Koi harvest

The landlord decided to clean the Koi pond at the offices today, tens-, if not hundreds- of small Koi fishes were discarded to make room for the bigger fish. Everyone with a pond at home took fish home today.

Sunday lunch at Cape to Cuba

Cape to Cuba is a quaint restaurant situated on the Kalk Bay Harbour, serving Cuban inspired food here in Cape Town. Me and Annelie enjoyed the tapas, fish and paella-type dishes with a good bottle of Chardonnay on Sunday for lunch.

Kloofzicht Lodge

Kloofzicht Lodge is a five star establishment close to Muldersdrif in the Cradle of Mankind. I was scheduled to give a talk on the story of Fundamo in the morning so booked into the lodge the night before. I appreciated waking up with the sound of early morning birds and water flowing into the dams, especially after the hurly burly of Luanda

Visa Billboard in Luanda

Daniel Nascimento (the son of famous MPLA leader) is a well-known entertainer here in Angola, but also in Portugal. He features in an advertising campaign for one of the local bank's Visa pre-paid card. I saw a huge billboard of him in one of the streets of Luanda.

Arrived in Luanda

Rushed from the Luanda airport to my hotel, the Epic Sana, in order to change into a suit, so that I can be in time for my first meeting. I glanced through the window at the city's mix of old and new buildings, shiny cars and shacks. In the distance boats were waiting to enter the port.

Year-end at Waterkloof

Waterkloof is a new winery and restaurant set high on the hills outside Somerset West with spectacular views over False Bay. We had the year-end of the Kurktrekkers wine-club at this venue and it was once again one of the highlights of the year. Good friends, good food and wine, a perfect setting: all of this made it a perfect evening... again.

Jetlag

It is 03:00 in the morning and I am wide awake. Tired, but awake. I am back in South Africa after ten days on the US West Coast, watching CNN in a Protea Hotel in Johannesburg. One of those things, I suppose.

Great lunch at Emirates lounge

It is not often that one can enjoy a great lunch in an airline's lounge. I just had a great lunch at Emirates lounge at San Francisco International. The meal consisted of a Chinese duck salad starter with a good Viognier followed by a traditional Indian Chicken Tika Tika supported by great Californian Cab. This is why I prefer Emirates.

Techonomy12 Conference

I attended the Techonomy12 conference close to Tucson in Arizona. Participants were limited to a few hundred and speakers and panelists were entrepreneurs, execs from large companies academics and venture fund managers, as well as a few artists. The topics ranged from robotics to weather manipulation - all asking the question how are/or will technology impact our lives. During the social events, I met some very special people and made new friends. A worthwhile few days spent in the Arizona desert.

Giant cacti in Arizona

Arrived in Dove Mountain (north of Tucson in Arizona) for Techonomy12 conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel. I elected to do a guided mountain-bike ride after I arrived and it was such an amazing experience. The track was interesting with some technical descends and sand patches. The sun was setting in an orange glow and the air had a sharp, cold bite, but it was the vegetation that was the most spectacular. These huge cacti was everywhere also with a wide variety of other cacti and trees.

Pebble to San Francisco

I travelled back from Pebble to San Francisco in a rented Merc E350. The first stage of the route winded through a beautiful part of California and ended with the Multi-lane 280 towards the city. During the two and a half hour journey I enjoyed the balanced power of the luxury German car.

Passionfish

Who would have thought that a brussels sprout salad could be one of the best meals ever. I had this as a starter with business colleagues at a Monterrey seafood restaurant (Passionfish) and it was exquisite, well supported with a local Californian chardonnay.

Beautiful day in Pebble

It is such a peach of day at Pebble Beach. I am here for the annual executive off site meeting, but broke away for a two hour cycle today to appreciate the weather and environment. I cycled through Carmel and Monterrey on the famous 17-mile drive. It was a breath-taking experience.

Early morning Dubai Skyline

There is something beautiful (in a surreal way) to sit in the Emirates lounge in terminal two and watch the sun paint the Dubai skyline in the distance. Skyscrapers disappears into the murky, early morning air with buildings on the airport perimeter bright in the sunlight.

Pat Lambie

Pat Lambie, one of the finalists for SARU rugby player of the year sat at our table at the award ceremony. The ceremony was a spectacular event that show-cased a very successful rugby year for South Africa, but it was also special to get the opportunity to meet young stars like Pat.

No ties at the airport

I was trying to buy a tie at the airport and could not get one shop selling ties. The only tie I saw was the picture on the cover of Fifty shades of gray at CNA.