SA bits 11 - Happy Mother's Day.. from about 8600km away...

Happy Mummy's Day to my Mummy, Sis and all Mums around.
We organised a small braai (barbeque) to celebrate this day. Thanks to all for helping with the cooking and cleaning, we had good fun outside the apartment. The weather was good, cooling and sunny at the same time.

Lamb was obviously on the menu as it was the favourite for all of us, we also had some sausages, chicken wings, friend bihun, chicken curry and some salad. Yes my dear parents, I know I'm suppose to reduce meat intake... but what the hey, you had cheese cake when you're not suppose to :P... so we'll call it 1-1..... Had papaya with ice cream for dessert to finish off.

With Uncle Roy & Rowan in the background.

The braai set and our main braai man Akash.

Bihun goreng, tertinggal gambar kari ayam pulak.

My colleague, Simi from Nigeria.

Our braai stand.

Sorry, can't help posting more pics of the food we had.

Us relaxing in the yard.

No we weren't working, just trying to get online to meet my family back home. And meet my family back home I did!

Happy Mother's Day! Love you all at home lots!

SA bits 10 - Mee kari and a flashback.....

If you guessed mee goreng as the answer to my previous post, then you're wrong. My friend's wife made mee kari and it was good. Thanks so much guys, that really brought me back for a while.

I was enjoying it with one leg on the chair, macam ahpek kat kedai makan...hahaha


On a separate note,I received these pics from a good friend today. I look so underaged, wait a minute I WAS underaged when that pic was taken. It was one of those unplanned trips any normal growing up teenager had taken with their parents ride. I think this was one of the first few trips all four of us had participated in, we had to buy nasi lemak and junk food on the way to the beach for chow. That was a good one.

SA bits 9 - Cravings

OMG I can't believe what I was just told I could buy in Woolworths ....





It costs about RM8 for a packet, a considerably small price to pay for something I use to consume very often back home.

Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight?

SA bits 8 - Fordsburg & a butcher in Midrand

Fordsburg is a place in Joburg town, which is mainly populated by foreigners mainly from North India and Pakistan. This place is home for most of them from that region, with streets filled with Hindi speaking traders and people. They seem to have very strong entrepreneur skills and are running almost any kinds of trade, from the most common restaurants and mini markets to hair saloons and jewellery. When we visit, we never return home with an empty stomach, with briyani being my favourite. There's a small flea market square at the center of this area which is a good stop if you are looking for pirated Hindi movies.

This is where we had lunch today. Massive plate of prawn briyani enough for 2-3 servings. I only manage to finish 1/3 of my order. Quite reasonably priced for the generous portions.

Streets of Fordsburg




The flea market

On our way to the flea market


Snacks and bites


More snacks and bites

Jewelleries and accesories for women

NOT jewelleries and accesories for women

Then we adjourned to a butchers in Midrand. The community in Midrand is also mostly made up of Indians, but southern Indians (Tamil). The butchers is called Nagiahs, reasonably priced meat with a huge selection of lamb, turkey & chicken all to choose from either marinated or not. There's even seafood and a spice corner.








Not a place to be if you're vegetarian.

SA bits 7 - Street traders

For once I wasn't the driver and took this opportunity to go trigger happy. Pics taken on the way from one office to another (10 minutes drive).
Our exits from the highway.


Another common sight in SA, where street traders make their living by selling "stuffs" at the robots (they strangely nickname the traffic lights here as robots). They have a wide range of products normally seen to be phone chargers, soccer/rugby club caps & jerseys, clothes hanger, sunglasses, wall clocks, paintings and local art crafts. The guy with the globe and atlas is my first sighting hahaha...





However, the sight of these street traders aren't always harmless. We managed to adapt at the back of our minds to be precautious each time we are behind the wheel. There has been countless reports of smash & grab cases reported at robots. I suppose the ugly ones would use this opportunity to double as a robber. They have ample of time to walk up to your car and survey what you have on the empty passenger seat; maybe an unsuspecting female with a handbag where most cases are reported with. Briefcases/laptop bags in the back seat, fancy handphones on the dashboard, basically anything that looks expensive. It is even more dangerous to stop at quiet robots at night, as these robbers can jump from behind a bush out of nowhere, and before you know it you're a statistic. A lot of times too, there's a beggar lurking around. Sometimes kids or mums with kids. Other times are windscreen washers who will insists on a small fee for a service you did not ask for (what happens is when you stop at the robots, they will just spray your windscreen with soap water and start cleaning and ask you for money after that).

SA bits 6 - Grayston complex

This is one of our most visited complexes, Grayston.




Such complexes are common in SA, unlike our usual commercial/shoplot area. I have seen a similar concept in Malaysia, in Desa ParkCity, an upcoming poshy residential area. The usual tenants in such a complex includes minimarkets, pharmacy, clinic, laundry, restaurants and of course, a bottle store (liquor shop).

SA bits 5 - TELKOM finally solved my problem.

After 3 weeks, I'm finally online at home. I sort of gave them an ultimatum before I decide to cancel the line. I guess sometimes you just can't be lenient as a customer.