The best way to travel (SA Dec/Jan 09 pt5)

I flew into joburg and quickly got a taxi into Melville, and to the Greenpeace office. I walked in and said hello to the people who were working. Some of the people I would have liked to have spoken to were not there, but I got introduced to the people working there and saw their premises, a really nice house that has been converted into an office.

After that I walked down to a local Mugg and Bean and had a cup of tea while I waited for Phil to finish work. Once he had he picked me up we headed to the Jolly roger for half a pizza and a couple of beers. Chris and Ciska picked me up there and we got some excellent thai food, and headed back to their (lovely) new house and Larry the beaglador. After some great chatting and a bit of hooka piping we went to bed, and in the morning Chris dropped me off at the Joburg station, where I bought a newspaper and met Dad for the train ride to Cape Town.

The Shosholoza Meyl was advertised as a pleasant experience, which I think rather under sells the train trip (aah, they've hit on my underpromise and overdeliver mantra, which some day I'll actually adhere to!). The only thing that wasn't good about the trip was booking the tickets. They have no way to book without actually going to the station (although my sister swears she booked by paying money into their bank account and then picking the tickets up from the station). You can book tickets before hand, however once you've reserved, the reservation is only valid for two days where after you need to have bought your tickets at the station. It should be easy enough to set up an e-ticketing system where you can print your tickets at home, or at least to hook up with a service like Computicket, like Intercape buses do.

Well, as I said the only bad thing was the booking. We got on at joburg and left only about 15 minutes late (was it dad? - he has the time to the minute that we arrived at and left every station, I think he was still keeping tabs in his sleep ;-). As we pulled out of johannesburg we settled into our 2 person coupé, distributed the newspapers and had a bit of a read as the highveld slipped by. We ordered our bedding (for R40) and then went off for a little something to eat (after some literally ice cold beers). Cards were the order of the afternoon and as a thunder and lightning storm stormed off in the distance we played a refined game of German whist. Supper was macaroni cheese for me and a steak for dad, accompanied by a fine bottle of red (okay, it was Chateu Libertas...). After that it was a few more hands and then bed.

The night went well, despite the rain continueing, and when we went to bed Dad thought we would be in a lot later than the anticipated 12:10 (I however had a well placed hope in the men and women at SARS and Shosholoza Meyl). Sleeping on the train wasn't the deepest sleep which was perhaps that the bunks were a bit small, but after a relatively good sleep I woke up and read for a bit (unfortunatly on the top bunk so I couldn't see the scenery go by). Once dad was up we had a fry up breakfast, and went back to our cabin for a few games of battleships (all won by Dad!) and to watch the last of the Klein Karoo and the Hex River valley slide by. There were also some very long tunnels which neither of us had expected. Sooner than expected we were pulling into Cape Town with the mountain ahead and Ratanga Junction off to our right. We got into the station early, and got onto a Metro train to take me to Mowbray, and Dad to False Bay.

I walked back to Em and Al's house where I was to spend only a night before starting a two day trail with Em, Plus, Al and Dad.

Shosholoza Meyl was fantastic, and I would highly recommend a trip on the train to anybody with enough time to take a slow trip.