Lesedi, the African Lodge

Today we're going to Lesedi African Lodge, a little African multi-cultural village. It's a little bit uphill north from Pretoria, about 1.5 hours drive. We got a very warm welcome by the chief of the village and the so-called hottest african prince, who was to be our guide later. I was stunned, to be in such real authentic African environment and to meet real African people in their original costumes!


Lesedi prince and the Lady...so stylish!

In Lesedi, we were taken to see different African ethnic groups, their traditional little villages and their various customs and cultures.
There are five traditional homesteads – the Zulus (most famous one, i think) with their fighting sticks and cosy beehive huts, the Xhosa with their perfectly thatched rondawels and distinctive white blankets, the rhythmic drums and whistles of the Pedi tribe, the conical straw hats and thick, coloured blankets of the Basotho and the colourful homes of the Ndebele.


one of African graphic art: Ndebele mural

The tour programs were divided into 2, Monati and Boma experiences. In the Monati exp, we attended a multi-visual theatre presentation on the history and origin of African peoples, then in small groups, we're taken on a guided tour to visit the little villages. We were taught to say some African greetings in different languages, then we were welcome to get into the house with very low entrance, we also got to try their freshly ground corns/beans (mangkuknya dari kotoran hewan yang mengeras,... yikes.. kaya lantai di Lombok!)


hypnotizing traditional song...wowww (mirip kulintang?)

After a short break, we're taken to meet in the Boma for traditional song and dance of all the villages. It was so cool!!! I would love to learn the dance. The dance culminated in communal dancing, with the guests were also taken to dance around the fire. I feel touched by the union people from different ethnics and nations came together and dance.


Lesedi women from different ethnic groups, crafting.


Beads crafting... tekun skali, bu.

I found African little children are sooo cute! bulet dan padat, hitam, rambut kriwil, kriwil..lincah pula! Gemesss. And they welcome us enthusiastically! Though, a bit affraid when we came to take pics...hahaha, so cute.


Cute little African kids at Lesedi village.


lingkaran kecil, lingkaran kecil, lingkaran besar :-)

Lesedi is a Sotho word that means, “LIGHT”.
The African people said that "Our culture is the light of our nation – whoever walks here amongst our cultures at Lesedi can also see the light".

It was a whole new experience for me. It's sO Africa!

Sun City, The Lost City

First Sunday in South Afrfrica,... gak gereja...huhuhu. Today was warmer, the sun shone brightly, but sometimes there's cold wind. This morning we're heading to Hatsfield Sunday market. Various kinds of things were on sale, from african stuff to chinese to tiny g-strings! I saw a cute g-string with 'angel' written on it. Ooo, I want! But the booth owner were good-looking guys with naughty smiles, there's no way i could buy it... embarassing! hahaha! We fell in love with african throws... big wide fabric with African prints and handpaintings. After a long and tight bargaining, we got it! Woww...our first shopping in South Africa! First real african stuff! Norak, ah.


looks like a 'visa' ad!

From the market we head to Sun City. It took about 2-4 hours drive. The scenery along the way was awesome! Wide open land with golden grass, rocks, trees, cloudless blue blue sky. The kind of view in 'Lion King'. Not as dry as it looked. Usually i would fell asleep on such long monotonous trip, but this time I couldn't take my eyes off the scenery.


Hartbeespoortdam, so beautiful,..a place to grow old peacefully

We passed through Hartbeespoortdam, a big waterdam-lake surrounded by hills with pretty houses on it, with boats sailing and people kloofing (jumping off the high rocks straight into the water). Looks like a lovely place to live. There's an old little bridge only for 1 lane, so we had to queue. well... I didn't mind, because of the awesome view.


pretty little old bridge at Hartbeespoortdam

After another long drive, finally Finally, we're at Sun City! A huge complex of resort, hidden deep in the rugged bushveld, in the heart of an ancient volcano, unseen from the main road. With luxurious grand palace hotel, casino (yes, it's legal in South Africa, can be found almost everywhere) artificial beach and big food court, it's totally like a lost hidden city.


The Palace of The Lost City 

We went through the giant Kong Gate that took us to The Valley of Waves, the valley with artificial beach, sand and surfs, even the coconut trees were fake. It was spring break, crowded with lots of people, mostly young hot 'afrikaans' people! There's also surf competitions. Cool! Adis, Irma, Ica n I took a ride in Sacred River Ride current-pool on tubes which curent took us around the whole Valley of Water while we're on the water. Ya ampyuuunn! The water was shockingly cold as ice, spraying us from each directions!! Cold-ice water sprayed to my face, my head, my ears... Aaghh...!! Gulp! the water shot into my mouth. It was exciting!


Roaring Lagoon...surf, sand, sun, all artificially fun!

Enough for cold water. It's time to enjoy the sun and the sand. It's oOhh so nice, sunbathing on the fake sand...although it felt weird, the harsh light of the sun, warm air, cold wind, mixed together. Cuma kita yg menggigil, malu2in..hahaha. Sooner or later, I couldn't stand sunbathing and shaking too long. Seemed so much fun to play with the artificial waves in Roaring Lagoon. Splash!!! The adrenaline rushed when i got hit by cold wave. Too cold to swim! There were 2 kids joined n played with me...gw disangka anak kecil kali ya! Hunkie lifeguards were also around to save us from harmful events...yes, Irma got swept by wave and hit the harsh beach bottom. Only small bleeding, on her butt. Still....heeeellllpppp!!! Oh there he came, a cute hunkie helping Irma. cihuy!

Then Adis n I took a dark-tube-ride in Diamond & Gold Mines. It was pitch black all the way through the tunnel, spinned upsidedown, cold water around us. AAaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhhh!!! Our scream echoed through the whole valley! But it's sooo much fun!!! :-D

After a whole day under the sun, which didn't make me tanner :-( we left the valley by walking through the Sway Bridge which creaks and sways in every couple of minutes, like earthquake. Awesome.


an elephant, a bird and the moon... 

Anyway, I had my first Nandos meal Pita bread sandwich, yummm... Nasi disini aneh rasanya (Nandos was from South Africa, ternyata!).

We drove back around 7pm. The stars were shining so bright from the dark sky...(very rare view in Jakarta). We were sleeping all the way home...zzzzz. Tonight Ica n I slept in Adis' room. More people didn't make it warmer, but I slept so well, cos Adis' bed got heater!!

"God, thank you for today".

Up and Down in Pretoria

Good morning South Africa!

Brrrrr.... goodness! A very cold morning! Almost like winter in Australia.
A cup of hot tea would give me warmth. I tried rooibos tea, the south african tea. It tasted a bit weird, but as I kept sipping, it actually tasted very nice and relaxing. Hmmm... I was starting to love this tea.

This morning we went to Soweto (South West Township) known as the place where Nelson Mandela hid in a very small house during the apartheid war. The wooden house was well maintained. Many memorabilias of Mandela and his family, from pictures, certificates, furnitures, wardrobes, and big painting of him were still kept in good condition. A very nice african woman with very soft voice took us for a tour around the house. She explained many things but we hardly could hear her :-)
And, well of course, we took quite many shots of the place (and ourselves) before leaving. You do understand asian tourists are wellknown for their hobbies of taking photographs here and there, right?

Next was Apartheid Museum. Sounds boring? No, this one is far from that! Besides, interesting museum is one kind of good spot to visit, ey! Surprisingly this one is big and modern! There were different heights of big wall made of small stones, representing the different treatments to different races people experienced during those days.
We had to buy tickets to get in. NON WHITE was written on Lazarus' ticket and mine (Lazarus was our driver. He was a very informative African man!), while others got WHITE (I wish Lazarus got White ticket!). What is it?? We got no clue.
At the entrance, the white and non-white visitors were separated through different gates, different lanes with different views. Hey, what a fun museum, playing this game! The visitors were expected to experience how it was to be in such condition when the apartheid still happened. Of course, I got different treatment from my other friends who got White card, as I got non-white card! Interesting! Though, I wished I could taste a bit how it is to be treated as White!
Even the toilet choices were "White" or "Colored and dogs". Well you know where I had to go to pee. Don't laugh, hehe!

Finally, we were all united in one path. There were lots of mirrors placed randomly, I noticed the people's differences from one another from the reflections. I guess it was what the mirrors for, to make people aware and accept that we're all different. Along the way, there were ancient paintings of bushmen history, old id-cards with race status of the person written on it, video about the apartheid, lots of cool posters. At the end of the path, there's an open space with a row of buttons. When we press those different buttons, different heights of fountains would spurt out! Fun! Again it resembled people's differences. This museum was totally cool and very conceptual!!!
Too bad, we were not allowed to take pictures. But, rebelious as I was, I discretely took some shots!
Ooppss.. the guard came! Run, my friend Irma, run!!
After running we felt tired, we sat on a bench, still in the museum area. Surprisingly, that bench was written "EUROPEAN ONLY". Jeezz...

We planned to go to Gold Mine afterwards, just across the museum, but the weather was getting worse, too windy. So we decided to go home and just relaxed.

Oh ya, Ica, Irma and I just exchanged our beloved millions of Rupiahs for hundreds of Rands/ZAR (South African money)!!! We're rich tourist!!! Actually, this is just the beginning of getting poor! hahhahaha..

After dinner, a cup of hot rooibos and some tv-watching plus chit-chatting... we went to sleep. This time I found out that my room got heater!!! Aaahhh...it's a great day. Sleep well everyone! I could smell the peacock lightly, before i fell asleep...

Hello Johannesburg!

After a long flight, 9 hrs Jkt-Dubai + 8 hrs Dubai-Joburg, we finally arrived in Joburg (short for Johannesburg).
It's one of big cities in SA. My beloved friend, Adis picked us up! Glad to meet her again!! (Ssst, she's actually the daughter of Indonesian Ambassador!), Tante Xandra, the ambassador's secretary was a very nice woman. Finally I met Adis older bro, Arya or mas Ara. Reminded me of someone... hhmmm, Ross of 'Friend'?

Hmmmm...The first South African air I inhaled...was very rejuvinating! It's so fresh!
Brrrr...the weather was cold! The wind was quite strong! I was so unprepared. Adiiiss, katanya lagi panas, kok dingin bangett?? Brrr! It was actually mild weather in SA, but it felt far more than the coldest weather in Jakarta!
The ride from Joburg to Pretoria was about from Jakarta to Bogor/Cibubur. Wide open lands were on each sides of the highway, with tall golden grass. I could see small houses far far away on the horizon. The sky above was bright cloudless blue! Wow,...I noticed all cars were speeding so fast! but so in order...far from Indo drivers, hahaha!

Sampailah kita di Wisma, Pretoria. Nice big house with antique look, big garden full of plants n roses... and peacocks!!! (now I know the smell of peacock!). This is our South African home!
Ica n I got this beautiful guest room. Kaya kamar putri raja, with victorian style! We got our own bath room inside. The sheets were so soft and cold, thick blanket. We felt like princess! Wowwww!

Offspring live in concert, Dome-Joburg!
yes, yes...not long after we arrived in South Africa and just with short rest, we went straight to rock concert!!! Gilaa! Cape' bangeet, tapi tetep smangat! :-D
The Dome was big indoor stadium, mostly 'afrikaans' young people (orang kulit putih South Africa), yg asli afrika mana ya? Before the concert started, there's an opening act: girls showed off their boobs on the screen! Gw blm pernah liat langsung yg kaya gitu. The concert was happening! Offspring rocked! Anyway, we fell asleep most of the times, hehehe too tired + jetlagged, but we jumped like crazy whenever we woke up! "Heeeyy, come out and play!"

First day in South Africa, awesome! So sleepy but hard to sleep cos it's freezing!!! Brrrrr!
"God, thank you for keeping us safe all the way and finally we're really in South Africa. Amen."

Journey to South Africa begin!

South Africa.
A country that I never thought I would ever travel to, never even really crossed my mind before. Europe, USA, Asia, Australia, Hawaii, Canada, islands in Indonesia...are among many places I always dream to visit, but never South Africa.

God lead my way. A good friend of mine, Adis, who stayed in South Africa, invited me for a visit. After spending some times browsing internet and books about South Africa, and totally amazed, I decided to go. I didn't want to miss this opportunity of travelling part of the so-called Craddle of The Mankind place.

After a long and hard money-savings (Indonesians would say: Work hard, drop the bones!)...the big day came!
Everybody wondered why I chose to go to South Africa. What was it all about? Just dessert, animals and bushmen?
Well, I was going to find the answer.

Finally, out to Africa!
I had the whole family at the airport...they just love me so much. (Thanks for the support, love ya all!)
It's a late night flight, at 1am. Just me and my 2 other friends, Ica and Irma (a girls-trip!)

We really enjoyed the flight with Emirates (supporting partner?). We were just like kids busy learning how to use the in-flight equipments not long before we fell asleep (biasaa,..anak kampung?)
Stopped-by in Bangkok,... i opened my eyes a little bit just to take a peek of Bangkok, dark, then fell asleep again, dreaming oneday I'd be travelling Thailand.
Early morning transit in Dubai. The airport, just like a MEGA GIANT MALL! Huge and very spacious, with many gates from one end to the other, with the biggest duty-free shop in the world! Some artificial palm trees were planted along the side of the indoor hall. Quite a jaw-dropping scene.

We were waiting for the next flight. Hmmm what should i do? I took out my little mirror, ohh I looked so messy! so I decided to give a little touch up to my pretty face while waiting for next flight. You'd never know if any cute guy is checking you out, don't you? ;-)

Surprisingly, Ica n I got upgraded to bussiness class! God, thank you! I was welcomed with a glass of crisp cold champagne, hmm... The couch was big with spacious legs area, to be reclined as far as my body stretched! And the foods, there were so many and so delicious! Then the desserts, who cared of getting fat?! Added with a glass of good red wine, it was like a floating fine dining experience.

Where's Irma?

My seatmate was an Indian man who had travelled most of the world. He told me lots of his travel story. Should see his passport! Filled with lots of stamps of many countries. I wondered if my passport would be like that before I grow too old.

The flight attendants took care of me like I was a little girl travelling alone. So nice and funny. One of the stewardess was very sorry when my order for food wasn't available, she rubbed my cheek. REally. I was speechless.

Where's Irma?

Sleeping and eating and sleeping and watching movie and chit-chatting and taking pics and window gazing and sleeping, that's all we did during the flight. Quite tiring and pretty boring. Oh, and mostly checking out Francesco, the gorgeous nice steward with italian look! He made my flight!

Then Ica and I decided to look for Irma.
There she was,....still sitting in the economy class! hehehe,.. poor Irma.