South Africa trip

We had our annual medical conference in Johannesburg this year. Not such an interesting place, and there is a lot of crime, so we were pretty restricted with what we could do. But, it was wonderful as always to see my colleagues and catch up with people, hear about other posts and spend 5 intense days learning. it was a really good conference this year - we recertified in BLS, ACLS and CALS (medical stuff). Lots of hands on practice.

The highlight of our stay in Sandton (a suburb of Johannesburg) was a shopping mall (barf!!). But the food was good with many different restaurants and the weather was perfect.

The mall was part of Mandela Square. Gave me goose bumps on a number of occasions to be in the land of Nelson Mandela.

The highlight of the trip so far south was a few days in Capetown with some friends. What a gorgeous place. Reminded me a bit of SoCal - oceanside walkway, cafes and restaurants, lots of people exercising. loved it!

The view North, just outside our hotel. Lion's head mountain. We stayed along the waterfront at Bantry bay.

The waterfront...just a block from our hotel.

Old town with a fortress in the foreground.

Hiking to the top of table mountain. Yes, we climbed to the top through this gulley. It was a strenuous hike, but beautiful.

Almost to the top (pant, pant).

Made it. Here I stand at the edge of the continent where 2 oceans meet.

Evening on the main beach.

Statues of the 4 nobel laureates (all peace prizes...) from SA. This was in a really great part of town called the V&A Waterfront. It had shops, great restaurants, pubs, etc. Nothing was that expensive, which was unexpected being in such a beautiful and touristy place.

One thing I didn't get photos of was our bicycling wine tour in Stellenbosch. Of course trying to take photos while biking and drinking wine just didn't seem like such a great idea. but suffice to say, we had fun!

More to come soon. on my way home to Bishkek from South Africa, i stopped for 24 hours in Antalya, Turkey where a friend of mine was staying. too many photos for one post, so i will add them separately.