Offline in Limpopo.

After leaving Malaysia, we made our way back to South Africa. Instead of returning to Cape Town though, we headed to Limpopo province, to spend three weeks with the in-laws. After the rapid pace of life in Asia, the quiet Limpopo lifestyle was a drastic switch. Thankfully, it turned out to be really fantastic, and we managed to relax while still remaining productive. And though I'd had great plans of doing some serious blogging in that time, a combination of weak-internet and full days conspired to keep me offline. Instead, here are a few of the things that filled my time:
*Counting Marabou storks on a trip to Kruger park.
*Eating boerekos dinners of grilled sausage, braised ox-tail, and pap and sheba.
*Drinking coffee on the large patio outside, watching flycatchers and barbets mingling in the trees.
*Checking out hippo tracks in the lush Lowveld Botantical Gardens in Nelspruit.
*Finishing a portrait of Bordeaux in oils, and spending at least two hours a day sketching and drawing.
*Being woken up by the screeching of a bushbaby at 4 in the morning.
*Reading Ernest Hemingway's experiences in Africa, and wondering why I wasn't have impala liver for breakfast every morning.
*Making friends with the fat toads and quiet rain-frogs that have moved into the house.

And now? We've skipped continents once again, and I have lots to catch up on, but I know better than to promise more regular blogging...

Saying goodbye to Cape Town.

I had really hoped to fill my last days in Cape Town with loads of blog entries, extolling the virtues of this fantastic city, but as is always the case it seems, life became a little too busy for blogging. We had to pack, of course, and were busy spending time with two very funny friends who dropped into town, and were occupied with trying to get the most out of our last days in the Cape. Saying goodbye to your home is always hard-- it's a central theme of this blog that I centre my life very strongly on where I live, so I get rather attached to my homes-- and it's especially hard when your home is as fantastic as Cape Town. So there are lots more Cape Town entries on the way. I'll either get them up in the coming week, or put them all up when we swing through northern South Africa in March (I haven't decided yet)-- but in the mean time, here are a few of the things that were hardest to say goodbye to in Cape Town.

1) Fairview Cheese and Wine farm-- If I could list in order the foods I miss in Asia, good cheese, bread, and wine would be at the top of the list. All of these things are available at Fairview, a goat farm in Paarl where you can combine an afternoon of sampling wines with tasting incredible artinsal cheese.

2) The Neighbourgoods Market at the Biscuit Mill-- This every-Saturday market is packed with local vendors trading an incredible variety of foods, making this a great place to spend a morning of slow grazing. Beyond that, it's a great spot for checking out some of Cape Town's most beautiful people, who seem to converge here every weekend. We spent nearly every Sat there this year selling our own food, but even though we took our last weekend in town off, we went back just to eat, drink, and enjoy the best spot to hang out on a Sat afternoon in Cape Town.

3) Kalk Bay-- I debate the issue in my mind, but sometimes I wished I could have lived in Kalk Bay. This small artistic community is only half an hour from Cape Town, but feels worlds away-- a vacation paradise of neighbourhood cafes selling well-made crossaints, of small boutique galleries, of beautiful green sea, and deliciously rich ice cream cones. Whenever I felt the urge to get away, a visit to Kalk Bay would go some ways toward satisfying me.

4) The City Bowl-- We were lucky this year to live in Gardens, at the centre of Cape Town's City Bowl. With our home base right there, we were able to take advantage of all of the neighbourhood's attractions: we took picnics in the Company's Gardens, swam at the Long Street Baths, zipped up to Lion's Head for morning climbs, and hung out at a number of local cafes. If there is one neighbourhood that truly defines Cape Town it's the City Bowl, and this year we revelled in all it had to offer.

This year wasn't always easy, but I'm sure I'll look back on it with great fondness. Thanks for everything, Cape Town.

cocktail hour with primitives: The Capetonian.

The Capetonian is my effort at mixing a cocktail that pays homage to one of my favourite cities. I hint at the city through the ingredients (the use of local Brandy) and the colour (a blush of the city's distinctive shade of pink), but it's the drink's character, a mix of sweetly refined and gaudily boozy, that truly evokes the city of Cape Town. Best enjoyed on a warm sunny afternoon in the City Bowl.

The Capetonian

1 1/2 oz Cape Brandy
1 oz Dry Vermouth
3 Dashes Bitters
1 tsp Superfine Sugar
Soda Water
1 Maraschino Cherry, plus juice

Garnish a glass with a Maraschino cherry, and spill in a little of the juice. In a cocktail shaker, stir together the brandy, vermouth, bitters and sugar with several large cubes of ice. Strain into the glass, and add one or two big splashes of soda, swirling through when done.

around town/cape town: Cookshop.

Regrettably late in our year in Cape Town, a fantastic cafe opened up just doors down from our apartment. Though perhaps it was a good thing; with Cookshop just down the street, we may rarely have ventured elsewhere.

Cookshop is an intimate cafe space, with a simple counter inside and breezy seating on the covered patio. The espressos and lattes are made with Organic coffee and the fairy cakes and muffins are tempting, but the main reason to come is for lunch. There is a daily buffet of creative salads, with option including mango and pineapple in a chilli dressing, or lentils topped with almonds and fresh herbs. Otherwise, go for one of the sandwiches on the board, like roast vegetables and hummus in a ciabatta, or free-range chicken on rye. The proprietress had formerly run a stand at the Neighbourgood's Market selling her own line of handmade mayonnaise, dressings and sauces, which have thankfully been incorporated into the sandwiches at Cookshop. Meaning that not only are the sandwiches assembled with care, but that the individual ingredients themselves were crafted with care, to great affect. I've never been a huge fan of mayonnaise, but I would gladly order another roasted aubergine sandwich just for the unbelievable rosemary mayonnaise that dresses it.

Located in Gardens, on 117 Hatfield Road, Woodstock, Cape Town. +27 21 461 7868. Open Monday to Friday from 7 till 4.

Last day at the Biscuit Mill.

Tomorrow is the last day that we will be trading at the Biscuit Mill's Neighbourgoods Market with our Southeast Asian stand, Piesang. This is certainly a bittersweet moment for us-- we've been so lucky to be able to be at the Biscuit Mill, which has provided us with an incredible way to interact with the city of Cape Town, helped us to meet some fun people, and directed some catering jobs our way (and of course, paid our rent)-- all the same, I will be 100% happy not to be rolling 200+ salad rolls every Saturday from now on! It's been great, Biscuit Mill. We'll miss you, and we certainly hope you'll miss us.

And this is kind of late notice, but if any of my dedicated readers (yes, either one of you) would like to jump on a plane to Cape Town and join us for a celebration after the market, I'll pick up the tab for some sparkling wine!

Beautiful city.

While Cape Town doesn't have everything I'd like in a city, it is unquestionably the city whose aesthetic style I most appreciate. It's not only the absurd landscape sculpted by Table Mountain, Lion's Head, and Table Bay, and the mingling of temperate and tropical vegetation that I love-- it's also in the offbeat combination of such diverse architectural styles that make up the city.

Just within a short walk around the neighbourhood of Oranjezicht I spotted Victorian town-houses with intricate lace-like fences, the sleek curves of '60s modernism, baroque adaptations of Cape Dutch, and the masculinely handsome details of art-deco. It might seem like these styles might not work, but somehow, they work beautifully. It may take a little getting used to, but the combination is fantastically Cape Town, as distinctive and intriguing as seeing the local bird of paradise blooming just below an imported acorn tree.

Unfortunately, this doesn't include most of the city's architecture post 1965... don't even mention those new hotels being plonked down for the World Cup to me...

Baker man.

I am rather lucky to have married a man who can whip up a meringue-peaked layer cake with Amarula glaze and coconut buttercream, as he did for our friend's birthday; I am even luckier that said man can manage to show up to the party looking even better than said cake.

And just like the combination of tropical and refined in the cake, Bordeaux's look has a very Cape Town flavour-- this despite the fact that the individual items in his outfit are all from abroad (the driver's cap is from Urban Outfitters, the t-shirt is from American Apparel, and the shorts were tailored for him in Vietnam).

Cape Town has some incredibly sharply styled residents, and hopefully our year of living here has had some impression on us. Though I'll miss being here in person to check out what Cape Town is wearing, I'll be keeping track on it distantly, though the Style Guide Cape Town. Something of a Cape Sartorialist, this local stylist does a great job of documenting the city's residents' unique sense of style.

*And I'll get a link to Bordeaux's blog entry on that cake once he puts it up on Itinerant Bordeaux.

View of Lion's Head #13.

Long days and late sunsets are a perk of life in Cape Town in the summer. And with the sun setting on the other side of the mountain, the silhouette of Lion's Head continues to glow until after even the whole of the city bowl is bathed in purple nightfall.

Colours of the Cape: Cape Dutch Gold.

Though its winters may be gray and dreary, the Cape is much better known for its golden summers. With the open sky and dry air, the sun is free to penetrate every corner of the Cape, filling the City Bowl and soaking the beaches. Perhaps it was in honor of this that the early Dutch settlers plastered the Cape Castle, their sea-front fortress, in an appropriately flaxen hue. The Castle must have set the tone for the style of the new settlement, and the colour brightens up much of the city's early colonial architecture. Thankfully, the shade has also been carried through to the modern day, where it still reflects back the warm light of the sun.

A little frost with your penguins.

In my recent post on Simon's Town, I offered one piece of rather important advice: don't eat in Simon's Town. But I will make one small exception. On the walk between the Simon's Town beach and Boulder's (the spot for penguin viewing) there is a small window right on the sidewalk, offering ice cream by Ice Dream of Hout Bay. The menu is limited to what they can squeeze onto their chalkboard, and focuses on rich interpretations of classic flavours. Perfect for a frosty treat on the walk back from checking out the Cape's antarctic residents.

around town/cape town: Lola's.

Since first coming to Cape Town in 2004, Lola's on Long Street has been one of my most regular hangouts. And it's hard to say why, sometimes. The atmosphere is a little grungy, the food is often too salty or too greasy, and the coffee really isn't that great. But sitting out front, at a sidewalk table on Long, it often feels like being right at the centre of Cape Town, watching the whole city pass by.

Don't shake hands with the penguins.

The last stop on the railway line down the peninsula is Simon's Town, a strange spot of sailors, tourists, and African penguins.

The enclave of Kalk Bay will likely always be my favourite spot on False Bay, but the first place I visited was actually Simon's Town. I had only been in South Africa for a few weeks, the continent still new to me, and as I walked along the boardwalks of Boulders, I was struck by how odd it was that the first wildlife I was seeing in Africa were the penguins.

Likely this is true of many of the visitors who use Cape Town as their entryway to South Africa. For while most people come to Africa to see elephants, rhinos, and lions, who could pass up the chance to see the strange colony of penguins at Boulder's beach? They're tiny and sufficiently adorable to warrant lots of souvenir plush toys, though they whine with a loud braying call doesn't fit their size. It was this call that originally got them the name of 'Jackass Penguin', which they still had when I first visited-- the name has since been changed to the 'African Penguin', allegedly for purposes of classification, not propriety. It is perhaps fitting, as they are the only species of penguin to nest on African soil-- a relatively new development, in fact, as they were only safely able to do so once human development had cleared the coastline of leopards.

Simon's Town has a rather touristy feel, and it is likely owed all to the penguins-- beyond them, there's not much to do in Simon's Town other than stroll through town and enjoy the atmosphere. Originally a British Naval Station (there's still a working naval base here), the town has the look of a British seaside town at the turn of the previous century-- worth seeing, if only because it feels about as out of place as the penguins.

One note, however: As worthwhile a stop as Simon's Town is, remember not to make it a stop over lunch or dinner. The restaurants in Simon's Town are generally aimed at tourists, and as a result are both poor quality and overpriced. We almost made the mistake of eating lunch at one place in town, but when we scanned the menu and saw baked beans on toast for R38 (about $5), we canceled our drinks, got back in the car and headed to Kalk Bay, for a fantastic lunch at Olympia Cafe-- with not a baked bean on the menu.

around town/joburg: The Zone at Rosebank.

In some of my recent posts on Johannesburg (ok, all of my recent posts on Johannesburg), I've complained about the fact that so much of the city's social life takes place in malls. I feel I should point out here that I am not inherently opposed to shopping malls: I'll be honest and admit one of my favourite activities in Bangkok was spending a few hours worshiping at the commercial temples around Siam. But my complaint with Johannesburg's malls is twofold.

1) Malls are fine as one option, but in Johannesburg they are increasingly the only option. Following Joburg's 'white flight' from the city centre, its residents sought out a social life that was protected within thick walls. As a result, there are now very few places to stroll in Joburg unless you're in a mall-- the last real option for outdoor life, Melville, is getting increasingly sad, rundown and, allegedly, unsafe (The Bamboo Centre an exception).

2) Johannesburg's malls are on the whole rather boring, offering only the same chain stores and restaurants as every other mall.

So here's the closest thing to an exception: The Zone at Rosebank. If you have to spend time in a Johannesburg mall, make it this one. Because, while you'll find many of the same generic shops and restaurants as at the other malls (yes, they have a Spur Steakhouse), there are a few unique shops that make it worth a visit.

1) Sowearto- A play on the iconic township of Soweto, Sowearto offers t-shirts with a hip, Joburg style. Some are direct references on the city, such as the line of t-shirts featuring Joburg's skyline, or labels from traditional South African products, while others are simply fun, like those of label Mingo Lamberto.

2) Stoned Cherrie- All the clothing for sale at Stoned Cherrie is for the ladies, but still worth a stop as these dresses are practically works of art. Traditional fabrics are mixed with couture tailoring, for a distinctly urban take on African style.

3) The Space- The clothing is, again, all for women here (an annoying trend in Joburg shops), but The Space makes up for it with an incredible selection of home-wares. Items range from simple and classical to funky and irreverent, with a good mix of local designs and imported styles. A great place to find something unique for the home, or to pick up an alternative souvenir for a friend.

Now if only there was a more unique offering for a coffee after shopping. As it is, we'll skip the Spur and head to Vida.

cocktail hour with primitives: Gin Pahit.

Though our holiday was spent in sweltering Pretoria, we were lucky enough to be able to spend it next to a pool. And since family was involved, cocktail hour started a little earlier than usual. But finding a good drink for pool-side sipping can be difficult, as I'm not generally a fan of sugary sweet drinks where the sting of the alcohol is masked under the flavour of tropical fruit and loads of sugar. I needed a tropical drink with a little more bite, so I opted for a Gin Pahit.

A favourite of the hotel bars and gin-joints of British Malaya (pahit is the Malay word for bitter), the gin pahit is the ideal tropical cocktail: clean and crisp, with a nicely spiced flavour giving it just a hint of the exotic. It's similar to a Pink Gin, but notable for a much higher ratio of bitters, giving it a darker, smokier colour. And perhaps best of all, the drink is remarkably simple-- so you can spend less time preparing it, and more time sipping it by the pool.

Gin Pahit

1/2 oz Angostura Bitters
1 1/2 oz London Dry Gin

Pour the bitters into a glass, and swirl around to coat. Add the gin, stir to a dark rosy colour. Add an ice cube or two, if required. Enjoy.

around town/joburg: Bamboo Centre.

Though I'm always eager to find new hip places to hang out when I'm in Johannesburg, I always seem to end up returning to the same one: The Bamboo Centre in Melville.

The highlight of the centre is Service Station, which must be one of the best cafes in South Africa. It's all brick walls and concrete floors, and the large bank of floor-to-ceiling windows along the front look out over the lush leafy greenery of Joburg's artifical forest. This combination makes for the ideal spot to meet for a late breakfast (pictured above: fantastic salmon scrambled eggs with dill), or for coffee and an incredible baked good. Toward the back, past the towers of baked goods, there's a small deli, with local specialty foods, imported pastas, and a few choice design items for the kitchen. A meal here is so compelling, that one can almost imagine that this is how life in Johannesburg could be: urban and sharply styled, living a life that is surprisingly not closed off or barricaded in.

And after eating, you can continue the fantasy with a little browsing in the neighbouring shops. Love Books has a fantastic selection of handpicked fiction, cookbooks, and volumes on art and design, plus a huge selection of kids books so well illustrated that even adults will want to page through. Among the shops toward the back of the complex, Black Coffee is a well-known local fashion range (though nothing for men, as is unfortunately common in Joburg), and the Blooming Plate has a staggering range of interesting kitchenwares.

Altogether, a great one-stop spot to browse, relax, and enjoy a vision of urban, modern Joburg-- before returning to the reality of four-metre walls and barbed wire malls.

Bamboo is located at the corner of Rustenburg Road and Ninth Street, in Melville, Johannesburg.

Love Jozi?

Despite its bad reputation, Johannesburg has some pretty strong defenders. Those who live in the city often love it. Even the fact that the city has so many nicknames (joburg, jozi, egoli) suggests some sort of affection.

But could I love Jozi? Every time I go, I try to answer this question. On this last visit, I looked hard, and tried to imagine myself there. I came up with a few good things about Joburg:
1) The city is greener than Cape Town, as it's set in a huge artificial forest.
2) The residents are allegedly friendlier and more welcoming than in Cape Town.
3) The city is relatively mixed, racially and culturally, which is a refreshing change from Cape Town.

But unfortunately, my list of things I don't like about the city is a bit more convincing...
1) There are too many high walls, too many shopping malls. Who wants to spend all their time indoors?
2) There is some incredible architecture downtown, but the rest of the city is pretty ugly... as I said in #1, too many walls and malls. So much glass and concrete, but no character.
3) Not enough fun spaces-- very few good restaurants or cafes, and if they exist... look at #1... they're probably in a mall or a shopping centre somewhere...
4) Joburg is not a walkable city-- even less so than in LA, which gets that reputation. Put me down on Wilshire, in Santa Monica, or Silverlake, and I'd find cool shops, neighbourhoods, and cafes. Put me down in Johannesburg, and I'd get lost, frustrated... and probably mugged.

So, unfortunately, I still just really cannot see the appeal. But, like I said-- there are loads of other people who do love it. But I feel that I can finally say with confidence that I'm not interested in living in Johannesburg. However, for an alternative take on loving Jozi, check out the Love Jozi clothing line (pictured above, too). As many arguments as I've made against the city, I think their hip t-shirts will make a much more convincing case in favor of it...

Secrets of flying within South Africa.

Several years ago, a number of discount airlines entered the South African market. With them came the promise of revolutionizing travel in South Africa, as passengers would no longer be captive to the high prices forced by the near monopoly of South African Airways (SAA). First came Kulula, and they were quickly joined by 1time, Nationwide (now defunct), and Mango. They offered no frills service for rock bottom prices.

But along the way, something happened. The service remains no frills, but the prices stopped being so cheap. Yet in their advertisements, and in most people's minds, these discount airlines remain the cheapest option for flying within South Africa.

The strange reality is, this isn't necessarily true. After scouring the discount airlines websites, we eventually found that the cheapest ticket available for a return flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg was offered, oddly enough, by British Airways. Second cheapest? Flying with SAA. All of the discount airlines were more expensive.

And the effect is that you can essentially get better service, more amenities, and more comfort for a cheaper price. When we headed up to Johannesburg, we walked past the swelling crowds waiting at the Kulula desk, and found literally no wait at British Airways. And of course, the better service continues on the flight, too. Pictured above is breakfast on our BA flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Despite appearances, it actually wasn't bad. British Airways flights are catered by Woolworths, a slightly upmarket local grocer, who provide a healthier and fresher alternative to the usual airline food. And for our lunchtime flight, they even offered wine to drink-- something I'd never encountered on a domestic flight before.

Occasionally, you may still find special deals with the discount airlines, and one-way trips with them may work out cheaper. But if you're booking a flight in South Africa, remember to shop around, because the cheapest airfare may not be where you'd expect to find it.

Christmas south of the equator.

To answer that rather annoying question posed by Bob Geldof, no, here in Africa I really don't know that it's Christmastime at all. I'm not sure whether it's the summer weather that's throwing me off, or that I'm so far away from family, or that shopping malls here simply don't make the effort to induce a shopping panic in their customers through twinkling lights and Mariah Carey singing about all she wants for Christmas, but this year the season has somehow slipped past me almost entirely. I saw a homeless person in a Santa hat in the Company's Gardens last week, and only realized later that he was actually more in touch with the times than I. This will be my first Christmas south of the Equator, and it won't likely be a particularly festive one.

We will be spending the holidayless holiday in Pretoria, as seen in the above photograph of that delicate work of art, the Voortrekker Monument. Yes, I can feel your envy from here. Not only is Pretoria swelteringly hot and strikingly dull, but even the locals use this time of the year as as excuse to get away from the city. But no matter-- we are staying somewhere with a pool, and I will be temporarily rescinding my pledge to drink less, and will be indulging in a good bottle of gin.

I'll be taking the time off from posting to sit by the pool and enjoy gin pahits. I'll be back in Cape Town around the 29th, hopefully with some notes to share from my visit to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Hope to see you back here in time for the New Year, and enjoy the holidays, if and however you choose to recognize any of them

Things that I'll miss about Cape Town.

Well, as you might have caught on from that last entry, we're getting ready to pack up and skip continents once again. I'll explain more about our next steps-- in short, we're heading back to Asia-- and maybe I'll share some of the reasons why we decided in the end not to dig our roots into South African soil. We're both much happier now that we've decided to leave, and really can hardly wait to get back to Asia. But while it's easy for me to think of all the things I'm looking forward to, I do have to keep grounded by remembering the things I'll be giving up in Cape. Here's a few of the major things I've been grateful for in Cape Town, and that I'll be missing once I'm gone.

1) Excellent, affordable wine-- Not only is causal wine drinking affordable in Cape Town, it's part of the lifestyle in the Cape. A glass of red at dinner, or a chilled bottle of white over a summery afternoon, fits in perfectly with the relaxed and casual atmosphere of life on the Peninsula.

2) Blue sky-- Ok, it was pretty gray for a lot of this year, but now that summer is here, I'm trying to spend as much time as I can admiring the clear blue sky over Cape Town-- I certainly won't be getting much of that in Asia. I'm really going to miss these brilliant, clear golden days, perfect for lounging at a sidewalk cafe, or getting a cone from a seaside ice cream parlour.

3) Cheese and bread-- While trading at the Neighbourgoods Market, we often get complaints from people avoiding dairy and gluten that practically all the food is based around bread or cheese. That does suck for them, but I can't say I'm complaining. South Africa has some delicious local cheeses and artisinally made breads. Combined with some wine (see #1), they make a perfect lunch for a lazy summer day (see #2).

4) Staying active-- The combination of sun, sea and mountain in Cape Town make it an ideal place for staying active. This lifestyle is made even easier thanks to Cape Town's small size, since hiking trails and public pools are always just a short drive away. You can hike Lion's Head before breakfast, or take laps in the Long Street Baths before work. Beyond that, the city's tiny size also means that practically everything is walking distance within the City Bowl.

5) Eating locally-- I believe in making an effort to eat locally, and Cape Town really can be paradise for a committed locavore. The wine, cheese, crusty breads I love so much... they're all available from local producers (even the wheat comes from the Western Cape). And with the help of Wild Organics, who offer inexpensive weekly bags of local organic produce, it's even easier to limit your food miles in the Cape.

Secrets to a primitive world.

I was invited by Cate of the Caffeinated Traveller to share some of my travel 'secrets'. While I can't really say that any of these places I'd like to share are really secrets, these are three places that truly surprised me.

1. Islands of Trang Province, Southern Thailand
The story goes that all of Thailand's islands are already too commercialized, the sand boarded over with discount beach bars filled with tacky Western backpackers. But if you're willing to head beyond Ko Phi Phi and Ko Phang Nga, you'll find that there really are some fantastic islands left in Thailand, like the islands of Trang province. I was lucky enough to visit the islands on an assignment that required me to go to each and every one. Of these, I gathered a few favourites. There was Ko Libong, a wild island inhabited by hornbills and encircled by dugongs; isolated Ko Kradan, with one incredible place to stay in a palm encircled clearing right in the middle of the island, perfect for nurturing Robinson Crusoe fantasies; and Ko Sukorn, with its pastoral allure of rice paddies and quiet villages. But perhaps best of all was Ko Lao Liang, an unbelievably secluded island, hours from land by boat, so small that it can only fit one place to stay, an encampment of simple tents right on the beach. In short, everything you've ever dreamed of in a Thai Island.

2. The Karoo, South Africa
I first visited the Karoo in between one destination and another, having little idea at the time that it would become my favourite part of South Africa. It's an evocatively desolate landscape, of golden dusty desert and shadowy valley towns. The best way to enjoy the region is to visit some of its town, whose sedate avenues of early twentieth century homes are steeped in retro charm and soaked with Afrikaner culture. Some of the best spots to visit are Barrydale, a suprisingly artistic community with an offbeat gay vibe, Prince Albert, with it's storybook houses and untamed surrounds, and Nieu Bethesda, home to the Owl House, a surreal museum to one local woman's mania. These are all great places to try real South African cooking, as well: succulent grilled lamb, creamy milk tarts, and artisinally made cheeses, breads, and preserves. Karoo is certainly not a secret to South African travellers-- most of the region's more attractive towns are well set up to accomodate visitors. But the region mostly remains just off the maps of most international visitors to South Africa, who are more interested in visiting Cape Town and Kruger National Park. A shame, because to visit the Karoo really is to visit the heart of South Africa.

4. Taiwan
Ok, clearly Taiwan isn't a secret place-- everyone who lived in the '80s saw the name printed on the bottom of their plastic products, right? But what seems to be a secret is that Taiwan is an unbelievable, unforgettable destination. It's a quirky island, whose sometimes bleak cities are brightened up by frenzied night markets and funky local fashions. Packed in within the confines of this tiny island, there are an astounding array of different places to go. Fast-paced and fashionable Taipei, engaging Hsinchu, romantic and sultry Kaoshiung. And amazingly, the island also has incredible natural beauty: the low areas of rice paddies give way to towering peaks cloaked in bamboo; on the east coast, the scenery is even more spectacular, epitomized by the dramatic valleys and mountains of Taroko Gorge. People are friendly, the food is fantastic (every city and region have their own delectable specialties to search out). And with the high speed rail draped along the whole west coast, getting around the island is easy, comfortable, and incredibly fast. But really, I'll be saving more about Taiwan for another entry coming up in the next few days or so...

Any of you willing to share your secret destinations?