Friday, March 18, 2011

What a Week!

Righto, an awesome week, generally (aside from the I hate people factor, but I'm glossing over that right now, cause I'm in a good mood, although tired).

So, what have I been up to since my rare Tuesday morning post. Well I had a delish sushi dinner with @Nadgia. So much of talking, so much of eating :) And, of course, we finished the evening in the customary way with the best hot chocolates at Rocket. Was a fab evening.

On Wednesday it was CollegeInstructor's birthday so France & I had decided that we should all go for dinner at our favourite spot, Gourmet Garage. Left to his own devices, CollegeInstructor would probably have ignored his birthday entirely! As I said before, we also had a little surprise planned. Sadly however the weather did not play along ... we wanted to take him up in the Monte Casino balloon, he's been wanting to go forever! Oh well, we'll reschedule. Dinner was divine! As always :) And it was a really lovely evening.

Yesterday I finally got my passport back (it was a slightly delayed delivery because of the storm on Wednesday afternoon). It has my Mongolian visa in it and I am thrilled :) I mean, I'd be curious to know how many South Africans actually have Mongolian visas. Can't be many (since they don't even bother to have an embassy here!). Considered submitting my passport for the Russian visa today (to the visa service company), but I figure it's just going to sit around their offices till Tuesday so I'd rather have it locked away in my safe where I know it till then. So next week I'll start the last visa application process. Then all I need is my travel insurance and currency and I'm set. Wow. Really getting excited now. And I've ordered this book from Kalahari. I don't usually buy travel books for the places to visit, but I thought being stuck on a train it'll be handy having a guide telling you when to look out for what in the scenery. And that way I can at least read about what I'm seeing too :)



And then last night I met The Trucker for an early dinner and then we went to watch Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco. It was quite different to what I remembered from Varekai, I guess some of that was also the venue: I was up in the nose-bleed seats for Varekai ... at The Dome, they were way more spread out, but we did have good seats, even if they were pretty far away. And the acts, I remember Varekai felt more varied. But don't get me wrong, the acts were still quite amazing! I'm also curious if anyone actually gets the whole little storyline (is there one) of the show? Me, I'm just there to watch the amazing outfits, props and performances honestly ... Anyway, it was quite mesmerizing and awe-inspiring and I'm thrilled I was able to watch another of their shows :)

And that was my week. Mom is arriving later this afternoon so am looking forward to a lovely long weekend with her :)

3 comments:

Tamara said...

We saw Saltimbanco on Thursday. The things that those people can do with their bodies!

Agree with you though - the venue limits what they could do. There were pics with acts from the show in our program that weren't performed at The Dome.

I preferred the La Nouba show I saw in the States, but as you said - it doesn't take away from how amazing each act is. And how the incredible feats combined with outstanding live music and brilliant costumes and sets make a complete work of art.

lupillay said...

I am looking to travel to Mongolia, what is the best way to get a visa - seems to be no help on the internet and they do not have representation here. Please help

phillygirl said...

@lupillay That is correct, South Africa does not have a Mongolian Embassy and you have to send your passport (I used DHL) to the embassy in the UK. I did mine thru the company I booked my Trans-Mongolian Train trip with (www.realrussia.co.uk) so they handled everything on that side for me. Hope that helps.

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