Moving between the continents: onto Hongkong

PHIL: Mar 5/Day 19

Hassle leaving Chameleon Backpackers because they had forgotten/ignored my notification of our early (0630) departure. Hassle with Avis who insisted I fill up the car at their airport filling station only to discover they had run out of petrol. South African flight late on top of all this.

However, to my delight the long-anticipated link to iPass for wi-fi connections from our laptop actually worked at last and in 10 minutes I have downloaded all the latest plus sent several outbound messages which were too long to work on ‘real-time’ online with webmail.

Wild Madagascar

Cathay a haven of peace for a 12-hour slog to Hong Kong. At least they have laptop power. Madagascar looks a wild place from 35,000ft. It is still a source of amazement to me that it is possible to travel between continents and hemispheres in the same 12-hour hop.

ALLIE: DAY 19: Monday, 5^th of March

                                          

Farewell to Africa – on to Asia

Had suffered from a terrible headache and lots of bad dreams. But where from? The exquisite gin tonics? As the sun rises over the vast plains of Namibia we drive the 48km out to the airport, drop our car and check in for the South African flight to Johannesburg. The flight is a bit delayed but we are only 10min late. Jo’burg even from the air looks a dodgy city with huge slum areas but also with dozens of golf courses, gold mines and airfields. I hear that it is one of the most violent cities in the world. So I am glad that we don’t even have to stay here but continue our journey on to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific at 13.35 pm.

Phil tries out his long fought for wireless lan internet at the airport and is very chuffed as it seems to work this time. It is indeed amazing to be connected to the world through a tiny computer, internet and mobile phones.

flying over Mozambique

During our flight, we cross over Mozambique. Beautiful sandy beaches and lagoons stretch all along the coast. Then we cross over Madagascar. What a wild and untouched huge island. Only mountains, dried out river beds and jungle. And then it’s getting dark whilst we continue our route across the Indian Ocean towards China.

I enjoy practicing my Japanese with Joyce, the Japanese stewardess, and my Mandarin with Clarence, the Hong Kong Chinese. It feels nice to come back to a familiar country where you somehow feel at home. 

I regret not being able to make more use of my two exotic languages, so I am determined to make the best out of the coming weeks in China.