Monday, August 25, 2008

A walk to UCT

It’s been nearly five days without a drop of Dr. Pepper and we’re starting to get cranky. Tomorrow, Tuesday, will be a struggle. Usually, trivia night is our Dr. Pepper OD-ing night and with free refills, it can get up to three glasses a night. We are suffering from high-fructose corn syrup withdrawals. Even the Coke here uses real sugar (tastes better too). Speaking of sugar, our host gave us a bag of “American brownies,” (refer to photo below). They were hard, crummy, and tasted very much like chocolate cookies. Poor South Africans never had a real brownie.


7.5 Rand = ~1 USD




American taste tester representative: 6/10 score



To help burn off the excess sugar intake, we decided to map out Anh’s daily walk to UCT on foot. Man, the “walk” was a workout. It takes 10 mins. to walk to the town center (a breeze) and then another 15 mins. walking completely uphill to the top of the campus. The view from the top is worth the climb! Walking to and from UCT each day is as good as any aerobic workout.


Rondebasch downown - first 10 min of walk on the flats



Next 15 min of walking up the hill - photo does not due justice to the true steepness of the slope


Upper Campus of UCT with Table Mtn in background



Upper Campus UCT






Not quite sure what they are trying to sell here; any ideas?



I'm calling NBC's legal team



When we said we were looking forward to a “change,” we were referring to new foods and sightseeing, not eating healthier and exercising more. Maybe we can drop a few pounds by the end of the trip. Below is a quick tour of the local shopping center. In The States, we call it a “mall.”




To answer a readers emailed question: razor wire and electrical fences are used to protect the precious bananas from the destructive colonies of indigenous pink-assed baboons. *wink*




Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun :)


Smok'em if ya gott'em




Don't be fooled by the setting. Behind those doors are lions, tigers, and rhinos.
Oh my?


Per reader’s request: Yes, we have a physical TV in our flat, but that is about it. There is one "functioning" channel and no remote control. The program airing on this channel is often in Afrikaans so we basically have 0.5 channel. Once in awhile, we will pick up what the host is watching on his satellite (usually, a rugby game).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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duckey0712 said...

Okay...the no Dr. Pepper thing would make the stay impossible! I did see in the photos a McDonalds. So there is some degree of civilized culture there. Just wondering if the big mac really tastes like a big mac over there. You may have to sample the local McDonalds and let us know how if fairs.

Hope all is good...will be checking in regularly to see what kind of off the wall stuff in going on (pink assed baboons, I rest my case)

Patrick

Anonymous said...

sorry it took me so long to get caught up- I'm so glad to enjoy your trip to Cape Town with you- even if its via a blog :)

don't worry- we're storing up Dr. Pepper from trivia each week- it will only be slightly flat when you get back