Tourist and the Traveller

It’s been a week. So... Rewind...
Stop...
PLAY...

It was a plan that I made 2 weeks ahead. I wanted to make use of the long weekend during Easter to look around Cape Town. But then I wanted to do the long awaited Bungee jumping too. And being just about 700-800km from the world's highest commercial bungee jumping spot, doesn’t happen every time of my ‘traveling career' :) . So I decided I would crash it in for the famous Garden Route of the Western Cape. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs (I guess...), the state of public transport is worse than pathetic. So the only option left was to hire out a car. But hiring out a car means driving it. And I had no driving license. So I was desperately looking out for company. Even otherwise, traveling alone somehow doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea. I don’t seem to enjoy it too much. And of course, then who would take my snaps? :D Hah hah ha .. Jus kiddin... as I was saying... I was desperately looking out for company. And then I met Ab on Orkut. Scrapped him couple of times, and we were set for the trip. We were all set for the four day trip, of course the highlight being the Bungee jump, followed by the so-called scenic route drive.

Day 1- We started on Good Friday and head out to Knysna. The drive was pretty good, leaving apart the foggy sky which often blocked the view. Knysna is a strange town(geographically. It has an inlet of sea water, almost looking like a lake. The inlet of the water would not be more than 50-60m. And both the sides of the inlet are covered by tall peaks and think forest. But the town as such would not be bigger than Adyar and Tiruvanmiyur put together. In fact, smaller... We managed to find accommodation after few hardships as it was a holiday weekend. We went to the Knysna heads spent some time there and were back to the B&B.
Day 2 undoubtedly was the big day. It was the bungee day. We reached Bloukrans Bridge in about 2 hours. And it all looked pretty fine from far away. A splendid bridge constructed in a span of 3 years which ended in 1983. The bridge is known to be the longest single span bridge in Africa(If it makes any sense...). Paid about 580 Rands for the jump. (ZAR 580 = Rs. 3480 = $ 80). Yeah.. It was a bit costly, but I had convinced myself that it was worth it. A jump 216m and 6 seconds of free fall is not something normal people could experience, even if they ever convinced themselves to do so. Am not going to lie. It was scary when you look below. The sight is really scary. And when you are strapped on and standing on the edge of the bridge ready to fall... man.. that’s the toughest moment. Advice: Don’t look down... Just look ahead and 5...4...3...2...1.. Bungee.... 6 seconds of free fall and you don’t know what the hell is happening. It takes at least 3 seconds to comprehend that you are falling, and by the time you start enjoying it, u feel a strong jolt or rather a pull that the cord puts on you. No... it does not hurt in your legs, as long as you are strapped in well. Phew... it was an achievement(at least for me it was..) The upside down view of the sea between the hills was awesome. came back to normal ground, checked out the video of my jump. It was not a great bungee jump, but anyway it was a jump none the less. Checked out this place called Monkey Land on our way back. The place is good, but not worth the admission fee.Then we rushed back to the city of George. The only complain I had, was that we were rushing through and that is why this blog is called "tourist and traveler". Ab was a tourist, whereas I would like to call myself a Traveler. I like to settle down in the environment around me. The tourist likes to visit places and do things. Believe it or not.. there’s lot of difference. Keeping behind the differences we 'saw' a lot of places.

Day 3 was for the Cango caves. It was good. But it failed to amuse me. And most of the time was spent in the tiring travel and traffic jams.

Day 4 Cape Point. The place is not bad if you have the day for yourself and enjoy relaxing rather than rushing. The beach near Diars Cross is nothing less than splendid. It’s the most beautiful beach I have seen till date. The white sand and the clean shores were awestrucking. Shame... could stay there too long. Had to get back.
And that’s how the long weekend went on. I would rate it a 6. of which 4 points go to the bungee jump. None the less... Its a weekend am gonna remember for a long time to come, in fact forever. :)