Sunday, March 11, 2007
1st class train
In South Africa, one of the biggest problems that one has to deal with is transportation. Now I understand why the South Africans I meet in Taiwan, all love their cars, and /or miss driving them.
The trains are available, but most white people I met or know say they will NOT take the train due to the dangers of getting robbed, killed,raped, etc. Nor will many people even go into the train station. Busses are very infrequent, and taxis are dangerous as well. They have cabs ( unlike in North America, cab and taxi are not synonomous) but they are very expensive. ( yes, it's basically a taxi)
So we rented a car, or got drove around alot. At one point, we wanted to go out to the town of Fishhoek, to visit Dallas' friend Adele. However, we couldn't arrange transport. Everyone fretted about what we could do. How could we get there? In the end, it was decided that the train, was the only way, and that we had to be very careful on the train. I was very nervous, after hearing horror stories about the trains etc.
but, you know, ... we did it, and it wasn't so bad. We were told to buy 1st class tickets as it might be safer. The photo below is a first class car. We were told not to take out our camera either, but I obvious did. :)
The 1st and 3rd class trains are in effect, the same. the price difference is negligible, and the separation of them comes from the age of apartheid, when blacks could only take the 3rd class train. ~ there are no fans, A/C, in the cars, there is no garbage bin, but plenty of garbage on the floor, and they DON'T announce the stations, so you have to strain to look out the window or miss your stop.
I have to thank our friends not only in regards to the train, but overall for looking out for us. Part of why we made it back, is because they were always on the look out for dangers. I think that the train is safe if you take it in the day, and you watch your back, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be.
The trains are available, but most white people I met or know say they will NOT take the train due to the dangers of getting robbed, killed,raped, etc. Nor will many people even go into the train station. Busses are very infrequent, and taxis are dangerous as well. They have cabs ( unlike in North America, cab and taxi are not synonomous) but they are very expensive. ( yes, it's basically a taxi)
So we rented a car, or got drove around alot. At one point, we wanted to go out to the town of Fishhoek, to visit Dallas' friend Adele. However, we couldn't arrange transport. Everyone fretted about what we could do. How could we get there? In the end, it was decided that the train, was the only way, and that we had to be very careful on the train. I was very nervous, after hearing horror stories about the trains etc.
but, you know, ... we did it, and it wasn't so bad. We were told to buy 1st class tickets as it might be safer. The photo below is a first class car. We were told not to take out our camera either, but I obvious did. :)
The 1st and 3rd class trains are in effect, the same. the price difference is negligible, and the separation of them comes from the age of apartheid, when blacks could only take the 3rd class train. ~ there are no fans, A/C, in the cars, there is no garbage bin, but plenty of garbage on the floor, and they DON'T announce the stations, so you have to strain to look out the window or miss your stop.
I have to thank our friends not only in regards to the train, but overall for looking out for us. Part of why we made it back, is because they were always on the look out for dangers. I think that the train is safe if you take it in the day, and you watch your back, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be.
# posted by jason @ 1:40 AM 
