Giant Castle Trip, Aug 15 2009

The Giant Castle, Midland

'salams'...the normal way muslims in south africa greet other muslims..first of all, this is not fatimah...but laki dia..hehe..fatimah malas nak update blog..so after berkali-kali suruh dia update and failed, i decided to update on behalf of her cause i really want to capture all of our best mements here...tak sangka it has been about 2 months since we arrived here..feel like yesterday..maybe sbb happy kot ade somebody around all the time...honestly, i feel really grateful to have her here...ade org nak share problem, share happiness, do things together..ade org tolong masak, basuh baju and gosok baju...hehe..yang paling best ade org ngigau malam2, siap boleh sembang2 lagi dlm tido...but still we are in the 'knowing each other better' phase..try to adapt and give and take..sometimes both of us can be quite stubborn..but biasala tu kan??

we arrived in south africa on the 9th of august....10th of august, terus masuk keja...i am used to that but kesian kat wifey...baru sehari sampai, dah kena masuk keja..dah la nak kena adapt tugas as a newly-wed wife, then kena adapt dengan new place and weather, pastu kena pulak adapt dengan new working environment, new type of work, new people and new working culture...alhamdulillah, all of her reporting process kat Engen refinery went well...all in place..personally, i think working here is a very good opportunity for her...dapat hands on experience..get better appreciation of her design work..improve her communication skills and english etc...alhamdulillah rezeki dia...

first, nampakla wifey quite stress...complain org ignore dia la and macam2 lagi...so on the first weekend we were here, i decided to bring her somewhere to release her tense...lagipun, next week nye dah nak puasa...nanti nak jalan2 pun dah tak best...so pikir punya pikir, last2 i decided nak bawak dia pegi giant castle, satu kawasan pergunungan kat inland kwazulu natal...actually, i have been there like more than 5 times..biasa dulu before kawin, kalau ade staff2 petronas datang, i have to be the travel guide sbb i was the only bachelor back then...so sbb tu dah lebih dari 5 kali pegi sana..tapi takpela...sbb nak bawak wifey, usahala jugak pegi kali ke berapa ntah...walaupun dah pegi byk kali, still giant castle is a very nice place to be...sejuk, scenery mmg cantik with all of the mountains..if lucky, there can be snow-capped mountains during winter...mmg sesuai la utk org2 yang baru berkawin...

so pagi tu on the 15th of august, lepas bangun dari tido, we prepared simple meals..sandwiches for breakfast and nasi lemak for lunch.. i prepared sambal nasi lemak je while wifey prepared nasi and sandwiches..we departed quite late, around 9 am in the morning...but nothing rushed us...takde ape nak kejar pun...perjalanan ambik masa around 3 hours...actually, pikir2 balik that was the longest time we've been travelling together since we knew each other..maybe wifey pun tak perasan kot..hehe...from durban, we took N3 west towards johannesburg...we past through pietermartizburg and took off the midmar dam offramp..from there we travelled through south african country side for 1/2 hour and stopped at nottingham road to refill the tank...from durban to midmar dam mmg nothing much to see..just highway through kawasan bukit2..but from midmar dam, the route was more scenic and interesting dgn kawasan2 kampung with lots of shops to stop by...from nothingham road, we drove further 1 hour hour towards giant castle..the route was even better and more interesting...dah mula nampak gunung2 painting the background of the scene and also kampung2 pak hitam...

at last after 3 hours of driving, we finally arrived at giant castle...though we were not that lucky to see snow capped mountains, the weather was still very cold, around 9 oC. giant castle is actually a world heritage site declared by UNESCO..to get inside we have to pay around rand 25 each...once inside, we immediately got to the resort to buy the bushman cave ticket, kena lagi bayar rand 25 sorang...tanya receptionist, dia cakap next show at the cave is at 1 pm, tengok jam kat tangan dah kul 1230 pm..from the resort we have to do some tracking to get to the cave..the walk will take us about 45 minutes..so mmg tak sempatla...so we decided to go for the 2 pm show...that leave us with 1h 30 m left...

Jalan sikit berenti posing..jln skit posing,bila nk smpai nih

so we walked slowly, taking our time enjoying the scenery and stopped by a very narrow stream of mountain river..ade bridge kat situ where we had our nasi lemak...mmg rasa sedap sgt nasi lemak time tu..dah la lapar, sejuk pulak tu...hehe..

nyum nasi lemak ikan kering penambah energy dan lemak

by the river

after lunch, we continued our walk and finally arrived at the bushmen cave....tepat at 2 pm, pak hitam guide kat situ pun invite us into the mountain...he was the one giving the talk..the bushmen cave was actually an ancient settlemen of human dated back to 5000 years ago...gua dia takde la besar..just cukup2 utk elak panas and hujan je kot..then ade byk bushmen paintings...nothing much to see pun other than those paintings..

Misi pendakian ke Main Cave

yeah we arrived just in time

Patung2 bushmen to represent their lifestyle in the cave and ancient art which still last.

Bushwoman hehe

Antara peserta yg join the show session

after about 40 minutes, the show ended...we continued our tracking back, this time heading back to the resort...but we decided to take a different route along the riverside....mmg cantik sgt view time tu..dengan rumput2 menguning, sungai yang jernih, we were surrounded by the mountains..we decided to stop and rest at a rock by the side of the river to have our prayer...during that time, wifey and i had the chance to taste the water...mmg sedap sgt..mcm minum air mineral...yela mmg air tu dtg directly dari gunung, uncontaminated...lepas sembhyang, we just lay down on the rock...only the 2 of us...looking up the sky and admiring the views...nobody else around..tenang sgt rasa time tu..like the world is only ours...huhu..wish that i have that moment preserved for every next seconds of my life..mmg peaceful...

misi turun bukit pulak

menikmati alam ciptaan Ilahi..

we stayed there about one hour before finally decided to make our move back before dark...at 430 pm finally we arrived back at the resort and immediately got into our car to drive back home....finally arriving home at 800 pm, stopping at a mall in pietermartizburg to have a coffee break...i guess that's all for now..dah ngantuk sebenarnyer...wifey dah berdengkur tu...hehe..sini dah pukul 1145 pm 5th oct 09...esok nak keja...have to go to sleep...till we meet again..chiow...