Southern Africa - Day 4

Thursday, 16 January 2020 - On the road to Namibia 

Another restless night not sure why and then it was time to wake up. Today is the start of my Nomad Tour!

Had an early breakfast, then registered for the tour. The name of my tour guide is Clever. Lol. The driver’s name is Taro. They are both from Zimbabwe from the Shona tribe. It’s not tourist season so there were only 6 of us on this tour (there was supposed to be 12). Jack and Clara - a couple from Holland, Yetta a Danish Canadian, Rigmar from Denmark and Jay from South Korea. Jay is 26, Yetta and Rigmar are in their 70s and the couple I would guess are in their 60s.

We left Cape Town at about 7 am after a short briefing about the trip in general. We made a last stop for a look back at Table Mountain from across Table Bay. Then we drove almost the whole day. We stopped for lunch at the Darling beer brewery (a craft beer from South Africa). The portions are really big here. And breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided for on this tour. I guess I won’t be losing any weight any time soon. 

For our overnight stay we stopped at a citrus and Rooibos tea farm in Cederberg. The Cederberg region has a beautiful mountainous landscape in the background, and is full of citrus farms. It is also the home of the Rooiboos bush indigenous to the mountain slopes of the Cederberg. Rooibos tea is a herbal beverage that is supposed to be a healthy and refreshing alternative to regular tea. I bought some tea bags to be distributed to people back home.

In the evening I had a beer with Rigmar and Yetta. I’m particularly drawn to Rigmar because she said she was so scared to travel alone at her age but she also really wanted to see Namibia and in the end her adventurous spirit won. I’m drawn to her because I feel the same way; of course one is always scared of travelling alone but in the end my adventurous spirit always wins. And on this score I have no regrets. Also look at the contrast between Rigmar and my own mum who refuses to go anywhere without my dad. Almost the same age but such a vast difference in their outlook on life. I’m sorry to say that I’m more similar to Rigmar than to my own mum. I always told mum that I was born into the wrong family. I have nothing in common with my parents or my siblings except the blood in our veins.

We had a nice cosy conversation about life in general. I told them about this constant struggle I have with my family because I chose the path less trodden. Don’t get me wrong, if I had a choice I would choose to get married and have a family of my own. But that didn’t happen, so now what? I’m not going to just sit and rot till I die. Why should I? Why shouldn’t I do what makes me happy, even if it’s something most normal Asian girls wouldn’t do? Why should I be a sheep and follow the flock?Especially when I’m not disturbing anyone. This type of tension really sucks. 

I made a friend at the farm - the cutest dog with no tail and big ears who likes to be loved. But then again, who doesn’t? Everyone likes to be loved but unfortunately some remain unloved.