Day 5 - April 5, 2010
Johannesburg – Soweto
Soweto stands for South Western Township, and is the home to
nearly 3 million people who live in a variety of shacks, “Mandela” homes, and
other encampments. Soweto is considered
by many to be the heart of South Africa and was the home of many key events during
the apartheid years.
Our tour began at 8:30am, as we travelled in the light rain. Our goal was to tour Nelson Mandela’s child
hood home and the Hector Pieterson museum before our 12:00 basketball
clinic. Strike one and strike two. It was Easter Monday and our guide did not
know that both museums would be closed due to the holiday. Not to fear, I’d been to both before, and
luckily we found another place which was open.
The Catholic Church named Regina Mundi (Queen of the World). This church was a safe haven during the
apartheid years and many political protests organized by the students of South
Africa originated behind its’ walls.
With a seating and standing room capacity of over 5,000 people one can only
imagine the energy that came between its’ stained glass windows. We walked the same altar as Nelson Mandela,
Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton and even Whoopi Goldberg (in Sarafina – a movie
which depicted the student uprisings in Soweto). Our tour guide also pointed out the dozens of
bullet holes that were found in the ceiling of the church, remnants of the
guards storming into the church during the apartheid years.
We finished our tour and headed to the Grace Bible Church to begin
our first clinic of the trip. With 52
boys and girls aged 14-19, we had our hands full in a gym with only two
baskets. We managed to make use of every
square inch and put the kids through some fun and informative stations. After the clinic we played a game versus the
Gauteng Under 18 team. Gauteng is the
name of the province that Johannesburg lies within. We managed to pull out a 1 point victory in a
sloppily played game. It was nearing 4pm
and we were headed back to the hotel.
It is now just past the midway point in the trip and the kids are
in need of a second wind. We’ve been
pushing them hard, keeping them busy and thus an early night with nothing
scheduled is a much needed break in the action for them. They all grabbed some dinner on their own and
headed for an early somber. Tomorrow we
would leave for safari, a day that everyone is really looking forward to.
Day 4 - April 4, 2010
Johannesburg
Arriving in a different continent, some 7,000 miles away nothing
sounds better than going to your hotel and showering before you begin your
day. Unfortunately, due to our early
morning arrival (6:30am), it was not possible to check in to our hotel and thus
we began our day a bit grimy, unshaven (except for Kyle’s peach fuzz) and ready
to go see some sights.
Our tour guide, Tanya, did an excellent job of pointing out the
relevant information as we drove the 30 minutes to Gold Reef City, the home of
an African amusement park which sat on an old gold mine. We first needed a quick detour as many of us
were starving and so we saw the golden arches just 2 blocks from the park’s
entrance and it was Egg McMuffins for everyone! Many of us also used this time to change
from our plane gear to some clothing more suitable for the 80 degree weather
that met us in Johannesburg.
So after enjoying our meal and changing our clothes, we were now
ready to explore Gold Reef City.
Johannesburg is a city with an elevation 5751 feet, which makes it
nearly 500 feet higher than Denver, so maybe that explains the intensity of the
sun, the shortness of breath and quick to tire feeling that many of us
experienced. Johannesburg is a city of
over 10 million people and is the largest city in the world not settled on a
river, lake or coastline. Why on earth
do so many people live here you ask?
Well it all started with the discovery of gold some 120 years ago. People poured into the area and turned an
otherwise dusty plain into a thriving metropolis.
Gold Reef City is set on an old gold mine and provides an
interactive experience as you travel some 700 feet into the middle of an old
gold mine. Being under the earth in 6
foot high tunnels is quite an experience and the fact that we would read about
the mine tragedies in West Virginia and China in the days to follow only
intensified the gratitude that we made it out alive. We explored the theme park a bit, went on a
few rides, waited in some slow moving lines… the Africans haven’t quite
mastered the art of moving people quickly through lines.
After the park we walked across the street to the Apartheid
Museum. This museum is a historical peak
into the times of apartheid and was a real eye opener for most of us, and for
many of the kids who were born after apartheid ended in 1994, an introduction
to one of the darkest periods of South African history. After 90 minutes at the museum the kids were
thoroughly exhausted and we were done touring for the day and thus we went to
our hotel to check-in, clean up and get some dinner.
Our hotel was conveniently located right across the street from
Nelson Mandela Square, which is located in the high end suburb of Sandton. The square features restaurants for every
taste bud and the kids choose accordingly.
After dinner, the jet lag struck and I don’t think there was an open eye
after 9pm.
Our first day in Africa was exhausting and enlightening and we
knew that the real journey would begin in the morning.
Day 3 - April 3, 2010
Hong Kong
Tonight we would be departing from Hong Kong so our goal was to
try and fit in as many things as possible before our 7:30pm departure to the
airport. We once again let the kids
sleep in a bit and after a 10am breakfast we boarded the subway for our 30 minute
trip to the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car.
After standing in line for another 30 minutes we boarded the cable car
for the nearly 4 mile trek over water, mountains and valleys. Half of our group upgraded to the “Crystal
Cabin” which features a glass floor which only heightens the experience of
being up to 400 feet above the water below.
I didn’t tell any of our group that just 2 years ago, a cable car hopped
off the cable and plunged 150 feet into the hillside….didn’t want to scare
anybody!
The ride took about 20 minutes to complete and we dodged
raindrops, fog and a peeking sun throughout the journey. The final destination was the Po Lin
monastery and the Giant Buddha statue… and the tourist town that they have
developed to help fund both attractions.
Our first destination was the Giant Buddha. Said to be the largest outdoor, seated Buddha
in the world, we hiked the 268 steps to the top of the hill where Buddha
overlooked the surrounding countryside.
Quite an impressive figure, at nearly 150 feet high, the Buddha weighs
over 250 tons and took nearly 10 years to complete.
We then quickly walked to the Po Lin Monastery which is located
about ¼ mile from the Buddha. The smell
of incense instantly overtakes you with incense stands (similar to fireworks
stands) lining the courtyard leading to the monastery. We entered the monastery, which was built in
1906, and passed a huge alter with various gold figures of gods and gifts from
the visitors. As you enter the main
building you see three huge bronze statues of the Buddha which represent his
past, present and future. For most of
our group it was their first time in a Buddhist monastery and thus a very
educational moment.
From the top of the mountain we were originally scheduled to visit
a traditional Chinese fishing village, but due to time restraints, and the fact
that we didn’t want to miss our flight, we headed down the mountain, this time
be a spectacularly scenic bus ride. The
30 minute ride took us by picturesque beaches (with accompanying shark nets) to
prevent the swimmers from being turned into a meal. We also passed small towns, parks, schools
and the occasional wayward cow grazing on the side of the road. The bus road proved to be a journey into life
outside the lights of Hong Kong and a good opportunity for us to observe. We reached the end of our bus journey and
hopped back on the MTR for our trip back to our hotel, to grab our bags, eat
some dinner and then jump on board our airport shuttle.
Our shuttle arrived at 7:30 and after 40 minutes or so we arrived
at Hong Kong International airport with plenty of time to prepare for our
11:30pm departure to Johannesburg. After
the slowest check-in in the history of Cathay Pacific, thanks June – she liked
to double check and triple check every key stroke, passenger name, destination,
and seemingly everything else. No joke,
it took her 40 minutes to check in our 13 passengers and we were her only
customers. Cathay might be getting a
letter on this one!
Boarding passes were finally received, bags were checked through
to Joburg and we made it through security.
The kids were then given their meal money and thus the exploration of
one of the world’s great airports was to begin.
With every type of meal possible, several opted for one last chance at
the traditional Chinese, while others opted for something a little more
Western. One thing for sure, no one was
eager for another 12+ hour flight… but as we all know to get from Asia to
Africa isn’t that easy!
Another day in the crazy city of Hong Kong began with a
Day 2 - April 2, 2010
Hong Kong
Today began with a much needed 11am lunch. The kids needed
to get some sleep so we gave them a few extra hours and they were very
appreciative. Our lunch began at a Chinese version of fast food. Most
of us had some type of noodle with chicken, toast, and maybe a scrambled egg.
It was cheap, it was tasty, and we were the only non-locals eating
there... always a good sign.
On our schedule today was our first game on Asian soil in the
history of the 1 Dream Foundation. Through the powers of Facebook, we
were able to connect with Nike's head of marketing in Hong Kong, and he was
able to organize a competition for us against the U-18 Nike sponsored club team
which are the best team here in Hong Kong. Upon arrival we saw 4 boxes of
shoes and we through we really had scored and maybe this would be our welcome
gift to their country. I guess not... right before the game began all of
their players were given the brand new, KOBE, shoes with a crazy colorway and
they were now ready.
The coach of the locals was very interested in practicing with our
team. He wanted to practice for 2 hours together and then play a game for
2 hours. I politely had to use the jet lag excuse in telling him that
there is no way that our 7 players would be able to last for 4 hours on the
court... soft Americans I guess. We compromised with 60 minutes of
practice followed by our game. We did some drills, tried to figure out
how to communicate with each other, as only 2 or 3 of their guys spoke English
and developed some good friendships during our afternoon on the court.
The game began and we were jumped on early by our hosts.
They could play! Making three pointer after three pointer we found
ourselves down by 10-15 points for the majority of the game... but low and
behold, just like a great NBA team, we made our run when it mattered most and
outscored them by 16 in the fourth quarter to pull away with a 70-66 victory.
A good way to start the trip. After several photos, exchanging of
emails, and lots of smiles and hand shakes we headed back to our hotel to
shower up for our night on the town.
We once again hopped on the hotel shuttle bus and rode down to the
harbor. We then boarded the world famous Star Ferry for the 10 minute and
30 cent voyage across the harbor. The ride across the harbor is pretty
crazy with boats dodging each other constantly and the enormous skylines
dwarfing over you.
Upon docking in Central Hong Kong, we walked about 1/2 a mile to
hop on the double decker tram that curls through most of Hong Kong Island.
These trams are OLD, the ceilings are LOW and the seats are
UNCOMFORTABLE. But life is truly about the journey and hopping on these
trams is like jumping back 50 years in history. After 20 minutes on the
tram, we hopped off in the Times Square area of town. Although there was
no big apples dropping from the sky, the crowds of people were very similar to
it's NYC counterpart. There were stores everywhere, hoards of people, and
we were starving. After unsuccessfully trying to find a more authentic
restaurant, we settled for a hamburger restaurant and we enjoyed our dinner
immensely. It was now nearly 9pm and most of us were dragging. We
hopped back on the MTR and made our way back to our hotel.
We had some technical difficulties with the broadcast tonight...
which in reality only means that the kids were supposed to wake up at 11:30pm
and put on the show, but they slept through their alarms. Beauty sleep
was more important I guess !
We're headed to the largest Buddha in the outdoor world tomorrow
and we'll be sure to rub his belly if at all possible!
Day 1 - April 1, 2010
San Francisco - Hong Kong
After departing from San Francisco at 1:20am on March 31st, we
enjoyed spending our entire Wednesday on our airline as we endured a 15 hour
flight across the Pacific before landing in an overcast Hong Kong at 7:20am
local time. Most of the kids were able to get a few hours sleep on the
packed flight, while a few seemed to rather enjoy watching every movie and tv
show offered on the in flight entertainment system. So, upon landing
there were the refreshed and there were the exhausted... little did they know
that we had at least 5 miles of walking in 95% humidity ahead of them.
We made it through immigration relatively unscathed, although John
Mahoney did get taken to a "back" office for a few questions... John
is one of the more menacing looking people that you might know, so none of us
were surprised by this event. After 10 minutes answering questions about
his reasons for being in Hong Kong, John was released and joined us at baggage
claim to pick up our 21 pieces of luggage.
We collected our luggage and proceeded through customs and found
our bus operator who would drive us the 40 minutes to our hotel, the Hotel
Royal Plaza. It was a pretty uneventful drive except for Kyle Clement who
was like a little kid at Christmas, taking pictures of every single thing that
he could. He has a "real" camera as opposed to most of our
cheap little digitals from Best Buy, but unfortunately Kyle's camera makes an
annoying "beep-click" noise every time he closes the shutter.
After photo 230, this got pretty annoying and we almost had to throw
Kyle's camera out the window!
We finally arrived at the hotel and checked into our rooms.
We had about two hours to shower, take a little nap and get settled
before embarking on our day-long walking tour of Hong Kong. 11:30am was
our departure time, and surprisingly nobody was late and thus we were on our
way. First stop was the MTR (metro) station as we would buy the tourist
1-day pass which would enable us unlimited travel on the MTR system.
Hong Kong subways are extremely clean and void of any type of
graffiti, trash or unsavory characters. Subway stations here do not have
restrooms which is an interesting fun fact of the day. After about 15
minutes and a couple of transfers we realized a few things. First, we
realized that the subway cars are not made for tall Americans. With a
ceiling height of about 6'5", several in our group banged their heads
constantly. We also learned that when the beeping begins, you better
start pushing your way either in or out of the train so you get where you need
to be. Otherwise, the doors will close on you!
Upon our arrival in Central Hong Kong, our plan was simple... we
wanted to find a bank to change our money and we wanted to find some lunch.
The bank task was accomplished within the first 5 minutes as there were
banks everywhere. While at the bank, a few of the nice locals who worked
there suggested a restaurant where we could have the famous bbq'd goose.
They gave us directions and a map that was written in Chinese and we were
on our way. After an hour, we were still on our way, completely lost and
we decided that eating those geese, would have to happen another day. We
found a little pizza parlor and enjoyed our first real meal in 2 days.
After lunch we continued walking and made our way toward the
infamous Snake Shop. Hidden down an alley, you see two cages in the front
area with two small snakes... we knew we had arrived. We were the only
customers in the 12x20 foot shop that afternoon and the 5 Chinese employees
spoke 1 word of English, "200" which was the price of their
"service". The store was filled with 50+ wood drawers.
Within these drawers were snakes, the snake "man" would simply
open up a drawer and pull out a few snakes for us to take a look at and
ultimately select for their "service". We had two brave people
in our group that decided to fork over the 200 HK Dollars and they selected
their snakes. What happened next is not for the faint of heart.
The snake man pulled out his knife and withdrew the gallbladder for the
snake and emptied it into a small little bowl. Added to the bowl was some
Chinese wine, the concoction was mixed together and then our two brave souls
drank it. Not for the squeamish, that is for sure, but the Chinese
profess the healing powers of the snake innards, and if you would have seen the
people working in the snake shop, average age of 80, you would think that maybe
they were right. Some great photos and stories for sure from those 20
minutes with the snake people.
We continued our walk, metro and taxi ride and ended up at the
Peak Tram. This is a funicular which takes you up to the top of Victoria
Peak, travelling up the mountain at a nearly 45 degree angle. After the
15 minute ride to the top, we were literally on top of the world... or at least
the top of Hong Kong. Although it was an overcast day, the views were amazing
and postcard worthy. We walked around the peak for 30 minutes and then
hopped back on the funicular for the ride back down the mountain. We then
hopped in 3 taxis and made our way back to the subway station for the return
trip to our hotel.
Our evening on the town began with a bus ride to the harbor front
area of Kowloon, where we watched the world famous Symphony of Lights.
This is a light show which incorporates 50 or so skyscrapers on both
sides of the harbor. It was an interesting show, more geared for people
who are amused by lights going on and off and synthesized music... not really
our groups cup of tea, but a good thing to check off of our list.
We then hopped back on the MTR (subway) and exited at the Temple
Street Market. This is another huge walking street with shopping, food,
and people everywhere. We found a nice outdoor restaurant and we all
enjoyed some good Chinese food. After filling our tummies, we walked
through all of the stalls of products, searching for the most authentic of
knockoff items. The Vans were pretty rough replicas, the Ed Hardy gear
was much better and those gold Rolex's could have fooled the most posh of
customers.
We were worn out and ready to get some sleep, so we hopped on our
taxis and returned to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Day 1 in Hong
Kong was now complete.