The Lesedi Cultural Village。

Am I really going to write about this?  Let’s be frank.  I visited this place and not at the same time.  Why?  Because we went there in the afternoon at around 3pm but the evening tour entry was only starting at 4.30pm.  While we were not determined to do the full tour, i.e. the dinner, there was no other alternative to enter without taking the full tour package.  Hence, we decided to give it a skip and only spent some times strolling around the handicraft shops in front of the reception.

As I could remember, the tour package cost around 400 Rand and would take approximately two hours to complete.  Included in the tour package is the tour guide, introduction to the cultural of the five biggest tribes in South Africa, the cultural dance and the dinner or lunch.  For someone who would like to know about South Africa’s people and cultural but couldn’t afford a long stay at South Africa, this tour definitely is a quick introduction.

Perhaps sometimes in the future, I should be coming back for a “Truly South Africa” experience.

Welcome to the Lesedi Cultural Village.  Obviously besides taking the tour, you can also spend nights at their huts.

Various local handicraft sold at the Lesedi Cultural Village.

The handicraft shops.

The café area.

SAB World of Beer。

Beer lovers absolutely are going to love this – The South African Breweries World of Beer Tour.

Together with Chen’s friend, this was another place we visited in March.  Actually it wasn’t an appropriate option as they came in a family with two very young kids.  Thinking back, I regretted because the young kids had been asking several times during the tour that why they were not allowed to drink.  It is always very difficult to explain to kids of which things that adults do but kids are not allowed to do.  As I was pregnant during that time, I used that as an opportunity to explain the harm an alcohol drink could bring to young kids.  Of course, I was not drinking back then.

While it wasn’t part of our initial plan to visit the SAB World of Beer, I found the tour to be a very informative one.  The beer tour had received good reviews on the web which was the main reason we went there.  Indeed, it was a relaxing outing to do on a weekend’s morning.

The tour costs 55 Rand for adult and 15 Rand for children below age of 17 years old.  With that price, it includes a tour guide, one half way beers, a souvenir glass, two drink vouchers redeemable at the Tap Room and some bar snacks after the tour.  The tour started off with a movie showing the background and history of beer brewing industry in South Africa.  As we proceed down the walkway, it led us to the beer stories of other countries.  Then we entered the ingredients section – the greenhouse settings section.  It is the place where they showcased the essence of beer – the malted barley, the hops and the water.  Next, the tour guide explained the different stages involved in the beer brewing process and their machineries.  Finally, the most exciting sections for the beer drinkers are the halfway beer stop and the final Tap Room.

The Draught Beer Barrel on the move.

The movie showing the history of South Africa Beer.

History of German Beer.

The Greenhouse Settings Room growing the barleys and the hops.

The essence of beer brewing – the malted barleys.

The craftsmanship of the beer barrel.

The beer car which is still in use for major events.

Welcome to the halfway beer stop.  The beer glass is the souvenir that given to visitors.  Of course, the empty glass is mine.

Different degree of roasted malt which made up to the different tastes of beer.

One of the big fancy machineries.  There are a few of these look-alike equipment but with their own functionalities.  The stand board video explained it all.

Lastly, the Tap Room that served beers and snacks.  So, go grab your beer now and enjoy !

Gold Mine Museum at Johannesburg。

For the past 1 year living at Johannesburg, we have not been spending much time exploring its CBD downtown area.  Nevertheless, the main reason was that we spend more time outdoor exploring the nature, the wildlife, and the scenic landscapes compared to the buildings.  However, with Chen’s friends visiting us in March; we seized the opportunities to tour around the downtown area.  One of the places that we made a quick stop is the Gold mine museum situated at the 5, Main Street, CBD Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is a city boomed by its gold mining industry, tracking its gold history back to afar of 1886.  The gold rush had brought in large number of inhabitants, and thus the development of Johannesburg town.  There are a few gold mine museums scattered around Witwatersrand area.  The one that we went was the mine showroom (I wouldn’t even call it a museum given the size and the amount of displays) located at the underground of Standard Bank.

Do these museums worth a visit?  Well, not so much for me.  In my opinion, it is sufficed for me to know the relationship between gold mining and Johannesburg.  I don’t mind it to be an extra stop along the way, but I personally won’t drive down to town merely for this.

Underground Gold Mine Showroom located at the Main Street.

Not to be missed the explanation signboard at every tourist sites.

The lift leading to the underground showroom and the interior of the showroom.

Escape to the Wild。 Hlane Royal National Park, Swaziland。

The 10th of February 2013 – it was a fine morning with good weather and sunny day. We would be driving down to the Swaziland for a 3-days and 2-nights getaway at the Hlane Royal National Park. According to Chen, this adventure would be our Valentine day celebration. In actual fact, the truth was to get his Visa extension for a couple more days before he travelled to Gabon for a proper 3-months Visa extension. If you were an expatriate at South Africa, you will soon get used to the many obstacles and lengthy processes along the way for Work Visa application. We could whine endless about this but looking at the bright side, we got to visit Swaziland in exchange of the visa complication issue, which was just brilliant!

Kingdom of Swaziland is a small independent country situated in the land of Greater South Africa. It has very low population and depends largely on agricultural for revenue and employment. It is considered as one of the poorer Africa countries and has faced with bankruptcy threat. In general, many Africa countries suffer from high HIV infection rate which lead to low adults life expectancy, high infant mortality and death rates. And Swaziland suffered the same if not the worst. The catastrophic HIV widespread has greatly hindered the overall Swaziland development and growth. Despite the many banes, Swaziland itself is blessed with many beautiful landscapes and terrains. Along the way of our drive, the mountainous landscape just took our breath away. Entering the land of Swazi, the people were friendly and the streets were clean, even in the town area. I had foolishly assumed that it would be worse than South Africa but it proved to be the opposite.

It was an outbound journey of approximately five and a half hours drive from Johannesburg to Hlane Royal National Park. As usual, we always travel with our tough buddy “the black GWM Hover” whenever we visit the National Parks. The Hlane Royal National Park is the largest protected area and national park in Swaziland. It is home to the usual animals we see in many National Parks in South Africa except for the Cape Buffaloes. When one is a frequent visitor to the National Park, one will soon realise that spotting the Big Fives especially the predators via self-driving require enormous luck. Soon after many trips to the wild, it was not only the Big Fives that thrilled me. But I began to appreciate many other occurrences. A mug of hot coffee, cool breeze blowing to my face and some yummy food in the car during drive; the huge savannah and the different landscapes and sceneries; and spotting rare animals like the spiders, the tortoises and the jackals in the National Park; all of these excited me. Just recently I was telling Chen that how blessed we are to be able to experience the life in South Africa. Where else in the world would have the Safaris and animals as real as in the Africa continent!

Hlane Royal National Park is approximately five and a half hour drive away from Johannesburg.

By the time when we arrived at the Hlane National Park, it was already nearing 5pm. It means no game drive today and rest early. After all, we were planning for an easy breezy trip. On the first day, we were allocated a cottage somewhere further north part of the park. They were the newer cottages with electricity access. They were clean, cosy and fully equipped. But there were only six of them and seemed to be rather remote. While on the second day, we moved to the little hut near to the reception area but there was no electricity access in the hut.

Arriving at the Hlane National Park Gate for registration.

The routes in the Hlane National Park were all gravel roads and rather narrow. Hence you would really need a good 4×4 vehicle to explore the park. On the second day, we went out for our self-driving game drive in the morning. The roads were so bumpy that even our tough buddy had a hard time. Thus, later that afternoon we decided to go on the park sunset game drive programme to give our tough buddy a rest. The sunset game drive was awesome. The guide was experienced and we got to have our complimentary drink while admiring the beautiful sunset. Furthermore, this was the ever first time in our experience that we were allowed to descend from the game vehicle and approached the animals for a closer distance.

The small little hut on the right picture is the park reception hut which is located in the NdLovu Camp area.

The restaurant area with the bar.

The cottage for our first night stay.

The Little Hut for our second day stay. There was no electricity for these huts but the National Park provided all the candle lights and the oil lamps.

Chen was preparing the dinner which was bought from the Chinese New Year celebration at Nan Hua Temple earlier on.

The Wildebeests

The Impalas

The Warthdog

The White Rhinos

The Giraffe

The Elephants

The Lioness

Huge Spider

Animals lazying around the water point in front of the restaurant.

Walking in the bush to a closer distance to the animals.

Head skeleton of different animals.

We later realised that many animals that we tried to spot through the game drive would gather at the water point just in front of the restaurant. The elephants, the rhinos, the hippos and the antelopes would normally spend their leisure time here. So even without doing the game drive, one would still able to watch many animals by sitting in front of the restaurant.

All in all, it was a slightly different experience compared to the well-known Kruger National Park with its less visitors-packed and quiet atmosphere.

Visiting the Nan Hua Temple （南華寺）on the 1st Day of Chinese New Year (CNY) 。

Another place not to be missed during CNY is the Nan Hua Temple.  The Nan Hua Temple is the largest Buddhist sanctuary in South Africa.  It is situated in the Culture Park suburb of Bronkhorstspruit.

On the Sunday morning, the 1^st day of CNY （大年初一）, we have earlier on planned to drive down to Swaziland Hlane National Park for a two-day getaway.  As Bronkhorstspruit is right on our way to Swaziland, we decided to make a quick stop at the Nan Hua Temple.  Most of our Singaporean friends would also be there.

It was around an hour drive away from Johannesburg.  We arrived there at slightly passed 10 am.  The performance began exactly at 10 am.  By the time when we arrived, the temple was already packed with people.  Once again, we were astounded and overwhelmed by the huge crowds rejoiced in this event and the local Whites that outnumbered the Chinese.  We noticed the same phenomenon at the CNY celebration at the Commissioner Street (the Old Chinatown).  I sensed that the Whites enjoyed themselves as much as we do.  They appreciated the long established Chinese festivals cultures that we inherited.

People were wandering around in the temple, taking pictures, chit-chatting, and enjoying the atmosphere of CNY while waiting for the performance to start.

The performance that they put up was equivalent amazing compare to the CNY celebration held at the Tian Hou Gong （天后宮）back at Kuala Lumpur.  Visitors streamed in to pray, to donate, to witness the lion dance and dragon dance performance.  First, we went in to the hall to pay our tribute to the goddess and made some donation as usual.  We met up with our friends.  Then without further delay, Chen and I quickly made our way to the food stalls.  Almost 80% of the stalls were selling the typical Taiwanese Night Market foods.  While some others were selling the Chinese souvenirs such as paper umbrellas, tea pots, drawings, potteries, clothes, jewelleries and so on.

Buddha statues inside the hall.  We paid our tribute here.

The dragon dance performance after the firecrackers.

The lion dance performance.

As we don’t generally get to savour the Taiwanese food even at Johannesburg, we were drooling over the foods.  We regretted that we came so late and had to squeeze ourselves amid the large crowd to purchase our foods.  I was such a happy girl with food on one hand, drink on another hand and a few more packets of food dangling down from my wrist :-).  Though we promised it was only going to be a quick stop, in the end, we spent around 2 hours there.  The Nan Hua Temple is a worthwhile and heavenly visit during the CNY.

We bought the Salty Rise Pudding from this stall.  I once ate this from a roadside stall at Taiwan and just fell in love with it.

We had the bubble milk teas, the sour jelly drink, spring rolls, deep fried chicken chop and the stir fried oysters on the spot.  In addition, we bought the dumplings, mua ci and wua kuai for our dinner tonight at the Hlane National Park.

The Vibe of Chinese New Year Eve (CNY Eve) at Commissioner Street, Johannesburg。

Perhaps not many people know that there are two Chinatowns at Johannesburg, namely the Old Chinatown and the New Chinatown.  If you were to ask any Jo’burgian, they will probably direct you to the new Chinatown located at Cyrildene.  The new Chinatown is the place where many Chinese people nowadays, whether they are from the mainland China, the Taiwanese, the Hong Kong people or other places, operate their businesses and purchase their daily goods.   It is a street comprise of many Chinese restaurants, grocery shops, cake shops, butchery shops, vegetable and seafood stalls, just to name a few.

However, it is not my intention to go into details of the new Chinatown today.  The prime focus is the almost-long-forgotten old Chinatown located at the Commissioner Street, Johannesburg.  We had once visited the Commissioner Street on an ordinary day.  It was nothing more common than any other streets at Johannesburg CBD, except with an extra signboard stating that it is the first Chinatown in Johannesburg.  It is only once in a year time, during the CNY eve, that this little quiet street turned lively.  And it is only on this very auspicious occasion, the street is closed down from traffic, with people gathering on the street, merrily indulging in the celebration of CNY.

People gathered around the stage and waited patiently for the performance to begin.

People strolling along the street.

We were glad that our Singaporean friends have organised a table and invited us to join them for the CNY eve dinner at the Commissioner Street.  The table had to be booked at least 2 weeks in advance in order to secure a spot.  On that day, the restaurant owners would fill the street in front of their shops with tables for the diners.  It allowed the diners to enjoy their food at the same times witnessed the various spectacular performances of the dragon dance, the fireworks, and the stream of people.  Along the street, there were also some stalls selling food and drink to cater for those who didn’t book a table.  Furthermore, there were also heaps of people who merely appeared with beers and stools of their own, purely to dip themselves in the air of CNY mood.

This is our Singaporean cum Malaysian table.  We were happily feasting ourselves.

Did you get it right?  This is not a roast pig.  It is the roast lamb.

Large crowd filling up the street.

Fireworks were lighted all night long till almost 10 pm.

Formerly, we have been warned not to expect too much from a local CNY celebration at Johannesburg.  Setting the low bar of expectation had got us very excited and gave us a total different experience.  The large crowd of local Jo’burgians appeared at the scene, enjoyed this festival as much as we do, had really amazed us.  That night, we had our typical Chinese full course dinner, witnessed the dragon dance, the lion dance, the firecrackers and the fireworks.

The lions went from shops to shops for greetings and lighting up the firecrackers.

Celebrating the 2013 Chinese New Year (CNY) at Johannesburg, South Africa 。

As it is only less than 2 months apart between my estimated delivery date and the Chinese New Year, Chen and I decided not to travel back (by flight) to Malaysia for CNY this year.  No doubt, I am missing out the CNY celebration with all the good foods and family get together.  However, a quiet CNY in Johannesburg has also given us a peaceful mind – try imagining all those hassles of hectic travels and busy schedules.

Though we are not at our homeland, we still strived to create a CNY ambience at our house.  On the Friday afternoon before CNY, we drove down to Cyrildene (the New Chinatown at Johannesburg) to purchase some CNY goods (辦年貨 as the Chinese says it).  We bought some CNY decorative, candies and cookies.  To our surprise, CNY mood is not really that strong at Cyrildene as what we would expect to see in a Chinese community.  We were told that most of shop owners will continue to work through CNY as many other normal days.  This is a little different compare to Malaysia or Singapore CNY celebration.  We regard CNY as the biggest Chinese event of the year.  It is the long awaited breaks in a year for many youngsters who live away from home.  It is the joyful time of returning to the home, gathering with family members and friends and indulging in the long missed home cooked food.

 

Saturday the 9^th February is the CNY eve while Sunday the 10^th February is the 1^st day of CNY.  As earlier on we have already planned for a trip to Swaziland on Sunday; hence we celebrated the CNY one day earlier.  On the Saturday early morning, Chen and I greeted each other happy CNY and kick start our day.  We were expecting a family to join us for lunch that day.  Thus, I woke up early and began to prepare Mee Suah for our lunch.  Mee Suah is a type of noodle which traditionally consumed by the Hokkien people on the 1^st day of CNY, full moon of giving birth or during birthday.  As long as I can remember, we always have Mee Suah on the 1^st day of CNY at grandma’s house for breakfast.  It took me around 2 hours of slow boiling of the chicken, mushroom, ginger and wine to have that immense aroma and taste that form the soup base of Mee Suah.  At the same time of cooking, I was also busy cleaning, tidying the house and laying out the cookies and candies.  Meanwhile, Chen was happily downloading the CNY songs.

 Mee Suah will never be perfect without the fried garlic oil, the hard-boiled eggs and the soy sauce with cut chilies.

Some roast porks （燒肉、叉燒）to go with the Mee Suah.

Eventually, our visitors arrived at 12 noon.  We had wonderful time eating and chit chatting.  It was not until 3pm that we dismissed.  Then, we cleaned up and rest a bit before heading to the Commissioner Street (Old Chinatown) for the CNY eve dinner.

2013 Chinese New Year Potluck Gathering with Johannesburg Malaysian Group 。

[February 2, 2013] Chinese New Year is just around the corner.

獨在異鄉為異客，每逢佳節倍思親。遙知兄弟登高處，遍插茱萸少一人。

I am a rather traditional person who thought that Chinese New Year, being one of the most important events in the Chinese calendar, should not be missed spending time with Family.  That is probably the only time when we got to see all the family members and relatives gathering together.  People are busy updating each other with their lives, checking on how everyone is doing and of course not to forget all the great food served during Chinese New Year.  Hence, I have never missed a year going back for Chinese New Year celebration with my family.

However, being closed to a year in South Africa now, I realized that in many festive seasons, expatriates do not have a choice but have to miss out on a lot of family gathering events.  They could be because of work, children or even travel expenses.  Except for Christmas which is celebrated worldwide, other festivals are not so common and may not be a public holiday in many countries.

Along the way, we have learned that during winter solstice; even there are only two of us, we still can have glutinous rice balls （湯圓）。 We have learned that during Chinese New Year, all the expatriate still can get together and have a taste of our long missed local food.  We have also learned that we can drive down to the Chinatown and indulge in the local atmosphere of Chinese New Year gala of a foreign land.

Nevertheless, this year will be the first time I miss out celebrating the Chinese New Year with my family members.  So, we just have to make the best out of the festive season and entertain ourselves a little bit.  When Chinese New Year is not celebrated with Family, then it will have to be with Friends.

This round, Vince and Frances are the hosts and have kindly invited us for a pre-CNY potluck dinner gathering at their house.  A total of five Malaysian families get together with their Malaysian dishes.  Devika and Su Lee prepared the Satay sticks of pork, chicken, taofu and tao pok.  Devika has also prepared additional Gado-gado to cater for the Vegans.  Samantha prepared the curry chicken to go along with my fried Bihun (vermicelli).  And the host provided all the drinks.

It was a busy Saturday.  Chen returned from London around noon time.  We then headed to Bidvest Wanderers Stadium for the South Africa vs. Pakistan Cricket Test Match before the dinner.  Luckily, I have prepared all the ingredients for the fried vermicelli the day before.  I woke up early to cook and sent the dish to Frances before heading for the match.  Everything went well as planned and there are no rushing-dashing around.

Vince has just shipped over his intact professional braai (barbeque) kit all the way from Australia.  And Su is the braai chef on that day.

Vince introduced the guests to the “Fat Bastard” Red wine and some Australia beers.  Of course, Chen will never miss the chance to help himself to all the wines and beers.  As you would imagine, in the end, I have to drive the “drunken fat bastard” home.

Lastly, the doggies have been one of highlights on the dinner.  For someone like me who am quite intimidated by dog, I still have a great time playing around with the doggies.  They are well trained and adorable.  Just to mention that a lot of local white families here and Malaysian expatriates are dog lovers.  Shall Chen & I also get one then?  We actually quite like them but due to our mobility, it is difficult for us to commit to a dog.

It was a great get together and we finally called it off a day at 11.30 pm.