Thursday, February 24, 2005

The City of Gold (Egoli/Johannesburg)

Somewhere in this city tonight, I am going to be hanging out with one very sexy boy. I'm very nervous, and due to the excessive hayfever this office has kindly thrust onto me this morning, my nose is just running. I cannot control the amount of snot my membranes are producing, and due to prolific tissue-scraping, my nose looks rather...attractive. Shit.

This picture was taken from the Carlton Centre in the CBD, looking towards the northern suburbs. In the background, you see the Hillbrow Tower and Ponte City, a round block of flats 90 storeys high with Africa's largest neon sign on the top of it.
Johannesburg only erected itself in 1886, when someone accidentally found one massive gold reef here. So its not an old city at all, yet in twenty years, had boomed so quickly, it overtook Cape Town in size by 600 000 people. Second to Lagos, it's Africa's biggest city. It's certainly Africa's powerhouse, and is filled with illegal immigrants looking for wealth and health. It lies on the richest gold reef in the world. It is the largest man-made forest in the world, as Joburg consists of 10-million trees. It is also one of the only sities of its kind that doesn't lie on a natural water resource like a river.

Bet you didn't know that!

9 comments:

Stephanie said...

Very beautiful! Lucky girl for living there. :)

Ed said...

Not for me, but then I grew up on a farm and get kind of claustrophobic in cities of that size, which leads me to a question. How many people live in Jo-burg?

Third World Ant said...

wicked pics, chick! love my Jozi, love my country!

zuzula said...

good luck tonight hon - dazzle that ex! Joburg really does look stunning. Just looked out at the very grey drizzly courtyard outside my office and I know where I'd rather be!

Roonie said...

I didn't know that. However, I would like to visit it.

Blog ho said...

does look fab. warm and nice. it's gray here. drab. good luck, tonight. take him to the phallus as a good luck sign.

Nettie said...

That's a beautiful pic! And if your nose is all red and yucky, try some Vaseline on it. It works I swear.

Unknown said...

Hi my friend...
I thought maybe you would like to visist my blog one more time... it is chabged a lot since you last time that you visit it. and I will be happy to have more of your suggestions about it.
Thanks, Keep in touch.

Peas on Toast said...

Steph - thanks, I do feel lucky actually. :)

Ed - agreed. If you have lived on a farm your whole life, Joburg would probably drive you crazy. If you include Soeto, about 9-million people live in JHB.

Pimp - It misses you too :(

Zuzula - we're lucky like that. No grey, but tons of thunderstorms.

Fayza - You'd have heaps of fun, promise!

Ho - Funny you say that, because we actually went out close to the phallus....

Nettie - I did that! Smeared all over my nose. I looked horrific, but it helped.

Little Boy - I will visit your blog, promise.