Tasman Peninsula - The Trees

Ok, I am not in Tasmania and these photos are from last year. I thought I should post them nw before I get back to Tasmania. I hope I get a chance to go to the Tasman Peninsula this year again.
Anyway here are some tree pictures form Tasman National Park on the Tasman Peninsula.

Modern African fabrics

Yesterday I went downtown Johannesburg to the Fashion District to buy African fabrics to make some tops and dresses to take with me to travel. Before you imagine a trendy downtown I should say that in Johannesburg the downtown which used to be the business district is now a very poor area. It is usually reported as not being a safe area, and presumably some parts of it aren't. In fact I was there once late at night because I had gotten lost and it didn't particularly feel like a place where I should be even though I was in my car. This said, nothing happened to me on that night. And yesterday I never even had a bad vibe of not being wanted there, or being threatened or watched or anything.
We had a great time and the first little store we stopped at (because I had spotted the fabrics I wanted) had a fabulous selection of great fabrics.
I want to record where we were so I can find it again later and if you find yourself in Johannesburg I honestly recommend the drive to downtown just to go to her store...that's if you are into fabrics obviously.

The small store we went to was Lovelynvilly (Lovelyn) Rossy's store, 56A Troye Street (corner of Pritchard street) (073 510 8172; 011 333 3050). She not only sales fabrics but also pre-made clothes (pret a porter, this is what it is in French) and makes dresses or any outfit you want. I just didn't have the time to sort out what I wanted with somebody new. She was very pleasant, I seriously recommend her store.

The big store we went to was Studio 109, at 109 Pritchard street, across the street from Fashion Kapitol. If you go there you should know that they have underground parking that you enter right next door to the store entrance.

We parked on a street parallel to Troye off Pritchard but 2 blocks away from Troye, I can't remember in which direction, but there was an underground parking less than a block away from Pritchard. Parking downtown can be a real challenge. Downtown is very busy and finding a parking spot on the street is not easy.

I can't show you any photos of downtown because of the zoo-effect I mentioned in a previous post. Downtown is not a zoo. I don't beleive in taking pictures of people as if they were weird specimens. To me it is just plain rude.

Here is the result of my shopping spree.

These are probably from Ghana but I am actually not sure.They are what you call "wax" prints.

These below are also wax prints but from Nigeria. The blue one to me looks very much like a Vlisco, but it isn't a Vlisco. Vlisco is a super famous, high fashion luxurious name of African fabrics actually printed in Holland. However they are especially made for Africa, particularly west Africa.

I went to Vlisco home page and it turns out that it is the green one which is exactly like a Vlisco, not this year's collection....it certainly looks like it might a copy of a Vlisco design. I know that in Mozambique a lot of the fabric worn as capulana (sarongs) there were cheap copies of designs from other designers. Typically though the copies are printed on cheap cottons. I am surprised about the one I bought because it is printed on a nice cotton fabric.

My absolutely favourite Vlisco gown for this year form those they show online is this one:

I wouldn't wear it because I like practical clothes but I think that it is stunning. I honesty don't think that it is designed to be worn, it is art.
I saw more photos in a magazine (Nubian Bride ) and there was other gowns that I really liked, like the one below......again not to wear but to admire, but after as in all high fashion practicality has nothing to do with it.
I don't know who does they photo work but it is amazing work.

Below the red one is from Ghana and the funny yellow one with the guinea fouls is from South Africa. It has no real "African" value but I like it. I think I'll keep it as a piece of fabric to use as a wrap at the beach or something like that. It is obviously folded in the picture, when unfolded it is much bigger.

Here is a better view of one of the Nigerian fabric (the one which must be a copy of af Vlisco design from a previous year) as it is drying after I washed it.

And here is the other one. This one may have to be washed separately. I am not sure why the others didn't.

I have such big pieces because these only come in 6 yards (or roughly 5.5m) length. You cannot buy them by the metre. These are the fabric used in Mozambique to make capulanas, but then they are smaller. If I am right you make 3 capulanas out of 6 yards.... At least that's what it seems like to me. A capulana exactly covers a single bed to give you a sense of how big it is.

The gardener who was in to cut the grass as both Nigerian fabrics were hanging to dry asked if I would make a dress for his wife and sale it to him. I wasn't particularly surprised because these are very "African" fabrics that people here, including myself, absolutely love. I have a couple of tops made of fabrics like this that I sometimes wore in the office and black men always commented on them and on how much they liked them.

There is another type of African fabric called shweshwe. It is a South African fabric totally different in style from any other fabric. It was originally made in Manchester and brought here but now it is only made in South Africa. It originally only came in blue (indigo obviously) but is now mostly in blue, brown or red with some rare other variations.

The real shweshwes are 100% cotton and made by Da Gama. Da Gama have several labels. 

The "Three cats" label has a closed library and the "Three Leopards" is for new designs in the shweshwe style.

As you can see below they make also print panels so you can make skirts. I want to make, or have made, a dress with the panels as skirt and the other fabric as top. To me and to anybody else who knows shweshwes it will be absolutely South African.

 Here is the "Three Cats" label. The back of the fabric has the "Three Cats" stamp if you bought an original. You can see it faintly in white in the picture above.

One thing I should add is that the prices were very reasonable, not only was there more choices than most places who carry African fabrics (and there are not that easy to find) but they were significantly cheaper.

Just to complete the "modern African fabrics" images here are two capulanas I bought in Mozambique way back then. (about 3 years ago I think)

Try this link for more African fabric photos and address of one other great store,

Chinese visa

I have my Chinese visa. I am just back from picking it up at the consulate in Johannesburg.
...... however, I only have a 30 days visa so I will have to change my plane tickets!

Apparently when it is your first time in China you can only get a 30 day visa. I knew you could only get a single-entry visa but the visa application only gave you choices for:
- Single entry valid for 3 months
- Double entry valid for 6 months
- Multiple entry valid for 6 months
- Multi-entry valid for 12  months
...... So I thought that since all I could get was the single-entry it would be for 3 months and I had planned to stay just over 30 days. But it actually meant was the 30 days have to be within 3 months of me getting the visa, so I have to be out of China by June 15th, which is 3 months from the day I dropped my passport, not even 3 months form the day the visa was issued or the day I was told to show up to pick it up!!

I think that my ticket form Beijing to Hong Kong (which I HAD to buy BEFORE applying for my visa) will be lost and I don't think that I will be able to change it. It is with China Air and the clauses on ticket changes and ticket cancellation are completely incomprehensible in English. My travel agent and myself tried to make sense of them but we couldn't.

I'll admit that it does dampened the joy of finally getting my visa.

ADDED LATER: I managed to change the date of my ticket from Beijing to Honk Kong.
Now I need to change the leg Hong Kong to Brisbane of my Round The World ticket but ultimately if I can't it is not a big deal because in Hong Kong I do not need a visa.

Recipes for one veggie with two spices

It honestly does not get easier than this.

Spinach:
Here is a new way (for me ) to make spinach. I just "invented" it to go with "creamless" chicken tikka masala.
Put cooked Spinach in a little ghee in which you've popped mustard seeds with some nigella seeds.
Honestly nigella seeds and spinach are a GREAT combo!

Pumpkin:
In frying pan put oil or ghee, add mustard seeds and let pop, add hing (same as asafetida but easier to say and spell) and then cooked diced pumpkin. If it is too dry add a little milk or a little yogurt.

Cabbage:
Put raw shredded cabbage in a frying pan in which you have tempered loads of  tumeric and ground coriander. If you want something fancier add hot peppers and/or diced tomatoes.

Graskop, snake at the curio shop

In Graskop (a small town near Sabie near where I was staying) there is a very good curio shop. In the front room it has the usual touristy stuff you can find anywhere in South Africa but in the second room it has a mixture of good African antics, decent reproductions of antics and stuff like this.

 I went to have a look just in case they had something of special interest to me. There was nothing I wanted, especially since these days I really do not buy anything I will have to carry around with me. but there was a little snake inside the store. The inside of the store was quite cool with a concrete floor so the snake was not very fast but the local shop clerk who was trying to think of a way to get it out didn't want to try to catch it. So I ask him to give me a piece of bubble wrapper and I caught it for him and the store owner, who got involved at that stage, released it outside.

It was a beautiful little thing.

Macadamia nuts

I don't know where else in the world macadamia nuts are grown but I can tell you that in the Sabie area in the North East corner of South Africa. In fact you can buy them at the market for the equivalent of about two dollars for half a kilo or there about. I did buy some but to tel you the truth I mostly ate pawpaws, mangoes and avocados which are also plentiful in that area.

In the plantations I saw the tress were kept somewhat short.

To my surprise the nuts grow in grape like fashion along long stems like features.

The nut itself as you see it on the tree has an outer layer on top of the hard round shell. Yo can see the one I hold in my hand has an outer layer which has split open and inside you can see the smooth round nut.

The leaf is quite thick a slightly "varnished", quite simple but with some slightly pointed  feature on its margine. They reminded me a bit of a cross between an oak leaf  an bay leaf and an ivy leaf.

South Africa, some photos of small town life

I am trying to make an effort to take photos of people. I realize that I mostly take photos of views, animals and plants. I often wish I took pictures showing people but generally I find it hard to do it without coming across as feeling so different, so removed from those I photograph. I always think it is a bit of a zoo-mentality.
So I don't have many pictures but here are a few. South Africans reading this will find it seriously boring, but remember some people form other art of the world do not necessarily realize what life is like here. It is always hard to remember/know what people who have never been here will be interested in.

I guess I started with "baby-steps" because the first picture actually has nobody in it, which at the market is not necessarily easy to do.

People use umbrellas as parasols and they have all kind of bright, even shiny, umbrellas.

Women carrying parcels on their head is not an oddity or something rare and picturesque it is very much the norm you see it even in Johannesburg, though obviously it is less common in town. They area amazing at it. You can see women with severe limps balancing all kind of stuff on their heads.

More traditional women (and by this I mean to make it clear that young hi women in town are not like this) often have their head covered, often with scarves, or with berets or caps.

Another thing which is the norm is baby being carried on the women's back. They usually use a bath towel to wrap the kid, I suppose it is because towels are not slippery and stay in place.

South Africa, Mac Mac - Sabie area

While waiting from various documents from my bank etc to complete my Chinese visa application and since I could do nothing but wait I took a drive to the North Eastern corner of South Africa along the Kruger for a few days..
It is a lovely area, quite mountainous and quite humid. Tourism is a major industry there because of the Kruger and the over all beauty of the area with the exposure of the Eastern Escarpment and as a result it was easy to find cheap accommodation ( a bit of a concern these days). Apart from tourism this area also grows macadamia nuts, bananas, pawpaws (papayas), avocados, narjees (mandarines). I even went to visit a coffee plantation (I'll show photos in another post).

This is where I stayed

Simple but cheap accommodation and very pleasant. I stayed in a tent for the first few nights then I moved to one of the old original house on the property. It was further away from the main part of the accommodation and was quieter which was also quite nice. (It is called Mac Mac Forest Retreat - www.macmac.co.za - +27 (0)13 764 2376)

I went for long walks in the mountains, but honestly I tried to stay as little as possible in the lower treed areas because they were full of baboons and I hate baboons.

 Higher above the tress the views are awesome.

It is the country for views. The Eastern Escarpment makes beautiful views too.

I drove among banana plantations

and went swimming at Mac Mac Pools, a magical spot. The same limestone which results in the Eastern Escarpment allows for deep pools to form along streams. Most pools were too deep for me to be able to stand in them, and the water was not cold.

Generally I had a nice mellow relaxing time.

Fish Soup with Curry Leaves and Coconut Milk

I want to remember the fish soup I made tonight, I saw a TV program where Jamie Oliver made a soup like this... I do not remember the details of what he put in it. I saw it once and didn't write anything... I am just very clear that he did not use spinach.

oil
mustard seeds (I am telling you let them pop!!!! ...and for those you do not know: put a lid on the pot)
coriander seeds
curry leaves
        Temper together

turmeric (for colour)
basmati rice
         Temper some more it can't hurt

water
fish
       Cook

spinach
    Cook some more

coconut milk
       Simmer

Lime juice
        Simmer

I recommend adding a insane amount of freshly ground black pepper to it, just individually in your own plate.
Also if it is not an evening dish and you eat it where there is a lot of light (we ate at candle light) I would add cubes of red peppers just to have some specks of red in the plate.

South African beaded wire artists

I love the animals made of beaded wires you can get in South Africa. If I didn't stop myself I would buy zillions of them. You can get them at stores, at markets or at traffic lights (called "robots" in South Africa).

There is a all variety. You can find all the African animals, plus dragons, dinosaurs, plants etc.

And they come in all kind of sizes from key chains to fairly big.

This guy always has amazing stuff, and they make them here and there on the sidewalk!!

All those guys are so gifted. They have an incredible sense of three-dimensional representation. Their work is amazing.

Both photos were taken from inside the car while I was waiting at the traffic light hence the weird washed out light.