Visit to Philippines

Wow so much has happened since my last blog entry. I visited SE Asia and Hong Kong in December and arrived back in South Africa early January. Spent most of my time in Manila, helping my bf and now partner to get a 3month visa to visit South Africa. We stayed at an apartment hotel in Malate Manila. Malate is a vibrant area with a large Robinsons Mall and many smaller shops, bars and restaurants in the area. Davey, my partner and I explored Manila together. Luckilly he has been to Manila before and this helped tremendously with getting around quickly. We also met several of his friends who works for Cebu Pacific Air at the Manila airport. There are several gay bars and a lovely club called Bed in the area. The gay scene is very vibrant, especially over weekends. The city never seems to sleep and travelling on the LRT was an experience in itself. The trains are jampacked with commuters, since it is the fastest way of getting around the city. Generally speaking the restaurants and bars are affordable. The food courts in shopping malls offer a wide variety of food at relavely cheap prices.

Needless to say that we had to spent a lot of time going to the south african embassy to finally get dave's visa approved. The staff, some of whom are Fillipino were very friendly and helpful.

Manila is a vibrant city with a large population. Always large numbers of people in the streets and malls. There is also a large nitght market where goods are inexpensive.

More to follow in my next entry

7th Street Melville revisited

Left guesthouse for 7th Street again. Very busy tonight. Tried out very plush looking restaurant with leather seats and free wifi. Disappointing moroccan couscous dish, but ambience partially made up for it. Dined at Portuguese and Confectionery cum coffee shop previous evenings. Far better value for money

7th Street Melville

After a long working session, a friend and I decided to take a walk down 7th Street in Melville this evening. Very interesting cocktail bars, restaurants and coffee shops. Mixed crowd hanging out at most of the venues. Large number of TV personalities at many of the venues along the street and good number of PLU's. Makes for interesting and exciting viewing when seated at one of the tables on the pavement. Lovely eye contact and many cute guys. Aksi a fair number of tourists in the area. Highly recommended if you are feeling at a lost to go somewhere on a late Sunday afternoon in Johannesburg.

Pride in Jozi

A huge turnout from the LGBT community ensured that this year's Gay Pride was one of the more successful events of its kind in the country. It was the 19th annual gay pride parade. The theme of this year's event was "Love not Hate" Approximately 10 000 of the LGBT community truned out for the event, walking throught the streets of Rosebank and ending at the Zoo Lake Sports Club. Celebrations continued after the march with live entertainment and DJ's from 5FM keeping everyone's spirits up. LGBT victims of hate crimes were commemorated by adding poems, messages, artworks and menentoes to a Wall of Remembrance.

Stalls sold books, t-shirts, leatherwear and artworks. Community organisations also set up information booths to inform revellers about the services offered by them.

The Pride celebrations were concluded with parties hosted by bars and clubs across Gauteng Province.

An "Idols Dance party" is set to be held at the Sisulu Hall in Randburg on Saturday 6 December.

Good time to visit South Africa

We are experiencing very hot weather in especially the interior of the country. The coastal areas are slightly cooler at the moment. Great time to visit South Africa. Our currency, the Rand has dropped significantly against other currencies. This makes South Africa a cheap destination to visit at this point in time. For example the Rand is at R10, 30 mark to the US Dollar and R13,00 to the Euro at the moment. Our currency has even seen a decline against other currencies such as the Singaporean and Hong Kong Dollar. Our weather is fantastic in December, January through to April. So, excellent time to visit. Fantastic and varied scenery across the country from our beautiful beaches, to mountains, game reserves, but also modern cities with fantastic shopping malls.

The gay scene is also very active especially in the major cities, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban. Cities such as Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein also have gay venues but on a much smaller scale.

South Africans are generally very friendly and welcoming to visitors.

Personally I am looking forward to the December holidays myself. Will be travelling to Hong Kong, the Philippines and Bangkok. I am going to try my best to keep you posted on my travels and experiences in these places as well.

Ewu