South Africa: Johannesburg for a Day and on to Kimberley
Posted on Thursday, September 27, 2012 by Rob
By Rob Meronek
I can't believe all the things we've done in the last 40 or so hours. After landing in Johannesburg following 30+ hours of traveling, we've had an adventure that has included gambling, drinking, skating, wildlife, and friends from around the world. Here's a camera dump so far...
I can't believe all the things we've done in the last 40 or so hours. After landing in Johannesburg following 30+ hours of traveling, we've had an adventure that has included gambling, drinking, skating, wildlife, and friends from around the world. Here's a camera dump so far...
I'm not even sure how many were in this initial stop, but the bag pile needs a whole separate cab on its own.
We got a nice, cheap hotel a mile from the Johannesburg airport with a shuttle and great service that accomodated the few extra friends we met up with along the way.
If you're ever on Johannesburg layover, this hotel is $103 a night for this room with a free shuttle from the airport. It's the One World Hotel.
The gate and security guard hut at the One World Hotel makes you feel like it's a sketchy neighborhood.
We asked for a cab "downtown" and the driver said he wouldn't take us there. Afer we asked if it was because our gear would get stolen, he replied, "Because YOU might get stolen." Okay, so he brought us to the tourist spot. This Emperor's Palace place was basically America without fat people.
Since we're in America, we just went ahead and went to Hooters. Hooters? Yep, nearly 30 hours of traveling half way around the world and fresh off the plane we go to Hooters.
I have no patience when playing these numbers games, so I push it all in. At least I got a photo before I lost this stack.
We had time for a quick tourist mission around Johannesburg before heading to the airport. We're going to where kids go on field trips and get fancy book learning.
We're at the site where a student protest planted the seeds of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
These kids were blown away by Porpe's jeans, beaming hard and taking cell phone photos of them. They were the Omar X Levi's Nike SB's.
Watch for an episode of SPoT Life from here in the Motherland soon. The Contest weekend will also be shown in theaters on October 2. We get home on that day and we're going straight to the big screen.
Last year we didn't have time to go to this place outside of town to play with baby lions, but this year we made it a point to make time for it. These guys are six months old and already very powerful and playful at the same time.
Down the road behind electric fences, we get to meet mom and pops. We saw them get naughty, then fight with other lions. Wow, okay, it's time to get to work at the Contest now.
A small sample of skater girls half way around the world from where you live. It's nice to see worldwide how skating injects a bit of style and makes you just a bit different from the normal cut, even these days of it being blown out mainstream.
Danilo! It's been a while since we've hung out. Years ago at Tampa Am he spoke only English from the McDonald's menu.
What a day it's been in Kimberley already. Airplanes, lions, homies, and now out at night to hit up some spots we saw while coming to the hotel today. Here's Porpe imagining his snap over this rough bump.
When Jorge does a boneless, it's not looking too natural, kind of like when your dad tries to switch flip.
HiDefJoe put down the camera again, this time to kickflip the waffle bump. Porpe picked up the camera and shot this one.
We were lucky enough to have the Maloof driver, Happy, all to ourselves tonight. He took us to the skate spots, waited while we skated, and then took us on an amazing mission to find beer late night. Pat's protecting the stash.
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