{"id":244,"date":"2005-05-28T23:30:58","date_gmt":"2005-05-28T23:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/blog\/2005\/05\/28\/two-oceans-and-many-cultures\/"},"modified":"2005-05-28T23:30:58","modified_gmt":"2005-05-28T23:30:58","slug":"two-oceans-and-many-cultures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/2005\/05\/two-oceans-and-many-cultures\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Oceans and Many Cultures"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December of last year, I posted a short piece on this blog entitled \u2018Of Mice and Men<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 In it, I\u2019d described how I was able to successfully manage a portfolio at work – Rewards & Recognition – in which I had no prior experience.\u00a0 The most significant deliverable within it was the planning and execution of an International event for a distinguished group of about 100 key employees and partners, in Thailand.<\/p>\n

The second such event, and my last one for some time to come, would be in South Africa.\u00a0 It was to be my last project in that role, for soon I was to move to a new assignment.\u00a0 And, this time, every little aspect of it assumed a larger magnitude – the attendees were more in number and even more distinguished, the duration was longer and the itinerary more grandiose, and I\u2019d never been to the destination before so couldn\u2019t know just what to expect.<\/p>\n

For a good part of the past two months or so, I have been toiling away at the details of the event, attending to the thousand and one things that come up in any such tour.\u00a0 In retrospect, I don\u2019t think any <\/em>thing could have prepared me adequately for the breathtaking experience that lay in store for me!<\/p>\n

I am happy to report that the event went off successfully, and that general feedback was that people had the time of their lives.\u00a0 Of course, the feather in the cap was nothing in the planned itinerary, but Cape Town itself!<\/p>\n

Often described as a place where \u2018Two Oceans and Many Cultures meet\u2019, Cape Town is endowed with natural beauty unlike any other. I can write endlessly on the simplest, most beautiful, experiences of my time in Cape Town.\u00a0 Here are just a few glimpses :<\/p>\n

Cape Town boasts of a buzzing commercial harbour, and the very well-developed Victoria & Alfred Waterfront – the hub of activity for shoppers and loafers alike.\u00a0 The elegantly-designed Table Bay Hotel, where we were put up, is linked directly to the famous Victoria Mall by an internal escalator!<\/p>\n

A short ride to the top of Signal Hill offered me a bird\u2019s eye view of Robben Island – the island prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 18 years.\u00a0 While, the cable-car ride to the top of Table Bay mountain was an experience in itself.<\/p>\n

After sampling some ostrich meat at Moyo\u2019s we also made a trip to the wineyards of Spier and Blauwklippen – a journey that transported us to a completely different world.\u00a0 I also made the acquaintance of some South African penguins at Boulder Beach – known to be one of only 3 colonies anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Finally, on our way to Cape Point, we drove past tall mountains overlooking the Atlantic and met some seals at Hout Bay.\u00a0 En route, we also passed quaint little towns like Fish Hoek, not to mention lush, green, golf courses by the sea side!\u00a0 Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed taking the funicular to the lighthouse for a stunning view of that world renowned landmark – the Cape of Good Hope.<\/p>\n

By the end of the week, I was wishing the dream would never end!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December of last year, I posted a short piece on this blog entitled ‘Of Mice and Men’. In it, I’d described how I’d taken up a role in which I had no prior experience. And, how I had managed to emerge successful in spite of the odds. This is my last week on the job, managing that role. And, it culminated in an event of even larger magnitude – in Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-travel"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}