JoBurg Week 1 - Pictures!!!

Hey everyone! I figured I should start sharing some pictures so you have a good sense of what I'm seeing here. I won't ramble on too much in this post, other to provide some color commentary. So enjoy!!!


Ok so this is outside my hotel room the first week. I stayed at a chain here called the Protea Lodge. Nice and Victorian on the outside and Modernist on the inside. Did I mention there was a horrible connection to the Internet in the previous post, because yeah. Otherwise, if you're coming here for a holiday, check them out. And tell them I sent you. And watch the blank look on their face when you tell them that.


I told you it was in the middle of a theme park! I would get to the hotel around 4:30 in the afternoon, the park still running and the roller coasters zooming over my head as I entered the hotel compound.


No, it's not penguins, but it's peacocks! They had wild peacocks just roaming around the hotel grounds. One morning I was on my way to work and 4 peacocks were just sitting on the benches at a restaurant there, as if they were waiting for someone to take their order.

I think I was scaring this peacock and he was trying to get away from me. Look at the size of that beast!

So this is my new hotel / apartment. I can't figure out what it is. The brochure on the Internet says apartment. But it really seems like more of a motel. I have a kitchenette which is quite lovely, but the outside doesn't look that great. In fact:

This is right next to the apartment. So when I pulled in, I was feeling the sketch vibe. But I've soon come to learn that EVERY place in the city has security (I have 2 guards that rotate every 12 hours) and razor wire or electrical fence. Also, I have 3 keys to get into my room - one for the front door, one for the elevator and one for the room door. It gets to the point where crime seems overrated here what with all of the protections they take.


This is looking down the street from the hotel. There's an Angolan / Portuguese / Mozambican restaurant to the left in this shot. Very peaceful street, even though it looks dumpy.

The other side of the street. There's a great cafe off in the distance that's behind the trees and sign. And the white building to the left has the Pleasuredome. No I haven't been yet. Pervs.

This is Annah, she's the front desk lady who makes sure that I'm having "the most wonderful time. Kick up my feet and relax!"

And this disappearing lady is my maid, Miss Cleo. No, that's not her name, but she scares me a little bit because she's got this stare that she gives me looking like I'm giving her trouble. But she's sweet as all hell and makes a mean breakfast. Oh and she cleans my room.




This is Sandton City, the "premier" mall in the city. I think what makes it premier is that it has a higher volume of recognizable named stores, at least from an American perspective. Regardless all malls have a:

and a

and a

which I think is Afrikaans for Star Cinema. That's a random guess.

One of a million signs letting South Africans know that the World Cup is on it's way. This country, and this will be a future blog, is just way too gung ho on the World Cup and the Bafana Bafana soccer team. For instance:



This is the African restaurant I ate at where I had Crocodile Curry. And pap. Which South Africans love. They also love Nelson Mandela.

This is Nelson Mandela Square and a big statue of Nelson Mandela. With a pigeon on top.


And this is Nelson Mandela Bridge.

And you see those guys on the street corner? It seems like every corner has these guys hawking wares like SA Flags and rear view mirror condoms with the SA flag on them. And then other guys are just homeless and asking for money.

Ok that's it for now! More pictures and thoughts later.