Hello Everyone.......................Lots and Lots of Time, so am back here again .......... :P
This time am here to describe my venture to South Africa, yes I had been to South Africa in June for a project work, and must tell you it was an amazing experience. First time in my life I was out of home and directly got a chance to go out of the country. Am a travel freak, I like travelling very much and so the opportunity came in as a pleasant surprise for me.
The trip was a mixed bag of feelings for me, initially I was very excited about it, but as the date of travel came closer I was getting a bit nervous, after all I was travelling alone for the first time in my life that too to a foreign nation and it is rumoured (not completely true) that South Africa is not a safe place. Yes the crime rate in South Africa was high, but that is the thing of the past now. The Law and order is good enough presently and much safer than before.
The Client I had to work for was located in Johannesburg. My flight was at 2:35 am from Mumbai International Airport. I left my place at 5 pm to reach the Airport well before time. My parents had come to see me off, as I started to go inside the Terminal for check In my mother felt uneasy and so did I, she was continuously telling me to take care of myself, somehow I didn't feel happy, all the excitement I had before had zeroed down, after all there is nothing important in this world more than your parents. I went inside did my check In and all security checks and finally approached the Gate where the flight was supposed to attach. At around 2.20 a.m. I got on board and to my surprise I had a window seat, but bad luck, a guy asked me to exchange and I agreed (don't know why).
As the flight took off, the view below was superb, Mumbai was glittering in lights and the whole Marine drive appeared exceptional. Then, it was nine and half hours of journey to reach JNB's Tango International Airport. An hour or so later the dinner was served after having that everyone went into deep slumber including me. South Africa is 3.5 hours behind India, at about 6 a.m. South African local time, the breakfast was served and finally the flight landed at Tambo International Airport at 8.30 a.m. I forgot to mention there were 15 other guys from our company who were travelling with me, we all got together after collecting the baggage, I got some South African currency from the exchange counters available. There was a man standing with our company's name at the arrival, there were 2 vans for our disposal, we got into the vans and went to company's office. It was cold and the breeze was making it more prominent.
After completing all the formalities at company's office, I was left at my accommodation, it was a guest house, not bad though but it was very lonely. Everything was so quiet and very new for me, I went in and got ready, I had to report at the client's place the same day, fortunately it was nearby from my accommodation. Despite it being nearby I could not go there walking because it's not recommended here to walk alone. Somehow reached the office premises and started the searching the person and the building whom I had to report. Amidst a jungle of similar looking buildings it proved a nightmare for me to search the correct building where I had to report. After reaching the office I met the team whom I had to work with and got acquainted with them. Hence forth the work flowed smoothly with no major issues.
The main issues I faced were not not technical or related to my work, but were related to my accommodation. Commuting to the office daily I faced a lot of problems since I had no car of my own, second thing I did not like was the silence, it was killing me, I just didn't not like the place without a second thought. I complained about the issues I faced to the accommodation team, but there was no positive reply. I kept on mailing them and left no stone unturned. At the same time I was missing my family very badly, I used to be all alone after returning to my room from office, the loneliness accompanied with nostalgia was making me feel like crying. I had a chat with my manager regarding change in accommodation but still no result.
Finally after a week of turmoil, I unofficially went to my friend's room which was located in an upmarket place. I started staying there without any official consent and I felt a little better, here at least I could see a few people moving on the road along with lots of cars. The new place was fun, I made new friends over there who were very very helpful unlike ..................
I along with my roommate and his one more friend used to cook dinner together, I did not know to cook anything but wasn't a problem, I used to just wash and cut the vegetables and put rice in oven for cooking rest everything was handled by the other 2. Later after a few days I tried my luck at making chapatis and I was successful to a great extent ....:)
I stayed in JNB for a month, it was a great experience for me. Although the initial week was gruesome, the latter weeks I enjoyed visiting a few places. Among the places I visited were Sharjah Restaurant(Woodmead mall), Fortesburg, Monte Casino............I liked South Africa and I wanted to stay for some more time, but had to return as my work had finished. The people there are very very polite and very hard working. Given a chance I would like to visit the place again....................Goodbye.
This time am here to describe my venture to South Africa, yes I had been to South Africa in June for a project work, and must tell you it was an amazing experience. First time in my life I was out of home and directly got a chance to go out of the country. Am a travel freak, I like travelling very much and so the opportunity came in as a pleasant surprise for me.
The trip was a mixed bag of feelings for me, initially I was very excited about it, but as the date of travel came closer I was getting a bit nervous, after all I was travelling alone for the first time in my life that too to a foreign nation and it is rumoured (not completely true) that South Africa is not a safe place. Yes the crime rate in South Africa was high, but that is the thing of the past now. The Law and order is good enough presently and much safer than before.
The Client I had to work for was located in Johannesburg. My flight was at 2:35 am from Mumbai International Airport. I left my place at 5 pm to reach the Airport well before time. My parents had come to see me off, as I started to go inside the Terminal for check In my mother felt uneasy and so did I, she was continuously telling me to take care of myself, somehow I didn't feel happy, all the excitement I had before had zeroed down, after all there is nothing important in this world more than your parents. I went inside did my check In and all security checks and finally approached the Gate where the flight was supposed to attach. At around 2.20 a.m. I got on board and to my surprise I had a window seat, but bad luck, a guy asked me to exchange and I agreed (don't know why).
As the flight took off, the view below was superb, Mumbai was glittering in lights and the whole Marine drive appeared exceptional. Then, it was nine and half hours of journey to reach JNB's Tango International Airport. An hour or so later the dinner was served after having that everyone went into deep slumber including me. South Africa is 3.5 hours behind India, at about 6 a.m. South African local time, the breakfast was served and finally the flight landed at Tambo International Airport at 8.30 a.m. I forgot to mention there were 15 other guys from our company who were travelling with me, we all got together after collecting the baggage, I got some South African currency from the exchange counters available. There was a man standing with our company's name at the arrival, there were 2 vans for our disposal, we got into the vans and went to company's office. It was cold and the breeze was making it more prominent.
After completing all the formalities at company's office, I was left at my accommodation, it was a guest house, not bad though but it was very lonely. Everything was so quiet and very new for me, I went in and got ready, I had to report at the client's place the same day, fortunately it was nearby from my accommodation. Despite it being nearby I could not go there walking because it's not recommended here to walk alone. Somehow reached the office premises and started the searching the person and the building whom I had to report. Amidst a jungle of similar looking buildings it proved a nightmare for me to search the correct building where I had to report. After reaching the office I met the team whom I had to work with and got acquainted with them. Hence forth the work flowed smoothly with no major issues.
The main issues I faced were not not technical or related to my work, but were related to my accommodation. Commuting to the office daily I faced a lot of problems since I had no car of my own, second thing I did not like was the silence, it was killing me, I just didn't not like the place without a second thought. I complained about the issues I faced to the accommodation team, but there was no positive reply. I kept on mailing them and left no stone unturned. At the same time I was missing my family very badly, I used to be all alone after returning to my room from office, the loneliness accompanied with nostalgia was making me feel like crying. I had a chat with my manager regarding change in accommodation but still no result.
Finally after a week of turmoil, I unofficially went to my friend's room which was located in an upmarket place. I started staying there without any official consent and I felt a little better, here at least I could see a few people moving on the road along with lots of cars. The new place was fun, I made new friends over there who were very very helpful unlike ..................
I along with my roommate and his one more friend used to cook dinner together, I did not know to cook anything but wasn't a problem, I used to just wash and cut the vegetables and put rice in oven for cooking rest everything was handled by the other 2. Later after a few days I tried my luck at making chapatis and I was successful to a great extent ....:)
I stayed in JNB for a month, it was a great experience for me. Although the initial week was gruesome, the latter weeks I enjoyed visiting a few places. Among the places I visited were Sharjah Restaurant(Woodmead mall), Fortesburg, Monte Casino............I liked South Africa and I wanted to stay for some more time, but had to return as my work had finished. The people there are very very polite and very hard working. Given a chance I would like to visit the place again....................Goodbye.
