Introduction
At first, we weren’t going to spend a day in Joburg. We could have arrived in Joburg at 7AM and taken the domestic flight to our safari at 10AM. However, I figured since we flew this far across the world, we may as well at least spend a day here. I know some people will say this was too short, but for my wife and I, 1 day was plenty for Joburg.
After dropping off our luggage, we took the train from the Hyatt Regency into the city. We weren’t sure what to do, but the hotel told us there was those red Hop On Hop Off buses for Joburg. That sounded like a great idea to us since we wanted to see as much of the city as possible without paying for an expensive tour guide. I believe the red bus was less than $20 per person. Some pictures of downtown Joburg:
Apartheid Museum
The main stop wanted to go to was the Apartheid Museum. Before that, we made a stop at “Gold City,” which turned out to be a casino slash amusement park. Others on the bus went into the amusement park, but we didn’t care for it. We walked through the casino, and while my Viet blood was calling out to me to gamble on some Blackjack, the wife kept me moving. We got back on the bus and the next stop was the museum.
I don’t have too many photos inside the museum. Let me just say that it was worth the stay in Joburg. We spent about 2-3 hours in the museum. During our trip, they had a special Mandela exhibit. Walking through, you’re shocked that this only happened 20 years ago.
Lego Exhibit
After the museum, we just rode the red bus back to the train station. I think there was also an Origins museum, which was a museum about the origin of life in Africa. We would have liked to have gone to that, but wasn’t sure where it was, and so we headed back to the hotel.
When we got back to the mall that was connected to the hotel, we walked around a bit and saw a Lego exhibit. We took some photos inside below.
While we were there, the restaurant Five Hundred (#6 restaurant in Joburg on TA as of this writing) that we were wait-listed at called us and said they had a seating at 6:30PM. We then walked back to the hotel, changed, and caught an Uber to the restaurant.
Five Hundred
So my wife and I enjoy fine dining. We like going to Michelin star restaurants, and I rationalize it by saying since we got our air and hotel at a substantial discount, we can splurge more on dining. I realize dining at Michelin star restaurants isn’t representative of the local cuisine, but whatever, we enjoy it and YOLO!
A few quick words on the restaurant and our meal. There are only 9 tables in the restaurant, and it seemed they only did 1 seating a night, so make RSVP ahead of time!!! This SHOULD have been at least a 1 star Michelin restaurant. We asked the chef why there weren’t any Michelin star restaurants in South Africa, and she told me that there weren’t enough restaurants to make it worthwhile for a reviewer to fly to South Africa. That sucks. But it’s great for us since we’re experiencing a Michelin star quality meal without the Michelin star price! We loved the meal, the wine, the wine pairings (some sommeliers aren’t good with the pairings). This was one of the meals that I’ll remember for my life – not because of the quality, it was because I was still on HK time and so 9PM was 3AM for me, and I started to fall asleep at the table.) I was so restless by the time dessert came, I started to pout, and never wanted a bed so badly in all my life. The waiter asked me if I wanted some coffee, and I told him, “No, just the check please.”
Conclusion
Our South African Airways paid flight (booked on Arrival and miles credited to Singapore instead of United) to our safari was the next morning at 10AM. We enjoyed the continental breakfast, hopped on the train, did the transfer to the airport train, and was there in about 30 minutes. Bring your Priority Pass card for the airport too!
Like I said, I thought 1 day was just right. I don’t know what else we could have done on the second day. You’re better off just spending that extra day in Cape Town or on safari.
1 comments on “1 Day in Johannesburg, South Africa”