Goeie oggend, Singapour!!

televised sports is insane here. one of the speakers at the conference (i think was the south african minister) said they screen more fta sports here than many other countries. it's true, i tell you. sports is mega in south africa. in the four days i spent there, i caught Man Utd-Valencia, Chelsea-Everton, Liverpool-Aston Villa, Springboks-Barbarians, a couple of La Liga, Bundesliga, Top 14, Aviva Premiership matches, and even the local Telkom Cup final (Kaizer Chiefs-Orlando Pirates).

angmohs really do 3-hour dinners. no shit. twice i experienced it, and i tell you we strolled through starters, mains, desserts, coffee. with a lot of chatting in-between. dont get me wrong, im not complaining. it's great. they really know how to enjoy life sia.

oh and i love how they'd go "bon appetit" before eating.

one of the most memorable convos i heard:
Alan Harris: Odane Skeen's from Kingston, Jamaica.
Essar Gabriel: Ah... It's crazy down there. That's where they shot Bob Marley.
Alan: Yea.
Essar: No one shoots Bob Marley.
Alan: No one.

and i had the best cream pasta ever in a real italian restaurant there. it was soooo good and so much i couldnt finish it, at just S$14. man, it's serious stuff since it made this blog post.

the night of the gala dinner was wild. we were randomly placed around tables, and me and adam happened to sit with these two local college girls - francesca, a white of italian descent, and fuzzy, an indian who's quite different from the indians in singapore. hours later it was like we'd known each other for really long! joseph parker joined us, so did their friend robin/robyn, and they took us out. fuz drove and we squeezed six into the mini car. no joke considering joseph's a 113kg kiwi boxer. we sped through the pouring rain and beat red lights and at one point joseph was throwing our glass bottles out of the window. crazy shit. the night was spoilt though as the place we wanted to go to was closed. we ended up at a bar.

i wasnt supposed to drink. not when my foot's already swollen. but what's fun without alcohol right. so i committed self-murder by finally relenting and took white wine (straight from the bottle, no joke). then a Springbok, a local shooter. then a John Deere, a local Graveyard-esque cocktail.

oh yea and drinking in public is apparently a crime here in South Africa. cops will pull up and arrest you on the spot. if you don't slip some cash into their pockets.

anyway, the plan was to go to the place the next night, but turned out i was really tired and had stuff to do. i heard the bunch, together with other Young Reporters, Ambassadors and Athletes went to a club, but on hindsight, im glad i gave it a miss. next morning adam told me they got into some misunderstanding. come on, this is South Africa, people carry weapons. they ended up paying more than S$600.

okay that's it for my SA trip. totally no time for checking out the city. didnt braid/dreadlock my hair too.

Goeie oggend, Singapour!

i might be taking too much of SIA. i was sick of the food cos they gave me the same meal i had i think just recently.

Rooibos tea: a traditional South African tea.

they had this and English tea on the flight. i had to choose the latter cos... yes. no wonder i couldn't understand the stewardess.

what's worse on a trip than losing your baggage the first thing you arrive? i had a connecting flight in 90 minutes, but after everyone cleared their baggage i was left with nothing. yes just me. thank god for the extremely lovely airport guy who made many calls and ran everywhere (im limping, you see) to locate my bag.

my first 100rand went to useless ends. i rushed, on a hurting foot, to the transfer. got delayed by so many things as im in unfamiliar territories. so 'helpful' guides are good, right? i was swarmed by a (uniformed) syndicate who directed me to my flight. it's not that difficult really, if i wasnt panicky. so yea when we reached he asked for a fee, and i only had 100rand notes on me. what's worse was i already sensed something wrong and when i ran into the conference's volunteers i tried to get their help (they sensed something too), but the swindler brushed them away.

adam and i made the crazy decision to walk around, and ended up in an apparently blacks-only neighbourhood. they were all staring and it was scary shit. the doctor also advised against streetside food, but the first thing i did here was do just that. wth. too cool lah, cant resist.

we also saw a tranny, and giggled to ourselves. but South Africans dont giggle. when s/he walked by, all the guys started wolf-whistling to the extent it became almost a carnival.

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. no joke.

everywhere you see young drug peddlers. teens knock angrily on your cabs for money to finance their drug addiction.

there are countless dubious minibuses that want to ferry you somewhere, and they tout blatantly. it seems though that's a preferred transport for the locals. i guess the public transport system here must really suck.

when night falls, you only see street corner gangs and streetwalkers. just stay in the hotel lah.

a bunch of kids (aged 14, 15 max) chased another, who was holding up a wallet like a prized haul. seconds later, knives came out and they started slashing him. whatthefuck.