Boarded, and the flight was uneventful... Sorry, I wish I could regale you all with stories of plane crashes, hijacking attempts, international drug dealers or some other excitement... But there was none of that...

Check in to a six-room dorm and find no-one and nothing in there... Check with the receptionist Naadia and find that there is no-one scheduled to move in for at least 3-4 days... Magic...

Walk around the vicinity for a bit... I am in an area called Zonnebloom which used to be called district 6. During the apartheid era, areas were zoned to certain groups and this area became zoned to Whites, so all the Africans and Coloureds (mixed race people, but usually of Indian or Malay descent who were descended from the slaves of those areas) that lived there were forcible removed from their homes and relocated to the townships on the outskirts of town... The old beautiful historical buildings were all knocked down and new ones were put up in their place... In 1996, 30 years after being moved out of the area, and just a few years after the abolishment of apartheid, the first black residents were welcomed back to the area... There is a museum explaining the area and I made sure it was the first thing I did... The movie “District 9” is also loosely based on this story, I am informed, but not having seen the movie, I can't make too much comment...

Back to the room to drop stuff off and I come downstairs and am introduced to a group of 4 young Aussie lads who had been staying there for the 4 days prior to me arriving there... They give me a run-down of the place and the people there and this information becomes invaluable during my stay... There is a pub (The Castle) downstairs from the backpackers place where I am staying and this becomes the local... A great group of customers, and staff and the place seems like a bit of fun...

Long Street is the main drinking location for this town, so after a few beers, I headed out there to see what was happening... I have been to NY and Tokyo, I have been to London and Rome, Bangkok and Beijing, but I have never seen a more crowded place than Long Street the night before the world cup started... The people were being turned away from bars due to overcrowding, the whole street was shut to make sure the bar overflow didn't get run over by idiot drunk drivers.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to enjoy most of these places, so I had a quiet beer at one of them and then I headed back to the hotel... Was in bed by 11... Woken at 4 by some loud lunatics coming in, turns out it was the other Aussie lads and a couple of Irish lads who also stay upstairs... Then back to a relaxing slumber...

written by  Big_T on June 10, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Cup
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Wow buddy. Great blog. I was a bit miffed not many people read ours as it took a fair bit of time and energy....but anyway. You are actually living one of my wildest dreams at the moment. I know I will get there one day.......but the fact that it is all tied into an international sporting event just tops the scales. Wish I had of thought of that.....damn.

Anyway, I know the Aussie's aren't doing so well......I have been gettting up or staying up for the games but have been immensly dissapointed. Hope you are having a ball.

Stay safe

Anna xoxo

written by  Anna Wyatt on June 22, 2010

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