1 Jan – New Years Day
21 Mar – Human Rights Day
29 Mar – Good Friday
1 Apr – Family Day
27 Apr – Freedom Day
1 May – Workers’ Day
16 Jun – Youth Day
17 Jun – Public Holiday
9 Aug – National Women’s Day
24 Sep – Heritage Day
16 Dec – Day of Reconciliation
25 Dec – Christmas Day
26 Dec – Day of Goodwill

Here is a downloadable file of the 2013 South African Public Holidays for importing into Outlook and GCal.

2013 SA Public Holidays Calendar

Its an absolute marvel and the history behind the wall is simply amazing. Spanning a total length of about 6700 km end to end and during its peak, the wall guarded by about 1 million soldiers of the Ming Dynasty at any single given time.

It was build as a defensive structure to safe guard the empire from attack from the Mongolians and the enormity of the structure is simply mind-boggling to imagine a wall wrapping an entire nation. It is also said to be the only man-made structure that is visible on Earth from the Moon!

The wall was a great cost to the empire and as a result the Ming Dynasty lost millions on building the wall, but it deemed it a necessary expense in assuring the safety of the of the dynasty from raids from the north eastern neighbours.

I saw the wall during a national holiday. I highly recommend that you avoid these days, as the wall is bustling with local tourists who come to share in the oogling of the masterpiece. It makes for a crowded trip and is not desirable.

A tour to the wall at Badaling came with a trip to the Ming Tombs (which is not great), a stop at a silk factory (which was pretty interesting for the first 20 minutes before I got bored) and a trip to a Jade factory (this was very cool and i really did enjoy it!).

The tour cost us CYR180 each and included pick up and drop off at the hotel and an authentic Chinese lunch. We had an English speaking tour guide who was friendly and fairly knowledgeable of the sights. She did try to crack a few jokes that I just didn’t get, but all in all it was cool. The bus was air-conditioned and decently comfortable!

I’ll post the tour companies details as soon as I find it again

Flight Centre did not help me out after screwing up my transfer hotel and visa, so I did in fact end up stuck in Doha International for 18 hours and have still not contacted me with an apology. I am very disappointed in their service and would not recommend the company to anybody and suggest that you make your own bookings via CheapTrip.co.za instead!

If ever you are stuck in Doha, I suggest that you head over the Oryx lounge. Its on the first floor on the far right hand side of the building. They charge a small entry fee for access to the VIP lounge of QR140, some credit cards allow you free access as a value added service by your credit card provider, like mine did. The Oryx is a great place to chill for a few hours.

It has great ambient lighting, soothing music and loads of comfy couches to kick back in. They serve light snacks, softdrinks and tea and coffee complimentary all day long. They have TV’s with quiet a few english channels, a meeting room and free wifi. The bathroom facilities are very clean and very well maintained and it was a real pleasure taking a shower as well. I highly recommend the Oryx to stay fresh during a long transit!

Onroute back home, I left Beijing in the wee hours of Saturday morning, to arrive in Doha just after first light. The airport was busy and I had a total 40 minute transit time from one flight landing to the next flight taking off, so I was pretty stressed out about missing it.

I managed to rush through and get on the flight in time, only to have the flight delayed by 2 hours because of a system failure.

Now, dear Captain Johnson of Qatar Airways, in future… please understand that hearing the words “System Failure” is very unnerving as a passenger on a flight. Further, it would be preferable if you avoid supporting terms like “might be able to fix the problem”. Fixing the problem is one thing, but that word “MIGHT” is definitely not the kind of assurance that I want to be hearing while strapping myself into your fueled to the max Boeing just before take-off!

All in all, Qatar Airways is a great airline with great service. The meals were very impressive, the staff were courteous and friendly and even played with the little kids on board the flights.

They are also the cheapest airline to fly to Beijing from South Africa and would recommend that you check out a flight booking on a flight aggregator like CheapTrip.co.za!

The flight cost me R8900 inclusive of all airport taxes and levies!

So early evening yesterday, 30 September, I was dropped off at Cape Town International Airport and a few hours later I’m boarding a flight to Doha. It was a pleasant flight, bar the stale toasted roll that I was served as a snack. Chicken, cheese and peppers…yum! The other meals were really good!

After a pretty long flight and me doing a small acrobatic stunt to fit my +PLUS sized ass across 3 seats dodging armrests and managing to stay strapped in with my seatbelt (This feat would make McGyver jealous!), I arrived in Doha about 2 hours ago, just before 7am local time.

On arrival, I’m told that my visa wasn’t arranged by my travel agent, so I’m stuck here for 18 hours. Great!

The guys at Flight Centre better pull through for me, cos I’m borderline pissed now!

The genius in Dr. David Fisher’s design of the Dynamic Architecture wind-powered rotating skyscraper is quite simply the most exciting green building that you will find around the planet in some time to come. The rotating marvel that this building is, it produces 10 times more energy than it uses up. That means that you could well call it an energy resource instead of something that is traditionally supposed to be energy consuming. Forget about zero-energy buildings, this one gives tons of energy back to us.

Each floor of Dynamic Architecture’s wind-powered rotating skyscraper is a single apartment with the ability to rotate independently, giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button – quite a party trick. Wind turbines between each floor will generate a vast surplus of electricity capable of powering the whole surrounding neighborhood. Even to visualize such an existing concept is damn difficult and that is a direct tribute to the creative genius of David Fisher. What most of us still struggle to imagine, this guy came up with it from scratch!

Each turbine has the peak ability to produce around 0.2 megawatt hours of electricity. Given Dubai has an average of 4000 hours of wind annually, with an average wind speed of 16 km/h, the turbines are estimated to produce around 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. Four of the 48 turbines in the building will be enough to power the entire tower, leaving the other 44 to provide surplus energy back into Dubai’s power grid. The final twist in the tale is that the building will be made more like a car in a factory. Each floor will be separately and simultaneously worked upon and will be assembled finally like a little jig-saw puzzle! Yes, the surprises never cease to exist.

The cleaner, clearer skies mean measurements of warming temperatures are not confused by smog. So the current measurements of a 0.04 °C warming per year can be taken as the true signal of man-made global warming.

This shows smog levels in Beijing after a rainfall(left) and on a sunny day(right)

A team led by Martin Wild, of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Switzerland, has been monitoring changes in temperatures, the amount of aerosols in the air and the amount of sunlight that is getting through and warming the different continents.

Their data, taken from over 2500 locations, shows that in Europe and the US the amount of solar radiation reaching the ground is increasing. Satellite data shows that the optical density of the air above Europe, a measure of how dense the suspension of aerosols is, has been stable since 2000.

This, says Wild, suggests that aerosols are no longer influencing brightness and something else is making it more sunny – possibly a reduction in cloud cover, although he does not yet know why this might happen. Wild was speaking on April 17 at the European Geosciences Union annual meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Crucially, the stability of smog levels also suggests that ever-cleaner air cannot be the cause of increasing temperatures. Satellite data shows that overall the continents have warmed by 0.04 °C per year between 1999 and 2007. This, says Wild, could be the true, unadulterated signal of man-made global warming.

Based on optical density data from 6 sites in the German and Swiss Alps, Rolph Philipona of MeteoSwiss, the national weather service of Switzerland, says that as much as half of the warming observed in the 1980s and 1990s could have been due to “global brightening” as the smog cleared.

Asian dimming

It’s a different story in other parts of the world. Previous research led by Padma Kumari of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology had shown that India became less sunny, starting in the 1980s as its industrial activity increased. The latest data shows the Indian “solar dimming” is continuing.

In China, the situation is slightly different. Wild’s data shows that the country was dimming already in the 1980s, but then the smog levelled off in the 1990s. This may have been because the country cleaned up its act for a bit, or could simply be the consequence of the nation’s then economic downturn.

Whether economic or environmental, whatever caused the dimming to level off in the 1990s is no longer there. Since 2000, overall the optical density of the air above China has risen dramatically – an observation which correlates well with anecdotes of very low visibility in major Chinese cities.

• India is the world’s largest democracy.
• Employing over 1 million people, India is home to the world’s largest employer, the Indian Railway Company.
• The world’s largest bus fleet can be found in the streets of Andra Pradesh, India, under the control of the RTDC.
• Chess was invented in India.
• In the last 10 000 years of civilisation in India, it has never invaded any country.
• An Indian mathematician, Aryabhatta, invented the number zero.
• India is the largest English speaking population in the world.

and lastly, Albert Einstein said this about India, ” We owe a lot to Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”

Here is an article found on the International Herald Tribute:

Q. How does the technology work?

A. Users of mobile phones and other wireless devices using the European GSM technology with roaming capability will be able to make and receive calls using a base station within the airplane. The onboard network uses very small masts that force all mobile phones to connect to its network, avoiding interference with the plane’s avionics or navigation systems. The onboard network provides coverage for the entire aircraft and routes the calls and data to phone networks on the ground via a satellite link. The same satellite link is already being used by the captain and flight crew for communications.

Q. How much will it cost to make an onboard call?

A. Users will be charged by their existing service providers according to rates set by them, the airline and their network operator. European officials have warned consumers to expect higher fees because of the costs involved to set up the onboard networks on planes.

Q. Why is it now safe to use mobile phones during flights?

A. European regulators and the airline industry say new technology developed and tested in recent years has made it safe and secure for passengers to now turn on and use mobile phones during flight, but only when the plane reaches a cruising altitude above 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), when other electronic devices such as portable music players and laptops are permitted. They say the new onboard cell network does not interfere with landing, communication or navigation systems and it doesn’t pose problems related to security or safety. Mobile phones cannot be used during take off or landing and can be shut off during turbulence. The captain and crew of the plane can control when they want to switch off the onboard network.

Q. What about flights leaving or coming to Europe?

A. It is not yet clear whether airlines will turn off the service once they leave European airspace. The rules of the country where the airline is registered apply when a flight enters international airspace. Mobile phone services could be shut down prior to entering the airspace of other countries like the United States which still bans the use of cell phones during flights.

Q. What about a code of conduct on the use of cell phones onboard?

A. The European Union is recommending airlines draft etiquette guidelines to either control or limit the use of mobile devices during flights to avoid in-flight flare ups between closely confined passengers. For example, airlines could recommend passengers switch their phones to ‘silent’ or limit services to quieter text or e-mail or ban calls during night flights.

I book most of my flights, hotels and even rent cars online. CheapTrip.co.za is one of the sites that I use often. It’s an all-in-one booking engine that emails you your ticket info when you are done.

They also have a facebook group for fellow travelers to chat about destinations, and help eachother out, so it is definitely worth checking out if you are planning a trip anytime soon.

I must admit, that India has done a very good job of catching up to major world economies, and I am still in awe at the current standings of India being listed 3^rd behind America and China respectively. If you have ever been to India, you would understand my amazement.

This is a country of micro-entrepreneurial groundings and it merges as a country where everyone can be a businessman. Who needs the American dream when the Indian dream is a more real possibility considering the mere magnitude of growth this economy and country has seen.

I have had the opportunity of completing my undergraduate degree in this country. I was based in a city that is clearly becoming the future hub of the technological world. Being a foreign student in this country I find myself in a unique position to be able to judge the future of the people from afar without having too much sentiment attached to my judgment. Some call it unfair; I call it freedom of expression.

I forgot to mention that I am a South African mid twenty-something male who happened to have experienced the final stretch of apartheid. But I too have benefited from the fall of the discriminating regime, and have witnessed remarkable reform in what was previously considered an irreparable country.

This brings me to my point. India: a major world player and the future. As much as I stand as an admirer of this country, I have recently been disgusted by the sheer magnitude of discrimination that is found in this country. And I’m not talking about the caste system that has been written about over and over the world over. I’m talking about a blatant humiliation of foreigners whose effects of being here is the sole foundation of this countries growth.

Enough of beating about the bush. I was told that because I am from Africa, I am a murderer, a drug-dealer and a terrorist.

“Because of your presence, no-one in the suburb is safe!”

“Nigerians and South Africans are the same, and they are always bad news!”

“With all the bomb blasts happening in India, I fear for my family because you are from Africa!”

The irony in this comment is that I am of Indian origin, and my family name is much respected in India.

But, I am from Africa. And I hold a South African passport. Does this make me an instant terrorist? Does this make me a drug-dealer? At first I smiled at this idea, but when I was told that I am not welcome in a building/suburb because of this, it found a certain rage inside of me, a rage that has the potential of turning me into the terrorist that I am being accused of being. Then I find myself smiling again.

A retired army general residing in South Delhi, has found it necessary to victimize me because I am from Africa. He looks the part of a very respectable Indian gentleman in society, and considering the level of his achievement I would have assumed that he was educated enough to understand that discrimination could start a world war.

Infact, maybe I should use my newly found terrorist status to start a world war. And look, I’m smiling again.

But is this amusing? Or should I be worried that even though this country has achieved so much, and it has the potential to achieve so much more in the near future, and it could even find itself ranked as the world’s most powerful economy, India could find itself hitting a solid wall of resentment for everything foreign.

And could this resentment soon build up in the rest of the world as a reciprocal to the raised-eyebrow that foreigners are given here?

This has the potential to turn nasty. And India should be warned that this kind of judgement is no longer acceptable. As the Americans would say, “Get in line or else!”

Maybe Bush and his barracks of marines should visit. Maybe Nelson Mandela should be informed.

Retired military general or not, that should make him rethink his sentiments.