Day 7 & 8 - Road Trip (With monkeys)

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
Well the wait is finally over! Yes, this is the famous (or depending your disposition, infamous) "Monkeyland" post! I hope it lives up to your expectations!
But before we get to what can only be described as the most magical place on earth, first we have to tell you how we got there. Hehehe ;)

WORD OF WARNING: Those with sensitive stomachs, may want to proceed with caution!

Maja in front of the Southern Cross Beach House

When we last left our dynamic duo, they were packed up and on the road from Oudtshoorn on the way to Plettenberg Bay. We arrived a little later than expected, around 3:30pm. We stayed at another fantastic guest house, sense a theme? No hotels for us, these guest houses are basically like oversized bed and breakfasts and are a great way to get to know some of the locals. This place was called Southern Cross Beach House and while it was a little difficult to find, it was right on Plettenberg Bay's Solar Beach. As we sat down to admire its terrific view, we were a tad disappointed that the cloudy weather put a damper on our sun-soaked beach plans for the afternoon. The disappointment continued as the house manager brought us our tea and informed us that Monkeyland closed within the hour! Looks like we'll have to wait another day.

One thing we did really enjoy about the Southern Cross beach house was that they had two dogs, Baloo and Toby, both poodles, one large and the other miniature. We aren't usually big fans of poodles but since we missed our own pets so much, we were excited to play with these two guys! Maja was a big hit with Baloo especially, as he jumped up next to her, cuddling with her as we both sat out on the patio, drinking complimentary champagne and reviewing our pictures. Once we were ready to go to sleep, the little guy followed us into our room and snuggled next to Maja in bed all night long! It was pretty adorable (but Mike was more than a little wary of fleas. It turned out fine though, lucky for us).

Baloo the poodle making himself at home on our bed

One of the best things about South Africa so far definitely has to be the prices. On our last trip to Las Vegas, the prices of everything (souvenirs, hotels, drinks, activities and food) was so cost prohibitive. We could basically only treat ourselves to one high-end restaurant during our stay there, and we felt guilty about it. Even on our trip to Southeast Asia, the prices at a lot of the fine dining restaurants were comparable to what we'd find back home (read: too expensive). After all those places, it's amazing to come to South Africa where not only is the Rand/Canadian Dollar exchange rate at about 8.82 Rand for every Loonie but the prices are also significantly lower than what we'd pay back home. SIGNIFICANTLY! During this road trip, we'd gotten recommendations from all the guest house managers as to what is the best, most high-end restaurant in town and once we'd arrived, we found not only could we afford wine with dinner but also a starter AND a dessert. Back home, we rarely order wine with dinner and ordering dessert is even more rare, starters NEVER happen, but down here, we've had all this and it's been cheaper than breakfast at many of the restaurants we go to in Ottawa! For example, the meal we had yesterday, an African Trio (ostrich, kudu, and springbok steak), an ostrich fillet, a crocodile grilled starter, two glasses of wine, a coffee, a crème brûlée and a glass of port for dessert only cost us the equivalent of roughly $50 plus tip! And this is at THE BEST restaurant in Oudsthoorn! There's no way we'd get away with that back home! Come to South Africa: Eat Like Kings!

Nothing like eating three different animals on the same plate to make you feel like the King of Africa! :)

In the morning, Mike sprung out of bed like a rocket, nudging Maja like a kid on Christmas Day! "Monkeyland!" He kept yelling over and over (it made for a messy breakfast). We headed into this giant conservation area that housed thousands of monkeys and some apes with the kind of excitement usually reserved for the birth of a child, or at least a slice of a really, really, really good chocolate cake! Once we arrived at Monkeyland, we were greeted by the friendly guides, who proceeded to slide multiple gates open to let us in the santuary. Mike could swear he heard the theme to Jurassic Park as they slid open that last gate but Maja insists he's just crazy.

Doo doo, doo doo, doo da doo da doo doo doooooooo! doo doo doo doo da doo doo da doo, da da doo dooooooo! (Hint: Jurassic Park Theme Song)

Monkeys apparently hate apples

Hehehe, "Monkey Business" :)

We waited patiently on the patio landing, wondering when a tour guide would arrive. She was over 5 minutes late but it felt like an eternity. Lucky for us, we had a mother capuchin monkey with her baby clutching to her back to  keep us company. She was scoping the area to see if any sloppy patrons left behind pieces of their breakfast. Unfortunately, our surprise guest was only temporary as she quickly decided we weren't worth her time. Once our guide arrived, we learned that Monkeyland is not a zoo, it is instead a monkey sanctuary. Like the safari, all the animals here were rescued from private collections and do not have the skills to live in the wild on their own. At Monkeyland, they can finally learn how to live with their own kind again, mate and have children who can then be released into the wild. The area is indeed fenced in, but this is more to keep other animals out, rather than to keep the monkeys in. We were told if an outside alpha male were to enter the reserve, it would absolutely destroy the entire ecosystem. The monkeys can, and in fact have, leapt over these fences but most if not all return.

C'mon, that's just ADORABLE!

Charmaine, that little troublemaker

The most prevalent species of monkey we saw was definitely the capuchin. These monkeys are the ones you'd be familiar with as Marcel from Friends, or the cigarette smoking drug dealer in The Hangover Part II. These monkeys aren't indigenous to Africa and are in fact from South America, but they are by far the more popular ones chosen as pets in private collections. They are known as the smartest of the small monkeys and extremely trainable, which is why more often than not, you see them in movies and television. One particular capuchin, named Charmaine, was so used to human companionship that she came up and greeted us, then stood next to our guide, climbed up her walking stick and then followed us on our tour for a few minutes. You could tell she was extremely smart, but also that she was at one time, owned by a person.

Mike's favourite, by far, were the squirrel monkeys. At full grown, these adorable little rascals are only about the size of a kitten but have twice the energy. There were probably about twenty of these little guys scampering around, squeaking and buzzing us as we walked by. The cutest thing about the squirrel monkeys was watching them wrestle. They would run and tackle each other and once they got each other down on the ground it was almost like watching a uber-minature version of UFC. Mike really wanted to smuggle one of these little guys home. The only problem was that they moved so fast, it was almost impossible to snap a quality picture. Other species we saw were tortoises, who weren't nearly as exciting, and a white gibbon, which was actually an ape, not a monkey, since it had no tail and super-long arms to compensate.

A Squirrel Monkey: Quite possibly the cutest animal in existence

.....Hate you...

Finally, we also saw two types of lemurs, a ring-tailed and a black and white lemur. While it may seem obvious, we were told they were not primates, which you can tell just by looking at their face. They have opposable thumbs but we were told that they were not nearly as smart as the monkey species we had seen. We watched as they munched on piles of fruit and stared off in the distance. As we looked into their enormous eyes, it was easy to believe that there wasn't much intelligence residing behind them. In fact, our guide said that many of the monkeys in the park love to tease and bully the lemurs, who are too dim-witted to fight back.

Perhaps, the lemurs knew that the group were poking fun at their intelligence as one of them took to the trees. Mike, who was obviously infatuated with the countless monkeys surrounding him, moved closer and closer to the feeding table to snap better pictures and movies. He was so giddy that he ignored Maja as she called out for him to be careful. "I won't miss the chance to see so many funny and adorable creatures up close!" he thought. Well, next thing he knew, he heard a scream: "MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!!!"
He leapt back as quickly as he could but it was too late, the lemurs had their revenge:

If you think that's gross, try walking around with that on your back with half a tour left to go!

Mike tried his very best to keep his spirits up after this happened, as there was still half of the tour left to go, but you could tell some of his excitement was diminished. Maja insisted he stay at least a metre away from her at all times but she secretly enjoyed rubbing it in Mike's face, it was her warning he kept ignoring after all. Mike wore the shirt for the rest of the tour, but once we got back to the main building, he had to wash up as best he could in the bathroom, leading him to walk around the souvenir shop shirtless (luckily this seemed to be a common occurance at Monkeyland, and no one said anything!). Regardless this was the definite highlight of the trip so far, as Mike insists no lemur poo will put a downer on seeing this many monkeys. It was, after all, lemurs and NOT monkeys, who caused all this trouble. Don't worry, monkeys, you're still in Mike's good books ;)

Smelly, smelly Mike.....DAMN YOU LEMURS!!!!

Namaste,
M&M

Cape Town Day 6 & 7 : ROAD TRIP!!!!!

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
First off, we have some bad news. The two of us went to visit a place called Monkeyland and now it looks like Maja may be the only one returning back home to Canada. Mike refused to leave! More (and boy do we ever mean MORE!) on that later.

After our amazing safari adventure, the road trip through South Africa continued. We've had a packed few days but we'll try to be as concise as possible, no one wants to read pages and pages of our ramblings.

On the suggestion of Sanjin's friend, we took the scenic Swaertberg Pass on our drive to Oudsthoorn. We were initially wary of this path as it added time to our drive and once we pulled in to this dirt road our worries were not assuaged. Thankfully we were greeted with a traditional "African traffic jam" of a family of baboons walking along the road. These pink-butted rable-rousers are known as a scourge in South Africa and are infamous for their "monkey raids!" Of course, Mike didn't care about those words of caution in the slightest and he was just like a little kid in a candy store, giggling and pointing as we drove by. Once we passed these little distractions, the long windy dirt path took us all through the mountains and next to an amazing bubbling spring. The road continued all the way to the top of the mountains where we managed to snap some truly breathtaking photos (we'll post photos in a seperate post later when we get back to Cape Town, we promise!). The drive was perilous because apparently Africans don't believe in road railings, even if there is a 200m drop right next you and the road is too small for two cars to pass through (despite a lack of trying!).

Another amazing thing Mike noticed about the African terrain is its varied biodiversity. I know, I know, biodiversity, ecosystem *snore*! Bare with us here! When we were driving to the safari, all we saw were bushes, short shrubs, bare trees and orange dirt. It was a very dry climate with no water. But as soon as we passed over the mountains, the terrain changed completely, full of moss covered rocks, crevasses and bushes. You'd swear you were in New Zealand or on the set of The Lord of the Rings movies. Further down on our road trip, the terrain changed even more and it looked exactly like Canada. There were bushels of lush, tall green trees and dense pines, this is stuff you'd never believe you'd see after all the images of Africa we know from television. It was a little shocking. For Maja, this is all old hat of course.

One of the most impressive examples of caves we've ever seen was at the Cango Caves near Oudsthoorn. These caves were made of three giant chambers, with the largest being over 20m tall, 94m long and 42m wide. In other words, FRICKIN' ENORMOUS! These were truly impressive and are highly recommended. There was an additional "adventurous tour" which had more challenging routes like the "letterbox," with a floor to ceiling clearance level of only 27cm, and the "Devil's Chimney" which is a 3.5m long, 75 degree angle climb up through a 45cm wide opening. Needless to say, we took a pass on that :P

We finally arrived to Villa Rustique in Oudsthoorn, which was an adorable Belgian-run, modern Guest House. The owners were super friendly, offering excellent advice and hospitality, and the guest company (an older Dutch couple) were courteous and interesting conversationalists. We highly recommend the trip to Oudsthoorn and this guess house especially, it's a fantastic place.

Oudsthoorn is Ostrich capital of South Africa so naturally Mike had to drag Maja to the Cango Ostrich Farm. These giant birds freaked her out to no end but the trip was worth it just to see the tour guide tease her by telling her an ostrich was sneaking up behind her. To be honest the farm was extremely interesting, the guide super knowledgeable, the souvenirs fantastic but, I kind of agree with Maja, ostriches are kind of gross. Although if you're looking for a place to experience these interesting animals, and actually ride one, you'll find no better place.

We've have much more to tell you but we think its best to spread it across a few posts for brevity's sake. But we will leave you with one word that should hopefully get you excited for the next entry: MONKEYLAND!!!!!
'till then,
Namaste,
M&M

Cape Town Day... What day is it again? 4 & 5?

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
Sorry we haven't updated in a while but we've been too busy lion around. Get it? Lion! ........sorry

First off, we're currently on a road trip through the African desert and up the coast of South Africa. I'm writing this as we're driving from our safari onto a town called Oudtshoorn (don't ask me how to pronounce it, I'll just mangle it and embarrass myself). Now you may be asking yourself "Mike, you're supposed to be a gentleman, why are you making Maja drive while you still there typing away on your iPhone?!" Well firstly, if you're asking that question, you don't know me very well since I'm ALWAYS on my iPhone ;)
And secondly, the driving here in South Africa is a little different from what I'm used to back in Ottawa as they drive on the left side of the road and the traffic is.. shall we say, interesting...
Anyway, Maja has more experience driving here since her dad taught her to drive on these roads so I'll tackle it a little later in our road trip.
Also, thanks to this road trip we have limited access to Internet so we probably won't be adding any pictures to these posts but you can always find them and vine videos on our personal facebook pages :)
Since we've missed a few days, we'll try to just focus on the highlights rather than breakdown our days like we've been doing.

The nice thing about traveling with Maja is that most of the time we get experiences that a typical tourist never has. For those of you who don't know, she's basically lived all over Africa during her younger years as her father worked for the UN. This means that not only does she know a ton of people living on the continent but also thanks to international schools and whatnot, she also has friends all over the planet. I like to call them "insiders." These insiders give us the real deal, not that watered down Travel Channel experience that most tourists get when they visit places based off books and pre-planned itineraries.
One such authentic experience was at the Barkai farm outside of Cape Town. This is Sanjin's best friend John's family farm where they grow apples, roses, pomegranates and figs as far as the eye can see.

A fig from the Barkai farm. Figs are delicious fruit but look like terrifying alien creatures on the inside 

We had fun exploring through the apple orchard especially, the apples looked ripe and good enough to eat right off the tree, and I might have even grabbed a few bites when no one was looking (disclaimer: no I didn't). We sat with the family and learned about their history and the thirty years they've been running the farm, we even talked a little South African politics! It looks like no matter where you go on the planet people always seem to be pissed off at the government (nice to see we bureaucrats are well loved the world over!). Also, they had two dogs we could play with so that alone made the trip worthwhile. One was named Marmite and he was infinitely better than that awful tasting salty Vaseline paste...urgh..though probably just as smelly!

Next, off to the Kristenbosch botanical gardens to take in a show by a local Cape Town "Loop artist" (basically recording loops of guitar riffs, beat boxing and harmonica to create harmonies). Lets just say the view was the highlight of this event as the gardens are right beneath the Table Mountain and anytime you can have that huge, majestic chunk of rock as your backdrop, it's a treat :)

"Maja, jus' loungin' by da pool" I was going to write "poo'" but Maja said you'd get the wrong idea

The next day we were off in our rental car to the Aquila Safari Park about two hour drive out of Cape Town. It was a long drive in the heat but it was totally worth it! Outside of the fabulous two level room with an outdoor shower and spectacular infinity pool, we had not one but two safari trips through the African brush. Not all that shimmers is gold though as the second safari started a crisp hour of six in the morning and everyone knows that's Mike's absolute FAVORITE time of the day, especially when he's on vacation! ;)
Luckily there was plenty of coffee ready to recharge our batteries and help us get ready for the bumpy ride. Although once we saw the animals in their natural habitat there wasn't really anymore need for coffee. We both perked up after seeing the rare and endangered white rhino amongst a herd of zebras and giraffe. But Mike's new favorite, by far, were the springbok. He says that lions are "played out" as you can see them all the time in movies and on TV but the springbok were something completely new to him. They look like miniature antelopes but with a distinct striped design and they hop around in groups. They are also delicious. Mike had a springbok steak before we left for the safari and the timing was perfect because I think he'd have a hard time with it now, they were just too adorable. Mike is seriously considering sneaking one home. Maja's new job at Canada Border Services has got to be good for something right? Maja says he'll have to settle for a stuffed plush springbok though :(

Other animals we saw on the way were elephants, water buffalo, wildebeest, impalas, ostriches and, of course, a pride of lions. I think our lives flashed before our eyes when the head lioness stared down our bus for a few minutes only to start stalking it after it stood up. We were convinced it was trying to protect the pride. We were all extremely freaked out and the regularly calm tour guide even decided to start backing up the truck to get away from her. One of the ladies on our tour was a little too adventurous (read: stupid) and decided to stick her body out of the window to call it over to snap pictures. The lion growled and took a swipe at her. If you've ever travelled, you'll know her as that type of tourist you run into every now-and-again who probably deserves to get a lion's paw to the face. ;)

Our day at the safari park ended with a tour of the conservation area. The story behind this place is really tragic as our guide told us that all the animals found here were rescued from private interests who abused them. They had an additional pride of lions, a leopard, two cheetahs and some crocodiles. Apparently these animals were "hunted" repeatedly but were shot with rubber bullets... Awful stuff. Aquila safari has rescued them but unfortunately they cannot be released into the wild or the regular park because they do not have the skills necessary to survive.

These animals were quite amazing though and we actually learned quite a lot about them. Did you know that cheetahs have a bit of canine in their DNA? While big cats like lions and leopards are all feline, cheetahs have some dog in them which, when you think about it, actually explains a lot of their speed (Greyhounds are super speedy, remember). Also apparently cheetahs are known to be the only big cats that can actually be domesticated and the two they had in the conservation area were so friendly that you could reach out and pet them, AND WE DID! It was truly unbelievable and Mike pet it for as long as he could, picturing it as a small house cat. Unfortunately the realization that this creature could, in fact, eat his entire hand at any time quickly sank in and he had to stop relatively soon. It was crazy how these huge animals actually behaved exactly like our own cat, Bendis, back home. They would rub up against you, purring and roll on their back to get a belly rub. It's pretty adorable actually... Until you remember what it actually is :)

In the end, we fell in love with this park and it's been the highlight of the trip so far, hands down! Absolutely fantastic!

Namaste,

M&M

Cape Town Day 3

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

If every church had this many goodies, I think I'd go more often!

We had a jam packed day today in lovely, sunny Cape Town. As today was Sanjin's day off, we were treated to an insider's tour of the absolute best in hipster hangouts in and around the Cape. We went to two different local markets, the first was run out of a local church and offered a variety of homemade dishes for lunch and breakfast. The church's basement held a cornucopia of vintage dresses, blouses, purses and jewelry that caught Maja's eye. Luckily, she only left with one small item, a cute white purse that I've been told is a "clutch, not a purse."

After this brief stopover, we drove to a much bigger marketplace, Cape Town's famous Biscuit Mill. This was like the last market on steroids. It offered basically all the same food but even more so. Everything you could ever want was for sale there, fresh cuts of meat and sausage, baked goods, cheeses, vegetables, jams and honeys, and yes, even shwarma. It seems that everywhere we go, you can ALWAYS find a shwarma, it may not be the same kind of sandwich you're used to back home, but it always goes by the same name. The highlight of this outing was Mike's introduction to biltong, a local South African cured and dried meat that very similar to beef jerky. He bought two bags to snack on for the afternoon/evening and they were both gone within the hour!

SHWARMA!!!

Sanjin also gave a tour of the local shops surrounding the Biscuit Mill which each sold unique and handcrafted items. The most interesting of these shops was called ReCreate which took old antiques and repurposed them. For example, they would take old suitcases, open them up, sew in cushions, add four sturdy legs and turn them into a comfortable chair. They added an old mirror to the top of a washbasin and made it into a stylish coffee table. The store was full of these amazing ideas!

Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town

Our tour concluded with a stop to the Rhodes memorial at the base of Table Mountain. Rhodes is a famous British entrepreneur who fell in love with South Africa and was key in helping with its development. He is also the man behind the world's most famous scholarship, the Rhodes Scholarship. Sanjin also brought us to the beautiful University of Cape Town's campus where we were treated to a gorgeous view of the city.


We ended our day with a rugby match between the reigning league champions, the Hamilton Chiefs from New Zealand, and the local West Cape Stormers. The crowds were enormous and rowdy at this match and it was quite exciting. It was a close game throughout, with the home team narrowly edging out a victory at 36-34. It was loads of fun and it left Mike wondering why professional rugby has never taken off in Canada? Surely it would be more successful than the CFL?!?

The Hamilton Chiefs prepare to boot the ball towards the beloved West Cape Stormers!

Our evening came to a close as we went for dinner at a local burger restaurant called "Beefcakes." The sounds of Madonna and the Spice Girls welcomed us as we sat down to be served by topless men, surrounded by pink flamingoes and bachelorette parties. We were told that Maja might have to save Mike throughout the night as this was a well known gay bar. The atmosphere was definitely a blast and the ostrich burgers were also top notch (Maja also had no complaints about our chiseled, topless waiter... at least Mike didn't hear any).


And so went day three of our South Africa adventure!
Namaste,
M&M

Cape Town Day 2 - IN PICTURES

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
We apologize for not posting any pictures with our last post. We wrote it late into the evening and were too tired to bother. The next morning we were also quickly rushed out the door, so yet again, no pics!
We've decided to make up for it by posting only pictures, see below ;)
Namaste,
M&M

At the Cape Cobras Cricket Match: Brother and Sister with beers in hand.

The Bowler for the Highveld Lions (in red) launching a ball towards the Batsman for the Cape Cobras (in blue)

Sanjin tells us this is THE BEST part of cricket: The Statistics!

Mike with the Cobras' mascot, "Coby The Cobra" :D

So instead of a zamboni, they use steamrollers to smooth out the pitch between innings

Mike's new favourite snack, the Chipstick! It's a potato curled around a stick, deep fried, sprinkled with peri peri spice

The Marvel Bar. Mike was disappointed to learn it wasn't comic related, but instead a hip hop bar. Needless to say, he didn't fit in...

The Springbok shot at the Cafe Mojito. It's peppermint liquor with Amarula cream. So delicious we had more than one

Cape Town Day 2

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
When we last left you, we were heading out for dinner to a wonderful South African hotdog joint called Gourmet Boerie. Boereworst are sausage/hot dogs that are quite common here, but this restaurant offers an upscaled version where you can pick your meat (beef, ostrich, lamb, etc) as well as your sauces. Maja chose the "Pure Sophistication" selection which included caramelized onions, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and rocket (arugula), while Mike picked the more South African offering, Chakalaka sauce, which is a spicy African vegetable relish, very much like salsa.

We finished off our evening on a art tour though Cape Town. We bounced too and fro between various art gallery where patrons sipped on wine while closely studying the brush techniques on portraits of penises and buttocks... Ok, not all the paintings were of penises and butts, but we know our audience, and those are the paintings you guys REALLY want to hear about right? ;)

Our second day in Cape Town started a lot later then we had planned. We were either exhausted from the sunburns we received the day before or the soothing sound of rain encouraged us to stay in bed longer. We were a tad disappointed with the rain seeing as it's not the rainy season and Maja's brother Sanjin said this was first the rain of 2013. The moment of light drizzle provoked us search for umbrellas. After unsuccessfully looking for some 30 minutes for an umbrella at a nearby mall, we decided to grab lunch at Knead, a neighborhood boulangerie that specializes in sandwiches. Mike had a roasted chicken red pepper mayo sandwich with delicious wildberry juice. Maja treated herself to a tuna melt with pinotage, South Africa's signature wine. A full glass of pinotage only cost roughly $3! Isn't that insane?

After a quick espresso at Vida E Cafe, Maja's favourite coffee shop, we ventured to Sanjin's office at City Varsity where he is the Head of Department for Acting. We met his very intense and young (spirited) co-worker, Mark, who spoke to us about his time acting in a play in Montreal some two decades ago. He was in our good books until he said Canadians were passive non-innovators. But he saved himself by saying that he's also "shit stirrer."

Despite all the rain, the planned cricket match for the evening was still on. After Sanjin explained the rules over the course of 5 innings which are known as "overs," we finally got the hang of the game and could start cheering on the Cape Town Cobras. It was a fairy mellow and low-key game ("due to the slow nature of the pitch as a result of the incessant rain throughout the day" as Sanjin put it). The highlight of the game were the $2 beers and a potato snack called "the Chip Stick." Unfortunately the Cape Town team lost, but it was a great opportunity for us to finally (FINALLY!) understand the rules of cricket.

After the match, we grabbed some dessert at Sanjin's favourite gelato place, Gelato Mania, where one of his students served us. Maja tried pino pinguino, a hazelnut ice cream with a top layer of nutella while Mike had snickers and cookies and cream. Just plain DELICIOUS! We ended the evening by walking up and down Long Street, exploring Cape Town's party district. After passing by some 30 clubs/bars, we decided on Cafe Mojito which was a bit more tranquil. We tried the springbok shooter (ilala cream and peppermint liqueur) which tasted just like ice cream and a great way to end our second night in Cape Town.

Namaste,
M&M

Cape Town Day 1

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
I'm glad to say that we have safely arrived in Cape Town, South Africa!

Things were a little rough going during the last minute preparations in Canada though. Mike called for three separate VISA cards to notify them of the trip and had issues with each and every one of them. In the end, we weren't able to put a note on any of these cards so it looks like Mike will be stuck begging for change on street corners if he wants to eat while we're down here (or he can just borrow cash from Maja... if she's in a good mood).

Muftic family reunion

We arrived around 10pm local time and forced Sanjin (Maja's brother and our gracious host) to stay up well past his bedtime in order to toast our arrival with some Sortilege, Quebecois Maple Whiskey, and gossip late into the evening.

In the morning, we were awoken to the dulcet tones of road construction, but as we were looking to wake up early, it wasn't entirely unwelcome.
One of our biggest recommendations when traveling to any major city around the world has to be the Hop-On/Hop-Off City Sightseeing tours. If you live in any major city in the world, I am sure you must be familiar with the giant red double-decker buses that usher tourists to all the major sights. Sure, these buses are eyesores and can be a bit of a cliché but there's no better way to quickly orientate yourself with your new surroundings in a short amount of time. We chose to buy two-day tickets, that way we can take the entire tour the first day, scope out what sights interest us the most, and then use the bus as our own personal taxicab tomorrow when we actually "hop-off" and visit these sights.

Table Mountain and it's "Table Cloth"

The scenery of Cape Town is absolutely beautiful. The city is nestled within the shadows of two gorgeous hillsides, Table Mountain and Lion's Head. These majestic peaks give Cape Town a unique skyline that took our breath away. The weather was slightly overcast during our tour, with clouds so low they looked like they were hugging the mountains. When the clouds reside this low, the residents here have quaintly (and appropriately) called it the "Table Cloth."

Highlights of our tour included the harbour front district, where we met some lazy seals lounging in the sun. Mike was pretty excited, this being the first time he has ever seen a seal in his life. The harbour is found near Camps Bay, the southern tip of Cape Town. This is where you'll find many of the beaches, hotels and fish restaurants. This destination will definitely require some further investigation. The bus also took us through to the botanical gardens where we were surrounded by beautiful trees and foliage. Cape Town is one of the most lush and green cities we've ever seen!

Now that we've gotten a better idea of the city, we can plan out the rest of our days by hitting some of these interesting sights.

We had such a busy day, that we forgot to eat lunch, so we are off to dinner!

Namaste,

M&M

Mike enjoying the view at Camps Bay on our Hop-On/Hop-Off tour bus