Gone to Gaborone

My 1^st post.

It’s hard to decide what would be my 1^st post in my 1^st blog J but I finally come to a decision that it would be about Botswana focusing on its glorious capital city GABORONE.

Yes, it is a far far away land (from home) but the place has become part of my most beautiful memory ever with someone who is very special in my life J. This one is for him and our exciting future :p.

I will not tell you in details about the general information of the country; I believe you can find it yourself through these links (as i did):

·         A drop of fact: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bc.html

·         A bite of history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana

·         A tourism site:  http://www.botswanatourism.co.bw/

What I am about to write is from my own perspective, after all it’s about the alpha and the beta that is happening in my world, through my spectacle (I don’t wear one literally). I’ll try to make it nice J

It was a long journey from Surabaya, Indonesia to Gaborone in Africa, transiting via Hongkong and Johannesburg, it was magnificent. I love the airports, always gives me these kind of freedom feeling, getaway moods and great atmosphere, more than 14 hours of transiting is nothing especially when you landed and someone greeted you with a bunch of flower...aaaaawwwwww...yes..yes..yesss..

Pula Arch Main Mall, Gaborone

Anyway, ehemm..I was in Gaborone, in summer, a day before Christmas and IT WASN'T LIKE I HAD IN MIND. Africa (well, Gaborone too)  is supposed to be hot and dry and sandy and dangerous in ‘safety/peace’ manner, plus they are not that rich (frankly to say – remember God Must be Crazy movie scenes). But IT IS NOT SO. Gaborone at least in their city & environment management are magnificent, done way much better than my city back home. The street are smooth and wide, good traffic management, plantation well set and most of all, no litters at all..everrr...and the best part is, no pollution whatsoever, everyone (I know it’s a bit high, but almost everyone) drive latest BMW, Mercedes, Audi Sport, cruiser, WTH (yes, it stands for What The Hell?!  - pardon me). For world’s largest producer of DIAMONDs, it is a very peaceful place and they managed their city extra well that it almost (in my thoughts) looks like a developed country' kinda decorated cities (oh, don’t be fooled J). 

Resting Giraffe, Mokolodi 

So, I had a great time enjoying its city and sceneries but Africa is not Africa without the wild rural area, Baby...so I went to do game drive open safari in March for my birthday (best Birthday I ever had in my life indeed). Astounding is the only word I can think of.. it was awesome, we went approx. 2 hours on 'excitingly very bumpy' drive game jeep, animal spotting, took hundreds of photos and hang out by the water holes (like any other animals would hehehe..). The place I went called Mokolodi Nature Reserve which  is only about 15 Km from Gaborone (FYI: Prince William and Harry was there...so was I...hahhahaha...). Great place if you want to explore the African bush without being so far away from the city. But if you are adventurous then go up far north, there are plenty of tour provider and you could visit the famous Okavango nature reserve (the best in continent...errrr...the world), the Kalahari, the Chobe National Park (which has the world largest concentrations of elephants) and many more.

Mokolodi Lake hosting hippos and crocs

Back to the city:

A lady down the street

What is lack about this great neighbourhood are: the people and the entertainment..oh, and one more, the cost. The majority of the people are dark skinned of course and most of them are very friendly and nice, the only  problem is that most of them are also less tactful, I am not saying lazy but rather less dedicated you know, in term of being involved in their job, so if you wanted to get something done properly, you better encourage, enforce, whatever words there might be for them to do everything properly (and may God bless you with success). What I ADMIRED so much from them is how they are so confident in their fashion statement that I think, there is no statement at all. From hair to toe baby.. If you think you’ve seen it all then think again, clothing and cosmetics, despite of your color and the shape of your body (most of them are big here, very big). They wore their fashion colourful, bold, daring, and passionate, almost like models jumping out of most bizarre fashion mags or Alien spaceship, they will make you bend your head down as if you are just NOTHING, you are ORDINARY (better go home). Others can be very fashionable in dynamic kind of way with their long lean legs, dark  ebony skin and swan neck, like Aphrodite in more colorful fabrics n style. A very beautiful dark goddess that can make you go ‘Aaaaaaahhhh’
Note: you can spot the diverse fashion when you went to a club in the weekend (people go to office in normal clothes).

Another thing that captured my consciousness is that, the people of Afrika are blessed with a great bottom, all of them (I haven’t seen anyone that is not) having great ass. Perfect round, full and just alluringly BIG (hahhahahah...I can’t believe I wrote this – but I am jealous hihihihi) it will definitely makes you say to yourself, ‘don’t you just wanna spank that ass’ lolsssss...(remember, say it to yourself and ladies, watch where your boy’s eyes gone to - if necessary).

Back on track, the entertainments are very lack though. There is one Museum and there are only few good recommendable restaurants, casinos and malls. Break a leg, here are my fave places to go as follow:

Restaurants (the range of the prices would be similar depend on what you order – note that everything is expensive in Gaborone):

1.       The Caravella, a Portuguese restaurant, so far the best in town with romantic secret garden atmosphere and great food. Having a lovely evening dine out with loved one, friends or family there will be splendid.

2.       The Beef Baron, inside the luxury Grand Palm Hotel, simply exquisite, this was the first resto my beloved took me to in Gaborone and indeed, it is a great place to create first impression for your loved one here in gabs.

3.       Ever heard that wherever you go on earth you’ll always find either Indian or Chinese? Well, in this case I found the Chinese shops and the Indian restaurants: The Mughal, An Indian restaurant (owned by Pakistani, I guess) for a bit of ethnic taste, they also have Embassy Resto in Riverwalk mall but I have never tried it yet, but I heard it’s also great Indian CuisineJ. A bit of advice: don’t try any Chinese resto here (honestly, it sucks, I don’t remember China as a distinguish oil producer so I wonder why they use barrel of oil in their cooking?!)

4.       Bull & Bush, pub, club, resto whatever you name it..Good food and great athmosphere. Very nice. Hang out there in the weekend would be awesome. That’s where I get my first TEQUILLA by the way,  yeaaaaahhhhh...

5.       Nando’s, simple laidback restaurant (almost like McDonald style) but they have such a nice peri-peri chicken grill and lemon cheesecake.

Note: if you ate small portion meal like me, be ready to get blasted with their ‘normal’ portion of EVERYTHING. Normal in their dictionary is HUGE. 

Game City Mall, Gaborone

Malls (I wouldn’t call these malls, I’ll call it Business Centre / shopping village) but since they call it mall, let’s just honour the locals and go with the flow:

1.       Riverwalk, second largest but very nice layout..Frontier by many restaurants. But no river.

2.       Main Mall, aisle style shops in open sky. Always good to walk around under the sky and getting to know the common cultures. Bunch of Chinese shops as well..

3.       Gamecity, the biggest mall building here so more shops and lots more to see.

4.       African Mall (aisle style shops), the only place I can find florist shop who sell dozen of flowers.

Casino:

1.       The Sun Casino, I love it coz it’s the very 1^st place I played slot machine and lost P100 (there is no such thing as "Beginner's luck")

The Grand Palm Casino, the 5 star hotel's casino..big..luxurious...and I lost money again...(gambling is just not for me)

On and on, I can’t tell much about the accommodation, ever since I got here; I only stayed in one place which I think the best place in town in term of layout and location: Motheo Apartment. Daily, weekly, monthly rent you got it. Many western/expats prefer this place, I saw plenty of them. I lived next to a Portuguese family and on my other side is a middle aged Caucasian guy, I dunno where from but he got this very heavy voice.  

So, it’s been around 3 months I am here, the weather always pleasant and I really enjoyed it. To work here should be nice, people gone to work at 8 or 9Am then home around 4 or 5Pm, even the shops will be closed around 5 or 6Pm (some resto closed around 10 to 11pm and some resto only open during specific meal time so better make sure)..so yeah, very berry lack of nightlife going on here, and the majority of the street lights will be off through out the evening hahahhaha...so, for nite out,you might want to walk with someone or bring a torch or even better, get in the car. Saturday n Sunday are holiday and you’ll find the city all for yourself..I dunno where the heck all these people are gone in Saturday n Sunday.

If you are a religious type of person, no worries, I have seen several churches here along with Moslem centre and Hindu Temples. So..if you managed to get to one, please pray for me too J

Okay, overall you will think that everything is fine here and great n fun  but let me tell you.. if you ever gonna make a trip to Afrika, always plan your trip and manage your documents well. Found out where you could get an official help from your embassy or police station or other formal representation in case of emergency and get a lot of info about the country you are going to because not all African countries are in good situation at the moment, if you follow the news, most of north African countries are rather in fragile situations so GET SMART, BE SAFE, HAVE FUN. J J J

Ps. I still cannot figure out where is the diamond place.