South Africa. Part IMapSeptember 513, 2006 Cape TownMapOf course, I had suspected that there wouldn’t be characters straight out of tourist brochures standing on every corner. ![]() However, there’s no way I could’ve foreseen that the first thing I’d lay eyes on when I got out of the taxi from the airport would be Putin as a black guy under a sign saying “burger” (which in Russian can also mean model citizen). ![]() Initially, you might have trouble figuring out which European city you’re in. ![]() They drive on the left here. ![]() The “no stopping” sign is part of the local colour. ![]() By the way, you can see part of the local digger’s shovel (like in the UAE). Only the handle of the Russian digger’s shovel is visible (cf. Tula, for instance). ![]() Cars packed to the brim with ten passengers drive around the streets. It’s the same all over Asia, except that Asians prefer vans, so you can’t see how many people are inside. ![]() South Africa is the only country in the world where they call traffic lights robots. I guess someone way back when was amazed by the lights at an intersection lighting up all on their own. ![]() Anti-AIDS ribbons are everywhere. ![]() I must say that never in my life have I seen as much barbed wire as I did in Africa. It’s wound around all kinds of surfaces, from fences to utility poles. ![]() Although you also come across real live security guards. ![]() A security company logo hangs on every other house, together with an “armed response” tagline, that’s a must. You also just see calls to not commit any crimes. There’s always a picture of a radar speed gun on a tripod under speed limit signs. For some reason local coppers keep their radar guns on a tripod, in contrast to Russian coppers, who draw them from the small of their backs, like an actual gun. Maybe some trigger-happy drivers accidentally shot the coppers who would pull out their radar guns from behind their backs? ![]() Table Mountain, so called because it’s so flat that it looks like a table, towers over the city. A cableway takes you up to the top. ![]() Cape Town is a peaceable city. But the streets become deserted as dusk falls. This is at seven p.m.: ![]() Cape of Good HopeThe cape itself is about an hour’s drive from Cape Town. South Africa is not the place to buy African souvenirs. Of course, none of the wooden masks and malachite saucers are made in China, yet they still manufacture them in batches. You have to spend hours rummaging through the stalls to find anything the least bit interesting. ![]() Plenty of baboons here, haughty and unhurried. ![]() There’s a small penguin colony on the shores of the Atlantic. ![]() A mountain stands on the tip of the continent. A funicular runs up there. ![]() The cape can be seen from atop the mountain. After I left another four-letter word could also be seen here. ![]() CAPE I ordered crayfish at the “Two Oceans” restaurant on top of the mountain. Upon learning that I was from Russia the waitress said to me: “Your president was here”. I told her that I was of aware this, having seen the big black portrait of him hanging above the city. “That’s not what I meant, he came here, to our restaurant, and he too dined on crayfish. Security came in the morning and disinfected all of the crockery”. I came one day too late, however. I know that because I was given a very dirty spoon to eat my soup with. |
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South Africa. Cape Town
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