Cape Town, Day 3: Riding Out the Intestinal Storm

A very Cape Townian scene

Last Tuesday in Cape Town got off to a rocky start. Our daughter woke up with an upset stomach, and promptly went into the lavatory to throw up. She vomited again after breakfast, and would do so several more times as the day went on, though fortunately with lesser frequency and severity. We weren't sure what the cause of the intestinal distress was, but it did impact our activities for that day. Amber is a trouper, however, and accompanied my wife and I as we set out on a somewhat limited exploration of the city.

Close to our hotel is the Bo-Kaap district, a magnet for camera-toting tourists such as myself. From the Wikipedia entry:

The Bo-Kaap ("above the Cape" in Afrikaans) is an area...formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is a former township, situated on the slopes on Signal Hill above the city center and is a historical center of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town...Bo-Kaap is known for its brightly colored homes and cobble stoned streets. The area is traditionally a multicultural neighborhood, and most of its population is Muslim...the area contains the largest concentration of pre-1850 architecture in South Africa, and is the oldest surviving residential neighborhood in Cape Town.

According to Shu-E, the origin of the vividly-colored heritage houses lies in the fact that the residents originally weren't allowed to have residential addresses, and so turned to bright colors as a way of distinguishing their homes. These days, the former slave quarter is falling victim to inner-city gentrification:

Holding up well, considering:

From Bo-Kaap, we turned our attention to the V&A Waterfront, "where the City meets the Sea". It's a mixed-use, commercial/residential development that includes bars, cinemas, cruises, restaurants and shops. It was also a place where we quickly found a pharmacy, explained to the pharmacist the troubles our daughter had been experiencing, and walked away with a couple of OTC medications that helped Amber feel better by late afternoon. It was simple conveniences such as this that we had forgotten about in the fewer than three months we've been living in Addis Ababa:

We also took time to explore some of the shops, and I crossed a very important item off the personal Cape Town to-do list by purchasing an official South Africa national rugby team jersey. And speaking of rugby, the Springboks Rugby World Cup Pool B match against Canada, taking place at NOEVIR Stadium Kōbe ノエビアスタジアム神戸, was being broadcast live throughout the Waterfront on big-screen and restaurant TV's. We caught the first-half and part of the second over lunch at Quay Four, yet another establishment serving that cuisine my wife couldn't get enough of in Cape Town - seafood:

Toasting the Springboks' 66-7 shellacking of the Canucks:

Amber didn't eat anything for lunch, but the sight of a Krispy Kreme outlet perked up her appetite:

If shopping malls like the V&A exist in Addis, we haven't found them yet:

After taking care of our daughter's needs at the chemist's, it was time to see to my wife's. Live Mart Bakery Cafe is a Taiwanese-run grocery store located in an industrial area northeast of the city center. Shu-E took the time to stock up on some familiar goodies from home:

I was pleased to find nǎichá 奶茶:

We returned in the late afternoon to the Dutch Manor Antique Hotel, where I tried unsuccessfully to pass myself off as a buff rugby player:

Amber was feeling much better as dinnertime approached, and so we got back in the car for the short drive to the South China Dim Sum Bar (we could've walked there, but the hotel desk clerk advised against it). It was one of those hipster foodie spots that bear little resemblance to the dim sum joints I've eaten at in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but the food wasn't bad (the girls enjoyed the fried turnip cake) and the atmosphere had a cool, young vibe. And don't feel sorry for the young gentleman sitting alone - his female friend turned up later:

And so while our sightseeing options were restricted on Tuesday due to our daughter's condition, the good news was that she was feeling more like her old self by the end of that evening. And the even better news was that she was almost back to normal for the remainder of our stay in Cape Town.

Cape Town, Days 1 & 2: Welcome to South Africa

The Company's Garden, with the iconic Table Mountain in the background

After 2½ months adjusting to life in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa አዲሱ አበባ (and some of our things, such as our car, have still not arrived!), we decided to take a break, in conjunction with our daughter's first break from her school. Our destination was that most scenically-located of cities on the southern tip of Africa, Cape Town, where we spent seven days and six nights reacquainting ourselves with some of the conveniences of modern life. Our Ethiopian Airways flight departed from Bole International Airport shortly before 0900 local time Sunday morning...:

...and arrived at Cape Town International Airport six hours later. We picked up a rental car at the airport (a Toyota Yaris), and drove to the Bo-Kaap part of the city, where we checked into accommodations. As it was late on a Sunday afternoon and the three of us were hungry, we decided to find a place for dinner. It wasn't a very difficult choice - since arriving in Addis Ababa in late July, my wife has been suffering from the lack of fresh seafood in the capital city of a landlocked country. Cape Town, on the other hand, being a port city has an abundance of establishments serving up bounties from the sea. We soon found ourselves at Sea Breeze, enjoying fresh oysters as an appetizer:

I had the...well, I don't remember what I ordered as it was a fish I'd never heard of. I do recall that it was tasty:

Dessert was an apple crumble cheesecake. Dining-wise, our trip was off to a fine start:

After dinner it was back to our home-away-from-home in Cape Town, the Dutch Manor Antique Hotel, an atmospheric inn housed in an 1812 building:

The highlight of any visit to Cape Town is to ride the cableway to the top of Table Mountain and look down upon the city, but on Monday morning the rock was shrouded in mist. So instead we drove to Signal Hill for views of the mountain and out over the waterfront:

Lion's Head is a popular hiking spot, though it's best to go with a group due to the security situation (crime is a serious concern in Cape Town as it is in other South African cities):

From Signal Hill we drove down to the Company's Garden, a park and heritage site in the central part of the city. What began in 1652 as the vegetable patch for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) is now a series of gardens free of charge for the public to enjoy:

Not only have we been yearning for seafood while in Addis, we also realized how much we miss the ocean. After the gardens we drove to Sea Point, one of Cape Town's most affluent suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean. Being early spring in the Southern Hemisphere, it was too chilly to go for a swim, but perfectly fine for admiring a seaside view:

No surprises as to what kind of cuisine we had for lunch. On Monday afternoon, we ate at the Sea Point branch of Ocean Basket, "South Africa's favourite seafood restaurant":

This trip to Cape Town was more than just a sightseeing excursion. For example, after lunch, Shu-E bought herself and Amber some pants, while I had my reading glasses repaired (apparently something as simple as replacing a missing screw is beyond the abilities of Addis Ababa's finest opticians) and perused what was on offer in Wordsworth Books, settling on a copy of Dictatorland: The Men Who Stole Africa by Paul Kenyon. My wife also picked up a sunhat at the local Woolworths, which in South Africa appear to be much classier shopping establishments than the gritty K-Mart/Sears-like shops I remember from my youth.

Shopping completed (for now), we continued driving northeast in our rented Yaris, admiring the ocean scenery:

Eventually we turned inland and returned to Dutch Manor for a short rest, before going out again to meet with some friends from the Foreign Service for dinner. We joined Obio, Yvette and their young son Harrison (along with a couple of Yvette's friends visiting from Taiwan) at Jonkershuis, a casual brasserie-style restaurant on the grounds of the historic Groot Constantia winery (which we would visit later in the week). I had a tasting plate of Cape Malay dishes (Cape Malays are an ethnic group whose ancestors originated from the then-Dutch East Indies, though nowadays the term denotes more of a Muslim identity). It was only R198, around $13.40 - it turned out we had arrived in South Africa at a time when the exchange vis-a-vis the South African rand was clearly in our favor:

After dinner, we drove over to our friends' residence to catch up on things that had been going on since we last got together. Below, Shu-E, Yvette and Amber pose with the bag of Ethiopian coffee we brought with us as a gift, while those with sharp eyes will note your humble scribe in the background (Obio had the good sense to hide himself around a corner):

Our first full day in Cape Town wasn't as busy as the ones that would follow, but we enjoyed coming to the realization that we, too, could get used to this kind of lifestyle. More to come...

Happy Meskel! መልካም መስቀል!

Meskel celebration at St. Gabriel

If things have seemed a little quiet lately on these pages, that's because they have been. I had a bad cold the other week that caused me to miss two days of work and to stay inside most of last weekend. I feel much better now, and my recovery has coincided with Meskel መስቀል, an annual religious holiday in the Ethiopian Orthodox church calendar. Meskel commemorates the discovery of the cross on which Jesus is believed to have been crucified (the word means "cross" in the Ge'ez language, the ancient predecessor of Amharic). The eve of Meskel (which was this past Friday) is celebrated by the burning of a Demera, a pyramidal bonfire of branches that from a distance supposedly resembles a fir tree, topped with Meskel flowers (i.e. daisies). The biggest celebration takes place in Meskel Square, but on Friday evening Amber, Shu-E and I joined our neighbors and some colleagues from work to observe the festival at St. Gabriel ቅዱስ ገብኤል ቤተክርስትያን, an Orthodox church about a half hour on foot from our house.

Before leaving for the church we heard the sound of young girls chanting and singing. We could just make out the end of a procession moving south (away from our house) from our balcony (my apologies for the shaky camera work):

Demera were being prepared at many places in our area as we made our toward the church:

The celebration at St. Gabriel:

Vendors were outside the church to cater to the needs of worshippers:

We passed by a number of small celebrations on the way home from St. Gabriel. Meskel is a very festive occasion, with neighbors sitting around the smoldering embers of the bonfires, chatting and drinking. We also walked by this parked Lada - along with Toyotas, Lada taxis are a common sight on the streets of Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ:

The BBC website on Saturday had this photo essay on a different type of Meskel celebration in Adigrat ዓዲግራት, close to the border with Eritrea.

Speaking of Saturday, not much happened. I did go out for a walk in the afternoon...:

...and unlike prior excursions on foot, this time I passed through some upscale neighborhoods, home to diplomatic residences, embassies, the middle class...and some goats:

St. Gabriel the day after its demera:

Sunday was a little more eventful, but not necessarily for the right reasons. One of the screws on my reading glasses fell out earlier in the week, and I've been having a hard time finding an optician that can replace it. I was told there were some shops that could do the repair in the Piazza area of Addis, so after lunch I took a taxi there. Unfortunately, I could only find one place open that was dealing in eyeglasses and they also couldn't help. Disappointed, I decided to at least get some exercise and walk the five kilometers or so (three miles) back home.

Just before the intersection of Churchill and Zambia Streets, a young man approached me on my right to try and sell me some tissues; immediately after, another man came up on my left and grabbed my arm in a "friendly" gesture. I shook him off and continued walking, but quickly realized my iPhone was missing from my right pocket. I turned around and started back, and one of the young men (I believe it was the one who had grabbed my left arm) handed me my phone with the bullshit story that he had retrieved it from the thief, and could I give him some money for some food? Instead, I walked over to a nearby police officer, told him my phone had been stolen and pointed out the two men, who were called over by the cop. In the end, I said I couldn't clearly identify which one had been the pickpocket, saving myself what would probably have been a long ordeal of having to fill out a complaint. I had my phone back and so continued on my way...

...and then on Roosevelt Street a car pulled up to the curb ahead of me, and a young man got out of the front passenger side to make a phone call. As I passed him, he started saying something about "vomit". It was then that I felt something liquidy on the back of my right leg, and realized I was being set up for the spitting scam. This involves someone spitting on you, and then "apologizing" and pointing out the spot on your body where it happened, creating a diversion for an accomplice to pick your pocket. I just kept walking, much to the man's agitation, and once I was a safe distance away, checked to see that, sure enough, I had been spat on.

Live and learn. I now know of a couple more things to be wary of when I'm about town...

 An old Italian-era building in the Piazza

Tewodros Square ቴዎድሮስ አደባባይ

 

La Gare, a French-style building that was completed in 1917 and which served for 100 years as the main railway station connecting the Ethiopian capital with the Red Sea port of Djibouti. It has been replaced with a modern, Chinese-built station inconveniently located in the suburbs, part of a $4.5 billion, Chinese-built railway linking Addis Ababa with Djibouti city. According to this BBC story, actually trying to ride on the line is an exercise in TIA frustration.

Next weekend we're off to Cape Town for a week on our first excursion from Ethiopia since arriving in this country at the end of July. Stay tuned...