We arrived in J'burg a couple of days ago. Hated the place truthfully. Doesn't have much to reccomend it. we're staying at a place called Sleek backpackers which is full of church groups from all over Africa attending a Faith Healing seminar. It's sad, irritating and funny at the same time.
Sad because some of them are really ill and they're all hoping for a miracle, the positive mental thing might work for some, but a lot go away dissapointed, some have left already.
Irritating (in my opinion, pb) because of my general intolerance for deeply held and voiced religious belief.
And funny, cos the driver from the backpackers place lost his mobile phone, The girl in the front seat started praying to Jesus of Nasareth for it's speedy return, and when we called it, it turned out she was sat on it.
Anyway, the noisy twin room we got instead of a quiet double, and the insane driving on the way from the airport combined to make for a bad start.
You can't really get around here without a car, as a result we failed to get to the Mozambique embassy in time yesterday and had to stay another day. Went to the Cinema and had Sushi to cheer ourselves up.
Today was better, got a taxi to the embassy and handed over our passports to get visas. We had a 4 hour wait, so we disobeyed the rule of not walking anywhere in j'burg and went for a walk to the local shopping mall. Got lost and found downtown j'burg instead.
Phil's version:
Cool place, really interesting. Not as run down as I expected from the horror stories of the locals, though we did go to the area they're trying to regenerate. Felt a little nervous when we realised we were in downtown, to quote the guide "You'd have to be crazy to walk around the central area at night." But as it was the middle of the day, I figured we were safe and tried to keep Vicky's wide eyed watchfull look from spreading to me. Figured out where the Africa Museum was and went for a walk through downtown to get there. Really enjoyed the walk, interesting to see the area, the local market and the people. Vicky thinks I'm crazy and should stop smiling happily at strangers in dangerous areas of town. She also says she's braver than me, cos she feels the fear and overcomes it, while I'm just too dumb to realise it's dangerous.
Vicky's version:
Was certainly interesting and the best part of our visit to J'burg. Also, was good to actually see the place rather than spend the few days we are here hiding in the posh suburban shopping malls (where all the affluent people spend their time as it's safer than the city). However, when we realised that we were in the area that the book and most people we've spoken to warned us about I did feel like getting in the next cab and getting out of there. However, knowing what a geek I am Phil found something to appeal and keep me there - the museum. So we walked there. Whilst Phil strolled around smiling at everyone we passed I tried to counter this by giving out my "all things evil" stare to anyone who looked at us.
We made it safely to the musuem which was really interesting - south africa certainly has a hell of a history to display. Still don't like the place. Every house and building has either razor wire and "armed response" signs, or an electric fence. The taxi driver who dropped us off in the dark last night wouldn't let us get out on the wrong side of the road and walk the 20m to the front door. Went all the way up and back down the road to get us 15m closer. That's no way to live.
Leaving tomorrow
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