Grant and Dena, I am here, but not with you today, Those kitties look SO SWEET!
Today was a whirlwind for us. My Jes didn't pack well, not imagining that it could be so cold. Yesterday, we got her closed toed shoes, ended up she loved and bought same Merrill brand that Ngaire loves so much. Today it was raining so much and she had no rain gear, and after shopping a bit, got her a water resistant wind breaker much cheaper than spending way more for a real rain jacket she would never use again. What she got, I bought, and will use it next trip in November! At the end of our shopping, we had an hour for lunch before our tour, and Jes was in line at the food court and ran into Mark and Pam! We both chose to eat at the Thai place in the fast food area, as we had 40 minutes before our Township tour, which was great!
This was a highlight of my trip, just because I didn't do this before on ROAR 1 like Anne and Gary! I have always looked at those shanty areas when coming from the airports and going on various outings on my visits here, I was so curious to be there. Now I have stepped on those lands, and walked the paths. Our guide took us inside one shanty. It was a pretty large room, probably 20x20. There were maybe 10 on our tour, but there were a few local people inside just waiting for the visit. There, we watched 2 men finishing the cleaning of a couple of chickens. All the feathers had been plucked and there were a couple of women opposite putting the discarded feathers in a bucket. The men were scrapping off the bristles, I guess, and trimming the feet. They seemed to spend a lot of time when we were there still cleaning rather featherless creatures. Funny thing, guide asked what we thought this place was! I said butcher market, other said "take-out", many other guesses, but it was the local pub!
Those ladies in charge here who own the place brew the ale, and darned if they didn't put a bucket of it on the floor for everyone to try! Pass around the bucket and your tour group is supposed to finish it off before you are allowed to leave! Everyone is so friendly here. I don't think I've ever seen more smiles anywhere I've visited. Our guide Zippo told us today, don't be shy, they love your visits to their townships, and they really do!
My problem here was with my cameras, all of them lost battery power within about 10 minutes (3 CAMERAS!) after we left the District 6 Museum at that start of the tour! Local guy took me to the 7-11 type store, Jes told me they would be bad batteries, I bought 8 for $3, and they were dead in 10 minutes. She had this problem in VIetnam.
It was one of my greatest travel days ever into a place so strange, foreign and friendly, and I didn't even have a camera to record most of it! I hope when Andrea and Leonard are here, they will do a tour like this, with all cameras working!!
