PHOTOS: Kirstenbosch Gardens, Table Mountain

Kirstenbosch Gardens

Table Mountain

PHOTOS: Sparkly Stadium

I had a chance to visit the Green Point Stadium last week, and it is sparkly and spectacular.

Green Point Stadium

Jumping The Robots

What we call stoplights, South Africans call robots.

What we call running a red light, South Africans call jumping the robots.

South Africans are so much cooler.

When You Live In A Vegetarian Household...

...you tend to eat out for dinner.

Seventeen People In A Minivan

My new favorite mode of public transportation is--by far--the mini-bus. Five rand ($0.70) per ride, and you never have to wait on the street for more than ten seconds before one of those white vans drives by with a guy sticking his head out the window, whistling and shouting at you to offer you a lift.

So, how many people can you fit into a twelve-person mini-bus? The answer appears to be seventeen. That's t when the wing-man (the guy who hangs out the window and shouts out the bus's destination) sits on the lap of one of his customers.

Blond And On A Bike

Yup, I have a bike.

One of the former roommates left a mountain bike sitting in the back yard, so George and I put some air in the tires and raised the seat, and it's not half bad.

My first big ride took me to Camps Bay (pictured below), then up a wicked mountain to get home. No training, just load up the backpack, jump on the Avalanche Reflex, and go for about 20 miles.

And I must say, I'm quite a site on Main Road: blond mullet flowing beneath my blue helmet, bright red rain coat whipping in the breeze as I blow by the minibuses, shops, and long lines of people waiting for the bus.

I must look something like a Dutch super hero.

Holy Crap, Everybody's Black!

Almost every South African I have met in the United States is white, and almost everyone on my flight to Cape Town was white. If you think about it, that's not surprising: white South Africans hold about 90 percent of the country's wealth, so white people are the ones who fly.

But I didn't realize what a small percentage of the country white South Africans constitute--less than ten percent of the entire population.

There are restaurants and shops in Cape Town that are visited almost exclusively by white South Africans and foreigners, and neighborhoods that seem like they fell out of the Alps and landed on the base of Table Mountain.

But when you leave these pockets and explore the city, you're reminded that this is a black city. It's just not black at the top.

Sisters Saving The World

My flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town included about 75 U.S. college students who were participating in a"voluntourism" program. As best I could gather, these kiddos were heading into the townships of the Western Cape for a week, although they didn't seem clear on what kind of volunteer work, exactly, they would be doing there. One girl emphasized the term, "on-site training," but when I asked her what that meant, she didn't seem to know. Of the 75 students, I would estimate that 73 were girls. I literally saw two (very excited) dudes.

The recurring conversation between girls in the customs line:

Question #1: What school are you from?

Question #2: Oh really? What sorority?

Go on, sisters.

(Note: These people were not on my flight.)

Wait A Minute...Those Aren't Shipping Containers

Cape Town is sprawling. Flying in at night, you can see lights running off in all directions for miles and miles. But from above, and at night, it could be Los Angeles or Northern Jersey--there's nothing unique about big urban cities at night, at least when seen from the sky.

There was one thing I found strange, though: large sections of the city were filled with freight shipping containers. You know, those large, rectangular metal containers you see at ports, often laid out in long, neat rows or stacked on top of one another? But they weren't on the coast--what were they doing in landlocked sections of the city?

Then, it hit me. These weren't shipping containers, they were shanties. Rows and rows of shanties. From above, and at night, it's hard to tell the difference.

The Key To A 36-Hour Travel Day

Sleep deprivation. I kid you not.

Sleep just a couple hours the night before you embark on your voyage, and you'll be able to knock out on the plane, the car, or anywhere else you want to knock out. Not even the semi-riveting performances of Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in "Invictus" will be able to keep you awake--the first or the second time you attempt to watch it.

Technically, I guess that's a bad thing, because Invictus is supposed to be a decent movie. I'm told that it teaches you all sorts of stuff about South Africa, such as how it is now a united and happy country because of that famous 1995 rugby game. At least I think that's what it's about--I didn't actually see it.

But I am quite well-rested!