Johannesburg Part 2: More Pix!

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More pictures from Johannesburg! There are mine dumps dotted all over the city - you see them from the highways driving from suburb to suburb. They're starting to re-mine some of them again coz apparently the technology nowadays allows them to get more gold that slipped through from back in the day.

Tried to get as much greenery as I could in these pix to show the world's largest man-made forest... and even in Sandton, the new CBD (and richest area in Jozi - this is where the most carjackings takes place coz of all the nice cars in the area), the buildings aren't really that high and built-up, and it still feels very American-suburbia.

The township in the 2 photos here are on the highway turn-off into Sandton, and it's a nicer one coz the houses have proper walls and roofs, built by the government (not shacks made up of billboards/ zinc/ any recycled material people can get their hands on).

It was hot on the trip there this week and the suit on the job was driving our rented car with the windows rolled down. She thought I was mad when I kept saying "KEEP YOUR WINDOWS UP! LOCK THE DOORS! CARJACKERS CAN SPRAY MACE THROUGH THE CRACK IN THE WINDOW!" ... even though we were driving a crappy little Hyundai Getz... I am a kia-see Singaporean after all mah.




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Healthy Breakfasts here

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In Singapore, my daily staple in the mornings would be fried bee hoon, nasi lemak or mee tai mak soup. And I used to wonder why Erik (my Dutch boss at the time) used to look at me like I was mad when I had chilli with my greasy Asian breakfasts. Things have changed quite a bit... would be nice if I could have some yu char kway or that famous greasy rice cake with chye poh on the top from Tiong Bahru market (forget what it's called now..)

These days, I either eat Oat Clusters with soy milk or Jungle Oats Energy Crunch (it's like muesli, but it's wheat-free & gluten-free). The BIG BIG BIG thing here for breakfast is oats. Everybody LOVES their oats in the morning - "low G.I. and good for your brain!" is what I've heard from no less than 3 people already. Jungle Oats ("proudly South African" it says on the box) is in practically everyone's kitchen larder (i don't like regular plain rolled oats - it's more Kelly's thing)... I think I'm just a sucker for its packaging with the Tiger on the box.

Charles & the Fire

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Gaye's cat, Charles, doesn't like the cold winter - she either curls up on your lap or sprawls out in front of the fire. Very cute!

The Staircase

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So our apartment's nearly... almost... done. The silly built-in cupboards we've made have been standing there, without doors, for the last 3 months because of 1 screw up after another by 1 silly contractor after another. The doors finally were installed a few days ago, but to our dismay, the idiots screwed on most of the door handles SKEWED, some doors were missing the latch-catch thing on top (so they'd swing open slowly), AND!!! the bloody colour was a beige-y off-white (the rest of the cupboards are WHITE-WHITE). Back they go to the goondusamy contractor again. WAH LAO EH. It was really shocking workmanship to say the least.

The next big thing we're getting done in about 2 weeks is getting rid of the ugly staircase that goes up to the mezzanine floor. If you look closely, you'll see each step has a gimmicky cut-out bit on every alternating step. This not only looks ugly, but is also impractical and dangerous coz you have to waddle down the stairs with your legs wide apart, and if you miss a step you'd most probably go crashing down to the bottom. It takes quite a bit of foot-eye coordination. Whoever designed this ought to be shot. So we're removing the entire staircase and putting in a spiral (also helps to save a bit of space).

Found a metal workshop that does beautiful steel work, and we're getting a similar spiral they have in their workshop put in (they're designing us a sweeping balustrade that starts from the top where the study will be, which sweeps down around the stairs). It's gonna be quite a task - with cranes & winches to remove and transport heavy steel parts up & down the side of our building through the balcony. The whole apartment will be a mess for at least a week or 2 (we've been warned we can't use the kitchen nor the upstairs)... but I think it'll be worth the temporary disruption.

Johannesburg

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As most of our clients are based in Jo'burg, Kelly and I have been flying to & from there quite frequently. I've shot a commercial right in the middle of the CBD (once upon a time you wouldn't dream of walking in the open here coz of the crime... some people still wouldn't dream of being there now, but it's really OK). There are policemen, some with guard dogs, on every other street corner, and apparently they've set up a security camera system on every street corner so thugs get nailed within 2 seconds of committing any crime.

I was expecting Jozi to be full of graffitti, with bullet holes in walls and shopfronts boarded up... but the place is very surprisingly... just like American suburbia... It's the world's largest man-made forest (they needed all the wood in the gold mines back in the day), and it's extremely lush and green and leafy. It takes at least 45 minutes to an hour to drive anywhere, and coz it's so spread out and sprawling, it kinda reminds me of LA (with lots more trees). ...it's still hard to say what the place feels like coz there really isn't a sense of place about the city... every now and again you drive past a mine dump (like a 10-storey high mound of earth the length from Ngee Ann City to Wisma Atria), right outside the city and it's a bit bizarre.

Haven't managed to take good photos of the rolling green passing by the car yet, but got a couple shots of a monstrous power plant we drove past yesterday. Will be there again next week, will update with more pictures.

Franchoek Wine Route

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We drove about an hour to Franchoek last weekend, which is 1 of the wineland areas (kinda sorta near Paarl and Stellenbosch), and went to the Moreson vineyard for lunch with Kelly's dad, Margarita and Neil French and his son.

It was a really pretty drive - lots of mountains in the area, and very dramatic skyline... there was a bit of snow on top of the Stellenbosch mountain... and it's funny that I recognize the Moreson wine label (which has sun rays emanating out from the name), and it's weird when you're on the property knowing the wine is actually FROM THERE. It really is quite spectacular down the Franchoek wine route.

Got pix on my phone-camera, but they're itty-bitty and don't do the scenery justice. The food was really good too... almost like nouvelle cuisine (you know lah, immaculately styled portions with foam on the top...) and not expensive either... the equivalent of only about S$20 per main course.