Wow! What a breakfast. Don't know what we expected, but somehow we weren't expecting this! An array of beautiful fresh fruits, yogurts, pastries, cereals, juices, breads. Cold meats, cheeses, pickled fish, All the usual cooked stuff with added delicacies like stewed okra and chicken livers which greatly impressed Alan! There was just so much of it, yet only about 20 tables in the restaurant, only 4 of them occupied when we were there, and probably just as many staff as guests!
I can see we're not going to lose any weight on this trip!
And so we re-pack our suitcases for our transfer to Sun City. It's just over a 2 hour drive, in a mini bus with a driver who never stopped talking the whole way. It's no wonder their English is very accented. He told us he speaks 12 local languages, which is not unusual. The main ones are Afrikaans and Zulu. And everyone is taught English at school of course.
Our hotel must have been on the city outskirts because very soon we are out of the sprawling suburbs into the country side. For most of the journey it is flat scrubby and sparce of trees. Long straight multi laned highways. In fact, reminding us a lot about much of Australia. But then there are the mines ... Quite a large number of them making a mess of the scenery. Plantinum mostly we're told.
They obviously pay very little to the miners, because close to the mines are little shanty towns, the one or two room houses made of tin or concrete set on bare earth, not a blade of grass to be seen.
Then all of a sudden, after a series of little shanty towns and increasingly barren landscape, we start ascending into some hills and there it is, like an oasis: Sun City. South Africa's answer to Las Vegas!
What a contrast!
We are back again to luxury hotels, crisp linen sheets, pure drinking water, and beautiful food served in gargantuan American-sized servings. And not 10km away people are living with no sanitation or electricity!
Still, I guess we're doing our bit to improve their economy, so we'll tough it out in this oasis for the next two days with a free conscience!
Interesting notice on our bedside table. Don't know if you can read it, but it says that if a dangerous animal gets into the room, "stay calm and exit the room slowly or dial 900 for assistance." We did see some baboons on the driveway in. Our room is on the 7th floor, so hoping that's a deterrent for them. I'll keep the window shut though, just in case.
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