Posted on
2 September 2010
Travel
For those that know me, I love traveling. So when I heard a whole bunch of my mates were heading to Phuket for 10 nights I jumped at the opportunity to join them!
We found a fantastic deal from Thompsons Tours for 10 nights, bed & breakfast, including flights from JHB to Phuket for R6900. That very same deal is still available from Computicket Travel for R7299pp.
10 nights, 10 mates, Baht, beer and beaches!
Phuket and the surrounding islands of Thailand are amazing. There is so much to do and see and it really does cater for everyone. From the couple of honeymoon who just want to chill and enjoy the sun and sand to the groups of friends who want to party!
I made notes every day on my iPhone just to document the holiday. Makes for some good memories when I come back to read it! These daily notes might not make sense to all of you, but they do to all of us that where there!
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Posted on
19 June 2010
Personal
With all the buzz in and around the World Cup, I’m trying to soak up as much of the experience as possible. So when I heard about Nu Metro showing some of the games in 3D I was pretty excited to go and watch!
The 3D soccer experience at Nu Metro is a complete letdown and here is why
Firstly we arrived 10 minutes early for the game and after waiting in line for 15 minutes for their 1 cashier to help everyone, we eventually got into the cinema 5 minutes after the game had started. Strike 1.
Secondly, I’m paying R100 a ticket to watch the game. I would expect at that price the 3D glasses to be free but you have to buy them for R5. They have these signs up that says you saving the planet by bringing your own but I don’t buy that.
I think tickets should be R100 and if you bring your own 3D glasses you should get R10 – R15 discount. Also, perfectly timed, they only started implementing this rule from the 18th of June – the day they started showing the games in 3D. Strike 2.
Lastly and probably the most important part of the entire 3D experience – there is no commentary! You won’t believe the difference commentary makes to sport. No matter how entertaining a game is, without commentary you lose at least 40% of the fun. My wife loves soccer as much as I do, but she actually left at half time to rather go shop than watch the rest of the Netherlands vs Japan game. Strike 3.
So if you planning on going to watch a game in 3D at Nu Metro, rather find one of the Sony 3D exhibition stands during the World Cup and catch a few minutes of that experience. Don’t waste R100 to watch a game without commentary and where you walk out feeling ripped off.
Posted on
17 June 2010
South Africa Sport
All 32 teams at the 2010 FIFA World Cup have all played their opening fixtures and are swiftly moving on to their 2nd games. It hasn’t been the most entertaining World Cup, but trust me, the great games and goals are all yet to come. When you playing to progress to the next round and you have nothing to lose, that’s when games get really exciting!
Some stats and observations from the opening round of fixtures
- 25 goals in 16 games. Less than 2 goals a game!
- 4 red cards
- Biggest win was by Germany. 4-0 thumping of Australia
- Upset of the tournament so far: Switzerland beating the favourites Spain 1-0!
- Goal of the 1st round: It’s a toss up between Tshabalala’s break away goal against Mexico and Maicon’s goal for Brazil
Germany are looking really good after their win, alongside Brazil, Argentina and Holland who also racked up early wins. It’s still early days and the only team struggling is Spain. No team has ever lost their opening fixture and gone onto win the World Cup.
Expect more goals in the 2nd round of fixtures as teams try to make up for their earlier mistakes if they made any in hope of progressing to the last 16!
Posted on
14 June 2010
South Africa Sport
Day 3 definitely belonged to the Germans. Sure the Australians were rubbish, but the way the Germans ran the show with crisp passing and goal scoring currently puts them as the strongest team that we have seen play in the 2010 World Cup.
Australian keeper getting beaten. Again.
Second to that, Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 with a well taken penalty to give Africa its first win of the tournament! One thing to note in this game was the way to ref and linesman communicated to give the handball penalty. The ref never saw it, but with the intervention of the linesman over their walkie-talkie system, he was able to get the call correct.
Lastly, Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0 with another goalkeeping mistake. Looks like Group C is the group where the goalies are taking the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. One thing I must say is both Algeria and Slovenia look pretty ordinary and shouldn’t pose much of a threat to England. England just need to get their ducks in a row!
So that’s it for Day 3. Not too much excitement other than the 4 goal blitz of the Socceroos by Ze Germans.
Posted on
13 June 2010
South Africa Sport
I’ll do this post as a bunch of lists. Maybe make it easier for everyone to read?
So here is Day 2 of the 2010 World Cup as experienced by me:
South Korea vs Greece
- The South Korean’s, now called ninjas by myself, looked pretty impressive.
- That being said, Greece are useless, so maybe the ninjas still need to prove themselves.
- How bad are Greece? Still haven’t scored a goal in a World Cup.
Final score: 2-0 to the ninjas!
I didn’t catch much of the match as I had one eye on the rugby, with South Africa totally destroying France at Newlands in Cape Town.
Argentina vs Nigeria
- Messi has officially turned up at the World Cup. He, like Ronaldo, usually under perform when playing for their country, but today Messi was wearing his Barcelona boots.
- The Nigerian keeper, Enyeama, had a great game. It looked like the Messi vs Enyeama show and the winner on the night? Enyeama. How he managed to keep Messi from scoring only the footballing gods will know.
- How awesome is it to have the legendary Maradona at this World Cup? I’m telling you now he is wearing an Argentinian kit underneath his suit and if his team are down a goal with 5 minutes to play, I wouldn’t bet against him whipping off his suit Superman style and taking the field!
- Argentina are officially my 2nd favourite team to take the World Cup.
- Nigeria are a solid side, but I don’t see them offering much at this World Cup. I think the likes of Cameroon or Ivory Coast will have the best showing of an African nation.
Final score: Argentina 1 – 0 Nigeria
England vs USA
This was going to be a huge match for me. It’s the opening of England’s World Cup campaign and will be the only group match that I won’t be watching England live. The yanks look a decent side and definitely worthy of pulling of an upset in this World Cup.
We headed down to the V&A Waterfront to catch the game with throngs of US and English supporters at the make-shift Dubliner pub. The atmosphere inside was awesome and the English definitely know how to shut up the opposition supporters in song.
- England had their chances to win the game, but with the number of mistakes made (not only at the back) a draw seemed a fair result.
- Capello made some tough selection calls that back-fired. Milner was clearly not feeling well and subbed after 30min and King can’t finish 90 minutes of football. As a defender, that is a prerequisite!
- BP have actually employed Robert Green to plug the oil spill in the gulf. See how swimmingly well that is going?!
- Gerrard should of been made captain long time ago. He was all over the park, making tackles, attacking and even scored after 5 minutes.
- Heskey had a decent game, but once again has shown what a blunt pencil in front of goal he is. We need goalscorers up front. Why not play Rooney up front with Gerrard just off him?
- I love the England football supporters. So much pride and history instilled in all of them. I wish SA had more of a history in sport – although we busy creating it we speak!
Final score: England 1 – 1 USA.
One last thing. Do you wonder why Americans have this preconceived misconceptions about Africa and that animals roam wild in our streets and back yards? Blame idiots that tweet things like this:
“Thirty minutes before departure the police are going to check the route of the team bus to make sure it is clear of elephants.” – This was tweeted by the official US Soccer Twitter account. Unbelievable.
So day 2 was pretty action packed and with Sunday’s big game only being Germany vs Australia, I’ll make the next post short and sweet. :)
