New Borders
This was now almost surreal, from someone who had never left her home country, not even seen much of it actually, to crossing my second border in one year!
The obvious had to be arranged............ babysitter for Lady and Fishstick even though this was only to be a one night trip. "Children" seen to and bags packed we set off!
A little delay at the border as this time hubby had some signage that had to be declared at customs...... not long though and we were done and in Swaziland!
Once through the border we realised that not one of our phones would have network....... tablets either....... so with much haste we set off to find a sim card as it was already gone five 'o clock and we still had to find our accommodation.
Now the adventure started..... if only we had known..........
We drove directly to the Spar where hubby would be working the next day. Hubby spoke to the manager and asked for directions to our accommodation but they had never heard of the place before...........
Then we found an internet shop, they were about to close but the gentleman was very helpful and let us search for directions and would not charge us.
By now daylight was fading fast, we headed off in the direction we were meant to go........ eventually we found a board with the name of the resort, we turned left onto a dirt road, relieved that we were almost there, sadly I could not take photos as it was now almost dark and I knew they would not come out.
We drove....... and drove....... and drove......... the board said that we had to drive three kilometres, we had now driven until the dirt road, which had become a dirt track had now become a dirt....... nothing!
Hoping we may have missed a sign or something we drove back to the tar road, along the way we saw some locals and asked them, they too did not know the place.
Back at the turn off we checked the board and set off once again, this time checking the odometer to see once we had driven three kilometres.............. again............. dirt road.......... dirt track............... dirt nothing.
We had seen a little dirt road turning off earlier and decided to check and see if that might be the way............. uh no............ all we came across was a beautiful, old, abandoned farm house.
Nerves were now frayed, patience was gone and visibility almost too as it was now pitch black outside and pouring down with rain. We headed back to the tar road and set off to find new accommodation.............
Nhlangano Casino Royale Hotel
We came across a hotel.......... the name told us it would cost a fortune but being in a strange country, wet, tired and fed up so be it.
Thankfully they had availability............. no wonder at just under R 1 000.00 per night per room.
The first room they showed us................. whew............. the smell when the lady opened the door............. the toilet had overflowed and flooded the entire room.
The second room.............. the carpet was covered in pieces of glass.............. the light fitting above the bed had exploded.
Third time lucky they say............. no smell, water or glass.............. hooray!
This was now almost surreal, from someone who had never left her home country, not even seen much of it actually, to crossing my second border in one year!
The obvious had to be arranged............ babysitter for Lady and Fishstick even though this was only to be a one night trip. "Children" seen to and bags packed we set off!
A little delay at the border as this time hubby had some signage that had to be declared at customs...... not long though and we were done and in Swaziland!
Once through the border we realised that not one of our phones would have network....... tablets either....... so with much haste we set off to find a sim card as it was already gone five 'o clock and we still had to find our accommodation.
Now the adventure started..... if only we had known..........
We drove directly to the Spar where hubby would be working the next day. Hubby spoke to the manager and asked for directions to our accommodation but they had never heard of the place before...........
Then we found an internet shop, they were about to close but the gentleman was very helpful and let us search for directions and would not charge us.
By now daylight was fading fast, we headed off in the direction we were meant to go........ eventually we found a board with the name of the resort, we turned left onto a dirt road, relieved that we were almost there, sadly I could not take photos as it was now almost dark and I knew they would not come out.
We drove....... and drove....... and drove......... the board said that we had to drive three kilometres, we had now driven until the dirt road, which had become a dirt track had now become a dirt....... nothing!
Hoping we may have missed a sign or something we drove back to the tar road, along the way we saw some locals and asked them, they too did not know the place.
Back at the turn off we checked the board and set off once again, this time checking the odometer to see once we had driven three kilometres.............. again............. dirt road.......... dirt track............... dirt nothing.
We had seen a little dirt road turning off earlier and decided to check and see if that might be the way............. uh no............ all we came across was a beautiful, old, abandoned farm house.
Nerves were now frayed, patience was gone and visibility almost too as it was now pitch black outside and pouring down with rain. We headed back to the tar road and set off to find new accommodation.............
Nhlangano Casino Royale Hotel
We came across a hotel.......... the name told us it would cost a fortune but being in a strange country, wet, tired and fed up so be it.
Thankfully they had availability............. no wonder at just under R 1 000.00 per night per room.
The first room they showed us................. whew............. the smell when the lady opened the door............. the toilet had overflowed and flooded the entire room.
The second room.............. the carpet was covered in pieces of glass.............. the light fitting above the bed had exploded.
Third time lucky they say............. no smell, water or glass.............. hooray!
We got our suitcase from the car and then went off to find a drink and some food....... lol.
The pub had two big bar fridges.............. between the two only one had about six ciders in it, beggars can't be choosers and gratefully we ordered two as we were thirsty, the barman informed us that the kitchen was open till eleven so we set off to have a look at the little casino they had, just as we started playing with the R50 we had each put in and had upped to about R100 each the power went out............. half an hour later power back on, our credits gone and the owner of the hotel just shrugging her shoulders we set off to the dining room.
We ordered the second to last two ciders and placed our order - a steak roll for hubby and a chicken roll for me............ ha ha ha ha.................
An hour later we were starting to wonder if the side plates, cutlery and napkins were edible and whether our waiter had decided to go home.
Lo and behold.................... another half an hour later............... food............... I needed a hack saw, not a knife! With much laughing I used my hands to eat my rubber...... oops........ chicken while hubby decided to see how high the fried egg could bounce..............
Tired and still hungry we headed off to our room to make some coffee, we got into pyjamas and headed off to sleep having decided to have a hot bath in the morning rather.
The following morning we woke up and while I went exploring to take some photos hubby started running our bath water.............. the water pressure was almost non existent but we were patient.............. half an hour later we had a quarter full bath of ice cold water................. we packed our bag and headed off to reception to find out if we could get some coffee............ we could.............. at the pub.
Hubby then asked the receptionist if the hotel was very busy as we were not able to have a bath as there was no hot water............................... not at all she replied, you are our only guests at the moment and hot water was only available at seven 'o clock...............
Coffee down the hatch, in the car and off to the store, should we ever come back to Swaziland we will definitely not be staying at the Nhlangano Casino Royale MESS Hotel.
We headed to the store where hubby did what was necessary and I browsed around the little shops to find some mementos.
Mementos bought ( some scarves, material and necklaces ) I headed back to hubby who had just finished. We packed up and headed back home. Sadly not sad to be saying goodbye to Swaziland................ it had not been a pleasant experience............... we would have to come back and make sure that things went better.
The pub had two big bar fridges.............. between the two only one had about six ciders in it, beggars can't be choosers and gratefully we ordered two as we were thirsty, the barman informed us that the kitchen was open till eleven so we set off to have a look at the little casino they had, just as we started playing with the R50 we had each put in and had upped to about R100 each the power went out............. half an hour later power back on, our credits gone and the owner of the hotel just shrugging her shoulders we set off to the dining room.
We ordered the second to last two ciders and placed our order - a steak roll for hubby and a chicken roll for me............ ha ha ha ha.................
An hour later we were starting to wonder if the side plates, cutlery and napkins were edible and whether our waiter had decided to go home.
Lo and behold.................... another half an hour later............... food............... I needed a hack saw, not a knife! With much laughing I used my hands to eat my rubber...... oops........ chicken while hubby decided to see how high the fried egg could bounce..............
Tired and still hungry we headed off to our room to make some coffee, we got into pyjamas and headed off to sleep having decided to have a hot bath in the morning rather.
The following morning we woke up and while I went exploring to take some photos hubby started running our bath water.............. the water pressure was almost non existent but we were patient.............. half an hour later we had a quarter full bath of ice cold water................. we packed our bag and headed off to reception to find out if we could get some coffee............ we could.............. at the pub.
Hubby then asked the receptionist if the hotel was very busy as we were not able to have a bath as there was no hot water............................... not at all she replied, you are our only guests at the moment and hot water was only available at seven 'o clock...............
Coffee down the hatch, in the car and off to the store, should we ever come back to Swaziland we will definitely not be staying at the Nhlangano Casino Royale MESS Hotel.
We headed to the store where hubby did what was necessary and I browsed around the little shops to find some mementos.
Mementos bought ( some scarves, material and necklaces ) I headed back to hubby who had just finished. We packed up and headed back home. Sadly not sad to be saying goodbye to Swaziland................ it had not been a pleasant experience............... we would have to come back and make sure that things went better.
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