Graskop

On the second day of our South Africa trip, we left the Peech Hotel early in the morning and drove about 40km to Pretoria, South Africa's capital city. We visited the Royal Thai Embassy to meet with a friend who educated us about South Africa and the Thai community in this country. At the moment, the embassy is overlooking about 2,000 Thai's who reside here. We also learned that imports of Thai women for prostitution is a very big problem because the immigration process in South Africa is not very strict (we came without a visa- we only needed to present our Thai passport at customs). Many Thai women have been tricked into coming here to work as a “Thai masseuse” or as a cook in Thai restaurant but ended up being sold for prostitution. The embassy works on cases like this everyday.

Thai Royal Embassy in Pretoria:


After lunch in Pretoria, we drove over 250 km east to a cute small town called “Dullstroom.” We stopped to have coffee at a beautiful restaurant/pub. We made friend with the owner of a souvenir store who also owns a florist in town. He brought us to his house across the street and gave us seeds of South African Clivia By the time we were ready to get back on the road (with about 80 km to go), we were already an hour behind schedule. Our destination for tonight is a small town called “Graskop.” From Dullstroom, we drove past Lydenburg to Sabie—this was supposed to be one of the most scenic route we'd take this entire trip, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Layers of mountains and canyons dramatically emerged as we drove up and down hills and valleys. The backdrop of blue sky became orange, pink, purple, and grey before everything turned pitch black when the sun finally set.

Coffee stop in Dullstroom:

Our original plan was to stop and do some shopping in Sabie, which is known to have a lot of exotic and colorful stones. We had also planned to visit many waterfalls in Graskop before checking in to the hotel, but we couldn't do any of that because we were running really late. Once in Graskop, we checked in at the Graskop hotel (which appeared to be the only hotel in town). The hotel was packed with french-speaking tourists when we arrived. The dining room was full, so they had to set up a dining table for us in the reading room (which was nice because it had a good view of the garden outside). The food left much to be desired, but I've discovered that I really like South African wine. We had a bottle of cabernet sauvignon shiraz, and it hit the spot. I usually am not a big fan of red wine, but South African red wines do not have an appalling strong kick like most other red wines—it's smooth and has a pleasant aged aroma and lasting aftertaste. I drank so much wine that I got more than a little tipsy. When we headed back to our hotel rooms, it took me a few tries to put the key in the keyhole.

Pictures of Graskop hotel:

That pretty much sums it up for today's journey, but I want to touch a little bit on Graskop. It is a very small town, and it is known for flyfishing, having many beautiful waterfalls, and for being a neighbor town of Pilgrim's Rest, a more touristy miner's town (more on that later). Graskop's main street only stretches for a couple hundred meters with small retail stores, art galleries, a hotel, and a famous pancake restaurant on the two sides. It is dead quiet at night, but street vendors flock the sidewalks during the day, selling African crafts. Graskop very much reminds me of a small town in an old Western movie. It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, and the road that leads into and out of it stretches far into nothingness.

The town of Graskop: