Cape Town's Bo-Kaap and Cape Malays/Muslims, and South Africa's "Coloureds"

One of the exhibit spaces in Cape Town's Bo-Kaap Museum

 

Colorful buildings abound in the Bo-Kaap section of Cape Town

 

Part of a mural in Bo-Kaap which pays tribute to the area residents, 

and their historical and cultural heritage 

 

On my first full day in South Africa, I caught sight of the colorful section of Cape Town known as Bo-Kaap while being driven through the city.  But it wasn't until my final full day in the country that I went for a walk in that area -- and other parts of town -- with my South African friend.

 

Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, this former township is most strongly associated with the South African people who have been variously known over the years as Cape Malays or Cape Muslims.  Tracing their ancestry to the indigeneous populace of maritime Southeast Asia (particularly the parts colonized by the Dutch East India Company that are now known as the independent country of Indonesia) who were brought to this part of the world as political prisoners or slaves, they also are the product of inter-"racial" marriages with such as native Africans. 

 

In addition to strolling along the streets and admiring the colorful houses and commercial buildings (one of which looked like it was a tribute both to Piet Mondrian as well as traditional Bo-Kaap design culture), we also spent time in the Bo-Kaap Museum housed in the 18th century building that is the oldest house in the area that's still in its original form.  Although it's one of the smallest museums that I've ever been to, I consider it worth visiting because it's chockful of information, including on who built Cape Town, and I thought the videos shown in a space made up to look and feel like someone's living room (complete with sofas to sit on), are very much worth watching.

 

Something that really struck me when watching those videos were how some of the Bo-Kaap residents interviewed really looked to me like Malaysian and Indonesian Malays.  In particular, a pair of elderly twin brothers -- both of them retired headmasters! -- reminded me so much of a middle-aged Malay friend of mine who I look forward to meeting up with whenever I return to Penang (and who, as it so happens, is the son of a headmaster)!  Linguistic connections also abounded for me, with this Malay speaker being able to comprehend that a respected area resident's "Tuan Guru" title meants "Head Teacher" and finding it fascinating that the Bo-Kaap's Muslim Cemetery is called Tana Baru (very similar to the Malay "Tanah Baru", which means New Ground").

 

More than incidentally, the Cape Malays/Muslims are part of the section of the population known in South Africa as "Coloureds" (to this day).  And until I started researching in earnest ahead of this recent South Africa visit, I hadn't realized that the "Coloureds" are the largest ethnic/"racial" group in Cape Town -- making up 44.6 percent of the population of the "Mother City" to "Whites"'s 32.3 percent and Black Africans' 15.8 percent. 

On the subject of "Coloured" South Africans: while he's not a Cape Malay/Muslim/Coloured, the popular comedian-political commentator, Trevor Noah, is considered a "Coloured" in his home country (but "black" in the United States of America, where he now hosts The Daily Show with Trevor Noah).  And as it so happens, I picked up a copy of his autobiographical Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood at a bookstore before I left the country and that immensely enthralling tome was the first book I read (from cover to cover in less than a week too!) upon returning to Hong Kong... :b

Expect the unexpected when it comes to Table Mountain

View of the well-named Table Mountain from

the ferry to Robben Island

 

Cape Town's iconic natural landmark looks quite a bit more

rugged and formidable when viewed up close

 

View of the city and ocean from one-third-ways up the mountain

It really could have been worse.  Prior to my visit to South Africa last month, going up Table Mountain was highest on my "want to do" list along with visiting Robben Island.  But although the South African friend who had invited me to visit his country had made sure that our tickets for those two top Cape Town attractions had been bought before I even set foot in Africa again after an absence of more than 20 years, conspired against my getting to go up that 1,085-meter-high flat-topped mountain -- and not once but twice, in fact!

The first day that I was due to head up Table Mountain -- on its aerial cableway, rather than what would have been a pretty time-consuming as well as demanding hike -- it turned so windy that the cable car ride had to be closed (despite supposedly being equipped to deal with pretty windy conditions)!  Since this was early on in my South Africa trip, I didn't feel too down as I figured I'd have another chance to go up the mountain.  But the next time I tried to ride that aerial cableway again, the winds were blowing even harder: with their strength being reported as being near gale-force and causing even long-time Capetonians to think that it all was actually quite a big deal.        

 

Seeing that I was feeling pretty downcast (since the second time that I tried to go up Table Mountain was on my last full day in South Africa), my South African friend and his mother (who also has become my friend) decided that, as consolation, they'd drive me up as far as the Lower Cable Station that's already over 300 meters above sea level.  Upon getting up there that morning, we found the conditions to be so windy that my friend and his mother felt obliged to hold on to each other while walking along the path from the car parking area to the Lower Cable Station, I actually felt a real need to hold on to a rope stretched out along part of the path, for fear of being blown away, and all of us reported the windy conditions to have caused our eyes to water!

 

As I told them once we were safely back in the car, at least now I could say that I had been on Table Mountain, even if I couldn't truthfully say that I had been on the top of it.  And we laughed at our struggles to walk even just a few meters in the near gale-force conditions that were windier than any I've encountered in Hong Kong (even when a direct hit by a typhoon has been recorded!) and my story of how, when trying to take a photo of a fynbos plant near the edge of a cliff, I felt that I was in grave danger of being blown off the mountain.

 

But that joke doesn't seem so funny now in the wake of the news that this past Monday, a Hong Kong woman and her local guide fell off the mountain and died in a climbing accident that also left the third member of the climbing party -- a second Hong Kong woman -- injured.  Something worth pondering amidst all this is the revelation that, for all of its being a good deal shorter, Table Mountain can be deadlier than Mount Everest; with some of the deaths being the result of people taking selfies in the wrong place rather than the more expected hiking or climbing accidents.

 

On several occasions now, I've seen people doing such as ignoring "do not enter" to go perilously close to the edge of cliffs and such in order to take photos -- and it is true that the majority of these photos are "selfies".  I also get to wondering why those people are so reckless.  And for the record: when I felt myself having problems fighting against the wind while trying to snap a photo of the fynbos plant, I did abandon my attempts to do so.  For while I do love taking photos (and did think that fynbos plant was really eye-catching), I really do prefer to err in favor of safety, believing that other opportunities will present themselves that are pretty good even if not exactly the same as the one you choose to forego for another day!  

Drinking fine South African craft beers and drinking in scenic South African landscapes! (Photo-essay)

I won't lie: Among the things I looked forward to doing in South Africa ahead of my visit there was my drinking some more Castle Milk Stout, a very palatable beer brewed by South Africa's largest brewing company, whose parent company -- horror of horrors -- also oversees the brewing of the world's worst beer.  However, the beer geek mother of the South African friend whose Master's Degree ceremony I attended one super hot day at Stellenbosch University decided that, while I was in her part of the world, I should also sample a few South African craft beers.  So not only did she drive me (and her sons) over to the Stellenbosch Brewing Company for some brewskis after the degree ceremony but I was told that she had planned a craft brewery tour the next day!    

In all honesty, I'd have been pretty happy with a beer equivalent of the wine tours I had been accorded on two previous days.  As it turned out though, what I also got was a tour through some incredibly scenic sections of the Western Cape that included a drive along Sir Lowry's Pass, a mountain pass that goes up and over the barrier-like Hottentots Holland Mountains, and Clarence Drive, a coastal road whose beauty I actually think exceeds even that of the more famous Chapman's Peak Drive!  All told, it was a pretty epic day; one that I won't forget for a long time! :)

Riding shotgun in a car barrelling along the highway, with the 

Hottentot Holland Mountains and Sir Lowry's Pass straight ahead

 

Lots of interesting geology along with blue skies 

to admire while driving along on Sir Lowry's Pass :)

 

Mark and Analize ter Morshuizen smile from behind the bar at

Honingklip Brewery, their Belgian beer-inspired establishment 

 

 Puppet Ponyo and her old friend, South African Teddy, pose

with the glass of delicious IPA I imbibed at Honingklip Brewery :)

 

I had to get out to take a picture upon catching sight of the 

clouds looking like they were cascading down the mountain...

 

  ...and I had to get out of the car again to snap photos and take 

a closer look at the geology and fynbos on the seaside side of the road!

 

Truly, there were stunning views aplenty along Clarence Drive!

 

And just when I thought we had run out of surprises, we drove 

into a questionable-looking area that turned out to be where 

the exceptional Triggerfish Brewing microbrewery is located! :b

Hiking and whimsy on New Year's Day 2018 ;)

The things one see while out hiking in Hong Kong...!

 

The sign for "Fire Fighting Water Tanks" that can so easily be 

misread as "Fire Water" + "Fighting Tanks" amused me too! ;b

 

And yes, we're deep into winter in Hong Kong but Mother Nature

seems to like making it appear like autumn still!

On New Year's Day last year, I revealed that one of the goals I'd set myself was to walk at least 10,000 steps each day.  While I ended up not hitting this mark every day in 2017 (with typhoon and severe storm days being among those days in what actually was an unusually wet year where I spent much of a 24 hour cycle at home), I was happy with my doing so far more often than not -- and even having days when my pedometer told me that I had walked more than 20,000 steps in a single day.

 

And 2018 has gone off to a good start as far as that resolution's concerned since, thanks in large part to my having gone on a hike this afternoon that took me from Shing Mun Reservoir to near Yuen Tun Ha (over in Tai Po District), my pedometer registered close to 21,000 steps by the time I got back to my apartment this evening!  

 

For the record: the trail I opted for today is one I'd previously been on a couple of times but not recently -- with the result that much of the scenery seemed interesting even while certain landmarks along the way didn't seem unfamiliar.  Something else I also found interesting was how certain sections of the route got me thinking back to particular events or things seen when I previously passed through or along them.

As an example, early on in the hike, my group tramped through an area where monkey spottings are common and both one of the friends I was with and myself got to recalling the time we had seen a monkey steal an ice cream from a (human) child and I also told of the time I had seen a monkey and a woman involved in a tug-of-war over a piece of barbecued chicken!  And near Lead Mine Pass, I recounted to my two hiking companions this afternoon my having spotted a snake in the vicinity on a previous hike!  

After today, I wonder whether a certain stretch of today's trail will be forever associated in my mind with the sighting of a woman carrying a very large teddy bear on her shoulders that we made this afternoon!  Perhaps my having previously sighted such as Cosplayers, couples in formal wedding dress and even pseudo-models dressed as mermaids should have prepared me for this particular vision.  But the truth of the matter is that my brain told me initially that the woman was carrying a child rather than the giant stuffed toy that turned out to be the case!

 

And on the subject of one's brain initially getting fooled into seeing something unintended: Every time I pass the sign for "fire fighting water trucks" along the way to Leadmine Pass from Shing Mun Reservoir, I have to admit that my first reaction has been to read it as "fire water" on one side and "fighting trucks" on the other!  And yes, that doesn't make logical sense -- but, heck, it's also true enough that one does come across many pretty logic-defying sights while out hiking in Hong Kong! ;b

Stellenbosch University graduation ceremony thoughts

At a Stellenbosch University graduation ceremony

 

Masters degree awardees waiting their turn on the staircase

 

On the fifth day of my visit to South Africa earlier this month, I spent several hours on the hottest day of my vacation (with temperatures rising up to 38 degrees Celsius) in a hot hall within Stellenbosch University that's normally used for sporting events such as basketball games but, on the day, was serving as the venue for the institution of higher learning's graduation ceremony.  Along with several hundred family members and friends of various degree and diploma recipients, I was at the kind of event that, upon leaving the groves of academe early this century, I had thought I'd not be witnessing again -- and definitely never thought that I'd be attending in South Africa, on the campus of an erstwhile bastion of Afrikaner culture and the Afrikaans language.

 

The joint oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Saharan Africa (with the University of Cape Town), Stellenbosch University was founded in 1866 as the Stellenbosch Gymnasium and went on to attain university status in 1918.  For a good part of its history, its primary medium of instruction was Afrikaans, and its student population and faculty composed only of people classified as "white" under South African Apartheid law.   

 

And although Apartheid had been abolished by the time the Afrikaner friend I was there to see get his Master's Degree was a Stellenbosch University undergraduate, I still was able on this trip to get a good idea of what he meant when he told me that for much of the time that he has lived in South Africa, he's not been spending much time with non-white people: not because he went out of his way to avoid doing so but because there really weren't that many non-white people around where he lived, studied and worked.  Put another way: much of the country remains segregated -- along economic lines that also often still mirror old "racial" ones.

 

At the graduation ceremony I attended at Stellenbosch, it was pretty noticeable that the majority of the people -- be they graduating students, their family members and friends, and the university faculty -- present in that hall were "white".  In addition, a glance at the names of the honorees also clearly revealed that there were more Afrikaners in the mix than, say, those of British descent or those who are more recognizably African in the eyes of many people.

 

Equally though, it was noticeable to me that Stellenbosch University had moved pretty far away from its "cradle of Apartheid" past.  Just two years after student protesters won the right to be taught in English at the university, English featured more prominently than Afrikaans in the speeches given at the graduation ceremony I attended, its program featured the use of all three official languages of the Western Cape: i.e., English and isiXhosa as well as Afrikaans, and I heard everyone around me singing -- with gusto -- the super beautiful and touching South African national anthem whose first two lines are in isiXhosa before continuing in Zulu, Sesotho and Afrikaans before concluding in English.

 

Beyond the multi-lingualism at the ceremony, I also found it really cool that the university's Rector and Vice-Chancellor, a man with the distinctly Afrikaner surname of de Villiers, not only (largely) spoke to the assembled audience in a language that wasn't his native tongue but also gave a speech that did such as reference and include a quote from a book by "British Nobel-prize-winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro".  In addition, I must admit to having been  rather surprised to see people of East Asian descent being among the degree recipients along with various individuals who are identifiably part of  "the Rainbow Nation", all of whom uniformly looked radiantly happy when accorded their moments of glory in front of a good-sized crowd of proud mamas, papas and the like! ;b

Fish and chips at -- and a sea lion spotting near -- Kalky's! :)

The one seafood meal I had while in South Africa!

 

Kalky's location is pretty hard to beat!

 

The sea lion that hangs out near the restaurant ;b

  

"South Africa is not famous for its food," my South African friend warned me prior to my heading over to his home country earlier this month.  But after issuing this caveat, he went on to tell me there are some foods and places that I should try during my visit; with the fish and chips at Kalky's over in the Kalk Bay suburb of Cape Town being at the top of his list.

 

A casual dining spot located right next to Kalk Bay's working harbor, Kalky's feels wonderfully unpretentious and, also, uncommonly for Cape Town, multi-ethnic as well as multi-generational in terms of its clientele.  When my friend and I were there for lunch, our fellow diners included an elderly white couple at one table and a "Coloured" family with young kids at another -- and I got the distinct impression that everyone one of them were regular patrons of this dining establishment.

 

Although he had gone on quite a bit about Kalky's fish and chips, my friend ended up ordering fried calamari to go with his chips when we were there even while making sure that I got the classic fried fish and chips!  To be fair though, he did allow me to try some of his portion of what turned out to be some really delicious calamari.  Also, the hake that I ordered -- with my other option being the more exotic and oilier snoek -- actually was pretty outstanding and may, in fact, have been the freshest fish I've had as part of a fish and chips dish ever! 

 

In addition, as strange as it may sound, my favorite part of a fish and chips dish often is the chips rather than the fish.  And so good were the chips at Kalky's -- especially after having copious amounts of malt vinegar and also the sweet chili sauce that I've come to associate with South Africa even while reminding me of Thai sweet chili sauce slathered over them -- that I really would have been happy to have had a chip butty for lunch there!  

 

While the food at Kalky's did leave me pretty happy, I felt at the end of our lunch that something was missing.  The thing is that when he first told me about this iconic dining establishment, my friend had mentioned that sea lion spottings were pretty much part and parcel of the Kalky's experience.  But I didn't see any of this creatures in the area... until we went for a walk around the harbor after lunch and lo and behold, we saw an actual sea lion swimming in the water before coming ashore just a few meters from the restaurant! ;D

Christmas in Hong Kong, with parachuting Santas in particular vogue this year ;b

Parachuting Santas look to have been the "in" thing 

this Christmas season in Hong Kong!

 

Rest assured though that there's quite the variety available

as far as Chrismas decorations go... ;b

 

It should be noted though that the seasonal decorations do 

focus more on snow than noticeably Christian motifs ;D

 

This time last year, I played host to two cousins -- one visiting from Singapore; the other from Australia -- and friends of one of them.  When they told me about their plans to come over to Hong Kong, I was actually rather surprised; this not least since this time of the year is when flights to (and out of) the Big Lychee and hotel accomodation here is at their most expensive.

 

Also, despite the city regularly seeing a big outflow of expats home for the holidays and also locals off on holiday in some other part of the world, there's a big enough inflow of visitors to make it so that tables at the more famous and popular restaurants can be hard to come by.  Consequently, I considered it quite the achievement last year to secure us reservations over the holiday period at eateries such as Mott 32 and The Chairman (the latter of whom's signature crab dish I still find myself thinking about fondly and pining for from time to time).

 

The thing that I found the most hilarious -- and also greeted with some incredulity -- was that my Melbourne-based cousin had told me that one major reason why he had thought it'd be great to visit Hong Kong this time of the year was so that he could see the Christmas lights.  For one thing, Hong Kong has light shows all year round.  Then there's the fact that the Christmas decorations are installed whole weeks before Christmas in this part of the world.  Indeed, this year, I actually caught sight of them as early as the week after Halloween!

 

When one considers that there aren't that many Christians in Hong Kong (with the Catholic congregation estimated at 379,000 and the Protestant population at 480,000 in a territory of some 7.3  million people), it's actually pretty amazing how ubiquitous Christmas decorations are in Hong Kong as well as how far in advance before Christmas they get put up.  Or maybe not when one considers that much of what passes for Christmas decorations here tend to be far to do with the birth of Jesus Christ and more to Santa Claus and winter -- so it's probably more accurate to describe the decorations as being festive and seasonal than Christmas ones per se.

 

Take this year's popular "Parachuting Santas" (which I first caught sight of while wondering around Sham Shui Po early last month), as an example: Honestly, now, what do they have to do with Christmas?  Actually, are parachuting Santas popular anywhere else than Hong Kong?!  I suppose than in a part of the world without chimneys and fireplaces, it makes more sense of Santa Claus getting into homes by parachute rather than down a chimney.  As for Santa Claus' popularity: I can't help but think that his being dressed in red -- a festive and auspicious color as far as ethnic Chinese people are concerned -- has something to do with it... ;b