Month: November 2015
Sandro's 'beauty' makes a stop to make a new friend

Motorcycle diaries… The second day

Category: Departing Students, EC Cape Town, EC Cape Town Students, South African culture

Tuesday 3 November 2015 The next day I went with Frikkie to the town of Napier where he dropped me off at his girlfriend’s place. Michelle is such a open and great person. She wanted to know what my plans would be if I had the motorbike; and I told her that I would like to go to the most southern point of Africa. She quickly made some plans with her friend Stacy and her 2 lovely children. At Stacy`s place I got a typical Buuren breakfast and afterwards we went together to Cape Agulhas. At least I could tick off this place from my list.   In the evening we had an amazing braai (barbecue) at Stacy’s place and because we had to wait for the battery, Michelle offered me a place to sleep at her house. I am still speechless at how nice they treated me. This hospitality is incredible!!!   Wednesday 4 November 2015 After a looong sleep I woke up at 9.30am and took a bath at Michelle’s place. Afterwards I went with the guys to a garage to pick up the new battery for my new baby. The next step was a trip to Arniston, a small fishing village at the coast. It’s a very nice place and I enjoyed the beautiful view.   I really value these people for all that they did for me, without asking for a reward. Now I am sitting in a Wimpy restaurant, using Michelle’s laptop of Michelle to write my blog. I am kind of happy that my bike is out of service because without this destiny, I would never had met these super people. Thank you again.   Tomorrow Tonight we will fix the new battery on the Honda and hopefully I can continue my travel tomorrow to Mossel … Read more

EC Cape Town is the perfect location for studying English and sightseeing

A beautiful experience

Category: EC Cape Town, EC Cape Town Students, Social Activities

After a long period of reflection we (my daughter and I) made our planned helicopter flight last Monday. Luckily it was the only sunny day for the whole week here in Cape Town.   Before we took a seat in the helicopter, the pilot informed us that there were more than 30 whales swimming in front of Camps Bay. What a nice surprise! We had been in Hermanus to see the whales and didn’t see one! Our pilot, Steve, is an experienced man and it was a smooth flight. Looking down onto the skyline of Cape Town, seeing the harbour from above, flying over Table Mountain and admiring the white beaches were wonderful moments.   But the ultimate highlight was gazing at the more than 30 whales swimming slowly in the ocean. Our pilot made a few low circles above this group so we could observe them properly. It was a fantastic experience! However, because of the spectacular flight moves, I felt a little bit sick. The rest of the trip was flawless! I was lucky to have ground under my feet after the perfect landing! Thomas and his daughter Lea are currently studying at EC language school in Cape Town and have been using their time to study and go sightseeing as the city offers so much for any tourist.

The journey begins

Motorcycle diaries – the journey begins

Category: Departing Students, EC Cape Town, EC Cape Town Students, South African culture

Finally I started my trip with my beauty! But before I could leave Cape Town I had to say goodbye to my friends from all over the world, so I offered them 30 liters of beer at the beerhouse! Afterwards we went to the club but my highlight was definitely the cigarette on the top of Signal Hill at 5 o’clock in the morning with my good friend anonymous. The police did a body check as well because they thought we are up there to take drugs. All in all, it was an interesting evening.  The cigarette completed the circle of my stay in Cape Town. Unfortunately, the weather was really bad on Sunday so I had to wait till Monday to start.     Monday, 2 November 2015 After my last lunch at Food Lover’s Market and definitely ready to say goodbye, I jumped on my bike with my huge backpack and drove away. The first thing I realized after a couple of kilometres was that I wanted to say something to the students in Cape Town – you have to see beyond the city. Yes, Cape Town is beautiful and yes Lion’s Head, Table Mountain and the sea are wonderful but please, please go to the countryside – you don’t know what you`re missing.     I saw wheat fields bigger than I could imagine, flocks of sheep with thousands of animals and from time to time a huge farmhouse with big machines,farmers and farm workers on the fields. All of this is 2 hours away from Cape Town It was breath-taking. I drove and drove and drove; with the music and GPS in my headphones and I felt free as the boy I was in my childhood. The first stage of my trip should have been Cape Agulhas, the … Read more

Poor 'beauty' had to have some serious work to look as she did before

Motorcycle diaries… 99 problems

Category: Departing Students, EC Cape Town Students, South African culture

How is this possible? 8 weeks have passed in this enchanting city and in a couple of days I finally start my motorbike travel. I bought my lovely motorbike and she is a real beauty. In fact, I have no knowledge of motorbikes and stuff. Actually I am not even able to fix anything and this is pretty embarrassing for a farmer’s son. Nevertheless I will test my luck.   In the last 5 weeks my beauty already caused some unpleasant situations. Like, on the same day I bought my motorbike I was excited like a child on Christmas! I drove from Kensington (which is like 25 minutes away from the city center and where i bought my bike) direct to the Table Mountain. At the end off the road I turned around and suddenly I realized that I had no more air in my back wheel. In Switzerland my grandfather always tells me: “Wer liebt, der schiebt” which means “who is loving is pushing.” So I pushed my beauty for more or less 45 minutes to the next petrol station to put air in the wheel but at the end there was no way to fix this. So on the first day I had to bring my sweetheart back to the garage.     After I changed the wheel there were some other smaller issues during my stay in Cape Town, like no lights, no blinkers or a clattering seat. But one night my beauty and a friend (let’s call him anonymous) wanted to ride to Signal Hill.If you are wondering why anonymous wanted to go up there, especially with the knowledge that it was around 3 o’clock in the morning and without any driving experience, it was just to smoke a cigarette and enjoy the view.     The … Read more