Jo'burg

Our final day in Jo'burg I thought it would be a good idea to do the sightseeing bus and get an overview of the city without taking a single step, and fortunately Tal and Thomas were up for doing the same thing. 

We took the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel then the rather excellent Gautrain metro into Park Station in the centre of the city. 

The red top bus office can be seen immediately opposite the exit and having bought our ticket we were soon on the bus.

Stunning!

Penis extensions and abortion posters side-by-side. It seemed odd that the men get a positive offering and the women a negative one.

It's fair to say that Joburg is a lively city. There were lots of street traders selling their stuff. I'm not sure quite how safe the streets would be and this was alluded to in the commentary.

If you're ever looking for giant hats then you can get them here.

An amazing piece by Faith47 who is from Cape Town.

This is Gandhi Square

Liking the paint job.

The Carlton Centre is the tallest building in all of Africa so we jumped off the bus and were guided into the building. Apparently it's easy to get lost inside and there were a few unsavoury types that needed shooing off hence the guide.

A younger Gandhi, which I'd never seen before. He's always shown as the old wise man wrapped in a toga. In his younger days he spent some time in Joburg forming his passive resistance approach to protest. There's a small statue to him in the square that bears his name.

A view from the tower. You spend just enough time up there to take photos and then its time to go back down for the next bus.

The bus heads out of the city and you get into the rural communities. There is a second bus that does a dedicated route to Soweto, which I found out is short for "South-West Townships".

After a successful stint in Australia Mr Rockatansky travelled to Africa and set up a series of clothing wholesalers.

We remained on the bus until we reached the Apartheid Museum which we all wanted to do. It's located next to Gold Reef City.

An original bench from an apartheid run prison. We're not allowed to sit on them.

The museum gives us a bleak overview of the history of the Apartheid process and its impact on the South African people. One clever thing they've done is to allocate two different types of ticket at random that label you as white or non-white and from at the start of the exhibition you're separated and sent through two different rooms. The forced split giving just a small insight into the implications that Apartheid had on families and communities.

You do meet up again soon after and can then explore the museum.

This is part of an interactive piece to vote on which Mandela soundbite most resonates with you.

Gold Reef seen from the back of the park.

I'm not sure what the poster was trying to sell but it led a traffic accident immediately behind it clearly showed that it had caught the eye of at least one other driver.

That's the downtown area that we'd left and were now returning to.

Another mining tower, this one marking the location of another museum area in the city.

Get stuffed coke and your stupid advertising. I bet they patted themselves on the back when they got this one. You know that these shites are looking for an opportunity to put a poster on the moon.

Same goes for you KFC.

Had we had more time I'd have explored Joburg on foot to find the graffiti, but not knowing which bits were safe the bus looked to be the best way to get around.

The train station.

More graffiti.

Yes, I guess they are.

The most amazing piece in the city is this huge tribute to Mandela done by Obey AKA Shephard Fairey. A stunning piece.

The bus tour is actually pretty decent with little dead spots and the commentary does give a pretty good insight into the history of the city. Last time I was here I did the tour in Cape Town but didn't get to do the Joburg one, so I was pleased to do it this time.

and that was our South African leg over and done, and I think we were all pleased to have done everything that we wanted to. The fair and Botswana were definitely the highlight for me.

We headed home and had a few days to recover and get ready for the next bigger leg.

Mexico here we come!

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