November, 2011: Singapore to Nigeria, via South Africa

I 'slipped' out of Singapore under the cloak of darkness, by the time the plane descend into Johanesburg, it was daytime.
As we are now flying into the dark continent, I was expecting glassland sarengetti with animal roaming about, or maybe the Johanesburg city sprawl. What I got outside the window was the picket-fenced suburb, probably one of the suburbs richer citizens of Johanesburg city has escaped to in order to escape the crime there.

Below me were good straight roads criscrossing each other in a planned grid. The houses, with their whitewashed walls and red clay tiled roof lined the streets. In most backyard were a pool shimmering in the sunlight. Trees with purple flowers were in full bloom (I learned later they are probably called 玫瑰木, the same trees I found back in Sao Paulo).
It was a bright sunny day, and the clear shadow of the plane fall across this landscape of bright green,red, blue and purple (so much for the dark continent). As the plane descends, the shadow got from a 20:1 scale of the plane to a 1:1 scale model as it touched down on the runway.

Once I got the airbridge, I check with the groundcrew about my transit, they gave me the answers, and got back to their song-and-dance, swinging their booties.

In order to fly SIA and South Africa Airways (both Start Alliance partners), I have to sacrifice on the transit time. With a few hours on hand in the air terminal, I got to watch how the service crew prepare a plane for its next flight. Very educational, compared to getting a massage.










































In the shopping area, a mannequinn likeness of Nelson Mandela welcome all to the Out of Africa shop. It would be six week from now before I was out of Africa.
SAA pilots are pretty cool, they talk to the passengers over the PA like we were friends, giving details of status report from the control tower and flight handling. They may be delayed at the gate (I know because the pilots told us in great details), but once given the go-ahead, they taxi out of the gate, turn into the runway, lined the plane up, got the turbine whirling, the engine roaring and we were off---all in one smooth sequence. Most other airlines' pilots would get you out of the gate, but do the delaying on the runway.

The safety briefing and video on SAA is even cooler. I don't usual follow these anymore (although we all should), except at the part the stewardesses demonstrates blowing into the self-inflating lifejackets to give them an extra omph, and at they part they blow into the bright orange whistles. But the SAA video got my attention, it were done in cartoon format with a funny animated character.
By the time I landed in Lagos was late evening. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the third largest economy in Africa, and Lagos is the most properous part of Nigeria. I had great expection of the airport, I was disappointed. We were all crowded into small hall, awaiting the official to check our passport. The aircon doesn't seem to be working. A cockcroach crowded into the queue and got stamped on by multipe feet. There were another line right next to our arrival queue, and they look like Muslim pilgrams waiting to board their domestic flight out of Lagos. All around them were bottles of what looks like water, holy water perhaps?


I got to the head of the queue and the official checked my passport and ask me to move on to the next official. So far, no request for a bribe, so far so good. The next official gave me the stamp to stay for a month, and again, no request for a bribe. Next come the luggage collection which was a mess, but I found mine and was heading to the exit when I was stopped by the custom official. I was asked to open up my luggage, while they ask about the content. They didn't check much, but very quickly allowed me to pack up the luggage. Here, the lady official got close and said something in my ears, which I failed to comprehend at first. She got near my ear again: some US dolla for me please. Oh, the golden question at last.


I negotiated the crowd outside the airport to meet up with the local 'fixer' recommended by the company. He had his fiancee in tow. The fixer help me get my prepaid car and got my USA dolla converted into naira. There were no official changers at this time, and we got the naira from one of the black market changers lining the path to the carpark. They were operating off their stools, and most look like Muslim with their white songkok.
And so we were off, to the tune of a booming techno beat. It was already dark outside and most of the streetlamp waren't working. As we travelled from the mainland to Lagos island, I was told we are on the world's logest bridge. I took it with a pinch of salt. I was also told the Atlantic ocean is under us.