Friday, July 23, 2010

Incredible Nguni!

Wow - I don't even know where to start with this post. There is far too much to say.

I was fortunate enough to tack on some vacation time (as was Melissa) so that I could see a bit more of South Africa on this trip. So, on Sunday morning we flew to Port Elizabeth where we would start the next phase of our journey at the Nguni River Lodge. After the short flight, we met up with our driver at the airport for our hour long drive to the lodge. He was a fantastic guy who was more than happy to talk about his country and show us the sights along the route. We were warmly greeted at Nguni and introduced to our Guide, Rhynhardt, who wore a strange black bandage on his thumb. Hmmmm.

Rhynhardt loaded us up in the Land Rover and drove us to the main lodge while pointing out some of the wildlife along the way. Oh you know, like Zebras and stuff! We were greeted at the main lodge by the very cute Tami who gave us a cool towel, showed us around the main lodge and escorted us to our room.

However, before I get too deep into a description of the hotel, I would just like to say that the place is ridonkulous. I knew it would be really, really nice...but it was ten times nicer than I expected.

I will have to let my photos speak for themselves on the lodge itself, which is refreshingly far away from any wireless signal. It consists of an open-air building that faces a wide open plain with warthogs, baboons and rhino...yep rhino...grazing about. When Tami took us to our room we were literally jumping up and down with delight as we saw our huge room, plunge pool, outdoor shower and our huge egg-shaped bath. Ahh-mazing!






































During our three night stay we went on a total of seven game drives. At three hours each, we spent a lot of time in the vehicle - but we loved it! Rhynhardt was determined to make sure we saw everything we could - including lions (twice), lion cubs (so cute and curious), brown hyena (apparently a first-ever sighting at the lodge) and elephants, including one who started to charge us but was scared off by Rhynhardt at the last minute (thankfully). We searched and searched for days for the very elusive Rhino with no luck. So I decided that we should stop looking and let the Rhino find us, which he promptly did by taking a stroll right in front of the lodge while we were having our lunch.






































































Now speaking of lunch, I do need to talk about the food at this place. As you may have noticed in my previous posts...I kinda like food. I like it a lot. And the food here was outstanding!  The ladies in the kitchen spoiled us with their cooking: huge brunches with perfectly poached eggs, fresh bread, homemade desserts (at lunch!), and a choice of one of three amazing dinners. Wow.





































Some of the highlights of our stay?

Getting to know Rhynhardt our guide (and elephant saviour) - who joined for drinks in the evening and kept us entertained with some of his amazing stories. The black bandage on his thumb? Oh, that was just from being bitten by a Cobra, after which he was given the wrong anti-venom, nearly died and almost lost his thumb. All in a days work I suppose.

After each game drive we were met at the vehicle with a vanilla scented towel, cool or hot depending on the weather. Evenings were spent chilling by a warm fire with a glass of wine or brandy...or a double brandy and coke, which we were told is a South African thing. As we were one of only two guests in residence at any given time, it was generally quiet but we did have a fun time chatting and laughing with Rhynhardt and the lovely Manager, Craig.

I also decided to indulge a bit and booked a massage in my room. Which I followed up with a hot bath and an outdoor shower. Life is good. Like, really good.

My experience at Nguni was beyond expectation - but I would like to point at that it is also relatively affordable, with a cost in line with any moderately priced all-inclusive vacation one might take in North America. Our price included everything (2 game drives a day and gourmet meals) with the exception of drinks. But even with several bottles of good wine (about $10 CN a bottle), a Cohiba #4 cigar and an hour-long massage, I still only paid $150 extra when I left the resort.

After all that luxury it hurt to get back on a plane for another 11 hour trek...but Paris (deep sigh, close eyes, smile) was waiting for us on the other end.

Durban Day 2

We woke up early on our second day in Durban to sunshine! It was sunny and warm and lovely so we took a walk on the boardwalk, checked out some hot surfer men and indulged in a greasy Wimpy burger and fries for breakfast...'cause that's just how we roll. And then, we reluctantly got into our bikinis and headed to the beach for some tanning. The beach was full of all kinds of people having a great time - tourists, (hot) surfer men, families and locals (some even enjoying a swim in their underwear). At one point we witnessed a baptism taking place in the ocean...actually, more of an attempted baptism , as the entire group kept getting taken out by the large, crashing waves.


That night had quite possibly the most beautiful moon I have ever seen and I seriously fell deep in love with the city of Durban. Our room had windows that opened up wide and we were able to take in the big, gorgeous winter moon and the Indian Ocean while a warm breeze blew in and a blues band played below. Sigh. An unbelievably sexy night and Melissa and I both agreed that it was a major shame that we were there together...and not with someone else.






































We then decided we would hit the town that night. After spending a week in a hoodie and jeans, without a hair dryer, it felt good to clean up a bit. So we walked down to the casino complex to grab dinner and watch the USA vs Ghana game. Things started off really well with the bartender giving us free drinks - a cotton candy mojito for me and a mojito for Melissa. Yay for us.We had a nice bottle of wine and delicious steaks, but over dinner I noticed something weird was going on at the tables next to us. We had been seated next to a group of Brazilian tourists - mostly men - who were obviously in town for the World Cup. There was about 60 of them seated at three long tables. Some of them kept staring at us - but when they took a photo of us, I thought it was a bit strange. Suddenly their driver, an African guy who spoke English, came over to our table to ask who we were. Again, weird. He explained that the Brazilians thought we were celebrities. ** Let me pause by saying I absolutely realize how completely ridiculous this story is. Seriously, weird and ridiculous.** So, we nervously laughed and said we were just regular girls from Canada. He returned to his group, but I am not sure what he told them because suddenly they all started lining up to have their photo taken with us!! Flashes started to go off in my face. Strange men were kissing my cheek and putting their arms around me. Some woman thrust her twelve year old son at me for a photo of a kiss on the cheek before squeezing in for a photo herself. After about 45 minutes, they finally left us alone, though we were informed by their driver that they were staying at our hotel. Crap. 

What the f*ck!? I like to think I live a pretty interesting life, but this was even weird by my standards. Our faces must be all over Facebook Brazil. So weird.

Once they were gone, we chilled out and ordered dessert and met some nice Portuguese men who had a drink with us before we hit the casino. I failed miserably at both Roulette and Black Jack before we walked back to the hotel...where, no joke, 4 Brazilians were waiting for us in the lobby.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Durban: Portugal vs Brazil!

After a very, very fun night...and little sleep, we made our way to Durban for the next part of our crazy adventureWe checked into our hotel – Southern Sun Elangeni - and were surprised to find that the room we were given keys to had not been cleaned yet, so we hit up the breakfast buffet. The hotel - an official FIFA hotel - was jammed full of Portuguese and Brazilian soccer fans who were getting ready for the 4pm match just down the street at the Moses Mabhida stadium. After breakfast, we were surprised to learn that we were being upgraded to a larger room (yay!) and our breakfast was free...things were looking up in Durban! But with no time for nap and an exciting afternoon ahead of us...we really needed to get our act together.


We hit the News Cafe in the nearby casino complex where we would meet up with Nick, a business colleague who we would be attending the game with, and his friends who were visiting from the UK. A couple of cold Savannah Dry, a table for 8 and we were all set. The pub was filled with painted faces and colourful jerseys...and the male:female ratio was definitely working in our favour. So much that a waitress came by to let us know that a gentleman wanted to buy us drinks. "Seriously?", I said. "I do not lie", she said. We asked for her expert opinion of what we should order and she suggested a fancy cocktail. Two "Faithfull Bitches" coming right up. Delicious. Though our admirer - Salvadore -  didn't have the courage to come by and say hello, he did send his phone number over via the waitress. Very nice...but weak, if you ask me.

Nick and friends arrived with a special guest - their waiter from the day before. Apparently they had a wonderful lunch (so wonderful that it lasted a whopping 11 hours and several bottles of wine long) and they tipped their waiter with a ticket to the game. Such a great story! And what a relief to know that we weren't the only ones nursing a bit of a hangover. 

We made our way along the waterfront through the madness of crazy fans to the incredible stadium. I will refrain from repeating just how lucky I think I am. It's starting to get annoying I'm sure, so I think I'll let my photos do the talking on this.


I should mention the vuvuzelas though...since that's the very first thing any one asks me about my trip. They weren't annoying and loud at all...no earplugs required. It definitely sounds worse on TV.
After the game we all met up back at our hotel at a fantastic Indian resto that I had seen recommended several times. The food didn't disappoint and we had a great time making bets amongst the table which culminated in a tie-breaker of "How many people at this table are wearing white underwear?". The answer: 1. The winner: Me! (The White Underwear: NOT Me!)


With all of us falling prey to our hangovers, we called it a night and bid farewell to our new friends.

South Africa: The Sequel

Yep, a sequel. Not only did I travel back to South Africa for the second time in three months - I was in fact returning for some work related to a movie sequel. After a daunting 11.5 hour flight, 2 hour stop-over, 1 hour flight and a 2 hour drive, all without any sleep, we arrived at our final destination: Port Edward, a sleepy, little place west of Durban on the wild coast of South Africa.We checked ourselves into the Estuary Country Hotel (a very pretty, no-frills resort with an incredible view of the Indian Ocean), found our footing and braced for a hectic and exciting week of work.

It was amazing to spend time in such a quiet, chill and comfortable place - the kind of random place I likely would never have seen if it weren't for my work. It actually reminded me quite a lot of home - like cottaging up north, only it's the Indian Ocean and there are monkeys in the trees.

Some of my highlights of the week?

For one, I spent the week working with and getting to know some new friends and colleagues. I started the week off with an amazingly fun dinner with a visiting colleague Saundra, her lovely family, Melissa and our new South African friend Andrew that included several bottles of vino, some Lamb, pumpkin soup "(it tastes like...October") and some heavy metal discourse. And, then, to celebrate the end of our crazy week of work,  six of us North American ladies ventured out for an awesome dinner at a place called Casa Toscana. "Casa" indeed - the restaurant was actually in a home, complete with a tub and shower in the bathroom. But the food was excellent - and so was our decision to order and share all six desserts off the menu!

Secondly, I may in fact be living on the wrong side of the world. I am a sucker for a foreign accent...but, man, throw in a tan and a sense of humour and I am left defenseless. South African men are lovely. Somebody  please send a few of them to Toronto ASAP.

Thirdly, I met some really nice, funny...and very "kiff"...people who decided to school me in South African slang. This involved a very detailed cheat-sheet of sorts - which included some handy words and phrases like "now now" (in the near future), "just now" (distant future or not at all), "Wil jy naii" ("wanna get jiggy?") and my personal favourite, "Zef" ("the kind of guy who bangs his sister").  Special thanks to Jaci, De Villiers and Craig for preparing me so well for the rest of my trip. Haha.

Lastly, we had a really fun night hanging with some of our new friends at a great little bar called Sally Can't Surf. It was a very late night that may have involved some tequila ("down down")...but well worth the exhaustion on our ride to Durban the following morning at...yikes...7 am.



























































Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Six and seven...

It's actually quite incredible that by the start of July, I will have already taken 7 trips so far this year. The latest two, which will be detailed in the following posts, include a return visit to South Africa for business during which I was able to tack on some personal time to see more of the gorgeous country there, plus a couple of short (but jam-packed) days in one of my favourite cities of all time: Paris!

Yes, Paris. Everyone loves Paris. I cannot even say "Paris" without eliciting a deep sigh, closing my eyes and smiling.

For this trip, I once again traveled with my business colleague Melissa who shares the same great affection for both Paris and South Africa. And although our stopover in Paris was very short, our mantra of "we're in Paris!" made sure that we didn't waste a minute...or a crumb of our baguette...while we were in the gorgeous city of light. After a long flight (7.5 hours) with a horrible movie (Valentine's Day...ugh) and no sleep, we navigated our way on the Metro to our hotel. Not the best idea when your luggage weighs in at a whopping 24 kilos but we did manage to find our hotel while getting a great upper body workout. Our adorable hotel - Hotel de la Sorbonne - was somewhat easy to locate across the street from the famous University and close to the Luxembourg Gardens. It's a tiny, boutique hotel with cute (very small, of course) rooms decorated in bold colours. Each room has a juliet balcony that overlooks a pretty an internal courtyard - and has it's own Mac that serves as your TV and computer. Rooms are inexpensive (under $200 CN) and are all roughly the same size (based on the layout map on the back of my door) so I would advise not to splurge on a superior room. Located in the Latin Quarter and close to Notre Dame, the hotel is easily accessed by the Luxembourg, Cluny or St-Michel Metro stops.

Once we settled in and cleaned up we made our way on foot through the Latin Quarter, the Marais and Bastille to take in the shops and sights. We took shelter from the rain at Cafe Bastille for a bite of dinner (Poulet et Risotto for me, Salmon for Melissa) and some good wine. We got lost on our walk back but a hailed a cab. This was probably not the safest move as our cabbie was watching a World Cup match on his GPS screen while he drove us. Thankfully no one scored...or crashed.

After a good nights sleep, a good Parisien breakfast (at Brasserie du Cercle Luxembourg) and a walk along the Champs Elysees, we braced ourselves for another long flight (11 hours)...and another incredible adventure in South Africa!

































Monday, July 5, 2010

Turkoise

It’s true, I have been slacking on this blog. Though I highly doubt there are too many people who have even noticed. That said, I did meet some great people on my most recent trip to Turks and Caicos back in April and had promised to update this blog with some of our hilarious adventures involving a crazy cast of resort characters (most notably, Frank the Tank). The problem is, to be honest; I don’t have a lot to say about this particular trip. Which is a bit weird for me? I had a lovely time and all of my expectations were met tenfold (sun, sand, soul) but it really was about doing absolutely nothing. Doing absolutely nothing - but in the most gorgeous scenery imaginable. 

While I have always hoped to visit Turks and Caicos, being that it is an incredibly expensive place to visit I certainly didn’t expect to get there this year, or by myself for that matter. But, I like to think I have an eagle-eye when it comes to finding inexpensive flights. So when I spotted a West Jet flight for $320 (tax included) I took a chance and booked it. It was perfect - a direct, 3.5 hour flight and a 5 night visit to the island that would only cost me 4 vacation days. On an island like this, hotels are at a premium price so traveling alone can be an expensive endeavor. However, with such a low list of expectations, I figured I could easily, happily and affordably find a studio villa through homeaway.com or stay at the Comfort Suites (a popular low-cost option). But, an online advertising banner for Club Med caught my eye – thankfully – and I scored myself 5 nights of all inclusive accommodations and a Club Med membership for $600 (tax included). Seriously – an unbelievable deal.

My 10 am flight was slightly delayed but pretty uneventful. Considering what I paid, I would have been perfectly happy strapped to the wing. I scored a seat at the back in an empty row (my favourite) and was able to get a decent look at the island (and incredible blue sea) as we flew in. The one major piece I would give about Turks, is to prepare yourself for major chaos and a tiny bit of stress at the airport. The airport is very small with a teeny tiny little luggage belt and extremely congested luggage pick-up area. Add to that multiple flights coming in at roughly the same time (likely intended to streamline shuttles and domestic flights etc) making the baggage area utter chaos. And it’s not so much the baggage issue itself but the impatient people who are willing to push you out of the way, let their children run wild and complain as loud as they possibly can. They will threaten your chill if you are not properly prepared.  It wasn’t easy, but I did manage to ignore it and after about 30 minutes of patience I spotted my, ahem, leopard print suitcase and made my way outside to paradise.

Because I hadn’t purchased my air and hotel stay together, I did not have transfers included with my package. However, when I went outside there was in fact a Club Med representative (Diesel) waiting for me and I was able to take their shuttle for a $15US (versus a $30 taxi fare). Fantastic!  The ride was short – down an impeccably clean highway, past some local shops and homes. The island seems quiet, financially healthy (relative to other Caribbean islands I have visited), and dare I say it, a bit boring. We arrive at Club Med and are greeted by a group of G.O.’s (I’ll explain momentarily) with a cool towel and a cold drink, given a bit of orientation and escorted to our rooms.

I have to admit - I was more than pleasantly surprised with the resort. I didn't know much about the place before arriving. Club Med had always struck me as a place that had its heyday back in the eighties and nineties so I was expecting something a little less...current. While the resort definitely shows it's age - it was way nicer and newer than I dared to hope for. The rooms themselves are quite spartan, but they are clean and have anything you might need (flat-screen TV, telephone, coffee/tea service) with the exception of a balcony. But who needs to hang out in their room when a beach like that awaits outside.

I've been to many beautiful beaches (Maui, St.Martin, Mayan Riviera, Cuba, St. Barth's and Rio De Janeiro to name a few) but the beach here really is something special. The water really is THAT beautiful. Clear, calm...perfect. Club Med's long stretch of beach, while short on shade, has tons of chairs and hammocks.
The pool is lovely too....lots of chairs with soft, white cushions on them...and its in close proximity to the bar where you can keep yourself cool with a fresh mojito.

And although I did absolutely nothing...there are a ton of different things that you can try for free: trapeze, a snorkeling boat expedition, volleyball, bocce, water aerobics, soccer, ball hockey, baseball, sunset yoga on the dock. There was also some really cool late afternoon entertainment at the beach bar with a guitarist playing rock and pop music while the sun set and the party got started. The "show" each night was pretty good - mostly because it didn't take itself too seriously. The staff at the resort participate in the show which always includes a trapeze component which was always cool to watch.

The Club Med experience is definitely different than a regular resort, so it might not be for everyone. The staff (for the most part attractive and young) known as "G.O's" are encouraged to mingle with the guests during the day, at dinner and at the bar later which inevitably leads to some "intermingling" which could give the feeling of being transported back to highschool or spring break. That said, the casual set-up (communal tables for dinner etc) definitely works for the single traveler. I got to meet many people over the course of my trip just by sitting with them at dinner or drinks: Fernando and Mattias from Argentina, the lovely Kelly and Dr. Taylor, Kim from New York, Laura from D.C., Linda and her husband celebrating their wedding anniversary, Liz, Camille and the rest of the Club Med regulars...plus a woman from my hometown who chatted with me in the pool. Small world. Oh, and lest I forget the highlight of the trip - a real-life version of "Frank the Tank" who was rocking the party every night by removing his shirt and singing "ooh-ooh" into the mike. Though a bunch of us had secretly dubbed him Frank the Tank, we were shocked to find out that his name was actually Frank. So perfect.

Hmmm. Wait a minute, didn't I start off this post by saying I didn't have much to say?