Sent on Feb 5, 2003 from Cape Town.

US$ = 7.932 So. African Rands.  Better use the ATM as the
exchange given by the banks is low. The real rate is near 9.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Johannesburg takes about 10
hours, then 2.5 hours stop-over, then about 2 hours to Cape
Town.  This aint a short distance.  From 15 hours ahead of
EST in USA, I am now only 7 hours ahead, like Turkey,
Jordan, Cairo, Jerusalem.  Cape Town is at 34 degrees South
Latitude, like San Diego North. So if this is Feb. in San
Diego, the weather here is like August in San Diego.

WOW, as the plane approached Cape Town, say about 30
minutes before landing, the landscape changed to something
only artists could have imagined: rugged rocky hills, with
cultivated valleys in between, something like the landscape
around the Guadalupe National Park in North Texas, but for
the cultivation.  And then the Table Mountain came to view:
spectacular, accompanied by the Lion's Head Hill and the
smaller Signal Hill next to it, and the wide open sea,
where the colder Atlantic Ocean commingles with the warmer
Indian Ocean.  VERY scenic.

I called the ASHANTI HOUSE (hostel) from
the airport and got a dorm room for 80R=about $10.  It is
one of the best I have seen; there were 120 travelers there
already from all traveling nations, half females.  They
also have a cafe on site, internet, wash, TV room, tennis
courts, pool, and you can get single or double rooms too. 
As far as scenery, it may have the best location in town
for seeing the Table Top Mountain.  It is at the foothills,
about 1km from it so that you get the full view of the
mountain, yet close enough for the details.  By the way,
the Table Top looks like it viewed from the South; from
other angles it is a series of rock protrusions, so that
someone named it the 12 Apostles--should be 18 counting the
rocky heads.  Ashanti Lodge will pick you up for free from
the airport or the bus station; getting back is 90Rands, 50
is 2 or 3 are going. Cape of Good Hope is about 90km
southeast from Cape Town; magnificent views of the 2
oceans, and the countryside.  Tours are not as well
organized here as they are in Australia, yet they are
expensive.  So I decided to do much of my own.

For other prices, I called a Rikkis (423-4888)--cheap taxi, a
small van, really--and for 14R was taken to the Table
Mountain cable car.  Paid 100R to get to top.  Even more
spectacular views of the ocean, the city, and the various
beaches from there. Got back and for 80R got on the Hop
On/Off City Tour Bus, for 2-hour circle of the city.  Then
I took a 30-min harbor cruise and called it a day as far as
Cape Town.  The next day, I rented a car and took off to the
Cape of Good Hope.  I will keep the car for 2 or 3 more
days for a drive north to Namibia--about 1000 miles to see
the NAMIB DESERT, cut east and head 800km to the KALAHARI
desert in Botswana.  Then I will shift my base to DURBAN,
about 1000 miles from here to do some things from there
including tours to LESOTHO and SWAZILAND, then shift to
Johannesburg and do some more from that base, like possibly
the VICTORIA FALLS in Zimbabwe and crossing the Krueger
National park.  These will be in later reports, IF I dont
get stuck in the boondocks...

Something in Cape Town gets your attention from the start. 
The entire city is so laid back that it seems almost
lifeless--never mind Singapore being sterile.  I dont know
how much of this is cultural (British), or how much as a
result of the recent political changes, where the whites
perhaps do not seem as sure of their future any longer.  I
did not hear someone laugh, sound of music or children
playing, not even car beeps.  Scenery alone will not do for
me for long; I want zest, pulse, pizzazz.  Early in the eve
the place really dies down, also because this is when the
cities, especially Johannesburg, get dangerous.

I will have to change my travel plans a bit, but I am not
sure yet how.  Car rental seems the only feasible way of
traveling here.  This means I must also have lodging
wherever I am going.  The problem is that I have in mind
some really obscure places on the map.  I'll see to where
my mood and instincts take me. Ah adventure . . .