The Johannesburg Nightlife

The Johannesburg Nightlife

Most of us in South Africa sound like a bunch of old folks when we talk wistfully of the good times we had during the SoccerWorld Cup, which was less than a year ago. Joburg turned into a serious party town and my friends, family and I were all over it. My house was like a hotel, with people staying from the US and Zimbabwe; I had bodies sleeping all over the place. There wasn't a party I missed, from Fashion Week to the opening of Soul Lounge when the whole of Naija turned up in Sandton. My girl Bonang and I drank so much champagne at Signature Restaurant, the owner Desmond owes us a free bottle or two. In fact we were such regulars there and at his other pricey restaurant, Wall Street, he really ought to give us some freebies. We were all over the clubs, especially Zar which was always packed and full of international stars.

But alas, now I was home last night, a Saturday night and all I did was sit in front of the TV and watch the South African Music Awards. Luckily I've got good friends who all came round so I can never be lonely for too long. My cousin Mukai, his friend Kuda, my girl B and Marco from Ruffcuts all came over for some Nandos take-out dinner and vino. Really, Joburg is getting old. Once you've been to Moloko a few times you know everybody there, Taboo down the road is cool but lacks flavour, Sankayi is ok occasionally but overrun by ladies of the night. I live in Sandton, which is close to everything but where to go now? I moved into my cluster home in March 2009 and two months later they opened the new Morningside shopping centre nearby, which is a Godsend. There are so many restaurants and places to lounge, we can have a good time and go home around the corner without having to deal with the Johannesburg Metro Police Dept cops who are always out soliciting bribes along Rivonia Road. In fact, my friend B and I are so well-known at Morningside mall, we are like an institution there. Usually it is brunch on Sundays at Tasha's or lunch at Pomodoro where Bonang and the manager are seriously infatuated with one another. When I'm with her, I have never seen such service! Occasionally we will do Tsunami, or if it's a hot date, then Signature is the place to be. I like Cup Coffee Shop or The Bread Basket for quick business meetings. We have conducted many a romance at Morningside Shopping Centre. It's also useful for the hair salon, nail salon, pharmacy, supermarket and the video club, the latter for when my social life is at a dead end.

I'm the consummate hostess; I love to entertain. When friends and family are visiting I will throw a dinner party, a BBQ or an all out reveller at the house. My parties are legendary. Nobody can ever forget my housewarming party of June 2009 which had 4 world-class DJs and ended at 4.30am when I finally felt pity for my neighbours and told the last DJ to shut it down. Then there was the BBQ of August 2009 for a friend's birthday and my cousins visiting from the UK where the shenanigans resulted in the ending of at least one marriage. The World Cup party of June 2010 was relatively tame because I was mindful of the neighbours but there were at least 60 people in the house and the garden. My last bash was about a month and a half ago when my girl Amina was visiting from Harare. We went all out and had three DJs. My poor friends are called in to volunteer even though they are highly-markatable DJs, I never pay anyone! My lovely friend from Cape Town Gwen sent 4 crates of wine and even though the party lasted two days, we never ran out of drinks. The party started on a Friday night, started again the Saturday morning and only ended on the Sunday because I had to leave to go to Harare! Oh well, I'm a people-person and it's that African hospitality. Take a look at the photos from that gig!

My Vacations in Africa

My vacations in Africa                                                      After living in the US for 10 years, and previously having lived in France and the UK for a year respectively, nothing makes me happier than vacationing in Africa. It's nothing to take a one hour flight from Johannesburg to Maputo so some place close by where I can just relax on the beach and enjoy my food and drink. This year alone I've been to Maputo (red bathing suit in the middle) and Lagos (white bathing suit in the pictures) once. I should work for Nigerian tourism, the way I go on about Nigeria. I think Lagos has the best clubs in the world. The amount of champagne I have consumed in La Casa, Excel and Auto Lounge in obscene. I also love, love Accra! Lake Malawi also has an amazing beach. Life is good in Africa I wish I could take a weekend getaway every month. Even the landlocked countries like Zimbabwe have something to be said for them because life is so easy. I was in Victoria Falls last year and it is still Tourist Heaven. I haven't been to Lusaka for year but I remember the nightlife rocks. My friends who work in peacekeeping for the UN in the DRC tell me that Kinshasa rocks!

The problem with me is that I'm a shopaholic. If I'm let loose in New York, London, Dubai or

somewhere similar, all I do is shop and I never relax. So I don't call that a vacation when I am running around shopping, doing cultural things or seeing people. Vacationing in the West is not conducive to relaxation. I'm off to Europe and the US for a month in two weeks and I'm exhausted just applying for

a Schegen visa and thinking about it. I'm no longer motivated to try too hard when it comes to applying for visas. And I've travelled so much I feel like I've seen it all now so if a visa becomes a headache, I bypass the country in question. We used to look down on our own continent but now I appreciate it. It used to be a real sign of success to vacation in Europe or the US but now I

feel like a real vacation should include sand, sun and sea, as well as teach me a bit more about my own continent. I see a lot of nouveau rich people in South Africa brag about their holidays in Italy and else in Europe, and I can sympathise because they got their independence later than us in Zim so all this

is still new to them .With independence comes financial empowerment and things like vacations. When I was younger my family used to go to Mauritius because it was the thing to do then but I haven't been there for years. I like the all-inclusive price model that La Pirogue Hotel has though. The only problem with travelling in Africa is that hotels are expensive. I paid $450 per night

at the Protea Hotel in Lagos and the Southern Sun Maputo Hotel was $250 per night. Hotels in Zimbabwe are still reasonable because I paid $120 a night at The Kingdom in Victoria Falls last year.

http://www.southernsun.com/hotels/maputo/pages/overview.aspx
http://www.proteahotels.com/protea-hotel-ikeja.html
http://www.africansunhotels.com/Index.cfm?fuseaction=hotels.info&name=the_kingdom_at_victoria_falls
http://www.lapirogue.com/

My Sick Day

My Sick Day
I'm not feeling too good. I stayed in Morningside Mediclinic the night before for some tests. It's not as bad as it sounds because I chose the cheap hospital-only option with Discovery Medical Aid last year so I have to be admitted into hospital if I wanted anything done. I left corporate life to set up shop as a consultant last year and one of the first things that goes when you leave corporate is decent health insurance. I hardly ever get sick and as luck would have it, as soon as I scale down my insurance, I came down with some nasty ear infection last year and I'm still struggling with the after effects. Without going into detail, I had some nasty procedure two nights ago and I still feel lousy.

However, anything that happens in my life ends up being a party. How, you might ask could this situation end up being festive? It started off innocently enough. My cousin Mukai picked me up from the hospital yesterday at noon and I came home and slept most of the day. Then he came back with my mum, who stayed up late with me since I am notoriously insomniac. They stayed over and when off on their merry way i.e. mum went shopping and Mukai played chauffeur. I had planned to stay in all day and when I went online at lunchtime to update my Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/#!/dnpeters, Twitter, @dnpeters, and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=507035, my boy Milton Kahari came up on Skype and asked if he could swing by, I said sure. He was there in 15 minutes by 1.30pm and started on the rose wine while I fed him the last of my famous BBQ chicken wings from the other night. Next came my mum and my cousin Mukai on their way to my family's new pad in River Club around 3pm. Then came my girl Bonang dropped in from workaround 4pm with a bottle white wine and got started on that. At 5pm my brother Gerald came from the office at RMB and joined the party. Next came my friend and prospective business partner, Japheth from Goodson Capital and the party was well under way. Finally my neighbour Abraham opposite me dropped for a few minutes in to check on me. Milton was still here and getting very merry but was persuaded to get going around 7.30pm. Eventually people started leaving then Gerald's friend Enoch also dropped in for a glass of wine. The two of them set off to Parkhurst to pursue our sisters of the lighter hue and I was finally alone at 9.30pm to watch the DVD I had sent my housekeeper to collect from the video club because I had expected to have a quiet day of rest!