A hard lesson in geography. Going to South Africa via Singapore may be cheaper but it's a lot longer than flying directly to Jhb from Sydney or Perth! Getting to Cape Town from Cairns took 2 hours from Cairns to Brisbane + 2 hours wait in Brisbane + 8 hours Brisbane to Singapore + 4 hours wait in Singapore, and now 12 hours from Singapore to Cape Town. As I'm writing this, we are 5 hours into this last flight, in a cabin full of howling babies. My watch says 8.30 am, which is Cairns time but it's 10.30 pm SA time.
Two features stand out from the past 24 hours: spending and drinking. Spending started before we'd even left Cairns when a lady at the airport persuaded me to buy a bright yellow T Shirt. I have only ever had one yellow shirt in my life, a much less strident yellow, and it didn't really suit me, so I'm not sure what's changed now - maybe my old and grey colouring. I also spent money downloading 3 games for my iPhone - Ronaldo, Flight Control and a Lemmings rip off called KamiCrazy.
At Brisbane airport I bought a G & T - my drink of preference on long flights, and Nicky bought some scones. The spending ball really started rolling at Singapore Airport. We bought a swim in the airport pool for $28 (not that nice because it's on the roof and far from warm), and $26 each on a massage (definitely worth it). Other purchases included socks (though it turns out these are supplied by the airline), a very soft "I Love Singapore" travel cushion, a bowl of onion soup for me, and a bowl of chicken and rice porridge for Nicky.
My drinks log for the day included that first very welcome G & T, 2 glasses of wine, 1 Bailey's on ice, and a Singapore Sling.
On the Brisbane/Singapore leg I watched a reasonable French Film called Affair du Coeur starring Kristin Scott Thomas, which was about corporate power play between 2 women.
I then switched continents to Asia represented by an excellent Korean Film called Poetry, which won the best screenplay award at Cannes this year.
At the beginning of the film an elegant and dignified old lady called Yang Mija, grandmother and guardian to a 15 year old boy, is seeing a doctor because of her forgetfulness (later confirmed as Alzheimers). While at the hospital she sees an ambulance bring in the body of a teenage girl who has drowned herself. The girl was in the grandson's class at school. Mija later learns that her grandson and 5 other boys had been raping the girl over a period of 6 months. The fathers of the other boys want to pay off the girl's mother, but the amount required is unaffordable for Mija.
She lives on a pension supplemented by working as a carer for an old disabled man twice a week. He has obviously had a stroke but has acquired some Viagra and asks the grandmother to oblige him one last time. At first she is appalled & refuses but then she agrees in order to get her share of the money to pay off the mother of the dead girl.
Concurrently with these dramas, Mija starts attending poetry writing classes. The teacher emphasizes "seeing things" and seeing beauty. There are classes and readings, and self-explorations amongst the other poetry writers - which is a huge contrast to all the dark aspects in Mija's life. A beautifully written, directed and acted film.
The good thing about long flights is that there is plenty of time for multiple activities. Apart from watching movies, I also nearly finished a fasincating novel called "The White woman on a green bicycle" by Monique Roffey. Set in Trinidad, this is an unconventional relationship story played out against the fascinating historical backdrop of Trinidad's Independence.
Anti Malaria tablets are not available over the counter anymore, so we had to make a doctor's appointment to get a prescription. Crazy. This is in preparation for our trip to Vic Falls on the 27th.
