Our trip to Paris Part 1

Good friends,

Yes! not even I could resist the consistent pleas for us to go to Paris. For the life of me, I could not see the attraction but persons and forces greater than me were at work.

We, the good wife and I, applied for and received Schengen visas valid for 3 years at the French consulate in Cape Town. So it was that in late 2013, we jumped on a plane to Paris via Dubai and landed at CDG International early in the next morning. We had bought a Paris Pass, also at the urging of these irresistible forces, but had to pick it up at a store in the city. Having been to Paris on business trips before, I was au fait with Metro but the Good Wife was not!! This little difference caused me untold misery as I practically had to drag the lady from Gare du Nord to a small station somewhere in Paris.

The problem was that we had a train to catch from Gare du Nord to Belgium a few hours hence and the good wife was worried that we would not be back in time. Her experience with trains is South African based. So, after lugging luggage and a reticent lady through the Paris Metro, successfully and timeously retrieving our Paris Passes, we eventually made it back to Gare du Nord. We were successful but not outwardly happy and, when my good wife were hard done by at a Paris roadside restaurant, she was less enamoured with the city of love and she looked like table mountain with its winter cloth fully in place. This photo which, in my innocence, I sent back to the family via social media, made her state of discomfort very clear. Had I but the forbearance to sent the next pic first.

Not happy at Gare du Nord

Happier at Gare du Nord

My careless choice of pic unlocked a veritable storm of enquiries from back home. Most centred on questioning what I did to their mom or sister!!! The hunchback of Notre Dame have not felt as insulted as I did at the time! But the fault was mine for a careless moment in choosing a pic to send back home! So I fell on my wellworn old sabre!!! Yep, had to get a sabre once the foil became pointless (pun intended)!!

The Thalys trip to Brussels was quicker than we both expected and we were happy I made the choice to go by train (less hassle than airports). Some Brownie points had accumulated by the time the train stopped in Brussels. It was easy to find the platform for our next train to Ghent, the place where the late Charmaine, youngest sister of my good wife, was buried. See, it was not all fun and games! Some familial issues came into play.

We had decided early on that the trip had to include a visit to Charmaine's grave hence the Belgium detour. I arranged that we go to gravesite first and then go back to Paris. The convoluted travel itinerary was necessitated by a limited amount of funds measures against comfort. An alternative route would have been to fly into Schiphol and to take trains to Ghent and Paris but this route presented too many unknowns that I was unwilling to confront!! See, I was familiar with Dubai and Paris.

We arrived in Ghent early evening and made our way to our hotel near the Sint Pieters Station in a slight drizzle. We overnighted well and had a good breakfast the next morning. With our bellies well-sorted, we had to make our way to the gravesite, which the good wife, having been there twice before, had no idea of location. Luckily she possessed functional telephone numbers of the late Charmaine's in-laws. Oom (Flemish is spoken there so it translates to "Uncle") Daniel and his wife Auntie Annie, was surprised and angry to hear from us. Surprised to hear we were in Ghent and angry because we did not call on them for accommodation. I am unfortunately the independent type in this regard and when I can afford it, so I re-acquainted myself with my sabre.

Evy paying homage at Charmaine's grave

Our Belgium family was gracious enough to forgive my pride and spoilt us with local Belgium cuisine which include Frite (Belgium's French Fries or Freedom Fries if you are American). Here we are having a frite with meat stew meal at a Ghent restaurant, paid for by Omm Daniel and Auntie Annie. Beyond lekker!

FLTR: Oom Daniel, Aunty Annie and Evy (watching my food while I'm taking pic).

One thing is certain: The station buildings in Europe are well-preserved and contain beautiful wall and ceiling paintings.

This pic was taken at St Pieters station in Ghent and is remisniscent of stations in other European towns and cities.

Some of artwork on ceiling at Sint Pieters Station

The best metro artwork I've seen however, was on the Moscow underground!

We enjoyed our time in Ghent, thanks largely to our Belgium family's efforts and then, the next day, we were on our way back to the city of love.

This I will tell about in Part 2, DV.

Keep well.

To Islamabad, Pakistan (پاکستان) for a conference

Hi everyone,

Yes, I visited Islamabad, Pakistan. Soon after the successful launch and in-orbit activation of the South African satellite, #Sumbandilasat, I was invited as a speaker to a small satellite conference at the Institute of Space Technology situated in Islamabad/Karachi.

Islamabad view from Margalla Hills

Once there I was exposed to the general nature of Pakistani people which I found very much the same as most others in the developing world i.e. interested technology development, focused on national developmental needs, generally honest, progressively oriented and feeling under threat from powerful nations (one neighbouring country in particular), hence community oriented.

I learnt of the important role the military played specifically in the Islamabad society. And how integrated communities seemed to be, practically everyone knowing everyone else's history.

As an aside, I was therefore very surprised at the 'discovery' of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad as reported in our press. In terms of the reference framework I picked up in Pakistan, even the Pakistani military could not hide a man as notorious as #OBL in the type of closeknit communities that existed in that part of Pakistan!

Islamabad is separated from Rawalpindi (or "Pindi" as the locals refer to it) by a single street and is seen as a dormitory city since nearly everyone, apart from shopkeepers and hoteliers, works in Islamabad. Although neither Jahangir (Karachi) nor Jansher(Peshawar) or Hashim Khan (near Peshawar) were born in Rawalpindi, the city acknowledged Jahangir by naming a street after him. The father of the Pakistani nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, as well as the famous Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan, is reported to have houses on the banks of Lake Rawal, the main drinking water source for Islamabad and Pindi.

The other word commonly used during my time in Islamabad was "achar". Apparently. it means anything from "yes" to "all is well".

While in Islamabad, I had the privilege to spend time on a boat on Lake Rawal and was shown an impressive housing structure on its banks. Here is one my images of the lake ...

I enjoyed my time in Pakistan ... I felt safe and cared for even though we were accompanied by an armed guard  wherever we went. The conference was a success and I returned to South Africa after one week as I came, via #Dubai.

DubaiSat model at the ground station 

Dubai from Burj al Arab

I visited the Dubaisat satellite ground station, met with some Saudi representatives at the Burj al-Arab (built by South African company Murray and Roberts) and the South African embassador in Abu Dhabi while in the UAE. I then made my way back to Cape Town with an Emirates flight.
The funny part of my journey from Dubai to Cape Town was that, having spent a tiring week-plus away from home I, needed to rest on my flight back. I was booked in economy or 'cattle' class and and very carefully chose on of the bulkhead seats where I stretch my legs to my heart's content. At check-in, I carefully checked to see that my internet assigned seat was reflected on my boarding pass and it was! So far so good.

The next checkpoint was at the boarding gate and I was ready for a good verbal fight if anyone dared mess with my seating choice. At the boarding gate my heart sunk as the stewardess typed in my boarding pass and paused! She then excused herself to chaek something with a colleague while I was working up a good steam! I thought that this young lady did not know what she was in for if she returned with a different seat indeed. All my pent-up steam begged for release when she said: "I'm sorry ....." the rest of her words disappeared in a fog of steam and I was on the point of letting rip when I asked her to repeat her last words, which were: "I hope you do not mind but we had to move you to Business Class." I felt completely deflated and meekly thanked her.

Now in all my international travels (about 15 return flights) up to that point, I had never flown Business Class before because our company could never afford the expense. I was flabbergasted at my good fortune and hoped I would not make a fool of myself during the flight!!

Competition Eye Candy at Dubai International

 I was lucky enough to be seated next to a very fidgety gentleman, who tried every button and knob on his seat. This helped the monkey-see-monkey-do part of me in no small measure and I soon had the hang of the fully extendable seat.

While I was lounging in my business class seat, my former boss came to visit me from his economy class seat and remarked: "So this is how the other half lives!".

Suffice to say, my flight went by like a dream! ACHAR!! Or shall I say in a dream, since I woke up as we were about to land at OR Tanbo International. In those days the Cape Town bound flight to and from Dubai landed in Johannesburg before venturing further. The current route is non-stop and Emirates fly three different flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg directly to Dubai for most days of the week. Durban only has one such flight per week.