather than just get back into bed we finally began.

The run was actually amazing, we ran alongside the water but on the road and there was this mist that surrounded us. The weather was cool which suited us perfectly because we started sweating very quickly. The sun wasn't yet able to find a way through the clouds so the sky was light but not bright and everything around us had a grey haze covering it. Our run took us about 40minutes and we snuck back into our rooms feeling great. Our two German roommates were still asleep so we quietly gathered ourselves int he bathroom to finish our exercise routine, of course we mean The Wheel. One thing I need to explain about The Wheel is that as you perform the exercise it feels like your stomach is being cut open, it is a killer ab workout but it works and you only need to do like 10 a day to start to see it working. Bayan, more so than me, makes a lot of noise when she is in pain and so you can imagine how funny it was watching her on the floor in the bathroom doing the repetitions and trying to suppress the owing and ooing she would normally have yelled out. 

Once our exercising was done we had our breakfast which we had packed from home and then decided on our plans for the day. Originally we were hoping to be in Cape Town by this evening so we decided to have a final look at what Knysna had to offer then try and squeeze George and Mossel Bay in before heading straight to Cape Town.

I had heard that Knysna Heads were beautiful so we drove off to see them. There was still a mist covering everything but the weather wasn't cold. It was actually perfect. We used our amazing navigational instincts to find where to go and when we found it it was stupendously beautiful. Ahead of us was this beautiful lake of water which we could see far off connected to the ocean, set against a backdrop of hills. The water was shallow and and we walked out as far as we could. It was so awe inspiring standing where we were because we were surrounded by this beautiful, clear water who's stillness was sporadically disrupted by small waves which appeared to emanate from nowhere.

There were small hermit crab type creatures scurrying around on the sand in the water and these little holes scattered across the floor from where streams of water would spit out like a fountain. I tried to capture a photo of one of these holes spitting but it would be over so quickly I never managed to click fast enough. We enjoyed the serenity for some time before noticing that there was a lookout on one of the heads that we could go to and so we went to see it.

Knysna Heads

I asked Bayan to pose with the boat... this is what I got

A trend that Bayan and I noticed in ourselves was our inability, or perhaps it's more of an ability, lets try it both ways, our inability to find the stairs and our ability to jump down or climb down high walls when we haven't found the stairs. We had parked our car at the lookout and the parking was on a ledge, we saw that if we went down onto the sand we could walk to a little cave type thing so Bayan and I not seeing any stairs instead climbed down the wall. We were both very proud of ourselves for being so versatile and finding a way down when there was none until we saw the stairs and then just felt silly. I'm sure we were great entertainment for all the people that were watching us and who at no point thought they should point out this oversight to us. I can't say much for this lookout, it was just a rock face and some water and the ocean which after about 10 minutes wore out it's entertainment value on us and so we went wandering instead. We found some pathways into the bush and saw 2 caves which looked and smelt like squatter homes for someone and we went up another path looking thing where we tried to take poser model photos but instead got eaten by mosquitoes. BayanOMG I see them!! It's not the same when you actually see them!!" so we left the bush and stuck to the pavement instead.

The ground was covered in these mussel shells

trying to do model poses in the bush but the mosquitoes were attacking us

We departed Knysna, the 2 wanderers, to continue exploring. We were on the road again and our next stop was somewhere near a town called Wilderness. We saw this amazing lake where the water was black so we pulled in to look around. Funnily enough the name of the place was Black Water Lake. While here my cousin Elina called me from Sydney which was exciting.

Black Water Lake

Next stop was Sedgefield. We saw a bunch of little shops and I bought a postcard which I still haven't sent home yet. There was also a sign which pointed out the way to Sydney, yes I was very excited. There was also a random beach in Sedgefield which we went to. The sign said it would cost R5 to go to this beach, clearly we didn't pay. We stayed for maybe 5minutes only enough to honor our policy of feeling the water at every beach we went to.

Sydney = that-a-way

random beach in Sedgefield

Next we went to George, I really ave nothing to write about George because we didn't do anything while we were there and after visiting the tourist information centre we actually crossed George off of our list of places to see, so we turned around and went to Mossel Bay instead.

By the time we got to Mossel Bay it was around 4pm and we were hungry. Somehow we managed to find ourselves at the beach front and there was a restaurant which had a train connected to it. Curious we went aboard the train and saw that there were cabins with beds in them. Bayan immediately came to the conclusion that this was a museum where you could see what the old trains looked like and she wondered why there was no difference between first and second class. I, however, jumped to the more reasonable conclusion that this was a hostel.. I was right. We went to the restaurant and asked about the train accommodation and decided that as we had no where to stay in Cape Town as yet and we wouldn't get there until sometime after 8pm we would spend the night here. I ate some amazing ribs, Bayan had vegetarian food and we explored the train and an old broken down bus that was next to us as well. As the sun went down we walked down to the beach and went for an evening run on the sand, we ran, we did some other exercises and then to cap it all off we stripped off our clothes and ran into the water. It was so beautiful, the sun was completely gone and the beach was lit only by the lights surrounding it. The water temperature was perfect especially as we were hot and sweaty and we were so proud of ourselves for starting and ending this day with exercise.

View from our cabin on the train

the kitchen

On the broken down bus

I thought of my mum the whole time we stayed here

Later we went for a walk around the town, we walked down to the harbour and watched the water, the water was pitch black except for some light that shone from a restaurant. Then Bayan saw something in the water. Then I saw it and for a good 30minutes we watched the water trying to figure out what was in there, we guessed fish, eels, then fish again, then I was sure it was an eel, then we just weren't sure, Bayan may have thought it was a snake until finally we got a good enough look at one to realise that they were seals. Content that we had finally figured out what the mystery creature was we walked back to the train and went to bed. So ended our second day on the road.

The harbour where we saw the seals

Road Trip Day 1- thoughts and reflections

I've decided that I will separate each day of the road trip into 2 sections, one being the events of each day and the other being the more deep and meaningful occurrences. This post is of the second kind.

This road trip was so much more to me than just an adventure or an opportunity to see pretty places, it was actually a symbolic representation of my need to reclaim control over my own life.

Maybe something that effects some people more than others or perhaps it doesn't effect some people at all, but it is something that consumes so much of my own life is the need for control. Losing control makes me nervous, anxious, stressed... There are things that I can be completely spontaneous about like where we go to eat or what movie we watch and things like that. There are even other things that I can be completely relaxed about and leave everything to chance like our road trip where we made no specific plans and just went with the flow but when it comes to my life, where I live, what I can and can't do, who I have to answer to in order to do it... etc then I need control.

I guess that's why I love driving so much, I love being totally in control of something. I turn the steering wheel right and the car goes right, I press the accelerator and the car accelerates, I break and the car stops. The car, its entire being and everything it does is dependant on me and I love that feeling and the power that it offers me.

In a time where I felt that I had wholly lost control of my life; I wasn't living where I wanted to live which meant my life was once again restricted by things that were beyond my control, the last taxi to Motherwell leaves town at 8pm so the latest I can be out is 8pm otherwise I have to find someone to stay with which doesn't always work out, I live with a family which is not what I wanted, it means that I can't do all the things I wanted to do without asking for permission like having gatherings at my house or classes or just inviting people over for dinner and I am relying on my parents sending me money so I don't have as much freedom as I want, I decided to do something that made me feel empowered again. Where I would choose what I wanted and didn't want to do, I would choose the time, I would decide on the place, absolutely everything, I decided to do something that gave me back my control.. I decided to go on a road trip.

You can see how driving a car for 6 days would be symbolic of my sense of regaining control and on that first day everything was exactly as I imagined it. I love driving, I love open highways, the scenery vanishing past on either side as I fly forward, no reason to break as there's nothing but empty road ahead of me, losing myself in my thoughts as the rhythm of the car's movement along the tar road harmonises with the patterns of thoughts that beat through my mind. This was exactly what I wanted and felt that I needed at that time. I wanted a period of time that was all about me and I really felt like I deserved it.

It's interesting the things that appear in our lives when we are going through such stages. The first day of driving had been wonderful, Bayan and I had just arrived in Plettenburg Bay and we were at the fish and chips shop ordering fish and chips for me and a cheese and tomato sandwich for the vegetarian Bayan and we had asked the girl at the counter for directions to the beach. She gave us a local newspaper which has a map of the area in it and as I was looking at this map I noticed something on the back which caught my eye. It was an article which I will share which was just so thought provoking but so simple at the same time. Bayan and I sat on the beach with our picnic and I read it to her and we both sat and watched the ocean as we thought about the implications of it in our own lives, until of coarse the seagull came and ruined our tranquil, pondering mood.

A carrot, an egg and a cup of coffee

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled up three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them boil without saying a word.

After some time she turned off the burners, she fished out the carrots and placed them in a bowl, she took out the eggs and placed them in a bowl and then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter she asked, "Tell me what you see?"

"Carrots, eggs and coffee" she replied. 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked her to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter asked her mother "What does this mean?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subject to the boiling water it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after some trial or hardship have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot it releases the fragrance and flavour. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. 

May we all be coffee!

ROAD TRIP!!

After having visited Cape Town over New Years I decided that I definitely wanted to go back should the opportunity arise and when I found out that the drive from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town was one of the most beautiful drives with some really amazing stops on the way I decided to create that opportunity and plan a road trip. I was so determined to do this trip that I vowed I would do it on my own if I had to but thankfully it didn't come to that and Bayan became my road trip buddy.

Within the span of about a week I organised the whole trip and by organise I mean I rented a car and picked what date to leave and when to come back. I figured we could just make up the rest as we went. The rough outline of the trip would be 2 days on the road to get to Cape Town, 2 days in Cape Town and then 2 days on the road to get back to PE, no GPS and no maps this was going to be a true adventure basing everything we did on what our gut feeling told us and whatever would sound good at the time. The purpose of the road trip was to have a great time and see the wonderful sites of the Garden Route which is the name of the drive and here I will begin the tale of our adventure.

Day 1 - Monday the 7th of February - The Wanderers - Total Kilometres: 370

Our wonderful friend Sonja graciously offered to drive us to Lorraine so that we could pick our automobile. Our mode of transportation would be a red VW Citi Golf which thankfully had a CD player and just to add to the flavour of our road trip also came with the smell of wet dog, I don't think Bayan and I would have complained about this so much if we knew how much worse the car would smell after our road trip. Once we had our car it was back to Motherwell to pack everything in before beginning our travels. Naturally we packed in 'just incase mode'.. "Pack some blankets just incase, take those shoes just incase, bring more clothes just incase, pack an umbrella just incase, you'll need an extra towel just incase". By the time we finished packing the car the boot was full as was the whole back seat. We took so much stuff, I didn't even have enough bags to hold it all, some stuff I put in plastic bags and some stuff I just threw in the back seat. It was about 11.30am when we were finally ready to hit the road.

The Automobile

all our luggage

Road Trip Buddies- Me and Bayan

Our first stop was only 45minutes outside of PE at the very beautiful Jefferys Bay. We found a way to the beach and walked out onto a long, beautiful and empty strip of sand. Although surrounded by houses and buildings the beach itself was deserted. We frolicked and entertained ourselves enjoying having the beach all to ourselves. It is really a remarkably beautiful place and the backdrop of gorgeous blue sky highlighted by a few pure white clouds added so much to the already stunning beach. This was definitely the perfect first stop and set the tone of the road trip. When we had exhausted the scenery in Jeffery's Bay we gathered ourselves back in our automobile to venture off to our next destination.

As we left Jefferys Bay I noticed two hitchhikers on the side of the road, a young lady and a small boy and so we pulled over to give them a ride. There are a huge number of hitchhikers on the roads here and so it is very easy to ignore them but anytime I see children it usually catches my eye. Our new road trip buddies were on their way to Humansdorp about 20kms away and so decided our next stop. We entertained our new guests with our non stop singing and my awesome dancing. The best thing about a car with no power steering is that you generally don't need to pay too much attention to the steering wheel which offered my arms all the freedom I needed to bust out my moves. While passing through Humansdorp we saw a sign for a place called Oyster Bay and deciding that that was where we wanted to go next we offloaded our guests and head off for the oysters.

The sign had been very deceiving, Oyster Bay turned out to be really far away and required us going down a dirt road which was kind of exciting except the part where I got stuck behind a truck which was spraying a cloud of dirt behind it as it drove blocking all of my vision so that for a good 10minutes I was driving almost blind. Finally however, we reached the bay of oysters which didn't end up living to it's name and just turned out to be another beach. What was cool about this beach was the huge plains of sand. The beach itself was so vast that you could look straight ahead of you and see only sand on either side, needing to turn your head to get a glimpse of the ocean. There were also lots of sand dunes which offered a great venue for Bayan and I to run down from the top with our hands in the air and screaming all the way as we did in Addo. The water temperature was not tempting enough to entice us to swim so after splashing our feet in a little we left Oyster Bay for the next destination.

Now to get out of Oyster Bay required driving on more dirt roads and naturally we took a wrong turn and ended up on someones farm where a nice young guy offered to show us the way back to the highway. We were on this dirt road for a good 30minutes and the whole time we were surrounded on both sides by the beautiful tranquility of rural life, the huge hectars of green paddocks, the patch work of fields covered in crops, the simplicity of the farm houses and the strong smell of cow poo wafting through the car. Yeah... I love the country.

OMG how do these people survive, it was like driving through a 30km manure smelling cloud. It was revolting and with no aircon and the sun beaming into the car it was too hot to put the windows up and ride it out. At one point as we drove we saw a whole herd of cows hanging in the middle of the road. Like seriously just chilling, on the road. So I crept the car up slowly towards them hoping not to scare them into a crazed panic and then Bayan reaches out her hand towards the steering wheel and starts banging on the horn. Luckily they didn't freak out and instead just stood there in the middle of the road. Eventually one of the farm workers came out and forced them to make way for us and we were able to drive through but man if their poo didn't smell enough the cows themselves stink too. It was just too much for me, I don't think I'll settle for country life if there are farm animals involved.

We managed to survive the country and the dirt road and ended up in our next stop Plettenburg Bay. By this stage it was about 4pm and we were hungry. We had managed to suppress our appetites with peanut butter and celery but now it was finally time for real food so we found a super market and a fish and chips shop and stocked up to have a picnic on the beach. We spread out our mat and brought our picnic basket and enjoyed the view of the ocean as we gobbled our food. Suddenly we noticed that we had a visitor, a seagull was sitting about a metre away from us and was watching us with such intent it was uncomfortable. All of a sudden the seagull opened its mouth wide and started barking/howling/yelling in its strange seagull voice. I mean this was a scary sound, not the typical annoying seagull sound that I am used to. It was like a tribal call summoning the rest of its posse to come and stalk us. A few times we tried to scare the seagull off but it just came back again and we decided to ignore it. So we sat, watching the ocean and talking about our trip so far. We had also started watching this group of young boys who were playing a card game and clearly if you lost you had to be punished because two of the boys jumped up ran into the ocean then ran back on the sand, rolled around in it and then ran back into the ocean again. Amused by this we watched and laughed when all of a sudden I felt something next to me, Bayan jumped up and screamed causing me to jump up and scream. The seagull had come on to our mat and stole the foam container which had my fish and chips in it. I was more amazed that the seagull was able to carry such a large box in its mouth than I was shocked that it had stolen from us. In our commotion the seagull dropped the container so I went to take it back but not before it opened its mouth and started making that strange noise again summoning its friends. The seagull clearly seeing that we were distracted by these boys had planned its attack so skillfully. Anticipating another attack we packed everything into our basket and went down to play in the water. As we walked away from our picnic spot the seagull went to our basket and tried to get stuff out so we ended up having to wrap our basket up with our mat to stop the seagull.

Evil food stealing seagull

As I wanted to avoid driving at night as much as possible we decided to leave and get to our next stop which is where we would be spending the night. The place was Knysna and I had found a backpackers online the night before. We arrived in Knysna, put our stuff  in our room and freshened up to go out for the night. By this stage the sun had already gone down, it was about 8pm and we decided to walk and see what this town had to offer. We found a nice Italian restaurant and got desert, we walked along the harbour and then through some of the streets. We saw a bar which had some life but neither of us was in the mood for that atmosphere. At one point I looked up in the sky to admire the stars when Bayan decided that she wanted to lay down and look at the stars. So we did, on the sidewalk outside of the pub we lay on our backs, our heads sharing her bag, and watched the stars. With our completely inadequate knowledge of astronomy we started looking for constellations. We got into a discussion on why Orian's belt is called a belt when it only contains 3 stars and then decided that it must just be some of the holes in his belt rather than the whole belt, or Orian is just very skinny. We lay on the ground for some time, drawing the glances of people walking by until we got bored of the stars and went home.

Hanging in Knysna

We shared our dorm with 2 girls from Germany who were travelling in the opposite direction and after chit chatting for a few minutes we crashed into bed.

Pass that Dutch

Without trying to sound like a campaigner against drugs or preach about how bad drugs are  I wanted an opportunity to reflect on something that has been plaguing me since I arrived here in Port Elizabeth. There is a party scene in South Africa and one thing I observed about this scene here is that drugs like Ecstasy and cocaine are not as prevalent as what I've noticed they are in Sydney. The main reasons I think are that for one people here can’t afford drugs like cocaine which are reserved in this society for the wealthier people and secondly the main style of music in this country is RnB and Hip Hop and ecstasy does not partner with that kind of music nor does it go with South African house music. Here in South Africa, completely honouring the stereotype, the whole Rastafarian take it easy man image of Africa, the single most acceptable, the most accessible, the most loved and defended of all the drugs is weed aka hashish, pot, hemp, cannabis, grass, kush, dagga...

Weed in South Africa is not just a drug, it’s a right. People of this country believe in weed, I would go so far as to say they worship it. The number of times I’ve entered a conversation with someone about why I don’t smoke weed and how in the Baha’i Faith its use as a means of getting high is not permitted the other person has stood their ground, listing reasons and arguments for why it is the greatest invention given to man. You seriously can’t win, they love their weed. Usually a conversation of this nature will proceed with the other person packing a bong, smoking a cone and then offering one to you as if they sincerely believed their point had gotten through to you and you were miraculously converted. Amongst the greatest argument of the defenders of weed is that it’s a natural substance, how can it be bad for you if it was God who put it on this Earth? It’s a valid argument, it is a natural substance and it is known to have medicinal qualities, I mean I use hemp body butter and it is amazing, unfortunately humanity lacks self control, lacks discipline, lacks maturity and the misuse of weed is much greater than its intended purpose as a medicinal substance and so it is better to ban its use rather than allow it with exceptions because knowing us humans we will twist everything to justify ourselves. “My savings account is only for emergencies and the need to own these shoes definitely falls under that category.” Counter argument number 2 is that God also put poisonous berries like Yew, Jasmine and Daphne on the planet and other deadly plants like the castor bean and daffodils as well as rattle snakes, redback spiders and wasps... are you going to smoke those too?

So people like weed in South Africa, what’s so special about that, people smoke weed all over the place? Yes, yes, yes this is true but what baffled me was how common and normal it was here. People here are not discrete about lighting a joint and passing it round. People here smoke joints like they’re cigarettes. They pull out their folded bit of paper or little zip-lock bag, crunch up the grass that’s inside, place the weed on a thing of paper, roll it up, lick it shut, find something to press down the insides with, twist the end, spark their lighter, light it up and pull it in... just like that. Anywhere and everywhere people are smoking weed. Sitting in a taxi, you smell weed, sitting on the grass, you smell weed, at a friend’s braai, you smell weed, walking in the street, hanging at the university, in the living room, in the bedroom, it doesn’t matter where you are or what time it is there is always someone smoking weed. The comfort with which people get high in public is really something I marvel at. There is no shame whatsoever in smoking weed, actually it’s quite the opposite. Like I said before people use drugs in Australia as well and weed is definitely amongst them but not to the same extent and not amongst such a large portion of society.

Weed in Australia from what I know, is kinda thought of as a lower class drug. Being a pothead which is a regular smoker is not a good thing. To smoke it occasionally is considered ok but regular use is looked down on. That’s the major difference, the other big thing is girls and weed. A girl smoking a bong everyday is not a nice look. It’s trashy and low and not attractive at all. Here in South Africa girls use it just as much as guys do. I was sitting in the living room at a friend’s house when some people came over. Just sitting with them having a conversation and all of a sudden one of the girls pulls out a bong, packs it, lights it up and smokes it, right there in the living room, right in front of me a person she had just met. She didn’t ask me if it was ok

It’s interesting actually when people ask me about marijuana culture in Australia and I tell them it’s not looked highly upon, they get really confused. Especially when I talk about girls smoking and how it has this junkie reputation that comes with it. From my conversations with people they tell me that weed makes them think better, clears their minds, makes them reach a more spiritual level and just makes them feel good. They love getting high these South African kids.

So I don’t know if you can get a sense of what I mean in terms of the socially acceptable nature of a drug. I guess if South Africans went to Sydney they might find shocking how widely used certain other drugs are compared to here but from what I know of Australia people are not that open about their drug use even if the levels of use are higher which I doubt. Police here don’t really bother with enforcing the laws against marijuana use, if they did half this country would be arrested. One major thing is that no one fights back when they’re high, governments like a society that is passive and weed does that; it creates passivity. People here may not have much money for stuff but there’s always money for weed. Pass that dutch, no stress baby.
I predict many more arguments regarding this plant to arise in the future, it really is a drug that the people of this country adore. They even go so far as to deny the long term side effects when I name them such as memory loss, muscle degeneration, lung damage...etc (my memory of grade 10 Health class is still strong) so it is clearly not an issue that any one is campaigning to resolve. I think I’ll sum up by sharing what the Baha’i Writings say about the use of marijuana and drugs in general and maybe they will inspire someone to see the logic of these things. There are better ways to get high.

'Regarding hashish you had pointed out that some Persians have become habituated to its use. Gracious God! This is the worst of all intoxicants, and its prohibition is explicitly revealed. Its use causeth the disintegration of thought and the complete torpor of the soul. How could anyone seek this fruit of the infernal tree, and by partaking of it, be led to exemplify the qualities of a monster? How could one use this forbidden drug, and thus deprive himself of the blessings of the All-Merciful?...

'Alcohol consumeth the mind and causeth man to commit acts of absurdity, but... this wicked hashish extinguisheth the mind, freezeth the spirit, petrifieth the soul, wasteth the body and leaveth man frustrated and lost.'

‘It should be noted that the above prohibition against taking certain classes of drugs does not forbid their use when prescribed by qualified physicians as part of a medical treatment.’

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 239)

‘Among these latter is smoking tobacco, which is dirty, smelly, offensive -- an evil habit, and one the harmfulness of which gradually becometh apparent to all. Every qualified physician hath ruled -- and this hath also been proven by tests -- that one of the components of tobacco is a deadly poison, and that the smoker is vulnerable to many and various diseases. This is why smoking hath been plainly set forth as repugnant from the standpoint of hygiene....’

‘My meaning is that in the sight of God, smoking tobacco is deprecated, abhorrent, filthy in the extreme; and, albeit by degrees, highly injurious to health. It is also a waste of money and time, and maketh the user a prey to a noxious addiction. To those who stand firm in the Covenant, this habit is therefore censured both by reason and experience, and renouncing it will bring relief and peace of mind to all men. Furthermore, this will make it possible to have a fresh mouth and unstained fingers, and hair that is free of a foul and repellent smell. On receipt of this missive, the friends will surely, by whatever means and even over a period of time, forsake this pernicious habit. Such is my hope.’

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 147)

Township living

Remember when I once said that I would never live in a township. It's funny how we end up doing things that we once so firmly stated that we wouldn't do.

Based on the description of townships that I have given in previous posts you might automatically assume that I now live in a shack with cows and goats wondering around and a shabeen next door filled with drunk men. This image in not entirely untrue. My new home is Motherwell, the second biggest township in South Africa after the famous Soweto. The Gcume family have so graciously opened their home to me and saved me from my homelessness and so here I am, in the township.

There are parts of Motherwell that look like my above description, there are areas with clusters of tin shack houses and random farm animals wondering around and there are shabeens and taverns and Motherwell has it's share of drunk men but as this township is so big it is also very diverse. For the most part the houses here are concrete, brick houses. Some of these houses are the size of a shack and others are the size of a regular house. Some areas have tar roads and some have dirt roads.

There isn't really much that differs between living here and living in the suburbs except that there are no white people, the people here are generally friendlier, there is a greater sense of community amongst the neighbours in one street or area, everyone visits each other or greets each other when they meet. Some of the girls who live around us come over just to check how I'm doing and see if I'm ok. The biggest and most annoying difference that I've experienced living here is the reaction I get from people when I tell them where I live.
Here is an example of a conversation I had with a guy I met...

Guy: So where do you stay?
Me: Motherwell
Guy: No really?
Me: Really I live in Motherwell
Guy: which part
Me: Nu2
Guy: What street?
Me: _____ street (leaving the name blank for privacy reasons)
Guy: You just named the only street you know there
Me: Why would I lie? I live in Motherwell
Guy: Why would you live in Motherwell, you should live in Summerstrand or Humewood or Southend (all more expensive beach side suburbs)

Even when I'm in a taxi going to Motherwell people don't believe that I live there, they say that I'm just going to visit someone or going for a sleep over or something. At first it was amusing but now it's just annoying. Why is it such a big deal that a 'white person' lives in the township?

The best part about living here is all the extra transport options, because Motherwell is so huge and has so few facilities here to cater for the people everyone has to go to town or Korsten so there are so many taxis from so many locations out of Motherwell and back again. There are 100 times more buses and there are even these other taxis called jiggales which are just normal cars that take people to locations in the township. The last taxi to Motherwell is at around 8pm which is later than the last taxi back to my old suburb.

So far I like living here, Bayan has a junior youth group that she is starting again every Friday afternoon and we just started a children's class for Saturday mornings so there's a lot to keep us busy. I do get a lot of attention living here "Hey white girl, white girl" type of attention and "Oh you are so beautiful" attention but I've grown so accustomed to it that I don't even notice it anymore. My Xhosa is also improving especially since Bayan's 4 year old nephew lives with us and does not speak any English. It's so cute, whenever he tried to tell me something in Xhosa and I don't understand he instead pulls me down and tells it to me in my ear, still in Xhosa though. I think he thinks I just can't hear him. I was also given a new name by one of the taxi guards. Bayan and I were walking towards the taxi from the shopping centre with a trolley load of groceries and I was having issues pushing the trolley so the guard came over and was like Sindiswa, come let me help you, Sindiswa come and sit here. He also renamed Bayan to Babalwa and he thought she was from Italy. Then he told everyone in the taxi that they should only speak English because Sindiswa was with them. The entire taxi ride we were laughing because he was so entertaining. When we were approaching our stop Bayan called out in Xhosa "jiggale bamba" which means stop at the corner. The guard repeated this to the driver in Xhosa and the driver told him he had to say it in English, the guard then yelled out "Ok turn around and break". We laughed so much because he didn't know how to say it in English.

I'm sure I will have many more wonderful stories from the township that I will be able to share later.

Now for some pics of my new home

my bedroom

living room and tv room behind it

Bayan in the kitchen

My new sister Bayan