The Fam's Visit

For those of you who don't know, my father and oldest younger brother, James, just finished a visit to South Africa and Lesotho. As I'm sure they and many people who know them will be reading this post, I'll not leave any stone unturned.

Their trip began with a mistake. I had reserved a room at the four star Garden Court O.R. Tambo Southern Sun International Hotel instead of the five star O.R. Tambo Intercontinental Sun International Hotel. It could have been worse, as there were also the Garden Court Southern Sun and the O.R. Tambo Southern Sun, both of which were four star and further than either of the previous two. Confused? I was too.

Dad complained a bit as four stars were one star short of his standards. My reservation was pre-paid whereas his was post, and I (he in this case) would have had to pay for both rooms if we stayed at the five star. I didn't see much sense in it, even if it was his money. Our hotel was Hyatt quality anyway, so what's the big deal Mr. Prada sun glasses and huge "G" gucci belt? He didn't argue too much in reality, but for the rest of the evening his perturbation was evident.

We managed to get a car in Joburg despite almost every place being booked. Jane Calyxtus Jane, Jeffrey Maguire, James Maguire, and ... James Maguire (forgive their lack of creativity in naming, they've been resting on their creative laurels since Adam Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations.") set out on their four-ish hour journey to Maseru, Lesotho. The roads were great, the directions fairly good, and the road munchies typical. We arrived at the border just as it was getting dark.

Crossing the border was fairly uneventful with the exception of a torrential downpour which caused us minor distress. We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant in our hotel. That may have seemed strange to you that our hotel offered Chinese cuisine. The Chinese have invested heavily in sub-Saharan Africa and they own all of the clothing factories here in Lesotho. As a result, I don't go a day without seeing more Chinese than whites and there are a considerable number who are here semi-permanently in the hotels. During the meal when the Chinese manager walked over to bring a plate to us, I thanked her in Mandarin Chinese. She said in english "You speak Chinese?" and I responded in Chinese appropriately. After we finished our small conversation (I'm not great and a month out of practice!), my father called me a show-off. He wasn't totally wrong, but I was also eager to speak some Chinese again.

We finished our meal, which Jane found a bit strange..especially the egg rolls. We took him home and my father saw their home for the first time. By Lesotho standards it isn't a bad house, but by my father's standards it wasn't up to snuff. We met the family and exchanged a few words in English as the mother hardly speaks any. It was late so we left and went back to the palatial edifice we called our hotel. More to come later...